THE PANDEMIC ACCELERATES

Stage 3
How the pandemic affects the African Region
• In many African countries, case numbers are low. The reported mortality is also low
compared to European countries. There are many hypothesis to explain these differences
including: low testing capacity, underreporting, young population, pre-existing cross
immunity and the use of local treatments.

European
WHO Dashboard African region
region
Cumulative cases
11.1 million 1.3 million
COVID-19
Cumulative
285,135 29,785
deaths COVID-19

Population size 750 million 1.3 billion

Source: COVID-19 Dashboard, WHO 02 Nov 2020

15
 THE PANDEMIC ACCELERATES

Stage 3
COVID-19 spreads more easily in certain
settings
• Certain situations and activities (such as singing,
exercising, shouting) are identified to be at higher risk for
COVID-19 transmission:

➢ Crowded places

➢ Close-contact settings

➢ Confined and

enclosed spaces with

16
A MULTIFACETED PANDEMIC

Stage 4
There is sustained
A multifaceted pandemic transmission in the US
and India, a new
increase of cases in
Europe (2nd wave); while
other countries remain
COVID-19 free (e.g. New
Zealand)

By 01 November, there
are nearly 46 million
cases and over 1.19
million deaths
Source: WHO

Source: WHO 01 November 2020

17
A MULTIFACETED PANDEMIC

Stage 4
Global partnership
• Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator is a global
collaboration end to end process, to accelerate
development, production, and access to COVID-19
vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics
➢ Vaccines in development as of 1st November 2020:
• 154 in preclinical evaluation
• 44 in clinical evaluation
• 10 in phase III trials 2 billion 245 million 500 million
therapeutic tests in low and
➢ Dexamethasone has been confirmed as a useful doses
globally by courses in low middle-income
therapeutic treatment for severe cases end of 2021 and middle- countries
income countries by mid-2021
➢ An antigen-based rapid diagnostic test has been by mid-2021
approved Health Systems Connector
Strengthening health systems to make sure essential
• Information on vaccines COVID-19 tools reach the people who need them

• More information on the ACT Accelerator

18
A MULTIFACETED PANDEMIC

Stage 4
Reaching for global solidarity

WHO has developed a framework for equitable and fair allocation of

“ until
No one is safe
everyone
is safe
”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Director-General, World Health Organization
www.who.int/publications/m/item/fair-allocation-mechanism-for-covid-19-vaccines-through-the-covax-facility

19
 A MULTIFACETED PANDEMIC

Stage 4
Mis- and disinformation complicates the picture
• An infodemic is the tsunami of information –
some accurate, some not – that spreads
alongside an epidemic or pandemic
• Managing the infodemic has become more
challenging with rapid spread of mis- and dis-
information through social media
• In some countries, misinformation has
generated mistrust in governments, public
health authorities and science
• Managing the infodemic management is critical
to managing the pandemic
More information on infodemics and risk
communication
https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/infodemic-management

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