: ‘We Have Reached a Breaking Point.’ As Third Wave Hits Africa, Senegal Races to Build a Facility to Make COVID-19 Vaccines #WorldNEWS Until recently, the West African nation of Senegal was handling

‘We Have Reached a Breaking Point.’ As Third Wave Hits Africa, Senegal Races to Build a Facility to Make COVID-19 Vaccines #WorldNEWS
Until recently, the West African nation of Senegal was handling COVID-19 well. Public health measures included rapid testing, nighttime curfews, a ban on large gatherings, mandatory mask-wearing and the temporary closure of its borders. Cases remained low for the first 18 months of the pandemic, and in an assessment by Foreign Policy of 36 governments in their responses to the pandemic, it came second only to New Zealand.
But now the country — and surrounding region — is struggling to keep up with a third wave of COVID-19, fueled by the more transmissible Delta variant. Until the end of June, Senegal had registered a total of just under 44,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Since then, it has recorded more than 26,000 cases and more than 400 deaths.
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Senegals hospitals are close to being overwhelmed. In the capital Dakar, two large care centers for critically ill COVID-19 patients, Hospital Center University De Fann and Dalal Diam hospital are full. “So the other hospitals just do with what they have,” says Nicolas Mouly, head of the Alliance for International Medical Actions emergency response (ALIMA), which has been supporting coronavirus treatment in Senegal.
Dr. Alioune Badara Ly, director of Senegal’s Health Emergency Operations Center, who is leading the countrys public health response to COVID-19, says hospitals have added 700 more beds but capacity is still stretched. “It’s particularly during this third wave which we’ve had to face the Delta variant that Senegal has struggled and that’s because of the increased transmissibility of the variant and the increased demand on oxygen,” he said. “Senegal consumed in three months the amount of oxygen that it usually consumes in a whole year. ” datawrapper. dwcdn. net/t77iQ/1/
It’s the same story elsewhere in the region. Across Africa, COVID-19 related deaths skyrocketed by 80% over the past month, according to the World Health Organization. Dr. Phionah Atuhebwe, WHO’s vaccine introduction officer for the African region, tells TIME that demand for medical oxygen is estimated to be 50 times higher than at the same time last year. “There is limited production capacity on the continent because of too few production plants, mainly of which are in disrepair or poorly maintained,” she says. “We have reached a breaking point. ”
The vaccines have not arrived.
In Senegal, experts say the increased transmissibility of new variants has powered the third wave, as well as relaxed adherence to social distancing measures during Muslim celebrations for Eid al-Adha in mid-July, known locally as Tabaski.