So far, many of the countries of the the African continent have not reported huge coronavirus tallies, but the numbers are steadily increasing. This afternoon, the director-general of the regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted a "steady increase" in the number of cases as well as the death toll, until such time as a vaccine is developed (if, indeed, it ever is).
Matshidiso Moeti told a Geneva briefing: "Until such time as we have access to an effective vaccine, I’m afraid we’ll probably have to live with a steady increase in the region, with some hotspots having to be managed in a number of countries, as is happening now in South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon for example, which require very strong public health measures, social distancing measures to take place."
A total of 1.216 billion people live in Africa's 54 countries. So far, 212,470 virus cases have been confirmed among them, and 5,721 deaths.