Africa, Latin America fragile targets for virus spread

DAKAR: The West African nation of Mali has roughly one ventilator per 1 million of its people 20 in all to help the critically ill. In Peru, with more than 32 million people, about 350 beds in intensive care units exist.

The Coronavirus is now moving into parts of the world that may be the least prepared. Some countries in Africa and Latin America lack the equipment or even trained health workers to respond.

Many of their nations are slamming shut borders and banning large gatherings in the hope of avoiding the scenes in wealthier countries such as Italy and the US, but local transmission of the virus has begun.

Containing that spread is the new challenge. Africa has

less than 800 confirmed cases and Latin America under 2,000, but an early response is crucial as fragile health systems could be quickly overwhelmed.

With such limited resources, experts say identifying cases, tracing and testing are key.

"We have seen how the virus actually accelerates that after a certain ... tipping point. So the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today, WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.

"We have different and significant barriers to health care in Africa, which could be a real challenge, said Dr Ngozi Erondu, a senior research fel

low at the Chatham House Center for Global Health Security.

Many countries in subSaharan Africa do not have the isolation wards or large number of health care workers to respond to a surge of COVID19 patients, she said.