Africa passes 100K known virus deaths

Africa has surpassed 100,000 confirmed COVID- 19 deaths as the continent praised for its early response to the pandemic now struggles with a dangerous resurgence and medical oxygen often runs desperately short.

“We are more vulnerable than we thought,” said the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong. He called the milestone “remarkably painful.”

He worried that “we are beginning to normalize deaths,” while health workers are overwhelmed.

The 54- nation continent of some 1.3 billion people has barely gotten any COVID- 19 vaccine, and a variant of the virus dominant in South Africa is posing a challenge. Still, if doses are available, the continent should be able to inoculate 35% to 40% of its population before the end of 2021 and 60% by the end of 2022, Mr. Nkengasong said.

In a significant development Friday, an African Union- created task force said Russia has offered 300 million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine. The AU previously secured 270 million doses from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.