Over the past few weeks, there has been a rumour that Africans are immune to the current corona virus disease.
This narrative has been widely shared on social media after it emerged that an African man had been treated and cured of the disease.
Despite numerous fact-checks that have been published, the narrative has still been circulated widely, on the grounds that Africa has reported low cases amid alerts on high risk of infection.
The desk established that Senou a Cameroonian student studying at China’s Yangtze University was admitted to hospital in early February and was successfully treated.
This was confirmed by the Chinese Embassy on Twitter.
An article was then published at news.af.feednews.com implying that Senu had been cured because he was black.
According to the article, the Chinese doctors confirmed that Senou stayed alive because of his blood genetic composition which is mainly found in the genetic composition of Subsaharan Africans.
The article indicated that Chinese doctors said Senou remained alive because he has black skin, the antibodies of a black are 3 times stronger, powerful and resistant compare to that of white.
This article was then shared on Facebook in South Africa and by the following day, it had received over 2,000 shares.
Since then, the post has been widely shared in Kenya and Nigeria.
Days later, france24.com publication ran an article claiming health experts had been puzzled with Africa’s low rate of infection.
FINDINGS
As governments across the world grapple with the Coronavirus outbreak, WHO has reiterated the need to enhance surveillance and response activities and share critical information, as being essential to containing the outbreak and strengthening health systems.
Globally, 90,870 cases have been confirmed out of which 1,922 were new cases as of March 3.
China has the highest number of cases at 80,304 with the death toll standing at 2,946. Out of these deaths, 31 had been reported as new since the outbreak in Wuhan.
Outside China, WHO data shows 10,566 cases have been confirmed in 72 countries.
A total of 166 deaths have been reported.
The risk of infection both in China and globally is very high.
The African continent is estimated to have a population of about 1.3 billion.
The continent has close commercial links with China and there have been fears that the virus would spread due to the fragility of its medical services.
Africa has only reported 12 cases as of March 4, with Algeria having the highest number of cases at five.
Other countries with patients who tested positive for the virus are;
- Egypt – two people
- Senegal – two people
- Morocco – one person
- Nigeria – one person
- Tunisia – one person
Kenya which was perceived as a hot spot due to its close ties with Beijing has had over 15 alerts but all tested negative.
Out of all the cases, African Union data shows, they are imported cases by foreign nationals either on transit or visiting the said countries.
