NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Reid Wilson

The coronavirus pandemic spreading across the globe has been slow to spread through Africa, but public health experts are worried that what appears to be an inevitable outbreak on the world’s poorest continent could become a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.

So far, there are only 6,575 confirmed cases across 49 African countries, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. That’s a smaller number of cases than has been reported in Portugal, and only slightly higher than the number of cases confirmed in Israel.

But it is likely that the true number of cases is far higher. Many African nations have little ability to test potential cases, and many Africans themselves do not have access to modern health facilities.

Photo courtesy of Dominic Chavez.