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Statistics about COVID-19 on the African continent are in short supply. In many countries this has hampered efforts to bring the pandemic under control. Understanding the scale of what’s unfolded has been helped with the release of a study into over 3 000 critical care Covid-19 patients from 64 hospitals in 10 African countries. As Bruce M Biccard explains, it’s not a pretty picture. The outcomes for critically ill patients are poorer than any other region in the world. And only one out of two patients referred for critical care treatment was admitted to a high or intensive care unit. The clear warning is that, in the absence of mass
vaccinations, the potential for catastrophic loss of life on the continent remains real.
Cyclone Jobo caused great alarm as it approached the Tanzanian coast in late April. Thankfully, by the time it made landfall it had weakened to a tropical depression. Tropical cyclones that make landfall are rare in Tanzania, and past events are outside the memory of most. But they have happened before. Declan Finney, Hellen Msemo and John Marsham recount two cyclones that had a devastating effect on Tanzania, and flag their concerns that, due to changes in the weather, these events could become more intense in the future.
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Doctors and nurses adjust the oxygen mask of a COVID-19 patient inside the Intensive Care Unit of Heliopolis hospital, Egypt.
Photo by Fadel Dawood/picture alliance via Getty Images
Bruce M Biccard, University of Cape Town
Outcomes for critically ill Covid-19 patients in Africa are poorer than any other region in the world.
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Cyclone Kenneth caused significant damage to Mozambique, the Comoros Islands and Tanzania in 2019.
EMIDIO JOZINE/AFP via Getty Images
Declan Finney, University of Edinburgh; Hellen Msemo, University of Leeds; John Marsham, University of Leeds
Land-falling tropical cyclones are rare in Tanzania so past events are outside the memory of most.
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Health + Medicine
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Zoom, online, Zoom, online, Gauteng, Zoom, online, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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