Even more important would be to establish if the low numbers are indeed a true reflection of a low prevalence of the disease in the continent or a product of low testing rates in African countries. Many Africans on the internet were rattled by Gates’ projections and were thrown anew into intense debates that had been going on around the factors underpinning the inexplicably low Covid-19 case numbers all across the continent. If the reasons for the low numbers were identified, they could be the take-off point for emergency responses, working in the direction of and improving on whatever has been delaying the infections. Whatever reasons are being offered to explain the low rates, there is still no concrete scientific evidence that Africa’s low numbers are born of some advantage that Africans may have over others, and yet, the question of what is keeping the numbers down remains a puzzle. They caution against looking at numbers as suggestive of Africa’s uniqueness in resistance to the virus.

Source: Daily Nation April 15, 2020 15:11 UTC