Why Covid-19 cases will keep in rising in developing countries
What you need to know:
- By June 1, Wuhan had 249 to testing centers compared to Kenya's 20 testing centers.
The virus which causes respiratory infection Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China, late last year.
It has spread to other parts of world with confirmed cases reaching 10 million towards the end of June.
Some countries are experiencing second wave of infection after controlling the first wave. The countries include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Portugal and Israel.
In Kenya, like many African countries, we are still struggling with the first wave of coronavirus infections.
The threat that Covid-19 can affect a population is determined by R. R is the number of people infected person that will they pass the virus on to, on average. New coronavirus has a reproductive number R of about, but estimates vary.
Despite testing of the virus in Kenya, the cases continue to rise. From inadequate testing kits, human resources, the journey to contain the virus is facing numerous challenges.
This is despite washing hands, wearing face masks and observing social distance, to effectively control the virus requires mass testing and isolation.
In March, Texas, US recorded the first case of the virus. The cases in Texas were controlled amicably, and doing pretty well, but when politics overrides medicines, the cases have risen by the rush to open the economy.
While most of residents are not tested, today after opening the Texas economy, the cases have surged to 6000 cases in a single day, and the figures is raising exponentially.
Until the vaccines are fully developed, the corona cases will continues to rise. The Ministry of Health needs to increase the testing capacity to about 10,000 samples per day to compete with the rest of the world in containing the spread. Wuhan, China, tested nine million samples in 10 days.
In Kenya, a county of about 45 million, our daily testing range 2,000 to 4,000 tests per day which is less compared to Wuhan which carried average 900,000 tests per day, hence those are reason that’s the reason Wuhan succeeded in containing the virus but in Kenya we are still struggling.
By June 1, Wuhan had 249 to testing centers compared to Kenya's 20 testing centers.
Peter Githuna is a public consultant and analyst
