The World Health Organisation has warned that there is possibility that the rate of coronavirus infections in Africa could increase if adequate measures are not put in place. 

Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said that the official numbers of cases presently reported in Africa might not give accurate figures of the extent of the pandemic across the continent.

“Probably we have undetected cases or unreported cases,” he said. 

“In other countries we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain tipping point, so the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today.”

The total recorded cases in Africa as at yesterday was still at 376, seven people have died so far from the virus, and 30 people recovered.

Egypt is the most affected on the continent with 126 cases and two deaths.

The WHO is now calling on countries to ratchet up support to contain the spread, as there has been a “tremendously fast rise in the number of countries with cases being confirmed”. 

Reporting by Muritala Bakare