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Highlights
• As of 29 July 2020, a total of 174,081 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 2,919 associated deaths, were reported in West and Central Africa Region (WCAR).
• 22 out of the 24 countries in the region are reporting community transmissions.
• 109,000 healthcare facilities staff and community health workers were trained in infection prevention and control procedures, exceeding the initial target.
• Since May, 19 countries re-opened schools to allow students to better prepare for final exams.
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Situation Overview and Needs
The COVID-19 pandemic continues its progression in West and Central Africa (WCAR). WCAR accounts for 24% of confirmed cases and 24% of deaths in Africa Region. The top 5 countries in WCAR reporting the highest number of confirmed cases are: Nigeria (41,180), Ghana (33,624), Cameroon (16,829), Côte d'Ivoire (15,655) and Senegal (9,805) representing 67% of all confirmed cases. In WCAR, West Africa accounts for 69% of all confirmed cases.
The number deaths associated to COVID-19 is increasing in many more countries even those which used to report low deaths. As of 29 July 2020, 15 countries are reporting a case fatality rate (CFR) which is higher than the African Continent CFR of 1.68%. Chad (8.13%), Liberia (6.17%), Niger (6.10%), Mali (4.93%) and Burkina Faso (4.79%) are the tope five countries that report the highest CFR.
Due to the combined effects of food insecurity and COVID-19, as well as the locust threat, the number of people in need of emergency food assistance could climb to 57.6 million people in the Sahel and West Africa countries from July to August 2020 (Source: WFP). On 17 July, UNICEF and WFP joined forces to issue an alert on the unprecedented impact of food insecurity and COVID-19 on child malnutrition, warning of more than 15 million expected cases of acute malnutrition in 2020.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
