A study carried out between December 2020 and June 2021 by the Yaoundé-based Center for Research on Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases (Cremer) revealed that the spreading rate of Sars-Cov-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, reached a rate of 18.6% in the city during the first wave of the disease. The rate then climbed to 51.3% during the second outbreak.

The results have just been published in the journals Emerging Infectious Diseases and Open Forum Infectious Diseases. According to the Cremer researchers, these results are sufficient to confirm the "very strong diffusion" of the Sars-Cov-2 virus in Cameroon. Not only in Cameroon but in Africa as a whole, they believed.

The Center for Research and Training in Infectious Diseases of Guinea (Cerfig) has conducted a similar study. The results in Conakry are similar to those found by Cremer. The rate was 17.3% for the first wave and 42.4% for the second wave. However, despite these high propagation rates, Covid-19 has caused very few deaths on the continent, with about 4% of cases reported worldwide.

"This high propagation rate, which contrasts with the number of reported cases, could be explained by the frequency of asymptomatic cases mainly in the young population," the research centers said.

These two research centers receive financial support from the French Development Agency (AFD) for the development and strengthening of their national Covid-19 response plans. They are continuing the study on the Omicron wave. The results are awaited.

Michel Ange Nga