Severe lockdowns, no longer a tool to contain COVID-19 says Africa CDC

ETHIOPIA: The head of Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention on Thursday said that severe lockdowns are no longer a tool to contain COVID-19.

Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong told a news conference that he was encouraged by the way South Africa, the first to detect Omicron strain, handled the latest COVID-19 wave driven by the new variant of concern.

“We are very encouraged with what we saw in South Africa in this period,” Africa’s top public health official said.

“The period where we are using severe lockdowns as a tool is over, we should actually be looking at how we use public health and social measures more carefully and in a balanced way as the vaccination increases,” he added. Countries around the world are tightening restrictions amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant but have avoided severe lockdowns given the low level of hospitalisations. South Africa first identified Omicron in November last year when the country was witnessing a worrying surge in COVID-19 cases. While South Africa is past its peak of Omicron-driven Covid cases, West is reporting record new infections.

– HINDUSTAN TIMES