BY GRACE MACHA IN ARUSHA
With a new wave of Covid-19 ravaging across the region, the UK High Commissioner to Tanzania has cautioned the East African Community (EAC) partner states on the pandemic.
David Concar said population testing and surveillance would be key in the mitigation efforts in addition to vaccination.
He added during his visit to the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania this week that besides health measures, data on coronavirus must be made public.
Covid-19, which originated from China, was first reported in the EA region in March last year and has since then devastated the region considerably.
Besides reported deaths in all the six EAC partner states, the economic impact has been more serious, especially for the multi-million dollar travel industry.
Mr. Concar pledged his country's support to the EAC in containing the pandemic, saying sub Saharan Africa should not be sidelined in accessing the vaccines.
He challenged the EAC partner states to use the Covid-19 crisis to accelerate reforms that would ensure that the health sector systems "were much better than were before the onset of Covid."
He affirmed;“A post-COVID world will certainly be different from what we have now. We can’t go back to business as usual.”
He stressed that the onus was on countries with COVID-19 vaccines manufacturing capacity to increase production so as to avail the commodity at low or zero cost to poor countries in Africa.
Mr. Concar informed the EAC secretary general Peter Mathuki that his country was one of the biggest contributors to COVID-19 vaccine initiatives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday that the worst is yet to come as the new third wave gathers pace on the continent.
"Cases are doubling every 18 days, compared with every 21 days only a week ago", said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.
Coronavirus cases have been rising in Africa since the start of the third wave on the continent on May 3 this year.
During the week ending July 4, more than 251,000 new Covid-19 cases were recorded on the continent, a 20% increase over the previous week and a 12% jump from the previous January peak.
Sixteen African countries are now seeing a resurgence of the virus, with the more contagious Delta strain detected in 10 of them.
South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa, with new daily infections hitting record highs of 26,000 cases over the weekend, fuelled by the Delta variant.
On his part, Dr. Mathuki emphasized the need for awareness creation, noting that currently there was a lot of misinformation surrounding vaccination initiatives.
He said there was pressure from the private sector and EAC citizens on the partner states to harmonise testing and the costs of testing for COVID in addition to acceptance of COVID-19 tests across national borders.
He added that the EAC Heads of State were keen on regional integration projects, specifically job creation for the youth, poverty alleviation and industrialization.
"The region is open for business and investment and greater foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows were, therefore, expected", he pointed out.
According to him, one of his priorities is to increase intra-regional trade which currently stands at 15 percent to 50 percent in the next five years.
Later Dr. Mathuki further said that the EAC was putting in place a Trade Remedies Committee as a mechanism to resolve trade disputes in the region.
He revealed this when he met the Irish ambassador to Tanzania Ms Mary O'Neil who is also accredited to the six nation Community.
Dr. Mathuki stressed the need for a coordinated approach by the EAC partner states on Covid-19 testing procedures and charges.
Ms O'Neil hailed Tanzania for joining the COVAX Facility, the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines that ensured fair and equitable access to vaccines for all countries.
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