Eight Hundred Million Africans Have Had Covid-19, WHO Says (1)

Only one in almost 100 Covid-19 cases may have been detected in Africa and about two-thirds of the continent’s inhabitants may have been infected with the disease, the World Health Organization said.

The assessment, which is available as a pre-print under peer review and is based on about 150 studies published in 2020 and 2021, shows how underreported the impact of the disease on the world’s poorest continent may have been. Globally, one in 16 cases have been picked up on average, according to the WHO.

“In September 2021, rather than the reported 8.2 million cases, there were in fact ...