Africa has extensive trade and transport transactions with China and Italy, the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Public health experts predict this `luck` will not last forever due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, its vast network of contacts around the world and cuts in US aid to the medical system.
Dr. Thomas Kenyon, former director of the Global Health Center of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), currently medical director of the humanitarian group Project HOPE, said that the Covid-19 sweep
Up to 2 million Chinese live in Africa or regularly visit the continent, bringing dozens of major infrastructure projects here in exchange for oil, minerals, food and other raw materials.
Many African countries are trying to improve their ability to detect, track and prevent epidemics after the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic killed 11,000 people.
`They will have to try to catch up,` said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the US government’s Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
US President Donald Trump has cut financial support for CDC and US Agency for International Development programs promoting public health in Africa.
`We are more ready than ever,` said Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is well prepared.
If officials let too many virus cases slip through, there is a possibility that the health care system here will be devastated, experts say.
Healthcare workers can easily get infected and bring the disease back to their homes or neighborhoods.
`I feel worried when I think about it,` Dr. Fauci replied when asked about predicting the impact of the virus in Latin America and Africa.
On February 27, Nigeria had its first case – an Italian businessman who arrived three days earlier and had a fever.
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director of NCDC found it more difficult to have so many patients present at the same time.
Many Africans are skeptical about the government’s ability to prevent the epidemic.
Scientists work in a laboratory at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, February 3.
Chinese companies say they are taking precautions to prevent the virus from entering Africa.
Many of them said that workers returning to China during the Lunar New Year holiday were quarantined or not allowed to return to Africa.
African ports are empty due to a lack of shipments from China and commodity prices are sure to rise.
False rumors about Covid-19 spread across the continent.
The challenges of other infectious diseases have not gone away either.
“There is a lot of tension going on in Nigeria, especially around the political class and economic interests,” Dr Ihekweazu said.