Scientists puzzled over the low coronavirus cases in Africa

The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, infecting more than 90,000 and killing at least 3,000.

And with the rest of the first world countries working around the clock to battle the scourge, the vulnerable African continent remains largely unaffected.

A fact that continues to puzzle even the most brilliant brains across the globe especially with the close Africa-Chinese ties.

Thumbi Ndung’u, director of a Durban-based infectious disease research centre, SANTHE, told Health24 that no one knows why Africa is unscathed.

“I don’t think anybody knows” why Africa so far appeared to be unscathed. He also speculated that it could be “there isn’t much travel to that particular part of China from Africa – back and forth,” he noted.

Conspiracy theorists who claimed that cases in Africa had been masked were shot down as infections of such nature would require “exceptional management” and cannot remain hidden for too long.

There have been claims that Africa’s hot climate has the potential of warding off the virus although the claims have not been substantiated.

Rodney Adam who heads the infection control task force at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi says there is no evidence to support the claims of the climate killing the deadly virus.

So far, only three cases have been reported across the continent, with experts ruling our poor detection of the infection.

For a good reason, African countries have had a head start to prepare for the virus and over 27 countries can now test for the infection without relying on the western countries.