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Research published in The Lancet Medical Journal has shown that COVID-19 death could be underreported as most people in Africa who get critically ill could have died from lack of medical equipment.
The researchers further weighed their results analogously with those of other continents, which revealed low mortality rates.
The comparison shows an average of 48.2% death for critically ill patients who went into intensive care in African countries and 31.5% in other continents.
This is contrary to nearly 131,000 people reported to have died from Covid-19 in Africa.
Aside from the above data on the death rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients, several recent research also suggests that Africa is worse hit than officially reported.
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The Lancet research paper on COVID-19 death rates among the critically ill
The Lancet study combines data collected from May and December 2020. Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria and South Africa were used as subject locations in the research.
Researchers followed 3,000 critically ill covid patients in the intensive care units of these countries. Within 30 days of admission, nearly half the number died, a higher rate than the global average of around 31%.
The Lancet research gives a first detailed look at the Covid death toll in Africa’s ICUs.
“Our study is the first to give a detailed and comprehensive picture of what is happening to people who are severely ill with Covid-19 in Africa,” Bruce Biccard from Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town said in a statement.”
Researchers, therefore, warns of the risk of underreports as more people could be dying from a lack of medical supplies.
