{"id":1986,"date":"2022-01-31T20:05:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T20:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows"},"modified":"2022-01-31T21:15:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T21:15:39","slug":"some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows","title":{"rendered":"Some Countries In Africa Reach Possible Endemic Stage, Study Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Top scientists are saying many African countries, including Malawi are reaching a less severe stage of the pandemic amid the rise of the omicron variant. Kondwani Jambo is an immunologist in Malawi who works for the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. Jambo believes he and his team have found the pandemic\u2019s Holy Grail.<\/p>\n

Last year, Kondwani Jambo had started a study to see how many people in his country of Malawi had been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The amount of Malawians who were infected by COVID-19 turned out to be a wide-reaching scale, and much higher than Jambo was anticipating. Many were already infected before the introduction of the omicron variant.<\/p>\n

But more importantly, suggests Jambo, this means the Holy Grail for battling this pandemic: the endemic stage when COVID-19 infections aren\u2019t as severe and unpredictable, becoming something more akin to a seasonal bug, like the cold or the flu.<\/p>\n

Scientists are saying Malawi is just one of several countries in Africa that have appeared to reach this substantial milestone in battling the pandemic.<\/p>\n

It helps to understand that the average age for Malawians is only around 18. Before the wave of the omicron virus Malawi hadn\u2019t been hit too hard by COVID-19, or so it appeared. \u201cProbably less than 10% [of the population], if we look at the number of individuals that have tested positive,\u201d Jambo said. The number of hospitalizations also remained surprisingly low.<\/p>\n

However, Jambo remained suspicious, and being aware of the young age of most Malawians, predicted that a majority of infections were probably just asymptomatic, meaning many who were infected didn\u2019t suffer severely enough to be urged to get tested or go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

This prompted Jambo and his team to find a new source of information. They turned their attention to a repository of blood samples that had been collected over the course of many months. Their findings? By the beginning of Malawi\u2019s third COVID-19 wave with the delta variant last summer, 80% of the population had already been infected with the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Similar studies have been performed in Kenya, Madagascar, and South Africa. \u201cAnd practically in every place they\u2019ve done this, the results are exactly the same,\u201d Jambo added.<\/p>\n

Less than 5% of Malawians have been fully vaccinated, so their apparent resistance to severe disease was most likely built up due to poor exposure to earlier variants.<\/p>\n

South Africa was not so lucky. While they have also experienced immunization, it came at a high cost. Their population is much older than Malawi, which resulted in swamped hospitals during the delta wave last summer.<\/p>\n

Shabir Madhi is the volcanologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He says the upside is that \u201cwe\u2019ve come to a point where at least three quarters\u2013 and now after omicron, probably 80%– of South Africans have developed immunity and at least protection against severe disease and death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahdi has reason to believe this sort of immunization could last up to a year. To better move forward, \u201cWe need to ensure that at least 90% of people above the age of 50 are vaccinated,\u201d Mahdi said.<\/p>\n

He suggests that by the time the next variant comes, it will be important not to immediately panic over the mere rise in infections. Mahdi believes a rise in infections is inevitable and policies intended to stop it aren’t just damaging but rather, \u201cfanciful thinking,\u201d saying that officials should instead be more focused on the unlikely possibility of severe illness and death.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Top scientists are saying many African countries, including Malawi are reaching a less severe stage of the pandemic amid the rise of the omicron variant. Kondwani Jambo is an immunologist in Malawi who works for the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. Jambo believes he and his team have found the pandemic\u2019s Holy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,13,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-1986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nSome Countries In Africa Reach Possible Endemic Stage, Study Shows - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Top scientists are saying many African countries, including Malawi are reaching a less severe stage of the pandemic amid ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Countries In Africa Reach Possible Endemic Stage, Study Shows\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top scientists are saying many African countries, including Malawi are reaching a less severe stage of the pandemic amid ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-31T20:05:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-31T21:15:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/01\/img-61f8515fae732.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Some Countries In Africa Reach Possible Endemic Stage, Study Shows\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-31T20:05:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-31T21:15:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/01\/img-61f8515fae732.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"Social\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/some-countries-in-africa-reach-possible-endemic-stage-study-shows\",\"name\":\"Some Countries In Africa Reach Possible Endemic Stage, Study Shows - 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