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Morgue data hint at COVID’s true toll in Africa

Around 90% of deceased people tested at a Lusaka facility during coronavirus surges were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting flaws in the idea of an ‘African paradox’.
  1. Freda Kreier
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Almost one-third of more than 1,000 bodies taken to a morgue in Lusaka in 2020 and 2021 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, implying that many more people died of COVID-19 in Zambia’s capital than official numbers suggest1. Some scientists say that the findings further undermine the ‘African paradox’, a narrative that the pandemic was less severe in Africa than in other parts of the world.

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Nature 603, 778-779 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00842-9

References

  1. Gill, C. J. et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.08.22272087 (2022).

  2. Lawal, Y. Int. J. Infect. Dis. 102, 118–122 (2021).

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  3. COVID-19 Excess Mortality Collaborators. Lancet https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02796-3 (2022).

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