Severe lockdowns no longer a tool to contain Covid-19: Africa's top health official

Africa's top public health official said on Thursday that severe lockdowns were no longer the best way to contain Covid-19, praising South Africa for adopting that approach when responding to its latest infection wave driven by the Omicron variant.

Nkengasong added that he feared that Covid-19 could become endemic on the continent given the slow pace of vaccination - a prospect many global scientists already talk of as a given. Less than 10% of Africa's population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the latest Africa CDC figures show, with many countries initially struggling to access sufficient shots and later battling to get them into arms.