IRC warns of undetected virus outbreaks in Africa

African countries are at risk of having undetected coronavirus outbreaks due to low testing rates, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Nigeria, Chad and Mali are listed as having the lowest rate of coronavirus testing in the continent.

Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million, has conducted just 40,000 tests.

South Africa, with a population of 57 million, has conducted 525,433 tests.

Chad and Mali have also been listed by IRC as having low testing rates - at 105 per million and 173 per million respectively.

The IRC is appealing for international support for countries with low testing rates.

The organisation also expressed concern about countries like Tanzania whose data is either not shared publicly or is inconsistent.

This "makes tracking the spread of the virus, particularly amongst the world’s most vulnerable, all the more challenging", the IRC said. 

It, however, praised Uganda for "instituting early mitigation measures".

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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