Africa’s coronavirus cases top 200,000

World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian, warned Africa to “prepare for the worst” back in March, but the virus has been slow to spread on the continent. Expertise developed from previous outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola, HIV/Aids and cholera proved useful, and many countries moved quickly to impose lockdowns, closing borders and bringing in contact tracing systems. However, there is now growing concern that some countries are under-reporting cases due to limited testing capacities, or downplaying their figures because of political pressure.