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 A few cubicles down, another woman was on oxygen after giving birth
while sick with the coronavirus as a third wave threatened to
overwhelm Senegal's hospitals and some of its cemeteries.
"As soon as one leaves intensive care, either discharged or sadly
dead, our treatment centre suggests another patient," said Doctor
Khady Fall, standing in the ward in full PPE.
"We are emotionally exhausted."
Senegal, which until July had recorded fewer than 44,000 COVID-19
cases and 1,166 deaths, has registered more than 20,000 cases and
250 deaths since the start of July, according to health ministry
figures.
The West African nation is not alone. Coronavirus-related deaths in
Africa reached a record peak in the week that ended on Aug. 1,
partly spurred by the highly transmissible Delta variant, the World
Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
"Africa is still on the crest of the third wave, still recording
more cases than in any earlier peak," WHO Africa official Phionah
Atuhebwe told a press conference.
[to top of second column] |
 A short drive from the hospital
in Dakar, grave-diggers at a Catholic cemetery
have had to work into the night to keep up with
the number of burials.
In the shadow of the capital's massive "African
Renaissance" monument, a corner of the cemetery
was filled with freshly covered graves, while
workers hacked into the earth nearby to create
new plots.
The manager of a Muslim cemetery in Yoff
district, Ibrahima Diassy, flipped anxiously
through a hard-bound register that had logged an
average of 30 burials per day compared with 20
before the latest COVID-19 surge.
Before the pandemic, the cemetery hosted just 10
funerals each day. "It's really unbelievable,"
Diassy said.
(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman)
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