COVID-19: A novel burden on the fragile health system of Angola
Dawa Gyeltshen, Shuaibu Saidu Musa, Josephine Ndapewoshali Amesho, Samuel Chukwuebuka Ewelike, Alex Vandy Saffa Bayoh, Christophe Al-Sammour, Angel Anthony R. Camua, Xü Lin, Mat Lowe, Attaullah Ahmadi, Blaise Ntacyabukura, Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi, Don Eliseo Lucero‐Prisno
Abstract
A ngola is a Sub-Saharan African country sharing borders with Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. COVID-19 has hit Angola at a time when it is grappling to heal long years of economic hardships fueled by dropping oil prices. Angola documented the first case of COVID-19 on March 21, 2020 As of January 18, 2021, 18875 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed with a recovery rate of 86.6% (16347) and a case fatality rate of 2.31% (436) The incidence rate of COVID-19 is 57.43 (per 100 000 people) which is lower than its neighboring countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Zambia Angola started to prepare its national contingency plan in February 2020 for the management of COVID-19, even before it reached the country [1]. Angola's approach to dealing with COVID-19 is multisectoralforming partnerships and cooperation with both local and international partners [3]. This paper aims to describe Angola's responses and its preparedness against the COVID-19 pandemic.