Regina Otokpa 
Fresh statistics released by the World Health Organization (WHO), yesterday showed that the cases of COVID-19 in the Africa region was surging weekly by over 20 per cent. African countries recording their highest number of new weekly cases since the pandemic began were noted to be the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Uganda. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, in a joint press briefing yesterday, warned that the third wave in the continent was gaining pace and approaching the peak of the first wave of the pandemic of more than 120, 000 weekly cases recorded in July 2020. While raising the alarm that new cases recorded weekly in Africa have exceeded half of the second wave peak of more than 224 000 weekly cases in early January 2021, she said the cases in 22 African countries making nearly 40 per cent of Africa’s 54 nations rose by over 20 percent in the week ending on June 13.