Variation in SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks across sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT: A surprising feature of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to date is the low burdens reported in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries relative to other global regions. Potential explanations (for example, warmer environments¹, younger populations^2-4) have yet to be framed within a comprehensive analysis. We synthesized factors hypothesized to drive the pace and burden of this pandemic in SSA during the period from 25 February to 20 December 2020, encompassing demographic, comorbidity, climatic, healthcare capacity, intervention efforts and human mobility dimensions. Large diversity in the probable drivers indicates a need for caution in interpreting analyses that aggregate data across low- and middle-income settings. Our simulation shows that climatic variation between SSA popula

SUBMITTER: Rice BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8590469 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature