Madagascar Hospitals Overwhelmed By Spike in COVID-19 Cases

Hospitals in Madagascar said they have been overwhelmed by an increase in patients following a surge in COVID-19 infections with those in the capital Antananarivo adding that they had reached their capacities.

“We are now only accepting severe cases,” the director at the Andohotapenaka Hospital, Nasolotsiry Raveloson, told AFP.

The spokesperson for the nation’s COVID-19 Command Center, Hanta Marie Danielle Vololontian, said persons who do not get tested and die from the virus at home will not be added to official statistics.

Madagascar’s situation with the COVID-19 pandemic began spiraling out of control in recent weeks after it appeared that the island nation was making progress.

Madagascar was regularly registering dozens of COVID-19 cases daily; however, a recent exponential rise in those figures saw it begin reporting a record number of new cases. In the last day, it reported 614 new cases, the highest daily total so far.

As a result of that, Madagascar placed Antananarivo under a fresh lockdown until July 26, two months after the restrictions were eased.

Antananarivo was one of three cities that initially went into lockdown towards the end of March to try and contain the spread of the deadly virus.

In April, President Andry Rajoelina launched the herbal tonic, Covid-Organics which is produced from the artemisia plant, which he claimed could prevent and cure COVID-19.

Despite the World Health Organisation opposing it due to a lack of clinical trials to determine its efficacy, some countries such as Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Tanzania went ahead and ordered consignments of the tonic.

The government has also taken some measures to address the deteriorating situation such as opening a 400-bed treatment center for people with mild symptoms and importing nearly 1,000 oxygen machines.

Madagascar currently has 8,162 confirmed cases and 69 fatalities from the deadly virus. AFP