By Hannatu Sadiq
Senegal is in the grip of a third wave of Covid-19 infections, which is believed to be driven by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.
In the country’s capital, emergency wards are at a breaking point and doctors are struggling to maintain control.
The west African nation with a population of 16 million people, has recorded over 59,000 Covid-19 infections since the start of the pandemic, with more than 1,300 fatalities. But official cases have risen rapidly, from a few dozen a day late last month, to a daily peak of 1,700 in July. Authorities recorded between 600 and 750 cases a day this week.
Emergency room Doctor, Babacar Diop, 30, said the situation is very catastrophic, “we’re receiving patients who are dying on the doorstep,” he said.
The young Doctor insisted that number of Covid-19 deaths is underreported as “more sick people are dying at home than in the hospital.”
“This variant is a time bomb,” said Diop, adding that there is little option but to “turn to prayer”.
Macadou Mbodji, the coordinator of the Covid-19 resuscitation unit in Dakar’s Idrissa Pouye hospital, says more and more young people are being admitted.
There is no report of shortage of oxygen as the hospital has its own manufacturing plant however, beds in the resuscitation unit – reserved for the most severe cases – are full.
Mr. Mbodji revealed that almost all of the intensive-care patients are unvaccinated, or have only received one dose, he says.
Cemeteries in the capital Dakar are contending with a surge in burials. In Yoff, the largest cemetery in Dakar is handling three times more burials than normal, while the Christian Saint-Lazare Cemetery is seeing as many burials in one day as it usually would in one week.
“In a week, we would do six or seven funerals. But now, we can do six or seven in a single day. With the first (Covid-19) wave, we didn’t even feel it here. Out of all the funerals we’ve done here, those that were for covid, there weren’t even a dozen. The second wave, we had some but not that many, but as for this third wave, we are really going through it now,” said Habib Sagna, the manager of Sanit Lazare cemetery.
