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ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 19-- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Wednesday urged African governments to rapidly scale up surveillance, testing, contact tracing and care for people with COVID-19 amid rapid spread of the virus across the continent. The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, made the urgent call in its latest Public Health and Social Measure Implementation in Africa report that was published on Wednesday, which analyzed major trends in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Africa during the past week. According to the report, the number of new COVID-19 reported cases decreased by 23 percent during the past week when compared to the previous week, while new deaths increased by 10 percent in the same timeframe, consistent with the lag in mortality typically seen with COVID-19. Amid the spread of the report across the continent, the Africa CDC also stressed that "governments should continue efforts to rapidly scale up surveillance, testing, contact tracing and care for people with COVID-19, collaborating with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) in Africa." It also called on African governments to prevent stigmatization surrounding COVID-19 and encourage people to seek care, increase community engagement efforts. "Much of the recent decline in new cases and increase in new deaths can be attributed to South Africa, where data indicates the epidemic may be peaking in provinces hit earliest by COVID-19," the report read. | 
