Johannesburg, 8 July 2021 (dpa/MIA) – Only 1.19 per cent of Africa‘s population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, a paltry number that is worrying experts as the continent experiences a third wave of cases. “That is far too low at this point of the pandemic,” Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said on Thursday. The current rise in infections is being driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, which has been detected in 15 African countries so far. In the seven days to July 4, the continent registered its worst week since the pandemic began, according to World Health Organization Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti. The number of cases has risen for seven consecutive weeks since the third wave began in May. More than 251,000 new infections were reported on the continent last week, a 20-per-cent increase from the previous week. The number of cases is climbing in 16 African countries, the WHO’s Moeti said, warning “the worst is yet to come” and that Africa is still several weeks away from seeing infections level off. A total of just over 5.7 million infections have been documented in Africa to date, according to the Africa CDC, with more than 148,000 of those being fatal. But experts believe the number of unreported cases is likely higher on the continent of 1.3 billion people. Still, the total number is low compared to other world regions: Africa accounts for 3.1 per cent of all global cases. The CDC is trying to pool resources from African nations and coordinate efforts to fight the pandemic. So far, Africa has procured only 70.4 million vaccine doses of the 700 million planned for this year, according to the CDC. Fifty-three per cent of those have already been administered.