Epidemiological profile study of COVID-19 in West African countries: Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Mali

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic was first reported in West Africa on 27 February 2020 in Nigeria. It subsequently spread to other countries in the region. The objective of this study is to analyze the epidemiological profile of COVID-19 in West Africa from the first reported case to 31 January 2021. MethodWe publicly used available data from reliable sources and from the "COVID-19R" package. We used epidemic curves to describe the trends in the daily evolution of confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in West Africa and specifically in the five countries. The reproduction rate and evolution rates were calculated from these trends. ResultsAs of 31 January 2021, West Africa had 342,938 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 4,496 deaths. Nigeria had 131,242 cases with 1,586 deaths. Senegal had 26,523 cases with 628 deaths. The case-fatality rate in Mali was 4.08% and the attack rate in Cape Verde was 2587 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, the epidemic curves supported by the evolution rates showed an increase in confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 during December 2020 and January 2021 compared to the last two months. The effective reproduction rates (Re) inferred a slowdown in virus transmission (Re < 1) in these countries except for Senegal. ConclusionThe results showed that COVID-19 was still circulating in some West African countries in late 2020 and early 2021. By improving the health system and with context-specific public health interventions and vaccination, these countries should effectively control COVID-19.