equipment, lack of funding, insufficient training of healthcare workers, and inefficient data transmission. it was feared that the pandemic could be difficult to keep under control in africa, and could cause huge economic problems if it spread widely. the pandemic has had a serious economic impact in african countries, damaging the continent's growing middle class and threatening to increase the rates of poverty and extreme poverty. on 23 june 2021, researchers from harvard t.h. chan school of public health and the africa research, implementation science and education (arise) network published six studies on the impact of the virus and control measures on nutrition, health, and areas of existing inequities. their findings included food price increases, disrupted schooling, and a disruption in health care services. previous research found that crowding out grew from 2014 to 2018, reaching high levels in a number of countries, including ghana, niger, tanzania, and zambia. in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, africa's debt accumulation between 2008 and 2017 resulted in increasing public debt on bank balance sheets, higher interest rates on sovereign paper in several african nations, and collapsing banks. given the enormous growth in indebtedness across africa in 2020, there is a definite possibility of this cycle recurring, impeding recovery from the pandemic. covid-19 enterprise survey follow-up modules were conducted in nine african nations between 2020 and 2021, producing results consistent with a severe economic effect. around 88% of enterprises in countries where covid-19 follow-up surveys were conducted (three in southern africa, one in east africa, four in west africa, and one in north africa) were suffering diminished liquidity, with more than 55% of them closing temporarily during the covid-19 pandemic. almost 8% had declared bankruptcy, and 26% of enterprises are past due on financial institution commitments. firms that depend on equity are at 36%. rather than depending on commercial bank loans to address cash flow issues, these are more likely to succeed at 16%. impact of the covid-19 crisis on business, as perceived by banks in sub-saharan africa (% respondents) in the european investment bank banking in africa survey. healthcare systems as of 18 april 2020, the supply of ventilators was low in much of africa: 41 countries had only 2,000 ventilators between them, and ten countries had no ventilators at all. even basic supplies like soap and water are subject to shortages in parts of the continent. the united nations reported that at least 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators were needed for the continent's 1.3 billion people in 2020. the world health organization (who) helped many countries on the continent set up laboratories for covid-19 testing. matshidiso moeti of the who said: "we need to test, trace, isolate and treat". experts say that experience battling ebola helped some countries prepare for covid-19. the integrated disease surveillance programme has been leveraged for surveillance and case-finding. molecular testing has been scaled up across the continent using existing disease surveillance programs such as those for hiv, drug-resistant tuberculosis and lassa fever. pooled testing to expedite processing times has been pioneered in countries such as ghana. key leadership has been provided at country and regional level by public health institutes such as the nigeria centre for disease control, the five regional centres for disease control, and the africa centres for disease control and prevention. the africa centres for disease control and prevention has worked to support the response across the continent and distributed tests donated by the jack ma foundation. the africa centres for disease control and prevention, world health organization and covid-19 africa open data project have collected and reported continent-wide data on the number of cases, recoveries and deaths. the covid-19 africa open data project provides additional data on healthcare workers infected, health services, urgent needs and local laboratories. vaccination a nurse prepares to administer a dose of the astrazeneca/oxford covid-19 vaccine at ridge hospital in accra, ghana, march 2021 africa centres for disease control and prevention director john nkengasong warned on 10 december that africa might not see vaccines until after the second quarter of 2021. separately, richard mihigo of the world health organization warned against inequality in access to covid-19 vaccines. in egypt, the poverty rate as of february 2021 stood at 29.7 percent, i.e., 30.5 million people. nevertheless, the authorities were reported to be charging between 100 and 200 egp (egyptian pounds) for a double dose of the covid-19 vaccine by astrazeneca. as per the economic conditions in egypt, two doses of the vaccine were said to exhaust about 13 to 27 percent of the monthly income for people living just above the poverty line. according to unofficial estimates, about 60,000 people died in egypt between may 2020 and july 2020, due to covid-19. responses innovative uses of technology in health and other sectors such as drone delivery of test kits to isolated areas have been piloted. the european investment bank committed €5 billion in new private and public investment throughout africa in 2020 to assist in mitigating the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, as well as addressing the economic consequences of the crisis. 71% of the funds were for the least developed economies. the overall finance will end up supporting more than €12 billion in projects in 28 african countries. this financial support is estimated to help 210 million people be vaccinated against covid-19, 595,400 homes to receive new electricity, 778,000 people getting a safer water supply. farmers will also benefit from 26,500 hectares of freshly irrigated land and 3,076 hectares of newly planted forest. a lasting sustainable recovery from covid-19 would need an extra $1 trillion in yearly investment for poor countries, on top of the $2.5 trillion annual funding shortfall for the pre-crisis sustainable development goals. lockdown a young boy in uganda studies at home during the covid-19 lockdown, june 2020 in march 2020, matshidiso moeti of the world health organization said that hand washing and physical distancing could be challenging in some places in africa. it was thought that lockdown may not be possible, and challenges may be exacerbated by the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, aids, tuberculosis, and cholera. however, by may, at least 42 african countries had imposed partial or full lockdowns. advisers say that a strategy based on testing could allow african countries to minimize lockdowns that inflict enormous hardship on those who depend on income earned per day to be able to feed themselves and their families. additionally, there is an increased risk of famine in several african nations. many preventive measures have been implemented in different countries in africa, including travel restrictions, flight cancellations, event cancellations, school closures, and border closures. social influencers and celebrities have joined voices with public health experts urging people to practice social distancing. other measures to contain and limit the spread of the virus have included curfews, lockdowns, and enforcing the wearing of face masks. local businesses local businesses have financially supported response efforts and initiated the manufacture of masks and hand sanitizers. social media there have been significant efforts to combat covid-19 disinformation and provide accurate information to support the response to covid-19. the "verified" social media initiative of the united nations used "information volunteers" to help debunk false claims about vaccine trials and fake cures. unesco #dontgoviral initiative crowdsourced culturally relevant, open-sourced information in local languages. the communications agency 35-north partnered with the covid-19 africa open data project to combat misinformation through telegram and whatsapp. it also raised the question of public policy and trust in africa's governments and elsewhere and challenge them in many different aspects. opportunities created covid-19 made africans more creative. africans now produce hand sanitisers, ventilators and face masks and have gotten the hang of smart technologies.