As of late July 2020, only 3% of recorded deaths due to COVID-19 have occurred in Africa despite being home to 17% of the world’s population. In order to gain a better understanding of the spread of the virus in Kenya, researchers screened 3,098 blood donations between April 30 and June 16, 2020 for anti-spike SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in donors was 5.6% (174/3098). The bayesian population-weighted seroprevalence estimate for Kenya was 4.3% (95% C.I., 2.9-5.8%), which is comparable to other population-based estimates for Wuhan, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and USA after initial epidemic waves. These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is more widespread in Kenya than previously thought. The discrepancy of high COVID-19 seroprevalence and low mortality throughout Africa may be due to several factors including a younger population, limited testing, or other unknown factors such as cross-reactive antibodies that reduce morbidity and mortality.
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