COVID-19 spike worsens Africa’s severe poverty, hunger woes

By FARAI MUTSAKA
Associated Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — As 2021 comes to a close, many people in richer parts of the globe are fretting over the risk of contracting COVID-19 and how rising infections are upending their holiday plans. In Zimbabwe and much of Africa, the virus’s resurgence at a time of year that usually calls for celebration is a cruel reminder of how the nearly 2-year-old pandemic has devastated economies and left many hopeless. Amid the resurgence of the virus, infection fears and worries about whether to gather with family members for the holidays have taken a back seat to the more urgent task of finding enough money to put food on the table.