Burkina Faso hospitals worry as second COVID-19 wave hits

Burkina Faso hospitals worry as second COVID-19 wave hits

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) “” For nearly a year, Ousseni Yanogo thought he was doing everything he could to protect himself from the coronavirus. The 63-year-old retired gendarme diligently wore a mask, washed his hands and stayed a safe distance from other adults.

When he held hands with his granddaughter to sing happy birthday when she turned 6, he never imagined he'd find himself fighting to survive in a coronavirus isolation ward weeks later.

"I didn't know contact (with children) was that dangerous, otherwise I wouldn't have allowed the party to be organized,“ Yanogo said while seated on his bed at the Bogodogo Medical Teaching Hospital in Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country of roughly 20 million.

After managing to avoid a catastrophic first wave of virus for various reasons, including that its figures were almost surely undercounted, the conflict-riddled nation, like much of Africa, is trying to cope with a much deadlier second wave. Although Burkina Faso's virus figures are still relatively small compared to those in many parts of the world, officials worry that a general lack of understanding and adherence to basic safeguards will make it hard to rein in and could overwhelm the country's already strained health