Segmentation of African countries based on infection and death rates of COVID-19 before vaccination: A rigid population to source for workforce amidst the pandemic?

Abstract

This study established segments among African countries to show the hierarchies of COVID-19 infection and death rates across the continent before the commencement of vaccination. Four clusters were extracted, each consisting of countries with a similar number of cumulative infections and deaths per 100 thousand population. When compared with the pre-vaccination figures from Europe, Americas, and Asia, it was observed that the African population exhibited a good level of rigidity and resilience to the pandemic, pre-vaccination. Majority of African countries - evaluating to 84% - were clustered into the segment with low infection and low death rates. Only 4% of the countries were clustered into the higher infection and highest death rates segment. This is an indication of the rigidity of a greater part of the African population to COVID-19 before vaccination. To forestall total business shutdown in the event of a similar pandemic in the future, multinational corporations could explore their workforce from the African population given the level of rigidity exhibited pre-vaccination.