The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said severe lockdowns are no longer the best way to deal with coronavirus waves.
Governments are now being urged to use public health and social measures to reduce the number of virus infections.
The emphasis on vaccination as a tool was also made in the latest Africa briefing by the Africa CDC.
Several countries experienced new virus waves towards the end of last year.
South Africa attributed its rising number of cases to the new variant Omicron.
Several southern Africa nations had travel bans imposed on them because of the variant.
