From Easing Lockdowns to Scaling-Up Community-Based COVID-19 Screening, Testing, and Contact Tracing in Africa - Shared Approaches, Innovations, and Challenges to Minimize Morbidity and Mortality.

The arrival of COVID-19 to the African continent resulted in a range of locally relevant lockdown measures, which curtailed the spread of SARS-CoV-2 but caused economic hardship for large sections of the population.�African countries now face difficult choices regarding easing of lockdowns and sustaining effective public health control measures and surveillance.� Control of the COVID-19 pandemic will require efficient community screening, testing, contact tracing, and behavioral change interventions, adequate resources, and a well-supported, community-based team of trained, protected personnel.� We discuss COVID-19 screening-testing-contact tracing approaches used in selected African countries and the need for shared, affordable, innovative methods to overcome challenges and minimize mortality rates. This crisis presents a unique opportunity to align COVID-19 services with those already in place for HIV, TB, Malaria, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through mobilization of Africa's inter-professional healthcare workforce to contain the pandemic. By addressing the challenges, the detrimental effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on African citizens can be minimized.