Schewitz, Ivan AntonZar, Heather J.Masekela, RefiloeGordon, StephenOzoh, ObianujuKagima, JacquelineGray, DianeBinegdie, AmsaluIrungu, AnneWorodria, William2021-09-152021-09-152020-09Schewitz IA, Zar H, Masekela R, Gordon S, Ozoh O, Kagima J, et al. Unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. Journal of the Pan African Thoracic Society 2020;1(1):3-5.2694-4561 (online)10.25259/JPATS_6_2020http://hdl.handle.net/2263/81844As we write this, a patient is in a local South African Hospital on a ventilator following a cardiac arrest after a massive pulmonary embolus. He recently returned from overseas. When he arrived, he had a cough and phoned his doctor, who instructed him to be tested for COVID-19 before a consultation. The results were delayed for a few days. Before the patient received the results which were negative, he had his pulmonary embolus, was admitted where he had a cardiac arrest with anoxic brain injury. This was an unintended and unreported consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The law of intended consequences has been defined as “The actions of people, and especially of governments, always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.”en© 2020 Published by Scientific Scholar on behalf of Journal of the Pan African Thoracic Society. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.COVID-19 pandemicCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)AfricaUnintended consequencesArticle