Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases approaching 2.03m

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent has reached 2,026,841, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Friday.

The death toll related to the pandemic stood at 48,681, the continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement.

A total of 1,714,395 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent.

The most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

Southern Africa is the hardest hit African region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as the number of deaths, followed by northern Africa, according to the Africa CDC.

South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases, at 759,658. The country also has the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, at 20,671.

Morocco comes next with 311,554 confirmed cases and 5,090 deaths, followed by Egypt with 111,955 confirmed cases and 6,508 deaths, Africa CDC said.

South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Tunisia account for approximately 68 per cent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the continent.

Countries reporting the highest incidence of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over the past seven days in Africa include Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Cabo Verde, and South Africa.

According to the Africa CDC, from the 55 members of the AU that are reporting COVID-19 epidemiologic data, 16 report case fatality rates higher than the global rate of 2.4 per cent.

They include Chad, Sudan, Liberia, Niger, Egypt, Mali, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Gambia and Tunisia.

Africa’s average fatality rate is around 2.4 per cent.

The continent’s total COVID-19 cases represent about 3.6 per cent of the global tally, according to Africa CDC.