Africa coronavirus update: Covid-19 cases reach 1,569,680

The total number of coronavirus cases across the African continent has reached 1,569,680, while the death toll stood at 38,196, according to health authorities.

The new case tally and toll was confirmed on Sunday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said, a specialized healthcare agency of African Union (AU) Commission, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Africa CDC said the number of people who have recovered from the infectious virus across the continent has reached 1,297,625 so far.

Amid the uneven impact of the ongoing pandemic on African countries, the Africa CDC said that the ones most affected by the disease in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.

Southern Africa is the most affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as the number of deaths.

Meanwhile, Northern Africa is the second most affected region.

According to figures from the continental disease control and prevention agency, six African countries account for approximately 90 per cent of the new cases reported in the past week, in which Morocco accounted for 29 per cent, South Africa 20 per cent, Tunisia 20 per cent, Ethiopia 10 per cent, Libya 8 per cent and Kenya 2 per cent.

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

According to the Africa CDC, from the 55 members of the AU that are reporting Covid-19 epidemiologic data, 14 countries are reporting case fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 2.9 per cent.

These countries include the Sahrawi Republic, Chad, Sudan, Liberia, Niger, Egypt, Mali, Algeria, Angola, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Malawi.

--IANS

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