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Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases surpass 1.27 million

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Published on: June 16, 2023

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A health worker dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) takes a nasopharyngeal swab sample from a resident during a Covid-19 testing drive at Olympic Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Halfway through Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyattas second term his pledge of transforming the economy through manufacturing, farming, health care and low-cost housing have been slow to show results, and the coronavirus pandemic could now reduce that to little more than an election promise. Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday disclosed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 1,275,815.

The Africa CDC, specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, in a statement issued on Friday said that the death toll from the ongoing pandemic also rose to 30,596. The number of COVID-19 recoveries also hit 1,015,865 as of Friday afternoon.

Africa’s total COVID-19 cases represent 5 percent of all cases reported globally, it said.

The Africa CDC also disclosed that nine African countries account for 81 percent of the new COVID-19 cases reported during the past week, including South Africa at 27 percent, Ethiopia at 17 percent, Morocco at 16 percent, Libya at 5 percent, Algeria at 4 percent, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia and Egypt at 3 percent each.

In terms of reporting the highest cumulative incidence COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in Africa, South Africa placed first at 1,079, Cabo Verde second at 647, and Djibouti at 539, according to the Africa CDC.

According to the Africa CDC, some eleven countries are reporting case fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 3.4 percent that include Chad reporting case fatality rates of 8 percent and Sudan reporting case fatality rates of 6 percent.

The Africa CDC also disclosed that amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, African countries have so far conducted more than 11.8 million COVID-19 tests, with 10.7 percent positivity rate.

South Africa, the highest COVID-19 affected African country, has so far reported 633,015 cases and 14,563 deaths as of Friday, it was noted. Egypt, which is the second most COVID-19 affected country in Africa, has also reported 99,425 positive cases and 5,479 COVID-19 related deaths, according to the Africa CDC.

On Thursday, Ethiopia overtook Nigeria as the fourth most COVID-19 affected African nation having reported 804 new cases, eventually bringing the total number of cases to 55,213, the country’s Ministry of Health said.

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