Africa records over one million COVID-19 cases – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa located in Brazzaville, Congo, says there are over one million confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent.

The UN health agency gave the update on its regional official Twitter account @WHOAFRO on Friday.

WHO stated on its dashboard that there are over 1,000,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 690,000 recoveries and more than 22,000 deaths cumulatively.

It stated that South Africa had 538,184 cases and 9,604 deaths, followed by Nigeria with 45,244 confirmed cases and 930 deaths, while Ghana had 39,642 confirmed cases and 199 deaths.

It added that Seychelles, Eritrea and Mauritius were countries currently with the lowest confirmed cases in the region.

The office said that Seychelles had 114 confirmed cases with zero death, Eritrea; 282 confirmed cases with zero death, Mauritius had 344 reported cases with 10 deaths.

Meanwhile, in COVID-19 Situation Report, WHO said there had been a 13 per cent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the African Region in the past week,

It said there was an increase in COVID-19 cases in the region from 13 per cent to 18 per cent increase during the previous reporting period.

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According to the report, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continues to evolve, with over 800, 000 cases and nearly 15,000 deaths reported in the WHO African Region.

“Since our last External Situation Report 22 issued on 29 July 2020, a total of 95,673 new confirmed COVID-19 cases (13 per cent increase) was reported from 44 countries between 28 July and 4 August 2020, compared to a 18 per cent increase recorded during the previous reporting period (22 – 28 July 2020).

“Of the 95, 673 reported new cases, the majority, 68 per cent (61, 557), were recorded in South Africa, which remains the hardest hit country across the continent and ranks fifth globally only after the United States of America (4, 629, 459), Brazil (2, 733, 677), India (1, 855, 745), and the Russian Federation (861, 423).

“Even with high case numbers in South Africa, the reported deaths remain relatively low.’’

The report further said the rate at which COVID-19 cases were increasing daily in the region had, for the first time, started declining, according to official data reported to WHO.

“This is mainly attributed to the significant declines in the daily case counts being reported in South Africa for the past few days. Anecdotal reports also indicate that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is slowing in South Africa.

“While these indicators are encouraging, the figures should be cautiously interpreted as they may be affected by many factors, including the current testing capacity and strategy,’’ it stated.

(NAN)