teleSUR – The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday revealed that the number of COVID-19 cases across the African continent had exceeded 1 million, and the number of deaths related to the pandemic rose from 21,617 on Thursday to 22,066 on Friday.
Also, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) said in its latest situation update that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the continent rose to 1,007,366 as of Friday afternoon.
Still, Worldometer, a reference website that provides real-time estimates and statistics, reports that the continent has already reached 1,025,464 cases and 22,553 deceases. The source also estimates about 707,877 the total recovered and 295,034 active cases.
According to Africa CDC’s update on the pandemic, the coronavirus transmission rate grew exponentially in many territories of the region, to spread from the capitals to communities with even fewer resources.
Amid the rapid spread of the pandemic across countries on the continent, South Africa, Djibouti, Sao Tome, and Principe, Cape Verde, and Gabon are reporting the most cumulative COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
South Africa is the worst-hit, registering more than half of the cases in the continent, with 538,184 confirmed so far. Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, and Morocco are next on the list of those most affected, the specialized’s AU agency said.
Besides, eight African countries have reported higher COVID-19 fatality rates compared to the global average, namely Chad, Sudan, Niger, Liberia, Egypt, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Angola.
For the specialists of Africa CDC, based in Addis Ababa, the precarious conditions of the health systems and the conflicts in several countries make it difficult to apply preventive actions and carry out extensive tests.
