ADDIS ABABA, March 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 3,948,029 as of Saturday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union (AU), said the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 105,275, while some 3,526,325 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.
The most affected countries in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases are South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, it said.
South Africa has reported 50,566 deaths from the disease, the most among African countries, followed by Egypt, at 10,916, and Morocco, at 8,673, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health reported 956 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, taking its national count to 165,029.
Meanwhile, 16 new deaths were recorded, bringing the death toll to 2,420, the ministry added.
With 354 more recoveries registered, the total recoveries rose to 137,785, it said.
Ethiopia has so far reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East African region.
The Ethiopian government recently started a campaign to encourage face mask wearing in the public as part of COVID-19 precautionary measures so as to contain the spread of the virus.
The East African nation has so far conducted 2,171,913 COVID-19 tests, including 6,406 new ones during the last 24 hours, said the ministry. — NNN-XINHUA