COVID-19 cases top 10, 000 in Africa – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Congo, says there are so far 10, 000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) reported in 52 Africa countries.

The UN’s health agency gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Wednesday.

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“There are over 10,000 COVID-19 cases reported across 52 countries in Africa; initially, mainly confined to capital cities, a significant number of countries in Africa are now reporting cases in multiple provinces,’’ it stated.

The breakdown in the WHO African Region COVID-19 dashboard showed that South Africa, Algeria and Cameroon had continued to top the list of countries with the highest reported cases.

South Africa has 1,749 cases and 13 deaths followed by Algeria 1,468 cases with 194 deaths and Cameroon, 650 confirmed cases with nine deaths.

It also showed that the country with the lowest confirmed case is South Sudan which has reported only one case.

The second lowest confirmed case of COVID-19 in Africa is Burundi, which has reported three confirmed cases.

Two countries, Gambia and Sao Tome have confirmed four cases each, making them 3rd in the category of countries with lowest cases.

Meanwhile, Gambia has recorded its first death from COVID-19.

Also, the dashboard showed that COVID-19 cases had risen to 254 in the past 24 hours from 238 confirmed cases with six deaths in Nigeria.

However, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, raised concerns over the high cases of the virus reported on the continent.

Moeti in her twitter account @MoetiTshidi, said COVID-19 cases in Africa had risen to more than 10,000.

“Tackling this pandemic requires a decentralised response. Communities must be empowered and get the resources and expertise needed to tackle outbreaks locally.’’

She gave the breakdown of the figures to over 10, 000 cumulative confirmed cases reported, over 500 deaths and over 900 recoveries.

“South Africa is the most affected with over 1,600 cases reported,’’   Moeti said.