Africa’s COVID-19 cases edge closer to the 5.3 million mark punctuated by a daily spike in infections

AFRICA – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 5,234,387, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reported.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stood at 138,154 while 4,643,802 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.

South Africa has 1,832,479 cases and 58,795 deaths. The country has received 4,010,480 vaccines so far and has managed to inoculate 6.76% of population mostly using BioNTech and J&J vaccines.

Morocco has recorded 526,737 cases and 9,244 deaths to date. The country has been able to vaccinate 25.48% of population having Administered 17,713,201 doses.

 In Tunisia there have been 387,773 cases while deaths stand at 14,223. The north African country has Vaccine Supplied administered 1,552,417 doses of AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V, BioNTech and Sinovac vaccines.

Ethiopia is leading in the Eastern region with 275,318 cases and 4,286 deaths. The country has administered 1,982,320 vaccine doses covering 1.09% of the population.

Kenya’s total number of COVID-19 infections now near the 180,000 mark. This after the country’s health ministry on Tuesday announced that it has recorded 583 new coronavirus cases, raising the country’s total tally to 179,876 cases.

Unfortunately, 23 people succumbed to the disease, total fatalities from COVID-19 now at 3,484. A total of 1,190,889 COVID-19 vaccines have thus far been administered across the country, 996,414 being first doses while 194,475 are second doses.

Other countries that are affected adversely by the pandemic include Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon and DR Congo.

Nigeria has 167,292 cases and 2,118 deaths so far, having administered vaccines to only 0.96% of its population.

Ghana stands at 95,236 cases with 794 fatalities reported while Zambia has 130,631 cases and 1,691deaths so far.

In Cameroon, 80,487 cases and 1,320 deaths have been reported so far. The country has managed to administer 100,991 doses out of 591,200 vaccine doses supplied, covering 1.12% of the population.

Democratic Republic of the Congo has 38,330 cases and 888 deaths as per the latest data released.

DR CONGO has so far received a vaccine supply of 451,0000 AstraZeneca doses, out of which: 41,916 have been administered covering 25% of population.

In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.