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Number of COVID-19 cases in Africa tops 115,000

South Africa accounts for the biggest number of Africa’s coronavirus cases while the highest death toll on the continent is recorded in Egypt, according to the WHO data

PRETORIA, May 26. /TASS/. More than 4,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered in African countries in the past day, with the overall number of such cases exceeding 115,000, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said on Tuesday.

The overall number of COVID-19 cases in Africa currently stands at 115,237, with 4,331 cases confirmed during the past day. The number of coronavirus-associated deaths amounts to 3,453.

South Africa accounts for the biggest number of Africa’s coronavirus cases — 23,615, with 481 fatalities. The highest death toll is reported from Egypt — 735. The country has 16,513 coronavirus cases. As many as 609 coronavirus-related deaths were reported from Algeria, which has 8,503 confirmed cases. COVID-19 tally in Morocco is 7,429, with 198 fatalities. Sudan reports 3,634 confirmed cases and 146 deaths.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is second after South Africa in terms of coronavirus cases and fatalities (8,068 and 233, respectively). Next are Ghana (6,808 and 32), Cameroon (4,890 and 165), Guinea (3,322 and 20), Senegal (3,130 and 35), Ivory Coast (2,423 and 30), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2,305 and 66), and Gabon (2,135 and 14).

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 5,601,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 348,000 deaths have been reported.