Over 40 African countries battle confirmed COVID-19 cases, SA tops chart

With over 40 African countries currently battling with confirmed COVID-19 cases, South Africa tops the chart of the deadly virus within the continent as shown in data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Newsmen report that the John Hopkins University tally indicates that South Africa holds the top spot in African countries with 927 cases, surpassing Egypt which previously had the highest number of cases.

As at the time of filing this report on Friday, Egypt has a total number of 495 in confirmed cases followed by 367 cases in Algeria.

Also figures released by worldometers.info on fatalities indicate that Algeria currently has the highest number of deaths with 25 followed closely by Egypt with 24 deaths while South Africa has recorded zero deaths.

The worldometers.info tally shows that Egypt has the highest number of recovered cases with 102, with Algeria and South Africa recording 29 and 12 recovered cases respectively.

Other countries with over 100 confirmed cases as indicated by John Hopkins University and worldometers.info include Morocco with 275 infected persons, Tunisia 197, Burkina Faso 152, Ghana 132 and Senegal recording 105 in infected persons.

Country with least number of confirmed cases within the continent is Libya with only one infected person, while Somalia and Guinea Bissau have two recorded cases each.

Other African countries with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus are Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mali, Liberia, Congo and Central Africa Republic.

Newsmen also report that Nigeria has not remained unaffected by the raging pandemic with 65 confirmed cases including three recovered cases and one death.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday evening reported additional 5 new cases bringing the total to 70.

The NCDC in its #TakeResponsibility campaign emphasised hand washing, self-isolation, information sharing from official sources, avoiding large gatherings and social distancing to prevent and contain the virus.

Newsmen also report that a total of 532, 788 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been recorded worldwide, with US overtaking China, the original epicentre of the pandemic.

According to the John Hopkins University data, the death toll has hit 24,077 globally while the virus has spread to 176 countries.