878 new coronavirus infections reported in Ethiopia

CGTN

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People wear protective face masks at Bole International airport in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Jan. 30, 2020. /Xinhua

The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 878 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, taking the national count to 156,112.

The ministry added that the COVID-19 death toll stood at 2,321, including five new fatalities recorded over the same period.

With 169 more recoveries from the disease registered, the nationwide tally reached 133,607, said the ministry.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation, is one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic in Africa, after South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

The Ethiopian government recently started a campaign to encourage face mask wearing in public as part of COVID-19 precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.

The east African nation has so far conducted 2,114,618 COVID-19 tests, including 6,212 new tests over the last 24 hours, said the ministry.

Testing in Ethiopia is among the highest in Africa, following South Africa and Morocco, according to recent figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency