Africa's COVID-19 cases pass 1.53 million as death toll hits 37,387

FILE PHOTO: Medical staff caring for patients in Gauteng Province, South Africa. /VCG Image

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases across the African continent has reached 1,537,019 as of Thursday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, said in a statement issued on Thursday that the number of deaths due to illnesses related to the pandemic reached 37,387 as of Thursday afternoon.

The Africa CDC said the number of people who have recovered from the infectious virus across the continent has reached 1,273,463 so far.

Amid the uneven impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on African countries, the Africa CDC said that the African countries most affected by the disease in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.

The Southern Africa region is the most COVID-19 affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as the number of deaths, it was noted.

The Northern Africa region is the second most COVID-19-affected African region, it was noted.

South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases, which hit 685, 155. The country also has the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, at 17,248.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency