COVID -19, Numbers in Africa
COVID-19 outbreak continues to rapidly expand through the African continent.
The most affected countries in Africa according to the are: South Africa (1 845 cases), Algeria (1 468 cases), Cameroon (555 cases), Burkina Faso (364 cases),
Cote d’Ivoire (349 cases) and Ghana (287), Kenya (184).
South Africa announced Wednesday that five more people have succumbed to the novel coronavirus, bringing the country’s death toll to 18.
The total number of COVID-19 cases is 1,845. This is an increase of 96 from the previously reported cases, this is according Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
South Africa, which has the highest number of confirmed cases on the continent, is currently in its second week of a 21-day nationwide lockdown in which nonessential workers are required to stay home to curb the spread of the virus.
Algeria on Saturday 4th declared a nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of COVID-19, which has claimed 130 lives in the country.
The Algerian government said in a statement that a full lockdown has been maintained in the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the province of Blida.
Meanwhile, in nine provinces including Algiers, Oran, Medea, Setif, Ain Defla, Bejaia, Tizi Ouzou, Tlemcen and Tipaza, a partial lockdown will continue from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m, the statement added.
Somalia’s Federal Health Minister, Dr Fawzia Abikar Nur, on Wednesday night confirmed the country’s first death due to the coronavirus with the number of confirmed cases rising to 12.
Kenya has overcome a major bottleneck in mass testing for coronavirus, thanks to an innovation by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri).
From the current 600 tests per day, the innovation at Kemri will see Kenya process and get results for at least 35,000 samples in 24 hours.Kenya will now use the Cobas 6800 or the 8800 HIV viral load machines and the GeneXpert used for point of care testing for tuberculosis. Prof Matilu Mwau, Kemri Busia director, told the Nation that the Cobas machine is able to run as many as 5,000 tests in a day.
