This archive report was first published on 7 August 2020.
Coronavirus Pandemic in Africa ¶
As of Thursday, the African continent has recorded 1,000,054 coronavirus infections and at least 21,724 deaths, accounting for around five percent of global cases, according to an AFP tally.
Just five countries account for 75 percent of all cases in Africa, the continent's health watchdog, the Africa Centres for Diseases Control, says.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that some countries have recently seen declines of around 20 percent in daily cases, but it was too early to confirm this as a trend, while around 10 countries are still experiencing increases.
South Africa: A Hotspot ¶
South Africa, the continent's most industrialized economy, has notched up more than 529,000 infections, 53 percent of the continental caseload, and the fifth biggest in the world.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday that cases in the epicenter, the commercial hub of Gauteng province, appeared to be plateauing, but warned the risk of a second wave remained: "we are not out of the woods yet".
South Africa imposed one of the world's toughest lockdowns in March, including a ban on sales of alcohol and cigarettes. The restrictions have been progressively eased since June.
Other Countries: Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe ¶
Egypt, which became the first African country to report a coronavirus case on February 14, has officially registered the continent's second-highest number of cases, with 95,000, including 4,630 deaths.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has recorded around 45,000 cases and more than 900 deaths.
Algeria has the continent's third-highest number of fatalities at 1,273, after South Africa and Egypt.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country, has seen a sharp upward trend with infections doubling in less than three weeks in July.
Zimbabwe is among the countries where daily infections are steadily rising, with numbers of diagnosed cases doubling over 10 days last month and now standing at 4,200, including 81 fatalities.
