Africa sees over 5,000 new virus cases in record jump

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

More than 5,000 more people across Africa have tested positive for COVID-19, marking the continent’s highest single-day spike to date, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

According to the latest update, 5,091 new COVID-19 cases have pushed the overall count up to 124,482.

The number of active cases stands at 69,691, as recoveries rose by 2,506 to 51,095.

The death toll increased to 3,696 after 107 more fatalities were recorded over the last 24 hours, as per the Africa CDC data.

Among African countries with rising number of infections were Zimbabwe and South Sudan, where an unexpected jump was seen over the past day.

In Zimbabwe, health authorities said COVID-19 cases have risen to 132 from 63, a sharp increase for a country that has seen a relatively slow spread of the coronavirus.

Four patients have died and 25 have recovered so far, leaving the number of active cases at 103, according to official figures.

Over in South Sudan, 188 new cases were reported in 24 hours, including Fifth Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi, who was recently made the chairman of the country’s coronavirus task force.

Last week, First Vice President Riek Machar and Defense Minister Angelina Teny, who are married, announced they had tested positive for COVID-19.

The new cases have increased South Sudan’s total to 994, including 10 deaths and six recoveries.

However, the highest number of infections is in South Africa, which has 25,937 confirmed cases and 552 deaths, followed by Egypt in with 19,666 cases and 816 fatalities.

Nigeria has confirmed 8,733 cases and 254 deaths so far, Cameroon has 5,436 cases and 175 fatalities, and Sudan has 4,346 cases and 195 deaths.

North Africa is the continent’s hardest-hit region with 37,600 cases and 1,700 fatalities, followed by West Africa with 31,300 cases and 663 deaths.

Southern Africa is third on the list with 27,900 cases and 575 fatalities, ahead of Central Africa with 13,900 cases and 367 deaths, and East Africa with 13,800 cases and 383 fatalities.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed almost 356,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December. The US, Brazil, and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit countries.

Over 5.7 million cases have been reported worldwide and more than 2.36 million people have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

* Jeffrey Moyo from Zimbabwe and Benjamin Takpiny from South Sudan contributed to this report.