KHARTOUM, Sudan

The death toll from the novel coronavirus rose Wednesday in several African countries as the continent continued to grapple with the pandemic.     

The number of fatalities rose to 444 in Algeria, 380 in Egypt, 103 in South Africa, 168 in Morocco, 28 in Sudan, 25 in Mali and 16 in Tanzania. 

In the last 24 hours, 226 new cases were reported in Egypt, 354 in South Africa, 199 in Algeria,181 in Tanzania, 111 in Guinea, 101 in Cameroon, 69 in Morocco, 59 in Senegal, 58 in Mali, 57 in Sudan, 54 in Somalia and 20 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Eswatini, according to data from online resource Worldometer.  

In the last 24 hours, COVID-19 has claimed 21 lives in Egypt, 10 in South Africa, seven in Algeria, six in Tanzania, three in Sudan, Cameroon and Morocco, and one in Mali. 

The African continent has reported 35,371 cases and 1,534 deaths so far, according to data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), while 11,727 have recovered from the illness. 

COVID-19 cases have been reported in 185 countries and regions since the novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China last December, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas. 

More than 3.18 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll surpassing 227,000 and more than 971,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US. 

*Writing by Fahri Aksut