Africa consists of 54 countries. Now, 52 African countries have confirmed cases of coronavirus with tally of cases now surpassing the 30,000 mark, according to latest figures.
The continent has recorded 30,329 cases so far with 1,374 deaths and 9,106 recoveries as at April 26, 2020.
Northern and Western sub-regions of Africa have higher cases all surpassing the 7,000 mark and central Africa appears the least affected.
Nine of the 52 affected countries have already recorded more than 1,000 cases so far but South Africa (4361) has more cases than any other country.
South Africa and Algeria have also accounted for most of the recoveries recorded in Africa so far.
Algeria and Egypt have also recorded more deaths and make up most of the deaths recorded on the continent.
Here are the top ten African countries most affected by the pandemic:
1; South Africa – (4,361 cases, 1,473 recoveries, 86 deaths)
2; Egypt – (4,319 cases, 1,114 recoveries, 307 deaths)
3; Morocco – (3,897 cases, 537 recoveries, 159 deaths)
4; Algeria – (3,256 cases, 1,479 recoveries, 419 deaths)
5; Ghana – (1,550 cases, 155 recoveries, 11 deaths)
6; Cameroon – (1,518 cases, 697 recoveries, 53 deaths)
7; Nigeria – (1,182 cases, 222 recoveries, 35 deaths)
8; Ivory Coast – (1,111 cases, 449 recoveries, 14 deaths)
9; Djibouti – (1,008 cases, 373 recoveries, 2 deaths)
10; Guinea – (996 cases, 208 recoveries, 7 deaths)
Meanwhile, globally deaths from coronavirus have now passed 200,000 while confirmed cases of the virus are expected to hit 3 million in coming days.
The United States has reported more than 52,400 deaths while Italy, Spain and France have reported between 22,000-26,000 fatalities each.
Of the top 20 most severely affected countries, Belgium has reported the highest number of fatalities per capita, with six deaths per 10,000 people, compared to 4.9 in Spain and 1.6 in the United States.
For many African countries, it is the time to reflect on African countries’ responses to COVID-19. It is time to take the opportunity it offers to catalyze action on structural deficits.
Rather than a focus on the nature of responses, we ask how these responses can trigger long-term shifts in universal access to water, health, education, communication infrastructure among other fundamental socio-economic and political pathways to equity. It is time to prioritize and focus on sustainable development.
