Africa’s COVID-19 cases close to 360,000

People wearing protective face masks stand in a queue to receive food aid amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Itireleng informal settlement, near Laudium suburb in Pretoria, South Africa on 20 May.Reuters

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 359, 408 as of Saturday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC in its latest situation update issued on Saturday said that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases across the continent rose from 337,315 on Friday morning to 359, 408 as of Saturday afternoon, Xinhua reported.

The continental disease control and prevention agency also disclosed that the death toll from the pandemic also rose to 9,283 as of Saturday afternoon.

Amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, the highly affected African countries in terms of positive cases include South Africa with 124,590 confirmed cases, Egypt with 62,755 confirmed cases, Nigeria with 23,298 confirmed cases, and Ghana with 15,834 confirmed cases.

The Africa CDC also said that the Southern Africa region is now the most affected area across the continent in terms of positive COVID-19 cases.

John Nkengasong, director of Africa CDC, on Friday urged the African continent to brace itself for a rise in the number of cases after easing of lockdowns, as he noted that the onset of COVID-19 pandemic was delayed in Africa but the number of cases and deaths “is increasing rapidly every day.” -Collected from "Prothom Alo"