COVID-19 in Africa: Cases Surpass 1.03mn; Toll Rises to 22,966

14,480 new COVID-19 cases were reported across Africa in 24 hours. The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union (AU) Commission, in its latest situation update issued on Sunday, said that the number of COVID-19 cases across the African continent has increased from 1,022,084 on Saturday to 1,036,564 as of Sunday, Xinhua reported.

The Africa CDC also noted that the death toll due to illnesses related to the COVID-19 pandemic also rose to 22,966 on Sunday, registering about 505 new COVID-19 deaths across the continent from Saturday's 22,461 report.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

‘Increasing mass wearing of masks, improving testing and treatment services could reduce the number of new coronavirus cases in Africa.’
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The continental disease control and prevention agency also said the number of people who recovered from their COVID-19 infections also reached 723,040 so far.

South Africa, with 553,188 confirmed COVID-19 cases, is Africa's highest affected country in terms of positive cases, followed by Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco, it was noted.

The Southern Africa region is the most affected area in terms of confirmed cases, followed by Northern Africa and Western Africa regions, the Africa CDC said.

Amid the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent, the Africa CDC had on Friday urged the African continent to increase compliance to the public health and social measures as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to gain momentum in Africa.

"We must increase mass wearing of masks as we expand testing and treatment services," the Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said in his message following the launch of the World Mask Week, slated from August 7 to 14, as an effort to increase the use of face coverings in public across the globe.

As the pandemic spread across Africa, the Africa CDC together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 40 other global, regional and national organisations and institutions have initiated the Pandemic Action Network, which launched the World Mask Week that envisaged increasing the use of face coverings in public in Africa and beyond.

Source-IANS