Coronavirus Update in Africa: 52 countries, over 14,000 cases

Africa is yet to suffer a major outbreak of the coronavirus Covid 19, but if it did strike the consequences could be catastrophic.

Coronavirus cases in April→

The continent has now recorded over 14,000 cases of the novel coronavirus with leaders from various African countries imposing a range of prevention and containment measures against the spread of the pandemic.

According to John Hopkins University and Africa Center for Disease Control on COVID-19 in Africa, the breakdown remains fluid as countries continue to confirm cases. The whole of Africa has rising cases with only two countries, Lesotho and Comoros holding out as of April 13, 2020.

With over half a thousand recorded cases, Ghana tops the list of West African countries with the highest COVID-19 status. Although the West African country leads with 566 cases, it’s quest to help unravel the mystery behind the virus has not seized as Ghanaian Scientists Sequence Genomes of Novel Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast with 533 comes closer to Ghana’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally.

Burkina Faso ( 484), Niger (491) and Nigeria (318) are the other countries in West Africa with high numbers.

Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Africa are the top five African countries with high COVID-19 recovery figures.

Coronavirus daily cases globally →

South Africa (452) has the highest number of recoveries from the deadly virus followed by Algeria (408) as of April 12, 2020.

Egypt has also recorded an appreciable number of recoveries which stands at 426 with Senegal and Burkina Faso from West Africa also recording 152 and 155 recoveries respectively.

The classifications are based on where the countries are located especially in the case of countries that belong to two different blocs, like Tanzania in East Africa, despite belonging to EAC and SADC.

Major African stats as of April 13:

• Confirmed cases = 14,497
• Number of deaths = 788
• Recoveries = 2,823
• Infected countries = 52
• Virus-free countries = 2 (Lesotho, Comoros)

Countries in alphabetical order

1. Algeria – 1,983
2. Angola – 19
3. Benin – 35
4. Botswana – 13
5. Burkina Faso – 497
6. Burundi – 5
7. Cameroon – 820
8. Cape Verde – 10
9. Central African Republic – 11
10. Chad – 19
11. Comoros – 0
12. Congo-Brazzaville – 70
13. DR Congo – 234
14. Djibouti – 214
15. Egypt – 2,065
16. Equatorial Guinea – 21
17. Eritrea – 34
18. Eswatini – 14
19. Ethiopia – 71
20. Gabon – 49
21. (The) Gambia – 9
22. Ghana – 566
23. Guinea – 250
24. Guinea-Bissau – 38
25. Ivory Coast – 574
26. Kenya – 197
27. Lesotho – 0
28. Liberia – 50
29. Libya – 25
30. Madagascar – 106
31. Malawi – 13
32. Mali – 105
33. Mauritania – 7
34. Mauritius – 324
35. Morocco – 1,661
36. Mozambique – 21
37. Namibia – 16
38. Niger – 529
39. Nigeria- 323
40. Rwanda – 126
41. Sao Tome and Principe – 4
42. Senegal – 280
43. Seychelles – 11
44. Sierra Leone – 10
45. Somalia – 25
46. South Africa – 2,272
47. South Sudan – 4
48. Sudan – 19
49. Tanzania – 32
50. Togo – 76
51. Tunisia – 707
52. Uganda – 54
53. Zambia – 43
54. Zimbabwe – 14