COVID-19 Situation update for the WHO African Region, External Situation Report 18 (01 July 2020) – South Africa – ReliefWeb

Situation update

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continues to grow in the WHO African Region since it wasfirst detected in Algeria on 25 February 2020. Since our last External Situation Report 17 issued on 24 June 2020(from 24 to 30 June 2020), a total of 67 077 new confirmed COVID-19 cases (a 28% increase) was reported from45 countries. Of the 67 077 reported new cases in the region, 43% (45 101) were recorded in South Africa. SouthAfrica remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region, consistently registering the highest dailycase incidence, now standing at more than 6 000 cases daily in the past week. On 27 June 2020, the WHO AfricanRegion and South Africa recorded their highest daily case count of 10 421 and 7 210, respectively. The WHOAfrican region also recorded the highest daily death toll of 172 on 30 June 2020.

During this period, six countries in the region observed the highest percentage increase in incidence cases:Seychelles 636% (from 11 to 81 cases), Zambia 213% (from 509 to 1 594 cases), Namibia 182% (from 72 to 203cases), Botswana 155% (from 89 to 227 cases), Malawi 58% (from 803 to 1 265 cases) and Angola 50% (from189 to 284 cases). Seychelles reported new confirmed COVID-19 cases after 78 consecutive days of zeroreporting. The confirmed case-patients were part of 207 sea crew arriving on two Air Seychelles chartered flights.Eleven crewmen turned positive on antibody test, of which three tested positive by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) on 24 June 2020. This event occurred just as the Government was considering opening up commercialflights and tourism from 1 July 2020. Only Equatorial Guinea and United Republic of Tanzania did not officiallysubmit reports indicating any confirmed cases in the past week. A total of 26 new health worker infections wererecorded from three countries: Malawi (18), Sierra Leone (5) and South Sudan (3).

From 24 to 30 June 2020, an additional 898 COVID-19 related deaths (17% increase) were reported from 31countries, with 62% (555) of the deaths recorded in South Africa. This was followed by Nigeria, which registeredthe second highest number of deaths, at 57, followed by Algeria with 51 deaths. The other countries that reportednew deaths include; Democratic Republic of the Congo (35), Ethiopia (28), Senegal (23), Kenya (20), Ghana(17), Mauritania (16), Central African Republic (10), Benin (8), Cte d'Ivoire (8), Cabo Verde (7), Zambia (6),Cameroon (5), Madagascar (5), Mali (5), Malawi (5), Sierra Leone (5), Guinea-Bissau (5), Congo (4), Eswatini(4), Guinea (4), Angola (3), Gabon (3), South Sudan (3), Liberia (2), Mozambique (1), Sao Tome and Principe(1) and Zimbabwe (2).

During the reporting period (24 to 30 June 2020), the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the regionexceeded 300 000, and is now at 303 986 cases, including 303 665 confirmed and 321 probable cases, reportedacross the 47 Member States. The probable cases have been reported from Sao Tome and Principe (320) andDemocratic Republic of the Congo (1). A total of 6 155 deaths have been reported in 42 countries, giving anoverall case fatality ratio (CFR) of 2.0%. Five countries (Eritrea, Seychelles, Lesotho, Namibia and Uganda)have not registered any COVID-19 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

The current figures in the region represents 2.9% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1.2% of deaths reportedworldwide. Table 1 shows the list of affected countries and their respective number of cases and deaths. Thedaily and weekly distribution of cases by date and week of reporting are presented in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.The highest number of cases in the region have been reported from 10 countries: South Africa (151 209), Nigeria(25 694), Ghana (17 741), Algeria (13 907), Cameroon (12 592), Cte dIvoire (9 214), Democratic Republic ofCongo (7 039), Senegal (6 793), Kenya (6 366) and Ethiopia (5 848), which collectively account for 84%(256 401) of all reported cases.

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COVID-19 Situation update for the WHO African Region, External Situation Report 18 (01 July 2020) - South Africa - ReliefWeb