African Coronavirus (Covid-19) Statistics.

Paidamoyo Makoni.

Cases in Africa are a little under 1 million cases as the pandemic surges in several hotspot countries.

In the past two weeks, thenumber of cases on the continent almost doubled to 948,730, with 20,018 deaths. During the last 14 days, the pandemic has accelerated with the number of new cases increasing by 50%.

Five countries account for about 75% of the cumulative COVID-19 cases – they are Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Although infections are on the rise across the continent, the trend is varied. Nine countries have reported a decline in cases over the past three weeks.

In Egypt, Africa’s second-most populous country and one of the hardest hit by COVID-19, witnessed a decline in cases with 2,733 cases being reported in a week.

This figure used to be a daily increase which would be reported by the country.

During the past week, several countries registered increases in the number of positive cases. 

Gambia (which had previously reported the least case incidence in the past months) registered the highest increase of 147% (from 137 to 498 cases).

This was followed by Zimbabwe which increased by 1,225 (from 1 820 to 2 817 cases) and Zambia (50% increase; from 4,328 to 6,228cases).Other countries with high percentage increase included; Lesotho 41% (from 379 to 702 cases), and Namibia 40% (from 1,687 to 2,224 cases)

A total of 2,448 new deaths were recorded during the last 7 days, representing a 22% increase from the previous two weeks, with 1 498 (80%)of the  deaths recorded in South Africa. Algeria recorded the second highest number of fatalities with 74, Nigeria with 63, Ethiopia with 59, Kenya with 49 and Zimbabwe with 35.  

Two countries, including Eritrea and Seychelles have not registered any COVID-19 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The top five countries, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Kenya, account for 80% (9 989) of the total deaths reported in the region.

Several countries which include which had imposed lockdowns and have now started easing them have experienced a 20% jump in cases over the past week.

Some countries such as the Republic of the Congo, Botswana and Morocco have had to re-implement partial restrictions because of an increase in cases.

South Africa alone accounts for more than 50 percent of all reported coronavirus infections in Africa’s 54 countries. Even with high case numbers in South Africa, the reported deaths are comparatively low. 

The mining sector has recorded 8,504 positive cases of the Coronavirus with 85 deaths reported.

The 31-40 year age range is the most hit, as approximately 3,400 cases have been reported followed by the 41-50 age range. The PGM sector accounts for 44 of the 85 deaths, followed by the gold sector which accounts for 30 fatalities. 

Zimbabwean Statistics

As of 2 August 2020, Zimbabwe had 3,659 confirmed cases after recording its highest daily increase of 490 cases.

 Of the 3,659 cases recorded so far, 2594 are local transmissions and 1065 are imported cases largely from South Africa and other surrounding areas. 

The death toll has increased by 35 cases in the past week and this week saw the highest death toll being recorded since the virus begun. 1,011 recoveries have been recorded country wide. 

Harare remains the epicentre of the pandemic as the province has recorded 1, 412 of the cases and a total of 31 deaths. Bulawayo has the second highest number of cases with 886 cases and a total of 20 deaths. The Midlands province has the third highest cases recorded with 337 cases and 4 deaths. 

The figure above shows the death toll since the 15^th of February 2020.