Coronavirus; Over a thousand infections recorded in Africa.

Today saw the number of infections by the new coronavirus in Africa exceeded 1,000 in 40 countries and territories, with records of 30 deaths, according to the latest statistics on the covid-19 pandemic.

In total, 1,107 cases of infection have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, the first case of which was detected on February 14, in Egypt.

According to the Worldometer portal, which compiles information in almost real time from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from official country sources, scientific publications and the media, there are records of deaths by covid-19 in eight African countries: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Sudan and Mauritius, the latter having today registered its first death.

According to a count made by Lusa at 3:00 pm, the continent still has 104 recovered, numbers that bring the total number of active infections down to 973.

Algeria now counts 12 deaths and 95 cases of SARS-Cov-2 infections, being the African country with the highest number of fatalities caused by the covid-19 disease. At the same time, the country is also the one with the highest number of recoveries: 43, with 40 active cases now.

Egypt, which has the highest number of infections in Africa, 285, has eight deaths, followed by Morocco, with three deaths in 86 cases, and Burkina Faso, also with three deaths in 64 cases.

Tunisia, with 60 cases, Mauritius, with 14, Gabon, with four, and Sudan, with two, all register a fatal victim.

In the last few hours, more than a hundred new cases were announced in 14 countries, including Angola – which pointed out its first two cases – and Cape Verde, which now has three cases of virus infections.

In addition to the two Lusophone countries, there were new cases in Zimbabwe, Togo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Algeria and South Africa.

The majority were registered in South Africa which accounted for 38 new cases.

In addition to the countries already mentioned, there are cases of covid-19 in Senegal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Namibia, Benin, Mauritania, Zambia, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Gambia , Guinea-Conakry, Niger, Somalia and Essuatini.

The new coronavirus, responsible for the covid-19 pandemic, has infected more than 271,000 people worldwide, of which at least 11,401 have died.

After appearing in China in December, the outbreak has now spread to 164 countries and territories, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic situation.

Several countries have adopted exceptional measures, including the quarantine regime and border closure.

In the context of these measures, Egypt today banned the holding of religious demonstrations in the country, while Nigeria announced this Saturday the suspension, for a month, the closure of its airports to flights from abroad.

The announcement by the Nigerian authorities came shortly after Nigeria recorded the first cases of covid-19 in its capital, Abuja.

This has been a measure adopted by several countries in Africa, such as Angola and Botswana, which have closed their airspace.

Still, the presidents of Angola, João Lourenço, and Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, were seen at the swearing-in ceremony by their Namibian counterpart, Hage Geingob, according to the country’s media. Namibia currently has three active cases of covid-19.

At the level of policymakers, at least four Burkina Faso ministers were diagnosed with covid-19.

This week, WHO Director-General, Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that “the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst”.

“I believe that Africa should wake up, my continent should wake up,” he added.