5 countries account for 69% of Africa's total Covid-19 cases

Addis Ababa, Jan 15 The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has revealed that five countries account for about 69 per cent of confirmed coronavirus cases in the continent amid an uneven impact of the pandemic.

The five highly affected countries are South Africa (1,278,303) accounting for 41 per cent, Morocco (455,055) 14 per cent, Tunisia (168,568) 5 per cent, Egypt (152,719) 5 per cent, as well as Ethiopia (129,455) 4 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Thursday, the Africa CDC also disclosed that some 20 countries have reported higher case fatality rates than the global 2.2 per cent.

Among the 20 African countries that have reported higher case fatality rates include Sudan at 6.1 per cent, Egypt 5.5 per cent, Liberia 4.5 per cent, Chad 4.0 per cent, as well as Mali 3.9 per cent.

On Wednesday, Deputy Africa CDC Director, Ahmed Ogwell, told Xinhua that the continent is taking an active part in the global development of a Covid-19 vaccine as well as clinical trials.

"We are very much part of the clinical trials and that's the way that we get to be part of vaccine development," Ahmed said.

"Second, there are institutions in Africa who have already started the process of developing Covid-19 vaccine for the continent," he emphasised.

According to the Africa CDC, the continent's Covid-19 caseload has so far reached 3.14 million, while the total fatalities stood at 75,909.

( With inputs from IANS )