ADDIS ABABA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa has climbed to 1,114 as 40 African countries reported confirmed cases as of Saturday afternoon, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed on Saturday.
Ahmed Ogwell, Deputy Director of Africa CDC, confirmed to Xinhua on late Saturday that as 40 African countries reported 1,114 COVID-19 cases, the death toll due to the pandemic has also climbed to 28 across the African continent as of the stated period.
According to the Africa CDC Deputy Director, the number of confirmed cases has registered close to 100 new cases on Saturday, in which about 39 African countries had reported a total of 1,021 confirmed cases as of Saturday morning, eventually registering an increase of about 93 new cases by Saturday afternoon.
The number of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic has also soared to 28 as of Saturday afternoon, registering five new deaths from the Africa CDC's earlier situation update issued on Saturday Morning that was a total of 23 deaths.
Ogwell also stressed that the African continent "is in the morning of the COVID-19 outbreak," as he emphasized that the rate in the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Africa requires "fast action to flatten the curve."
Figures from the Africa CDC also show that the highly coronavirus affected African countries include Egypt 285, South Africa 240 and Algeria 102 as of Saturday afternoon. South Africa and Algeria, which had confirmed a total of 202 and 82 COVID-19 cases by Saturday morning respectively, have also reported about 38 and 20 new cases on late Saturday, respectively.
The Africa CDC's latest report on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the African continent has also identified about 319 new cases in a single day since the center's report on Friday. The Africa CDC had on Friday reported some 795 COVID-19 confirmed cases coming from 36 African countries.