Africa’s top public health official says the continent has seen a 20 percent decrease in confirmed coronavirus cases in the past week, but he warns that “we shouldn’t go home celebrating that our pandemic is over.”
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
John Nkengasong with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells reporters that testing and other efforts to contain the virus are largely working, but just one or two cases could reignite infections.
He says 23 of Africa’s 54 countries have reported a sustained decrease in new confirmed cases in the past couple of weeks.
A health worker takes a nasal swab from a patient to test for COVID-19 in Cape Town, South Africa on July 23, 2020. (AP)
The African continent has reported more than 1.2 million confirmed cases, roughly half in South Africa.
More than 11 million tests for the virus have been conducted across the continent of 1.3 billion people, and Nkengasong says the new goal is an additional 20 million tests by November.
Read more:
US Secretary of State Pompeo arrives in Oman on tour following UAE-Israel peace
Coronavirus: UAE reports 491 new COVID-19 cases, highest increase since early July
Turkey not the cause of instability in eastern Mediterranean, Erdogan tells Trump
Also Read
-
No deal in Mali talks between West African nations, junta on return to civilian rule
Talks between West African nations and Mali’s new junta ended on Monday without a deal on how the country should return to civilian rule following ... World News -
Large fire erupts in Africa’s historic Durban mosque
A large fire ripped through South Africa’s 139-year-old Grey Street Mosque on Monday in the southeastern port city of Durban, emergency services ... World News -
West African delegation arrives in Mali seeking reversal of coup
Mediators from West Africa’s regional bloc arrived in Mali on Saturday for talks aimed at reversing a coup that has been condemned abroad, but ... World News
