Addis Ababa

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa has reached 2,854,971 as of Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll from the pandemic had reached 67,986 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Africa CDC, a specialised healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, also said that a total of 2,361,900 people infected with the virus have so far recovered.

The most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia, figures from the Africa CDC showed.

South Africa has the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases at 1,113,349. The country also has the highest number of deaths from the disease at 30,011 according to the Africa CDC.

Economic recovery

Last week, the AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat called on the African continent to ensure economic recovery from the effects of Covid-19 pandemic as the new year begins.

"As we mark the end of the year 2020, we also mark the end of one of the most extraordinary and challenging years in living memory," the chairperson of the 55-member pan-African bloc said in a statement.

Mahamat warned that "the challenging task of protecting our health and livelihoods, while ensuring recovery of our economies, still lies ahead as we begin a new year".