Africa’s COVID-19 death toll surges to 2,074 with 54,027 confirmed cases

   ADDIS ABABA, May 8  -- The death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent reached 2,074 as the number of confirmed cases hit 54,027 as of Friday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
   The Africa CDC in its latest situation update issued on Friday also revealed the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases across the continent rose from 51,698 on Thursday to 54,027 as of Friday afternoon, eventually registering about 2,329 new cases during the past 24-hours period.
   The continental disease control and prevention agency, which noted that the virus has so far spread into 53 African countries, also disclosed that some 18,636 people who have been infected with the COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Friday, marking about 1,046 new recoveries from the center's previous report on Thursday afternoon that was 17,590.
   The death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the African continent also surged from 2,012 on Thursday afternoon to 2,074 on Friday afternoon, according to the Africa CDC.
   Figures from the Africa CDC also showed that amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, the highly COVID-19 affected African countries include South Africa with 8,232 confirmed cases, Egypt with 7,981 confirmed cases, Morocco with 5,548 confirmed cases as well as Algeria with 5,182 confirmed cases.
   According to the Africa CDC, the three African countries with higher deaths due to COVID-19 include Algeria with 483 deaths, Egypt with 482 deaths, as well as Morocco with 183 deaths.  Xinhua