African countries conduct close to 47 M COVID-19 tests: Africa CDC


ADDIS ABABA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- African countries have conducted over 46.9 million COVID-19 tests so far, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Wednesday.

SAVF Evanna Tehuis old age home manager Theresa Swart (C) explains to elderly guests of the retirement home how the Pfizer vaccine works during a vaccination run near Klerksdorp, on May 19, 2021. Michele Spatari / AFP


The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said some 930,026 COVID-19 tests were conducted by African countries during the past week, registering a 20 percent increase from the previous week of 774,076 tests.

The agency said the continental cumulative COVID-19 test positivity ratio currently stands at 10.2 percent.

As of Wednesday noon, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa had reached 4,777,300 as the death toll from the pandemic stood at 129,069, while some 4,327,074 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease, according to the agency.

Some 53 African countries are presently experiencing community transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are among the African countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.