The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continues to advance in the WHO African Region since thefirst case was reported on 25 February 2020 in Algeria. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now been recordedin all the 47 Member States in the WHO African Region. While there are variations among countries, the overallnumbers of reported cases and deaths have been increasing exponentially in recent weeks and more than half ofthe countries in the region are experiencing community transmission. There are also increasing incidents of crossborder transmission of COVID-19 between countries in the continent, mainly through long-distance truck driversand illegal movement through porous borders. Notably, in most countries, the disease is still localized to largeurban centres, with most rural communities relatively unaffected.

Since our last situation report on 13 May 2020 (External Situation Report 11), an additional 16 435 confirmedCOVID-19 cases (a 34% increase) were reported from 42 countries.During this period, a sharp rise in the numberof confirmed COVID-19 cases was observed in nine countries: Mauritania 1538% (from 8 to 131), CentralAfrican Republic 90% (from 130 to 411), Uganda 106% (from 126 to 260), Zambia 75% (from 441 to 772),Gabon 74% (from 863 to 1502), Equatorial Guinea 71% (from 522 to 890), Togo 70% (from 199 to 338),Madagascar 70% (from 192 to 326) and South Sudan 62% (from 174 to 282). Similarly, five countries, Namibia,Seychelles, Eritrea, Mauritius and United Republic of Tanzania have reported zero new confirmed COVID-19cases in the past 44, 42, 32, 22 and 12 days, respectively.

From 13 to 19 May 2020, 339 new deaths (25% increase) were reported from 27 countries: South Africa (106),Algeria (46), Nigeria (34), Chad (16), Cameroon (15), Kenya (14), Mali (13), Sierra Leone (13), Senegal (11),Democratic Republic of the Congo (10), Ghana (9), Niger (8), Cte d'Ivoire (7), Congo (4), Gabon (4), SouthSudan (4), Guinea-Bissau (3), Liberia (3), Mauritania (3), Sao Tome and Principe (3), Madagascar (2), Angola(1), Burkina Faso (1), Cabo Verde (1), Equatorial Guinea (1) and Togo (1).

As of 19 May 2020, a cumulative total of 64 388 COVID-19 cases, including 64 091 confirmed and 297 probablecases have been reported across the 47 countries in the region. A total of 1 827 deaths have been reported, givingan overall case fatality ratio (CFR) of 2.8%. The current status in the region represents only 1.4% of confirmedCOVID-19 cases and 0.6% of deaths reported worldwide. Table 1 shows the list of affected countries and theirrespective number of cases and deaths. The daily and weekly distribution of cases by date and week of reportingare presented in Figures 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In the same reporting period, the region recorded its highestdaily case count since the beginning of the outbreak, with more than 2 000 new cases reported each day in thepast 14 days. Of the 47 countries, 11 have registered a cumulative total of more than 1 000 confirmed COVID19 cases: South Africa (17 200), Algeria (7 377), Nigeria (6 401), Ghana (6 096), Cameroon (3 529), Guinea (2863), Senegal (2 617), Cte dIvoire (2 153), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 731), Gabon (1 502) andGuinea-Bissau (1 038). Two more countries, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau are the newest to cross the 1 000-casemark. Together, these 11 most-affected countries account for 82% of all reported cases in the region.The highest case load has been observed in the West African region, 40% (24 836, CFR 2.2%), followed by theSouthern African region, 27% (17 450, CFR 1.8%), the North African, 8.5% (7 377, CFR7.6%), Central African,15% (9 331, CFR 3.2%) and East African region, 7% (4 506, CFR 2.4%).

Of the 64 388 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported, 26 075 (41%) have recovered,documented from 46 countriesin the region, with 100% of cases in Eritrea (39) and Seychelles (11) recorded as recovered.

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COVID-19 Situation update for the WHO African Region, External Situation Report 12 (19 May 2020) - South Africa - ReliefWeb