Africa's Covid-19 cases surpass 50,000 with over 2,000 deaths

Africa crossed the 50,000 confirmed cases mark yesterday May 6 according to tallies by the John Hopkins University tracker. As of 19:00 GMT number of cases stood at 50,000.

The number indicates a leap of 30,000 cases in exactly 18 days. The 20,000 mark was reached on April 18. The spike in infections in recent weeks had concerned the WHO Africa office and the African Union’s Centers for Disease Control, Africa CDC.

Meanwhile, the death toll has passed 2,000 mark as of May 7, 2020. Recoveries also passed the 17,000 mark even as more government double up testing efforts.

The most impacted countries include:

South Africa = 7,572

Egypt = 7,588

Algeria = 4,977

Morocco = 5,408

Nigeria = 2,950

Ghana = 2,719

Meanwhile the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, has warned that cases could spike across the continent as more testing is rolled out in the coming weeks.

Africa could see 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus this year even under the best-case scenario, according to a new report released Friday that cites modeling from Imperial College London.

Under the worst-case scenario with no interventions against the virus, Africa could see 3.3 million deaths and 1.2 billion infections, the report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa said.

Even with “intense social distancing.” under the best-case scenario the continent could see more than 122 million infections, the report said.

Any of the scenarios would overwhelm Africa’s largely fragile and underfunded health systems, experts have warned.

Under the best-case scenario, $44 billion would be needed for testing, personal protective equipment and treatment, the report said, citing UNECA estimates. The worst-case scenario would cost $446 billion.