Outbreak Brief 29: COVID-19 Pandemic – 4 August 2020

Outbreak Update: Since the last brief (28 July 2020), 1,800,515 new confirmed1 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 39,969 new deaths have been reported globally. To date, a total of 17,928,698 COVID-19 cases and 687,011 (CFR: 4%) related deaths have been reported from 215 countries and territories. The distribution of cumulative cases (proportion of global cases) from the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting regions (excluding Africa) are as follows: Eastern Mediterranean Region 1,419,299 (8%), European Region 3,391,779 (19%), Region of the Americas 9,630,598 (54%), South-East Asia Region 2,187,015 (12%) and Western Pacific Region 328,358 (2%). For more detailed information on cases and deaths being reported outside of Africa, refer to the WHO daily situation reports2.

As of 9 am EAT 4 August 2020, a total of 968,020 COVID-19 cases and 20,612 deaths (CFR: 2%) have been reported in 55 African countries. This is 5% of all cases reported globally. Since the last brief, 108,783 new COVID-19 cases have been reported, which is an increase of 13% compared to the 28 July 2020 report. The proportion of new COVID-19 cases reported by region is as follows: Southern region 65% (70,318), Northern region 12% (13,016), Western region 9% (9,638), Eastern region 11% (12,367) and Central region 3% (3,444).

Six countries account for 80% of the new COVID-19 cases reported since the last brief: South Africa (59%), Morocco (5%), Algeria (4%), Kenya (4%), Ghana (4%) and Ethiopia (4%). South Africa (890), Djibouti (524), Sao Tome and Principe (437), Cabo Verde (431) and Gabon (364) are reporting the most cumulative COVID-19 cases per 100,000 in Africa. Eleven countries are reporting case fatality rates comparable to or higher than the global case fatality rate of 4%. These are: Chad (8%), Sudan (6%), Liberia (6%), Niger (6%), Egypt (5%), Mali (5%), Burkina Faso (5%), Angola (5%), Algeria (4%), Sierra Leone (4%) and Tanzania (4%).