Outbreak Brief 31: COVID-19 Pandemic – 18 August 2020

Outbreak Update: Since the last brief (11 August 2020), 1,584,886 new confirmed1 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 33,917 new deaths have been reported globally. To date, a total of 21,312,003 COVID-19 cases and 762,257 (case fatality rate (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 1,556,033 (7%), European Region 3,754,649 (18%), Region of the Americas 11,420,787 (54%), South-East Asia Region 3,040,165 (14%) and Western Pacific Region 410,328 (2%). For more detailed information on cases and deaths being reported outside of Africa, refer to the WHO daily situation reports2.

As of 9am East African Time (EAT) 18 August 2020, a total of 1,128,245 COVID-19 cases and 25,884 deaths (CFR: 2%) have been reported in 55 African countries. This is 5% of all cases reported globally. Since the last brief, 72,281 new COVID-19 cases have been reported, which is an increase of 7% compared to the 11 August 2020 report. The proportion of new COVID-19 cases reported by region is as follows: Southern region 56% (31,922), Northern region 17% (16,323), Eastern region 9% (13,045), Western region 13% (7,457), and Central region 5% (1,423).