Outbreak Brief 36: COVID-19 Pandemic – 22 September 2020

Outbreak Update: Since the last brief (15 September 2020), 2,028,825 new confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 36,835 new deaths have been reported globally. To date, a total of 30,954,775 COVID-19 cases and 959,242 (case fatality rate (CFR): 3.1%) related deaths have been reported from 217 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 1,967,954 (6%), European Region 5,236,612 (17%), Region of the Americas 15,580,622 (50%), South-East Asia Region 6,167,904 (20%) and Western Pacific Region 582,638 (2%). For more detailed information on cases and deaths being reported outside of Africa, refer to the WHO daily situation reports.

As of 9am East African Time (EAT) 22 September 2020, a total of 1,412,310 COVID-19 cases and 34,072 deaths (CFR: 2.4%) have been reported in 55 African countries. This is 5% of all cases reported globally. Since the last brief, 52,586 new COVID-19 cases have been reported, which is a 2% decrease in the number of new cases reported when compared to the 15 September 2020 brief. The proportion of new COVID-19 cases reported by region is as follows: Northern region 48% (25,279; 2% increase change from previous week), Southern region 29% (15,048 cases; 5% decrease), Eastern region 15% (7,902; 3% decrease), Western region 7% (3,587; 9% decrease), and Central region 1% (770; 1% decrease).

Eight countries account for over 82% of the new COVID-19 cases reported since the last brief: Morocco (26%), South Africa (21%), Libya (10%), Ethiopia (9%), Tunisia (7%), Mozambique (3%), Uganda (3%) and Algeria (3%). Libya (80), Cabo Verde (63), Morocco (37), Tunisia (33), Namibia (24), South Africa (18) and Eswatini (11)) are reporting the highest incidence (COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population) over the past seven days in Africa. Of the countries actively reporting COVID-19 epidemiologic data, ten countries are reporting case fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 3.1%: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (8%), Chad (7%), Sudan (6.2%), Liberia (6.1%), Niger (5.8%), Egypt (5.7%), Mali (4.2%), Angola (3.7%), Algeria (3.4%) and Sierra Leone (3.3%).