Outbreak Brief 38: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic

Outbreak Update: Since the last brief (29 September 2020), 2,073,499 new confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 38,834 new deaths have been reported globally. To date, a total of 35,112,928 COVID-19 cases and 1,035,766 related deaths (case fatality rate (CFR): 2.9%) 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 2,166,560 (6%), European Region 6,269,154 (18%), Region of the Americas 17,101,686 (49%), South-East Asia Region 7,418,537 (21%) and Western Pacific Region 630,372 (2%). For more detailed information on cases and deaths being reported outside of Africa, refer to the WHO daily situation reports.
As of 9 am East African Time (EAT) 6 October 2020, a total of 1,518,662 COVID-19 cases and 36,921 deaths (CFR: 2.4%) have been reported in 55 African Union Member State Countries. This is 4% of all cases reported globally. Since the last brief, 53,639 new COVID-19 cases have been reported, which is an increase of 2% compared to the number of new cases (52,713) reported in the 29 September 2020 brief. The proportion of new COVID-19 cases reported by region is as follows: Northern region 52% (28,088 cases; 1% increase from previous week), Southern region 25% (13,523; 2% decrease), Eastern region 16% (8,516; 17% increase), Western region 6% (3,083; 3% decrease) and Central region 1% (429; 39% decrease).
Six countries account for approximately 80% of the new COVID-19 cases reported since the last brief: Morocco (29%), South Africa (20%), Tunisia (11%), Ethiopia (10%), Libya (8%) and Kenya (2%). Countries reporting the highest incidence (COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population) over the past seven days in Africa include: Cabo Verde (103), Libya (67), Tunisia (52), Morocco (43), Namibia (19), South Africa (18) and Eswatini (9). Of the countries actively reporting COVID-19 epidemiologic data, twelve countries are reporting case fatality rates higher than the global case fatality rate of 2.9%, These include: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (7.1%), Chad (7.0%), Sudan (6.1%), Liberia (6.1%), Niger (5.8%), Egypt (5.7%), Mali (4.1%), Algeria (4.0%), Angola (3.6%), Sierra Leone (3.2%), Malawi (3.1%), Gambia (3.2%), Sierra Leone (3.2%) and Malawi (3.1%).