Africa exceeds 1,000 deaths from coronavirus and adds up to almost 20,000 cases

The African continent has surpassed the 1,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 epidemic this Saturday, while the total number of cases across the continent now stands at 19,895, according to the African Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC). In total, as of 8 a.m. GMT this Saturday, the continent recorded 1,017 deaths and 4,642 recoveries. 

The most affected area is the north, with Egypt being the country most affected by the pandemic in the entire continent (2,844 cases and 205 deaths). It is followed, in the south, by South Africa, with 2,783 infections and 50 deaths, and, again in the north, by Morocco (with 2,564 positive cases and 135 deaths). For its part, Algeria, with 2,418 cases and 364 deaths, is the African nation where the coronavirus is proving most lethal. 

Africa, with 1.2 billion inhabitants, remains for the moment one of the areas least affected by COVID-19, although the figures for infections continue to advance even in spite of the drastic prevention measures imposed early on by many countries. To date, 52 of the continent's 54 countries have reported cases. 

Health experts have warned that Africa is weeks behind the United States and Europe in the evolution of the pandemic and the African Centre for Disease Control has warned that, to contain it, the region will need to carry out some 15 million screening tests in the coming months. 

According to estimates by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), more than 300,000 people could die from the pandemic on this continent due to the special conditions of vulnerability of the region, such as the lack of sanitary means, the presence of other diseases or the conditions of overcrowding of the poorest population, especially in urban areas. 

This is why almost twenty government leaders - not only from Africa but also from the rest of the world, such as the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, or the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel - launched on Wednesday a public request for urgent economic aid for Africa. The petition, which underlined that if the COVID-19 is not defeated in Africa it will not be possible to guarantee the end of the health crisis in the rest of the world either, was published in the British newspaper Financial Times and estimated the aid needed for Africa to be at least 100 billion dollars. 

In parallel with the health crisis, UNECA predicts that the continent's economy will contract by 3.2% to 1.8% as a result of the pandemic, pushing some 27 million people into extreme poverty.