Staff members wearing protective suits wait for passengers at an airport in Polokwane, South Africa, March 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Molefi Moleli)
About 24 African countries have already closed their full borders as the COVID-19 claimed 117 lives and confirmed cases surpassed 3,924 across the continent as of Saturday.
ADDIS ABABA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the African continent has reached 117 as confirmed positives cases surpassed 3,924 as of Saturday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) revealed on Saturday.
The Africa CDC, specialized agency of the 55-member African Union (AU), in its latest situation update said the cases were spread across 46 African countries.
The continental disease control and prevention agency also disclosed that among the highly COVID1-9 affected countries include South Africa with 1,170 confirmed cases, Egypt with 495 confirmed cases, Algeria with 409 confirmed cases, as well as Morocco with 275 confirmed cases.
Ahmed Ogwell, Deputy Director of Africa CDC, confirmed to Xinhua on Saturday that some 276 people who have been infected with the COVID-19 have recovered across the continent.
Amid the rapid spread of the virus across the African continent, figures from the Africa CDC also show that more than 680 new confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported across the continent since the center's recent report on Friday, in which the confirmed cases have increased from 3,243 on Friday to 3,924 on Saturday.
"About 24 African countries have already closed their full borders, while 10 other countries have also put in place international air traffic closures," the Africa CDC disclosed in its latest continental situation update on COVID-19 issued on Friday.
Aerial photo taken on March 27, 2020, shows almost-empty roads and streets in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the first day of a 21-day national lockdown. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)
The Africa CDC also stressed that seven other countries in Africa have also put in place travel restrictions to and from specific countries, while seven other countries have also instructed entry restrictions for travelers from specific countries.
"Most member states have imposed mandatory quarantine for all travelers or travelers arriving from high-risk areas," an Africa CDC statement read.
It, however, stressed that some African countries still allow cargo, freight and emergency transport into and out of the country.■