Africa tops 3 million confirmed coronavirus cases

South Africa accounts for 30 per cent of continent's cases

A doctor prepares to administer a vaccine injection. AP

Africa passed 3 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, including more than 72,000 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

South Africa accounts for more than 30 per cent of the continent’s total, with more than 1.2 million reported cases, including 32,824 deaths.

The high proportion of cases in South Africa could be because the country carries out more tests than many other African countries.

South Africa is battling a resurgence of the disease, driven by a variant of the virus that is more contagious and spreading quickly.

Many hospitals are reaching capacity, yet the numbers of those infected are expected to continue rising, health experts said.

South Africa’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks from 19.86 new cases for every 100,000 people on December 26 to 30.18 on January 9, Johns Hopkins University said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet his Cabinet this week to consider if further restrictions should be made to slow the spread of the disease, while balancing the need to encourage economic growth.