The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the Covid-19 outbreak in Africa may have passed its peak, but it warns governments not to be complacent as countries relax their restrictions.
The number of new daily confirmed cases overall has been dropping, although some countries are experiencing a rise in cases.
At what rate is coronavirus spreading?
Over the past four weeks, there has been an average 17% fall in the number of weekly new cases being reported.
“We have had what seems to have been a peak and now have the daily number of cases being reported overall at the regional level going down,” says WHO’s Africa region head Matshidiso Moeti.
That may be because the rate of increase has slowed in some of the most populous countries in the region, like South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria.
But there’ve been increases in cases in some countries in East and North Africa, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC).
Uganda and Rwanda have also experienced an increase in cases recently.
In North Africa, Morocco and Tunisia are experiencing a sustained increase in cases, and there’s been a rapid increase in cases in Libya, according to the WHO.
However, both Algeria and Egypt have seen a decline in confirmed cases over the past month.
Other countries recording a decline in new cases include Ghana, Gabon, Madagascar and Zambia.
