The World Health Organization Africa regional head warns that a spike likely to result in the wake of improved and increased testing.

Whiles the figures remain very low in a number of countries, quite a sizeable number has passed the 100 mark with only a handful in the 1000+ bracket – South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco,Cameroon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Djibouti and Nigeria.

South Africa one of Africa’s most impacted country has been praised by some analysts for their dedication to mass and intensive testing which an African Union Centers for Disease Control, CDC, official has asked that all countries need to scale up if the magnitude of infection is to be ascertained.

The new entrants between April 22 and May 8 were: Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Chad, Benin and Uganda.

All figures valid as of May 8 at 07:00 GMT

Major African stats: May 8 at 6:00 GMT:

Confirmed cases = 54,083

Number of deaths = 2,073

Recoveries = 18,412

Infected countries = 53

Virus-free countries = 1 (Lesotho)

North Africa

Algeria – 5,182

Egypt – 7,981

Morocco – 5,548

Tunisia – 998

West Africa

Burkina Faso – 736

Ghana – 3,091

Guinea – 1,927

Ivory Coast – 1,571

Mali – 650

Niger – 781

Nigeria- 3,526

Senegal – 1,492

Liberia – 189

Sierra Leone – 231

Togo – 135

Guinea-Bissau – 564

Cape Verde – 218

Benin – 140

Central Africa

Cameroon – 2,267

DR Congo – 897

Congo Republic – 274

Gabon – 504

Equatorial Guinea – 439

Sao Tome and Principe – 187

Chad – 253

East Africa

Djibouti – 1,133

Kenya – 607

Mauritius – 332

Rwanda – 271

Tanzania – 480

Somalia – 928

Ethiopia – 191

Sudan – 930

Uganda – 101

Southern Africa

South Africa – 8,232

Madagascar – 193

Zambia – 153

Eswatini – 153

Virus-free = Lesotho

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