AFRICA – A total of 5,693,566 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Africa so far. The continent, which is currently at the peak of the third wave of infections, has reported 146,175 deaths and 4,906,990 recoveries.

At least ten countries in Africa have attained a threshold of over 100,000 cases. These include; South Africa, the most affected country I the continent having reported 2,075,409 cases, 1,827,821 recoveries and 62,171 deaths.

South Africa is followed closely by Morocco and Tunisia which have recorded 534,797cases and 9,329 deaths, 447,161                cases and 15,482 deaths respectively. Tunisia has recorded the highest death toll in the continent.

Egypt and Ethiopia follow closely having reported 282,082 and 276,503 cases respectively. Libya, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Algeria make up the list of countries reporting over one hundred thousand coronavirus cases.

This is according to data published by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at John Hopkins University (JHU).

Yesterday, Egypt’s cabinet eased guest limits for hotels, restaurants, cinemas and theatres to 70% of their capacity from 50% at present as coronavirus infections slow, a cabinet statement said.

Egypt has been gradually easing pandemic restrictions since June 1 in efforts to redeem the country’s economy and tourism sector.

Tourism revenue is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt and the industry usually accounts for up to 15% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, the country’s tourism revenues were between US$3.5 billion to US$4 billion during the first half of 2021 and the country received about 3.5 million tourists from January to June, Ghada Shalaby, Deputy Minister of Tourism, reported.

The country’s revenues from the vital sector were about US$4 billion in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, down by 70% from US$13.03 billion in 2019.

“We are expecting that numbers of tourists will increase by45% to 60% during the next period compared with last year,” Shalaby said.

Even though the situation is looking better in Namibia, the country confirmed the first cases of Delta COVID-19 variants after genome sequencing.

According to the ministry, as of July 3, the Delta variant had been detected in at least 98 countries around the world and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries.

Namibia has recorded a total of 1,662 deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and a total of 97,087 cases.

Vaccination

Very few vaccines have found their way into the arms of Africans as they struggle with a surge in COVID-19 infections. Several countries now want to start producing vaccines on the continent.

Over 35,094,444 vaccinations have been administered across the continent.

Kenya’s health ministry has announced that close to 460,000 citizens have been fully inoculated against COVID-19. A total of 1,477,916 COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across the country, 1,018,143 being first doses.

459,773 Kenyans have received their second doses.

During the briefing, the ministry announced 185 new coronavirus cases had been recorded, raising the country’s total tally to 186,053 cases.

Over the 24-hour period, 15 new deaths from COVID-19 were reported with total fatalities from COVID-19 now standing at 3,690.

This happens as South Africa launches the vaccination of police officers with J&J vaccine to protect the police who are at the frontline in enforcing regulations.

The police said they expect a total of 180,000 employees to receive the jab at the 108 registered vaccination sites across the country.