The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Africa has recorded 17 deaths in the past 24 hours from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Africa was among the last continent to report cases of the coronavirus, but the virus is beginning to spread throughout the continent as 33 countries have reported at least a case of the disease.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, speaking to journalists on Wednesday said so far, there has been 633 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 33 African countries leading to 17 deaths.
He warned African countries to prepare for the worst, adding that the continent needs to wake up as official numbers of COVID-19 cases do not likely reflect the full picture.
Tedros warned that numbers of positive cases could scale up quickly if care is not taken.
“Till date more than 200,000 people have been and more than 8,000 killed with Africa as the least affected,”he said.
“Africa should wake up,Probably we have undetected cases or unreported cases.
“Even if there truly were no more than 233 cases of the disease in Africa, he warned that that number could scale up quickly.
“In other countries, we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain tipping point, so the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today
“WHO’s recommendation is actually that mass gatherings should be avoided.”
