covid-19 pandemic in africa covid-19 pandemic in africa the covid-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to africa on 14 february 2020, with the first confirmed case announced in egypt. the first confirmed case in sub-saharan africa was announced in nigeria at the end of february 2020. within three months, the virus had spread throughout the continent, as lesotho, the last african sovereign state to have remained free of the virus, reported a case on 13 may 2020. by 26 may, it appeared that most african countries were experiencing community transmission, although testing capacity was limited. most of the identified imported cases arrived from europe and the united states rather than from china where the virus originated. covid-19 pandemic in africamap of the 2020 covid-19 pandemic in africa as of 23 may 2021 1,000,000+ confirmed cases 100,000–999,999 confirmed cases 10,000–99,999 confirmed cases 1,000–9,999 confirmed cases 0–999 confirmed cases no cases or insufficient datadiseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationafricafirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, chinaindex casecairo, egyptarrival date14 february 2020(3 years, 2 months, 4 weeks and 1 day ago)confirmed cases11,984,539 (as of 10 may)active cases562,295 (as of 10 may)recovered11,168,212 (as of 10 may)deaths254,032 (as of 10 may)territories58 part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 2020 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2021 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2022 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november december 2023 january february march april may locations by country and territory africa antarctica asia europe north america oceania south america by conveyance cruise ships naval ships international response endemic phase evacuations face masks international aid investigations into origin lockdowns by country misinformation by governments fake treatments social distancing software travel united nations world health organization wto ip waiver undercounting of deaths covid-19 apps zero-covid national responses africa china european union germany ghana india ireland netherlands new zealand nigeria philippines russia sweden uk government us federal government vietnam medical response disease testing breathalyzer development drug development drug repurposing public health mitigation vaccines history research vitt deployment authorizations operation warp speed misinformation and hesitancy us vaccine card vaccine passports current vaccines coronavac covaxin convidecia janssen medigen moderna novavax oxford–astrazeneca pfizer–biontech sinopharm bibp sputnik v variants variants of concern alpha beta gamma delta omicron other variants epsilon zeta eta theta iota kappa lambda mu cluster 5 lineage b.1.617 economic impact and recession arts and culture aviation cannabis cinema films disney fashion financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal in early june 2021, africa faced a third wave of covid infections with cases rising in 14 countries. by 4 july the continent recorded more than 251,000 new covid cases, a 20% increase from the prior week and a 12% increase from the january peak. more than sixteen african countries, including malawi and senegal, recorded an uptick in new cases. the world health organization labelled it africa's 'worst pandemic week ever'. many preventive measures have been implemented by different countries in africa. these include travel restrictions, flight cancellations, event cancellations, school closures, and border closures. it is believed that there is widespread under-reporting in many african countries with less developed healthcare systems. according to the autumn 2020 seroprevalence study in juba in south sudan, less than 1% of infected were actually reported. similar results were found in 2022 by who modelers. new variants of concern of the virus were found in africa: in february 2020 the beta variant in south africa, in december 2020 the eta variant in nigeria, and in november 2021 the omicron variant in botswana. the african union secured close to 300 million covid-19 vaccine doses in the largest such agreement yet for africa; it was announced on 13 january 2021. this is independent of the global access to covid-19 tools accelerator (covax) effort aimed at distributing covid-19 vaccines to lower-income countries. notably, however, african countries were being charged more than double what european countries had to pay for certain vaccines. the group of seven (g-7) promised an equitable distribution of vaccines on 19 february 2021, although few details were provided. the united arab emirates has also stepped forward as a vaccine provider for the continent. despite these breakthroughs, africa is the world's least vaccinated continent. at the beginning of june 2021 the world health organization reported that covid-19 vaccine shipments had ground to a "near halt" in africa. on 8 june, the sudanese-british billionaire philanthropist mo ibrahim sharply criticized the international community for failing to ensure equitable vaccine distribution across the globe. by 8 july 2021, only 2% of the continent had been inoculated. several african governments are experiencing criticism for a perceived lack of readiness, corruption scandals, and forcing new lockdowns too late, undermining trust in the state. currently, twenty of the 39 nations on the world bank's harmonised list of fragile and conflict-affected states are in africa. to support the covid-19 recovery, sub-saharan africa as a whole would need to raise expenditure by around 6% of gdp ($100 billion), whereas mena would need to boost spending by 9% of gdp. overall history by the second week of june 2020, africa had surpassed 200,000 cases in total. the number of confirmed new cases accelerated in june, with the continent having taken 98 days to record the first 100,000 cases, and 18 days for the second 100,000. the pace of acceleration has continued, with cases passing both the 300,000 and 400,000 marks on 6 july. on 8 july 2020, cases had exceeded half a million. half of the 500,000 cases reported in the continent are from south africa or egypt. ten countries account for 80% of the reported cases. the world health organization voiced alarm at the spread in africa on 20 july 2020, stating that south africa's surging numbers could be a precursor for further outbreaks across the continent. the number exceeded a million by 6 august, with five countries making up over 75% of the total confirmed cases: south africa, egypt, morocco, ethiopia and nigeria. the true case numbers are believed to be significantly higher than the confirmed counts, due to low testing rates in many african countries. the mortality rates of african countries, however, are relatively low compared to europe due to the younger age of their populations. on 21 august the africa centres for disease control and prevention (africa cdc) expressed "cautious optimism" as the number of new cases took a downturn, while warning against complacency. in some countries, the number of cases began to rise. on 29 october, john nkengasong, the head of africa cdc, said: "the time to prepare for a second wave is truly now." on 12 november, africa cdc and the world health organization (who) reported that confirmed cases have been increasing since july, particularly in north africa (tunisia, morocco and libya). the curve has flattened in south africa and kenya, while senegal and equatorial guinea have seen a steady decline. during the summer of 2021, the number of cases increased and reached almost 202,000 a week by 27 june. as of 13 july 2021, 22 of the 55 african states had reported cases of the delta variant. for the first time since the apex of the fourth wave generated by the omicron strain, the weekly number of covid-19 cases in africa has "significantly decreased," and the number of deaths has also decreased, according to a statement released by the world health organization on thursday, 10 february 2022. african countries contributed significantly to the identification of the omicron variant in november 2021, when tulio de oliveira of stellenbosch university, a brazilian-born bioinformatician, for the first time informed the public of the variant’s dozens of mutations, making it more contagious globally. african academics have sharply criticised the 'global north' for hogging crucial vaccines, unfairly imposing travel bans, and depriving african scientists of the credits they deserve for sequencing new emerging variants. statistics total confirmed cases by country daily cases for the most infected african countries: the number of active cases by country. confirmed cases by country and territory summary table of confirmed cases in africa (as of 24 january 2023) country/territory cases active cases recoveries deaths ref south africa 4,054,522 39,428 3,912,506 102,588 morocco 1,272,186 112 1,255,778 16,296 tunisia 1,150,127 29,291 egypt 515,645 48,850 442,182 24,613 libya 507,158 4 500,717 6,437 ethiopia 499,354 5,619 486,163 7,572 réunion 484,813 65,323 418,572 918 kenya 342,792 69 337,035 5,688 zambia 338,986 2,292 332,655 4,039 botswana 328,581 2,039 323,747 2,795 algeria 271,354 81,746 182,727 6,881 nigeria 266,453 3,458 259,850 3,155 zimbabwe 259,981 667 253,677 5,637 mozambique 231,404 371 228,801 2,232 ghana 171,112 14 169,636 1,462 namibia 170,496 89 166,324 4,083 uganda 170,279 66,128 100,431 3,630 rwanda 133,078 73 131,537 1,468 cameroon 123,993 3,412 118,616 1,965 angola 105,095 115 103,050 1,930 democratic republic of the congo 95,346 9,660 84,223 1,463 senegal 88,900 17 86,915 1,968 malawi 88,446 469 85,291 2,686 ivory coast 87,966 6 87,127 833 eswatini 74,114 51 72,641 1,422 madagascar 67,817 55 66,343 1,419 sudan 63,729 444 58,284 5,001 mauritania 63,664 234 62,433 997 cape verde 63,224 60 62,752 412 burundi 52,162 731 51,393 38 seychelles 50,355 157 50,026 172 gabon 48,980 6 48,668 306 tanzania 42,530 846 mayotte 42,002 188 mauritius 41,627 684 39,901 1,042 togo 39,353 6 37,757 467 guinea 38,224 0 37,757 467 lesotho 34,790 8,087 25,980 723 mali 32,776 80 31,953 743 benin 27,989 3 27,823 163 somalia 27,318 12,775 13,182 1,361 republic of the congo 25,375 983 24,006 386 burkina faso 22,025 33 21,596 396 south sudan 18,368 115 18,115 138 equatorial guinea 17,186 123 16,880 183 djibouti 15,690 74 15,427 189 central african republic 15,361 471 14,777 113 gambia 12,586 25 12,189 372 eritrea 10,189 0 10,086 103 niger 9,931 729 8,890 312 comoros 8,992 4 8,827 161 guinea-bissau 8,947 115 8,656 176 liberia 8,043 8 7,741 294 sierra leone 7,760 126 chad 7,651 2,583 4,874 194 são tomé and principe 6,279 0 6,202 77 western sahara 10 0 9 1 totals 12,765,020 454,504 12,052,075 258,441 timeline by country and territory main article: covid-19 timeline by country in africa algeria main article: covid-19 pandemic in algeria the first case in the country was confirmed on 25 february. on the morning of 2 march, algeria confirmed two new cases of the coronavirus, a woman and her daughter. on 3 march, algeria reported another two new cases of the coronavirus. the two new cases were from the same family, a father and daughter, and were living in france. on 4 march, the ministry of health recorded four new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, all from the same family, bringing the total number to 12 confirmed cases. according to who prediction modelling estimates algeria faces a relatively high risk for a spread of covid-19 if containment measures such as contact tracing are not prioritized. angola main article: covid-19 pandemic in angola on 21 march, the first two cases in the country were confirmed. effective 20 march, all angolan borders were closed for 15 days. as of 18 april 2020, there were a total of 19 confirmed cases, two deaths and six recovered cases. by december 2020 the total confirmed cases was 17,433, with 10,859 recoveries and 405 deaths. there were 6,169 active cases at the end of the month. benin main article: covid-19 pandemic in benin on 16 march 2020, the first case in the country was confirmed. as of 18