JOHANNESBURG – Africa's coronavirus cases have surpassed 100,000, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, as the continent with many fragile health systems has not yet seen the high numbers of other parts of the world.
More than 3,100 people have died from COVID-19 across the continent of 1.3 billion people. The African continent has seen roughly the same number of new cases in the past week as the week before, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said Thursday, adding that “we hope that trend continues” instead of a rapid exponential increase.
While early lockdowns in many of Africa's 54 countries slowed the growth of the pandemic, Nkengasong said “that doesn’t mean Africa has been spared.” But he said health