Africa's COVID-19 cases pass 11 million
ETHIOPIA,HONG KONG,GERMANY: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 11,031,215 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The COVID-19 death toll across the continent stands at 244,282 and 10,139,776 patients have recovered from the disease so far, said the agency.
South Africa has recorded 3,640,162 COVID-19 cases, the highest number in Africa, followed by Morocco with 1,155,165 cases as of Sunday evening, it added.
Meanwhile, with a record 3,000 COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday, Hong Kong is rushing to build a Wuhan-style temporary hospital as its healthcare infrastructure faces a surge that experts said is likely to overwhelm its already stretched capacity.
The Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Sunday reported 1,340 confirmed infections as well as 2,000 suspected cases.
The current wave has posed the biggest challenge yet to Hong Kong’s “zero COVID” strategy, which had, since the first wave in early 2020, largely enabled the SAR to escape a major second wave unlike much of the world, with a combination of continued international travel restrictions, mass testing and a sweeping contact tracing system that quickly stamped out local clusters.
Meanwhile, Coronavirus case numbers have slightly dropped in Germany, as the government’s Covid-19 expert panel called for a gradual easing of restrictions in Europe’s biggest economy.
Germany reported 76,465 new daily coronavirus cases on Monday (Feb 14), down 20 per cent from the same day last week. The 7-day infection incidence per 100,000 people also fell to 1,460 from 1,467 on Sunday.
Germany’s expert panel said on Sunday that the Government needs to put plans in place for easing curbs, given the current wave of infections is expected to flatten in the coming weeks. At the same time, it warned against loosening restrictions too soon.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of the federal states are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss possible easing. -INDIAN EXPRESS, THE HINDUSTAN TIMES,THE STRAITS TIMES