| Brazzaville-The World Health Organization (WHO) officially designated COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020.There are now 137 confirmed cases in Africa, the WHO has said. “With COVID-19 officially declared a pandemic, all countries in Africa must act,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, “Every country can still change the course of this pandemic by scaling up their emergency preparedness or response. Cases may still be low in Africa and we can keep it that way with robust all-of-government actions to fight the new coronavirus.” Containment remains the most appropriate strategy for African countries a WHO press release said on March 12, 2020. Apart from South Africa and Algeria – which have clusters of transmission linked to imported cases – the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African region are sporadic importations from European countries, mainly Italy, France, Germany and Spain. To focus on containment in this narrowing window of available time, the WHO Regional Office for Africa is shifting from readiness to response mode. In countries with confirmed cases, efforts are underway to trace people who may have come into contact with those confirmed to have COVID-19. Efforts to support countries as they bolster essential early detection and surveillance capabilities at their ports, airports and land crossings are underway. Read More |
| This map illustrates confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Africa as of 17:00pm on 12 March, 2020, West Africa Standard Time. Cases in countries outside the WHO African Region are shown for context. |
| Alerts Number of people investigated for COVID-19 in WHO African Region Number of COVID-19 cases ruled out in WHO African Region Number of people under investigation 549 536 13 Number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the African Region 137 |