The African Union plans to carry out 20 million tests for Covid-19 by November this year. The information was relayed by Anadolu Agency, which cited John Nkengasong, the Head of the Addis Ababa-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The new test wave is part of the “Africa against COVID-19- Saving Lives, Economies and Livelihoods” anti-Covid campaign launched by the African Union. The initiative aims to make the detection of cases even more effective on a continent that is still the least affected by the pandemic.

According to data provided by Africa CDC, Africa has more than 1.14 million cases of coronavirus, 26,618 deaths, and 870,568 recoveries. “We are seeing overall a positive trend,” said Nkengasong explaining that “we approach the trend with cautious optimism […] We still don’t know the true extent of exposure to the virus on the continent.”

John Nkengasong says the rate of infections on the continent has dropped over the last week from 11,000 to 10,300 new cases a day, thanks to a decline in new cases in South Africa, the most affected country on the continent. The new average in S.Africa is 5,000 cases a day against 12,000 previously.

Worldwide, the coronavirus has officially affected 22.4 million people and killed 788,000 while 14.3 million others have recovered.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou