page_title: COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory
section_title: Africa
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory / Pandemic by region / Africa
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Air Force Airmen unload a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey in Niamey, Niger, April 23, 2020. The cargo included approximately 4,000 pounds of medical supplies provided by Navy Medical Research Unit Three-Ghana Detachment, to be delivered to the Government of Ghana in support a global response the COVID-19 pandemic. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Devin Nothstine)
context_page_description: The first human cases of COVID-19 were identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
context_section_description: According to Michael Yao, WHO's head of emergency operations in Africa, early detection is vital because the continent's health systems "are already overwhelmed by many ongoing disease outbreaks". Advisers say that a strategy based on testing could allow African countries to minimise lockdowns that inflict enormous hardship on those who depend on income earned day by day to be able to feed themselves and their families. Even in the best scenario, the United Nations says 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators will be needed by the continent's 1.3 billion people in 2020. The number of infections exceeded a million by 6 August, with five countries make up over 75% of the total confirmed cases: South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria. It is, however, believed that there is widespread under-reporting in other African countries with poorer health care systems, and some countries such as Tanzania failed to provide useful statistics. The mortality rates of COVID-19 cases in African countries are relatively low compared to Europe due to the younger age of their populations. 
  Cases have been confirmed in all African countries, with Lesotho the last country to report its first coronavirus case on 13 May 2020. There have been no reported cases in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
caption: U.S. Air Force airmen unload a C-17 aircraft carrying approximately 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) of medical supplies in Niamey, Niger 23 April 2020.
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