COVID-19: Ethiopia Records 14 Deaths, 720 New Infections

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has registered its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus as 14 people died in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health.

The ministry also reported 720 new cases of COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by coronavirus, after testing 9527 individuals over the past twenty-four hours.

To date, the country identified 13, 968 coronavirus cases including 223 deaths.

The country now has 7527 active cases of the virus. Of these, 65 patients are in serious conditions, according to health officials.

Today’s ministry’s report also indicates 250 patients have recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 6216.

Since the first case of COVID-19 cases recorded, Ethiopia has tested 382, 339 individuals for the virus.

Officials want to increase country’s testing capacity after receiving the first installment of a million COVID-19 testing kits.

50% of the kits were donated by a local company that will commence domestic production soon, according to prime minister Abiy Ahmed.

“Daily testing can now be further increased in the next 3 months, while locally produced testing kits available by October 2020,” he added.