Covid-19: Ethiopia Reports 1,120 New Cases, 18 Fatalities

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has recorded 1,120 more novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases on Saturday, data from the ministry of health reveals.

The new positive infections have been identified after testing nearly 8, 000 people, the ministry says in its daily Covid-19 update.

Additional 18 people have also died due to the acute respiratory disease in the same period, taking the death toll to 4, 749.

The severe case tally has continued to rise for three consecutive days while the country saw one of the highest daily recovery numbers in the recent months.

Ethiopia now has 732 seriously sick patients, shows the report which puts the active case count at 25, 566.

As many as 2, 730 patients have also recuperated from the disease in the reported period, bringing the recovery count to 283,151.

The East African nation confirmed its first case on March 13, 2020. Since then, it has identified 313, 468 cases after testing close to 3.3 million people.

Officials at the ministry are urging the public to observe the health advice put in place  including wearing face masks, social distancing and proper hand washing and vaccination.

On Saturday, more than 6, 800 people were vaccinated against Covid-19. The new figure has brought the total doses offered in the country to 2, 517, 808, the ministry’s report shows.

Ethiopia launched the ongoing vaccination campaign on March 13 – a week after its health officials received 2.2 million AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX Facility.