Ethiopia Records 42 New Covid Cases, Vaccine Rate on the Rise

ADDIS ABABA – The number of first vaccine doses administered in Ethiopia has reached over 22.7 million as its Ministry of Health reported 42 new Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases on Friday.

The East African nation, which started to inoculate its citizens in March 2021, renewed its vaccination campaign with a second phase vaccine drive fortnights ago.

This has made the vaccine doses offered in the country to double and grew from 10.9 to 22.74 million.

Of the total, more than 317, 000 of them have been administered in the past twenty-four hours, the Ministry of health report claims.

About 18.7 million Ethiopians have also been fully vaccinated.

Authorities, however, have continued to urge the public to get the vaccine shot and observe the health protocol put in place such as wearing facemasks to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

In the past 24-hours alone, the virus has claimed the lives of at least four people, bringing the death toll to 7,454, the report reveals.

The country also confirmed at least 42 new cases from 5, 664 tests conducted in the same period.

The report, however, shows a drop in active cases tally as more patients continue to recover from the acute respiratory disease.

As many as 1,657 patients have recuperated from the disease, taking the recovery count to 414, 923.

There are still 46, 227 confirmed active cases nationwide. Of which, 100 of them are severely sick and are getting medical attention, reports the ministry of health.

Ethiopia confirmed its first Coronavirus case in March 2020. To date, they have identified 468, 606 infections from nearly 4.5 million tests conducted.

The total confirmed cases so far puts Ethiopia among the most affected African countries next to South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.