Ethiopia Records First COVID-19 Death in a week

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has recorded its first COVID-19 disease related fatality in a week as new cases continue to rise, a ministry of health report says.

The Ministry confirmed the death of a patient due to the acute respiratory disease on Thursday evening, bringing the national death toll to 7, 514.

It was the first Covid-induced fatality that the ministry reported since May 25, 2022.

New Cases Increase

The nation has also logged the daily cases since Jan 28 after registering 447 new Covid-19 infections today.

The positive cases, identified from 7,126 people tested for coronavirus in the last twenty-four hours, have taken the confirmed total to 473, 365.

About 456, 059 of them have already recuperated from the disease, reports the ministry, after adding only 65 new recoveries on Thursday .

There are now 10, 060 confirmed active cases in Ethiopia. Twelve of them are severely sick and are still getting treatment in hospitals, the report says.

Vaccine Drive Stalls

Health experts are still advising the public to be vigilant and follow the Covid protocols including wearing facemasks when in crowded places.

The advice comes as the national vaccination pace remains at a standstill. Recently, Health officials announced a plan to roll out another nationwide vaccination campaign in the first half of June.

Ethiopia offered the first Covid vaccine to its citizens in March, 2021. Since then, it has administered nearly 29.45 doses of the vaccine nationwide while fully vaccinating 24.5 million people against the virus