Covid-19: Ethiopia Records 1,250 Cases over the Weekend

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has recorded  1,250 novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) infections in the last forty-eight hours as Covid vaccine shots given close in on a 50 million mark.

The nation conducted close to 9, 000 Coronavirus tests in the course of Saturday-Sunday to confirm the latest positive cases, data from the Ministry of Health shows.

The combined fresh Covid-19 cases registered over the weekend have brought the nation’s confirmed tally to 474,138.

Nearly 800 patients have also recuperated from Covid-19 in the same period, taking the total recoveries to 458,280, ministry of health report.

The nation’s confirmed active cases have reached 18, 333, up by 451 from Friday.  

Meanwhile, the severe cases count has also dropped by two over the weekend to reach 39, says Sunday’s report.

The country has also registered one Covid-19 fatality today, taking the national death toll to 7,523.

Health experts are still advising the public to be vigilant and follow the Covid protocols including wearing facemasks when in crowded places. They are also urging the public to get the vaccine shot after launching the third round of the vaccination campaign over a week ago.

Ethiopia started offering the Covid vaccine to its citizens in March 2021. To date, more than 49.35 million doses of the vaccine have been administered nationwide. About two million of them were given to the public in the last forty-eight hours, officials report.

The number of fully vaccinated Ethiopians has also reached over 40.55 million after the country gave second shots to 1.65mln people over the weekend.

Health officials plan to achieve  60% COVID-19 vaccination coverage by the end of the 2023 calendar year.