The Ethiopian Ministry of Health on Monday reported the country’s second death from the deadly coronovirus.
This latest fatality comes a day after the Ethiopian Health ministry confirmed its first death from the respiratory disease which has killed over 60, 000 people worldwide.
Ethiopia reported five additional cases of the virus, officially known as COVID-19 bringing the total number of infections in the country to 43.
A 60-year-old- woman and a 56-year-old man have died from the virus, said the Ministry in a statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile a team of scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has forecast that Africa could see up to 450,000 people test positive for the highly infectious coronavirus (Covid-19) by the second week of May, putting the continent’s fragile health systems under severe test.
The team made the prediction based on a mathematical modelling projection, as the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Africa more than doubled in one week to Friday’s figure of more than 6,500 cases.
The scientists also project that each East African country (Ethiopia included) will report at least 10,000 Covid-19 cases by May 10, with Uganda being the last to hit this number.
With 50 out of 56 African countries now reporting Covid-19 cases, the scientists say only strict interventions such as social distancing could make their forecasts wrong.
MG/as/APA