Ethiopia is facing a dire shortage of intensive-care beds and ventilators as coronavirus cases rise across the country, Ethiopian Public Health Institute has said.
“We found a mortality rate of 19 percent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 cases are still increasing exponentially across the country” the institute said in a statement on Monday.
With the new figures, COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia to date hit over 175, 467 with 2550 deaths.
The Institute said 9,329 people were confirmed COVID-19 positive this week out of 49,326 people tested and the infection rate grew by 32 percent.
The statement further said 121 people died of the virus last week, showing an 89 percent increase compared to previous weeks.
Out of 100 COVID-19 patients, 69 one of them require ventilators every day. The number of patients requiring ventilators is many folds versus the total 500 ventilators the nation can supply.
Ethiopia has so far reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East African region.
The latest figures from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Ethiopia’s cases accounted for about four percent of the African continent’s total.
MG/abj/APA