Ethiopia reports 290,000 cases of COVID-19

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 688 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 289,962 as of Monday evening.

During the same time period, the ministry recorded 11 new COVID-19-related deaths and 218 new recoveries, bringing the national death toll to 4,489 and total recoveries to 265,589.

Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, has so far reported the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

According to the ministry, Ethiopia currently has 19,882 active COVID-19 cases, of which 434 are under severe health conditions.

Amid the national push for vaccination, the East African country has so far administered a total of 2,314,394 COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to the ministry.

Ethiopia was one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic in Africa, following South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia.