COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa: APHRC Weekly Situation Report – #01

The global community is racing to slow down and halt the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed tens of thousands of lives in a very short period of time, since it was first announced on December 31, 2019. In Africa, the virus has spread to dozens of countries within weeks. Several African governments have put in place measures for early detection, contact tracing, and quarantining of potential contacts. Currently, forty-seven countries in the WHO African region can now test for COVID-19.

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is committed to generating an Africa-led and Africa-owned body of evidence to inform decision making for an effective and sustainable response to the most critical challenges facing the continent. The objective of this weekly situation report is to highlight the weekly trends of new confirmed cases, cumulative cases, and active cases for all sub-Saharan African countries. This bulletin is a summary for informational purposes. Complete summaries and trends can be assessed from the in-house dashboard (https://siddi.shinyapps.io/covid19dashboardsa/).