As five additional infected people are found today, the total number of COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic patients in Ethiopia has reached 21, the Ministry of Health said.
All the new five patients are Ethiopians of which three has travel history to Dubai of the United Arab Emirates and Cameron. The remaining two individuals are reported to have contact with the people who were reported to acquire the virus. Of the five the two individuals are from Adama town of Oromia Region of Ethiopia, located about 80 kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa. The remaining three are inhabitants of the capital.
So far there is no death report from the pandemic in Ethiopia though it is indicated that one of the 21 infected people is reported to be under critical condition. It is indicated that the Public Health Institute of Ethiopia has been conducting up to 150 COVID-19 tests daily on average.
The Institute is equipping itself with laboratory equipment that will enable it to conduct up to 8,000 COVID-19 tests per day after one month, according to Aschalew Abayneh, Deputy Director General of the Institute, who spoke to the state broadcaster ETV this evening. He indicated that in addition to the one in based in Addis Ababa, the testing centers will be in different parts of Ethiopia.
As of today globally close to 33,000 people have lost their lives because of coronavirus pandemic so far while some 691,000 people are infected. Even though Africa relatively has the lowest number of causalities a few dozens of people with less than a few thousand infected so far, the World Health Organization has been advising the continent to prepare for the worst.