Ethiopia declares state of emergency to fight COVID-19[/caption]Following gradual increase of the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, the Government of Ethiopia today declares state of emergency.
Announcing the state of emergency, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed indicated that the decision to declare the state of emergency not only saves the lives of today’s generation but also that of the next generation.The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia today announced finding three more COVID-19 positive people of which two recently returned from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The third individual from Awi area of Amhara region of Ethiopia has no travel history, according to the information from the Ministry of Health.
So far 55 COVID-19 cases are confirmed in Ethiopia, of which two Ethiopian nationals have died by the pandemic and two foreign nationals have returned to their country. Four COVID-19 patients have also recovered so far. In a related development, an additional COVID-19 laboratory testing center with a capacity of 500 tests per day has gone operational in Adama City of Ethiopia, according to the Ministry of Health. Currently three institutions are conducting COVID-19 tests in Ethiopia. The total number of COVID-19 laboratory tests Ethiopia has conducted so far is 2,496.
In Africa close to 500 people have died by coronavirus of which over 130 are registered in Algeria and about 70 in Egypt. Globally over 83,400 people are killed by the pandemic, while 1,446,128 infected globally. Over 308,146 people across the world have recovered from the pandemic.
In terms of infection, the United Sates leads with almost 400,000 COVID-19 positive people. The country has also lost 12,911 lives so far, according to Johns Hopkins latest update. In Europe, Italy, Spain and France are among the severely hit countries in the world losing over 40,000 lives.