Ethiopia is one of East / Horn of Africa’s least impacted nations as compared to rate of COVID-19 case growth and infection of its neighbours.
A state of emergency lasting five-months has been imposed by the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed led government. All land borders have since been shut as a virus control measure with a raft of restrictions and enforcement of physical distancing and mask wearing measures.
Elections planned for May this year were also postponed citing the effect of the pandemic. Ethiopia played an instrumental role in the deployment of virus supplies donated by Chinese businessman Ali Baba. This article will focus on major developments coming from the country.
Ethiopia’s caseload passed 10,000 mark on Sunday (July 19) according to statistics from the Health Ministry. The 704 new cases reported became the highest single-day increase so far.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 10,207. According to a data tracking website dedicated to stats from the country, the capital Addis Ababa has over half of all confirmed cases.
The city’s toll stands at 5,525 with 83 deaths and 1,936 recoveries. Somali, Oromia, Amhara and Tigray regions complete the top 5 regions with 454, 359, 353 and 342 cases respectively. Ethiopia has so far conducted 331,266 laboratory tests.
Ethiopia Health Ministry stats valid as of July 20, 2020