According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the African Union (Africa CDC), the number of infected is 976,208, up 8188 in the last 24 hours, while the number recovered is this Wednesday 651,455, up 21,729.
The highest number of cases and deaths of covid-19 continues to occur in southern Africa, with 546,922 infected and 9424 deaths.
In this region, South Africa, the most affected country on the continent, accounts for 521,318 infected and 8884 deaths.
The region of North Africa, the second most affected by the pandemic, now has 164,930 infected and 6850 dead and in West Africa the number of cases has risen to 132,473, with 1979 fatalities.
In the East African region, 82,611 cases and 1853 deaths are reported, while the Central African region accounts for 49,272 infected and 944 deaths.
Egypt is the second country with more deaths, after South Africa, with 94,752 infected and 4912 deaths, followed by Algeria, with 31,948 cases and 1235 deaths this Wednesday.
Among the five countries most affected are Nigeria, with 44,433 infected and 910 deaths, and Sudan, with 11,780 cases and 752 deaths.
In relation to the African countries that have Portuguese as their official language, Cape Verde leads in number of cases (2631 cases and 26 deaths), followed by Guinea-Bissau (.032 cases and 27 deaths), Mozambique (2029 cases and 15 deaths), Angola (1344 infected and 59 deaths) and São Tomé e Príncipe (875 cases and 15 deaths).
Equatorial Guinea, which is part of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), has 4821 infected and 83 deaths.
The first case of covid-19 in Africa emerged in Egypt on 14 February, and Nigeria was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to register cases of infection on 28 February.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed over 694,000 lives and infected more than 18.3 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the centre of the pandemic in February, the American continent now has the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.
Last Thursday the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the number of covid-19 cases in Africa will exceed one million "in the coming days", noting that it has increased by "50 per cent in the last 14 days".
