ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the African continent has reached 2,043,462, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Saturday.

The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 49,099 as of Saturday afternoon.

A total of 1,728,682 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, according to the continental disease control and prevention agency.

The most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Ethiopia, figures from the Africa CDC show.

The southern Africa region is the most COVID-19 affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as the number of deaths, it was noted. The northern Africa region is the second most COVID-19-affected African region, according to the Africa CDC.

Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) Commission on Friday stressed that Africa's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is "far from being over."

According to the pan African bloc, although Africa has not recorded very high number of COVID-19 cases and deaths as in other continents, the impact of the pandemic has been "very high on the continent, exerting intense pressure on the already fragile health system and adversely affecting the socioeconomic situation on the continent."

In February 2020, the Africa CDC developed a continental strategy to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed to enhance cooperation, collaboration, coordination and communication while preventing severe illness and death and minimizing social disruption and economic consequences due to the pandemic. The strategy was validated by the African ministers of health in February and endorsed by the Bureau of Heads of State and Government in March 2020.

In June 2020, the Africa CDC had also rolled out Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT), an initiative that has enabled it to bring partners together as a collective to expand testing, contact tracing and treatment of COVID-19 cases across the continent. Enditem

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