Addis Ababa, Aug 16 (IANS): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa surged to 1,096,951 as the death toll rose to 25,096, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, in its latest situation update issued on Saturday, said the number of COVID-19 cases across the African continent has risen from 1,084,687 on Friday to 1,096,951 as of Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Africa CDC also noted that the continent-wide COVID-19 related death toll registered an increase of 436 deaths compared to Friday's 24,660 to reach 25,096.

The continental disease control and prevention agency also said the number of people who recovered from their COVID-19 infections is also increasing, as the number of recoveries reached 812,839 on Saturday from Friday's 780,076 report.

South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases at 579,140. The country also has the highest COVID-19 related deaths, with death toll currently standing at 11,556, according to the Africa CDC.

Egypt comes next with 96,220 COVID-19 cases and 5,124 COVID-19 related deaths followed by Nigeria which has so far recorded 48,445 COVID-19 cases and 973 deaths.

The western African country of Ghana comes fourth in terms of number of COVID-19 related cases recording 42,063 COVID-19 cases out of which 231 resulted in the deaths.

Rounding up the top five COVID-19 infected African countries list is Morocco which has so far recorded 39,241 COVID-19 cases out of which 611 resulted in the deaths.

These five countries in total account for almost three fourth of all COVID-19 cases in Africa, with South Africa alone accounting for more than 50 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the continent.

The Southern Africa region is the most affected area in terms of confirmed cases, followed by Northern Africa and Western Africa regions, the Africa CDC said.

South Africa accounts for the highest number of COVID-19 cases per million people, with 9,792 cases per million people, followed by Djibouti with 5,358 cases per million people.

Cape Verde comes third with 5,000 cases per million people and Sao Tome and Principe comes fourth with 4,410 cases per million people. Rounding up the top five list is Gabon with 3,846 cases per million people.

The Africa CDC also said nine African countries are reporting case fatality rates comparable to or higher than the global case fatality rate of 3.7 per cent.

These African countries are Chad, Sudan, Liberia, Niger, Egypt, Mali, Angola, Burkina Faso and Tanzania.

Amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the African continent, the Africa CDC also disclosed on Thursday that some 23 African countries are currently implementing entry and exit restrictions, requiring COVID-19 testing and test certificates.