“African countries are facing a severe health crisis. As of this morning, there are 14,573 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 790 deaths in 52 out of 54 countries,” said Judd Devermont, director the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa Program, at an April 13th event on the impacts of Covid-19 in Africa. “Africa, thus far, has had less than 1 percent of the global cases of Covid-19,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University. While South Africa has the highest number of cases, North Africa is the worst hit region, with the number of cases rapidly increasing in Algeria and Egypt. In the next quarter, estimates place the contraction of GDP for African countries at 15 or 20 percent.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 16, 2020 12:14 UTC