Customers line up for the opening of a liquor shop in Lenasia, Johannesburg after South Africa lifted its coronavirus-linked ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco products. The combined ban was extremely controversial as no other countries have introduced such measures. Photo: AFP

 
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases in Africa reached 1,497,391 as of Saturday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll due to illnesses related to COVID-19 in Africa has reached 36,504 as of Saturday.

The continental disease control and prevention agency also said the number of people who have recovered from the infectious virus across the continent reached 1,236,859 so far.

Amid the uneven impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on African countries, the Africa CDC said that the most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria, respectively.

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, it was noted.

South Africa currently has the most COVID-19 cases, which hit 677,833. The country also has the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, at 16,909, according to the Africa CDC.