ADDIS ABABA, June 4 (EI) — Some 49 medical experts in Ethiopia have contracted COVID-19 while serving across major public health facilities, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health disclosed on Thursday.
In addition to the 49 medical experts that have contracted the infectious virus while serving in major public health facilities across the East African country, some 16 non-medical staffs working in hospitals and other healthcare institutions have been also contracted COVID-19, the Ethiopian Minister of Health, Lia Tadesse, told reporters on Thursday.
According to Tadesse, majority of the medical experts infected by COVID-19 are from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, which is considered as the hotbed of COVID-19 outbreak in Ethiopia so far.
This came as the East African country on Wednesday reported 142 new COVID-19 positive cases, eventually bringing the total number of cases in the country to 1,486 as of the stated period. This is so far the highest daily increase in the Horn of Africa country.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Health also said that 246 patients who were tested positive for COVID-19 have so far recovered from the virus, in which 15 of the patients recovered during the past 24-hours period.
The ministry also disclosed that three COVID-19 patients — including 71-year-old female, 46-years-old and 40-years-old males — succumbed to the disease on Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the East African country to 17.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation with about 107 million people, confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 13, since then the Ethiopian government has instituted a wide range of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives had in April announced a five-month state of emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.