Africa surpasses 1 million Covid-19 cases, more than half in South Africa

The continent's worst-hit nation has registered 538,184 infections, including over 8,000 new cases on Thursday, and 9,604 deaths.

Egypt has recorded around 95,000 COVID-19 cases while the figure in Nigeria is 45,000.

South Africa's infection figures are the fifth-highest after the US, Brazil, India and Russia.

Nevertheless the African continent remains one of the least affected, according to the official figures, with only Oceania registering fewer COVID-19 cases.

But the official numbers are likely to be a fraction of the real extent of the virus' spread throughout Africa where a number of countries have failing healthcare systems and limited screening capacities.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Worldwide there have been some 19 million recorded coronavirus cases resulting in over 709,000 deaths.

(AFP)