Ethiopia warns of rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections

ADDIS ABABA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Health on Thursday warned that COVID-19 infections continue to rise rapidly in the country due to lax precautions among the public.

Speaking to state media outlets on Thursday evening, Lia Tadesse, Ethiopia's Minister of Health, said the country has registered more than 8,000 new cases and 123 more deaths over the last ten days.

Given the waning health precautions on the part of the public, Tadesse urged Ethiopians to maintain vigilance against the spread of COVID-19, noting that the infection rate of COVID-19 has increased from 10 percent to 13 percent in recent weeks.

As of Thursday evening, Ethiopia has recorded 162,954 COVID-19 cases and 2,394 COVID-19 related deaths.

The east African nation has so far conducted 2,158,296 COVID-19 tests, including 5,557 new tests during the last 24 hours.

COVID-19 tests conducted in Ethiopia are among the highest in Africa, followed by South Africa and Morocco, according to recent figures from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.