Ethiopia's COVID-19 cases surpass 55,000

ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 55,213 after 804 new cases were registered on Thursday, the country's Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said in a statement that 10 more patients succumbed to illnesses related to the COVID-19 pandemic during the last 24 hours, which brought the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the East African country to 856.

According to the ministry, some 20,283 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had recovered, including 380 in the last 24-hour period.

The ministry also said a total of 34,072 COVID-19 patients are still undergoing medical treatment, including 306 in severe condition.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation with about 107 million people has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa is currently the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic accounting for about 70 percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the ministry.

Ethiopia confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 13.

The East African country has so far conducted 970,591 COVID-19 medical tests, including 20,778 medical tests during the last 24-hour period, according to the ministry.