COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia pass 261,000

ADDIS ABABA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia registered 778 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 261,580 as of Friday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said 18 new deaths from the coronavirus were reported across the country, bringing the national death toll to 3,840.

The East African country reported 1,412 more recoveries, taking the national count to 206,870.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

Ethiopia is one of the countries hit hardest by COVID-19 in Africa in terms of caseload, next to South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia. Enditem