Ethiopia's COVID-19 cases pass 258,000

Ethiopia registered 322 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 258,384 as of Sunday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

Meanwhile, 17 new deaths from COVID-19 were reported during the same period, bringing the national death toll to 3,726, the ministry said.

The East African country reported 360 more recoveries, taking the national count of COVID-19 recoveries to 200,508.

According to the ministry, Ethiopia currently has some 54,148 active COVID-19 cases, of whom 883 are under severe health conditions.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation, has so far reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region, and is the fourth most COVID-19-affected country in Africa in terms of positive cases.

Latest figures from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Ethiopia's COVID-19 cases account for about 5 percent of the African continent's total confirmed cases.