Ethiopia coronavirus: field hospital on Addis outskirts nears completion

Ethiopia is one of East / Horn of Africa’s least impacted nations as compared to rate of COVID-19 case growth and infection of its neighbours.

A state of emergency lasting five-months has been imposed by the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed led government. All land borders have since been shut as a virus control measure with a raft of restrictions and enforcement of physical distancing and mask wearing measures.

Elections planned for May this year were also postponed citing the effect of the pandemic. Ethiopia played an instrumental role in the deployment of virus supplies donated by Chinese businessman Ali Baba. This article will focus on major developments coming from the country.

May 28: Field hospital on Addis outshirts

Ethiopia will soon have a COVID-19 field hospital on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa. Health Minister Lia Tadesse visited and inaugurated the ongoing construction on Wednesday along with World Food Programme, WFP, head David Beasley and other partners.

The minister said work on the facility was “progressing rapidly.” Adding: “I would like to appreciate WFP for this effort and continued support.”

She added that the WHO and the ministry are currently discussing how the hospital can potentially serve as a training center for emergency medical response teams to benefit Ethiopia and the region.

The facility originally was to cater for UN staffers before it was designated a field hospital. It is built on a 25,000 sqm land, the field hospital is expected to go operational after 10 days. It’s been under construction for the past 3 weeks.

Total confirmed cases = 731 (new cases = 30)
Total recoveries = 181
Total deaths = 6
Active cases = 544

Figures valid as of close of day May 27, 2020

May 24: 193 cases in 5 days as tally hits 582

Ethiopia has recorded back-to-back one-day spikes, record 61 new cases on Saturday and a further 81 on Sunday toppling the Saturday record.

Of the new 88; Addis Ababa recorded 73 cases. The remaining 15 are from regional states: 8 from Tigray; 4 from Oromia; 1 from Harari; and 2 truck drivers.

Ethiopia’s tally has therefore jumped by 193 new cases in a space of five days. The tallies have consistently been on the rise, triggering calls for more robust government measures to halt spread of the virus.

Total confirmed cases = 582 (new cases = 88)
Total recoveries = 152 (new recoveries = 8)
Total deaths = 5
Active cases = 423

Trajectory of infections between May 20 – 24

May 20: 389 (24 new cases)
May 21: 398 (9 new cases)
May 22: 399 (10 new cases)
May 22: 433 (34 new cases)
May 23: 494 (61 new cases)
May 24: 582 (88 new cases)

May 19: 365 cases with 60 new cases in three days

Total confirmed cases = 365 (new cases between May 17 – 19 = 60)
Total recoveries = 120 (new recoveries = 8)
Total deaths = 5
Active cases = 238

Ethiopia’s case count spiked on Monday by 35 new cases (a daily record) whiles 14 new cases were recorded today. Added to 11 cases recorded last Sunday, 60 cases have been recorded in the last three days. The tally now stands at 365.

Concerns had been raised by analysts over the spate of new case increases after it took just a week to go from 200 to go past the 300 mark as against a much lengthier period from 0 to 100 and 100 to 200.

The country, however, remains one of the least impacted in a region where neighbours Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan has crossed the 1000 mark. Kenya is past 900 confirmed cases as of today.

Major African stats: May 19 at 6:00 GMT:

• Confirmed cases = 88,264
• Number of deaths = 2,832
• Recoveries = 33,898
• Active cases = 51,534

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