78 per cent of Libya's Covid-19 infections are from Tripoli

CAPE TOWN — The Libyan National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said that 78.1 per cent of the country's Covid-19 infections were from the capital, Tripoli. 

On Tuesday, the centre said it had tested 66 new samples, 64 being negative for the virus, with two testing positive. The positive cases were reported to have had no prior contact with positive patients. 

Tripoli had registered 78.1per cent of the total number of coronavirus infections in the north African country since the first case was reported on March 24, reported English-Arabic online daily newspaper, The Libya Observer.

According to real-time tracker Worldometers, the country to date had 77 Covid-19 cases, 34 being active. Forty Libyans had recovered from the virus, while three had died of coronavirus-related complications. 

The country of  6,861,969 million has tested 5,154 citizens since the start of the outbreak.

Among other measures to contain the spread of the virus, the NCDC recently launched the Aspetar Covid-19 application, which connects citizens experiencing Covid-19 symptoms directly to the centre.  

The application allows users to determine the risk level of infection and to communicate with the centre's doctors, who are available 24-hours a day. 

Infections in Africa are relatively low compared to the rest of the world, but experts believe that the continent should brace itself for a peak, which will cause mass devastation and strain on its poor health systems.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that despite Africa reaching the grim milestone of 100, 000 infections, with every country affected, the pandemic seems to be taking a different pathway on the continent. 

According to a recent report, early analysis by WHO suggested that Africa’s lower mortality rate may be the result of, among other things, demography, with the virus being more deadly on the elderly. 

The continent has the youngest populations in the world, according to the United Nations, with 60 per cent of inhabitants being under 25-years-old.