The Health and Public Hygiene Ministry of Togo has said that the country’s COVID-19 cases surpassed 1,001 till August 5 with 13 new cases reported on the last day, according to a news report by News Ghana.

So far, 690 recoveries and 21 deaths have been recorded, the report said, adding that in recent weeks, the country saw a rise in new infections.

Togo is experiencing new outbreaks of the epidemic in the central and northern regions, Djibril Mohaman, the national coordinator for COVID-19 response, told a press conference on Wednesday.

“Over the coming two weeks, there will be an increase in confirmed cases after the monitoring of the contacts,” he said.

In mid-July, the Togolese government began to gradually lift preventive measures, as data then showed that the COVID-19 situation in the country had stabilized.

COVID-19 confirmed cases across Africa have accelerated and are close to hitting a million this week, and experts say low levels of testing in many countries mean infection rates are likely to be higher than reported.

More than 21,000 people have so far died across Africa from the COVID-19 disease, while over 670,000 have recovered.

South Africa, which accounts for more than half of the continent’s registered cases, is the worst-affected African nation and the fifth worst-hit globally. Egypt is in second place with 94,000 confirmed infections, followed by Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, and Kenya.