ADDIS ABABA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health on Tuesday evening reported 995 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, taking the national count to 167,133.
Meanwhile, 13 new deaths were recorded, bringing the total death toll to 2,442, said the ministry.
With 139 more recoveries registered, the total recoveries rose to 138,639, it said.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, is one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic in Africa, after South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
The country has so far reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East African region.
The Ethiopian government recently started a campaign to encourage face mask wearing in public as part of COVID-19 precautionary measures so as to contain the spread of the virus.
Ethiopia has so far conducted 2,184,745 COVID-19 tests, including 6,342 new ones during the last 24 hours, said the ministry.
It is one of the African countries which have conducted the most COVID-19 tests, mainly next to South Africa and Morocco, according to recent figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Enditem