With the novel coronavirus still in pandemic mode, the African continent has seen a continued growth in the total tally, while Italy, an earlier epicentre of the pandemic in Europe, has begun to partially lift travel bans as its new infections are dropping.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases across the African continent surpassed 158,318, and the death toll surged to 4,508, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

It also said that the Northern African region is the most affected area across the continent both in terms of positive Covid-19 cases and the number of deaths, followed by the Western Africa region.

South Africa, the worst-hit country on the continent, on Tuesday reported a total of 35,812 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Fresh figures on Wednesday showed that 71 new Covid-19 deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, taking the country's death toll to 33,601, out of a total of 233,836 infection cases.