Africa's has reported 737,867 COVID-19 infections and 15,443 deaths as it continues to see an upsurge in new daily cases.

The figures were published by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which is tracking the spread of the disease on the continent.

In better news however, the continent has recorded 393,686, which gives a recovery percentage of 53.3.

South Africa remains the continent's worst affected country by the pandemic, having registered 373,628 and 5,173 deaths.

The country has reported more than four times the number of cases reported by the second-worst affected country, Egypt, which has recorded 88,402 infections.

South Africa and Egypt are the only countries that have reported more than 80,000 COVID-19 cases.

The cumulative infections by the two countries represent 62.3 percent of Africa's confirmed cases.

Other than the South Africa and Egypt, Algeria is the only other African country that has reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Until recently, Africa had reported fairly low COVID-19 numbers, but the situation has since shifted.

In a press briefing on Monday, the World Health Organization's emergencies chief Michael Ryan said he was "very concerned right now that we are beginning to see an acceleration of disease in Africa."

(With input from agencies)