The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 846,311 on Monday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, said that the number of deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 17,747 as of Monday morning.

The continental disease control and prevention agency also stressed that some 491,889 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had recovered across the continent so far.

South Africa, which has reported 445,433 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, is Africa's most affected country in terms of positive cases, followed by Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, and Morocco, it was noted.