The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa have reached 1,707,741 as the African Union urges a stronger response on the continent to prevent a further ballooning of the caseload.

The latest figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also show that the continent has registered 41,145 deaths.

South Africa remains the hardest-hit country on the continent, having recorded 714,246 infections and 18,944 fatalities.

Morocco (194,461) and Egypt (106,397) are the only other African countries that have registered more than 100,000 confirmed cases.

Further on, Ethiopia (92,858), Nigeria (61,930), Libya (56,013) and Algeria (55,880) are the only other African countries apart from South Africa, Egypt and Morocco to have reported more than 50,000 cases.

Earlier this week, the World Health organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom highlighted the increasing demand for oxygen around the world as countries continue battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tedros highlighted Somalia, Chad and South Sudan as countries that "had to rely exclusively on oxygen cylinders from private vendors."

The WHO chief urged governments in such countries to seek ways of availing oxygen to those in need in order to help strengthen the fight against the virus.