The number of COVID-19 infections in Africa reached 3,142,781 on Thursday with a death toll of 75,709, according to the latest figures by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The latest figures come as countries on the continent shift their focus to acquisition and distribution of vaccines in efforts to stop further spread of the virus.

The hardest-hit African country by the pandemic remains to be South Africa which has reported 1,278,303 cases and 35,140 deaths.

The country's caseload is nearly three times more than the number recorded by the country with the second-highest virus tally, while its death toll is over four times the number registered by the country with the second-highest virus-related deaths.

Other than South Africa, only seven other countries on the continent have recorded more than 100,000 COVID-19 infections.

A total of ten Africa countries – South Africa included – have reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

The latest figures come as the African Union said it had secured a provisional 270 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for African countries, with at least 50 million expected to be available between April and June 2021.

The work to secure the COVID-vaccine doses for Africa was done by the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), a 10-member team drawn from across the continent and tasked with ensuring sufficient vaccine doses to achieve herd immunity.