The number of COVID-19 infections in Africa reached 4,610,171 on Friday as the continent continues its fight against the virus.

According to the latest figures by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), some 123,638 deaths have also been recorded so far.

Africa has conducted some 44,823,606 tests since the start of the pandemic, and is looking to boost this further as part of efforts to contain the pandemic.

South Africa remains the hardest-hit country by the pandemic in Africa, having registered 1,590,370 COVID-19 infections with and 54,620 deaths.

The country's caseload is over 1,000,000 more than the tally reported by Morocco, whose 513,016 confirmed cases are the second-highest.

Besides the two, only three other African countries have reported more than 200,000 infections; Tunisia (317,010), Ethiopia (260,802) and Egypt (234,015).

Egypt (13,714) and Tunisia (11,208) are the only other countries on the continent besides South Africa to have recorded more than 10,000 virus-related fatalities.

According to the Africa CDC, some 4,157,842 successful recoveries have been registered in Africa.