The number of COVID-19 infections in Africa has surpassed the 8.5 million mark even as some countries on the continent continue to see declines in their virus loads.

Data published by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday showed that the continent has recorded 8,505,505 cases from a total of 79,268,429 tests conducted since the onset of the pandemic.

The agency also noted that the continent had registered 218,737 virus-related deaths.

Africa has embarked on a mass vaccination drive in efforts to contain the further spread of COVID-19.

While the drive started very slowly, it has since picked up following an increase in the arrival of vaccine doses over the last three months.

Nearly 80 million people in Africa have been vaccinated.

The national vaccination drives have been complemented by various containment measures and restrictions, including nighttime curfews, bans on mass gatherings and mandatory wearing of face coverings.

The Africa CDC also noted that from the cumulative infections, some 7,908,837 patients recovered successfully from COVID-19.