The number of COVID-19 cases in Africa neared the 8.55 million mark on Friday even as parts of the continent continue reporting declines in their caseloads.

According to data published by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the continent had recorded 8,549,672 infections by Friday afternoon from a total number of 79,872,358 tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.

Africa has also registered 220,378 virus-related fatalities.

South Africa remains to be the hardest-hit country by the pandemic in Africa, with 2,924,978 infections and 89,452 deaths.

No other African country has recorded more than one million COVID-19 infections.

Besides South Africa, two countries have reported more than half a million cases; Morocco (947,902) and Tunisia (715,489).

African countries have rolled out vaccination drives in efforts to contain further spread of the virus.

The inoculation numbers lag behind other regions globally, but an increase in vaccine arrivals have enabled some countries to ramp up their dose administrations.

(With input from agencies)