Ethiopian more Focused COVID-19 Country Report

The COVID-19 pandemic was reported to spread to Africa on 14 February 2020. The first confirmed case being in Egypt. Ethiopia reported the first case on 13 March 2020. The National Government of the country let by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed declared a five-month state of emergency in April 2020 by still allowing economic activities to continue during this public health crisis. As of October 2020, there has been over 80,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,000 deaths in the country. Immediately after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Ethiopia in March 2020, the Government of Ethiopia took several public health measures to prevent increased levels of infection. Instead of implementing a national lockdown like most other governments, including in Africa, Ethiopia initiated other essential measures in January. The government then scaled up its response in mid-March, when the first case was reported in the country, and declared a state of emergency only on early April. Moreover, it has encouraged production and other economic activities to continue during the crisis, thus considerably easing the pressure on vulnerable social groups and the informal sector. The government has come up with different kind of policies, strategies and programs to be implemented to combat this global pandemic.