ADDIS ABABA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa reached 891,199 on Thursday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union (AU) Commission in its latest situation update issued on Thursday, said that the number of deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 18,884 as of Thursday, up from 18,507 on Wednesday.

The continental disease control and prevention agency also stressed that some 540,872 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far.

South Africa, which has so far reported 471,123 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, is Africa's most affected country in terms of positive cases, followed by Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco, it was noted.

Amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the African continent, the Africa CDC on Tuesday said 34 African countries are under "full border closure "in an effort to halt the spread of the infectious virus.