Addis Ababa, Feb 14 (IANS): Africa's overall coronavirus caseload has increased to 3,731,343, while the death toll stood at 97,870, according to health authoritis.

In its latest update, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the continent's fatality rate stood at 2.6 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

A total of 3,272,202 people infected with the disease have recovered across the continent, the healthcare agency said.

The Southern Africa region is the most affected area in terms of the number of positive cases, followed by the North Africa region, the agency said.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia are the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, whose overall case tally account for 67 per cent of Africa's total cases, it said.

Among the five countries, South Africa has reported the highest Covid-19 death toll in Africa, at 47,670, according to the agency.

The agency said Africa's number of confirmed cases accounted for about 3.5 per cent of the global caseload, whereas its number of deaths represented 4 per cent of the global total.

More African countries have reached a fatality rate higher than the global average of 2.2 per cent, it said.

The African Union had said that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic "is not just a severe health emergency, it is also a grave economic and social crisis".