At least seven persons have died of the COVID-19 in the past week, the Minister of Public Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda has announced.

The deaths come as the number of contaminations have seemingly increased in some big cities in the past few weeks.

According to the Minister of Public Health, contaminations have increased to over 1600 new cases in the past week in at least three regions.

“We have just recorded 07 deaths in one week and witnessed a rise in contaminations, especially in the Littoral, Centre and North Regions, representing 1607 new cases in just one week. It is therefore urgent to regain awareness and to respect the barrier measures,” the Minister of Public Health said in tweet.

For the moment, the epidemiological situation show an overall total of 29, 617 cases, 28,085 recoveries and 462 deaths.

Authorities continue to warn the population to respect barrier measures especially as the nation is hosting the sixth edition of the African Nations Championship which is a crowd-puller.

“I would like to specify that there is no big risk on the CHAN because the Government, in liaison with The CAF has taken all the measures to secure the health of actors of the competition. An SGI has been set up, which meets every day to assess the risks and find solutions,” Dr Manaouda Malachie reassured.