AFRICA’S GOVERNANCE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 | PRELIMINARY REPORT 2020 1.5 Southern Africa As of 16th May 2020, only Lesotho remains as the country in the region with only one reported case of COVID-19. In Southern Africa, the highest number of Covid-19 confirmed cases has been reported in South Africa, which registered 90.31% of the total number of infection cases in the region. The following map gives the repartition of case , within the region. The other countries of the region have less than 10% of the total confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the region. South Africa is the most globally connected country in the region, with ports that have relatively much higher traffic with the rest of the world in comparison to other countries. Figure 14: COVID-19 Infection Cases in Southern Africa Source: APRM, May 2020 As a region, however, southern Africa has the lowest fatality rate (1.82%). This can be explained by several factors, which include better developed health infrastructure in South Africa (the country with the highest case load) and an early response. But an accurate assessment of the factors is only scientifically feasible in the mid-term. Within the region, Zimbabwe is the country with the highest fatality rate (9.09%), followed by Malawi (4.62%). These high fatality rates owe to the small number of cases that are mostly captured (tested) when persons report signs and symptoms or present themselves at medical facilities sick. There is no broad testing. Currently, fifty per cent of the countries of the region have less than 2.00% fatality rate. These countries are Lesotho, Zambia, Eswatini, Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa. Despite the highest confirmed cases of Covid-19, south Africa is among the countries with low fatality rate (less than 2.00%). 27