Reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that Peru has overtaken South Africa to become the fifth country with the highest Covid-19 cases worldwide.

As at Wednesday, 2nd September, 2020, the South American country has reported 663, 437 cases.

South Africa, which accounts for half of all the cases confirmed in Africa, has had 630,595 recorded cases.

Peru's death toll is also higher at 29,259 as compared to South Africa’s 14,263.

Although South Africa remains the hardest hit country in Africa, it has experienced a steady decline in new cases for the past six weeks.

Head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, John Nkengasong, says although it is too early to celebrate, total cases in Africa have been on a downward trend for about a month.

According to him, there has been an overall 14% decrease in the number of new cases being reported each week in the last month.