The World Health Organization says the number of known coronavirus cases in Africa has risen by 51 percent over the past week.

It believes that the epicentre of the virus will move from Europe to Africa next.

The number of reported deaths is up by 60 percent over the same period but the real figures are likely to be even higher than those being reported, its Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Friday.

Ghebreyesus also addressed concerns around wet markets, the markets across Asia where live animals and wildlife are often sold for food.

Although the origin of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, has not yet been identified, many scientists suspect the virus jumped to humans from animals at a wet market in Wuhan, China.

Ghebreyesus said the markets were “an important source for food and livelihoods for millions” but recommended they were only reopened “on the condition that they conform to stringent food safety and hygiene standards