Estimates show that between 300,000 and 3.3 million Africans could lose their lives due to coronavirus without adequate intervention measures, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said in a report on Friday, Anadolu Agency reported.

It said this could happen as the pandemic continues spreading across the continent's weak economies whose growth is expected to slow down from 3.2 per cent to 1.8 per cent "in a best-case scenario, pushing close to 27 million people into extreme poverty."

There are over 17,000 confirmed cases across the continent, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

"To protect and build towards the continent's shared prosperity, US$100 billion is needed to urgently and immediately provide fiscal space to all countries to help address the immediate safety net needs of the populations," said Vera Songwe, UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.

Songwe added that this is very likely to happen because 56 per cent of the Africa's urban population is concentrated in slums and only 34 per cent of household have access to basic hand washing facilities.

"The economic costs of the pandemic have been harsher than the direct impact of the COVID-19. Across the continent, all economies are suffering from the sudden shock to the economies. The physical distancing needed to manage the pandemic is suffocating and drowning economic activity," she said.

"Women are the front end and the back end of this crisis, they are our nurses and run many of the small businesses," Songwe said.

She added that policies put in place to respond to the crisis must be in collaboration with the women.

"We must be firm and clear on good governance to safeguard our health systems, ensure proper use of emergency funds, prevent our businesses from collapse, and reduce worker lay-offs."

The humanitarian and economic consequences of the COVID-19 "pandemic will be profound in Africa, and we need solidarity and collective action to mitigate the impacts," Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, said on Thursday.

The continent has also recorded more than 3,500 coronavirus recoveries and 910 deaths, according to Africa CDC.

-- BERNAMA