Nairobi, Feb 13 (TIWN) The number of Covid-19 related deaths in Africa has spiked as the continent grapples with local transmission of highly contagious strains of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said the death toll from the pandemic increased by 40 per cent in January, fuelled by a second wave of infections and new variants that have overwhelmed the continent's public health systems, the Xinhua news agency reported.  "The increasing deaths from Covid-19 we are seeing are tragic, but are also disturbing warning signs that health workers and health systems in Africa are dangerously overstretched," Moeti said in a statement issued in Nairobi.