Joel Ruet, a French expert on emerging economies, has stressed the importance for the world of making coordinated responses against the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa.

"If the rest of the world wants to get rid of this epidemic, we cannot afford that any part of the world remains a base for COVID-19," he said.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC, said 51,698 cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported across the continent by Thursday, with 2,012 deaths.

Ruet, who is also president of The Bridge Tank, a think tank in Paris, said financial support would be a key measure to help Africa in its fight against virus.

He said it is important to energize African economies, which will enable countries to pay their debts, rather than prompt governments to cancel their obligations. The latter scenario "will cause more problems in the future".

"Africa is extremely important. It's a very populated and large continent, and there have been a lot of innovations there," he said, referring to digital technology developments in West Africa, such as banking services in Benin and, in North Africa, a digital administrative system adopted by Morocco.

"Africa has seen some interesting evolutionary changes, but with some key challenges. It has managed to overcome these in its own way." he said."Growth in 20 years at the global level will be in Africa, or we will have no growth."

Before that, in response to the pandemic, the world "needs to find coordinated solutions against COVID-19 in Africa", said Ruet, citing the need also for medical aid.

China's aid

A consignment of medical supplies from China's Gansu province has been handed over to authorities in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland West Province. Among the donations are 12,000 face masks and 1,000 protective suits.

At a handover ceremony on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said the donations are a symbol of the friendship and fraternity between Zimbabwe and China.

"In the face of this pandemic, ordinary Chinese and Zimbabweans have supported each other from the bottom of their hearts, as they have done in the numerous crises in the past," he said.

Mary Mliswa, the minister of state for Mashonaland West Province, expressed gratitude to Gansu province and thanked the Chinese government for the generous donation.

The Africa CDC itself has received donations of medical equipment and supplies from the Jack Ma and Alibaba foundations in China.

"So far, the spread is less in Africa. We will know in a couple of months whether it's absolutely less or whether there will be a delay. We hope it's less for them, and for the world," Ruet said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO has grave concerns about the potential impact the virus could have as "it starts to accelerate in countries with weaker health systems".

He said the agency will work with its partners to invest in health infrastructure and support health workers in 10 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Wang Xiangyan in Beijing, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.