ADDIS ABABA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia registered 1,332 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 171,210 as of Thursday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said 17 new deaths were reported across the country, bringing the national death toll to 2,483.

As the east African country reported 805 more recoveries, lifting the national count to 140,840.

Ethiopia has so far reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the East African region.

The latest figures from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Ethiopia's COVID-19 cases accounted for about 4 percent of the African continent's total.

Ethiopia received its first 2.2 million COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX on Sunday, which are crucial to its fight against the pandemic.