The Somali health ministry on Wednesday confirmed 49 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of infections to 1,219.

Fawziya Abikar, the health minister said four people recovered from COVID-19, raising the total number of people who had been discharged from hospitals to 130.

The minister said 38 of the latest cases are male while 11 others are female.

The spike in the COVID-19 cases comes at a time Somalia is facing heavy flooding and a threat of desert locust infestation and the World Health Organization said it has intensified response efforts for contact tracing in Somalia by deploying some 4,000 community healthcare workers across the country.

The UN health agency has also warned that if the virus transmission is not slowed down rapidly, the patient surge and increasing demand for health care may overwhelm the country's fragile health system.