ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia registered 735 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 153,541 as of Monday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.

Meanwhile, 14 new related deaths were reported across the country, taking the national death toll to 2,293, according to the ministry.

It added that 347 more recoveries were logged during the same period, taking the national count of COVID-19 recoveries to 131,713.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation, has so far reported the highest number of positive COVID-19 cases in the East Africa region.

According to the latest figures from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ethiopia's COVID-19 cases accounted for about 4 percent of the African continent's total confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The Ethiopian government has been urging the public to implement COVID-19 precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.