Africa is transitioning out of the pandemic phase of the Covid-19 outbreak and moving towards a situation where it will be managing the virus over the long term, the head of the World Health Organization on the continent said on Thursday.

"I believe that we are transitioning from the pandemic phase and we will now need to manage the presence of this virus in the long term," Dr Matshidiso Moeti told a regular online media briefing.

"The pandemic is moving into a different phase ... We think that we're moving now, especially with the vaccination expected to increase, into what might become a kind of endemic living with the virus," she said.