COVID-19: 436,000 Confirmed Cases, 19,600 Deaths Recorded Globally

COVID-19: 436,000 Confirmed Cases, 19,600 Deaths Recorded Globally
  • Europe now epicenter of virus

The humanitarian costs of the coronavirus outbreak continue to mount, with more than 436,000 people infected globally, according to the Financial Times.

The number of people confirmed to have died as a result of the virus has now surpassed 19,600.

The virus’s proliferation has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, meaning it is spreading rapidly in different parts of the world.

More than 180 countries have confirmed cases so far. The epicentre of the coronavirus is now Europe, with the largest number of confirmed cases in Italy, and death tolls growing more quickly in Italy and Spain than they did in China at the same stage of the outbreak.

In many countries one or a small number of regions have borne the brunt of the virus. Lombardia has eclipsed Wuhan as the most badly affected region in the world, and in Spain Madrid could soon surpass even that.

US states also show very different trajectories. Washington saw the first outbreak in the US, but its death toll has risen relatively slowly since then. New York’s mortality curve is much steeper. In most western countries case numbers have been increasing by about 33 per cent a day, a sign that other countries may soon be facing the same challenge as Italy.

The Asian city-state of Singapore and the territory of Hong Kong are on a different trajectory in terms of the growth in case numbers. The rate of increase has so far been relatively contained through rapid and strict measures.

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