Since 31 December 2019 and as of 28 April 2020, 2 982 688 cases of COVID-19 (in accordance with the applied case definitions and testing strategies in the affected countries) have been reported, including 210 193 deaths.
Cases have been reported from:
Africa: 33 164 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are South Africa (4 793), Egypt (4 782), Morocco (4 120), Algeria (3 517) and Cameroon (1 621).
Asia: 478 667 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Turkey (112 261), Iran (91 472), China (83 938), India (29 435) and Saudi Arabia (18 811).
America: 1 215 105 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are United States (988 451), Brazil (66 501), Canada (48 489), Peru (28 699) and Ecuador (23 240).
Europe: 1 246 947 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Spain (209 465), Italy (199 414), United Kingdom (157 149), Germany (156 337) and France (128 339).
Oceania: 8 109 cases; the five countries reporting most cases are Australia (6 725), New Zealand (1 124), Guam (144), French Polynesia (58) and Fiji (18).
Other: 696 cases have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Deaths have been reported from:
Africa: 1 470 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Algeria (432), Egypt (337), Morocco (162), South Africa (90) and Cameroon (58).
Asia: 17 512 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Iran (5 806), China (4 637), Turkey (2 900), India (934) and Indonesia (765).
America: 67 869 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are United States (56 245), Brazil (4 543), Canada (2 707), Mexico (1 434) and Peru (782).
Europe: 123 225 deaths; the five countries reporting most deaths are Italy (26 977), France (23 293), Spain (23 190), United Kingdom (21 092) and Belgium (7 207).
Oceania: 110 deaths; the four countries reporting most deaths are Australia (84), New Zealand (19), Guam (5) and Northern Mariana Islands (2).
Other: 7 deaths have been reported from an international conveyance in Japan.
Easing lockdown
Many countries are taking steps to ease lockdown measures that have brought the world to a standstill over the past eight weeks.
The first 41 cases were confirmed in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 10. The 3 million confirmed infections in less than four months are comparable in number with the roughly 3-5 million cases of severe illness caused by seasonal influenza around the world each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
An average of 82,000 cases have been reported per day in the past week. About a third of all cases are in the United States, and over 43% have been recorded in Europe.
The death toll from the virus stood at more than 205,000 as of Monday, and about one in 15 reported cases of the disease has been fatal.
The true mortality rate is likely to be substantially lower as the tally of infections does not include many mild or asymptomatic and unconfirmed cases.
Some severely affected countries in Europe, including Italy, France and Spain, have recorded a drop in daily case numbers over recent weeks, but still recorded 2,000-5,000 new infections per day in the past week. Total cases rose 2.5% on Sunday, the lowest daily rate in almost two months, and down from a peak in late March when the total was rising by more than 10% a day. The United States has reported an average of more than 30,000 new cases a day in the past week, and now represents around a third of all new cases.
TENTATIVE REOPENING
Italy said it will permit some factories to reopen on May 4 as part of a staggered reopening, while Spain relaxed lockdown rules on Sunday, allowing children outside under supervision.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday restrictions on citizens’ movements would be lifted and more shops allowed to reopen from May 4 in a gradual easing of a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
Meanwhile France said it will adopt an aggressive new doctrine on COVID-19 testing from May 11 so that it can slowly unwind its coronavirus lockdown and avoid economic meltdown, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday.
The government had set itself a goal of carrying out at least 700,000 tests per week, he said. Once a person tests positive, tracing would begin to identify, test and isolate all those who had been in close contact with the individual.
On the other hand President Vladimir Putin extended coronavirus lockdown measures for another two weeks on Tuesday, while ordering his government to begin preparations for a gradual lifting of the curbs from mid-May. Although Putin said the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus was now stabilising, he told Russians to expect the worst days of the outbreak were still ahead.
The number of new cases in Russia rose by a record 6,411 on Tuesday, bringing its nationwide tally to 93,558. The number of deaths rose by 72, also a daily record, taking the total number of fatalities to 867.
Several U.S. states have reopened businesses amid predictions that the jobless rate could hit 16% for April. In Asia, which accounts for just under 7% of all cases, some countries are struggling to keep new infections in check. They include Japan and Singapore, which saw cases rise in April despite earlier successful efforts to slow the spread.
Others in the region have managed to rein in outbreaks, including South Korea, which has reported around 10 cases a day in the past week, down from a peak of over 1,000 in February. In China, where the virus first emerged, officials reported just three new infections for Sunday and said all patients in Wuhan, the original epicentre, had now been discharged.
Case numbers continue to rise faster than the global average in Latin America and Africa. Total cases in Mexico grew 7-10% a day in the past week, reaching 13,800, while cases in Brazil surpassed 60,000 on Sunday. Over 40% of Africa’s 32,600 cases are in the north, where Morocco, Egypt and Algeria are reporting serious outbreaks.
CDeNews & Reuters / European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
