The Covid-19 outbreak has escalated to a full-blown crisis.
Less than two weeks ago, the number of coronavirus infections worldwide had surpassed the 100,000 mark.
But just when you think the situation can’t get any worse, this happens.
Covid-19 Total Cases Have Hit 200K
The number of Covid-19 cases worldwide has surpassed 200,000 as the disease continues to spread outside China at an alarming rate.
At the time of writing, there are 219,351 coronavirus cases across 176 countries and territories.
If you need a reference, SARS only infected 8,098 people.
8,970 people have died from the disease so far, but more than 85,000 people have recovered from the illness.
The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a global pandemic last week and criticized many countries for what they viewed as “alarming levels of inaction.”
Yes, this time, China’s not to blame.
No New Local Cases in China
China reported no new local cases of the coronavirus for the first time since the outbreak began.
The National Health Commission reported 34 new cases on today (19 Mar) in the region but said all cases were people who came from abroad.
Right now, China still has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world with 80,928 infections, but the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled in the last two weeks.
So, where are the bulk of these new cases coming from?
Italy
You’re probably aware of the dire situation in Italy at the moment.
It all started with a 38-year-old Lombardy man. The man was asymptomatic but likely infectious for weeks when he was treated on 14 February for influenza.
But his condition continued to worsen, and he was examined in Codogno Hospital where the virus was able to infect both patients and health workers.
This is where things started escalating.
A cluster of cases was later detected, and the coronavirus started to spread all over the country.
But why has Covid-19 hit Italy so badly?
Well, there are two reasons:
Firstly, the country has the second-oldest population on earth. 23% of the Italian population is over age 65, compared to the US, where it’s just 16%.
Secondly, young Italians tend to interact a lot with their elders; many of them live with their parents and grandparents.
Numerous countries have imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus as a result, after witnessing how it ravaged Italy.
Yes, things don’t seem to be getting better, but as the WHO chief said, that was because these countries weren’t doing enough at the start.
Hopefully, now that governments all over the world are taking this seriously, the situation will improve and the rate of new infections will decrease.
I just hope I won’t have to write an article about the 300,000th case in the future.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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