Global Death Toll of COVID-19 Has Passed 1 Million with 33 Million Confirmed Cases

By
Teresa Chia
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As of Sunday, 27 September 2020, 10:30 pm GMT (Monday, 28 September 2020, 6:30 am, Singapore time), the COVID-19 virus had claimed 1,000,009 victims from a total of 33,018,877 recorded infections.

At the time of writing, the number of deaths has exceeded 1,002,000.

Condensed Virus Timeline

The virus, that first surfaced end-2019, has seen a surge in its death toll in many countries especially the United States of America in the recent months.

The world saw its first coronavirus death outside of Mainland China’s borders on 2 February 2020.

In its initial stage, Singapore was one of the countries with the most active cases next to Mainland China.

Over two months, South Korea and the United States quickly caught up.

As of now, the United States, Brazil and India have the highest death rates and numbers.

Half The World’s Population Under Lockdown

According to CNA, half the world was under some form of lockdown and quarantine imposed by governments worldwide. More than four billion people were under strict bans.

The world took a pause as entertainment, sports, and international travel came to a halt. The medical industry took a toll as healthcare workers left their homes and families to aid in the battle against the virus.

Large scale events such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Rio de Janeiro Carnival are postponed or cancelled. Premier League Football and other sports are allowed to resume with no spectators and safe distancing measures enforced.

Current Situation In Singapore

Singapore saw a sharp incline in infection numbers as the virus hit migrant worker dormitories and opened more rehabilitation centres in Expo.

Image: YouTube (CNA)

We have since entered Phase Two towards safe reopening and Phase Three regulations are currently being reviewed by the Government.

Plans for Phase Three reopening plans may be revealed and measures rolled out within the next few weeks.

Phase Three reopening plans include going back to work, wedding and religious worship to be held with a limit of a hundred attendees. Conferences are also limited to 50 people with safe distancing enforced.

What Can We Look Forward To?

Singapore can look forward to going out in slightly larger groups and homes to welcome more visitors.

We can also look forward to reviving our economy and slowly helping our jobs sector to recover from the retrenchment and job loss due to the pandemic.

Children below 6 are also no longer required to wear a mask legally. However, they are still strongly encouraged to do so in group settings or in crowded areas.

Reopening The Economy

Minister Gan Kim Yong who co-chairs the task force with Minister Lawrence Wong said that further reopening of our economy requires balance and calibration of measures.

Singaporeans will have to take responsibility for their actions and continue to stay vigilant to their surroundings and be aware of their situations.

Companies have to take safety measures into their own hands to ensure the health and safety of their employees upon returning to shared office spaces and meeting rooms for work purposes.

“Of course, it doesn’t mean that Phase Three is static. Even within Phase Three, we might be able to consider the liberalisation (of measures) and a lot of this depends on, for example, the extent of testing and that we can get access to the current methods of testing.” Minister Lawrence Wong said in relation to reopening.

Phase Three will have to sustain and be maintained until a successful vaccine becomes available.

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Teresa Chia
Email: [email protected]