The amount of coronavirus cases worldwide has now surpassed an eerie milestone of over 200,000 infections with the death toll now over 8,000 and climbing, according to a map of the pandemic.
What We Know:
- The total, as of Wednesday morning, was 203,529 cases with 8,205 deaths, a Johns Hopkins University tally of the COVID-19 pandemic shows. China, Italy, Iran, and Spain are among some of the hardest hit despite national lock-downs. The United States remains eighth on the list with 6,496 confirmed cases.
- China still tops the world death toll with over 3,100 deaths, followed by Italy with an alarming 2,500+ and Iran with 1,130+.
- Germany on the other hand, has more than 10,000 cases and 26 deaths with officials concerned this is just the beginning of an outbreak. “We are at the start of the epidemic,” Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s Disease Control Institute, told the Associated Press. “We are 1-2 weeks behind Italy.”
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said this week “we have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation, and contact tracing – which is the backbone of the response.”
- He also reiterated the fact that all countries must take a comprehensive approach now. Not doing so would essentially be “fighting a fire blindfolded”. This is why he urges the simple message for countries to extensively test.
The Johns Hopkins University also reported about 82,000 recoveries from the virus, which causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough for most people, although the illness is more severe with the elderly and those with existing health problems.
