Coronavirus: Global confirmed cases to cross million threshold in days

As COVID-19 continues its onslaught on mankind, the figures are getting grimmer across the world. Houses are being turned into makeshift morgues. Cases are doubling and the death toll is rising every hour.

Health experts have projected the number of people infected to surpass one million in the next few days after noticing a spike in the spread of the disease in the past week.

The disease has taken grips of Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia and is beginning to ravage Africa and South America.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is particularly concerned about the capacity of the poorest countries in the world to control the disease.

Confirmed Cases

As of Tuesday afternoon, there are more than 800,000 confirmed cases across the globe, a number that has doubled in less than a week, data from worldometers.info showed.

The number of infected people peaked at 400,000 last Tuesday and crossed the half a million mark two days later.

There were 600,000 cases on Saturday and on Sunday, over 700, 000 people had been infected.

As of the time of reporting, there are 803, 541 cases, showing a growth rate of about 100, 000 cases in every two days for the past one week.

PREMIUM TIMES have been monitoring the worldometer, a covid19 tracking platform. In almost every 20 minutes in the past three days, at least 10, 000 confirmed cases had been added on the global tracking meter.

On a brighter note, more than 172, 000 people have recovered so far worldwide.

Death Toll

As of Tuesday evening, nearly 40, 000 people have died from covid19, a strain of coronavirus which causes a pneumonia-like disease.

Hardest-hit countries in Europe are contesting for the unenviable position of the highest daily death-toll.

Italy and Spain have hit over 900 and 800 deaths respectively within 24 hours at least twice within the week. The combined death toll in both countries is approaching 20,000, roughly half the global total — demonstrating the high price nations can pay if the virus outstrips the capacity of a nation’s health care system.

France has surged past 3,000 fatalities and as many as 1, 400 people have died in the U.K.

The United States

The United States already has the highest number of reported infections in the world, with 160,000.

The nations’ death toll ticked past 3,000 on Tuesday after over 500 fatalities were reported under 24 hours.

The U.S is now set to overtake China’s 3,305 death toll, although the virus originated from the Asian country last December.

Even if all of the social distancing guidelines are followed “perfectly,” health experts in America said the death toll in the country could still reach 100,000 to 200,000.

New York is now the epicentre of Covid19 in the entire world.

Over 67, 000 are now infected in New York, a city of over 18 million people, almost half of the total cases reported in the U.S.

More than 250 coronavirus patients died between Sunday and Monday in the city, bringing to a total of 1, 300 deaths.

With a huge population that makes it one of the world’s most vibrant places, the Big Apple now bears the brunt of the impact of covid19.

Africa

Only six of Africa’s 54 countries have not reported any confirmed case of coronavirus. The spread of the disease in the continent has been relatively slow compared to other parts of the world.

No country in the continent has recorded more than 50 deaths. Egypt has the highest number of fatalities – 41, followed by Algeria and Morocco with 35 and 33.

South Africa still leads the continent with over 1,000 cases.

Nigeria has 135 cases as of Tuesday afternoon with two deaths.

WHO officials said the statistics likely underestimate the true number of cases in Africa, raising concerns that the contagion would soon overwhelm the continent’s under-resourced health services.