Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

More than 13.46 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19, 7.85 million have recovered, and more than 581, 316 have died. The US, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Italy have recorded the most deaths.

The United States now has 3,545,077 cases of coronavirus and 139,143 related deaths. As of Tuesday, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded more coronavirus deaths than the United States and Canada with Brazil the hardest-hit by the virus in Latin America.

Brazil surpassed 1.9 million confirmed cases of novel coronavirus Tuesday after adding 43,245 in the past 24 hours, according to its health ministry. The country now has 1,931,204 total confirmed cases, the second highest worldwide. The ministry also reported 1,341new fatalities from the virus, bringing the nationwide death toll to 74,262.

Cases are galloping at an all-time high in India, where daily infections have been more than 28,000 for the past three days. With more than 900,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the country has the third-highest tally so far, behind the US and Brazil. However, India ranks lower at number eight when it comes to fatalities, with a death toll of 24,315.

South Africa has surpassed the United Kingdom in its number of confirmed coronavirus cases, according to its health ministry and data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It now has the world’s eighth-highest number of confirmed cases with 298,292 and over 4,300 deaths.

30 people tested positive for coronavirus in Zimbabwe, and a child who was admitted at a hospital in Matabeleland South died of severe pneumonia. This brings the total number of cases to 1,064 and 20 deaths. 343 recoveries have been recorded to date.

Future complications possible even in asymptomatic Covid-19 cases, research found

As we take precautions against Covid-19 infections, many people still think that the disease is not that serious as many of the cases are “mild” or even “asymptomatic”.
But Covid-19 affects different people in different ways. While many patients were able to recover from their symptoms at home, little is known about possible lasting effects.

Some cases show no symptoms at all. But not only was there a concern that these people could spread Covid-19 to other more vulnerable people, there is some evidence that there may be some lasting damage, even if you showed no symptoms.

In a recent study, Chinese researchers from Wuhan University performed CT scans on 58 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 but displayed no symptoms. Of these asymptomatic patients, 27% did develop symptoms after their diagnosis, which included fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, fatigue and diarrhoea. But another aspect of the study was even more concerning. All of these 58 patients, whether they presented symptoms or not, showed lesions on their lungs. Health 24

Morderna vaccine trial enters human trials.

A vaccine being developed by US drug firm Moderna has proved effective in early trials and will enter human trials soon. Researchers in the United States say that the first vaccine tested in the country had worked to boost patients’ immune systems and is set for final testing. The announcement came as the results from an earlier trial intended to prove the vaccine was safe and triggered antibody production were published.

The upcoming Phase 3 trial will recruit 30,000 participants in the US, with half to receive the vaccine at 100 microgram dose levels, and the other half to receive a placebo. Researchers will then track them over two years to determine whether they are protected against infection by the virus. Or, if they do get infected, whether the vaccine prevents symptoms from developing. If they do get symptoms, the vaccine can still be considered a success if it stops severe cases of COVID-19. The study should run until October 27, 2022, but preliminary results should be available long before.

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15/07/2020