Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

According to latest data, more than 17 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. Some 10 million patients have recovered, and more than 670,000 have died.  

The world’s two worst-affected countries, the United States and Brazil, have also reported new highs for coronavirus deaths and cases. The US is the worst-hit country with 149 260 deaths from 4 352 304 cases. At least 1 355 363 people have been declared recovered. The death toll has surpassed 150,000, with Florida, California and Texas among a number of states reporting record daily fatalities.

Brazil registered record daily numbers of infections and deaths from the new coronavirus Wednesday, sending its overall death toll surging past 90,000 people, partly as a result of working through a backlog of previously unregistered cases. Brazil, which has been hit harder than any country except the United States in the pandemic, recorded 70,869 new cases and 1,554 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the figures to a total of more than 2.5 million infections and 90,188 people killed since the start of the pandemic.

The coronavirus seems to be accelerating in countries across the world with Australia the latest to announce a record number of daily cases of 723. Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state, has so far diagnosed 9,998 cases, accounting for more than 60% of the country’s total number of infections.

In South Africa, the Covid-19 death toll has hit 7 497, while the number of cases now sits at 471 123, with Gauteng sitting at 168 369, followed by the Western Cape on 93 737 and Eastern Cape on 75 872. There have been 297 967 recoveries, translating to a recovery rate of 63%.

247 new cases were recorded in Zambia bringing the total number of cases to 5,249, which is the second highest in Southern Africa. The death toll is now at 146 after 4 deaths were recorded.

Zimbabwe recorded 1 new death to bring the total deaths to 41 while 62 new cases were recorded hence the total number of confirmed cases is now at 2, 879. Of the 62 cases, 50 were local cases and 12 were returnees from South Africa.

Botswana recorded 65 new cases to bring the total number of cases to 804 but there was no death recorded.

Lesotho recorded 1 new death hence the death toll now sits at 13. 71 new cases were reported by the Health Ministry to bring the total tally to 576.

Covid-19 ‘super spreaders’ quickly fill room with virus – but masks help

Swiss researchers found that wearing a mask diminishes the capacity of ‘super spreaders’ to spread SARS-CoV-2.

Most infected people with a typical Covid viral load don’t flood the air with coronavirus-infected respiratory droplets, and the risk of catching the virus from them tends to be low, estimates show. But a severely infected person who’s coughing frequently can fill a poorly ventilated room with as many as 7.4 million copies of the coronavirus for every cubic meter of air, according to researchers Michael Riediker and Dai-Hua Tsai, from the Swiss Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health in Winterthur.

The study also “highlights the importance of wearing a mask,” said Dr Aaron Glatt, chair of medicine and chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau. “Wearing a mask clearly helps, and it will diminish the capacity of these super spreaders to spread as much. Health 24

Metal Prices Asia/Europe/NY markets

30/07/2020

(Source: Kitco)