Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

Cases of the coronavirus have exceeded 19, 1 million after 258,553 new infections were recorded. India recorded the highest daily rate of infections as the country recorded 62, 170 cases. The country has surpassed the 2 million mark of infections. India is the third worst-hit for COVID-19 after the US and Brazil with record one-day infections and deaths reported.

More than 5 million cases have been recorded in the US after 1,103 new cases were recorded and at least 162,704people have died from the virus. The pandemic has seen a resurgence since June in many states, particularly in the south and west.

Mexico recorded another 819 fatalities from Covid-19 bringing the countrywide death toll from the virus to 50,517. This is the third consecutive day that Mexico has reported more than 800 deaths, the first time it has done so since the outbreak began in the country.

Cases are ticking upwards in parts of Europe while the process of unlocking is paused in the UK as has been witnessed by increases recorded by countries like Germany, Italy, Russia and France.

A million people across Africa have now been confirmed to have had the new coronavirus, as health experts warn the peak of the pandemic has yet to hit the continent. The milestone was reported on Thursday. More than 22,000 people have so far died across Africa from the COVID-19 disease, while over 690,000 have recovered

South Africa, which accounts for more than half of the continent’s registered cases, is the worst-affected African nation and the fifth worst-hit globally. Egypt is in second place with 95,000 confirmed infections, followed by Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco and Kenya.

A technical officer at the WHO’s regional office for Africa highlighted that the continent has not seen the peak yet. Since countries started relaxing lockdown measures, there has been an increase in the number of cases and most of these – more than 80 percent – are coming largely from 10 countries.

South Africa recorded 8 307 new cases and the number of coronavirus infections now stand at 538 184. The death rate is at 9 604 after 306 fatalities were reported. The number of recoveries currently stands at 387 316 which translates to a recovery rate of 72%.

KwaZulu-Natal is set to have more Covid-19 infections than the Western Cape during its peak, as the province has moved higher than Western Cape had during their peak.

Zimbabwe recorded another record death toll as 13 deaths were recorded to bring the total death toll to 97. 56 new cases were recorded and the total number of confirmed cases are now at 4395. 54 of the 56 cases were local cases. 1264 recoveries have been recorded to date.

The coronavirus pandemic is skewing younger, WHO says

The coronavirus pandemic is starting to move into younger populations, the World Health Organization says.

WHO posted new data on the pandemic that shows the most cases, by far, are among people aged 25 to 64. Since February 24, the proportion of reported cases in very young children and babies has increased seven-fold, WHO said. The share of cases among teens and young adults has gone up six-fold. 

“This trend may be explained by, but is not limited to, the following factors: early detection and testing were initially focused on identifying cases with severe symptoms, which are more frequently observed among older people; detection of milder cases; broader testing; outbreak hotspots shifting to countries with lower age profiles; or a rise in risky behavior after easing of public health and social measures,” WHO said Thursday.

The global coronavirus caseload now looks like this, WHO said:

• 1.2% of cases in babies and young children aged 0 to 4
• 2.5% of cases in children 5-14
• 9.6% of cases in teens and young adults 15-24
• 64% of cases in adults aged 25-64
• 19.4% of cases in older adults 65-84
• 3.4% of cases in people 85 and older

Asymptomatic coronavirus carriers have high viral loads: study

People who are infected with the coronavirus carry similar levels of the pathogen in their nose, throat and lungs whether they have symptoms or not, a new study from South Korea showed Thursday. The paper, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, is an important biological line of evidence in support of the idea that asymptomatic carriers can spread COVID-19.

Until now, experts have relied on inferring asymptomatic spread when people contract the virus without contact with a known carrier. A team of researchers led by Seungjae Lee at Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine analyzed swabs taken between March 6 and March 26 from 303 people isolated at a center in Cheonan, following an outbreak among a religious group in another city.

The authors wrote their findings “offer biological plausibility” to reports of asymptomatic transmission. But they added that their study only looked at the amount of viral genetic material present and did not attempt to follow the subjects to see if that translated to the spread of infectious virus. France 24

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07/08/2020

 (Source: Kitco)