Global Statistics
Cases of the Coronavirus are now over 30 million and over 944 000 fatalities have been recorded so far. The USA, India and Brazil have recorded the highest caseload so far.
India has topped 5 million Covid-19 cases after reporting 1 million new infections in just 11 days, piling pressure on hospitals grappling with unreliable supplies of oxygen that they need to treat tens of thousands of critical patients.
Brazil’s health ministry reported 899 new coronavirus-related deaths and 34,784 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday. The country has so far reported a total of 4,419,083 coronavirus cases, and the death toll stands at 134,106. With over 4.4 million cases, Brazil is currently the third-worst hit country in the world in terms of cases, behind only India and the United States.
Authorities in Peru have reported that coronavirus cases are stabilising in the Andean country, with some regions exhibiting a downward trend after months of lockdown. Peru has recorded nearly 740,000 cases of the coronavirus, the fifth-highest caseload in the world, and 30,927 deaths.
Zimbabwe recorded 22 new cases of the virus to bring the total number of cases to 7,598, no death has been recorded for the past 4 days, which means that the death toll is still at 224. The number of recoveries is at, 5,823 and the national recovery rate stands at 77%.
South Africa has recorded 1 923 new coronavirus cases. This brings the total number of cases to 653 444. The country has also recorded 64 new COVID-19 related fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths to 15 705. The number of recoveries now stands at 584 195, this translates to a recovery rate of 89, 4%.
Lockdown Alert Level 1 will officially begin at midnight on Sunday as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier. Many of the restrictions put in place when the National State of Disaster came into effect at the end of March to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, have now been eased.
South Africa’s Lockdown Alert Level 1 Highlights:
- Curfew remains in place, effective daily between midnight and 4am.
- International travel will be allowed gradually as of 1 October. South Africa will start by reopening its three main airports in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. Limited amount of countries can be visited based on their risk levels.
- A negative COVID-19 test result (no older than 72 hours) must be presented at airports.
- Mandatory quarantine for travellers who have no proof of testing for COVID-19.
- International tourists allowed to travel in but required to be screened first.
- All travelers required to use country’s COVID-19 alert app.
- Gathering capacity increased as 200 people allowed at indoor events and 500 people allowed at outdoor events.
COVID-19 may become a seasonal virus.
COVID-19 may eventually become a seasonal illness like the flu, but only when the population achieves herd immunity, meaning a sufficient number of people are immune to prevent constant spread, a new study suggests.
But until then, COVID-19 will likely spread year-round, a finding that highlights the importance of following public health measures to control the virus, according to the review, published Tuesday (Sept. 15) in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
“COVID-19 is here to stay and it will continue to cause outbreaks year-round until herd immunity is achieved,” study senior author Hassan Zaraket, of the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, said in a statement.
“Therefore, the public will need to learn to live with it and continue practicing the best prevention measures, including wearing of masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene and avoidance of gatherings.”
Scientists don’t know for sure why these viruses follow a seasonal pattern, but a number of factors are thought to play a role. For example, studies suggest that many respiratory viruses are more stable and linger in the air longer in environments with cold temperatures and low humidity, the authors said. Human behaviors, such as gathering indoors in wintertime, could also boost transmission. Live Science.
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