Coronavirus watch

Global Statistics

10,412,343 coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide, including 508,228deaths. The United States had the most cases in the world – more than 2.68 million, as well as the most deaths, almost 129 000. Fatalities caused by the Coronavirus have generally gone down worldwide.

More than a dozen US states are pausing reopening plans as more than half are reporting rises in cases.

China recorded 19 new cases of coronavirus on the mainland on Monday, the country’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced Tuesday. Out of the new cases, 11 were imported and eight were locally transmitted. The local cases include seven from Beijing, along with a case from Shanghai. No new deaths were reported. China has, to date, registered 83,531 coronavirus cases, with 4,634 deaths.

396,314 cases have been recorded in Africa and the death toll now stands at 9,914 after 216 deaths were recorded yesterday.

In South Africa, the latest number of confirmed cases is 144 264 and 2 529 deaths have been recorded in the country. There have been 70 614 recoveries. So far, more than 1.59 million tests have been conducted, with 29 911 new tests “The mortality rate is 1.8%. The number of recoveries is 70 614, which translates to a recovery rate of 48.9%,” It is anticipated that while every province will unfortunately witness an increase in their numbers, areas where there is high economic activity will experience an exponential rise,” said Health Minister, Mkhize, saying that the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban will see the biggest increases. According to some media reports, hospitals remain understaffed and medical workers are among the worst affected.

Zambia which is one of the first countries to reopen its air borders and airports in order to boost the economy, continues to see a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases as 1,568 confirmed cases have been registered. 22 deaths have been recorded so far.

Zimbabwe recorded 1 new death to bring the total number of deaths to 7. There are now 574 cases of the virus after 7 new cases were recorded. 152 cases have been recorded to have recovered after Bulawayo recorded 10 new recoveries.

WHO director-general says the pandemic “is not even close to being over”

The coronavirus pandemic is far from coming to an end any time soon, according to World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is not even close to being over,” Tedros said during a media briefing in Geneva on Monday. “Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up. We’re all in this together and we’re all in this for the long haul,” Tedros said. “We have already lost so much but we cannot lose hope.” BBC

How can people spread the new coronavirus if they don’t have symptoms?

• People may spread the virus before they know they’re sick, or may not have any symptoms at all, which is one of the ways in which the virus continues to circulate. Professor Shabir Madhi explains. Asymptomatic coronavirus transmission appears to be low, but it does happen
• In these individuals, the virus spreads pretty much the same way it would in a symptomatic person. This reinforces the importance of physical distancing and wearing face masks

While governments around the world have imposed strict measures to minimise the chances of people contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, asymptomatic (displaying no symptoms of disease) spread throughout populations continues to be a threat.  The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently estimated that 35% of cases are asymptomatic, and that 40% of transmissions occur before people develop symptoms

Additional reporting by Health Day notes that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients are as likely as those with symptoms to contaminate several surfaces in their rooms. This reporting is based on a new study of sampling the surfaces and air of six negative pressure, non-intensive care unit (ICU) rooms against 13 laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 patients – two of whom displayed no symptoms. News 24

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29/06/2020

(Source: Kitco)