There are now 95,333 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection worldwide. Of that, 2241 were reported within the last 24 hours. All figures were released by the World Health Organization as of March 5.
China accounted for 80,565 confirmed cases with 143 newly reported infections as of Thursday night. The Asian country also accounted for much of the fatalities at 3,015 with 31 new deaths to date. Most of the new cases came from Hubei province which is believed to be the epicenter of the virus. On the other hand, eight provinces have not reported any cases in the last 14 days.
Outside of China 85 countries/territories/areas accounted for 14,768 confirmed cases with 2098 new infected patients detected in the last 24 hours. Bosnia And Herzegovina, Gibraltar, Hungary, Slovenia, Palestinian Territory are the five newest nations to report their fist cases.
All over the world, excluding China, 267 people already died of the virus with 53 new deaths as of March 5.
Still, 115 countries, fortunately, have not reported any infections. Only 21 countries so far have reported only one case respectively. Of those who are among the ones to report cases, five countries have yet to confirm new patients in the past 114 days.
Sadly still, around 80% of the cases outside China came from just three countries: Italy, Iran, and South Korea.
Italy reported 41 new deaths as of Thursday night, bringing the total death toll to 148. The country remains to be the largest infected region in Europe and with the highest number of deaths next to China.
South Korea, meanwhile, confirmed 518 new cases, bringing the total to 6,284 infections in the Republic. A total of 42 people died, mostly those elderly who contracted the virus.
In Iran, there have been 15 new deaths and 591 new cases as of Thursday night. The country now has 107 fatalities and 3,513 people infected with the virus.
In Bosnia, local officials confirmed the first two cases on Thursday. A first patient is a man who works in Italy. The second patient is the man's child. With this, officials said they expect more cases in the coming days as many residents are working in Italy.
The first COVID-19 patient in Gibraltar also contracted the virus from Northern Italy. The man was asked to undergo quarantine as the local government is now testing the health professionals who came in contact with the man.
Hungary, meanwhile, confirmed three cases in one day. The first two cases were Iranian who are students in the country. The third case was a man who came home from Milan.
In Slovenia, a patient who came from Morocco to Italy became the first case in the country.
In Palestinian territory, seven cases of infection were announced all at once on Thursday evening.
With more countries reporting new infections daily, WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech on March 5 that the agency is concerned about some countries whose level of commitment does not match the level of threat the world face with the COVID-19.
"This is not a drill. This is not the time to give up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops," he said in his daily briefing.
