Nine new countries have reported their first-ever cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Seven of these countries are from the African region, one from the European region and one from the Region of the Americas.
As more countries report spikes in the number of infected patients, China continues to report a low number of new cases. The worry now is that people coming from overseas are bringing back the virus inside the country. As of Sunday night, China reported 12 more imported cases of COVID-19, meaning the patients contracted the virus from abroad.
Nationwide, China has only 27 new cases of infections and 10 new deaths. Overall, the Asian country saw 81,048 confirmed cases and 3,204 deaths from December up until March 15.
Other countries have a total of 72,469 combined cases of COVID-19 with 10,955 new infections reported in the past 24 hours. 2,531 people died of the virus, with 333 new deaths as of Sunday night.
Worldwide, the infections have reached 153,517 with 10,982 cases; deaths are at 5,735 with 343 new deaths in the past 24 hours.
Uzbekistan was among the new territories that reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19. The patient is a citizen who returned from France.
Kazakhstan also reported its first four cases Sunday. The local government immediately imposed a nationwide quarantine, restricting both entry and departure from the country. Only diplomats and individuals invited by the government will be allowed entry.
Suriname also reported its first COVID-19 infection. The patient traveled from the Netherlands in the past week. The government has therefore closed the country's borders and airports until further notice.
Curacao also reported its first case of the virus. The government, therefore, restricted all travels to and from the Netherlands while all flights coming from Europe are now banned. At the same time, those who have visited Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Iran, South Korea, and Italy are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Namibia is the latest sub-Saharan African country to report its first case of COVID-19 infection. The patients are a couple from Spain who arrived in Namibia on March 11. They both tested positive and have since placed on quarantine.
A Congolese citizen who returned from France became the first confirmed case in Congo. The patient has been placed under quarantine.
In Equatorial Guinea, a 42-year-old woman who came from Spain became the territory's first case of infection.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Ethiopia, and Rwanda have also reported their first cases over the last 48 hours (March 14 to 15).
Eswatini's first case is a 33-year-old woman who traveled from the United States. She traveled to Lesotho before going home to Eswatini.
Mauritania confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Friday while Seychelles and Central African republic reported theirs on Saturday. To date, 26 African countries reported their first cases.
As of March 16, here are the number of total confirmed and new cases in countries around the world:
Republic of Korea (total confirmed cases 8162) - (new cases 76) - (total deaths 75) - (new deaths 3)
Japan 780 - 64 - 22 - 1
Australia 249 - 52 - 3 - 0
Malaysia 238 - 41 - 0 - 0
Singapore 212 - 12 - 0 - 0
Philippines 111 - 47- 6 - 4
Viet Nam 53 - 5 - 0 - 0
Brunei Darussalam 40 - 15 - 0 - 0
Cambodia 7 - 0 - 0 - 0
New Zealand 6 - 0 - 0 - 0
Mongolia 1 - 0 - 0 - 0
French Polynesia 3 - 2
Italy 21157 3497 1441 173
Spain 5753 1522 136 16
France 4469 829 91 12
Germany 3795 733 8 2
Switzerland 1359 234 11 5
The United Kingdom 1144 342 21 11
Netherlands 959 155 12 2
Sweden 924 149 0 0
Norway 907 157 1 0
Denmark 827 26 0 0
Austria 800 296 1 0
Belgium 689 90 0 0
Greece 228 130 2 1
Czechia 214 64 0 0
Finland 210 101 0 0
Israel 178 78 0 0
Slovenia 141 0 0 0
Iceland 138 77 0 0
Ireland 129 39 2 1
Romania 123 59 0 0
Portugal 112 0 0 0
Poland 111 47 3 2
San Marino 92 26 5 3
Estonia 79 0 0 0
lovakia 44 14 0 0
Bulgaria 43 36 2 1
Serbia 41 10 0 0
Albania 38 5 1 0
Luxembourg 38 0 1 0
Croatia 37 10 0 0
Russian Federation 34 0 0 0
Hungary 32 13 0 0
Georgia 30 5 0 0
Latvia 30 14 0 0
Belarus 21 0 0 0
Cyprus 21 7 0 0
Azerbaijan 19 8 0 0 I
Bosnia and Herzegovina 18 7 0 0
North Macedonia 13 4 0 0
Malta 12 0 0 0
Republic of Moldova 12 4 0 0 I
Lithuania 9 3 0 0
Armenia 8 0 0 0
Kazakhstan 6 6 0 0
Turkey 5 0 0 0
Liechtenstein 4 0 0 0
Ukraine 3 0 1 0 L
Andorra 2 0 0 0
Monaco 2 0 0 0
Holy See 1 0 0 0
Faroe Islands 9 6 0 0
Gibraltar 1 0 0 0
Guernsey 1 0 0 0 I
Jersey 2 0 0 0
Indonesia 117 48 4 1
India 107 25 2 0
Thailand 75 0 1 0
Sri Lanka 11 5 0 0
Maldives 10 1 0 0
Bangladesh 3 0 0 0
Bhutan 1 0 0 0 I
Nepal 1 0 0 0
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 12729 1365 608 94
Qatar 337 75 0 0
Bahrain 211 1 0 0
Kuwait 112 12 0 0
Saudi Arabia 103 41 0 0
Egypt 93 0 2 0
Iraq 93 0 9 0
Lebanon 93 16 3 0
United Arab Emirates 85 0 0 0
Pakistan 28 7 0 0
Oman 20 1 0 0
Morocco 18 11 1 0
Tunisia 16 0 0 0
Afghanistan 10 3 0 0 I
Jordan 1 0 0 0
Sudan 1 0 0 0
Palestinian territory 38 3 0 0
RUnited States of 1678 0 41 0
America Canada 244 68 1 0
Brazil 121 23 0 0
Chile 61 18 0 0
Argentina 45 11 2 0
Peru 43 15 0 0
Mexico 41 15 0 0
Panama 27 0 1 0
Colombia 24 8 0 0
Costa Rica 23 0 0 0
Ecuador 23 0 0 0
Jamaica 8 1 0 0
Guyana 1 0 1 0
Paraguay 6 0 0 0
Dominican Republic 5 0 0 0
Cuba 4 0 0 0 I
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 3 0 0 0
Puerto Rico 3 0 0 0
Honduras 2 0 0 0
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 2 0 0 0
Antigua and Barbuda 1 0 0 0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 0 0 0
Trinidad and Tobago 1 0 0 0 I
French Guiana 7 1 0 0 I
Martinique 10 4 0 0 I
Saint Martin 2 0 0 0
Saint Barthelemy 1 0 0 0
Cayman Islands 1 0 0 0 I
Guadeloupe 3 2 0 0 I
Curaçao 2 2 0 0
South Africa 38 21 0 0
Algeria 37 11 3 1
Senegal 21 11 0 0
Burkina Faso 3 1 0 0 I
Cameroon 3 1 0 0
Cote d'Ivoire 3 2 0 0
Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 0 0 0
Ghana 2 1 0 0 I
Namibia 2 2 0 0
Nigeria 2 0 0 0
Central African Republic 1 1 0 0
Congo 1 1 0 0
Equatorial Guinea 1 1 0 0
Eswatini 1 1 0 0 I
Ethiopia 1 0 0 0 I
Gabon 1 0 0 0
Guinea 1 0 0 0
Kenya 1 0 0 0
Mauritania 1 1 0 0
Togo 1 0 0 0 I
Réunion 6 1 0 0
Mayotte 1 1 0 0 I
