As of March 24, the novel coronavirus has infected a total of 372,757 people all over the world. In the past 24 hours (March 23-24), new cases reported are at 39,827. COVID-19 has also claimed the lives of 16,231 people since December while new fatalities in the past 24 hours are at 1,722.
On the other hand, Johns Hopkins University said there are 107,247 people who recovered from the virus. China, which had been the epicenter of the virus, continues to report no new local transmissions this week.
Still, however, the virus continue to spread to new countries and territories. As of March 24, there are four nations that reported their first cases.
Myanmar has just confirmed the first two cases. The patients are two Myanmar men who both got back from traveling abroad.
The first patient is 26 years old who returned from the United Kingdom. The other patient os 36 years old and a U.S. green cardholder.
Both patients are exhibiting mild symptoms and were placed under strict quarantine measures.
Three days ago, Belize was the only territory from 23 nations across North and South America to report no confirmed case of the virus. However, a 38-year-old Belizean national tested positive this week. The patient came back from Los Angeles, California with stopovers through Texas.
In Dominica, a 54-year-old man who traveled from the UK became the nation's first confirmed case. His case was reported on Sunday. By Tuesday, the Dominican government reported five more new cases on the island.
In Turks and Caicos Islands, the first patient had no recent travel history.
Elsewhere, eyes are on the European region which was now believed to be the epicenter of the novel coronavirus. The region now has 195,511 confirmed cases plus 24,087 new cases according to the latest report from the World Health Organization.
The largest cases of infections are in Italy - 63,927 total cases plus 4,789 new cases. As many as 6,077 Italians have already died with 601 in the past 24 hours.
Spain is also a concern with 33,089 total cases plus 4,517 new cases, 2,182 deaths, and 462 new deaths. The grave worry in the country is that its health system is at the brink of being overwhelmed. Most recently, the country deployed its military personnel to attend to the outbreak after reports said that elderly patients are left on their beds to die.
Germany and France are also among the worst-hit nations in Europe. To date there total cases of 29,212 and 19,615 respectively.
The United States, meanwhile, is expected to become the next epicenter as well with 42,164 total cases plus 10,591 new ones. Deaths are at 471 plus 60 in the past 24 hours.
Iran, meanwhile, has become the hardest-hit country in the Eastern Mediterranean region with total cases now more than 24,000 and deaths at 1,812.
