The novel coronavirus confirmed in December 2019 has now infected 2,402,798 people around the world according to the real-time tracker produced by the Johns Hopkins University. As many as 165,154 people have now died due to COVID-19.
The United States remains to have the highest number of confirmed cases at 758,720. Deaths are now at 40,000. Half of the cases are in New York, recording more than 500 deaths per day. The state is currently the epicenter in the US but Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is now flattening the curve as the number of hospitalizations and deaths continues to decline.
European countries remain to have the highest number of cases next to the US. Five countries in the continent have more than 100,000 confirmed cases.
Spain remains to be the hardest hit with 198,674. Italy has 178,972, France has 154,098, Germany has 145,742, and the United Kingdom has 121,172. The numbers were recorded as of Sunday night.
All across Europe, there are now more than 1 million confirmed cases with fatalities now more than 100,000.
With regard to fatalities, Italy has the highest number of deaths in Europe at 23,660. Spain has 20,453, France has 16,060, and the United Kingdom at 16,060. Germany is far behind and is doing a good job in treating COVID-19 patients with only about 4,600 deaths given that the country is among those with the highest number of confirmed cases.
Iran is among those with the highest number of deaths worldwide at 5,118. However, the country has partially reopened its capital Tehran. The Iranian government allowed shops, factories, warehouses to reopen.
The World Health Organization cautioned countries against reopening their economies prematurely. The organization said countries should follow the correct pacing before lifting lockdown measures. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said lifting lockdown should not be perceived as the end of a pandemic but instead just the beginning of the next phase.
During the second phase, Ghebreysus said countries should educate its people on how to stop possible resurgence. Before any country could open again, it should have "detected, tested, isolated, and cared for every case." There should be proper contact tracing with a robust health care system in place.
Meanwhile, China has also reopened the country in a gradual manner. As of Sunday night, the country reported 12 new cases with no new deaths. Eight of these 12 cases are imported, meaning people who came overseas. The country also reported 49 people with asymptomatic infection.
China, which used to be the epicenter of the virus, has a total of 83,817 since the outbreak was detected in December 2019. As many as 4,634 people have already died in the country.
