Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

The number of known cases of Covid-19 globally has surpassed 95 million according to John Hopkins University. 532,235 new cases were recorded yesterday and 9,151 new deaths were also registered to bring the total number of deaths to 2, 03 million globally.  In just one week, the world has recorded more than 5 million new Covid-19 cases.

The United States has seen the most deaths and the most confirmed cases worldwide. The United States has seen the most deaths and the most confirmed cases worldwide. New, more contagious variants of the coronavirus will likely accelerate the spread of the virus and that means the US must double down on efforts to protect people, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Zimbabwe recorded 322 new cases of the virus to bring the total number of cases to 27,203. The Ministry also recorded 30 new deaths and the death toll is now at 713. 640 new recoveries were recorded and the national recovery rate now stands at 60, 7%.  

Brazil is the country hit hardest by Covid-19 in Latin America. It has recorded more than 8 million cases and more than 200,000 deaths from coronavirus. While several of its neighbors have already approved vaccines for use, Brazil has seemed to lag despite its renowned public health and vaccination track record.

Britain’s government hopes to ease some lockdown restrictions in March as it presses ahead with Europe’s fastest rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday. The country, which also has Europe’s highest COVID-19 death toll, has been under national lockdown since January 5, with schools closed for most pupils, non-essential businesses shut and people ordered to work from home where possible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set a target of vaccinating the oldest age groups, the clinically vulnerable and frontline workers – roughly 14 million people – by the middle of February. He has said that England can consider easing lockdown restrictions from that time if all goes smoothly. The Sunday Times said that British ministers had settled their differences to back a three-point plan that could lead to some lockdown restrictions being lifted as soon as early March.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 7,141 to 2,040,659, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The case total was lower than the nearly 15,000 cases reported on 16 January, but this is usual for the weekend tallies. The reported death toll rose by 214 to 46,633.

The virus has killed 70,000 people in France, the seventh highest toll in the world, and the government is particularly worried by the more transmissible variant first detected in Britain, which now accounts for about 1% of new cases. The curfew was brought forward two hours to 6 p.m. and will run until 6 a.m. In addition, from Monday anyone travelling to France from outside the European Union will have to show a negative test result and self-isolate for a week upon arrival. New daily infections has hit a plateau at around 20,000, but the number of people being admitted to hospital and requiring intensive care treatment is still rising. 

South Africa recorded 12 267 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 254 deaths in the last 24 hours. This follows an announcement by the CSIR Researcher, Dr Ridhwaan Suliman that the country seemed to be on a positive trajectory in new cases having recorded an 11% decline from a week ago. According to Dr Suliman, the provinces with the highest number of cases in the country have also seen a decline in daily new cases, especially in KwaZulu-Natal. However, the number of deaths is expected to increase. Recoveries now stand at 1 098 441 representing a recovery rate of 82,1%

The number of cases currently, the seven-day average is at 15 900 per day and that’s a decline of 11% compared to a week ago. The Eastern Cape continues its slow decline; the Western Cape, after showing a bit of a plateau, has promisingly declined by 20% compared to a week ago; KZN decreasing by 23% compared to a week ago, and Gauteng decreasing by 12% to a week ago.

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1/18/2021

(Source: Kitco)