(Reuters) – Global coronavirus cases hit more than 20 million on Monday, according to a Reuters census, with the United States, Brazil and India accounting for more than half of all known infections.
FILE PHOTO: A health care worker checks the temperature and pulse of a resident during a coronavirus disease control camp (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, July 4, 2020. REUTERS / Francis Mascarenhas / File Photo
Respiratory failure has infected the average number of people with severe flu-like illnesses at least four times a year, according to the World Health Organization.
The death toll from COVID-19, meanwhile, has outpaced more than 728,000 the top range of annual deaths due to the flu.
The Reuters tally, which is based on government reports, shows that the disease is accelerating. It took nearly six months to reach 10 million cases after the first infection was reported in Wuhan, China, in early January. It took just 43 days to double that number to 20 million.
Experts believe that the official data are likely to experience both infections and deaths, especially in countries with limited test capacity.
The United States is responsible for about 5 million cases, Brazil 3 million and India 2 million. Russia and South Africa round out the top ten.
The pandemic is accelerating the fastest in Latin America, accounting for nearly 28% of the world’s cases and more than 30% of deaths, according to the Reuters census.
With the first wave of the virus in some countries still a climax and a resurgence of cases in others, governments are still divided in their responses. Some countries are introducing strict public health measures again, while others continue to restrict relaxation.
Health professionals expect dilemmas about how to deal with school, work and social life – and limitations to fluctuate – until a vaccine is available.
The vaccine race has more than 150 candidates being developed and tested around the world with 25 in human clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.
In the United States, children began returning to their classrooms last week, even as school safety became controversial.
Britain has added both Spain and Belgium to a list of countries from which returning travelers will have to be quarantined for 14 days due to fresh upticks at some European locations.
In Asia, China continues with strict, local lockdowns, bringing its daily numbers down to the low double digits on the mainland.
Australia has imposed a strict lockdown and nightfall in the city of Melbourne, with the aim of stifling an outbreak there. Neighboring New Zealand, where life has largely returned to normal, registered 100 days over the weekend without new cases of local transmission.
(To view a Reuters interactive, open this link in an external browser: tmsnrt.rs/2Zedzk8)
Report by Gayle Issa; edited by Jane Wardell
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