Global coronavirus deaths exceed quarter of a million - Reuters tally

[webfact]

Global coronavirus deaths exceed quarter of a million - Reuters tally

By Jane Wardell and Gayle Issa

 

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed coronavirus model is seen in front of the words coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on display in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Global coronavirus deaths reached 250,000 on Monday after recorded infections topped 3.5 million, a Reuters tally of official government data showed, although the rate of fatalities has slowed.

 

North America and European countries accounted for most of the new deaths and cases reported in recent days, but numbers were rising from smaller bases in Latin America, Africa and Russia.

 

Globally, there were 3,062 new deaths and 61,923 new cases over the past 24 hours, taking total cases to 3.58 million.

 

That easily exceeds the estimated 140,000 deaths worldwide in 2018 caused by measles, and compares with around 3 million to 5 million cases of severe illness caused annually by seasonal influenza, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

While the current trajectory of COVID-19 falls far short of the 1918 Spanish flu, which infected an estimated 500 million people, killing at least 10% of patients, experts worry the available data is underplaying the true impact of the pandemic.

 

The concerns come as several countries begin to ease strict lockdowns that have been credited with helping contain the spread of the virus.

 

"We could easily have a second or a third wave because a lot of places aren't immune," Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases physician and microbiologist at Canberra Hospital, told Reuters. He noted the world was well short of herd immunity, which requires around 60% of the population to have recovered from the disease.

 

The first death linked to COVID-19 was reported on Jan. 10 in Wuhan, China, after the coronavirus first emerged there in December. Global fatalities grew at a rate of 1-2% in recent days, down from 14% on March 21, according to the Reuters data.

 

DEATH RATE ANOMALIES

Mortality rates from recorded infections vary greatly from country to country.

 

Collignon said any country with a mortality rate of more than 2% almost certainly had underreported case numbers. Health experts fear those ratios could worsen in regions and countries less prepared to deal with the health crisis.

 

"If your mortality rate is higher than 2%, you've missed a lot of cases," he said, noting that countries overwhelmed by the outbreak were less likely to conduct testing in the community and record deaths outside of hospitals.

 

In the United States, around half the country's state governors partially reopened their economies over the weekend, while others, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, declared the move was premature.

 

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who battled COVID-19 last month, has said the country was over the peak but it was still too early to relax lockdown measures.

 

Even in countries where the suppression of the disease has been considered successful, such as Australia and New Zealand which have recorded low daily rates of new infections for weeks, officials have been cautious.

 

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has predicated a full lifting of curbs on widespread public adoption of a mobile phone tracing app and increased testing levels.

 

(Reporting by Jane Wardell and Gayle Issa; Editing by Richard Pullin and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-05

 

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[phantomfiddler]

This Covid related posting reports that a quarter of a million people have died, over a span of 120 days approximately, but would it not be appropriate to add that, during the same period of time, the NORMAL number of deaths worldwide would have been in the 18 million persons category ?

[Siamjim]

Reuters at it again, seems to be pushing the scare propaganda really hard. CCP's pets?

[Crazy Alex]

Still far less than the 1,000,000 deaths from the '68 flu pandemic- or 1918 Spanish flu, for that matter.

[Sunderland]

1 hour ago, Crazy Alex said:

Still far less than the 1,000,000 deaths from the '68 flu pandemic- or 1918 Spanish flu, for that matter.

Good point, but in both cases, and also during the '57-58 flu pandemic (Asian Flu), the second wave was much more deadly in each pandemic. However, it is not beyond possibility that we could be in the middle of, or moving towards the end of, the second wave right now. New reports of cases in Europe prior to January would give some substance to that, especially if it is subsequently discovered that a milder form of the virus was widely circulating around the globe between October 2019 and January 2020.

The fact that the main mild symptoms of COVID-19 are not so unlike influenza makes it hard to distinguish between the two without testing unless there is an abnormally high number of people being admitted to hospital with pneumonia infections. This is another reason why Thailand will have to remain alert to any outbreaks of COVID-19 during the upcoming rainy season. This is when the main spread of influenza traditionally peaks here around August/September. Another outbreak of influenza is common here around December/January.

 

[Crazy Alex]

1 hour ago, Sunderland said:

Good point, but in both cases, and also during the '57-58 flu pandemic (Asian Flu), the second wave was much more deadly in each pandemic. However, it is not beyond possibility that we could be in the middle of, or moving towards the end of, the second wave right now. New reports of cases in Europe prior to January would give some substance to that, especially if it is subsequently discovered that a milder form of the virus was widely circulating around the globe between October 2019 and January 2020.

The fact that the main mild symptoms of COVID-19 are not so unlike influenza makes it hard to distinguish between the two without testing unless there is an abnormally high number of people being admitted to hospital with pneumonia infections. This is another reason why Thailand will have to remain alert to any outbreaks of COVID-19 during the upcoming rainy season. This is when the main spread of influenza traditionally peaks here around August/September. Another outbreak of influenza is common here around December/January.

 

I don't disagree with anything you posted. I should have been more complete with my comments. Since when do we close down the world's economy over a pandemic? In the midst of asking that question, I'd like to point out that Spanish flu killed 50,000,000 worldwide in 1918.

 

At some point, a cost/benefit analysis needs to be done. But thanks for presenting some good thoughts. I hadn't considered how seasons run differently in different parts of the globe and how that might affect the spread and second waves. Better late to that party than never.

[candide]

3 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Still far less than the 1,000,000 deaths from the '68 flu pandemic- or 1918 Spanish flu, for that matter.

Weeks ago, the argument was "it doesn't compare with seasonal flu".

Soon, will it be: "it doesn't compare with the black plague!"

????

[timendres]

17 hours ago, candide said:

Weeks ago, the argument was "it doesn't compare with seasonal flu".

Soon, will it be: "it doesn't compare with the black plague!"

????

And then, "COVID what?"