(TibetanReview.net, Mar19’20) – China has for the first time reported no new locally transmitted Covid-19 infection since the global pandemic broke out in the country’s central city of Wuhan in Nov 2019 while the situation keeps worsening in the rest of the world, especially Europe, where people are being infected in thousands and killed in hundreds each day while tens of millions have been put under lockdown. More than 200,000 cases had been reported globally, among which more than 8,000 people had lost their lives to the disease, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Mar 18 evening.
In India, the total number of cases has now reached 166 as of Mar 19, an increase of 18 over the previous day, media reports cited the country’s Ministry of Health as saying. Twenty-five of them were foreigners and 15 had recovered.
Maharashtra had a total of 45 cases, the highest in the country. Kerala had 27 positive cases, Uttar Pradesh 16, Delhi 12, Haryana 17, Karnataka 15, Ladakh 8, and Rajasthan 7, Telangana 6, Jammu & Kashmir 4, and Tamil Nadu 2, while Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh and Pondicherry had one confirmed case each. While were 141 Indian nationals, 25 foreign tourists.
Himachal Pradesh has not reported any confirmed case so far. However, the state, especially Dharamshala town, has taken strong measures to pre-empt the spread of the global pandemic. In Dharamshala, gatherings of four or more people have been banned, schools and temples closed, including the Tsuglakhang, the main Buddhist temple. So also swimming pools, massage and spa centres.
On Mar 18, the Kangra district administration issued directions ordering that all foreign tourists who happened to be in the district to be quarantined. Fourteen tourists from France who were staying at the Nobulingka Monastery were stopped from undertaking their planned Dharamshala tour, reported tribuneindia.com Mar19.
India’s total confirmed cases remain small, but there is an issue of whether enough people are being tested.
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Meanwhile, as of Mar 19 at 1:14 PM Hong Kong time, the global total of confirmed infections had touched 214,259 and the deaths 8,853, while 84,226 had recovered, according to data compiled by scmp.com.
Italy continued to be the worst affected country outside China, seeing massive daily increase in the number of confirmed infections and yet another record daily number of deaths. The country’s total confirmed cases touched 35,713 and the deaths 2,978 compared to the previous day’s totals of 31,596 and 2,503 respectively.
Iran, the second worst affected country outside China, also saw large increases in cases, reporting totals of 17,361 confirmed cases and 1,135 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 16,169 and 988 respectively.
It was yet another bad day for Spain too which reported a total of 13,715 confirmed cases and 598 deaths, compared to 11,178 and 491 respectively the day before.
Germany became the fourth worst affected country outside China, reporting 10,999 confirmed cases compared to the previous day’s total of 7,156 while the total number of deaths remained unchanged at 24.
France, remaining the fifth worst affected country outside China, reported totals of 9,134 confirmed cases and 264 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 7,730 and 175 respectively.
South Korea continued to be able to slow down the pandemic’s spread, reporting totals of 8,565 confirmed cases and 84 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 8,413 and 84 respectively.
The United States reported a sharp increase in the total number of confirmed cases at 8,024 while the number of deaths totaled 114, compared to the previous day’s totals of 5,712 and 103 respectively. Access to testing facility still remains an issue in the country.
Other countries and territories with confirmed cases and deaths as of Mar 19 at 1:14 PM Hong Kong time included Switzerland (2,772, 21), the United Kingdom (2,626, 103), the Netherlands (2,015, 58), Austria (1,646, 4), Norway (1,423, 3), Sweden (1,279, 10), Belgium (1,243, 10-unchanged), Denmark (1,057, 4), Japan, (924, 32), Malaysia (900, 2), the Diamond Princess cruise ship (712, 7), Portugal (642, 2), Canada (621, 9), Australia (565,6), Brazil (428, 4), Greece (418, 5), Ireland (366, 2), Indonesia (309, 25), Slovenia (286, 1), Thailand (272, 1), Pakistan (260, 2), Poland (246, 3), Bahrain (242, 1-unchanged), the Philippines (217, 17), Egypt (210, 6), Hong Kong (208, 4), Luxembourg (203, 2-unchanged), Turkey (191, 1), India (169, 3), Ecuador (168, 3), Iraq (154, 11), Russia (147, 1), Lebanon (133, 3), Mexico (118, 1), San Marino (109, 14), Taiwan (108, 1), Bulgaria (94, 3), Argentina (79, 2), Colombia (75, 1), Costa Rica (69, 1), Panama (69, 1-unchanged), Algeria (61, 5-unchanged), Hungary (58, 1), Albania (57, 2), Morocco (54, 2), Moldova (36, 1), Dominican Republic (34, 1), Burkina Faso (27, 1), Bangladesh (17, 1), Jamaica (15, 1), Cuba (10, 1), Guatemala (8, 1), Ukraine (7, 1-unchanged), Guyana (4, 1-unchanged), and Sudan (2, 1-unchnaged).
Other countries and regions with 10 or more confirmed infections, but no death, as of Mar 19 at 1:14 PM Hong Kong time included the Czech Republic (522), Qatar (452), Israel (433), Finland (359), Singapore (313), Romania (260), Estonia (258), Iceland (250), Chile (238), Saudi Arabia (171-unchanged), Peru (155), Kuwait (148), South Africa (116-unchanged), the UAE (113-unchanged), Slovakia (105-unchanged), Croatia (89), Serbia (89), Latvia (86), Uruguay (79), Armenia (78-unchanged), Vietnam (76), Brunei (68), Cyprus (58), Faroe Islands (58), Jordan (56), Sri Lanka (50), Malta (48), Belarus (46-unchnaged), North Macedonia (42), Occupied Palestinian territory (41), Georgia (40), Cambodia (37), Kazakhstan (37), Venezuela (36-unchanged), Guadeloupe (33), Senegal (31-unchanged), Liechtenstein (28), New Zealand (28), Azerbaijan (27), Lithuania (26-unchanged), Bosnia and Herzegovina (24-unchanged), Oman (24-unchnaged), Tunisia (24), Martinique (23), Afghanistan(22), Grand Princess cruise ship off San Francisco (21-unchanged), Kosovo (20), Uzbekistan (18), Macao (17) Andorra (16), Maldives (13-unchanged), Bolivia (12), Honduras (!2), and Paraguay (11-unchanged).
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In China, the National Health Commission said Mar 19 that the mainland had no domestically infected new confirmed case but 34 what it called imported ones and 8 deaths on Mar 18 end. It was stated to have brought the total of imported confirmed cases to 189.
Mainland China also reported 23 new suspected cases, taking the total of such cases to 105.
Of the mainland’s total confirmed cases of 80,924 as of Mar 18 end, 7,263 were still being treated, 70,420 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,245 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 19.
The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 2,314, a decline by 308 over the previous day’s figure.
