(TibetanReview.net, Mar20’20) – As China reported no locally-transmitted Covid-19 infections for the second successive day on Mar 19, Italy overtook it as the country with the most number of deaths from the rampaging global pandemic which broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Nov 2019. Beijing had suppressed information about the new disease’s outbreak and did precious little to stop its spread nationally and internationally until it became an epidemic.
As of Mar 20 at 3:38 PM Hong Kong time, Covid-19 had infected a total of 234,075 people across the world, resulting in a total of 9,862 deaths while 85,797 had recovered, according to the latest data compiled by the scmp.com.
Amid reports that not enough number of people were being tested, India had a total of 223 confirmed infections and four deaths as of Mar 20 evening, reported indianexpress.com Mar 20, citing the Indian Council of Medical Research. The number of those who had recovered was put at 23.
The state of Maharashtra had the most number of cases at 47, with Kerala coming second with 28 cases.
Haryana and Delhi had 17 positive cases each, while Uttar Pradesh had 19 cases.
Telangana had 6 confirmed cases, Karnataka 15, Ladakh 10, and Jammu & Kashmir four.
Rajasthan had seven confirmed cases, Tamil Nadu three, and Andhra Pradesh two.
Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Chandigarh and Punjab had one case each.
These figures were reported by the dailypioneer.com Mar 20 when the total number of cases was 195 as of Mar 19.
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Meanwhile, as of Mar 20 at 3:38 PM Hong Kong time, Italy had become the country with the most number of deaths at 3,405 compared to China’s total of 3,248. This made the fatality rate in Italy, whose total number of infections was 41,035, much higher than that in China which saw a total 80,967 infections. Italy’s previous day’s totals were 35,713 confirmed infections and 2,978 deaths.
Iran, the second worst affected country outside China, also saw large increases in cases, reporting totals of 18,407 confirmed infections and 1,284 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 17,361 and 1,135 respectively. Actual figures in Iraq are suspected to be much higher.
It was still another bad day for Spain too which reported a total of 17,147 confirmed cases and 767 deaths, compared to 13,715 and 598 respectively the day before.
Germany, the fourth worst affected country outside China, reported no change in the number of infections from the previous day’s total at 10,999 while its number of deaths increased to 44 from the previous day total of 24.
France, remaining the fifth worst affected country outside China, reported totals of 10,995 confirmed cases and 372 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 9,134 and 264 respectively.
Amid continuing reports that not enough number of people were able to get tested, the United States reported 10,427 infections and 150 deaths, compared to the previous day’s reported totals of 8,024 and 114 respectively.
South Korea continued to be able to slow down the pandemic’s spread, reporting totals of 8,652 confirmed cases and 94 deaths, compared to the previous day’s totals of 8,565 and 84 respectively.
Other countries and territories with confirmed cases and deaths as of Mar 20 at 3:38 PM Hong Kong time included Switzerland (3,438, 33), the United Kingdom (3,269, 144), the Netherlands (2,460, 58), Austria (2,013, 6), Norway (1,552, 6), Belgium (1,486, 14), Sweden (1,423, 10), Denmark (1,151, 4), Japan, (958, 32), Malaysia (900, 2-unchanged), Portugal (785, 3), Canada (736, 9), the Diamond Princess cruise ship (712, 7-unchanged), Brazil (621, 7), Australia (565,7), Ireland (557, 3), Greece (464, 5), Pakistan (447, 2), Turkey (359, 4), Poland (355, 5), Luxembourg (335, 4), Thailand (322, 1), Slovenia (319, 1), Indonesia (309, 25-unchanged), Bahrain (279, 1), Egypt (256, 7), Peru (234, 1), the Philippines (230, 17), Hong Kong (208, 4-unchanged), Ecuador (199, 3), Russia (199, 1), India (177, 4, since risen to 206 confirmed cases), Iraq (164, 12), Mexico (164, 1), Lebanon (149, 3), Panama (137, 1), Taiwan (135, 2), San Marino (126, 14), Bulgaria (105, 3), Croatia (105, 1), Argentina (79, 2-unchanged), Colombia (75, 1-unchanged), Hungary (73, 1), Costa Rica (69, 1-unchanged), Albania (64, 2), Morocco (63, 2), Algeria (61, 8), Moldova (49, 1), Tunisia (39, 1), Dominican Republic (34, 2), Burkina Faso (33, 1), Ukraine (19, 2), Bangladesh (17, 1-unchanged), Jamaica (15, 1-unchanged), Cuba (11, 1), Guatemala (9, 1), Guyana (5, 1), Cayman Islands (2, 1), and Sudan (2, 1-unchanged).
Other countries and regions with 10 or more confirmed infections, but no death, as of Mar 20 at 3:38 PM Hong Kong time included the Czech Republic (694), Israel (529), Qatar (460), Singapore (345), Chile (342), Iceland (330), Finland (304), Romania (277), Saudi Arabia (274), Estonia (267), South Africa (150-unchanged), Kuwait (148-unchanged), the UAE (140), Slovakia (123), Serbia (103), Uruguay (94), Latvia (86-unchanged), Vietnam (85), Armenia (78-unchanged), Brunei (73), Faroe Islands (72), Jordan (69), Cyprus (67), Sri Lanka (59), Andorra (53), Malta (53), North Macedonia (48), Cambodia (47), Belarus (46-unchnaged), Guadeloupe (45), Kazakhstan (44), Occupied Palestinian territory (44), Georgia (40-unchanged), New Zealand (39), Oman (39), Senegal (38), Azerbaijan (37), Bosnia and Herzegovina (36), Venezuela (36-unchanged), Lithuania (34), Martinique (32), Liechtenstein (28-unchanged), Afghanistan(26), Honduras (24), Grand Princess cruise ship off San Francisco (21-unchanged), Kosovo (21), Uzbekistan (18-unchanged), Macao (17-unchanged), Bolivia (15), Democratic Republic of Congo (14), Maldives (13-unchanged), Paraguay (13), Nigeria (12), Reunion (12), Cuba (11), French Guiana (11), French Polynesia (11), Ghana (11), Monaco (11), Rwanda (11), and Jersey (10).
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In China, the National Health Commission said Mar 20 that the mainland had no domestically infected new confirmed case for the second successive day but 39 imported ones and three deaths on Mar 19 end. It was stated to have brought the total of imported confirmed cases to 228.
Mainland China also reported 31 new suspected cases, taking the total of such cases to 104.
Of the mainland’s total confirmed cases of 80,967 as of Mar 19 end, 6,569 were still being treated, 71,150 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,284 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 20.
The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 2,136, a decline by 178 over the previous day’s figure.