(TibetanReview.net, Mar26’20) – As the number of people infected with the Covid-19 global pandemic touched 467,844 with 21,300 reported deaths as of Mar 26, while a total of 113,610 had recovered, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called it a threat to the whole of humanity, reported the scmp.com Mar 26. The WHO has said Mar 25 the pandemic had now spread to 196 countries and regions.
“Covid-19 is threatening the whole of humanity – and the whole of humanity must fight back,” Guterres was quoted as saying, launching an appeal for US$2 billion to help the world’s poor.
It is now not just Italy but also Spain which has seen more deaths from the global pandemic than China where information about it was suppressed, evidences destroyed and whistle blowers punished when the outbreak was detected in the central city of Wuhan in Nov-Dec 2019 so that the disease spread like a wildfire across China and the rest of the world.
However, noting that over 150 countries and regions had fewer than 100 cases, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said these had the chance to prevent community transmission and avoid some of the more severe social and economic costs seen elsewhere, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Mar 26.
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In India, which has been under a three-week nationwide lockdown since Mar 23 midnight, the total number of reported infections has risen to 649 and the number of deaths to 13, compared to the previous day’s totals of 562 and 11 respectively as of Mar 26. A total of 43 have recovered.
Dharamsala, like the rest of the state of Himachal Pradesh, is under total lockdown until further order, although people are now allowed out to shop for essential supplies from 8 to 11 am each day.
The WHO chief has said the lockdown, declared in many countries, was by itself not be enough to eradicate the disease but should be used as a second window of opportunity to attack the pandemic.
The worst affected state in India is Maharashtra with 124 cases, followed by Kerala with 118; Karnataka and Telangana with 41 each; Rajasthan with 38; Gujarat with 38; Uttar Pradesh with 37; Delhi with 35; Punjab with 33; Haryana with 30; Tamil Nadu with 26; Madhya Pradesh with 15; Ladakh with 13; Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir with 11 each; West Bengal with 9; Uttarakhand with 5; Bihar, Chattisgarh, and Himachal Pradesh with 3 each; Odisha with 2; Manipur with 1; and Mizoram with 1.
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According to data compiled by channelnewsasia.com as of Mar 26 evening, the worst hit countries outside mainland China with 250 or more confirmed infections and also deaths in most of the cases included Italy (74,386, 7,503), USA (65,778, 942), Spain (56,188, 4,089), Germany (37,323, 206), Iran (29,406, 2,234), France (25,233, 1,331), Switzerland (10,537, 149), UK (9,529, 463), South Korea (9,241, 131), Netherlands (6,412, 356), Austria (5,560, 31), Belgium (4,937, 178), Norway (3,034, 14), Portugal (2,995, 43), Canada (2,792, 27), Sweden (2,526, 44), Brazil (2,433, 57), Australia (2,423, 9), Israel (2,170, 5), Turkey (1,874, 44), Denmark (1,852, 34), Malaysia (1,796, 19), Ireland (1,564, 9), Czech Republic (1,497, 5), Luxembourg (1,333, 8), Japan (1,212, 43), Ecuador (1,173, 28), Chile (1,142, 3), Thailand (1,045, 4), Poland (1,031, 14), Pakistan (1,022, 8), Romania (906, 13), Saudi Arabia (900, 2), Indonesia (893, 78), Finland (880, 3), Greece (743, 20), Iceland (737, 2), Diamond Princess cruise ship (712, 10), South Africa (709, 0-unchanged), Philippines (707, 45), Russia (658, 1), Singapore (631, 2), India (606, 10, since risen to 649, 10), Slovenia (528, 5), Qatar (526, 0), Panama (443, 6), Egypt (442, 21), Bahrain (419, 3), Croatia (418, 1), Peru (416, 7), Hong Kong (410, 4), Mexico (405, 5-unchanged), Estonia (404, 1), Argentina (387, 6), Serbia (384, 4), Colombia (378, 3), Iraq (346, 27), Lebanon (333, 4), UAE (333, 2), Dominican Republic (312, 6-unchanged), Armenia (265, 0), Algeria (264, 19), and Lithuania (255, 4).
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In China, the National Health Commission has said Mar 26 that the mainland had no domestically transmitted new infection on Mar 25 but 67 what it called imported additional infections, taking the total of such infections to 541 as of Mar 25-end. Six were reported to have died on Mar 25.
Mainland China also reported 58 new suspected cases, taking the total of such cases to 159.
Of the mainland’s total reported confirmed cases of 81,285 as of Mar 25-end, 4,947 were still being treated, 74,051 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,287 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 26.
The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 1,235, a decline by 164 over the previous day’s total.
China has not been counting asymptomatic cases even though they are known to transmit the disease.
