(TibetanReview.net, Mar28’20) – It was the worst day for Italy which reported 969 deaths and Spain which reported 769 in 24 hours, bringing their totals to 9,134 and 4,858, respectively as the China-exported Covid-19 global pandemic continues its upward trajectory across the rest of the world, according to a Bloomberg report Mar 28. With 86,498 cases of infections, Italy is second only to the USA to overtake China where the pandemic originated late last year.
In India, the total number of infections reached 873 and the number of deaths 19 on Mar 28, compared to the previous day’s totals of 724 and 17 respectively. With a total of 78 patients having been discharged after recovery, the number of active cases is 775.
While the infections and death figures may seem small compared to the situation in most other big countries, experts have been cited as arguing that India’s low number of coronavirus cases could be because of limited testing and that the actual figures of infected people may be higher.
As of now, India is reported to test nearly 18 persons per one million of the country’s population compared, for example, to 5,268 per million in Italy; 1,469 per million in the UK; 6,931 per million in South Korea; and 1,280 per million in the USA as well as in China in different but comparable time ranges, according to a News18 report Mar 27.
The worst affected state in India is now Maharashtra with 180 cases, followed by Kerala with 173 cases. These are followed by Karnataka, 55; Rajasthan, 48; Telangana, 48; Gujarat, 45; Uttar Pradesh with 45; Delhi, 39; Punjab, 38; Tamil Nadu, 38; Haryana, 33; Madhya Pradesh, 30; Jammu & Kashmir, 18; West Bengal, 15; Andhra Pradesh, 14; Ladakh,13; Chandigarh, 7; Uttarakhand, 5; Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 6; Bihar, 9; Chattisgarh, 6; Goa, 4, Himachal Pradesh, 3; Odisha, 3; Manipur, 1; and, Puducherry,1.(Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/topic/coronavirus and others)
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Across the world, the total number of those infected by Covid-19 touched 591,048 and the deaths 26,935 as of Mar 28 evening, compared to the previous day’s totals of 529,957 and 24,110, respectively. The number of those who had recovered was shown to be 130,732, according to the channelnewsasia.com infographics as of Mar 28 evening.
The worst hit countries with 1,000 or more confirmed infections with deaths in most of the cases included the USA (103,942, 1,689), Italy (86,498, 9,134), China (81,394, 3,295), Spain (64,059, 4,858), Germany (47,373, 285), France (32,964, 1,995), Iran (32,332, 2,378-unchanged), UK (14,745, 759), Switzerland (12,161, 197), South Korea (9,478, 139), Netherlands (8,603, 546), Austria (7,697, 58), Belgium (7,284, 289), Turkey (5,998, 92), Canada (4,689, 53), Portugal (4,268, 76), Norway (3,581, 16), Brazil (3,417, 92), Australia (3,378, 13), Sweden (3,046, 92), Israel (3,035, 12), Czech Republic (2,279, 9), Denmark (2,200, 52), Malaysia (2,161, 26-unchanged), Ireland (2,121, 22), Ecuador (1,627, 41), Chile (1,610, 5), Luxembourg (1,605, 15), Pakistan (1,408, 11), Japan (1,402, 47), Poland (1,389, 16), Romania (1,292, 24), Thailand (1,245, 6), South Africa (1,170, 2), Saudi Arabia (1,104, 3), Indonesia (1,046, 87), Russia (1,036, 3), and Finland (1,025, 7).
Countries with less than 1000 but over 250 infections thus far included Greece (892, 27), Iceland (890, 2), Philippines (803, 54-unchanged), Panama (786, 14), India (748, 19, since risen to 873, 19), Singapore (732, 2), Mexico (717, 12), Diamond Princess cruise ship (712, 10-unchanged), Argentina (690, 17), Slovenia (638, 9), Peru (635, 11), Croatia (690, 17), Dominican Republic (581, 20), Estonia (575, 1), Qatar (562, 0), Colombia (539, 6), Egypt (536, 30), Serbia (528, 6), Hong Kong (518, 4-unchanged), Bahrain (466, 4), Iraq (458, 40), New Zealand (451, 0), Algeria (409, 26), UAE (405, 2), Lebanon (391, 7), Lithuania (345, 5), Morocco (333, 21), Armenia (329, 1), Ukraine (310, 5), Hungary (300, 10), Bulgaria (293, 3), Latvia (280, 0), Slovakia (269, 0), Andorra (267, 3), Taiwan (267, 2), and Costa Rica (263, 2).
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In China, the National Health Commission has said Mar 28 that the mainland had no domestically transmitted new infection on Mar 27, but 54 what it called imported additional infections, taking the total of such imports to 649 as of Mar 27-end. Three were reported to have died on Mar 27.
Mainland China also reported 29 new suspected cases, taking the total of such cases to 184.
Of the mainland’s total reported confirmed cases of 81,394 as of Mar 27-end, 3,128 were still being treated, 74,971 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,295 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 28.
The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 921, a decline by 113 over the previous day’s total.
The city of Wuhan, the pandemic’s original epicenter, had its coronavirus risk evaluation downgraded from “high risk” to “medium risk,” reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Mar 27, citing a local health official.
While China’s main concern now is to prevent so-called imports of the pandemic infection, 90 per cent of those bringing back the disease are ethnic Chinese travellers returning homes, according to a Bloomberg report Mar 28.
Beijing is actively discouraging its 11 million Chinese diaspora from coming home, and is no longer sending chartered flights to get citizens home, an about-turn from an earlier policy that saw it bring plane loads of Chinese back from Iran and Japan, the report noted.
