(TibetanReview.net, Apr12’20) – With more than 2,000 fatalities in a single day, the United States has now crossed the grim double milestone of being the country with the most number of infections and deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The country now has cumulative total of 530,006 infections and 20,608 deaths as of Apr 12 and counting.
What goes around comes around and China, which brought the pandemic under control with draconian measures after shutting itself off from the rest of the world on which it had unleashed it, has now reported a cumulative total of what it calls imported cases of 1,280 infections, including 97 on Apr 11. Over 90 per cent of the so-called imports were reported to have come through Chinese people returning home from other countries.
The cumulative total of infections across the world is now 1,778,562 with 108,994 deaths while the total number of recoveries stands at 404,878 as of Apr 12 at 01:48:41 PM (GMT-4), according to data compiled by the Coronavirus Resource Center of Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland). The previous day’s cumulative totals were 1,699,490 infections, 102,800 deaths, and 377,040 recoveries.
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In India, continuous daily sharp increases in the number of infections and deaths have meant that the government has little choice but to extend the three-week nationwide lockdown which ends on Apr 14. However, given the enormity of the socio-economic cost of continuing with the current lockdown, government may move towards a “smart lockdown” – with severe restrictions imposed in affected districts, and partial lifting of restrictions in unaffected districts, along with the opening up of some sectors to meet the economic challenge, hindustantimes.com Apr 12 cited a top government official as saying.
The report cited a second official as saying the government was also considering demarcating the country into three zones – red, yellow and green – depending on the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Under it, districts in which sizeable number of cases had been detected or areas which had been declared hotspots will be declared as Red Zones in which no activity will be allowed.
Vulnerable areas where only few cases had been found in the past will be declared as Orange Zones in which minimum activities like opening of limited public transport, harvesting of farm products will be allowed.
Areas in which no cases had been reported will be declared Green Zones in which Some MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) industries falling under them will be allowed to function with in-house lodging facilities for employees with proper maintenance of social distance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who held an online meeting with the chief minister of all the states on Apr 11 is to make an announcement of the central government decision before the Apr 14 deadline.
A broad consensus that the national lockdown should be extended by at least two weeks till April-end emerged after the meeting. Following this, four states — Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana announced extension of the lockdown till Apr 30. Odisha and Punjab had declared the same on Apr10, reported indianexpress.com Apr 12.
Haryana is to be divided into three zones, with relaxation in least affected districts, while restrictions on movement of people will continue, the state’s chief minister was cited as saying Apr 11.
A large part of India is still unaffected by the pandemic.
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India recorded yet another high number of cases on Apr 11 with 909 new infections and 34 deaths, taking their cumulative totals to 8,356 infections and 273 deaths while the number of recoveries totaled 716 as of Apr 12 at 8:00 AM (GMT+5.30), according to data from the country’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state with 1,761 (+187) infections, followed by Delhi with 1,069 (+166) infections, Tamil Nadu with 969 (+58) infections, Rajasthan with 700 (+47) infections, Madhya Pradesh with 532 (+97) infections, Telangana with 504 (+31) infections, Uttar Pradesh with 452 (+21) infections, Gujarat with 452 (+44) infections, Andhra Pradesh with 381 (+18) infections, Kerala with 364 (+0) infections, Karnataka with 214 (+7) infections, Jammu & Kashmir with 207 (+0) infections, Haryana with 177 (+0) infections, Punjab with 151 (+19) infections, and West Bengal with 134 (+18) infections.
Other badly hit states/Union Territories were Bihar, 63 (+3); Odisha, 50 (+2); Uttarakhand, 35 (+0); Himachal Pradesh, 32 (+4); Assam, 29 (+0); Chandigarh, 19 (+1); Chattisgarh, 18 (+0), Jharkhand, 17 (+3), Ladakh, 15 (+0); Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 11 (+0).
Besides, Goa (7), Puducherry (5), Manipur (2), Tripura (2), Mizoram (1), and Arunachal Pradesh (1) and had reported cases.
Maharashtra also had the most number of deaths at 127 (+17),followed by Madhya Pradesh, 36 (+3); Gujarat, 22 (+3); Delhi, 19 (+6); Punjab, 11 (+0); Tamil Nadu 10 (+2); Telangana, 9 (+2); Karnataka, 6 (+0); Andhra Pradesh, 6 (+0); Uttar Pradesh, 5 (+1); West Bengal, 5 (+0); Jammu & Kashmir, 4 (+0); Haryana, 3 (+0), Rajasthan, 3 (+0); Kerala, 2 (+0). Besides Bihar, Odisha Jharkhand, HP and Assam had 1 death each.
(Source: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/)
Himachal Pradesh reported four new infections on Apr 11, taking the state’s total to 32, of which 9 are from Solan, 8 are from Una, 7 are from Sirmaur, 4 are from Kangra, and 4 are from Chamba.
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Across the world the countries with more than 1,000 cumulative infections as of Apr 12 at 01:48:49 PM (GMT-4) were: 530,006 US; 163,027 Spain; 152,271 Italy; 130,730 France; 125,452 Germany; 83,096 China; 79,885 United Kingdom; 70,029 Iran; 52,167 Turkey; 28,018 Belgium; 25,107 Switzerland; 24,572 Netherlands; 23,316 Canada; 20,964 Brazil; 15,987 Portugal; 15,770 Russia; 13,818 Austria; 10,878 Israel; 10,512 Korea, South; 10,151 Sweden; 8,928 Ireland; 8,504 India; 7,257 Ecuador; 6,927 Chile; 6,848 Peru; 6,748 Japan; 6,409 Norway; 6,356 Poland; 6,315 Australia; 6,191 Denmark; 5,990 Romania; 5,905 Czechia; 5,038 Pakistan; 4,648 Philippines; 4,530 Malaysia; 4,219 Mexico; 4,033 Saudi Arabia; 3,842 Indonesia; 3,736 United Arab Emirates; 3,380 Serbia; 3,270 Luxembourg; 3,234 Panama; 2,905 Finland; 2,777 Ukraine; 2,759 Dominican Republic; 2,728 Qatar; 2,709 Colombia; 2,551 Thailand; 2,299 Singapore; 2,226 Belarus; 2,142 Argentina; 2,081 Greece; 2,028 South Africa; 1,939 Egypt; 1,825 Algeria; 1,689 Iceland; 1,560 Moldova; 1,545 Morocco; 1,534 Croatia; 1,410 Hungary; 1,330 New Zealand; 1,318 Iraq; 1,304 Estonia; 1,188 Slovenia; 1,154 Kuwait; 1,058 Azerbaijan; 1,053 Lithuania; 1,040 Bahrain; and 1,013 Armenia.
Other countries and regions with 100 or more infections were reported to be: 975 Bosnia and Herzegovina; 897 Kazakhstan; 820 Cameroon; 796 Uzbekistan; 760 North Macedonia; 728 Slovakia; 712 Diamond Princess; 685 Tunisia; 669 Bulgaria; 630 Latvia; 620 Cuba; 619 Lebanon; 616 Cyprus; 607 Afghanistan; 601 Andorra; 599 Oman; 577 Costa Rica; 533 Cote d’Ivoire; 501 Uruguay; 491 Niger; 484 Burkina Faso; 482 Bangladesh; 433 Albania; 408 Ghana; 393 Honduras; 385 Taiwan*; 381 Jordan; 377 Kyrgyzstan; 370 Malta; 356 San Marino; 319 Mauritius; 318 Nigeria; 300 Bolivia; 283 Kosovo; 278 Senegal; 268 West Bank and Gaza; 267 Montenegro; 258 Vietnam; 252 Georgia; 250 Guinea; 223 Congo (Kinshasa); 199 Sri Lanka; 191 Kenya; 187 Djibouti; 175 Venezuela; 153 Guatemala; 136 Brunei; 134 Paraguay; 125 El Salvador; 122 Cambodia; 120 Rwanda; 112 Trinidad and Tobago; and 102 Madagascar.
Concerning the countries or cities with 100 or more deaths, the figures were shown to be: 19,468 Italy; 16,606 Spain; 13,832 France; 9,875 United Kingdom; 6,367 New York City New York US; 4,357 Iran; 3,346 Belgium; 3,219 Hubei China; 2,871 Germany; 2,643 Netherlands; 1,141 Brazil; 1,101 Turkey; 1,036 Switzerland; 887 Sweden; 792 Nassau New York US; 652 Wayne Michigan US; 470 Portugal; 461 Westchester New York US; 458 Suffolk New York US; 455 Cook Illinois US; 435 Bergen New Jersey US; 412 Essex New Jersey US; 337 Austria; 327 Indonesia; 320 Ireland; 316 Oakland Michigan US; 315 Ecuador; 306 Romania; 297 Philippines; 289 Quebec Canada; 289 India; 284 King Washington US; 275 Algeria; 273 Mexico; 267 Los Angeles California US; 260 Denmark; 253 Ontario Canada; 232 Orleans Louisiana US; 220 Fairfield Connecticut US; 214 Korea, South; 209 Macomb Michigan US; 208 Poland; 200 Rockland New York US; 195 Union New Jersey US; 183 Hudson New Jersey US; 181 Peru; 177 Middlesex New Jersey US; 166 Jefferson Louisiana US; 160 Philadelphia Pennsylvania US; 152 Morris New Jersey US; 146 Egypt; 145 Orange New York US; 137 Middlesex Massachusetts US; 135 Dominican Republic; 132 Czechia; 132 Ocean New Jersey US; 130 Russia; 119 Norway; 119 Passaic New Jersey US; 118 Marion Indiana US; 115 Monmouth New Jersey US; 111 Morocco; 108 Japan; 107 New Haven Connecticut US; 103 Israel; 101 Hartford Connecticut US; and 100 Colombia.
(Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html)
The total number of deaths in the United States as a whole as of Apr 12 at 01.17 PM (GMT+8) was 20,608 compared to 18,637 the day before. (Source: scmp.com)
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In China, the National Health Commission reported Apr 12 that the mainland had two domestically transmitted new infections on Apr 11, but 97 what it called imported additional infections, taking the cumulative total of such imports to 1,280 as of Apr 11-end.
Mainland China reported no death on Apr 11.
It reported 49 new suspected cases, with the total of such cases now standing at 82.
Of the mainland’s total reported confirmed cases of 82,052 as of Apr 11-end, 1,138 were still being treated, 77,575 had been discharged after recovery, and 3,339 had died of the disease, reported the official chinadaily.com.cn Apr 12.
The total of number of severe cases was reported to be 139, a decline by 2 over the previous day’s total.
(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
The Chinese party-government’s infection and death figures are seen as gross underreports outside the country while its suppression of information during the initial outbreak of the pandemic has been a source of anger not only in the outside world but also among the Chinese people.
