Global coronavirus death toll surpasses 300,000 with US, UK, Italy on the lead

As of Thursday 14 2020, the global number of COVID-19 pandemic rose above 300,000, while the number of confirmed cases stands marginally above 4.4 million, according to data from world-meter.

In early April, the global death toll attributed to COVID-19 hit 100,000, less than 100 days following Chinese media report of the first death case in Wuhan, where the disease is understood to have emerged. The figure, however, doubled before the end of April.

Across six continents, 216 countries, except Antarctica, have so far confirmed cases of the pandemic disease while its tragic effects continue to impact on both social and economic activities worldwide.

As countries gradually relax their earlier imposed lockdown restrictions to combat the virus, the infection figures continue to take upward turn in some countries despite the efforts by both the world health body, WHO, and other relevant bodies.

Some drugs have been identified as possible treatments of the disease, but none has been certified as the absolute cure; they are still undergoing trials.

Over 1.6 million out of the over 4.4 million infected persons have recovered from coronavirus, and only two per cent of the pending cases are in critical conditions.

North America, Europe on the lead

The United States of America currently leading in countries with the highest number of death casualties, having recorded over 85,000 deaths with over 1.4 million people infected in the country.

Parallel to this development, the United Kingdom (UK), sadly, has overtaken Spain, Italy, and France as the country with the highest number of coronavirus death in Europe.

There are over 33,186 COVID-19 fatalities in the U.K, while Italy, Spain and France have recorded 31,106, 27,104, and 27,074 deaths respectively.

The four countries account for over 65 per cent of the world death toll and over 55 per cent of the global confirmed cases.

Russia has also witnessed a sporadic rise to over 200,000 recorded cases even though its death toll is mild compared to the four countries above. The country has a little above 2,000 deaths from Covid-19.

Within a developing Africa

Between February 14 when Africa confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in Algeria and May 14, over 2,500 death cases have been reported. This leaves the continent as the least affected area after Oceania which has a far lesser population density.

As of 5:20 p.m. on Thursday, 74,697 persons have been infected with the virus with Lesotho confirming an index case barely 24 hours ago.

While Africa’s total number of deaths linked to the virus has doubled in the last two months, South Africa maintains the lead with 12,739 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 238 deaths.

Egypt has recorded 556 deaths while its confirmed cases is a little above 10,000. It has the highest number of death cases followed by Algeria, 529 death cases, in the continent.

Morocco, Ghana, and Nigeria are also among the African countries with the highest number of cases and deaths.

Ghana’s COVID-19 cases jumped from 1,042 to 5,408 three weeks after the country’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, lifted its lockdown restrictions late April.