Global Covid-19 cases cross 10-million mark, 2/3rd infections in May-June

The number of coronavirus cases across the world crossed the 10 million mark late on Saturday night. According to Worldometre, the number is 51 more than 10 million.  

The grim milestone has been reached in about six months since the emergence of this novel coronavirus in China’s Wuhan in December last year.  

The virus as defied belief that the spread will slow down in the summer season. In June alone this year, 1.25 lakh Covid-19 patients are surfacing everyday, an analysis of the data done by Hindustan Times’ sister publication Hindustan showed.  

In fact, nearly two-third of total infections were reported in the months of May and June.  The highest number of fatalities was reported in March - around 1.9 lakh. The coronavirus disease was at its peak in Italy, Spain and France in March and the United States too came under its grip. Though the number of cases has increased in May and June, the number of fatalities has gone down to some extent.  

There are 38 countries which have either defeated Covid-19, or are very close to it. These include small island nations like Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. New Zealand surprised the world when it announced last week that it has become Covid-19 free, though some cases were reported later.  

Indian neighbours Bhutan and Sri Lanka are nearly free from the coronavirus disease. While there is no Covid-19 patient in Bhutan, Sri Lanka has nine Bhutan one, according to Hindustan.  

The Americas have been badly affected by the spread of the coronavirus disease. After ravaging north America and Canada - which have nearly three million patients - the disease is now spreading in South America. Brazil, Peru and Chile together have more than two million cases. Brazil has registered about 1,275,000 confirmed cases of the virus and over 55,950 deaths.  

The coronavirus, now spreading through the smaller towns of Brazil’s interiors, risks returning to major cities in a so-called “boomerang effect”, as a lack of specialised medical treatment forces patients into larger urban centres, according to health experts in the country.  

The impact of a potential second wave of new cases in urban centres could complicate attempts to reopen businesses and get the economy going again, experts said.   In China, the capital city of Beijing on Saturday issued new containment guidelines as the city reported 17 confirmed cases for Friday, up from 11 for the day before and the most since June 20.  
New Delhi, (Hindustan Times), 28 June 2020