Global coronavirus cases exceed 15m

WASHINGTON • Global coronavirus infections surged past 15 million yesterday, according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic gathering pace even as countries remain divided in their response to the crisis.

In the United States, which has the highest number of cases in the world with 3.91 million infections, President Donald Trump warned: "It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better."

The top five countries with the most cases are rounded out by Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa.

The Reuters tally shows that the disease is accelerating the fastest in the Americas, which account for more than half of the world's infections and half of its deaths.

But worrying trends of coronavirus infection are emerging in Southern Europe and in the Balkan region, Dr Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) emergencies programme, said yesterday.

"Obviously the Americas is clearly still the major hot spot - North, Central and South America - but we have disease beginning to accelerate in Africa," Dr Ryan told Newstalk radio station in his native Ireland.

"Also, even in Europe, while certainly in Western Europe the disease has come under control, we still have some worrying trends in Southern Europe and the Balkans so we're not out of the woods just yet in the European environment. It requires sustained vigilance."

Globally, the rate of new infections shows no sign of slowing, according to the Reuters tally, based on official reports. After the first Covid-19 case was detected in Wuhan, China, in early January, it took about 15 weeks to reach two million cases. By contrast, it took just eight days to climb above 15 million from the 13 million reached on July 13.

Health experts stress that official data almost certainly under-reports both infections and deaths, particularly in countries with limited testing capacity.

The official number of coronavirus cases at 15,107,017 is at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to WHO data, while the death toll of more than 616,000 in seven months is close to the upper range of yearly influenza deaths.

With the first wave of the virus still to peak in several countries and a resurgence of cases in others, some countries are reintroducing strict social distancing measures while others relax restrictions.

Stung by low approval ratings for his handling of the pandemic and downplaying of the risks during the early stages, Mr Trump made a significant shift in rhetoric on Tuesday, encouraging Americans to wear face masks.

While the pandemic worsened in the US, Mr Trump's focus ahead of a presidential election in November has been on reopening the economy, and governors in the hard-hit states of Texas, Florida and Georgia continue to push back hard against calls for stricter restrictions.

No. of days it took for cases to climb above 15 million from the 13 million reached on July 13.

In Brazil, more than 2.15 million people have tested positive including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 81,000 people have died.

India, the only other country with more than one million cases, reported almost 40,000 new cases yesterday. Having been keen to reopen its economy, India is now facing the twin challenge of combating the pandemic and massive flooding in the country's north-east.

Two ministers in South Africa's Cabinet were admitted to hospital with Covid-19, as Africa's most industrialised country counted a total of 372,628 confirmed cases and 5,173 deaths.

Other countries, such as Spain and Australia, are reintroducing restrictions in response to fresh outbreaks.

REUTERS