How Coronavirus Has Spread across the World

The first coronavirus death was officially reported in China on January 11. Eight months after the disease that emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 was reported, the world is on the verge of one million deaths being registered, reports AFP.

– 1,000 deaths in the first month –

In China, particularly in the province of Wuhan, the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes the illness known as Covid-19 first spread quickly. The country reported one thousand deaths in the space of one month.

The initial toll was higher than the total number of fatalities caused by the previous SARS acute respiratory syndrome, which occurred in Asia in 2002-2003 and resulted in 774 deaths.

At that time, countries and territories outside of mainland China were largely unaffected, but the virus was already beginning to circulate there.

On 2 February, the Philippines reported its first event, and Hong Kong two days later, followed by Japan and France on 13 and 14 February.

– ‘Black April’ for Europe and US –

Cases soared in February. By March 11, when the latest coronavirus was declared a 'pandemic' by the WHO, 4,500 deaths were registered worldwide, across 30 countries and territories.

Two-thirds were still in China, but cases exploded in Italy (800 deaths) and Iran (300 deaths), with fatalities soon afterwards.

In Europe and the United States, the number of people dying every day grew steadily until mid-April, hitting rates of over 4,000 and 2,700 average daily deaths in the second week, respectively.

Today, with more than 200,000 registered, the United States remains the hardest-hit country for deaths.

On a global scale, April 13 to 19 was the deadliest week, with more than 7,460 coronavirus deaths officially recorded every day. By that time, the worldwide total number of deaths had risen to almost 170,000, or double the amount recorded on March 31.

The total number of deaths per day has hovered around 5,000 since the start of June.

– Latin America, the new epicentre –

In June, the epicentre of the pandemic shifted to Latin America and the Caribbean. From July 15 to August 15, recorded deaths in the region did not drop below an average of 2,500 per day.

Only then did they start to fall gradually, reaching an average 1,900 deaths per day last week.

Brazil became the country with the most deaths in total after the United States (more than 138,000). Taking into account the size of their populations, Peru (958 deaths per one million inhabitants), Bolivia (659), Brazil (650), Chile (644) and Ecuador (630), are among the 10 worst-affected countries worldwide, alongside European countries like Belgium (859) and Spain (661).

– A second wave? –

In Asia, where the toll was lower than 100 deaths per day up until mid-April, fatalities have been steadily increasing. The continent has exceeded1,000 deaths per day almost continually since July 20 and is today

approaching 1,500 (1,407 on average over the last seven days).

India has been the worst hit, recording a total of 90,000 deaths (more than 1,100 per day last week).

In Europe, cases are also growing again, increasing fears about a potential second wave. New cases on the continent this week are about 20 percent higher than last and deaths at 614 are up 28 percent.

In the Middle East, deaths are also rising again (around 330 last week, up 18 percent on the week before).

– Africa and Oceania spared –

Africa has been less affected than other continents, according to official statistics: deaths have been dropping since August (less than 200 a day in mid-September, after a peak of about 400 in early August).

The estimated daily number of deaths in Oceania, meanwhile, has never surpassed two dozen.