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For Your Information Update on Global Pandemic for Week Ending April 4In his April 3 briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the need for countries to provide economic assistance to those who required it and remove barriers to testing, all of which will contribute to ensuring that people can continue to play their role in the isolating themselves and practicing social distancing to stem the spread of the coronavirus. He called on countries to "ease the burden on their populations through social welfare programs to ensure people have food and other life essentials."[1] He retiterated that "the best way for countries to end restrictions and ease their economic effects is to attack the virus, with the aggressive and comprehensive package of measures that we have spoken about many times before: find, test, isolate and treat every case, and trace every contact. "If countries rush to lift restrictions too quickly, the virus could resurge and the economic impact could be even more severe and prolonged. Financing the health response is therefore an essential investment not just in saving lives, but in the longer-term social and economic recovery. "There are three main areas for countries to focus on. First, we call on all countries to ensure core public health measures are fully funded, including case-finding, testing, contact tracing, collecting data, and communication and information campaigns. Second, we also call on countries and partners to strengthen the foundations of health systems. That means health workers must be paid their salaries, and health facilities need a reliable supply of funding to purchase essential medical supplies. Third, we call on all countries to remove financial barriers to care. "If people delay or forego care because they can't afford it, they not only harm themselves, they make the pandemic harder to control and put society at risk. Several countries are suspending user fees and providing free testing and care for COVID-19, regardless of a person's insurance, citizenship, or residence status. We encourage these measures. This is in an unprecedented crisis, which demands an unprecedented response. Suspending user fees should be supported with measures to compensate providers for the loss of revenues. Governments should also consider using cash transfers to the most vulnerable households to overcome barriers to access. This may be particularly important for refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants and the homeless." Dr. Tedros stated that "For some countries, debt relief is essential to enable them to take care of their people and avoid economic collapse. This is an area of cooperation between WHO, the IMF and the World Bank." Number of Cases WorldwideAs of April 4, 11:04 GMT, the worldwide statistics for COVID-19 pandemic as reported by Worldometer were: Total reported cases: 1,132,017 - active cases: 835,784 - closed cases: 296,233 Deaths: 60,331 Recovered: 235,902 There were 84,821 new cases from April 3 to 4. This compares to the one-day increase in cases from March 27 to 28 of 60,451. The disease was present in 205 countries and territories. Of these, 85 had less than 100 cases. This compares to figures from a week earlier on March 28 of 656,763 reported cases (484,946 active; 171,817 closed); 30,398 deaths; 141,419 recovered; with cases in 199 countries and territories. One factor responsible for the sharp increase in the total number of cases in early April is that various countries have now broadened their testing for COVID-19. However, the current figures are also mitigated by the fact that countries are not using uniform criteria to carry out testing and testing is not universally available within each country. Nor are all countries carrying out post-mortem tests on those suspected to have died from COVID-19. The five countries with the highest number of cases on April 4 were: USA: 277,533 (257,847 active; 12,283
recovered; 7,403 deaths) The U.S. remains the country with the highest number of cases for the second week in a row, more than doubling its number of active cases from March 28 (114,465). As a region, Europe is still the epicentre of the pandemic, with 11 of the countries with highest number of cases coming from that region. China is no longer is the top five countries with the highest number of cases, having been displaced by France since last week. Cases in Top Five Countries by RegionIn Europe on April 4, the five countries with the highest number of reported cases were: Spain: 124,736 (78,773 active; 34,219
recovered; 11,744 deaths) Spain has overtaken Italy as the European country with the highest number of cases, with the total number of cases going up by some 52,000 in the past week. In Italy, it appears as if the curve may be starting to flatten, with the total number of cases going up by about 27,000 in the past week, compared to an increase of about 47,000 in the previous week. In Eurasia: Turkey: 20,921 (20,012 active; 484
recovered; 425 deaths) For this region, the countries with the five highest number of cases remain the same, with the total number of cases in each increasing by three to four times in the past week. In West Asia: Iran: 55,743 (32,555 active; 19,736
recovered; 3,452 deaths) In the face of the inhuman U.S. sanctions, Iran reports that some 85 per cent of the medical equipment necessary for the treatment of coronavirus patients are now being domestically produced.[1] The Islamic Republic News Agency further reports that: "Iranian scientists are working on devising the other 15 per cent of the equipment; [...] the medical items required for curing respiratory patients will be produced in the country in the coming months. "[...] 400,000 to 500,000 face masks were produced in the country daily, and after the outbreak of the coronavirus, this amount has considerably increased. "Production of face masks is slated to hit 3 to 4 million per day in Iran [...]" The total number of cases in Iran increased by some 20,000 in the past week. In South Asia: India: 3,082 (2,767 active; 229
recovered; 86 deaths) The total number of cases in India roughly tripled in the past week, while the numbers in Pakistan and Afghanistan roughly doubled. In Southeast Asia: Malaysia: 3,483 (2,511 active; 915
recovered; 57 deaths) The total number of cases in the above countries increased by 1,000 cases or less in the past week, with the exception of the Philippines, where the total number of cases roughly tripled. In East Asia: China: 81,639 (1,558 active; 76,755
recovered; 3,326 deaths) The situation in East Asia remained relatively stable since last week, with cases in China and Korea experiencing increases in the total number of cases of about 200 and 1,000 respectively. The number of cases in Japan roughly doubled. In North America: USA: 277,533 (257,847 active; 12,283
recovered; 7,403 deaths) The total number of reported cases in these three countries at least doubled in the past week. The situation in the U.S. is worsening due to the lack of measures by governments whose aim is not to sort out the problems facing the people, especially the front line workers in health care, public services and other crucial sectors, who continue their heroic efforts to defend their rights and well-being and that of the public. Instead, governments are acting on a self-serving basis and in the interests of the private interests they represent. For example, a major factor exacerbating the situation is the lack of uniformity in the application of measures to stem the spread of COVID-19, with the federal government refusing to set national standards. Meanwhile there is open conflict between the federal and state governments which is politicizing the issue of the manufacturing and distribution of medical supplies that are desperately needed across the U.S. To boot, governors in some states have thus far refused to ban mass gatherings or to shut down public spaces such as beaches (as is the case in Florida and Georgia, for example), in defiance of the guidelines for social distancing. In Central America and the Caribbean: Panama: 1,673 (1,622 active; 10
recovered; 41 deaths) In South America: Brazil: 9,216 (8,724 active; 127
recovered; 365 deaths) Venezuela, which took decisive preventive measures early and has deployed teams of health workers to check on citizens door-to-door in order to provide timely diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, continues to have dramatically fewer confirmed cases of COVID-19 than almost any other country in South America. In terms of the number of cases per 1 million population, it has the lowest at six. On April 4 it had 155 confirmed cases, with 52 of these recovered and 7 deaths. The same day, some 600 Venezuelan citizens returned to their country voluntarily by crossing the Simon Bolivar international bridge from Colombia where many of them who earned their living informally were left without any means to support themselves and their families after a quarantine was imposed in that country. The Venezuelan government, with the support of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, has adopted an open arms policy, welcoming back all those who choose to return home. Upon arriving at the border they are screened for symptoms of COVID-19 and undergo a rapid test, with any that test positive having to spend a period of isolation on the Colombian side and be re-tested before entering Venezuela. Once admitted the returnees are provided with free food and lodging while they spend a 15-day quarantine period in the border state of Táchira, before making their way to their home states. During that time they also receive free health care and medication and the other social benefits that the majority of Venezuelans are entitled to through enrolment in the Homeland Card (Carnet de la Patria) system. In the coming days and weeks thousands more Venezuelan nationals are expected to return home over land from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and other countries where they had migrated in search of employment, but were often living precariously and subjected to xenophobic treatment. Meanwhile in one of those countries, Ecuador, Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos last week told CNN in an interview that the government was grossly under-reporting the number of pandemic-related deaths. He estimated that in the port city of Guayaquil alone, the epicentre of the outbreak in the country, 1,500 people had already died of COVID-19 -- a far cry from the 145 deaths reported as of April 4. Due to the collapse of the health sector and government negligence, the bodies of those who had died -- many at home -- remained there, or out in the streets for days, decomposing, leaving grieving family members and other residents outraged. In Africa: South Africa: 1,505 (1,401 active; 95
recovered; 9 deaths) In Oceania: Australia: 5,550 (4,935 active; 585
recovered; 30 deaths) Note
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