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For Your Information Update on Global Pandemic for Week Ending April 11Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted two notable dates in his regular briefings in the past week. Speaking on April 9, Dr. Tedros noted that the WHO would on April 10 mark the 100th day since it was notified on January 1 of the first cases of "pneumonia with unknown cause" in China. He outlined the intensive course of action undertaken by the WHO since then, to establish the necessary organization and infrastructure to combat the outbreak and to sound the alarm to all countries. He highlighted the five key areas in which its efforts continue to be focused: - supporting countries in building their capacity to prepare and respond; - working with experts, partners in media, technology and other sectors, to provide training guidance and accurate information and to combat misinformation; - supplying essential medical equipment for frontline health workers; - training and mobilizing health workers; and - accelerating research and development into diagnostics and therapy. April 7 was World Health Day, marking the day that the WHO came into being in 1948. On that day, Dr. Tedros explained, that for the rest of 2020 the WHO will be marking the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Dr. Tedros took this occasion to highlight in particular the outstanding role played by nurses during the pandemic. He pointed out that "80 per cent of the world's nurses work in countries making up just half of the world's population. "Although the number of nurses globally increased by 4.7 million between 2013 and 2018, the world is facing a global shortfall of 5.9 million nurses, especially in Africa, South East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and some parts of Latin America. "We're calling on countries with shortages of nurses to increase the number of nurses they graduate by an average of 8 per cent each year, and to implement measures to improve the employment and retention of nurses in the health system."[1] Number of Cases WorldwideAs of April 11, the worldwide statistics for COVID-19 pandemic as reported by Worldometer were: Total reported cases: 1,760,584 (April 4: 1,132,017) - active cases: 1,257,555 (April 4: 835,784) - closed cases: 509,797 (April 4: 296,233) Deaths: 101,485 (April 4: 60,331) Recovered: 395,404 (April 4: 235,902) There were 94,625 new cases from April 9 to 10. This compares to the one-day increase in cases from April 3 to 4 of 84,821. The disease was present in 210 countries and territories. Of these, 83 had less than 100 cases, as compared to April 4, when the disease was present in 205 countries and territories, with 85 of those having less than 100 cases. The five countries with the highest number of cases on April 11 are noted below, accompanied by the number of cases and deaths per million population, which permit a more direct comparison between countries, as well as figures from the previous week on April 4: USA: 521,714 (473,070 active; 28,580
recovered; 20,064 deaths) Spain: 158,273 (86,524 active;
55,668 recovered; 16,801 deaths) Italy: 147,577 (98,273 active; 30,455
recovered; 18,849 deaths) France: 124,869 (86,740 active;
24,932 recovered; 13,197 deaths) Germany: 122,171 (65,522
active; 53,913 recovered; 2,736 deaths) The U.S. remains the country with the highest number of cases for the third week in a row, while in the past week France surpassed Germany for the fourth highest number of cases. Despite the U.S. situation, Europe remains the hardest hit region, with 820,109 cases (553,264 active; 196,782 recovered; 70,063 deaths). Cases in Top Five Countries by RegionIn Europe on April 11, the five countries with the highest number of reported cases were: Spain: 158,273 (86,524 active;
55,668 recovered; 16,801 deaths) Italy: 147,577 (98,273 active; 30,455
recovered; 18,849 deaths) France: 124,869 (86,740 active;
24,932 recovered; 13,197 deaths) Germany: 122,171 (65,522
active; 53,913 recovered; 2,736 deaths) UK: 73,758 (64,465 active; 344
recovered; 8,958 deaths) The rate of new cases in Spain has started to slow. Health Minister Salvador Illa explained on April 8 that the rate of new cases two weeks prior was 15 per cent per day, but had slowed to 7 per cent in the following week.[2] He attributed an increase in the rate this past week to a backlog in regional data that had now been processed, and stated that Spain had now passed through the peak of the curve. "The data confirmed the stabilization of the curve, it's flattening out. We have reached the peak and we are in a phase of slowing down," said Illa, adding that authorities would roll out a mass testing plan to examine the level of immunity to COVID-19 in the population, starting with 62,000 tests. Fernando Simón, head of Spain's public health emergency department, said that as the country approaches the end of the first phase of the lockdown, the gradual lifting of restrictions -- forecast to start on April 26 -- would present another set of challenges. Although some liberties will be restored, the public will have to remain vigilant and continue to adhere to strict social distancing rules to avoid a resurgence of the virus, he said. Bruce Aylward, the head of the WHO mission to Spain, told a Geneva video press conference that the country's decision to fully confine its roughly 47 million people as a response to the pandemic had been inspirational, Eurativ news agency reported on April 8. "What I saw in Spain was truly heroic," he said, adding that it was "an extraordinary and innovative response." Aylward emphasized the "striking speed" of the outbreak in the country -- in the early days of the pandemic in late February, Spain was registering just two or three cases per day, mostly tourists vacationing in the country's islands. Less than two weeks later, all 17 of Spain's autonomous regions had registered cases and the number of infections was doubling every day, he said. Between March 7 to 14, cases increased 20-fold. However, following Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's decision to place the country on lockdown, those figures went from doubling every five days to doubling every eight, said Aylward, adding there was "hope and evidence that this outbreak is definitely slowing down." In Italy, which shut down much of its businesses on March 12, Euractiv reports, "The closures and accompanying containment measures have helped stem the spread of a disease that has officially claimed 17,669 lives across the country since February, the world's highest toll. "The Italian government is now weighing how and when to ease social distancing measures that have so far been extended until April 13."[3] Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on April 9 that the government will consult with its scientists regarding which businesses and factories should be first to reopen. "If scientists confirm it, we might begin to relax some measures already by the end of this month," he stated. The pandemic has brought out divisions between the hardest hit countries -- such as Italy and Spain in southern Europe -- and other members on the question of financial aid for businesses and workers affected by the pandemic. It is reported that a fractious Eurogroup video conference took place on April 8, with the Netherlands demanding that nations meet tough economic conditions to qualify for aid. Prime Minister Conte gave the view that, "If we do not seize the opportunity to put new life into the European project, the risk of failure is real." Another notable feature of these statistics is that the UK, while having a lower absolute number of cases per million population, has a relatively high absolute number of deaths and number of deaths per million. In Eurasia on April 10: Turkey: 42,282 (39,232 active;
2,142 recovered; 908 deaths) Russia: 11,917 (11,028 active;
795 recovered; 94 deaths) Azerbajian: 991 (822 active;
159 recovered; 10 deaths) Armenia: 937 (776 active; 149
recovered; 12 deaths) Kazakhstan: 764 (697 active; 60
recovered; 7 deaths) This week's figures show that the number of cases roughly doubled in Turkey, Russia and Azerbajian since April 4. Despite Turkey's situation, it is providing aid to several other countries, including Lebanon, Tunisia, the UK, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo, Anadolu Agency reported. In West Asia on April 10: Iran: 68,192 (28,495 active;
35,465 recovered; 4,232 deaths) Israel: 9,968 (8,871 active;
1,011 recovered; 86 deaths) Saudi Arabia: 3,287 (1,663
active; 351 recovered; 25 deaths) UAE: 2,659 (2,408 active; 239
recovered; 12 deaths) Qatar: 2,376 (2,164 active; 206
recovered; 6 deaths) On March 23, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a ceasefire in all global conflicts to stem the pandemic. This was followed two days later by a call for a cessation of hostilities in the war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia, the aggressor in this war, on April 8, announced via a statement carried by Saudi Arabia's official state news agency, that it was declaring a unilateral ceasefire to go into effect on April 9. Saudi military spokesman, Col. Turki al-Malki stated that the ceasefire is to last two weeks and could be extended to pave the way for all the parties "to discuss proposals, steps, and mechanisms for sustainable ceasefire in Yemen [...] for a comprehensive political solution in Yemen."[4] Yemen reported its first case of coronavirus on April 10. In South Asia on April 10: India: 6,725 (5,879 active; 620
recovered; 226 deaths) Pakistan: 6,495 (5,702 active;
727 recovered; 66 deaths) Afghanistan: 521 (474 active;
32 recovered; 15 deaths) Bangladesh: 424 (364 active; 33
recovered; 27 deaths) Sri Lanka: 190 (129 active;
54 recovered; 7 deaths) The figures coming out of India continue to beggar belief, given that it is the second most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion people. The impoverishment, crowded living conditions and lack of health care for the vast majority of people, amidst the anti-social offensive of the Modi government mean that conditions are ripe for a terrible outbreak. An April 6 report from Reuters indicates that testing levels remain extremely low: "Officials hope to be testing 20,000 people daily by the end of the week, twice the current rate. Since India's first case was confirmed on Jan. 30, India has conducted only a little over 96,000 tests, having focused efforts on identifying those who had come in contact with people who have tested positive." In comparison, south Korea, which has used widespread testing to combat the pandemic and bring it under control, by mid-March, had tested 270,000 in two months. India has been under lockdown since March 24.
Originally due to be lifted on April 14, the Modi
government announced April 11 that the lockdown
has been extended indefinitely. However, it has
yet to announce what measures will be provided to
ease the hardship of the millions of impoverished
workers across the country already, whose dire
situation is sure to worsen if proper measures are
not taken. In Kashmir, which was has been under security lockdown by the Indian government since August 2019, conditions have worsened during the pandemic, with medical staff and students complaining about limited internet connectivity. Internet access was restored in March, but high-speed access is still banned. "We need uninterrupted internet to fight COVID-19. We are required to stay in touch with the WHO, CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and ICMR [Indian Council of Medical Research] and download their guidelines. We are missing out on a lot of information," Dr. Suhail Naik, president of Doctor's Association Kashmir, told Deutsche Welle.[5] Students in Kashmir report facing long download times for their lessons and being denied the opportunity to take part in learning via interactive activities online, unlike other students in India. In Bangladesh, workers have been hard hit by the pandemic. The closure of clothing retailers in Asia, Europe and North America has had a serious impact on garment workers in countries like Bangladesh. On March 19, Reuters reported that "global fashion brands have canceled or delayed orders worth $138 million due to coronavirus." The report added that "More than 100 Bangladeshi factories have already lost orders."[6] Reuters points out that Bangladesh is "the world's second largest garment supplier after China [and] is heavily-reliant on top fashion brands. The industry employs more than 4 million people, mostly women, and accounts for more than 80 per cent of its exports." A March 27 report from the PennState Center for Global Workers' Rights stated that some one million of these workers have now been laid off.[7] The latest reports from Bangladesh indicate that a small number of factories are now making personal protective equipment that is in short supply worldwide. However, the factory workers themselves have had to stage walkouts because of insufficient measures taken by employers to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In Southeast Asia on April 10: Malaysia: 4,346 (2,446 active;
1,830 recovered; 70 deaths) Philippines: 4,076 (3,749
active; 124 recovered; 203 deaths) Indonesia: 3,293 (2,761 active;
252 recovered; 280 deaths) Thailand: 2,473 (1,427 active;
1,013 recovered; 33 deaths) Singapore: 2,108 (1,444 active;
492 recovered; 7 deaths) Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country (after China, the U.S. and India) has a very low number of reported cases thus far, although cases have been reported in all provinces. While everyone has been encouraged by the Health Ministry to stay home, only the worst hit province of Jakarta has implemented social-distancing measures. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte said on April 1 that he was authorizing the police and military to use deadly force against anyone violating pandemic measures. "Without these restrictions, this will not end," he said. "So if you don't want to follow, then I will finish you to protect the lives of the innocent who don't want to die." The island of Luzon in the north has been under lockdown since March 16, with local lockdowns in place across the country. An additional measure taken by the government on April 10 was to ban medical professionals from going overseas. The order, issued by the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, stated in part that "The ban aims to prioritize human resource allocation for the national health care system at the time of the national state of emergency." In 2018, remittances from overseas Filipinos, estimated at 11 million, made up 11 per cent of the country's GDP. Another notable development in this region was an
unexpected spike of 142 new cases in Singapore on
April 8, after its
lockdowns had appeared to stop the spread of the
disease. This has
raised concerns of longer term measures required
to prevent the
outbreaks from reoccuring. The latest cases appear
to have arisen due to substandard living
conditions for migrant workers, agencies report,
which the government says it will address. In East Asia on April 10: China: 81,907 (1,160 active;
77,370 recovered; 3,335 deaths) South Korea: 10,450 (3,125
active; 7,117 recovered; 208 deaths) Japan: 5,530 (4,746 active; 685
recovered; 99 deaths) Taiwan: 382 (285 active; 91
recovered; 6 deaths) Japan saw an increase of nearly 2,000 cases between April 4 to 10, while other countries in the region saw increases of about 30 to 300 in that period. On April 8, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other Japanese prefectures with high numbers of cases, out of a total of 47 prefectures. The Associated Press reported that "Abe was facing heavy pressure to declare a state of emergency after the number of new cases in Tokyo began doubling every several days in late March. The city of 14 million had 1,339 cases as of Wednesday [April 8], up from about 600 a week earlier. Japan focused on dealing with clusters of infections and selective testing for the virus, a strategy that has failed to curb its spread. Experts found that one-third of Tokyo's recent cases were linked to hostess clubs and other night entertainment districts where cluster tracing is difficult. Meanwhile, compliance with calls for working remotely and other social distancing has been weak."[8] In North America on April 11: USA: 521,714 (473,070 active; 28,580
recovered; 20,064 deaths) Canada: 22,148 (15,566 active; 6,013
recovered; 569 deaths) Mexico: 3,441 (2,614 active;
633 recovered; 194 deaths) Within the U.S., the state of New York and New
York City especially are the hardest hit by the
pandemic. As of April 11, New York State alone had
logged 180,458 cases, of which 155,314 are
active, and 8,627 deaths. New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio on April 8
stated that it is likely that the city's death
toll is actually much
higher as many people are dying at home, rather
than in hospital, and
that increased death rates during the pandemic on
the order of 100 to
200 people per day are likely due to the
coronavirus. In the Detroit metropolitan area which has been
identified as a major "hotspot" in the pandemic,
more than
2,000 people working in the healthcare industry
have been reported as
testing positive or showing symptoms consistent
with COVID-19. The
situation has created a great deal of anxiety as
well as anger. Incoherence, inconsistency and self-serving partisanship continues to be a factor in undermining measures to contain the outbreak. For example, on April 7, in the midst of a state-wide stay-at-home-order, Wisconsin held its primary vote, using in-person voting. The stay-at-home order was issued by Democratic Governor Tony Evers. However, the state legislature, dominated by Republicans, went ahead and approved in-person voting. Consequently, some 7,000 poll workers refused to staff voting precincts due to concerns about their health and safety, and many polls were forced to close. Time Magazine reported that in the week before the election, "there were, at least, 1,119,439 requests for absentee ballots -- five to 10 times more than the state has ever had to process. And only days before the primary, tens of thousands of residents had not received their requested absentee ballots. "Initially, a district court granted a six-day extension on when the ballots could be received by state election officials. But on the evening of April 6, the Wisconsin Republicans sought to overturn that decision, essentially double-daring voters to play a game of chicken at the voting booth with the deadly coronavirus. In a 4-2 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Evers did not have the authority to move the day of the election. Then the five conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the absentee ballots, despite the fact that thousands had not yet been received by voters, still had to be postmarked by the day of the primary, April 7."[10] The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that on April 6, "Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm said in-person voting would 'without question' increase case totals, 'and an increase in the number of cases in Wisconsin would result in more deaths.' "In many suburban and rural areas, lines were not too long. But in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Dane counties, lines stretched out onto sidewalks and around blocks, ending any chance of social distancing. In the city of Milwaukee, voters stood in line for hours at one of five consolidated 'voting centres' instead of the 180 smaller neighbourhood sites that voters normally use."[11] Molly McGrath, a voting rights campaign strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union, described this as the decision to permit "voter suppression on steroids," adding, "The bottom line is no one should have to choose between protecting their health and protecting their right to vote."[12] In Central America and the Caribbean: on April 10 Panama: 2,752 (2,670 active; 16
recovered; 66 deaths) Dominican Republic: 2,620
(2,396 active; 98 recovered; 126 deaths) Costa Rica: 539 (506 active; 30
recovered; 3 deaths) Cuba: 565 (498 active; 51
recovered; 15 deaths) Honduras: 382 (352 active; 7
recovered; 23 deaths) In South America on April 10: Brazil: 18,397 (17,250 active;
173 recovered; 974 deaths) Ecuador: 7,161 (4,354 active;
339 recovered; 272 deaths) Chile: 6,501 (4,865 active;
1,571 recovered; 65 deaths) Peru: 5,897 (4,159 active;
1,569 recovered; 169 deaths) Colombia: 2,223 (1,980 active;
174 recovered; 69 deaths) In this region in the past week, the countries listed above roughly doubled the number of cases since April 4, while in Peru the cases increased by more than four times. Ecuador saw a large one day spike of 2,196 new cases from April 9 to 10. Meanwhile, Venezuela, despite the U.S. sanctions, continues its remarkable job of protecting its people against the pandemic. There are only 171 total cases logged in the country, of which 78 are active, with 84 recoveries and 9 deaths. From April 6 to 7, only one new case was logged. Following this result, President Nicolás Maduro ordered the hospitalization of all people confirmed to be infected who were in isolation at home, as a further measure to stop community spread. "We have managed to contain the pandemic. In the situation we are in, we can hospitalize all cases and isolate them in hospital. It is not the same to be at home with the possibility of infecting a husband, wife, brother, sister or a child, rather than being in a hospital or a clinic under isolation with 24-hour medical attention," he said. He added that Venezuela has 23,500 hospital beds.[13] At this point, the curve of the outbreak is flattening in Venezuela, with the peak number of 100 active cases reached on April 5. In Africa on April 10: South Africa: 2,003 (1,569
active; 410 recovered; 24 deaths) In Oceania on April 10: Australia: 6,328 (3,043 active;
3,141 recovered; 54 deaths) Notes1. "WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19," who.int, April 7, 2020. 2. "Spain sees uptick in daily COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries," euroefe.es, April 9, 2020. 3. "Italy PM warns virus puts EU project at stake," Euractiv, April 9, 2020. 4. "Saudi Arabia announces ceasefire in Yemen amid COVID-19 pandemic," Maggie Michael and Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press, April 8, 2020. 5. "COVID-19 crisis prolongs Kashmir lockdown," Dharvi Vaid, Deutsche Welle, April 10, 2020. 6. "Job cut fears as fashion brands slash orders in Bangladesh with coronavirus," Naimul Karim, Reuters, March 19, 2020. 7. Abandoned? The Impact of Covid-19 on Workers and Businesses at the Bottom of Global Garment Supply Chains, PennState Center for Global Workers' Rights, March 27, 2020. 8. "Japan declared a state of emergency, but it's no lockdown. So what is it?" Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press, April 8, 2020. 9. “Detroit on the Frontline in Battle to End COVID-19 Panademic,” Abayomi Azikiwe, Global Research, April 9, 2020 10. "Republicans Could Use the Coronavirus to Suppress Votes Across the Country. This Week We Got a Preview," Carol Anderson, Time, April 8, 2020. 11. "In-person voting was likely a 'disaster' for Wisconsin's efforts to flatten coronavirus curve, national experts say," Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 8, 2020. 12. "'Voter suppression on steroids:' Wisconsin's decision to hold the state's in-person primary amid the COVID-19 pandemic will suppress voters, advocates warn," Connor Perrett, Business Insider, April 7, 2020. 13. "Venezuela Registers a Single New Case for COVID-19 in 24 Hours," teleSUR, April 7, 2020.
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