Worldwide coronavirus infection toll hits 200,000 after doubling in less than two weeks
- Cases of the highly contagious virus exceeded 203,000 on Wednesday morning
- The global toll reached six figures on March 7, two months after outbreak began
- But cases doubled in space of 11 days amid fears pandemic can’t be contained
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The coronavirus pandemic has now infected more than 200,000 people around the globe after doubling in less than two weeks.
Cases of the highly contagious virus now exceed 203,000 according to data compiled by the John Hopkins University.
The global toll reached six figures on March 7, more than two months after the outbreak first began in Wuhan, China, in late December.
But another 100,000 people were infected in just 11 days since then, largely due to a surge in cases in Europe, sparking fears the crisis will only continue to get worse.
The John Hopkins University also recorded 8,006 deaths, suggesting around 4 per cent of patients who catch the virus die from it.
But experts say the death rate is probably lower than that because of under-reporting of cases.
Many countries – including the UK – are only testing people who are hospitalised due to the virus.
Thousands of people will make a full recovery without ever knowing they were infected.
China, Italy, Iran, Spain and Germany have suffered the highest number of infections, according to John Hopkins.
It comes as coronavirus deaths in Europe exceed the toll in Asia for the first time.
Europe has suffered at least 3,421 deaths – the majority coming from Italy – compared with 3,384 for Asia. In China, 7,873 people have succumbed to the virus.
Italian coronavirus infections have slowed in recent days after the country took drastic quarantine measures to stop the spread of the pathogen.
The figures are a sobering warning to Britain, which unlike Italy has not closed schools, shut down shops or blocked travel.
The number of daily cases in Italy has been stagnant in the last four days, settling down at around 3,500 new patients per day.
Yesterday’s increase in the overall tally was 12.6 per cent, the second-lowest rate since the virus began spreading in Italy on February 21 – offering hope that the lockdown is bearing fruit even as the death toll rose by 345 to 2,503.
Italians have been ordered to stay indoors, with schools and universities shut, shops closed except for grocery stores and pharmacies, and heavy restrictions on travel.
But in Britain, which has taken none of those measures, the 407 new cases yesterday represented the largest daily jump since the virus came to the UK.