Over 5 Million COVID-19 Cases Worldwide, Increasing by 1 Million Every Two Weeks...

WHO "Over 100,000 New Cases Daily"... Spread Continues

The intensive care unit of a hospital in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state in northern Brazil, is filled with patients infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the 20th (local time).

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol and Jo Hyun-ui] The global cumulative number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has surpassed 5 million. It has been less than five months since the first patient was reported in China at the end of last year, but recently, new cases have been increasing mainly in Latin American countries. Since exceeding 1 million cases in early last month, the number has been increasing by 1 million every less than two weeks, showing no signs of slowing down.

According to data from the international statistics site Worldometer as of 11 a.m. (Korean time) on the 21st, the cumulative confirmed cases totaled 5,085,504. The United States has the highest number with 1.59 million cases, and Russia has also surpassed 300,000. Brazil, where the first case was reported in late February, has recently seen a rapid increase, exceeding 290,000 cases, ranking third. Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy also have over 200,000 cumulative COVID-19 cases. The global cumulative death toll has reached 330,000.

COVID-19 first appeared on December 31 last year when a patient with pneumonia of unknown cause was reported in China, and it spread mainly in Asian countries including South Korea. About four months after the initial outbreak, on the 3rd of last month, the global cumulative cases exceeded 1 million, then surpassed 2 million 13 days later. After exceeding 4 million on the 9th, it surpassed 5 million about 12 days later on this day. The number of cases is increasing by 1 million roughly every ten days.

While countries like China and South Korea, where the initial outbreak occurred, as well as Europe and the United States where the epidemic later spread, are showing signs of easing the strict control measures implemented so far, cases are rapidly increasing recently in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. On the previous day, Brazil reported 21,472 new cases, which is more than the United States' 21,408 new daily cases. According to the World Health Organization, on the 19th, the global number of new cases reached 106,000, the highest daily level recorded. This indicates that the spread is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, 12 new cases were confirmed domestically on this day. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, 10 were community-acquired and 2 were imported cases. One additional confirmed case related to Samsung Seoul Hospital was reported, bringing the total to 6.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.