Take one look at what's happening in some health systems around the world. Look at the intensive care units completely overwhelmed. Doctors and nurse utterly exhausted," Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organizations emergencies program, stated on Friday. "This is not normal. This isn't just a bad flu season."
Total Global Cases: Over 274,000
Total Deaths: At Least 11,300
Total Recovered: At Least 90,000
Lockdown Mode:
Counties throughout the Western world have begun now implementing stricter social distancing policies to slow the spread of COVID-19 to aid their hospital systems. But these efforts almost feel too little too late as cases are still climbing majorly, especially in larger outbreak zones like Italy, Spain and New York City.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a nationwide closure of business, calling all non-essential businesses to close their doors until further notices. However, Johnson's social distancing measures seem light when compared to other countries.
On Friday, Governors of Illinois, New York and California have all ordered their citizens to remain at home unless they need essential goods like food or medicine. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York stated that the provisions given to the people of New York, "will be enforced. These are not helpful hints. This is not life as usual. Accept it and realize it and deal with it."
At the same time as more American citizens enter a quasi-lockdown, Chinese health experts believe that the quarantine measures taken by Italy may not have been serious enough to contain the outbreak.
Vice President of the Chinese Red Cross, Sun Shuopeng warned that Italy needed to "close the town," on Friday, noting that public transit was still available in a country under strict lockdown.
Former Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas R. Frieden, stated on the manner that, "You need to do strict social distancing within a week of the start of community transmission, otherwise you get an explosion, and once you get that explosion, it's very hard to contain."
It seems that the virus is hitting Europe harder than China, especially Italy, because Western countries moved to contain their citizens too late. Italy started its isolation after 7,300 cases were already reported and Spain and France only took measures after Italy. The United States seems to be the furtherest behind, with states only now entering a stricter lockdown as the nation nears 20,000 cases.
China went to harsh lengths to contain its outbreak, including the use of the army, setting roadblocks and using drones to monitor public movement. The Western world seems to be suffering because it has not taken as drastic of measures to slow the movement of their citizens.
Race for the Cure
WHO officials stated that at least 20 coronavirus vaccines are in development around the globe. "The acceleration of this process is really truly dramatic in terms of what we're able to do, building on work that started with SARS, that started with MERs and now is being used for COVID-19," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for WHO's emergencies program, stated during the organization's press conference on Friday.
Microsoft
Call for Assistance
Saudi Arabia announced a $32 billion emergency rescue fund to help support the kingdom's economy during both the coronavirus outbreak and the oil market crash.
United States President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Friday to help increase the production of medical supplies. The U.S. has also closed its shared border with Mexico for nonessential travel.
Note: 'Tracking the Spread' can now be found on our live COVID-19 tracker.
