According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, over 101,000 people have, thankfully, recovered from the coronavirus.
New cases of coronavirus, which was first detected in China’s Wuhan city located in the Hubei province, have been confirmed outside the country rather than within. Nearly 380,000 cases have been reported in roughly 169 countries around the world, of which China has confirmed a total of over 81,500 cases.
Italy has the most significant number of confirmed cases outside of China, but there are more recoveries than deaths. Meanwhile, South Korea has also seen a substantial amount of recoveries, with about a third of its infected population having recovered.
China’s Recoveries
Over 70,000 people in China have already recovered from the COVID-19. Roughly 60,000 people in the Hubei province alone have recovered, while thousands more have in other parts of China including, the eastern regions of Henan and Zhejiang, Hunan in central China, and the Guangdong province of southeast China.
According to a Reuters report, China said that the outbreak has mostly been contained, with only one case of community spread reported on Sunday, its first in four days. How did China slow down the spread? The country followed strict containment measures immediately once the outbreak began in January, including a quarantine lockdown in Wuhan. Wuhan is home to nearly 11 million people.
On Sunday, China saw a rise of 46 critical cases, 14 of which were in Shanghai, while 13 in Beijing. The country quickly introduced several measures to avoid another significant spread of the virus, such as directing all international flights for Beijing, to one of 12 other airports. All passengers will undergo health screenings at these airports before being allowed to fly to Beijing.
South Korea’s Recoveries
South Korea has Asia’s highest number of active cases, with roughly 9,000 confirmed cases. Though, they seem to have managed to slow down the spread. Over 3,500 people in South Korea have fully recovered from the virus. On Sunday, the country reported 64 new cases, which is its lowest number since the peak of the outbreak about a month ago.
The director-general of South Korea’s health ministry, Yoon Tae-ho, said:
We don’t give much meaning to numbers yet, but as there are some fluctuations despite a declining trend, our top priority is to prevent sporadic group infections and repatriated cases.
On Sunday, the country imposed a 15-day social distancing policy, including restrictions on sports and religious events as well as entertainment gatherings. According to Yoon, now most of the religious venues have turned into online services.
Statista illustrates the coronavirus recovery curve compared to the infection curve of the virus, in the graphic below:
Italy’s Recoveries
Italy has reported roughly 6,000 deaths since the virus hit the country hard. These numbers are the largest in the world, even surpassing China. However, Italy has also seen more than 7,400 recovered from the coronavirus infection.
The country has forced strict quarantine lockdown measures across the nation to help curb the spread of the virus, which has affected over 63,900.
