COVID-19 update – Feb 18th

Current figures for the virus are as follows; 73,336 infected, of which 1874 dead, and 12,921 recovered.

In the situation report for February 17, the WHO said; from today, WHO will be reporting all confirmed cases, including both laboratory-confirmed as previously reported, and those reported as clinically diagnosed (currently only applicable to Hubei province, China). From 13 February through 16 February, we reported only laboratory confirmed cases for Hubei province as mentioned in the situation report published on 13 February. The change in reporting is now shown in the figures. This accounts for the apparent large increase in cases compared to prior situation reports.

The figures for the virus show there are approximately 2,000 confirmed new infections daily, while approximately 1,500 people are confirmed recovered daily. It appears that over the past week (excluding February 13 when the daily figures rose due to changing the diagnostic method) the numbers of confirmed new infections are holding steady, suggesting that at least within China the virus was beginning to plateau, while there appears to be a gradual increase of the number of people recovering.

Outside of China, there are a total of 28 countries and territories with the virus. Egypt was the latest country to report a case, February 15. Within the past 24 hours no new countries have reported the infection. Health experts are still cautious as the number of infected, in confirmed areas, continue to rise.

Of the countries affected outside of China, the worst are Japan and Singapore. Singapore has 77 cases, with 4 in a serious condition and 24 recovered. Japan has two sites of infection, within the country there are 66 confirmed infections, with 1 death, 19 in a serious condition, and 18 recovered. The second site of infection is within the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which has been quarantined in the port of Yokohama since February 3rd.

When it began, the ships quarantine was intended to be lifted by February 19, however due to the alarming increase in cases the quarantine is expected to continue, with America evacuating their citizens from the ship today. The UK and other countries are expected to follow suit shortly. The current number of infections aboard the cruise ship is 454, with 19 in serious condition and 17 recovered.

SOURCE (WHO, WORLDOMETERS)