Dear Reader:

March 19 updated numbers (numbers continue to be updated, so the following is not true to a later time) from www. worldometers. info/ coronavirus/ country (no spaces):

Coronavirus cases world-wide: 236,921.  Total deaths worldwide: 9,829. Total numbered of recovered cases: 86,675.

In the list of countries provided in the website, I counted over 100 countries with no number of deaths listed, and about 50 countries with a single digit of deaths. I do understand that the counting of cases and deaths is not accurate, as testing is not adequate. It is expected that the numbers of cases will rise dramatically as testing for Coronavirus becomes more available in all countries. The expected increased numbers of cases does not mean that the pandemic is getting worse, but that testing has increased!

The following are numbers for a few of the countries listed, in order listed: first number is the number of total coronavirus cases; the second number, in parenthesis, is number of deaths (For a list of all countries, see the website above): China: 80,928,  (3,245), Italy: 41,036 (3,405),  Iran: 18,407 (1,284), Spain: 17,395 (803), Germany: 14,544 (43), USA 11,355 (171), … UK: 2,692 (137). 50 countries -single digit deaths.

Back to the numbers in boldface: 236,921 total global cases and 9,829 total global deaths. Some comparison: there were 8,098 total cases and 774 deaths in the Nov 2002-July 2003 SARS outbreak. Another comparison I am making is between the numbers in bold and global influenza cases and deaths (Medscape. com): “The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, annual influenza epidemics result in about 3-5 million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths.

The total Coronavirus cases in the US: 11,355, and total deaths: 171. Here is a comparison with the flu (same website as above): “US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that flu-associated deaths in the US ranged from about 3000 to 49,000 annually between 1976 and 2006.”

www. cdc. gov/flu: “CDC estimates that, from October 1, 2019, through March 7, 2020, there have been: 36,000,000-51,000,000 flu illnesses, 17,000,000-24,000,000 flu medical visits, 370,000-670,000 flu hospitalizations, 22,000-55,000 flu deaths”

My comparison note: in about a comparable length of time, in the U.S.,there have been 36 million-51 million cases of the flu and 11,355 cases of Coronavirus; 22 thousands-55 thousands flu deaths, and 171 Coronavirus deaths.

anita