COVID-19 chaos; Know how the world at large is dealing with the epidemic

New Delhi, March 12: Referring to the latest reports of WHO, the COVID-19 has infected almost 124,519 people who have been tested positive with the death toll reaching to 4,607 across 118 countries. Due to the severity of this outbreak, WHO, on Wednesday has declared it as pandemic which means a disease occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and affecting a large number of people.

 

 

 

US President Donald Trump has announced to ban all the flights of 26 European countries for next 30 days, except United Kingdom and Ireland as the confirmed cases has exceed 1,200 with almost 37 deaths in the country. "This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history," he said. He also stated that the European Union has failed to take precautions to fight the pandemic. The suspension will also apply on the cargo coming from Europe into the US.

 

 

 

Italy being the most virus-hit country after China has also seen more than 12,000 confirmed cases and 827 deaths. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said bars, restaurants, hairdressers and non-essential company departments would also be remained close till 25th March. The country has seen a major lockdown after closing the school, gyms, restaurants, museums and public events.

 

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that up to 70% of the country's population will get infected due to COVID-19. The confirmed cases in the nation stands at 1,567. In Spain and France, too, the numbers has increased drastically as more than 2,000 cases were reported in each country.

 

 

 

In Iran, the number of people who have died because of the outbreak jumped to 354 with almost 9,000 confirmed cases including Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, Minister of Cultural Heritage Ali Asghar Mounesan and President of National Olympic Committee Reza Salehi Amiri. Meanwhile, Kuwait has shut down its country for two-weeks due to the spread of the disease with 72 people getting infected.

 

 

China which has been the worst-hit country due to the coronavirus has confirmed 80,980 cases have been tested positive and the death toll has recahed up to 3,000. However, China's National Health Commission said the country has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic. The global coronavirus pandemic is likely to be over by June, Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese government's senior medical adviser, said.

 

 

 

The government has been announced that all existing visas, except diplomatic, official, International organizations, employment and project visas will be suspended till April 15, 2020. The visa-free travel facility granted to OCI cardholders, too, is kept under suspension.

 

Four new countries/territories/areas (Bolivia [Plurinational State of], Jamaica, Burkina Faso and Democratic Republic of the Congo) have reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Ukraine's capital Kiev has announced it was closing schools and universities until the end of March to prevent the spread of coronavirus.