WHO: Europe is now the ‘epicenter’ of the coronavirus pandemic

Europe has become the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases in China slow and the deadly coronavirus runs through Italy and nearby countries, World Health Organization officials said Friday.

“More cases are now being reported [in Europe] every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters.

WHO officials declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on Wednesday as the virus spreads rapidly across the world from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and now parts of the United States.

“When the virus is out there, the population has no immunity and no therapy exists, then 60% to 70% of the population will be infected,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The country has over 82 million citizens.

Emerging from Wuhan, China less than three months ago, the virus has spread to more than 132,000 people across 123 countries and territories with 5,000 people dead, WHO officials said. The number of new cases in China has slowed to a trickle, with 26 new cases reported Thursday, according to WHO data, while cases in Europe have exploded overnight. 

“China has certainly peaked and there is certainly a decline but there’s always a chance” that could rise again, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit.

Italy currently has the most cases outside of China with at least 15,113 infections, followed by Spain at 4,334, Germany at 3,156 and France at 2,882, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Other countries in Europe are seeing cases soar. Switzerland currently has 1,125 cases, followed by Sweden at 809, the Netherlands at 804 and Denmark at 788.

The United States has at least 1,701 cases as of Friday morning, according to Hopkins.

Tedros said countries need to take a comprehensive approach to try to fight the pandemic.

“Not testing alone, not contact tracing alone, not quarantine alone, not social distancing alone, do it all,” he said. “Any country that looks at the experience of other countries with large epidemics and thinks that won’t happen to us is making a deadly mistake, it can happen to any country.”

Social distancing only slightly “slows down the virus so your health system can cope,” said Dr.  Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s emergencies program.

“The virus will always get you if you don’t move quickly,” Ryan said, discussing lessons health officials learned from the Ebola outbreak.

(CNBC)

Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 136 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan). The day is reset after midnight GMT+0. Search:

Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths	New Deaths	Total Recovered	Active Cases	Serious, Critical	Tot Cases/ 1M pop
China	80,815	+22	3,177	+8	64,152	13,486	4,020	56.1
Italy	15,113		1,016		1,258	12,839	1,153	250.0
Iran	11,364	+1,289	514	+85	3,529	7,321		135.3
S. Korea	7,979	+110	71	+5	510	7,398	93	155.6
Spain	4,334	+1,188	122	+36	193	4,019	190	92.7
Germany	3,481	+736	8	+2	46	3,427	9	41.5
France	2,876		61		12	2,803	129	44.1
USA	1,840	+143	41		31	1,768	10	5.6
Switzerland	1,137	+269	9	+2	4	1,124		131.4
Norway	929	+129	1		1	927	27	171.4
Sweden	814	+127	1		1	812	2	80.6
Netherlands	804	+190	10	+5	2	792	1	46.9
Denmark	801	+127			1	800	2	138.3
UK	798	+208	10		18	770	20	11.8
Japan	701	+10	19		118	564	29	5.5
Diamond Princess	696		7		325	364	32
Belgium	559	+160	3		1	555	2	48.2
Austria	504	+143	1		6	497	1	56.0
Qatar	262					262		90.9
Bahrain	210	+13			44	166	1	123.4
Singapore	200	+13			97	103	11	34.2
Australia	199	+43	3		26	170	1	7.8
Malaysia	197	+39			32	165	4	6.1
Greece	190	+73	1		2	187	2	18.2
Canada	158	+16	1		11	146	1	4.2
Finland	155	+46			1	154		28.0
Brazil	151	+74				151	2	0.7
Slovenia	141	+45				141	4	67.8
Hong Kong	132	+1	4	+1	77	51	4	17.6
Israel	126	+17			4	122	2	14.6
Czechia	120	+4				120	2	11.2
Iceland	117					117
Portugal	112	+34			1	111	1	11.0
Kuwait	100	+20			5	95	4	23.4
Iraq	90	+7	8		24	58		2.2
UAE	85				20	65	2	8.6
India	81	+7	1		4	76		0.1
San Marino	80	+8	5		2	73	3
Egypt	80		2		27	51		0.8
Romania	79	+20			7	72	1	4.1
Lebanon	77	+9	3		1	73	3	11.3
Thailand	75	+5	1		35	39	1	1.1
Ireland	70		1			69	6	14.2
Indonesia	69	+35	4	+3	5	60		0.3
Poland	68	+17	1			67	3	1.8
Estonia	68	+41				68		51.3
Philippines	64	+12	5		2	57	1	0.6
Saudi Arabia	62	+17			1	61		1.8
Taiwan	50	+1	1		20	29		2.1
Russia	45	+11			8	37		0.3
Vietnam	44				16	28		0.5
Chile	43	+10				43		2.2
Brunei	37	+12				37
Palestine	35	+4				35		6.9
Albania	33	+10	1			32		11.5
Argentina	31		1			30	1	0.7
Croatia	31	+4			1	30		7.6
Serbia	31	+7				31	1	3.5
Slovakia	30	+9				30		5.5
Peru	28	+6				28		0.8
Panama	27	+13	1			26		6.3
Algeria	26		2		10	14		0.6
Luxembourg	26					26	1
Georgia	25					25	1	6.3
South Africa	24	+8				24		0.4
Bulgaria	23		1			22		3.3
Costa Rica	23					23	1	4.5
Pakistan	22	+1			2	20		0.1
Belarus	21				3	18		2.2
Ecuador	19	+2				19	1	1.1
Oman	19	+1			9	10		3.7
Hungary	19	+3				19		2.0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	18	+7				18		5.5
Latvia	17	+1			1	16		9.0
Azerbaijan	15		1		3	11		1.5
North Macedonia	14	+5			1	13		6.7
Cyprus	14	+4				14		11.6
Tunisia	13					13	2	1.1
Colombia	13	+4				13		0.3
Mexico	12				4	8	1	0.1
Malta	12	+3			1	11
Macao	10				10	0
Senegal	10				2	8		0.6
Maldives	9	+1				9
Armenia	8	+2				8		2.7
Jamaica	8	+6				8		2.7
Morocco	7	+1	1			6	1	0.2
Afghanistan	7					7		0.2
Cambodia	7	+2			1	6		0.4
Lithuania	6	+3				6		2.2
French Guiana	6					6
Moldova	6					6		1.5
Paraguay	6					6	1	0.8
Dominican Republic	5					5		0.5
New Zealand	5					5		1.0
Sri Lanka	5	+2			1	4		0.2
Réunion	5	+1				5
Turkey	5	+4				5		0.1
Kazakhstan	4	+4				4		0.2
Liechtenstein	4					4
Ukraine	3		1	+1		2		0.1
Bangladesh	3				1	2
Bolivia	3					3		0.3
Channel Islands	3					3
Cuba	3					3		0.3
Faeroe Islands	3	+1				3
French Polynesia	3	+2				3
Martinique	3					3
Monaco	2					2
Nigeria	2					2
Burkina Faso	2					2		0.1
Cameroon	2					2		0.1
DRC	2	+1				2
Ghana	2					2		0.1
Honduras	2					2		0.2
Saint Martin	2					2
Guyana	1		1			0
Sudan	1	+1	1	+1		0
Andorra	1					1
Jordan	1				1	0		0.1
Nepal	1				1	0
Antigua and Barbuda	1	+1				1
Bhutan	1					1
Cayman Islands	1	+1				1
Ivory Coast	1					1
Ethiopia	1	+1				1
Gabon	1	+1				1		0.4
Gibraltar	1				1	0
Guadeloupe	1	+1				1
Guinea	1	+1				1		0.1
Vatican City	1					1
Kenya	1	+1				1
Mongolia	1					1		0.3
St. Barth	1					1
St. Vincent Grenadines	1					1
Togo	1					1		0.1
Trinidad and Tobago	1					1		0.7
Total:	140,187	5,631	5,123	149	70,733	64,331	5,790	18.0

Highlighted in green= all cases have recovered from the infection Highlighted in grey= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases) 
The “New” columns for China display the previous day changes (as China reports after the day is over). For all other countries, the “New” columns display the changes for the current day while still in progress.