1 Million COVID-19 Cases — The Virus’ Staggering Global Impact in Seven Charts
Sit back for a minute and think about this: the world has now surpassed 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which has had all of us on our toes since at least mid-February. The Chinese outbreak, which seemed really big and bad at the time only (officially) counted around 82,000 cases — just a fraction in the big scheme of things now. At the moment, half of all confirmed cases are in the U.S., Italy and Spain.
When China was getting its outbreak under control in early March, 55 percent of global confirmed cases had recovered. Now you have to look really closely at the graph of worldwide case numbers to catch that detail around the March 5 mark. As of yesterday, the tables had very much turned and as the world records its 1 millionth coronavirus case, the share of recovered patients is just approximately 20 percent.
As a result, a third of the world’s population is currently living under an enforced lockdown - not only are most shops, workplaces and entertainment venues near them closed, but authorities are also monitoring that they keep necessary movements in the vicinity of their homes to a minimum.
In a time when — for many people — leaving one’s own home is severely restricted, crossing a border is almost unthinkable. Border closures have spread around the globe and few countries have not yet restricted the movement in and out of their territory at least partially.
The same goes for international and even domestic flights. Departures around the globe have been canceled in unprecedented numbers and hit rock bottom in March with not even half of scheduled departures taking off.
The coronavirus has shaken financial markets and the global economy to its core. The OECD and IMF GDP growth forecast are to be updated in April, but experts at the latter institution have already said they are expecting the world economy to enter a recession this year. Meanwhile, a recent projection by the International Labor Organization shows that the global workforce could lose between $860 billion and $3.4 trillion in wages this year due to the coronavirus.
While those who are able to work from home and continue their regular hours can count themselves lucky, millions around the world have been laid off, have had their hours cut short or are losing income once earned as business owners and freelancers. In addition, UNESCO estimates that schools serving 1.7 billion students are currently closed.
The coronavirus has the world in a tight grip with few countries reporting no infections at all (in some cases due to very restrictive regimes or the lack of tests).
This means that people everywhere have to come to terms with a new reality that is likely to stick around for a while longer. While everybody is affected in different ways — may they be economical, health-related or psychological — there are surely few people in the world right now who have escaped the sweeping changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Link to articles and sources under each chart.
More infographics can be found at Statista.com.
