Situation report
100,686 infections
(80,573 Mainland China;
6,593 South Korea;
4,747 Iran;
3,858 Italy)
55,753 recoveries
3,411 deaths
Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (Real-time data; retrieved March 6, 2020, 17:30 WET)
Updates from the daily media briefing from WHO
– All countries should make containment of the virus their highest priority;
– A roadmap of the 9 core priorities for Covid-19 research will be published;
– WHO has received applications for review and approval of 40 diagnostic tests, 20 vaccines are in development and many clinical trials of therapeutics are underway;
– WHO developed a list of over 20 essential medical devices, including ventilators and oxygen supply systems, that countries need to manage Covid-19 patients.
Source: WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 6 March 2020
Estimated global fatality rate:
3.4% (WHO, 3 March 2020).
However, researchers warn that it is too early to make precise claims of the fatality rate of this ongoing disease outbreak.
In the paper “2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV): estimating the case fatality rate – a word of caution”, researchers state:
“At present, it is tempting to estimate the case fatality rate by dividing the number of known deaths by the number of confirmed cases. The resulting number, however, does not represent the true case fatality rate and might be off by orders of magnitude. Diagnosis of viral infection will precede recovery or death by days to weeks and the number of deaths should therefore be compared to the past case counts – accounting for this delay increasing the estimate of the case fatality rate. On the other hand, cases in official statistics are likely a severe underestimate of the total – accounting for this underestimate will decrease the case fatality rate.”
Incubation Period
The incubation period refers to the time between catching the virus and beginning to display symptoms.
According to WHO, the incubation period ranges from 1 to 14 days, most commonly around 5 days.
More on Covid-19:
–Novel Coronavirus (nCoV): Updates (24 January 2020)
–Coronavirus Outbreak in Asia: a Brief Chronology
– Thai Doctors Use Anti-HIV and Anti-flu Drugs to Treat Patients with Coronavirus Infection
