Countries Most Badly Affected by the Coronavirus

In December of 2019, a mysterious virus broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province. Exhibiting similar symptoms to the common flu yet more fatal.

It caused panic all around the world and is right now one of the most heated discussion topics. SARS-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2) is the virus in this case that causes the disease COVID-19 or rather, as its commonly called coronavirus.

This strain shares similarities to the SARS outbreak in China in 2003 and also to the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) yet as of now the current outbreak has become more severe.

COVID-19 has led to a massive lockdown all over the world as countries are trying their best to save their citizens from this disease.

This disease spreads mainly by droplets and can also spread by transmission of bodily fluids and it has been suspected that it is zoonotic in nature most likely spread by bats (According to one study, pangolins might be the cause).

COVID-19 has a very high infectivity rate but thankfully not a high lethality rate. The severity of its symptoms depends on any person’s immune system.

Hence, it can be said that old people, people with immunodeficiency diseases (HIV, AIDS) are at a much higher risk of infection.

Naturally, as China is the start of the now classified pandemic (on 11^th March, 2020) it did not take much time to spread and infect people all over the world as China is a trading hub.

Many Chinese nationals all around the world were ostracized after the start of this disease and were the subject of many derogatory remarks.

Although, now China has a firm grasp on the virus. The virus has as of now (25^th March 2020) infected every single country on the planet but infectivity rates differ from country to country.

Countries like Italy, USA, Spain, China, are right now on the front end of the fight against this virus.

Details of their challenges are below:

1. China

China confirmed its first case on 17^th November 2019. Chinese authorities were not too hasty on containing this outbreak, this caused the infectivity to spike and the virus started to go out of control.

After the Chinese authorities started taking action, it did not take much time for the virus to be blown back and eventually the virus infections were essentially reduced to zero by 23^rd March, 2020.

China made several quick decisions and quick distribution of masks and testing kits was done so that the virus could be stopped from spreading further.

These measures eventually led to a complete lockdown in Wuhan and adjoining areas as contamination was effectively controlled. China’s response, although ill-timed was nevertheless a good one.

In total, there were 81869 infections in total and 3291 deaths while 74181 people were able to recover.

2. Italy

Italy reported its first case of COVID-19 on 31^st January. Generally, Italian society is not used to wearing masks unlike Asian societies which caused the disease to spread rapidly.

This caused an increase in cases. The virus established a stronghold in Lombardy and it was only a matter of time when it took on speed and started infecting most of the country.

The Italian authorities ordered a nationwide quarantine on 9^th March, 2020. Italy is now the epicenter of this pandemic after China reported its new cases to be zero.

Italy’s economy was hit hard by this pandemic and all of its factories went into overload to produce more masks and testing kits. As of today, there are 74386 infections in total and 7503 deaths while 9362 people have recovered. Read more why Italy got failed to control coronavirus.

3. USA

The USA has established itself as a superpower but unfortunately in the case of COVID-19, its efforts were less than expected. President Trump’s remarks also caused hysteria among the public as the people saw this horror unfold on their T.V sets.

The USA has a lot of medical capability yet its reaction to the pandemic was slower than expected. The USA quickly started acting on the virus after public pressure cause the government spurred them to do something.

When the first case was confirmed, Trump’s reaction to it was minimal although after persuasion he did induce some tough measure including a national emergency on 13^th March, 2020.

As of now, the total infections are 69171 while 1012 deaths are. 0 people have made a recovery.

4. Spain

Spain also had a similar response to Italy, as the society did not generally appreciate masks unless in the case of a very serious problem like cancer.

The country reported its first case on 31^st January, 2020 originating from a German tourist. Spain eventually got to grips with the virus but not before many cases were reported.

Spain took immediate measures after realizing the direness of the situation and mass production of masks along with kits was started. The economy took strong tolls and the nation declared a state of alarm on 13^th March, 2020 .

As of now there are 4089 deaths from 56188 infections while 7015 people recovered.