Coronavirus Facts and Figures: Monday, July 20 – Global Death Toll Hits 600,000

The lower Manhattan skyline

The number of coronavirus cases across the globe now stands at 14.7 million, an increase of almost 440,000 people over the weekend.  Out of this, 8.8 million have recovered, based on data compiled by Worldometer, a service that aggregates and makes available world statistics. The death toll now stands at 610,210.

The number of daily deaths was 4,317 on Sunday.

In the United States and its territories, over 62,600 new cases were reported on Sunday.  The number of confirmed cases stands at 3.9 million, while the death toll is at 143,440.

The State of Florida reported a record number of new coronavirus cases for several days in a row, and the Miami-Dade Police Department said it had issued 115 civil citations for noncompliance of county mask and social distancing orders.   In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city had reopened its economy too quickly and warned it was “on the brink” of new shutdown orders as the coronavirus continues to surge in California.

Brazil continues to have the second highest number of cases in the world, and is now at 2.1 million as of Monday, with a death toll of 70,590.  India is in third place, with 1.13 million total cases and a death toll of 27,707, and Russia is in fourth place, with 777,486 cases, up 5,940 in the past 24 hours. The death toll there is 12,427.

The critical R0 figure in Germany fell to 1.15 as a 4=day average, down from 1.6 last Wednesday, according to the Robert-Koch-Institut. Four weeks ago it had been at 2.88.

R0, pronounced “r naught,” is a mathematical term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease is.

While international correlation of these figures are difficult, perhaps the most useful comparison is to look at the deaths per million members of the population, with the caveat that there are differences in how countries record deaths. It’s also important to keep in mind that the number of deaths is a lagging indicator.

Tiny San Marino, with a population of just over 33,000 and which has been testing all of its inhabitants, continues to have the highest number of deaths per million members of the population, at 1,238, unchanged for 56 days.

Belgium has the second highest number of deaths per million members of the population, 845, unchanged in 3 days. It is followed by Andorra with 673 (unchanged in 32 days) and the United Kingdom with 667.  Spain reported 608 (unchanged in 3 days), Italy, 580, while Sweden and France reported 558 and 462, respectively, the latter unchanged for 3 days.

The Netherlands, Ireland, Canada, and Switzerland have reported 358 (unchanged for 10 days), 355, 234, and 227 (unchanged in 19 days), respectively.  In Germany the figure is 109, unchanged in 11 days, while in Austria it is 79 (unchanged in 8 days).

The number of deaths per million members of the population in the United States is now 433.  It continues to be three in China, according to official figures there, which are believed to be an undercount.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)