The identity of China’s “patient zero” for the novel coronavirus is in dispute, with one report suggesting it dates back to November 17, 2019, and another report it may have occurred December 10, 2019.
But what is not in dispute is that since the outset of the global epidemic-turned-pandemic, China has reported the most number of cases worldwide.
Until now. On March 26, the United States reported a greater total number of infected patients than China. US cases have surged in the last week, reaching 86,012 known cases. China’s total (81,897) is now the second most globally, but will likely be passed by Italy (80,589) in the next 1-2 days.
Global coronavirus infections have now reached 566,269, with 25,423 deaths reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).
As of Mar 26 at 2030 UTC, here are the hardest hit nations:
New York City continues to be the US epicenter for the outbreak, accounting for 23,112 infections out of the country’s of 86,012, or 26.9%.
Deaths in the US have also continued to climb, roughly doubling every two days. Mar 26 saw the greatest number of reported deaths in the country, with a jump of 268 according to data from JHU-CSSE and Worldometer.
On Thursday, the US Senate passed a $2 trillion stimulus package aimed at stabilizing national and global markets. The House just passed the bill Friday. Also on Thursday, it was revealed that 3.3 million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits.
Image credit: NIAID-RML. Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round magenta objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus shown was isolated from a patient in the US.
