As of March 11th, 121,170 infected by coronavirus have been recorded in total, out of those 66,903 have recovered.
Thus, active cases currently sit at 49,890, out of those 44,142 (or 88%) are in mild condition, and 5,748 (12%) are in serious or critical condition (meaning that those in a life-threatening condition are much lower).
There are two countries who are struggling with the infection – Italy and Iran.
Italy is a notable example, since it is in the middle of the EU, and most, if not all neighboring countries are presenting a mild, or almost entirely lacking crisis.
On March 10th, Italy reported 977 new cases and 168 new deaths.
As of March 11th, it has 8,514 active cases, and a total recovered number of 1,004 individuals, and the deaths of 631 people.
The only country that comes close to the infection levels of Italy, is South Korea – and it was caught by surprise. The crisis was “weeks in the making” coming to Italy, and yet, Rome proves completely incapable of taking any precautionary measures and is in a deep crisis.
Both China and South Korea were surprised by the epidemic, and, yet, in the case of China, those cured are now more than those infected, and in South Korea these numbers are relatively equal, withing the range of statistical error.
The situation in Italy, however, is simply explained by a wide negligence, as well as by an attempt to spread the coronavirus hysteria. This can easily be seen from the levels of cases per million of population, as well as the numbers of deaths, relative to the cases.
It comes down to speculation, but it is quite obvious that much has been overlooked in preparing, and subsequently dealing with the situation.
A simple comparison may also be made between Germany and Italy, as well as with Austria.
Germany has 1,622 cases, and 3 deaths, with only 9 people in critical condition.
Austria, which even shares a border with northern Italy has 206 cases, no deaths, and 1 individual in critical condition.
Italy is, as a result becoming the source of the coronavirus, with cases being reported in many countries after flights from the country.
At the same time, its neighboring countries present almost no cases, and a much lower mortality rate, as well as critical condition rates.
As of March 9th, Italy is in an emergency lockdown:
- Strict quarantine measures extended to all regions
- Public told to stay home
- Schools closed until April 3rd
- No travel unless with a valid work or family reason
- All public gatherings and sports events suspended
The day also coincided with the day the largest number of new cases and deaths were reported in Italy. The effects of the lockdown will be seen in several days, when the incubation period of the coronavirus passes.
However, it is more than apparent that due to various reasons Italy is the coronavirus center, not only in Europe, but in the world, as of now.
In every other countries, cases are being discovered at a very slow rate, and there is no close to no mortality, at the same time, in the center of Europe, which is currently suffering from the energy markets chaos, as well as the push by illegal migrants by Turkey, there appears to be a crisis that somehow was foreseen every, but in Italy.
It is also showing that Iran, a country that is incomparable to the resources that Italy possesses to fight a crisis such as this, and started reporting cases much earlier than Italy, is showing less infected, less deaths, and many more recovered individuals.