The United States (U.S.), on Thursday, became the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of infections, according to data released by different institutions.
Figures compiled by the John Hopkins University indicate that the U.S. was topping the chart with 85,505 confirmed cases.
It was followed by China, where the virus broke out in December, with 81,782 cases and Italy, the hardest-hit country in Europe, with 80,589.
Reuters news agency posted slightly different figures that also place the U.S. on top with 82,153 infections; China, 81,285, and Italy, 80,539.
The U.S. also led in the data released by worldometers.info with 82,547 cases; China, 81,285, and Italy third with 80,589 cases.
On fatalities, Italy was the worst-hit with 8,215 deaths, according to John Hopkins and worldometers.info, followed by Spain with 4,365, and China, 3,292.
As of Thursday, the U.S. had 1,295 fatalities, the worldometers.info data indicated.
Reacting to his country’s new status as the epicentre, President Donald Trump said the latest figures were proof of improved testing in the U.S.
“I think it is a tribute to our testing; you don’t know what the numbers are in China, you just don’t know.
“We are testing tremendous numbers of people, far ahead of any country in the world,” he said in response to a question seeking his comment on the data.
The state of New York is the largest contributor to the U.S. tally with no fewer than 21,873 confirmed cases as of Thursday.
Briefing newsmen, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of deaths rose by 100 from 285 to 385 in 24 hours.
Cuomo stated that the major challenge facing the state was the increasing fatality figure, in addition to patients spending longer time on ventilators (between 20 and 30 days).
To manage the shortage of ventilators, the governor said a technology had been approved that enables two patients to share one ventilator in a procedure called “splitting”.
Update by John Hopkins on the global scene showed that there were 526,044 and 23,709 deaths in 175 countries of Thursday afternoon.
With over 40 African countries currently battling with confirmed COVID-19 cases, South Africa tops the chart of the deadly virus within the continent as shown in data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The John Hopkins University tally indicates that South Africa holds the top spot in African countries with 927 cases, surpassing Egypt which previously had the highest number of cases.
As at the time of filing this report on Friday, Egypt has a total number of 495 in confirmed cases followed by 367 cases in Algeria.
Also figures released by worldometers.info on fatalities indicate that Algeria currently has the highest number of deaths with 25 followed closely by Egypt with 24 deaths while South Africa has recorded zero deaths.
The worldometers.info tally shows that Egypt has the highest number of recovered cases with 102, with Algeria and South Africa recording 29 and 12 recovered cases respectively.
Other countries with over 100 confirmed cases as indicated by John Hopkins University and worldometers.info include Morocco with 275 infected persons, Tunisia 197, Burkina Faso 152, Ghana 132 and Senegal recording 105 in infected persons.
Country with least number of confirmed cases within the continent is Libya with only one infected person, while Somalia and Guinea Bissau have two recorded cases each.
Other African countries with confirmed cases of the novel conronavirus are Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mali, Liberia, Congo and Central Africa Republic.
Nigeria has not remained unaffected by the raging pandemic with 65 confirmed cases including three recovered cases and one death.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Thursday, evening reported additional 14 new cases.
The NCDC on its official Twitter page, @NCDCgov, said that the confirmed cases were recorded in Lagos, Bauchi and the FCT.
“Fourteen new cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Nigeria: 1 in FCT, 1 in Bauchi and 12 in Lagos.
“Of the 14, 6 were detected on a vessel, 3 are returning travellers ans 2 are close contacts of confirmed cases,” the agency tweeted.
The NCDC in its #TakeResponsibility campaign emphasised hand washing, self-isolation, information sharing from official sources, avoiding large gatherings and social distancing to prevent and contain the virus.
A total of 532, 788 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been recorded worldwide, with U.S. overtaking China, the original epicentre of the pandemic.
According to the John Hopkins University data, the death toll has hit 24,077 globally while the virus has spread to 176 countries.
