Coronavirus cases cross 1 million mark with over 50,000 deaths worldwide

As the deadly coronavirus pandemic has taken humanity hostage, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases have crossed the one million mark worldwide, while the total number of deaths surged past 50,000 on Thursday, April 2.

The pandemic that saw its outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan spread across the world so rapidly that the countries didn't even know what hit them. China, which initially struggled to contain the virus, has now succeeded reasonably in its bid while the threat moved to European nations such as Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

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Italy worst affected country in Europe

From China, the baton was passed to Italy which had become the new epicentre of the virus as the country has a high percentage of elderly population which is more susceptible to the deadly virus, considering the immunity and resistance of the body to fight infections goes down with advancement in age.

Despite having the one of the best health care systems in the world, Italy is struggling to contain the spread of the lethal COVID-19 infection while witnessing the number of deaths surge by the hour. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organization warned that young people were also vulnerable.

The United States has now become the worst-hit country in the world surpassing Italy in terms of the number of COVID-19 positive cases. The US has now over 237,000 positive cases, a figure double than Italy which has somewhat over 115,000 cases.

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US registers over 200,000 cases

However, Italy has suffered the maximum deaths as a major chunk of its population falls withing the aged and vulnerable category. The death toll in Italy is nearing the 14,000 mark while the US has witnessed over 5,700 deaths. Of the total tally of US deaths, over 1,300 have died in New York alone; the city that is the financial capital of the US is now a hotspot and the latest epicentre of the deadly virus.

Compared to these developed countries, India has taken steady and early measures such as the 21-day nationwide lockdown and has managed to restrict the spread of the virus with much lesser number of infected cases and casualties, despite being the second-most populous country in the world and more prone to the spread of the pandemic.

However, the coming weeks are considered to be extremely critical for India in its fight against the pandemic. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, social distancing and maintaining personal hygiene are the need of the hour.

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(Image Credits - AP)