COVID-19: more than 50 million cases have been reported worldwide so far; Concerns are growing in Europe as well

It is a matter of great concern that, even after the confirmation of more than 50 million COVID-19 infections and more than 1.25 million deaths worldwide, the spread of the virus continues to persist across the world.

Official sources say that more than 50,010,400 cases have been reported since the outbreak of the pandemic in China in December 2019, including 1,251,980 deaths.

With over 10 million cases and more than 2 million deaths, the US remains the worst-hit country, followed by India with more than 8.5 million cases and 1.2 million deaths. The United States experienced slight respite over the summer, but over the last few days the number of daily infections has increased to more than 100,000.

With 12.6 million COVID cases, Europe has once again become the epicentre of COVID-19. Of the nearly 4 million new cases reported worldwide last week, more than half (2.1 million) were in European countries. More than 305,700 COVID-19 related deaths have already been confirmed in Europe.

France, with 381,000 new cases, Italy (223,000), the United Kingdom (160,000), Poland (159,000) and Spain (143,000) are the European countries with the highest number of new cases reported in the last seven days.

After Europe, the worst-hit regions are Latin America and the Caribbean with 11.6 million infections and 411,700 deaths and Asia with 11 million cases and nearly 177,000 deaths.

In many places, only those with symptoms or serious illness are tested for the virus. Therefore, the number of figures now confirmed may not be accurate and may increase further.

Until a vaccine is found, the only way to prevent the virus is to keep social distance, wear a mask, and reduce social contact.