At the end of December 2019, Chinese public health authorities reported several cases of acute respiratory syndrome in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China. Chinese scientists soon identified a novel coronavirus as the main causative agent.   The disease is now referred to as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the causative virus is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans.

The initial outbreak in Wuhan spread rapidly, affecting other parts of China. Cases were soon detected in several other countries. Outbreaks and clusters of the disease have since been observed in Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas.

For a quick overview, please refer to the following pages:

  The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving, and outbreak investigations are ongoing. ECDC is closely monitoring this outbreak, providing risk assessments, public health guidance, and advice on response activities to EU Member States and the EU Commission.

Situation update worldwide, as of 31 March 2020

The data presented on this page has been collected between 6:00 and 10:00 CET

The disease is rapidly spreading worldwide and the number of cases in Europe is rising with increasing pace in several affected areas.

As of 31 March 2020,  386 282 cases  have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK: Italy (101 739), Spain (85 195), Germany (61 913), France (44 550), United Kingdom (22 141), Belgium (11 899), Netherlands (11 750), Austria (9 618), Portugal (6 408), Norway (4 226), Sweden (4 028), Czech Republic (3 002), Ireland (2 910), Denmark (2 577), Poland (2 055), Luxembourg (1 988), Romania (1 952), Finland (1 313), Greece (1 212), Iceland (1 086), Croatia (790), Slovenia (763), Estonia (715), Lithuania (484), Hungary (447), Latvia (376), Bulgaria (359), Slovakia (336), Cyprus (230), Malta (156) and Liechtenstein (64).

As of 31 March 2020,  26 110 deaths  have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK: Italy (11 591), Spain (7 340), France (3 024), United Kingdom (1 408), Netherlands (864), Germany (583), Belgium (513), Sweden (146), Portugal (140), Austria (108), Denmark (77), Ireland (54), Romania (44), Greece (43), Poland (31), Norway (26), Czech Republic (24), Luxembourg (22), Hungary (15), Finland (13), Slovenia (11), Bulgaria (8), Cyprus (7), Lithuania (7), Croatia (6), Estonia (3) and Iceland (2).

As of 25 March 2020, more than 416 916 cases of COVID-19 were reported worldwide by more than 150 countries. An increasing proportion of global cases are from EU/EEA countries and the UK. As of 25 March, 204 930 cases and 11 810 deaths have been reported in the EU/EEA and the UK. The number of reported COVID-19 cases is rapidly increasing in all EU/EEA countries and the UK, and the notification rate is increasing at similar trajectory as was observed in Hubei province in late January/early February and in Italy in late February/early March.

Clinical presentations of COVID-19 range from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe pneumonia; severe disease can lead to death. In EU/EEA countries with available data, 30% of diagnosed COVID-19 cases were hospitalised and 4% had severe illness. Hospitalisation rates were higher for those aged 60 years and above. Estimates of crude case-fatality for Germany, Italy and Spain showed that both the risk and absolute numbers of deaths rapidly increased with age for those aged 60 years and above in each country. Among hospitalised cases, severe illness was reported in 15% of cases, and death occurred in 12% of these cases, with higher case–fatality rates in older adults.

In the present situation where COVID-19 is rapidly spreading in Europe, the current assessment is:

This link gives an interactive response 

The post COVID-19 Hindu Forum Europe appeared first on Hindu Forum of Europe.