- Roughly 1.5 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 globally and at least 85,000 have died as the virus continues to spread.
- But daily new case numbers vary widely by country: They depend on when the novel coronavirus first appeared and how each responded to outbreaks.
- In China, where the disease originated, new daily cases have dropped significantly. But thousands of new cases are still appearing daily in the US, which has been slower to respond.
- Here’s how the virus has spread over time globally as well as in China, the US, Italy, Germany, and Spain.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Three months after Chinese health officials began treating dozens of people in Wuhan for a mysterious disease, nearly 1.5 million people have been infected with COVID-19 globally and at least 85,000 have died as the virus continues to spread.
More than one-third of the world’s population, around 2.6 billion people, are under some form of lockdown as governments scramble to contain the pandemic.
But the virus is not spreading equally across countries, and how it has grown and evolved has varied depending on when countries first reported cases as well as how they’ve responded since then.
In some countries – including China, South Korea, and Germany – fast and aggressive action by authorities to test widely for COVID-19, isolate people who had the disease, and restrict movement helped slow the spread of the outbreak within their borders.
In South Korea, for instance, the number of new infections reported each day peaked on February 29 with 909 additional cases. Since then cases have dropped steadily, down to 53 new ones on April 8. Similarly, China appears to have largely controlled its outbreak, with fewer than 60 new cases reported on April 7 (though western governments and scientists have raised questions about the accuracy of China's reported case and death tallies).
Italy, Spain, and the US were slower to monitor and contain the spread of the coronavirus, and that delay is reflected in the number of new cases being reported daily in each country.
New daily cases and deaths don't tell the full picture, given varying levels of testing across countries, differing approaches to collecting and reporting data, and a general lag in identifying positive cases. But they're still helpful.
Here's what those numbers tell us about when and how widely the virus has spread globally and in China, the US, Italy, Germany, and Spain.
Globally, new daily cases surpassed 100,000 in early April while deaths reached their highest daily total of 7,300 on April 7, showing the virus is far from slowing down.
While some doubt has been raised about China's daily case and death totals, the country still appears to have seen very few new cases for several weeks, suggesting it has the virus largely under control.
Dr. Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong who researches influenza transmission and control measures, told Business Insider that case counts and death tolls are "often misleading," but he added that scientists know how to work around that.
"Most countries have not relied on data from China to make their policies," Cowling said in an email, referring to concerns about the data's accuracy. "A number of expert scientists used information on infections in Chinese travelers as a more accurate way to measure the occurrence of infections in China... because travelers were being monitored very carefully in some countries."
The US, by comparison, is still seeing a rapid spike in new cases as well as deaths — numbers that are likely to continue rising as more people are tested.
Testing has been extremely limited in the US, and the federal government has not ordered a nationwide lockdown. This has lest states to respond in drastically different ways as case numbers continue to skyrocket - and those likely underestimate the scope of the problem since the disease is spreading largely undetected.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious-disease expert, said in late March that the US will see "millions of cases" of COVID-19 and more than 100,000 deaths in the coming months.
Italy has seen one of the highest deaths rates globally due to its aging population, but has recently seen a decline in new cases, showing that its strict nationwide lockdown appears to be working.
Italy still reported more than 3,000 new cases on April 7 as its healthcare system continues to struggle.
Germany had more than 53,000 cases as of March 28, but that reflects its extensive testing which, along with a nationwide lockdown.
Both measures have helped it monitor and contain the virus, leading to a decline in new cases and a low death rate.
Spain, which has the second-most number of cases globally, has seen drops in daily cases and deaths in early April, a possible sign that its lockdown is finally producing some positive results.
Spain, the second-worst-hit country, reported more than 6,200 new cases as of April 8.
However, both Spain and Italy are finally starting to see an overall decline in new cases.
Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed reporting to this story.
