Map briefs – Worldmapper

Commander-in-Tweet: A Map Analysis of Joe Biden’s Social Media Activity

Worldmapper — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:55:56 +0000

What do Joe Biden’s tweets say about his presidency, and his approach to foreign policy?
Donald Trump’s use of Twitter (also known as X) as a medium for political communication was unprecedented. The former US President’s tweets, numbering over 50,000 during his time in office, were a direct channel to the public, bypassing traditional media which he often labelled as ‘Fake News’. Through Twitter, Trump made significant policy announcements, managed personnel, and influenced both domestic and foreign policy, reflecting key events and priorities of his administration.
Trump’s term culminated in the 6 January Capitol riots spurred by his inflammatory tweets and refusal to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Three years after Trump’s suspension from the social media platform (by now reinstated but not used by him anymore), the relevance of X has arguably declined with its new owner Elon Musk’s rather erratic takeover and handling of the platform.
Nevertheless, X is still a widely quoted tool of direct political communication. For many politicians still on X, the medium is used as an instrument of crafting a particular political narrative and image of the politician using it, which is just as true for US politics as it is in the UK.
While Trump has moved to his own Truth Social platform, his prospective rival in the 2024 US election, Joe Biden, is a frequent presence on X. The incumbent US President uses both the official presidential account (@POTUS) as well as his personal account (@JoeBiden), the latter of which is arguably more personal as well as more polemic and often targeted at a domestic audience. In both accounts he and his media team have put a strong focus on celebrating the successes of his ongoing presidency, and the overall language differs considerably from the communication that his predecessor was known for.
Focusing on the tweets (i.e. messages sent on X) made by Biden and his team through the official presidential POTUS account since taking office in January 2021, offers a fascinating glimpse into the President’s political messaging, especially ahead of the widely expected Biden v Trump re-run in November. On social media, Biden often focuses on a narrative of economic recovery, adopting an overall conciliatory tone while still trying to actively differentiate his politics from those of his Republican opponents.

Biden posted around 2,500 tweets containing more than 80,000 words from 2021 to the end of 2023, a fraction of his predecessor’s communication through the platform. An overview of the most frequently mentioned keywords confirms some of the priorities that Biden wanted to be seen, with keywords such as ‘jobs’, and ‘economy’ dominating his messages.
Trump actively made politics through Twitter, while Biden’s tweets can rather be seen as reflections of his politics. Here lies the value in analysing his activity on a platform that Trump used on a daily – and often unfiltered – basis while he was on office.
Biden’s tweets also show where his geopolitical priorities were during his first presidential years. While the President uses X heavily for domestic statements, he did make active references to countries from around the world when it was most important to his political messaging. More than 1,200 references were made to another country during his first three years in office. The countries that dominated his global agenda from January 2021 to December 2023 were Ukraine (mentioned in 228 tweets), Russia (204), Israel (78), Palestine (74), Japan and South Korea (49 each). The United Kingdom follows in eighth place (40 mentions) after Ireland (45).
This list of countries is primarily a clear reflection of the global political issues of the ‘western’ world, particularly the Ukraine war and in the conflict in Israel/Palestine. This is a clear deviation from his predecessor’s geopolitical priorities, from Trump’s domestic agenda of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, to trade wars with China and his engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Biden’s global engagement appears much more responsive to escalating conflicts (where he sees an American interest) rather than more actively trying to reshape the world.
This could be seen as a re-alignment of presidential priorities to a more domestic policy agenda following the Covid years, but also an era of reactive rather than proactive re-setting of US foreign ambitions in a more pragmatic and at times more western-centric way. This reactive approach to foreign policy is also reflected in the temporal shift of references to countries over Biden’s three years in office.

In 2021, Afghanistan was the main priority following the Taliban’s return to power there, with references to other countries – mainly political allies such as the UK, Canada, or Germany – having played a minor additional role in Biden’s tweets. In 2022, as the Ukraine war came to dominate foreign policy, Biden tested Trump-style messaging, using the phrase ‘Putin’s Price Hike’ in repeated remarks about gas price hikes, clearly playing to a domestic audience. In 2023, Ukraine remained relevant but was later taken over by references to Israel and Palestine and the ongoing conflict there. In that year Biden also made unusually many references to Ireland around St Patrick’s Day and in the run-up to his state visit to Ireland in April.
Biden’s foreign policy, as interpreted from these tweets, suggests a strategy that is more aligned with traditional US diplomatic practices of coalition-building and responding to crises in line with American interests. This approach could imply a steadier but less transformative US influence on the global stage, with a focus on managing existing alliances and international norms rather than pursuing radical changes. The implications of this shift could mean a more predictable and multilateral US foreign policy if Biden stands and wins in November, but also raises questions about America’s ability to lead on new global challenges and shape future geopolitical landscapes. With a presidential election on the horizon, the direction of US foreign policy may become unpredictable yet again.

Cartographic Views of the 2024 General Election

Worldmapper — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:00:45 +0000

The 2019 general election saw Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party achieve a sweeping victory in Labour heartlands. However, subsequent political upheavals led to three different Conservative Prime Ministers within the same parliamentary period. When Rishi Sunak, the most recent Conservative Prime Minister, called for a general election, it marked a significant moment to reassess the UK’s political geography. Influenced by years of Conservative infighting, the electorate responded with a landslide victory for the Labour Party under Keir Starmer’s leadership, visibly changing the political landscape.
This cartographic analysis uses three primary types of visualizations to assess these changes: geographic views, constituency views, and population views. Each offers distinct insights for a comprehensive understanding of the election results and their geographic distributions.

Geographic Views: These maps present data based on actual locations, showing where parties have won and highlighting regional voting trends. They are intuitive and correspond to real-world locations, helping readers understand how local issues influence voting behaviour.
Constituency Views: Commonly seen in media, these maps display each constituency as a uniform unit, such as a hexagon, avoiding spatial distortions from varying constituency sizes. They emphasize the distribution of votes and party support without the bias of large, sparsely populated areas, reflecting the equal weight of each vote.
Population Views: These maps scale geographic areas to reflect population size, highlighting urban areas with more voters and reducing the visual impact of rural areas. They offer a more accurate representation of voting power, showing how densely populated areas influence election outcomes.
Shown below are a series maps that go beyond depicting the winning party in each constituency, showing second-place candidates, vote shares, and overall turnout. Labour’s historic 412-seat majority with only 33.7 percent of the vote share is notable. Many constituencies were won by narrow margins, and the rise of smaller parties, capturing 42.5 percent of votes nationwide, is significant. Additionally, the election saw a historically low turnout of 60 percent, indicating voter disillusionment.
The 2024 general election has significantly reshaped the UK’s political landscape. While Labour achieved a landslide victory, Keir Starmer’s parliamentary majority remains fragile. The rise of smaller parties raises questions about the future dominance of the major parties in upcoming elections.

Bundestagswahl 2021: Map Views of the German Federal Election

Worldmapper — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 09:00:49 +0000

Germans went to the polls to elect a new parliament and along with it a new government and a new chancellor. Since outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel did not stand for re-election after 16 years in office, this election marked a turning point in German politics. Without her standing as ‘Spitzenkandidat’, the election campaign turned into a heated fight for voter support with three parties having led the polls at times in the run-up to the election (CDU/CSU, SPD and the Greens). The final result saw the Social Democrats (SPD) winning the race after having trailed in the polls for a long time. They started catching up a few weeks ahead of the election and ended up securing 25.7 percent of the votes in the list vote (Zweitstimme) that determines the proportional distribution of seats (5.2% more than in 2017, resulting in 206 seats of the 735 seat strong parliament).
Having lost 7.9 percent points, CDU came second with 18.9 percent of the list vote (151 seats). The Green party (Grüne) came third with their best-ever result in a federal election, winning 14.8 percent of the list vote (up 5.8%, 118 seats), yet far lower than the mid-20s they polled in earlier in the year. FDP remained at a stable 11.5 percent (up 0.7%, 92 seats). The extreme right ‘Alternative for Germany‘ (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) re-entered federal parliament (Bundestag) but with a smaller vote share of 10.3% (down 2.3%, 83 seats). CSU, the Bavarian sister-party of CDU won 5.2 percent (down 1%, 45 seats) Die Linke went down to 4.9% of the list votes but remains in parliament through the number of directly elected seats from the constituency vote (39 seats). Danish minority party SSW reached 0.1 percent in the list vote but gained one seat through special rules for parties representing minorities. Other parties not represented in parliament accounted for 7.2 percent of the valid votes.
Coalition talks are ongoing so that it is not clear yet, which parties are going to form the next government and who will become the 9th Federal Chancellor since 1949. This gives time to ponder over all the political changes that happened across the country – what better way to do so than through a series of maps, such as the 18 maps shown in this blog that dissect over 22,000 data points in cartographic form. Let’s start with an overview: The following pair of maps shows on the left the winning parties of the constituency vote (Erststimme) which directly elects a constituency into parliament and on the right the strongest party in the list vote (Zweitstimme) which determines the proportional representation for each party in the new parliament. These results are shown in large as gridded population cartograms which are proportional to the respective population there, accompanied by a small ‘conventional’ land area map:

Equal population projection map of the First and list vote Results in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Ergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

How significant these results are can be seen when viewing the list vote winners of the previous 2017 and this year’s 2021 general election side by side:

Equal population projection map of the Constituency Vote Results in the 2017 and 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Erststimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahlen 2017 und 2021

In these cartograms, each transformed grid cell reflects the total number of people living in that area. The following topographic cartogram provides a reference for the electoral maps above:

Since Germany’s electoral system is based on proportional representation, the above shown election maps reveal only part of the changes that were unfolding in this year’s general election since they focus on the strongest party only. The following cartogram series provides a detailed look into the changed political landscapes of Germany following the 2021 Federal election in September. The cartograms give a clearer picture of the vote share distribution for each major party, as well as an overview of turnout and spoilt votes. The vote shares determine the constitution of parliament, in combination with the gained seats from the constituency vote that are counted against the vote share of the list vote for each party.
Despite an increased turnout, which went up to 76.6 percent (from 76.2 percent in 2017), non-voters are the single-largest group in German politics. With 14.3 million eligible voters who decided not to vote, this group is even larger than the total number of votes of the largest party (SPD), which received 12.2 million total votes in the list vote (Zweitstimme). The following two maps show the distribution of turnout and also the distribution of the 499,163 spoiled votes on an equal-population projection:

Equal population projection map of turnout and invalid votes in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Wahlbeteiligung und der ungültigen Stimmen bei der Bundestagswahl 2021

The above two maps as well as the vote share in the following maps shows the underlying data divided into decile groups based on the country’s 299 constituencies. This means that 10 percent of the constituencies fall into each of the 10 classes depicted in the maps. This allows for a better understanding of each party’s strongholds across the country and therefore gives a picture of the new political landscapes that are going to shape German politics in the forthcoming years.
The following maps visualise the vote share of all parties that are represented in the new parliament. A party needs to reach 5 percent of the vote share to enter parliament unless it manages to secure a direct seat through the constituency vote. Not shown here is the map for Südschleswigsche Wählerverband (SSW), a Danish minority party in Northern Germany for which the 5 per cent rule does not apply and which secured one seat in the new parliament. In order to also understand how these political landscapes have shifted and changed since the last election, the map on the right shows, how each party’s vote share has changed in percent point compared to the 2017 general election). The classes in the change maps remain constant in all maps which allows these changes to be seen in comparison across all parties. The maps below are ordered in decreasing order of each party’s vote share at the 2021 election:

SPD (25.7% / 206 seats)

Equal population projection map of the SPD vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der SPD Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

CDU/CSU (18.9/5.2%, 151/45 seats)
Shown in a combined map since the two sister parties do not compete:
CSU stands for election in Bavaria only, where CDU does not operate

Equal population projection map of the CDU/CSU vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der CDU/CSU Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

Die Grünen (14.8% / 118 seats)

Equal population projection map of the Gruene vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Gruenen Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

FDP (11.5% / 92 seats)

Equal population projection map of the FDP vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der FDP Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

AfD (10.1% / 83 seats)

Die Linke (4.9% / 39 seats)

Equal population projection map of the LINKE vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der LINKE Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

Covid-19: Chronology of a Pandemic – Part 2

Worldmapper — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:00:32 +0000

Last Update of this page: 6 January 2021
You can find previous updates in part 1 of this chronology

On this page you find our rolling coverage and updates of the pandemic as it continues to unfold. In our map archive we keep all the most recent updates, while you can view previous versions of these maps in this blog (consisting of part 1 for 2020 and part 2 for 2021). Please note that for the relative data displays the colours have changing values since the case and mortality incidence rates are highly dynamic and keep evolving as the pandemic progresses. It is also important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. Numbers from poorer countries, especially on the African continent, are believed to be highly underreported. This can – amongst other issues (including political ones) – partly be explained through different testing strategies.

Overview of monthly cases and deaths – see accumulated figures in the updates below
Corona cases month-by-month:

Corona deaths month-by-month:

STATUS UPDATE 1 January 2021
2020: A year in review
The monthly maps of new registered cases – and deaths – shows how the pandemic developed geographically, first, second and third waves are better recognisable than in our maps with accumulated cases and deaths. During the January of 2020 the disease spread further within China and also started to venture into neighbouring (and some further away) countries. During February new regional hotspots developed in South Korea, Italy and Iran. During March the disease spread further mostly in Central and Southern Europe and the USA. In the month of April the disease continues to spread in the USA, and within Europe the United Kingdom is taking center stage and Turkey and Russia are joining the group of new regional hotspots. Quickly growing numbers in Brazil and Peru are putting South America on the map in May, India does the same for South Asia. In June Brazil overtook the USA in terms of new confirmed cases. In July the USA took the first place again and South Africa joined the top five. In August India had the highest number of new infections and Colombia and Peru joined the top five and a second wave pushed Spain back in the top 10 countries. In September the top 3 countries remained unchanged: India, the USA and Brazil. With Spain and France two European countries entered again the centre stage. This showed the trend for October when Europe becomes again the epicentre of the pandemic. While India and the USA still have the highest amount of new cases, France is moving to third place, the United Kingdom is now on fifth place. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Czechia, Germany and the Netherlands also moved into the Top 15. In November the USA and India switched places again. Italy, France and Brazil complete the top 5, followed by Russia, Poland, UK, Germany and Spain. There is no real trend change in December: most new cases are still registered in the USA (6.3 million), followed by Brazil (1.3 million), Russia (863,643), India (834,983) and the UK (815,561). Turkey, Germany, Italy, France and Ukraine complete the top 10. You can see how the pandemic evolved throughout the year in our Covid-19 Map Animation.

After almost a year of living with COVID-19, the highest number of total cases is recorded in the United States of America (19,147,627), followed by India (10,244,852), Brazil (7,504,833), Russia (3,131,550) and France (2,530,400). United Kingdom (2,382,869), Italy (2,067,487), Spain (1,893,502), Germany (1,687,185) and Colombia (1,603,807) complete the top 10.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 01 January 2021 (above)

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is now found in Andorra (10,249), followed by Montenegro (7,654), Luxembourg (7,362), San Marino (6,874) and the Czech Republic (6,552). Of the countries with very high total case numbers, the United States of America have a count of 5,785 cases per 100,000 people (with a total of 19 million cases), followed by India (10 million total, 742 relative) and Brazil (7.7 million total, 3,531 relative).

Reported Coronavirus case rates (per 100,000 people) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

The map of the total deaths due to Covid-19 varies only slightly from the map showing the total cases. Especially remarkable is the case of Mexico, with a high mortality rate. The highest number of deaths recorded now in the United States of America (332,423), followed by Brazil (191,570), India (148,439), Mexico (122,855), Italy (73,029), United Kingdom (71,567), France (63,701), Russia (56,426), Iran (54,946) and Spain (50,442).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 01 January 2021 (above)

The highest mortality rates (reported deaths per 100,000 people) are found in San Marino with 174, followed by Belgium (168), Slovenia (126), Bosnia and Herzegovina (123) and Italy (120). 14 countries currently have a mortality rate of 100 or above, including Spain (108), the United Kingdom (105) and the United States of America (100).

Reported Coronavirus mortality (deaths per 100,000 people) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

The highest case mortality rates (reported deaths per number of confirmed cases) are found in Yemen with 29.1%, followed by Mexico (8.8%) and Montserrat (7.7%).
China now has a reported case mortality rate of 5%, while the United States reported a mortality of 1.7%. Of the countries with many reported cases, India, Brazil and France have relatively low reported case mortality rates (1.4%, 2.6% and 2.5% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus case mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

Find previous updates in part 1 of this chronology

Map animation: Covid-19’s spread across the world

Worldmapper — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:13:36 +0000

“#China has reported to WHO a cluster of #pneumonia cases —with no deaths— in Wuhan, Hubei Province 🇨🇳 . Investigations are underway to identify the cause of this illness.” This tweet sent out by the World Health Organization (WHO) one year ago broke the news of what was to become the defining global health challenge in 2020. Two and a half weeks later (21.01.2020) WHO started releasing regular situation reports of this previously unknown virus disease that was first reported to the organisation’s country office in China on 31st December 2019. First broadly referred to as Coronavirus, the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January. The disease is now called COVID-19 (transmitted through the SARS-CoV-2 virus) and has been characterised as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 due to the ‘the alarming levels of spread and severity.’ One year after the (known) outbreak in China (as of 4 January 2021) there have been 83,910,386 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including 1,839,660 deaths, which were reported to WHO.
The following map animation documents the spread of the disease during the first 12 months of WHO data reporting, covering the period from 21 January 2020 to 01 January 2021. In this animation, each cartogram is shown proportional to the number of cases reported in each country. The absolute number of reported cases visualised in each map is documented in the number that is shown in the bottom left corner of the animation. Please note that loading the animation may take a moment. Due to its size, this animation takes a moment to load. An enlarged version without the red bars around it (approx. 40MB) can be viewed through the magnifier icon in the top right corner.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) Map Animation 21.01.2020-01.01.2021

This cartogram maintains the same area over time, rather than grow in size. The animation shows that of reported cases, so it may reflect the places that have tests and can afford to test and choose to test, as much as the actual spread of the disease itself.
While the disease seemed contained within China over the first weeks of its existence – only few small occurrences such as in France and Germany are briefly visible – but then starts spreading towards Europe towards the end of February until two months on the cases outside China by far outweigh the ones that have been reported within China. Towards the end of April, the USA are growing in size quite considerably and turn into the new main hotspot of the epidemic. After mid-2020, growing shares of cases can also be observed in South America (especially Brazil) and Russia, followed by a growth of cases in India. Towards the end of the year the resurgence and second wave hitting Europe becomes visible by its again increasing size.

As noted in our main blog article related to Covid-19, it is important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. Numbers from poorer countries, especially on the African continent, are believed to be highly underreported. This can – amongst other issues (including political ones) – partly be explained through different testing strategies.

Covid-19: Chronology of a Pandemic – Part 1

tina-gotthardt — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 11:00:09 +0000

Last Update of this page: 2nd August 2020
Follow our 2021 updates in part 2 of this chronology

STATUS UPDATE 2 August 2020

We are now 7 months into the pandemic with more than 17 million confirmed cases and 675,000 deaths and no end in sight. While this outbreak hasn’t stopped in some parts of the world (like the USA or Brazil), other countries that had been rather successful in contain the virus see a surge in their cases after easing lockdown measures, like Spain, Germany, Australia, Vietnam or the UK. Most countries have established a test and trace system to keep community outbreaks under control with localised lockdowns.

The United States, Brazil, India and South Africa reported their highest number of cases yet in the month of July, while the month of April was most devastating for the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany. USA, Brazil and India had each more than one million cases in July, India tripling their cases compared to the numbers in June.

New Coronavirus Cases in July 2020

New Coronavirus Cases in April 2020

More Corona cases by month can be found here:

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases January 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases February 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases March 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases April 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases May 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases June 2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases July 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is now found in Qatar (3,834), followed by French Guiana (2,587), Bahrain (2395), San Marino (2,024) and Chile (1849). Of the countries with the highest total case numbers, the United States of America have a count of 1,326 cases per 100,000 people (with a total of 4.4 million cases), followed by Brazil (2.6 million total, 1,201 relative), India (1.6 million total, 119 per capita).

Reported Coronavirus case rates (per 100,000 people) as of 31.07.2020

While the surge in cases marks changes in reported cases per capita the mortality rate remains mostly unchanged. The highest mortality rates (reported deaths per number of confirmed cases) are found in Yemen with 28.2%, followed by France (17.3%), United Kingdom (15.2%), Belgium (14.5%), Italy (14.2%) and Hungary (13.2%). Eleven countries have a mortality of 10% or higher.

China now has a reported mortality rate of 5.3%, while the United States reported a mortality of 3.4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, India, Russia and South Africa have considerably lower reported mortality rates (2.2%, 1.7% and 1.6% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 31.07.2020

The highest number of accumulated cases is recorded in the United States of America (4,388,566), followed by Brazil (2,552,265), India(1,638,870) and Russia (839,981). South Africa (482,169), Mexico (408,449), Peru (400,683), Chile (353,536), United Kingdom (302,305) and Iran (301,530) complete the top 10. The rise in cases in countries of the Americas has pushed most European countries off this list.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 31 July 2020

The highest number of deaths recorded now in the United States of America (150,054), followed by Brazil (90,134), United Kingdom (45,999), Mexico (45361), India (35,747), Italy (35,132), France (30,136), Spain (28,443) and Peru (18,816).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 31 July 2020

STATUS UPDATE 4 June 2020

About a months since our last update, the world according to Covid-19 cases looks very different. The absolute number of accumulated cases has almost doubled to now more than 6.4 million and more than 382,000 have died (all figures last updated 04 June 2020). The trend that we identified at the beginning of May, with the USA as a constant epicentre, growing faster than any other country and South America (namely Brazil and Peru) and Russia closing in and Europe stagnating, hast been manifested. Brazil has recently overtaken the United States in the number of daily cases.

Most countries are now developing different strategies to find the ‘new normal’, which ranges from keeping the borders closed to the outside world (New Zealand and Australia), to opening but demanding testing at point of entrance (Iceland) or opening to a number of considered ‘safe’ countries (Germany and many other EU countries). Some countries demand people to wear masks in the public sphere (Germany), many countries have still restrictions to the number of people who can be in the same space together, most countries are putting some kind of ‘track-trace-isolate protocol’ in place. Also the issue of opening the schools again is dealt with very differently from country to country, sometimes even within a country (Germany, UK). Several companies and scientific labs all over the world are working on a vaccine, some are already been tested on humans. Only time will tell which strategy will be successful to manage a return to some kind of normality living with Covid-19.

The highest number of cases is still recorded in the United States of America (1,823,220), followed by Brazil (555,383), Russia (441,108) United Kingdom (279,860), Spain (140,326) and Italy (233,836). India (216,919), Germany (182,764), Peru (174,884), Turkey (166,422) and Iran (160,696) complete the top 10.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 4 June 2020

The highest number of deaths recorded now in the United States of America (106,051), followed – with some distance- by United Kingdom (39,728), Italy (33,601), Brazil (31,199), France (28,964), Spain (27,940), Mexico (10,637) and Belgium (9,522).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 04 June 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is now found in Qatar (2,157), which saw its cases growing by almost 2000 per day in the past months, followed by San Marino (2,024), Vatican (2,024), Andorra (1,101) and Bahrain (753). Of states with higher case numbers (10000 or more), the USA has now the highest number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants (550), followed by Pero (530), Spain (514) and Belgium (506).
Data availability and quality play an important part in these highly variable statistics, with the number of unreported cases being believed to be quite considerable in some countries.

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 04.06.2020

The highest mortality rates (deaths per number of confirmed cases) are found in Yemen with 22.7% , followed by France (19.5%), Sint Maarten (19.2%) and Belgium (16.2%). Fifteen countries have a mortality of 10% or higher.

Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, France has the highest reported mortality rate (19.5%) followed by Belgium (16.2), Italy (14.4%), the United Kingdom (14.2%), Netherlands (12.8), Spain (11.6) and Sweden (11.1%). After having to correct the number of deaths in Wuhan, China now has a mortality rate of 5.5% (up from 4%), only slightly lower that the United States (5.8%). Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany, Turkey and South Korea have a considerably lower mortality rates (4.7%, 2.8% and 2.3% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 04.06.2020

All the maps in our post rely on data included in the situation reports provided by the WHO, with further adjustments and corrections that we have documented in the data sheet that can be downloaded from the individual Covid-19 map pages in our map archive where we keep the most recent map of each theme. We have now also created a map animation of the spread of reported cases of the disease which you find here: Map animation: COVID-19’s spread across the world
It is important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. This can – amongst other issues (including political ones) – partly be explained through different testing strategies.

STATUS UPDATE 03 May 2020

Three months after the lockdown of Wuhan started the world looks very different. There are now more than 3.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, almost a third of them in the USA alone. China is playing a minor role now in both, number of cases and deaths, the USA and Europe are the epicentres of the pandemic now, with Russia and South America growing quickly.

There are now five countries with more than 20,000 accumulated confirmed deaths: USA, Italy, Spain, France and United Kingdom. While the numbers of people dying are slowing down in Italy and Spain, in the USA they almost doubled. This suggests that the USA have not reached the peak yet, president Trump is pushing for a quicker end of the lockdown.

Some countries that started to enforce their lockdowns earlier, like Denmark and Austria, starting to ease the measures in the coming weeks, since their data suggests that they are over the peak. Also Spain is allowing more than just the essential workers back to their work places from tomorrow on. In other countries, like Germany and the UK, the strategy of how to ease the lockdown measures are only about to start. In Germany it will be compulsory to wear a mask in public from the 27. April on. Sweden is still about to see whether their strategy based of trust in its citizens and no enforced lockdown is paying off in the longer run. At this moment they have registered more deaths due to coronavirus than their neighbouring countries of Finland, Norway and Denmark. Singapore is recording a surge in numbers of cases during the past days and the government is considering stricter measures.

Since 31 December 2019, when the WHO was informed about the first cases in Wuhan, China, more than 3.3 million people are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 (Coronavirus) from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more 238,000 have died (all figures last updated 03 May 2020).
There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, in 216 countries/territories.

The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (1,093,880), followed by Spain (216,582), Italy (209,328), United Kingdom (182,264), Germany (162,496), Russia (134,687) and France (129,458).

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 03 May 2020

The United States of Amerika has also now the highest number of deaths (62,406), followed by Italy (28,710), United Kingdom (28,131) then Spain (25,100), France (24,724), and Belgium (7,765). There are now 37 territories with no recorded deaths yet, meaning that there are 179 territories where people have died.

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 03 May 2020

Today we have also published a separate blog feature focussing on the spread of Covid-19 on the African continent: Covid-19 in Africa.

STATUS UPDATE 23 April 2020

Since 31 December 2019, when the WHO was informed about the first cases in Wuhan, China, more than 2.5 million people are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 (Coronavirus) from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more 175,000 have died (all figures last updated 23 April 2020).
There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, in 215 countries/territories.

The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (800,926), followed by Spain (208,389), Italy (187,327), Germany (148,046), United Kingdom (133,499), France (117,961) and Turkey (98,674).

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 23 April 2020

The United States of Amerika has also now the highest number of deaths (40,073), followed by Italy (25,085), then Spain (21,717), France (21,307), United Kingdom (18,100) and Belgium (6,262). There are now 42 territories with no recorded deaths yet, meaning that there are 174 territories where people have died.

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 23 April 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in San Marino (1,438), followed by Vatican (1112), Andorra (937), Luxembourg (584) and Iceland (523). Of states with higher case numbers (5000 or more), Spain has the highest relative number (446 per 100,000 people), followed by Belgium (361), Switzerland (326), Italy (310) and the USA (242).
Data availability and quality play an important part in these highly variable statistics, with the number of unreported cases being believed to be quite considerable in some countries.

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 23.04.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in the British Virgin Islands with 25% (one death in 4 cases), followed Nicaragua (20%), France (18.1%), Sint Maarten (15.5%) and Belgium (14.9%). Twenty-one countries have a mortality of 10% or higher.

Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, France has the highest reported mortality rate (18.1%) followed by Belgium (14.9), the United Kingdom (13.6%), Italy (13.4%), Sweden (12.1%) and the Netherlands (11.6%). After having to correct the number of deaths in Wuhan, China now has a mortality rate of 5.5% (up from 4%), only slightly higher that the United States (5%). Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany, Turkey and South Korea have a considerably lower mortality rates (3.4%, 2.4% and 2.2% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 23.04.2020

STATUS UPDATE 13 April 2020

Since 31 December 2019, when the WHO was informed about the first cases in Wuhan, China, more than 1,773,084 million people are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 (Coronavirus) from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more 111,652 have died (all figures last updated 13 April 2020).
There are now cases of Covid-19 on all inhabited continents, in 211 countries/territories.

The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (524,514), followed by Spain (166,019), Italy (156,363), Germany (123,016), France (67,757), United Kingdom (84,283) and China (83,597).

The United States of Amerika has now the highest number of deaths (20,444), closely followed by Italy (19,901), then Spain (16,972), France (14,374), United Kingdom (10,612) and Iran (4,474). There are now 52 territories with recorded deaths yet, meaning that there are 166 territories where people have died.

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 13 April 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in San Marino (1,049), followed by Vatican (989), Andorra (827), Luxembourg (524), Iceland (498) and Gibraltar (382). Of states with higher case numbers (5000 or more), Spain has the highest relative number (355 per 100,000 people), followed by Switzerland (291), Italy (258), Belgium (256) and Austria (131).
Data availability and quality play an important part in these highly variable statistics, with the number of unreported cases being believed to be quite considerable in some countries.

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 13.04.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in Zimbabwe with 21.4%, followed by some small island states with few cases. Nine countries have a mortality of 15% or higher and 24 countries of 10% and higher.

Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, France has the highest reported mortality rate (15.2%) followed by Italy (12.7%), United Kingdom (12.6%), Belgium (12.1) and the Netherlands (10.7%). China has a mortality rate of 4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany and United States have a considerably lower mortality rates (2.3% and 2% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 13.04.2020

STATUS UPDATE 05 April 2020

As of today, a total of 1,133,758 people have been confirmed to have (or have had) contracted COVID-19. 62,784 people have died (all figures last updated 05 April 2020). There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, in 211 countries/territories.
The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (273,808), followed by Spain (124,736), Italy (124,632), Germany (91,214), China (82,930), and France (67,757). Spain overtook Italy as the country with most infections in Europe and Germany joined the other three countries with more infections than China.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 05 April 2020

Italy has still the highest number of reported deaths (15,362), closely followed by Spain (11,744), then France (7,546), USA (7,020), United Kingdom (4,313) and Iran (3,452). There are now 61 territories with no recorded deaths yet, meaning that there are 150 territories where people have died.

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 05 April 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in Vatican (865), San Marino (736), Andorra (603), Luxembourg (436), Iceland (415) and the Faroe Islands (370). Of states with higher case numbers (1000 or more), Spain has the highest relative number (267 per 100,000 people), followed by Switzerland (237), Italy (206), Belgium (159) and Austria (131). The following cartogram shows the reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 05.04.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 05.04.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in Botswana and Gambia with 25% (one out of four reported patients died there), followed by some (mostly African) states with few cases. Six countries have a mortality of 20% or higher and 22 countries of 10% and higher.

Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, Italy has the highest reported mortality rate (12.3%) followed by France (11.1%), United Kingdom (10.3%), the Netherlands (9.9%) and Spain (9.4%). China has a mortality rate of 4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany and United States have a considerably lower mortality rates (1.5% and 2.6% deaths of all reported cases). The following cartogram shows Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 05.04.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 05.04.2020

Mortality is dependent on many factors, including the demography (older patients are more likely to die) and the healthcare system (such as availability of intensive care). Data availability and quality also play an important part in these highly variable statistics, with the number of unreported cases being believed to be quite considerable in some countries.

STATUS UPDATE 01 April 2020

As of today, a total of 823,626 people have been confirmed to be or have contracted COVID-19. 40,598 people have died (all figures last updated 01 April 2020). There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, in 208 countries/territories.
The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (163,199), followed by Italy (105,792), Spain (94,417), China (82,631), Germany (67,366) and France (51,477).

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 01 April 2020

Italy has the highest total number of deaths (12,430), followed by Spain (8,189), France (3,514), China (3,321) and Iran (2,898).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 01 April 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in Vatican (742), San Marino (695), Andorra (487), Luxembourg (348), Faroe Islands (346) and Iceland (333). Of states with higher case numbers (1000 or more), Spain has the highest relative number (202 per 100,000 people), followed by Switzerland (186), Italy (175), Austria (113) and Belgium (110). The following cartogram shows the reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 01.04.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 01.04.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in Gambia with 33.3% (one out of three reported patients died there), followed by some (mostly African) states with few cases. Also a relatively high mortality is found in larger countries with few reported cases (such as Bangladesh, Iraq, or Indonesia, all between around 7 and 10%). Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, Italy has the highest reported mortality rate (11.7%) followed by Spain (8.7%), the Netherlands (8.2%) and the United Kingdom (7.1%). China has a mortality rate of 4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany and United States have a considerably lower mortality rates (1.1% and 1.7% deaths of all reported cases). The following cartogram shows Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 01.04.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 01.04.2020

STATUS UPDATE 29 March 2020
As of today, a total of 634,835 people have been confirmed to be or have contracted with COVID-19. 29,954 people have died (all figures last updated 29. March 2020). The following cartogram shows the total accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 29 March 2020:

Coronavirus cases as of 29 March 2020

The highest number of cases is recorded now in the United States of America (103,321), followed by Italy (92,427), Spain (77,248), Germany (52,547) and France (37,145). Italy has the highest total number of deaths (10,023), followed by Spain (5,690), China (3306) and Iran (2,517). The following cartogram shows the total accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 29 March 2020:

Coronavirus deaths as of 29 March 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in San Marino (672), followed by Vatican (494), Andorra (415), Faroe Islands (317), Luxembourg (293) and Iceland (282). Of states with higher case numbers (1000 or more), Spain has the highest relative number (155 per 100,000 people), followed by Italy (153), Switzerland (152), Austria (92) and Belgium (79). The following cartogram shows the reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 29.03.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 29.03.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in Gambia with 33.3% (one out of three reported patients died there), followed by small states with few cases. Also a relatively high mortality is found in larger countries with few reported cases (such as Bangladesh, Iraq, or Indonesia, all between around 8 and 9%). Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, Italy has the highest reported mortality rate (10.8%) followed by Spain (7.9%), Iran (7.1%),and the Netherlands (6.5%). China has a mortality rate of 4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany and United States have a considerably lower mortality rates (0.7% and 1.6% deaths of all reported cases). The following cartogram shows Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 29.03.2020 on an equal-population projection:

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 29.03.2020

STATUS UPDATE 25 March 2020
As of today, 413,467 people were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. 18,433 people have died.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 25 March 2020

Outside of China, Italy has the highest number of cases (69,176) and deaths (6,820), followed by United States of America (42,164 cases, 471 deaths), Spain (39,673 cases, 2,696 deaths) and Germany (31,554 cases, 149 deaths). Italy has the highest total number of deaths, followed by China (3,287), Spain (2,696), Iran (1,934) and France (1,100).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 25 March 2020

STATUS UPDATE 24 March 2020
As of today, a total of 372,755 people have been confirmed to be or have contracted with COVID-19. 14,510 people have died (all figures last updated 24. March 2020).

Coronavirus cases as of 24 March 2020

Outside of China, Italy has the highest number of cases (63,927) and deaths (6,077), followed by United States of America (42,164 cases, 471 deaths), Spain (33,089 cases, 2,182 deaths) and Germany (29,212 cases, 126 deaths). Italy has the highest total number of deaths, followed by China (3,283), Spain (2,182), Iran (1,812) and France (860).

Coronavirus Deaths 24 March 2020

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is found in San Marino (551), followed by Faroe Islands (241), Andorra (212), Iceland (182) and Luxembourg (140). Of states with higher case numbers (1000 or more), Italy has the highest relative number (106 per 100,000 people), followed by Switzerland (93), Spain (70), Austria (50) and Norway (44).

Reported Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 24.03.2020

The highest mortality rates are found in Sudan and Zimbabwe with 50% (one out of two reported patients died there), followed by small (mostly island) states with few cases. Also relatively high mortality is found in larger countries with few reported cases (such as Bangladesh, Iraq, or Indonesia, all between around 8 and 9%). Of the larger countries with reported cases in the thousands, Italy has the highest reported mortality rate (9.5%) followed by Iran (7.9%), Spain (6.5%) and the United Kingdom (5%). China has a mortality rate of 4%. Of the countries with many reported cases, Germany and United States have a considerably lower mortality rates (0.4% and 1.1% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 24.03.2020

STATUS UPDATE 23 March 2020
Since 31 December 2019, when the WHO was informed about the first cases in Wuhan, China, 332,930 people were confirmed to be infected by a new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2), now also known as Covid-19. 14,510 have died from the virus.
Outside of China (81,601 cases) Italy has now the highest number of cases (59,138) and deaths (5,476), followed by United States of America (31,573 cases, 402 deaths), Spain (28,572 cases, 1,720 deaths) and Germany (24,774 cases, 94 deaths). Italy has the highest total number of deaths, followed by China (3,276), Spain (1,720), Iran (1,685) and France (674).

Coronavirus cases as of 23 March 2020

Small states/territories lead the list in cases per capita: San Marino with 445 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Faroe Islands (235/100,000), Iceland (166/100,000), Andorra (146/100,000) and Luxembourg (127/100,000). Among the countries with the highest totals, Italy has 97 per 100,000 inhabitants, Spain 61, Iran 25, United States of America 10 and China 6.

Italy has the highest total number of deaths in all countries (5,476), followed by China (3,276), Spain (1,720), Iran (1,685) and France (674).

Coronavirus Deaths 23 March 2020

Data availability and quality play an important part in these highly variable statistics, with the number of unreported cases being believed to be quite considerable in some countries.

STATUS UPDATE 22 March 2020

More lockdowns and curfews are set in place, countries are urging their citizens to not travel anywhere, not abroad or even within the country. Citizens who are abroad at the moment are urged to make their way home as soon as possible, as more and more flight connections and airports are closing down.

More than half of all cases are now reported in Europe. The spread of the diseases has therefore now become clearly visible on a map that includes China.

Coronavirus cases as of 22 March 2020

Outside of China Italy has the highest number of cases (53578) and deaths (4827), followed by and Spain (24926 cases, 1326 deaths), Germany (21463 cases, 67 deaths) and Iran (20610 cases, 1556 deaths).
There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, but the maps show that Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic.

Coronavirus cases outside China as of 22 March 2020

STATUS UPDATE 17 March 2020

While the pandemic seems to be slowing down in China, with fewer and fewer reported cases every day, Europe and North America are in lockdown: Travel bans are put in place, borders are closed, the public life forced to a stand still. In most countries the schools are closed, only shops that sell the most necessary things (grocery stores and pharmacies) are supposed to be open. People are either forced to stay inside (like in Italy or Spain), need permits to be outside (like in France) or at least asked to stay home and not meet with anyone else. Social distancing in the new buzz word. There is not one strategy, it is more everyone for themselves. In many countries the numbers more than doubled from one day to the next, there are now more cases outside of China th4n inside and no end in sight.

Outside of China Italy has the highest number of cases (27,980) and deaths (2503 deaths), followed by Iran (14,991 cases, 853 deaths) and Spain (9191 cases, 309 deaths). At this rate, it will not take long for Italy to reach China’s death toll of 3231.

There are now cases of Covid-19 on all continents, but the maps show that Europe developed in the epicentre of the pandemic.

The following maps show the spreading of the diseases to territories outside of and including mainland China. The countries are proportional to the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, most recent first.

Coronavirus cases outside mainland China as of 17 March 2020

Coronavirus cases as of 17 March 2020

STATUS UPDATE 12 March 2020

Overall 118 countries/territories confirmed 125,048 cases. More than 80,000 of these are in China, the number of new cases reported outside of China (6,703) outnumbers the ones in China (26) by far. (last updated 12. March 2020). Outside of China there are most cases in Italy (12,462), the reason why the government ordered a lock-down of the entire country. Iran (9,000) is on third place globally, followed by South Korea (7,869). Denmark and Poland closed all schools and kindergartens for the next weeks, other countries are expected to follow. President Trump imposed a travel ban for Europeans travelling into the US from Schengen countries and also European countries are enforcing border controls.

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases outside China as of 12.03.2020

Covid-19/Coronavirus cases as of 12.03.2020

STATUS UPDATE 08. March 2020

Overall more than 100 territories reported cases until today. Globally there are now 105 586 confirmed (3656 new) cases. More than 80,000 of these are in China, the number of new cases outside of China (3610) outnumbers the ones in China (46) by far. (Date 08.03. 2020)
So far more than 3500 deaths (98 new) have been recorded, with 484 outside of China.

The following maps show the spreading of the diseases to territories outside of man including mainland China. The countries are proportional to the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, most recent first.

Coronavirus outside of China as of 08.03.2020

Coronavirus cases as of 08.03.2020

In relative terms, the one reported case in Vatican City leads to this territory having most cases per population (123.6 cases per 100,000 people) though this extreme figure is due to its very low population. A similar statement might be made about San Marino (79.6 per 100,000). These very small states are followed by South Korea (13.9/100,000) and Iceland (13.2/100,000). Of the states with the largest absolute cases, Italy (9.7), Iran (6.9) and China (5.6) are currently also among the higher-ranking countries in the per-capita statistics.

Coronavirus cases (per 100,000 people) as of 08.03.2020

STATUS UPDATE 04. March 2020

12 new member states – Andorra, Argentina, Chile, Jordan, Latvia, Morocco, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Tunisia – reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Globally there are now 93,090 confirmed cases (2223 new) in 76 countries. More than 80,000 of these are in China, the number of new cases outside of China (2103) outnumbers the ones in China (120) by far.
So far 2984 deaths (38 new) have been recorded, with 214 outside of China.

WHO from 04. March 2020

Coronavirus cases outside China as of 4 March 2020

The proportion of cases becomes visible when we compare all cases on 22 February and on 4 March (below).

Coronavirus cases as of 22 February 2020

Coronavirus cases as of 4 March 2020

STATUS UPDATE 02. March 2020

Globally there are now 88,948 confirmed cases (1804 new), more than 80,000 of these in China. The majority of the new cases though- 1598 out of the 1804 cases – have been recorded outside of China. The WHO confirmed now cases in 64 countries, there have been 11 new countries since the last update: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Czechia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,, Luxembourg, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland Monaco and Qatar. WHO from 02. March 2020

Coronavirus cases outside China 02 March 2020

STATUS 29. February 2020

With ever more countries declaring coronavirus cases (Mexico and San Marino the latest ones) the three main clusters outside China remain South Korea (3,150 cases, 17 deaths), Iran (388 cases, 34 deaths) and Italy (888 cases, 21 deaths). Six patients died on the cruise ship Diamond Princess currently in quarantine in Japanese territorial waters. There are 705 cases in total on that cruise ship, coming from different nationalities. WHO counts these as ‘International conveyance’ and these are therefore not shown in this map unless they returned to their home countries.

According to the Situation Report from the WHO from 29.02. 2020, there now are 85,403 confirmed cases (1,753 new) in 53 countries. 2,838 deaths (47 new) were counted in China so far, and 86 deaths (19 new) outside of China. The WHO risk assessment upgraded the risk level to ‘very high’ also on regional and global level.

Coronavirus cases outside China as of 29 February 2020

According to the WHO ‘a novel coronavirus (CoV) is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans. The new, or “novel” coronavirus, now called 2019-nCoV, had not previously detected before the outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses found in both animals and humans. Some infect people and are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).‘

Previous data:

As of 23 February 2020 there were almost 75,000 cases confirmed in mainland China. Other cases in Asia included cases in , South Korea (602), Japan (132), Hong Kong (70), Taiwan (26) and Macao (10).
188 confirmed cases in South East Asia and Oceania, 118 in Europe and 23 in North America. Most of these cases are connected to a so-called ‘travel history to China’, but there is a growing number of confirmed cases with ‘confirmed transmission outside of China’ or ‘in the reporting countries’.
So far 2,460 people died of the disease, among those twenty died outside of mainland China: 5 in Iran, 5 in South Korea, 2 each in Italy and Hong Kong, 1 each in Japan, France, Taiwan and the Philippines. Two patients died on the cruise ship Diamond Princess currently in quarantine in Japanese territorial waters. There are 634 cases in total on that cruise ship, from different nationalities. WHO counts these as ‘International conveyance’.

Coronavirus cases outside China as of 23. February 2020

As of 20 February 2020 there were almost 75,000 cases confirmed in mainland China. Other cases in Asia included cases in Japan (85), South Korea (104), Hong Kong (65), Taiwan (24) and Macao (10).
176 confirmed cases in South East Asia and Oceania, 45 in Europe and 23 in North America. Most of these cases are connected with a so-called ‘travel history to China’, but there is a growing number of confirmed cases with ‘confirmed transmission outside of China’
So far 2129 people died of the disease, among those eight died outside of China: 2 in Iran, and 1 each in South Korea, Japan, France and the Philippines. Two patients died on the cruise ship Diamond Princess currently in quarantine in Japanese territorial waters. There are 621 cases in total on that cruise ship, from different nationalities. WHO counts these as ‘International conveyance’.

Coronavirus cases outside China as of 23. February 2020

As of 5 February 2020 there where 24,324 cases confirmed in mainland China (3,219 severe cases). Other cases in Asia included cases in Japan (33), South Korea (18), Hong Kong (18), Taiwan (11) and Macao (10).
86 confirmed cases in South East Asia and Oceania, 26 in Europe and 16 in North America. Most of these cases are connected with a so-called ‘travel history to China’, but there is a growing number of confirmed cases with ‘confirmed transmission outside of China’
So far 491 people died of the disease, the only death outside of China has occurred in the Philippines.

Corona virus cases outside of China as of 5. February 2020

Covid-19 in Africa

Worldmapper — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 23:32:01 +0000

Covid-19 seemed to have become a pandemic of the wealthy world unlike most epidemics in recent decades. Therefore our cartograms showing worldwide statistics make Africa almost invisible due to the continent’s small share of confirmed cases and deaths in a global context. The following map series puts a focus on Africa-only, highlighting how variable the picture of cases and deaths is that emerges when showing only this part of the world:

Covid-19/Coronavirus: Map of cases and deaths in Africa

Egypt was the first country in Africa reporting a case of coronavirus, with other North African countries following suit.
As of today (4 June 2020) Africa has 115,639 reported cases and 2,858 deaths, which is the smallest number of all major geographic regions. Initially the experience of many African countries with infectious diseases such as Ebola seemed to give them an advantage. But an increasing number of countries have now reported cases of Covid-19. Western Sahara is the only territories on the continent that has not yet reported any case.
This does, however, not mean that Coronavirus has not arrived there. It is important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. For poorer countries this can often also explained with a lack of testing capacities which means that many cases (and deaths) will remain undetected.
South Africa reported the highest number of cases (37,525), followed by Egypt (28,615), Nigeria (11,166), Algeria (9,733), Ghana (8,548) and Morocco (7,922).
Egypt is highest in the number of confirmed deaths (1088) , followed by South Africa (792) and Algeria (673).

With the growing numbers of cases, concerns about treatment capacities on the African continent grow. According to the WHO there are less than 5,000 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds available in 43 African countries in total, which equals 5 ICU beds per one million people, compared to approximately 4,000 ICU beds for one million people in Europe.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 4 June 2020

Citizens of Nowhere?

Worldmapper — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 11:00:46 +0000

Having a passport or even an officially recognised national identity is not a status that every person on this planet can take for granted. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that worldwide at least 10 million people are denied a nationality and are therefore stateless mostly as a result of discriminating policies.

Cartogram showing number of Stateless People in 2018

The UNHCR’s populations of concern database lists 3.24 million stateless persons by their geographical distribution. These reveal some of the major geopolitical hotspots of statelessness in 2016 that are shown in this cartogram. Affected populations include “the more than one million people in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are stateless on the basis of the current citizenship law, […] many of the migrants of Burkinabé descent [in Côte d’Ivoire] who were not eligible for Ivorian nationality after the country’s independence from France in 1960,” and in Europe the ‘Non Citizens’ of Latvia, which are a legacy of the former USSR. The latter are an example for a group for which considerable political efforts have been undertaken recently to resolve their protracted situations.