COVID-19 Pandemic Update (March 24, 2020)

he COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand globally. Its expansion trend changes from nation to nation every day and I am documenting the situation to remember more clearly later.

Today is March 25 and we are supposed to have completed the 14-day quarantine period after we left Spain in light of its rapid spreading of the coronavirus. Both of us are not showing the apparent symptoms of COVID-19. But I have caught a cold with sneezing and runny nose.

In Thailand, from midnight today, all foreigners cannot enter Thailand, except the diplomats. In other words, borers are closed as some of the countries openly do. Also, there will be a curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM until April 30. All Thai nations entering Thailand must complete the 14-day quarantine period. Gradually but surely, Thailand has followed the suit of many other countries. Naturally, airline schedules are canceled often.

India ordered a complete lockdown for all people of 1.3 Billion for three weeks. Cities are locked down and people work from home. Streets are empty. The US has seen a dramatic increase in the number of confirmed cases and Spain has seen an astonishing rate of deaths compared to the confirmed patients, let alone Italy that has experienced the highest fatality among COVID-19 patients, even higher than the official Chinese reporting of the death.

Some numbers as of March 24 are:

• Confirmed cases     436,481
• Closed cases           131,532 (including recoveries of 111,889)
• Active cases            304,949 (including serious cases of 13,267)
• Death                        19,643

US Statistics are:

• Confirmed cases      54,996
• Active cases            53,832
• Deaths                           785

As of March 24, the US was ranked the third in the number of confirmed cases, after China and Italy and the first in the number of active cases. The Senate and the White House reached a $2 Trillion deal for economic stimulus. The FRB announced an indefinite purchase of commercial papers as well as government-back papers to inject liquidity. The stock market has tanked over the week to 10 days, losing 30%.

Many countries are short of health workers to handle the growing number of patients, Moreover, some of them are also contracting the virus to be sick and not to be able to work.

No light seems to be seen at the end of the tunnel at this point.

Below are some charts that I saw in TIME magazine based on March 17 data.

On a bright side, however, Italy is reporting a slowdown in new confirmed cases; S. Korea appears to flatten the curve; China is reporting no new case in Wuhan, the epicenter of this pandemic.

President Trump is hoping to reopen the US economy by the Easter defying dire warnings of health experts. Oh well...

We keep going on our knees to God with sincere repentance and keep praying for God's forgiveness and mercy, particularly to the health workers, and to people in the poor countries without reliable infrastructures. - Jeffrey