What has changed since last week? Any new countries under lockdown? The COVID-19 situation around the world at a glance.
China
Wuhan, the city where the epidemic started, has come out of lockdown on the 8th of April. A glimpse of hope for the rest of the world. The city had been under lockdown for 76 days. With the lockdown lifted, residents will be able to leave the city and others will be able to enter.
However, China is having to deal with the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and the lingering economic consequences. The country has seen its growth slow down dramatically and its unemployment rates increase.
Surrounding countries
In order to prevent a second wave of the virus, China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have closed their borders either to foreigners in general or to foreigners from the most affected countries. Singapore and South Korea have also put in place strict self-quarantine measures for citizens who are coming from the US and other affected countries. South Korea is continuing its massive testing campaigns that seem to work.
India
On the 24th of March, India went on a nationwide lockdown because of the acute rise in cases within the country. Residents are only allowed to leave their houses for essentials.
United States
The US is currently the country with the most cases in the world. While authorities are increasing the rates of tests across the country, it is taking some time to catch up with the initial low speed. More and more states are enforcing severe lockdowns and discouraging residents to travel locally or internationally.
Europe
The second most infected country in the world right now is Italy. The country has been under complete lockdown since the 9th of March and the lockdown has just been extended to the 3rd of May. Meanwhile, Italy has banned domestic travel and greatly reduced flights coming in and out of the country. France is also under severe lockdown and the media reports that the country will probably be under lockdown for most of April and possibly further.
Africa
The number of infected persons in all African countries has crossed the 10,000 on the 8th of April. Several countries of the continent, like South Africa, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Ghana, Kenya have been put under total or partial lockdown.
South America
South American countries are amongst the last countries where the virus has spread to and they have had different ways of dealing with the epidemic. Colombia and Bolivia have adopted an interesting way of dealing with the Coronavirus. In Colombia, who has just crossed the threshold of 2,000 cases, people are allowed to leave their houses depending on the last number of their identity card and Bolivia is also adopting similar measures.
Brazil is, on the other hand, being reluctant to tighten measures to limit the spread of the virus. The country has reported more than 16,000 active cases but the President Jair Bolsonaro seems to downplay the urgency around the epidemic.
