Despite worldwide measures against the new corona virus, more than 150,000 people infected with it have now died, according to data from US researchers. According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of infections worldwide was more than 2.2 million this evening (9:30 p.m. CEST).
The virus SARS-CoV-2, which was practically completely unknown until just over three months ago, can trigger the lung disease Covid-19. Most of the coronavirus pandemic deaths have so far occurred in the United States (around 34,000), Italy (23,000), Spain (19,000), followed by France and the UK, according to the Baltimore College.
Different test rates and a high number of unreported cases
The US researchers‘ data generally show higher levels than those of the World Health Organization (WHO) because they are updated more regularly. In some cases, the number of infections and deaths has recently been revised downwards. Until yesterday, the WHO had reported more than 130,000 coronavirus deaths and around two million known infections worldwide.
The number of known infections per country, in turn, can only be compared to a limited extent due to the different test rates and a high number of unreported cases. In terms of absolute numbers, the university reported that most infections were almost 700,000 cases in the United States, a country with around 330 million inhabitants. Spain ranked second with around 190,000 known infections, compared to more than 170,000 in Italy.
