RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The number of people infected with the new coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19 disease, has more than doubled in a week worldwide. There are 316,000 recorded cases in more than 160 countries. On March 15th, there were 153,000. The number of deaths increased from 5,735 to 13,000, a 130 percent global growth.
Over the past week, Brazil has gone from 200 cases to more than 1,100, which means that the number of infections has multiplied by more than five.
With the epidemic better controlled, China is recording increasingly fewer cases of the disease, with up to three days without local transmission of the virus. In contrast, Italy has already outnumbered China’s death toll. There are 4,825 deaths compared to 3,261 in China.
Experts recommend keeping people at home as long as possible to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, which causes respiratory disease that can cause severe symptoms. For now, no country has found a cure for the disease and a vaccine is expected to be available within about a year, according to the most optimistic estimates.
Researchers from China, France and the United States have reported positive results in treating the Covid-19 with chloroquine, which has already been tested in some Brazilian hospitals, with the family’s authorization and only in severe clinical conditions.
As the virus can remain in environments for up to three days, depending on the material where it is found, infectologists recommend care such as keeping the house clean, washing hands with soap and water whenever possible and having a hand sanitizer available when proper hand hygiene is not possible.