Health and Healthcare Systems

Upward trajectory or flattening curve? This is how countries are faring with COVID-19 cases

A medical worker wearing a protective mask and suit treats patients suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an intensive care unit at the Oglio Po hospital in Cremona, Italy March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC2ZMF9E803K

France is currently under an extended lockdown but seems to have started to "flatten the curve". Image: REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo

Katharina Buchholz
Data Journalist, Statista
  • Coronavirus cases in the U.S. and Germany have taken a similar upwards trajectory.
  • Italy is the worst-affected country in Europe with over 40,000 cases.
  • Case counts in Spain have also accelerated in the past week.

As the coronavirus spreads rapidly around the world, several countries seem to be moving along a similar upward trajectory. According to numbers by Johns Hopkins collected by the website Worldometers, case counts in the U.S. and Germany have been growing at similar rates since hitting 100+ cases, which happened on March 1 in Germany and March 2 in the U.S.

Italy, where there are currently more than 40,000 cases and public life has shut down, hit 100 cases on February 23, about a week earlier than Germany and the U.S. as well as France.

Case counts in Spain sadly accelerated and hit almost 18,000 on Thursday - meaning that cases numbers are right now higher than in Italy when the country was in the same stage of the outbreak that Spain is in now.

Some good news came out of France. The country which is currently under an extended lockdown seems to have started to "flatten the curve". The country hit 100 cases on February 29 and recorded just over 11,000 cumulative cases on Thursday.

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Some other countries can also hopefully still swing into the trajectory South Korea took. Currently, the Asian country has the eighth most confirmed cases of the coronavirus after China, Italy, Iran, Spain, Germany, France and the U.S. Widespread free testing (including the now infamous drive-thru testing), quarantine measures and the harnessing of mobile technology for public information have amounted to an effective campaign to slow the spread of the virus. The country hit 100 cases on February 20 and managed to leave the steep upward trajectory around 14 days later. Yet, European countries and the U.S. have failed to introduce rigorous testing and quarantine measures as soon as South Korea did.

Coronavirus Covid-19 virus infection China Hubei Wuhan contagion spread travel trade health industry economics
Case counts in Spain have accelerated and hit almost 18,000. Image: Statista
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