Coronavirus Update: South Korea New Cases Exceed China's, Numbers Double To 38 In France

As the number of new cases of the COVID-19 virus appears to be declining in China, it is starting to emerge in other countries raising concerns that what has happened in the Communist country is beginning to happen elsewhere.

South Korea reported 505 new cases on Thursday compared with 433 in China. This is the first time that China’s daily count is not at the top of the list. China still has a big lead in the total confirmed cases with about 79,000 compared to South Korea at a little over 2,000.

In Europe, northern Italy now occupies third place on the list with 655 total confirmed cases from an outbreak that began in recent days. But moving up fast is France with 38 total cases up from 18 on Wednesday.

France’s Health Minister Olivier Veran said, “This evening, we, therefore, remain at the phase of intervention which consists of braking, slowing down, retarding, limiting the spread of the virus on French territory.”

Iran is another hotspot where 141 cases and 22 deaths are confirmed, with 44 of the new cases reported on Wednesday. Japan’s tally of total cases may be inflated due to the quarantined cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, docked in Yokohama. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday called for all schools to close from Monday until the end of the spring break in April making Japan the only other country to have shut schools aside from China.

The brunt of COVID-19’s wrath is still in China where the virus originated and where about 94% of the cases globally have occurred. The good news is that about 33,000 people have recovered out of the nearly 80,000 cases reported. The fatality rate in China is 2,859 out of 78,824 or about 3.6%.

China, always looking for a way to gain prestige in the world’s eyes is now being more open over their “success” at containment. Leading Chinese respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said China had much to share with other countries in fighting the virus, especially measures like early detection and isolation of suspected patients.

He said at a press conference in Guangzhou on Thursday, “China’s number of new cases is already less than those in other countries. China’s practice may be helpful to them.” He also expressed a willingness to share the country’s newfound expertise and commented, “After all, it’s a disease of mankind instead of one country.”

According to Zhong, the credit goes to China for getting the upper hand on the virus because of the extreme intervention measures taken by the state that included mass quarantines and travel bans.

Some experts agree like Canadian epidemiologist Bruce Aylward with the World Health Organization (WHO). He said, “China has the most experience in the world with this disease. It is the only country that turned around a serious and large-scale outbreak. The world needs the experience and materials of China to be successful in battling this coronavirus disease.”