What do we know?

Every day, thousands of headlines show the latest figures on the coronavirus. For most readers, the numbers are growing at such a dizzying rate that it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

If there was ever a time when we needed clear and reliable data, it's now.

How individuals and governments interpret and act upon this data will not only help us stay safe but will ultimately be necessary to end the global coronavirus pandemic.

THERE IS A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY

If you did not know this already, the coronavirus numbers being reported are not facts - but they’re the best we’ve got.

No single dataset exactly represents the reality on the ground. Every day, thousands of healthcare workers, government agencies and researchers are each collecting, processing and sharing what they know about the virus. The goal is to gather the most reliable data that can help people understand the outbreak as it evolves.

The more countries collect and share their experiences, the closer to reality we should get.

Al Jazeera, like many other news networks, primarily uses the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dataset, which combines figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as well as several other local media and government sources.