Welcome to COVID-19 daily briefing which is your place to discover daily news and numbers, backed by links to reputable and official sources.

Worldwide

Today’s WHO Situation Report list 98,192 cases globally, but number of official confirmed cases worldwide surpassed 100,000 later today, after WHO’s report cutoff time. Looking back into not very distant past: Six and a half weeks there were 198 infected. Two months ago there were 27 infected. Our world has changed a lot within this short time.

New countries with confirmed cases: Bhutan, Cameroon, Serbia, and South

Africa.

There’s viral video of a health official warning people not to touch their face, then licking her own finger to flip a page. It shows that even when trying to be cautious, you might have a lot of trouble not touching you face. Habits and unconscious behaviour are hard to overcome. If you’re not natural born germaphobe, don’t assume you will stop touching your face because you decided to.

United States

There are over 300 confirmed cases and 15 deaths in the US with at least 70 cases and 14 deaths in Washington state alone.

The US has the world's highest death rate for the new coronavirus at 5.4%, compared to a global average of 3.4%. That's likely because the CDC has focused on testing only the most severe cases.

The University of Washington cancels in-person classes and moves 50,000 students to online classes.

State of emergency in California apparently doesn’t disturb Los Angeles Marathon which expects 27,000 athletes and is still scheduled for Sunday.

The race and expo are on. We continue to monitor the situation and follow the guidance of local, state and federal authorities, including the CDC to implement any necessary plans and protocols for the marathon. Your safety is paramount and will continue to be our top priority.

Organisers of Comic Con finally decided to postpone the convention because of the virus. SXSW has also been cancelled, or possibly postponed, though it was city of Austin’s decision.

Europe

Number of cases doubles in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and increases by 50% in France. See WHO Numbers section at the bottom for details.

Czech Republic will quarantine all 16,500 Czech tourists who are on holidays in Italy upon their return. Breaking mandatory 14-day home quarantine can be fined up to $130,000 [Czech]. Quarantined people are entitled to sick pay.

Asia

South Korea has tested 140,000 people for the coronavirus. That could explain why its death rate is just 0.6% — far lower than in China or the US.

The US and South Korea announced their first cases of the coronavirus on the same day: January 20. More than six weeks later, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested around 1,500 people for the virus. South Korea, meanwhile, has tested about 140,000.

Opinion: What we see in Korea is authorities doing everything they can to detect every single case and stop the virus from spreading. If you identify a sick person, you can isolate them. If you let them live their lives undiagnosed, you’re setting yourself for a much worse problem in the future because these sick people go around and infect more people.

Three members of Iran’s parliament died of COVID-19, out of 23 infected (out of 290 all MPs).

All 10 COVID-19 patients in Macau recovered [Chinese] and has been discharged from hospital.

WHO compares SARS-CoV-2 to influenza

WHO’s status report today includes FAQ comparing SARS-CoV-2 to influenza.

Similarities:

Symptoms and methods of transmissions.

Measures to avoid: hand hygiene, good respiratory etiquette (coughing into your elbow or into a tissue and immediately disposing of the tissue)

Differences:

Influenza can spread faster . The serial interval (the time between successive cases) for flu is 3 days, while it’s estimated to be 5-6 days for SARS-CoV-2.

Pre-symptomatic transmission is more important driver of transmission for influenza than for the new coronavirus, although we’re still learning about it.

Te reproductive number is higher than influenza and estimated between 2 and 2.5 for COVID-19 (the number of secondary infections generated from one infected individual). This is highly variable on local context though.

Fraction of severe infections requiring oxygen is 15% for SARS-CoV-2 and 5% requires ventilation , while it’s “lower” for influenza. [WHO doesn’t specify a number, but hospitalisation rate for influenza is less than 0.1%, so two orders of magnitude difference].

Mortality is estimated in the range of 3-4%, while it’s well below 0.1% for influenza.

Science

World leaders should not assume COVID-19 will be seasonal and subside in the summer, like the flu, the World Health Organization said Friday.

“It’s a false hope to say, yes, that it will disappear like the flu. We hope it does. That would be a godsend. But we can’t make that assumption. And there is no evidence.”

A study from 2009 of SARS survivors (2003 epidemics) reported than almost 4 years after recovery 40% of them reported a chronic fatigue problem. This is a reminder that recovery does not necessarily mean going back to normal and there could be long-term health consequences.

WHO Numbers, 06 March, 10am CET / 4am EST

98,192 total cases worldwide (2,873 new in the last 24 hours). 30 new deaths in China and 69 outside China.

Tell your friends about COVID-19 Briefing

If you like the newsletter, please forward the message or share link with friends who you think could be interested or on social media. Thank you!

Not subscribed yet? Sign up now to receive daily COVID-19 Briefings to your email.