Sunday March 22, 2020 ~ INTERNATIONAL & BC
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
COVID-19 risk level ‘Very High’ says WHO, with over 292,000 cases worldwide
There are 292,142 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally as of 11:59 pm Geneva Time Saturday March 21, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in their Statistical Report #62. There have been 12,784 deaths globally (1,600 of those in the previous 24 hours).
In what WHO calls ‘Region of the Americas’ (which includes USA, Canada, Mexico and South America) there are 19,685 confirmed cases and 252 deaths.
- Of the ‘Americas’ case tally, 15,219 confirmed cases are in the USA, where they have had 201 deaths (i.e. 1.3% death rate so far).
- In Canada as of March 21 (WHO stats), there are 1,048 cases and 13 deaths (i.e. 1.2% death rate so far).
- The USA population is about 10-times that of Canada. The death rate (based on confirmed cases) in the two countries is about the same, but the levels of testing to confirm COVID-19 in affected persons varies between USA and Canada.
In British Columbia (BC Health / CDC stats), as of March 21 the total confirmed case tally is 424, with 76 of those confirmed infections since the previous day. Of the 424 total, 27 cases are presently hospitalized (with 12 in intensive care).
- There have been 10 deaths in BC.
- Six patients have officially fully recovered from their COVID-19 infection (i.e. two consecutive negative test results).
- By region, the 424 confirmed cases are distributed throughout BC as follows: Vancouver Coastal Health (230), Fraser Health (126), Island Health (37), Interior Health (27) and Northern Health (4).
- As of March 20, the number of tests administered was 17,912.
- There is clearly evident community spread of the COVID-19 virus (well beyond just incoming from people who have traveled and returned to Canada.
WHO now sets the Global Risk Level at ‘Very High’.
==== NOTES
Parliament was suspended until April 20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as voted upon Friday March 13 in the House of Commons. But now there is a special one-day session on Tuesday March 24 with legislation to allow release of $82 billion for individuals, families, and businesses through various delivery mechanisms.