Coronavirus Hits 100,000 Cases and More Deaths Than 9/11 Terror Attacks
- Official coronavirus cases have topped 100,000. It’s a terrible milestone for the highly contagious infection.
- The official death toll for COVID-19 of 3,488 means coronavirus has now claimed more lives than the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.
- Experts say the pandemic could get much worse.
While health authorities and financial markets scramble to contain the damage from coronavirus, the official case total worldwide crossed 100,000 on Friday.
But the highly infectious virus could spread much further. A leading infectious-disease scientist advising the WHO warned that over five billion people could ultimately contract the virus.
Coronavirus Pandemic By The Numbers
The official coronavirus case total soared past 100,000 Friday to 101,917.
Mainland China accounts for 80,651 of those cases.
Neighboring South Korea’s case total is 6,593.
In Iran, the hardest-hit Middle Eastern country, the case total crossed 4,747.
Meanwhile, Europe’s worst outbreak has infected 4,636 in Italy.
While coronavirus has taken some time to pollinate over to the United States, now that it’s in the Lower 48, the virus is beginning to propagate rapidly.
There are currently 311 confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases, and 14 have died in the U.S. from COVID-19. Deaths in mainland China have surpassed 3,000, with 3,033 confirmed dead from COVID-19 by Friday. To put it in perspective, that’s more than the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Coronavirus is 12X more contagious than MERS and 3X more contagious than SARS.
But on the bright side, 57,376 patients have recovered from the infection as of Friday.
COVID-19 Effect on Markets By The Numbers
While the human toll of COVID-19 deaths cannot be compared to any amount of money, the coronavirus has shaken business and investor confidence and damaged the economy.
Researchers estimate that SARS cost the global economy $40 billion in 2003.
Oxford Economics warns the global economy could face as much as $1.1 trillion in lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic. But that might be a low estimate.
Data intelligence firm PredictHQ calculates canceled tech events (by companies like Alphabet and Facebook) may have already cost the economy $666 million.
In the last week of February, the swiftest and most unforgiving U.S. stock market correction in history wiped $3.6 trillion in market capitalization off the books.
While soaring valuations may have been the ultimate cause, coronavirus anxieties certainly catalyzed the selloff. The final impact of the pandemic on the U.S. and the world economy looks to be enormous.
This article was edited by Aaron Weaver.
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