New York: Global coronavirus cases exceeded 12 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as evidence mounts of the airborne spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.
The number of cases is triple that of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to the World Health Organization.
Many hard-hit countries are easing lockdowns put in place to slow the spread of the novel virus, while others, such as China and Australia, implement another round of shutdowns in response to a resurgence in infections.
Experts say alterations to work and social life could last until a vaccine is available. The first case was reported in China in early January and it took 149 days to hit 6 million cases. It has taken less than a third of that time – just 39 days – to double to 12 million cases, the tally shows.
There have been more than 546,000 deaths linked to the virus so far, within the same range as the number of yearly influenza deaths reported worldwide. The first death was reported on Jan. 10 in Wuhan, China before infections and fatalities surged in Europe and then later in the United States.
Meanwhile, the US city of Tulsa has witnessed a sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases after President Donald Trump held his re-election campaign rally on June 20 amid the pandemic, authorities said.
This week saw high numbers of confirmed cases being reported in the second largest city in Oklahoma state, with nearly 500 new infections in two days, Xinhua news agency quoted Bruce Dart, executive director of the Tulsa Health Department, as saying to the media on Wednesday.
The Tulsa Health Department reported 266 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number in the county to 4,571.
There are 17,894 cases in Oklahoma and 452 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
When asked if the cases in Tulsa were going up due to the rally on June 20, Dart said that there were several large events a little over two weeks ago. I guess we just connect the dots, Dart was quoted as saying.
The President’s rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask, and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CNN.
About 6,200 people attended the rally in an indoor arena, according to the Tulsa Fire Department.
Most of them didn’t wear a mask during the rally. All of Trump’s campaign staffers who attended the rally went into quarantine, however, after interacting with several colleagues who later tested positive for the virus.
Multiple Secret Service officers were also instructed to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues who were on site for the rally tested positive.