Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Worldwide Tops 125,000 in 118 Countries – 4,613 Deaths

WHO Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Situation Report 52

• Four new countries/territories/areas (French Polynesia, Turkey, Honduras, and Côte d’Ivoire) have reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
• The Clinical Unit continues to convene clinicians around the globe, twice weekly by teleconference (COVID-19 Clinical Network) to share knowledge and experiences from clinicians caring for COVID-19 patients and highlight operational challenges and technical questions. For more details, please see ‘subject in focus’.
• At the Member States information session held today, WHO Director-General reiterated that countries should not give up on stopping the outbreak now that WHO has characterized it as a pandemic. A shift from containment to mitigation would be wrong and dangerous. This is a controllable pandemic. For detailed information, please see here.
• On March 11, ICAO and WHO issued a joint statement to remind all stakeholders of the importance of existing regulations and guidance. For more information, please see here.

Risk Assessment

China: Very High

Regional Level: Very High

Global Level: Very High

Coronavirus Situation in Numbers

Globally

• • 125,048 confirmed cases (6,729 new)
  • 4,613 deaths (321 new)

China

• • 80,981 confirmed cases (26 new)
  • 3,173 deaths (11 new)

Outside of China

• • 44,067 confirmed cases (6,703 new)
  • 117 countries/territories (4 new)
  • 1,440 deaths (310 new)

Situation In Focus: Clinical Case Management – Update

The Clinical Unit continues to convene clinicians around the globe, twice weekly by teleconference (COVID-19 Clinical Network) to share knowledge and experiences from clinicians caring for COVID-19 patients and highlight operational challenges and technical questions. There are over 30 countries represented on this call.

The major clinical challenge reported is the severity of the disease. A recent surge in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation has strained some health systems and exhausted biomedical supplies and staff. This has highlighted the need to better support health systems become ready for such a surge in cases. Thus, the team alongside our logistic colleagues and partners are developing a Clinical Concept of Operations intended to guide countries with surge decision -making, and tools to accelerate the availability of oxygen and biomedical equipment.

In addition, the Clinical unit is regularly updating other products for clinical case management:

• The updated Clinical Management Guidance for COVID-19. This will include more detailed information about the care of patients with mild and severe illness, young children, pregnant and postpartum women, and information about breastfeeding. To be released on 13 March 2020.
• TheWHO Clinical Care Training materials continue to be available onopenwho.org.This covers an approach to clinical care from pre-triage/triage, diagnosis/testing and critical care interventions, such as lung protective ventilation.
• The Global COVID-19 Clinical Data Platform continues to collect core clinical data from hospitalized patients to inform understanding of clinical natural history and severity.

Countries, territories or areas with reported laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, March 12, 2020

Recommendations and Advice for the Public

If you are not in an area where COVID-19 is spreading, or if you have not traveled from one of those areas or have not been in close contact with someone who has and is feeling unwell, your chances of getting it are currently low. However, it’s understandable that you may feel stressed and anxious about the situation. It’s a good idea to get the facts to help you accurately determine your risks so that you can take reasonable precautions.

Your healthcare provider, your national public health authority and your employer are all potential sources of accurate information on COVID-19 and whether it is in your area. It is important to be informed of the situation where you live and take appropriate measures to protect yourself.

If you are in an area where there is an outbreak of COVID-19 you need to take the risk of infection seriously. Follow the advice issued by national and local health authorities. Although for most people COVID-19 causes only mild illness, it can make some people very ill. More rarely, the disease can be fatal. Older people, and those with pre-existing medical conditions (such as high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes) appear to be more vulnerable.