Health and Healthcare

Bing COVID-19 Tracker 5/29/2020 (6:42 AM): India's Figures Low?

24/7 Wall St. Staff

Published: May 29, 2020 6:43 am

According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 5,803,416. Active cases rose by 59,369 to 3,044,378 and are 53% of the total of confirmed cases worldwide. Recovered cases totaled 2,399,247, which is up 49,649. The total active case growth rate topped the recovered case growth rate, a poor sign, at least for a day.

Global fatal cases have hit 359,791, up 4,216, which fortunately is a decrease in the rate of new deaths compared to the day before. They are now 6.2% of the world’s confirmed case total. At the current rate, global deaths could reach 400,000 in less than two weeks.

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases in the United States have reached 1,758,422, which is 31% of the world’s total. Active cases in America numbered 1,276,939, higher by 14,797, and recovered cases were 378,566, up 6,611 from yesterday. The active case increase is over two times that of recovered cases.

Fatal cases in America reached 102,917, a gain of 1,155 in a day. They are 29% of the world’s total fatalities and 6% of U.S. confirmed cases. On March 31, the White House forecast deaths would hit between 100,000 and 240,000 before early August. At the current rate of growth, the figure will be near the middle of that range.

Mississippi and Alabama Heat Up

Mississippi and Alabama largely had been spared high COVID-19 case and death counts. That has started to change.

Total confirmed cases in Mississippi hit 14,372, and active cases are at 13,679, or 305 higher than a day ago. That increase is nearly as high as hard-hit Michigan, where active cases rose 368 to 50,642. Coronavirus fatalities in Mississippi grew by 23 to 693, while Michigan’s death count rose by 38 to 5,372.

Alabama has 16,530 confirmed cases. The number of its active cases hit 15,939, which is higher by 490. Deaths totaled 591, an increase of eight.

Experts believe the Alabama increase is due to the “reopening” of the state. An increase in testing may be another reason.

Mississippi’s increase in cases is also tied to the state opening up. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state’s health officer, said, “Every county is one wild weekend from falling off the cliff.”

The experiences in Mississippi and Alabama will lead to more debate about how quickly states should ease restrictions on social distancing.

India’s Extremely Low Case Count

India is the second-largest nation in the world as ranked by population, at 1,326,093,247. However, it ranks only 10th in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 166,113. Just 4,713 deaths have been reported, and with a gain of 173 in a day, the count is not rising quickly.

India’s increase in cases and deaths are on a sharp rise, according to the nation’s health care leaders. The raw numbers do not entirely support that for a nation of its size. India may entirely reopen its economy within two days. If that happens, there are worries that cases and deaths will spike much higher.

India’s low figures also raise the question of whether a nation as vast and crowded in its largest cities can keep an accurate count of COVID-19 figures.