Health and Healthcare

Bing COVID-19 Tracker 6/17/2020 (7:24 AM): US Deaths Top 118,000

24/7 Wall St. Staff, Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: June 17, 2020 7:24 am

According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 8,176,296, up 140,932 since yesterday. The daily increase now is routinely above 100,000. Also, daily confirmed cases worldwide have started to grow more quickly than in most of the past few weeks. While confirmed case growth has slowed in the United States, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, it has picked up in Russia and Latin America.

Active cases worldwide number 3,775,994 and are 47% of the total of confirmed cases worldwide. Total global recovered cases rose by 83,574 to 3,956,537. They have started to move well ahead of active cases. And global fatal cases hit 443,765, after a 6,847 one-day gain. Deaths increased sharply from the day before and are just above 5% of the world’s confirmed cases total. Many experts believe the death count is much too low, largely because many developing nations cannot track or accurately count numbers.

Brazil, the second hardest hit nation after the United States, has 928,834 confirmed cases, a surge of 37,278. The figure likely will top a million in a few days. The nation reported 45,456 deaths, a one-day gain of 1,338.

Russia, the third hardest hit nation, posted a COVID-19 death increase of 194 to 7,478, and it has 553,301 confirmed cases, which is 7,843 higher.

India’s, the fourth hardest hit country, has a death count of 11,923, up sharply by 2,001. The confirmed cases added 10,653 to total 355,060. The Indian figure is almost certainly very low. The nation’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters that he expected the city of Delhi to have 550,000 cases by the end of July. Delhi has a population of 20 million, while India’s population is 1.353 billion. The infection rate across the nation is not uniform, but it is an indication that the confirmed case count for the country could be off.

Total confirmed cases in the United States have hit 2,179,687, higher by 23,878. That is 27% of the world’s total. The growth in confirmed COVID-19 cases is driven by a rise in several states, including Texas, Florida and California, the three largest states by population. Among them, they have over 27% of the U.S. population. Confirmed cases in California rose by 2,108 to 153,560. The state now ranks third in number of infections, having recently passed Illinois. In Texas, the confirmed case count has reached 93,206, up sharply by 4,098. In Florida, there are 80,109 confirmed cases, a one-day gain of 2,783. In New York, the hardest-hit state, confirmed cases reached 384,575, after a relatively smaller increase of 631.

Active COVID-19 cases in America totaled 1,381,022, and recovered cases were at 679,955, after a surge of 6,255. In a bad sign, the number of active cases is more than two times that of recovered cases.

American fatalities have reached 118,710. The increase of 900 is higher than the day before, and the number of deaths per day has been below 1,000 for most of the past two weeks. U.S. deaths are 27% of the world’s total. The carefully followed University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecast says U.S. deaths will top 200,000 by October 1.

Texas and Florida Likely to Increase U.S. Case Counts Sharply

Cases in Texas and Florida, the second and third states by population, have recently posted high upticks in COVID-19 cases. For months, the states with the highest confirmed case counts were New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Michigan is a good example of how confirmed case counts in these states have slowed. The number of confirmed cases there was up just 184 to 66,269.

Texas, with 93,206 confirmed cases, and Florida’s 80,109 have moved ahead of Pennsylvania at 79,483, Michigan, and Maryland at 62,409. Each is likely to top Massachusetts, which is at 105,885. Massachusetts was hit hard early due to infections in Boston. However, its infection rate has slowed. It was up only 195 to 105,885 in the past day.

Brazil Infections Surge

The University of Washington tracking models show there is a chance Brazil could surpass the United States in both confirmed cases and deaths by the end of July. That means both figures would have to double in that time. Confirmed cases in Brazil have hit 928,834, up by 37,278. Fatalities reached 45,456, or 1,338 higher. Again, the U.S. confirmed case count grew by 23,878 to 2,179,687, while deaths there rose 900 to 118,710.

Some outside experts believe that the Brazilian government has kept counts artificially low. Additionally, the country loosened its lockdown about two weeks ago. This may have contributed to the sharp rise in cases.