Coronavirus: Six months after pandemic declared, where are the global hotspots?

A health worker takes a swab sample for a coronavirus test in New Delhi, India - 9 September 2020

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with nearly 30 million confirmed cases in 188 countries and a death toll fast approaching one million.

Six months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic, the virus is surging in many countries and some that had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks are also seeing infections rise again.

However, the number of confirmed cases during the spring peak is likely to be an underestimate of the true level of infection, as widespread testing was not available in many countries earlier in the year.

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Confirmed cases around the world

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Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies

Figures last updated 11 September 2020, 09:28 BST

Note: The map, table and animated bar chart in this page use a different source for figures for France from that used by Johns Hopkins University, which results in a slightly lower overall total. US figures do not include Puerto Rico, Guam or the US Virgin Islands.

Where are cases and deaths rising?

Asia is the continent currently seeing the highest number of daily confirmed cases.

India now has the second largest number of confirmed cases in the world, behind the US, and is seeing about 90,000 cases per day at the moment.

The surge comes as the government continues to lift restrictions to try to boost the economy, but is also a reflection of increased testing - as daily tests have risen to more than a million.

Given the size of its population, India has a low death rate from Covid-19. But nearly 1,000 deaths have been recorded every day from across the country since 2 September.

In Latin America, Brazil has the highest number of deaths, with about 130,000 so far. It has also recorded more than four million cases, the third highest in the world.

Newly confirmed cases in the region are also rising in Argentina, which now has more than half a million in total.

In the Middle East, Iran has been badly affected by the virus and documents leaked to the BBC Persian service suggest the death toll there is more than double the official total of about 23,000. Neighbouring Iraq has also seen a spike in cases.

Cases are also continuing to rise in Indonesia and the country has recorded nearly 9,000 deaths - the highest number in South East Asia.

Africa has recorded more than a million confirmed cases, although the true extent of the pandemic in the continent is not known. Testing rates are reported to be low, which could distort official estimates, but South Africa and Egypt have seen the largest recorded outbreaks there so far.

Coronavirus cases rising again in Europe

Several European countries are recording a rising number of daily cases amid fears of a resurgence of the virus.

Hans Kluge, the director general of the WHO's Europe office, has likened Covid-19 to a "tornado with a long tail" and warned that rising cases among young people could spread the disease to more vulnerable older people.

A number of European countries have re-imposed local lockdowns in their worst-affected regions, and there have been renewed appeals for people to wear face coverings and follow social distancing rules.

The pattern of rising infections following the end of lockdown restrictions is not limited to Europe.

Other countries that have seen a resurgence of the virus include Peru, Israel, South Korea and Australia.

In the table below, countries can be reordered by deaths, death rate and total cases. In the coloured bars on the right-hand side, countries in which cases have risen to more than 5,000 per day are those with black bars on the relevant date.

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*Deaths per 100,000 people

US 191,238 58.5 6,357,902
Brazil 129,522 61.8 4,238,446
India 76,271 5.6 4,562,414
Mexico 69,649 55.2 652,364
UK 41,608 62.0 358,138
Italy 35,587 58.7 283,180
France 30,794 47.4 344,101
Peru 30,344 94.9 710,067
Spain 29,699 63.6 554,143
Iran 22,798 27.9 395,488
Colombia 22,275 44.9 694,664
Russia 18,207 12.5 1,042,836
South Africa 15,265 26.4 644,438
Chile 11,781 62.9 428,669
Argentina 10,907 24.6 524,198
Ecuador 10,749 62.9 113,206
Belgium 9,917 86.4 90,568
Germany 9,346 11.2 258,851
Canada 9,213 24.8 136,956
Indonesia 8,456 3.2 207,203
Iraq 7,814 20.3 278,418
Bolivia 7,193 63.4 124,205
Turkey 6,895 8.4 286,455
Pakistan 6,370 3.0 300,371
Netherlands 6,249 36.6 78,536
Sweden 5,843 58.6 86,194
Egypt 5,590 5.7 100,557
China 4,733 0.3 90,127
Bangladesh 4,634 2.9 332,970
Saudi Arabia 4,189 12.4 323,720
Philippines 4,066 3.8 248,947
Romania 4,065 20.8 99,684
Ukraine 3,132 7.1 152,290
Guatemala 2,918 16.9 80,306
Poland 2,159 5.7 72,453
Panama 2,127 50.9 99,715
Honduras 2,049 21.4 65,802
Switzerland 2,020 23.7 45,711
Dominican Republic 1,926 18.1 101,716
Portugal 1,852 18.1 62,126
Ireland 1,781 37.0 30,360
Kazakhstan 1,634 8.9 106,661
Algeria 1,591 3.8 47,488
Morocco 1,491 4.1 79,767
Afghanistan 1,420 3.8 38,572
Japan 1,416 1.1 74,129
Moldova 1,106 27.3 41,704
Israel 1,077 12.8 146,542
Nigeria 1,075 0.5 55,829
Kyrgyzstan 1,061 16.8 44,684
Ethiopia 974 0.9 62,578
Armenia 909 30.8 45,503
Sudan 833 2.0 13,437
Australia 797 3.2 26,565
El Salvador 777 12.1 26,688
Oman 762 15.8 88,337
Austria 748 8.4 31,247
Belarus 732 7.7 73,591
Serbia 729 10.4 32,136
Bulgaria 706 10.0 17,598
Bosnia and Herzegovina 680 20.5 22,544
North Macedonia 637 30.6 15,414
Hungary 631 6.5 10,909
Denmark 629 10.9 18,924
Kenya 612 1.2 35,603
Yemen 580 2.0 2,003
Costa Rica 567 11.3 52,549
Kuwait 556 13.4 92,822
Azerbaijan 556 5.6 37,874
Kosovo 488 26.4 12,683
Paraguay 485 7.0 25,631
Venezuela 460 1.6 57,823
Czech Republic 448 4.2 32,413
Cameroon 415 1.6 20,009
United Arab Emirates 398 4.1 76,911
Uzbekistan 375 1.2 45,927
South Korea 350 0.7 21,919
Libya 339 5.1 20,939
Finland 337 6.1 8,469
Albania 324 11.2 10,860
Nepal 317 1.1 50,465
Zambia 300 1.7 13,214
Greece 297 2.8 12,452
Senegal 293 1.8 14,150
Ghana 283 1.0 45,313
Norway 265 5.0 11,867
DR Congo 262 0.3 10,343
Zimbabwe 222 1.5 7,453
Lebanon 219 3.2 22,437
Haiti 215 1.9 8,429
Madagascar 208 0.8 15,624
Croatia 208 5.0 12,917
Bahrain 207 13.2 58,207
Qatar 205 7.4 121,052
Palestinian Territories 198 4.1 28,664
Malawi 176 1.0 5,655
Mauritania 161 3.7 7,222
Syria 147 0.9 3,416
Nicaragua 144 2.2 4,818
Slovenia 135 6.5 3,389
Angola 130 0.4 3,217
Malaysia 128 0.4 9,628
Mali 128 0.7 2,909
Luxembourg 124 20.5 7,088
Ivory Coast 119 0.5 18,869
Montenegro 114 18.2 6,222
Cuba 106 0.9 4,551
Gambia 100 4.4 3,330
Tunisia 99 0.9 5,882
Eswatini 98 8.6 4,994
Somalia 97 0.6 3,371
Namibia 96 3.9 9,256
Suriname 93 16.1 4,477
Lithuania 86 3.1 3,199
Equatorial Guinea 83 6.3 4,990
Congo 83 1.6 4,891
Liberia 82 1.7 1,315
Chad 79 0.5 1,051
Tajikistan 72 0.8 8,939
Sierra Leone 72 0.9 2,069
Niger 69 0.3 1,178
Estonia 64 4.8 2,600
Guinea 63 0.5 9,946
French Guiana 63 22.3 9,462
Bahamas 63 16.3 2,721
Central African Republic 62 1.3 4,747
Djibouti 61 6.4 5,394
Thailand 58 0.1 3,461
Burkina Faso 56 0.3 1,486
Gabon 53 2.5 8,621
Andorra 53 68.8 1,301
South Sudan 49 0.4 2,555
Guyana 49 6.3 1,750
Uganda 48 0.1 4,291
Channel Islands 48 28.2 631
Uruguay 45 1.3 1,759
Cape Verde 43 7.9 4,557
Trinidad and Tobago 43 3.1 2,698
San Marino 42 124.3 722
Jamaica 40 1.4 3,511
Mayotte 40 15.4 3,374
Benin 40 0.3 2,242
Guinea-Bissau 39 2.1 2,275
Slovakia 37 0.7 5,066
Togo 37 0.5 1,537
Latvia 35 1.8 1,448
Vietnam 35 0.0 1,059
Maldives 31 6.0 8,900
Mozambique 31 0.1 4,832
Lesotho 31 1.5 1,164
Singapore 27 0.5 57,229
New Zealand 24 0.5 1,793
Isle of Man 24 28.5 337
Guadeloupe 23 5.8 2,287
Rwanda 22 0.2 4,479
Cyprus 22 1.8 1,517
Tanzania 21 0.0 509
Jordan 20 0.2 2,739
Georgia 19 0.5 1,917
Belize 19 5.0 1,399
Saint Martin 19 51.0 530
Martinique 18 4.8 939
Aruba 16 15.1 2,819
Sao Tome and Principe 15 7.1 901
Réunion 14 1.6 2,510
Myanmar 14 0.0 2,265
Malta 14 3.2 2,204
Diamond Princess cruise ship 13 712
Sri Lanka 12 0.1 3,155
Botswana 10 0.4 2,252
Iceland 10 3.0 2,157
Mauritius 10 0.8 361
Bermuda 9 14.3 177
Taiwan 7 0.0 496
Comoros 7 0.8 456
Barbados 7 2.4 180
Turks and Caicos Islands 5 13.3 638
Papua New Guinea 5 0.1 507
Brunei 3 0.7 145
Antigua and Barbuda 3 3.1 95
Fiji 2 0.2 32
MS Zaandam cruise ship 2 9
Burundi 1 0.0 469
Cayman Islands 1 1.6 208
Monaco 1 2.6 165
Curaçao 1 0.6 131
Liechtenstein 1 2.6 109
British Virgin Islands 1 3.4 63
Montserrat 1 20.0 13
Western Sahara 1 0.2 10
French Polynesia 0 0.0 857
Faroe Islands 0 0.0 415
Eritrea 0 0.0 361
Gibraltar 0 0.0 323
Mongolia 0 0.0 311
Cambodia 0 0.0 274
Bhutan 0 0.0 238
Seychelles 0 0.0 137
St Vincent and the Grenadines 0 0.0 62
Timor-Leste 0 0.0 27
Saint Lucia 0 0.0 27
New Caledonia 0 0.0 26
Grenada 0 0.0 24
Dominica 0 0.0 24
Laos 0 0.0 23
Saint Barthelemy 0 0.0 21
Saint Kitts and Nevis 0 0.0 17
Greenland 0 0.0 14
Falkland Islands 0 0.0 13
Vatican 0 0.0 12
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 0 0.0 10
Anguilla 0 0.0 3

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This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals for each country.

** The past data for new cases is a three day rolling average. Due to revisions in the number of cases, an average cannot be calculated for this date.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies and UN population data

Figures last updated: 11 September 2020, 09:28 BST

Cases in the US have slowed after second surge

The US has recorded more than six million cases of coronavirus, almost a quarter of the world's total. It saw an increase in the number of daily cases in July, but the numbers have fallen since then.

With nearly 200,000 deaths, the US has the world's highest death toll.

A projection from the University of Washington suggests there could be more than 400,000 deaths by the end of the year, though it says this could be reduced to 290,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks in public.

The outbreak has had a devastating impact on the US economy, with GDP falling by a record rate of 33% in the three months from April to June.

How did coronavirus spread?

The virus, which causes the respiratory infection Covid-19, was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

The outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first months of 2020 and declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March.

A pandemic is when an infectious disease is passing easily from person to person in many parts of the world at the same time.

Europe and North America saw their first major outbreaks in April but as they began to ease, Latin America and Asia started seeing cases spike.

Governments across the world have been forced to limit public movement and close businesses and venues in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. This has had a devastating impact on the global economy.

The International Monetary Fund has said the world is in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression and warned that it could take two years for economic output to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The United Nations has said that up to 265 million people could face starvation by the end of the year because of the impact of Covid-19.

About this data

The data used on this page comes from a variety of sources. It includes figures collated by Johns Hopkins University, data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, national governments and health agencies, as well as UN data on populations.

When comparing figures from different countries it is important to bear in mind that not all governments are recording coronavirus cases and deaths in the same way. This makes like for like comparisons between countries difficult.

Other factors to consider include: different population sizes, the size of a country's elderly population or whether a particular country has a large amount of its people living in densely-populated areas. In addition, countries may be in different stages of the pandemic.

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