Covid 19 news, myths, and fictions are everywhere hence I have been practicing restraints in producing “another” piece of content about the tragic Global pandemic. However, I have come across a few great sources of information (beyond the obvious W.H.O), which provide not only good data and clarity into the global situation hence I want to share them here.
1. Our World Data
I got to know ourworldindata.org through the recommendation by Kevin Rudd in his latest video about Covid 19 “The Impact of Coronavirus on China’s Economy, Politics, and the U.S.-China Relationship“.
Indeed this project is such a gem! I really like what they say about their mission “Our World in Data is about Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.”
Now back to Covid 19, Our World in Data uses information from W.H.O, European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) and produces this table to show the growth rate of this global pandemic
As you can see from the table, the situation is extremely dangerous in the US, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK.
It is critical to look at the number of confirmed cases per 1 million people in each country too since large countries may have more cases in absolute numbers.
If you ever wonder why taking temperature is being used so widely globally, it is because 90% of confirmed cases have fever as a symptom.
As for testing, I am surprised to learn that the UAE is leading the world when it comes to the number of Covid 19 tests per 1 million people, followed by South Korea and Australia. The US is as expected ranks very low in comparison.
There is a lot more relevant and meaningful information on their site so I won’t reproduce them here. I encourage you to visit the site and take a look for yourselves.
2. Imperial College London
Again this is another recommendation from Kevin Rudd in the same video. I visited the site and found that reading this report COVID-19: Imperial researchers model likely impact of public health measures is important to understand why the UK government is making certain decisions based on the model.
Net-net, we need a combination of measures, hard measures as a global community to overcome this challenge. And even with these measures, it is likely that we are in this pandemic for at least another year. Obviously the situation is dynamic so go back and check their website often.
3. Strong leadership messages around the world
PM Lee Hsien Loong message to Singaporeans on Mar 12.
Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the nation on increasing coronavirus threat with English voiceover.
Hope everyone stays safe!
Chandler