INDIANAPOLIS —More than 5,000 people around the world have died after testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), but thousands more have fully recovered after being diagnosed.
John Hopkins University has been tracking cases of the coronavirus around the world and has even released a resource center and map to show the spread. According to their numbers, roughly 3.7% of tested and confirmed cases of COVID-19 have resulted in death. Health officials suspect that number is actually a little high, considering there are some very mild cases that will likely never be tested or reported. And it may seem high, especially in comparison to the flu, but it also means that over 96% of all people who do test positive for COVID-19 will make a full recovery.
CORONAVIRUS IN INDIANA | Everything you need to know
As of Friday morning, more than 137,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed around the globe. Of those cases, more than 5,000 people have died, but more than 69,000 people have fully recovered.
That's not to say coronavirus shouldn't be taken seriously. As more cases are diagnosed and the numbers continue to go up in each category, the virus appears to have a distinctive trend on where and who it impacts. Most people who develop the virus, according to health officials, tend to have mild symptoms and eventually fully recover. The people health officials are most concerned about are the ones who the healthy patients can unknowingly pass the virus on to - the elderly and those with weakened immune systems - their ability to fight off the virus is significantly lower and the death range among that group of people is much higher.
MAP | Coronavirus Numbers Around the Globe
According to the CDC, reports out of China — where more than 80,000 people have tested positive for the virus — indicate that 80% of cases were mild and people recovered from the illness. But there were still 15-20% of cases where the patient developed serious and sometimes life-threatening symptoms.
Of those cases, only 2% were under 19 years of age and a large majority of the patients have been 60 years and higher — especially those who developed serious symptoms.
In China, more than 3,000 people have died, but an more than 51,000 people have fully recovered.
In the United States, those numbers are still being collected and the data from the patients who have tested positive and died is being analyzed to see where the biggest impact of the outbreak appears to be.
As with any developing situation, the numbers are subject to change as the spread and impact continues to be evaluated and understood. Thousands of new cases are being reported each day - and there is no way to track how many cases are going unaccounted for. Below is a graph from John Hopkins University that gives a radical impression of not only the increase in cases, but the way they spike in the communities and countries they impact.
As new numbers are shared and the experts weigh in on the developing nature of the coronavirus COVID-19 we will continue to bring you the latest updates and important facts. You can see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak along with the latest news from around the country online at www.theindychannel.com/coronavirus.
