• March 20, 2020
• views
• Print

Italy now has more COVID-19 deaths than China

Deaths from COVID-19 in Italy surged by 427 on Thursday, 19 March, bringing the toll to 3,405. Italy has now had more deaths from the lethal coronavirus than China, which has a population 20 times larger than Italy’s. The day before yesterday, Italy saw a record 475 fatalities from the disease, the largest number yet within the span of 24 hours.

The pandemic’s epicentre has truly shifted to the West, with Italy exceeding 41,000 total infections. Spain’s and Germany’s figures are also rising fairly quickly, with over 18,000 and more than 15,000 infections, respectively. The disease is also hitting France hard, with nearly 11,000 infections to date.

In the United States, cases are also surging as it has now passed the 14,000 mark in the number of cases. 

On the same day that Italy passed China’s death toll, the city of Wuhan in China – where the virus was first recorded three months ago – reported zero new infections. Many take this as proof that China’s draconian lockdowns are taking effect in stopping the virus’s spread.