As of 8 am, May 15, 2020:
Worldwide: 4,413,597 cases, 1,578,135 recoveries
There are now 4,413,597 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 worldwide. The United States has the highest number of cases, with 1,444,256 infections, followed by Russia (252,245) and the United Kingdom (233,151).
Death toll surpasses 300,000
There have been 300,798 deaths worldwide from coronavirus-related causes. The US also accounts for the highest number of deaths out of all countries with 86,465 infections followed by the United Kingdom at 33,614 and Italy at 31,368 cases.
1,578,135 people worldwide have recovered from Covid-19.
Singapore: 752 additional cases, 1,164 discharged from hospital, 1 new cluster
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on May 14 that there are 752 new Covid-19 cases in the country. Singapore now has a total of 26,098 confirmed cases. The country saw a 24-hour all-time high of 1,164 people being discharged from hospital. A total of 5,964 individuals have recovered, which is over one-fifth of all confirmed cases.
Among active cases, 19,032 people are recovering in community facilities and are showing only mild symptoms or are waiting for tests to show they have recovered fully from the virus. There are 1,072 people under treatment in hospitals, with 20 in critical condition in intensive care units.
The country’s death count remains at 21, with nine others who tested positive for Covid-19 dying of other causes.
Singapore also has only one new infection cluster: 2 Perumal Road, with 11 confirmed coronavirus cases.
UK: Inflammatory disease linked to coronavirus found in up to 100 children
Up to 100 children in the UK have fallen ill with a rare inflammatory disease linked to Covid-19, with one 14-year-old dying of it. The condition is being called “multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children,” with cases in New York and other places in Europe also reported and is similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare juvenile condition. “We believe it’s where the body’s immune system overreacts to coronavirus… The important thing to say is most are being treated well, many are going home, most haven’t gone to intensive care units,” said the President of the Royal College of Pediatrics.
Brazil has the 6th highest Covid-19 cases in the world, but its president says a lockdown is a path to failure
Jair Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil, has warned against a lockdown which he says will result in an economic fallout for the country. “This story about lockdown, closing everything, that is not the path. That is the path to failure, to breaking Brazil,” he said, adding that such a measure would mean “Brazil is turning into a country of poor people. There won’t be enough money to pay public sector workers.”
Mr Bolsonaro said this even as Brazil recorded a record number of new confirmed coronavirus cases, and now has the sixth-highest number of cases in the world, with a total of 192,081 infections. There have been 13,276 people in Brazil who have died from coronavirus-related causes.
WHO: Mental health crisis could come next
The head of the mental health department of the World Health Organization (WHO), Devora Kestel, has said that a mental health crisis could be in the works, due to “the isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil” of the coronavirus crisis. She warned that a surge of severe mental illnesses may happen especially for healthcare workers and children. Ms Kestel added, “The mental health and well-being of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis and are a priority to be addressed urgently.”
Bangladesh: First cases of Covid-19 reported in Rohingya refugee camps
There are now two people infected with the coronavirus among the Rohingya Muslims in refugee camps in Bangladesh, sparking fears of a widespread outbreak amongst the camps’ crowded conditions. There are around one million refugees in Bangladeshi camps. One thousand people have been put under quarantine due to exposure to the infected patients.—/TISG
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