COVID-19 cases worldwide as of April 5, 2020, by country

As of April 5, 2020, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had been confirmed in around 206 countries or territories. The virus had infected 1,205,801 people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled 64,975. The most severely affected countries include the U.S., Italy, Spain, and China.

COVID-19: background information

COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that had not previously been identified in humans. The first case was detected in the Hubei province of China at the end of December 2019. Thousands of new cases are being reported each day, and because the illness has only recently been detected, it is not known exactly how the virus is spreading from person to person. However, the outbreak of the SARS coronavirus, which began in 2002, is thought to have spread via cough and sneeze droplets.

Naming the coronavirus disease

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that can be transmitted between animals and people, causing illnesses that may range from the common cold to more severe respiratory syndromes. In February 2020, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses and the World Health Organization announced official names for both the virus and the disease it causes: SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, respectively. The name of the disease is derived from the words corona, virus, and disease, while the number 19 represents the year that it emerged.