Epidemiology

By George Gilson

During Greece's decade-long economic depression in which 25 percent of GDP was lost and the harsh austerity imposed by creditors broke the back of society, much was written about the biggest collateral damage wrought by the financial crisis.

Health Minister Nelu Tataru said on Monday in Galati that precautions and social distancing must be further kept in place, because "we still have three weeks ahead" of an upward trend of the coronavirus pandemic statistics.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed Italy's for the highest in the world, surpassing 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt.

As the Easter holiday approaches, world leaders and health officials are fervently warning that the hard-won gains in the fight against the coronavirus must not be jeopardized by relaxing social distancing.

A spike in deaths in Britain and New York and surges of reported new infections in Japan and in India's congested cities make it clear that the battle is far from over.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, the number of deaths increased by 246, Reuters reports.
A total of 2.349 people have died since the outbreak of the epidemic in Germany.

Turkish data scientists have launched an online portal to document the emotional impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on people.

Visitors can write notes on coronaletters.com sharing how they are feeling during self-isolation.

Greece's leftist opposition is calling for growth-minded, or what is sometimes described as "front-heavy," measures to support the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

However, at this point in time, no one quite knows what the starting point is in order to be able to define what lies before and what lies after, back and front.

Germany has drawn up a list of measures, including an obligation to wear masks in public, limits on public gatherings and the rapid tracing of infection chains, that officials think should allow life to return to normal after lockdown's scheduled end on April 19.

A doctor in France recently made the most haunting comment, saying that the coronavirus is "extinguishing the elderly like candles."

Google will publish data on the location of its users around the world today to allow governments to evaluate the effectiveness of the social distance measures introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the company said.