![coronavirus spreading outside china](https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e568575fee23d599e44fe16-2200/coronavirus%20spreading%20outside%20china.jpg)
Andrea Pattaro/AFP via Getty Images
A young tourist wearing a protective facemask and a carnival mask visits the streets of Venice, on February 24, 2020.
- COVID-19 is spreading around the globe rapidly. It's now on every continent, except Antarctica.
- In China, however, the spread of the virus is steadily slowing, a sign that the country's $4 might've worked.
- The number of new cases of COVID-19 being diagnosed outside China now exceeds the number of cases diagnosed inside the country where the illness originated.
- $4.
COVID-19 is rapidly spreading around the globe. It's $4 (save Antarctica) with first cases diagnosed recently in $4, and Algeria.
"Yesterday, the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus $4. "The primary objective of all countries with cases must be to contain the virus."
In China, the country where the virus originally $4 in December 2019, transmission of the novel coronavirus peaked at the beginning of February, and has been on a steady decline ever since.
Outside Hubei province (where the virus originated) just 10 cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in China on Tuesday. But in Italy, more than 370 people are now infected. Iran, where the virus was just introduced last week, has tallied $4 so far. That is the largest number of fatalities outside of Hubei province, where more than 2,600 people are dead.
Scientists aren't sure yet exactly how deadly COVID-19 really is, because it's such a new bug, but initial estimates from inside Hubei province suggest the fatality rate $4. That is startlingly higher than the death rate of seasonal influenza, and $4, which killed off a third of the world's population.
COVID-19 seems to hit the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions especially hard (it's not been diagnosed $4 yet). $4 are vulnerable too.
The virus is most often transmitted through close contact, such as between partners, and in households and crowded $4. That's why it's most important to wash your hands with soap and water ($4 "happy birthday to you" twice), and avoid touching your face, especially around the eyes, nose and mouth, where virus particles could sneak their way inside the body.
![A chemist wears a protective mask as she waits for customers in a pharmacy in San Fiorano, one of the towns on lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.](https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e567ad3fee23d54fc46f8d9-2000/2020-02-26t132142z107321208rc2d8f9jtc3srtrmadp3china-health-italy-red-zone-diary.jpg)
Marzio Toniolo / Reuters
A chemist wears a protective mask as she waits for customers in a pharmacy in San Fiorano, one of the Italian towns on lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.
"All countries, whether they have cases or not, must prepare for a potential pandemic," Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "We are not just fighting to contain a virus and save lives. We are also in a fight to contain the social and economic damage a global pandemic could do."
Featured Digital Health Articles:
- Telehealth Industry: Benefits, Services & Examples
- Value-Based Care Model: Pay-for-Performance Healthcare
- Senior Care & Assisted Living Market Trends
- Smart Medical Devices: Wearable Tech in Healthcare
- AI in Healthcare
- Remote Patient Monitoring Industry: Devices & Market Trends