As of early April, there are over one million cases of coronavirus around the world. From Italy, to South Korea, to Spain, and to our very own United States of America. With the mass hysteria going around the world, and all of us blockaded in our homes, we keep hearing about the latest tragedies related to the virus, but the news seems to want to gloss over what the rest of the world is doing to combat the virus.

Italy is easily one of the countries most affected by COVID-19, with over 197,000 cases and almost 65,000 people dead. However, Italy reported on April 5th its lowest death toll in two weeks, so from what it looks like the curve has reached a plateau in Italy. With hope of that plateau to start descending, researchers are starting to discuss the next phase of the plan to further halt COVID-19. 

Germany, with over 155,000 cases, has a surprisingly low death toll, with only 5,750 deaths in the country, and almost 115,000 people recovered. Business Insider has attributed this low death toll with Germany jumping on containing the spread early on. In late February, Germany extended school and daycare facilities and required anyone with symptoms to self-quarantine, whether they were confirmed or not. In the government’s case, they immediately limited travel outside the country and started acquiring medical equipment while developing a testing system. While the virus spread, Germany also expanded their bed to 8.1 per 1000, while many developed countries around the world still have around 1-2 per 1,000.

Taiwan, despite the World Health Organization (WHO) not officially informing it about the pandemic, is preventing the spread of COVID-19 remarkably well, with only 429 cases and six deaths. One would think it would be higher, considering how close proximity wise China is to Taiwan, but the Taiwanese government has been taking measures to contain and prevent the virus from gaining a foothold on the island country since late December 2019. Despite WHO providing no aid to Taiwan, who does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country, the small country has been screening for the virus since January, and has had many hospital beds ready. The government had also put in place early travel restrictions and bans against Chinese people entering Taiwan and cruise ships that had recently docked in China docking in Taiwan. It seems that all these measures put in place, despite the lack of help from the World Health Organization, has proved to be highly effective at tackling the global crisis proliferating the world.

Here’s a constantly updating map of COVID-19 around the globe:

Google COVID-19 map