One of the things that I have been trying to keep up with is the emergence of the virus in countries that aren’t hitting the headlines yet. All the below are from the JHU tracker.
For example, here’s Saudi Arabia-
It’s still in the rapid growth phase, as are a number of other countries in the middle east- we could well be seeing another international hotspot for the disease here, like in Europe and the US.
Here are the stats for the other countries in this local cluster:
Here’s Qatar:
Egypt:
UAE:
And Kuwait
In South America, we have a similar story. You’ve all heard about the situation in Brazil, but there are a number of south and central American countries which are also seeing the number of cases climb relentlessly:
There’s Peru:
Ecuador, where the reporting is dominated by a huge update in cases in a single day, but still has a rising trend-
Chile:
And Mexico:
You’re more likely to hear about the larger countries, Especially where things aren’t going well. For instance, Russia just recorded over 10k new cases in a day:
And the outbreak continues to pick up in the Indian subcontinent, with India, Bangladesh and Pakistan all still on the upward curve.
India:
Pakistan:
Bangladesh
This parade of similar looking graph tells the story that is not yet getting to the top of our news bulletins. This pandemic is starting to grow strongly in the global south. In countries which are poorer and less able to cope with the surge in infections that it brings in its wake. And these are only reported figures. As we have already seen in our own countries, for each detected case there are many others that pass under our radar, less symptomatic or simply never entering the system.
And as with all stories based on data, there is another story playing out in the data that isn’t there. Is a lack of diagnoses due to a lack of cases, or a lack of capacity to test, or a lack of willingness to test.
And yet again, as is always the case in a story based on data, the story isn’t about data. It’s about people.
Stay safe everyone.
