FILE PHOTO: Relatives of a person who died from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) arrive at a cemetery in Bergamo, Italy March 16, 2020.
As the coronavirus cases continues to escalate, Italy has officially surpassed China in the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, Thursday.
Amongst its 60 million citizens, the European country has already recorded 3,405 deaths, whilst China, whose population is 20 times larger than Italy has only recorded 3,245 deaths. On the same night, Italy has also reached an estimated of 41,000 infections.
According to health authorities, the high death toll in Italy may be caused by the large population of elderly people who are particularly susceptible and more vulnerable to critical complications from the disease.
Italy comprises the world's second-oldest population and the majority of the COVID-19 fatalities, specifically 87% were in the ages over 70.
A virologist at Germany's Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, implied that the healthcare system of Italy has collapsed which resulted to the high death rate.
China reports no new coronavirus cases
Meanwhile in China, the ground zero of pandemic, marked a major turning point in the global combat against the coronavirus after they reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases for the first time since the virus emerged in Wuhan.
During a news conference held on Thursday, China's National Health Commission officials announced that there were only 34 new cases that have been recorded in the past 24 hours, all of these were from overseas and were not locally transmitted. They also added that aside from eight deaths, there were no new cases, locally or imported, that were reported in Hubei last Wednesday.
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Such milestone was held up by Chinese authorities as evidence of the ongoing success of China's efforts in containing and controlling the outbreak, despite previous allegations that local officials were mishandling the outbreak. This situation is a long shot from the thousands of daily cases that were reported in the country, when it was considered the most high-risk area in the world, only a month ago.
During the early days of the outbreak, China struggled to control the spread of the virus, but the government imposed strict travel restrictions to its citizens, and in cities which were hardly hit by the virus, lockdowns were ordered and residents were prohibited from leaving their homes for a month. Because of this, millions of Chinese were trapped inside their homes, which also took a toll on the country's economy which saw a steep decline in the past weeks.
However, the draconian quarantine measures proved effective and brings us to this days milestone where no new cases were reported in the country.
Learning from China
Despite the developments and lessened danger in China, the global infection rate continues to shoot up. Countries all over the globe are still struggling to battle the fast-expanding outbreak, even with their continues efforts to mitigate the spread of the disease.
As of Thursday, the World Health Organization has reported that there are already more than 218,800 people that have been infected by the virus, which is already more than twice the number of cases just two weeks ago.
In connection to this, some countries have already enacted policies that are similar to those that have been imposed in China. Italy, France and the Philippines have already placed millions of their citizens under full or partial lockdowns.
With their coronavirus situation already improving, Beijing has already begun to send aid and supplies to other countries who to this day are still heavily infected by the pandemic.
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