The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that began in Wuhan, China continues to spread across the globe. Many countries have enacted measures aimed at slowing the spread, but health authorities say new infections are still on the rise. The numbers seem to change every time you blink, but researchers at Johns Hopkins University have created a tool to track and visualize the outbreak in real-time. In a world where it’s easy to spread incorrect information, having an authoritative and easily digestible source like this can be essential.
Coronaviruses are a common cause of respiratory infections in humans — it’s one of the pathogens that can cause the “common cold.” However, some strains can be much more dangerous. For example, the 2003 SARS outbreak was a strain of coronavirus called SARS-CoV. The new strain has been dubbed COVID-19, and it has already spread much wider than SARS ever did. As of this writing, we’re nearing 200,000 global infections and over 7,000 deaths. These are just confirmed cases, too. The lack of testing kits in places like the US makes it hard to know how many people are actually walking around with the virus.
China allegedly sought to keep the epidemic under wraps, arresting people who posted about the virus on social media. However, the rapid spread of coronavirus infections soon made it impossible to hide. The Chinese government eventually sealed the city of Wuhan as it tries to get a handle on the situation, but many people left the city before that happened. Cases soon appeared in Thailand, Japan, and various areas of Europe. Italy was particularly hard-hit early in the pandemic, and now COVID-19 is firmly established in the US.
A coronavirus cross-section. Credit: Scientific Animations/CC BY-SA 4.0
The Johns Hopkins tool shows a map with circles indicating areas with confirmed infections. You can click on each one to get a count of infections, deaths, and recoveries. Smaller panels surround the map with additional data like a list of regions organized from most to fewest cases, a graph of infections over time, and a list of all the countries where coronavirus has hit.
The tracker will update with the most up-to-date official information as it is available. Some experts worry that the true number of infections is much higher than the reported total, but this is the best we have. The medical community has yet to reach a consensus on how this epidemic will play out, but we’re probably in for at least a few weeks of strongly encouraged “social distancing.” You can keep an eye on the tracker to follow the pandemic as it unfolds.
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