As of 19 November 2020, the worldwide COVID-19 confirmed case is at 56,554,913. Countries other than China, observed anxiously from their homes as news sites reported a full lockdown in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province due to an outbreak. Then not long after, the world was in a turmoil when the first COVID-19 case was announced outside of China, with subsequent cases being announced in different parts of the world. By 11 March 2020, just a few months since the first confirmed case was publicized, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic and the world was thrown into chaos. Day by day, the number of cases increase rapidly without showing any sign in stopping or reducing. Left and right, everyone was getting infected by the virus which caused an overwhelming number of patients at hospitals and the number of deaths calculated up to this date is 1,354,552. When there was an upsurge in the number of cases worldwide, some countries decided to implement lockdown either in selected cities where the cases are high or the whole country for the sake of preventing any more spread from happening. Europe was not spared from this and some countries are among the countries with the highest recorded COVID-19 cases.
France, currently takes the top place with over 2 million cases as of today. The country’s first confirmed case was on 24 January 2020 and the individual who tested positive had just arrived from China. The major key point in the spread of COVID-19 in France was the assembly of the Christian Open Door Church. Through this assembly that happened between 17 to 24 February, the number of infected just rose even higher for France. There were 2500 attendees at the event and it is reported that at least half of them contracted the disease. Then eventually, on March 16, France’s President, Emmanuel Macron announced that there will be a mandatory home lockdown for 15 days starting on the next day at noon. Afterwards, the mandatory lockdown was extended twice and finally came to an end on May 11. Fast forward to 5 months later, there was another surge in the number of positive cases and France achieved the highest record of cases which were 26,896 cases in 24 hours. That prompted France to go into a second nationwide lockdown and it is still going on until today. The government had made a statement that it is unlikely that the partial lockdown would be lifted anytime soon but with the people asking for some restrictions to be eased before Christmas, it may happen only if conditions allow it.
Similarly, in Russia, the first two reported cases were in January 2020. Two Chinese citizens had traveled to Siberia and Chita, and when they were tested positive, both cases were immediately contained. Russia was quick in its prevention measures by closing down the border with China and extensive testing. Then on March 2, there were lots of restrictions applied like canceling events, closing schools, theaters, and such. They also announced a non-working period where everyone is advised to stay home and this period lasted until May 11. The vast majority of the federal subjects in Russia also announced lockdown by the end of March. As of now, Russia has 1,991,998 confirmed cases and they are the second country with the highest number of confirmed cases in Europe right after France.
The third country with the highest number of confirmed cases in Europe is Spain. Spain had its first confirmed case on 31 January 2020 and the individual was a German tourist who tested positive in Canary Islands. The majority of the cases in January are imported cases and it was believed that local transmission only started in mid-February. On 14 March 2020, a partial lockdown was imposed, and later on, all non-essential workers were ordered to work from home for a fortnight. In Spain, the place that had a high rate of infection is retirement homes as well as hospitals. Medical professionals and those who live in retirement homes are the ones who are vulnerable to being infected by the virus. The number of deaths in Spain as well, increased day by day until, eventually, it surpassed mainland China and while there are daily reports on the number of cases and deaths daily, it is said that these numbers are actually higher than what is being reported. This is due to a lack of testing and reporting and people who had only mild or no symptoms at all are not tested. This is probably what caused the high rate of death in Spain.
In these terrifying and challenging times, we have to find comfort in the things that we have as well as the things that the government is able to provide us. For example, here in Malaysia, when the Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed nationwide, one of the most vulnerable groups to the virus is homeless. Thus, with an initiative from the government, they provide homeless people with lodging so that they are able to get the necessary hygiene and are able to protect themselves from further harm if they are infected. This is to provide them with a healthy environment and some were inspired to find a permanent home after the MCO was lifted. Some of them decided to stay at Bandar Kinrara Puchong and start a new life there. Finding the right house in this period is not easy but you can search for Puchong Kinrara property for sale or Puchong Kinrara houses for sale to find a house that can provide you comfort and protection while we wait for the pandemic to end.
