We are all aware that coronavirus is a contagious ailment. It
spreads easily – and rapidly from one person to another. In fact, a person can
even catch the disease by touching the same surface as the infected individual.
Luckily, the disease is treatable and preventable through precautionary
protocols such as enhancing the hygiene routine, covering mouth when sneezing
and coughing, and maintaining a safe distance from other people – regardless of
their health.
However, most countries of the world, including China, Iran,
Italy, UK, and the USA have failed to control the pandemic. As a result, the virus
has spread exponentially worldwide with over 194,000 diagnoses. And the numbers
keep growing as many of the ‘impacted’ countries are seeing the number of cases
double every three to four days.
Health experts also agree that the spread of COVID-9 cannot
be stopped but, yes, it can be slowed down by taking desperate measures such as
‘social distancing.’ Researchers claim that by limiting human contact, the
spread of the disease can be reduced significantly.
For example, there is only one infected person. But the
person continues to interact with others and the number of cases starts to
double every four days. After 36 days, the toll has increased to 512 cases. To combat
the issue, Government A puts measures in place and immediately sees the difference
in doubling time from four days to up to eight days.
Meanwhile, Government B doesn’t find it necessary to take
any actions and finds themselves dealing with more than 30,000 cases after 2 months
of the outbreak while Government A has only 4,096 cases.
And then there is Government C that decides to put the
same measures as Government A after it reached 2,000 cases. The results are
still effective but the country C ends up with twice as many cases as country
A.
Infographic by: www.statista.com
