Geographical distribution, transmission dynamics and fatality of an emerging novel coronavirus disease

ABSTRACT: Following an outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease in Wuhan-China, the reports of the infection and fatalities emanating from over two hundred other countries are worrisome. This study was therefore designed to analyze the geographical distribution, transmission dynamics and fatality of the pandemic from January 21 to April 5, 2020, to serve as a useful guide for other unaffected countries. The primary data on the COVID-19 pandemic during the period under review were accessed online from the WHO and CDC websites. The data were analyzed using the Microsoft Excel software and presented in bar chart, graphs, and tables. Repetition and wrong entries were carefully avoided during the collation of the data. In the first 75 days of COVID-19 outbreak, 1,133,758 people were infected while 62,784 lives were lost to the virus from 210 countries worldwide. United States of America, Spain, Italy, Germany and France were the epicenters of the infection as at the time of this analysis with confirmed cases of 273,808, 124,736, 124,632, 91,714, and 67,757 respectively. Republics of China and Korea recorded the most Impressive response reduction in rates of the infection and fatality during the same period. Fatality of COVID-19 did not depend on frequency of the infection transmission rather it varies with the management strategies and policies of the affected countries. Massive screening of domestic mammals and pets was advocated to forestall re-emergence of the infection even after the successful control of the pandemi