A startling new graph from the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals the recent rapid rise of new coronavirus cases outside of China.
In WHO's latest situation report, the agency has illustrated the epidemic curve of the COVID-19 outbreak outside of China. The virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019. Since then, it has spread to at least 77 countries, with 93,000 confirmed cases and more than 3200 deaths.
The graph reveals the sudden rise of cases across those countries since the middle of February until March 3.
The data is also broken down by the locations the cases are recorded in. The regions of the eastern Mediterranean, Europe and the western Pacific make up the majority of the recent cases.
Coronavirus hotspots like South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iran are located in these regions.
The full situation report and what countries make up each region can be found here.
More cases are now being recorded outside of China than inside. In the March 4 situation report, WHO reported 2103 new confirmed cases outside of China, with four new countries reporting the illness. Inside China, there were only 120 new cases reported.
That worldwide spread is of great concern for the World Health Organisation.
"At present, we see linked epidemics in several countries, where most cases can still be traced to known contacts or clusters of cases, in, although we see signs of community transmission in some countries," said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"Our view continues to be that containment of COVID-19 must be the top priority for all countries, but at the same time, countries should be preparing for sustained community transmission."
Of those countries with large numbers of coronavirus cases, South Korea is of the greatest concern. It has 5328 confirmed cases, most of which originated from five clusters of the illness. In the last day, it has report 516 new cases.
New Zealand currently has travel restrictions in place for China and Iran which stops people who travelled through or from those nations entering Aotearoa. New Zealand citizens or permanent residents can return home, however. Travellers from northern Italy and South Korea must self-isolate for 14 days.
Currently, Aotearoa has three confirmed cases. One visited Iran, while the second visited northern Italy. Officials haven't revealed to the public where the third person caught the illness - whether it was in another country or in New Zealand. Their location also hasn't been made public.
