Tuesday marks one year to the day of China’s first diagnosed case of the novel coronavirus, per multiple reports.

The South China Morning Post in a story published in March cited government data of the first coronavirus infection dating back to November 17, 2019. (On Tuesday that same outlet suggested the virus may have been in Italy as early as September.) The outlet reported that a 55-year-old person from Hubei province may have been the first individual infected with the novel virus.

Since the deadly novel virus first gained international attention, over 55.2 million infections have occurred around the world, with over 1.3 million deaths, per data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has reported more coronavirus infections and deaths than any other country in the world, topping 11.2 million cases and over 247,200 lives lost, per data from the university.

Over 55.2 million infections have occurred around the world, with over 1.3 million deaths, per data from Johns Hopkins University. (iStock)
Over 55.2 million infections have occurred around the world, with over 1.3 million deaths, per data from Johns Hopkins University. (iStock)
One year later, however, there is also hope. Over the past two weeks, drug companies Pfizer and Moderna have both come forth announcing vaccine candidates that are over 90% effective (94.5% for Moderna), according to interim analyses.

According to documentation from the WHO, last updated Nov. 12, there are 48 vaccine candidates in clinical evaluation and over 160 in the early phases of evaluation.

Read more... https://daybreak.ng/2020/11/17/one-year-marked-since-first-coronavirus-case-in-china-reports/