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There is certainly one common point on the agenda of various governments these days: the need to slow down the spread of coronavirus before health care systems collapse. Three months have passed since the outbreak was reported in January, and according to official health statistics, the spread of the virus in some groups of countries is broadly similar.
Our first interactive graph compares the spread of COVID19 in selected countries.
The racing chart below shows the number of COVID19 infections per 100K inhabitant by country.
Data sources: thevirustracker.com, datahub.io
The geographical dynamics of the spread of COVID19 can be clearly seen in these visualizations. Based on our data, the number of infected cases was only severe in Asia by February the 20th though compared to the later European situation, Asia seemingly was not hit that hard. It is shocking to see how much more rapidly the virus spread in Europe.
Methodological limitations
The lack of real knowledge of the number of patients and its measurement error can cause the greatest impact on patient statistics. The number of infections may be much higher in some countries, but without testing, the exact presence of the virus cannot be detected.
The general health of a society cannot be neglected in the spread of COVID19. Life expectancy at birth in Japan is 84.5 years, while in Ukraine it is only 72 years. Italy is one of the oldest society in the world where the epidemic is extremely devastating.
Finally, settlement structures, climate, the governments’ lockdown regulations and social adherence may have a further impact on the spread of the virus.
Authors:
Farsang Bence – Economist and Data Scientist
Csendes Gerold – Data Scientist
Tardy György – Senior Data Visualization Expert
Seres Tibor – Data Engineer