ReliefWeb

FAST FACTS

• According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, as of June 3, there have been 6,414,473 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in 188 countries and regions.

• In the US, we are supporting more than 30 health facilities in Los Angeles, New York City, Puerto Rico,
Chicago, Detroit and Boston with emergency medical field units, equipment, supplies and volunteer staff.

• We have screened more than 250,000 individuals for COVID-19 at our global missions and have distributed more than 2.9 million pieces of personal protective equipment and infection prevention and control items to supported health facilities.

• We have trained more than 8,800 frontline healthcare professionals on COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

SITUATION UPDATE

Across the world, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has grown to more than 6.4 million, with more than 380,000 deaths. After more than a month of plateauing numbers of confirmed new cases, the past two weeks has seen rising numbers of new cases worldwide, with an average of more than 100,000 daily confirmed cases over the past week. At the same time as the number of confirmed new cases are rising, the number of confirmed daily deaths has steadily declined. Though these numbers are the official counts, the lack of available testing in many countries and differences in methods for counting deaths leaves some doubt as to their accuracy.

The rise in new cases over the previous month is primarily concentrated in the new COVID-19 hotspots of Brazil, Russia, Peru and India. New cases continue to increase in Brazil, Peru and India, while Russia appears to have reached its initial peak. In Brazil and India, the outbreak is likely much larger than the official figures, because the amount of testing per capita is much lower than most other major countries. Brazil has conducted fewer than 1 million tests, and more than half of its tests have returned positive. India has tested less than 0.3% of its population, but only 5% of tests have returned positive.

In the Middle East, there is major concern that a substantial, unconfirmed outbreak of COVID-19 is taking place in Yemen, which is especially at risk due to the ongoing civil war and major cuts to United Nations-funded programs in the country. The availability of tests in Yemen is extremely limited, making the full expanse of the outbreak impossible to quantify, but symptoms and death rates seen at treatment facilities closely match that of COVID-19 in other countries. In the city of Aden, burial statistics show an increase of 800% over pre-COVID statistics. As the outbreak is growing, much-needed programs are being cut throughout the country. Funding shortages have forced 75% of UN-funded programs to be reduced or shut down. For its 2020 Yemen plan, the UN has so far received only 15% of the needed $3.5 billion. Among the programs that will no longer be funded by the UN is the payment of thousands of health workers throughout the country, who have not received salary from the Yemeni government in nearly three years. According to the UN, 10 million people are on the brink of famine, and 24 million people require aid. Without funding and additional programs, the situation in Yemen will likely deteriorate further.