Daily chart | The EconomistGovernment lockdowns in 11 countries are estimated to have already saved 60,000 lives.
ONE OF THE trickier tasks for epidemiologists studying the coronavirus pandemic is determining just how prevalent it is. According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now 886,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 around the world, or roughly one case for every 9,000 people. But these numbers reflect not only how many people are known to have contracted the illness, but how many are being tested for it. This varies widely from country to country. Germany is testing 500,000 of its citizens each week. Britain, which is limiting tests to those with severe symptoms, is managing just one-tenth as many.
