This Power BI report is inspired by the map of global COVID-19 cases (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) produced by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
They collect data from a range of sources around the world and publish it on GitHub and update it daily. I hooked it up to Power BI, added a bit of geographical information and had a go at creating my own version.
It’s set up to refresh automatically so it’s up to date as at the start of each day.
A word on the statistics
The number of deaths is much more likely to be accurate than the number of confirmed cases for a variety of reasons. Some countries will be under-reporting for political reasons but nobody will be over-reporting. Levels of testing vary from country to country but I have no data on that, but it seems clear that many countries struggle to keep pace with new cases as the numbers ramp up. Mild cases and recoveries go unrecorded and the true numbers will become clearer when it’s all done but will never be truly known.
I’ve deliberately not called the % Deaths a mortality or morbidity rate because it isn’t. The number of confirmed cases being under-stated means that the % Deaths is over-stated. It is influenced as much by the levels of testing done as it is by the success of the health service in getting people into recovery.
The spread of the virus is exponential. The first graph in the report has the number of confirmed cases plotted on a logarithmic scale against the number of days since the 100th case was reported. The result shows all countries following a very similar pattern of growth, the exceptions being South Korea and Japan, though the explanations are different: South Korea adopted more aggressive controls and extensive testing early whereas research suggests that the reported numbers in Japan are far below the actual number of people infected as they have yet to extensively test for the virus.
Keep safe
I routinely work from home so in a way nothing’s changed. Some of my customers look like they’re struggling to keep the show on the road and I expect my workload to drop off a cliff very soon. I wish them and you luck in the coming weeks and months. I might get some time to look at the UK numbers but none of that seems to matter very much at the moment.
Keep safe, look after your families and loved ones, and help others in the community less fortunate than yourselves in whatever way you can, big or small.