The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the globe and the latest numbers issued by the World Health Organization show that we are rapidly approaching having one million people that have contracted the COVID-19 virus.  At noon on Friday, 972,640 confirmed cases have been reported. The death toll is now 50,325. The U.S. has the most cases in the world. Italy continues to have the highest death toll at 13,917 with Spain in second with 10,003 deaths.

Locally, the Georgia Department of Health’s latest report issued at noon on Friday shows that 5,831 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.  That is an increase of 387 since 7 p.m. on Thursday. The number of deaths associated with the virus is 184. Those who are hospitalized from it sits at 1,158.

Gwinnett’s number of confirmed cases has risen by 26 since 7 p.m. Thursday to 329.  The death toll remains the same as the last report at 8. Fulton continues to see numbers rise and they now have 882 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 23 deaths.  Dougherty has 560 cases and 30 deaths. Dekalb is up to 448 with 8 deaths while Cobb has 381 confirmed cases and 18 deaths. Other hard-hit or nearby counties are Clayton 195, Bartow 154, Hall 79, Forsyth 60, Barrow 21, and Jackson 12.

Females make up 52% of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 while males make up 46%.  The remaining 2% are unknown. The 18-59 group is 59% of the total cases. The over 60 group makes up 36% while the under 18 remains steady at 1%.  The rest of the cases are unknown and they make up 4% of the cases.

The CDC says that 239,279 Americans have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.  They say that 5,443 people in the U.S. have now lost their lives to the virus. New York remains the hotbed of the virus with 90,279 people infected there.  New Jersey is second with 25,590 confirmed cases.

Georgia will be under a shelter in place order starting at 6 p.m. Friday, April 3, 2020, until April 13, 2020.

— Staff Reports