By Gurman Bhatia and Manas Sharma
(Reuters) – Despite infecting more than three million people around the world, there are still 34 countries and territories that have yet to report a single case of the novel coronavirus.
These include Comoros, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and tiny far-flung island nations in the Pacific such as Nauru, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.
(Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3cUYM31 in an external browser to see an interactive graphic showing the last places on earth to be free of the new coronavirus.)
As of April 20, 213 countries and territories of the 247 recognised by the United Nations have seen at least one case of the COVID-19. Of these, 186 have also experienced local transmission – where the virus has spread within the community. There have been deaths in at least 162 of them.
Just because a nation has not reported an infection does not necessarily mean there have been no cases.
For example, North Korea has not reported any coronavirus cases but it is bordered by China, Russia and South Korea, all countries dealing with a high number of cases, meaning the virus may well have made it into the secretive state.
Some trends can be seen by looking at the spread of the coronavirus by regions. Asia experienced roughly two broad waves of transmission across borders, while in Europe, many countries started to report cases in the week from late February.
Latin America and Africa looked to be virus-free for January and February before the coronavirus spread rapidly through both continents.
Five countries and territories have managed to rid themselves of the virus after reporting cases. These are Anguilla, Greenland, the Caribbean islands of St. Barts and Saint Lucia, and Yemen.
None has reported deaths or state any currently active infections, with previous cases having fully recovered.
(Editing by Robert Birsel and Karishma Singh)
