Coronavirus / Global coronavirus cases cross 1 million after 5-time increase in last 15 days

Washington: Cases of the coronavirus pandemic crossed one million today, 93 days after the outbreak was first reported in China, even as the official death tally crosses 50,000, data from John Hopkins University showed.

The World Health Organisation showed a slightly lower overall tally at a little over 9,00,000.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose extreme lockdown measures on billions on people. Scientists have been working towards a vaccine, which could be months if not years away, while medical professionals globally have been working overtime to manage the outbreak.

The focus of authorities, meanwhile, continues to be on not just combating the pandemic but also contain the drastic economic fallout of using measures such as a lockdown, which some experts have warned could cause the worst financial crisis since the 1929 Great Depression.

What's worse, the spread of the coronavirus, labelled Sars-Cov-2, continues to grow at an exponential rate globally, having grown more than 10 times since the start of March.

The epicentre of the virus has also shifted from China's Wuhan where it first originated to Europe and now US, where President Donald Trump has warned of two "painful" weeks.

The pandemic has also roiled financial markets, with the S&P 500 falling over 30 percent in a month, a fall worse in its velocity than the 2008 crash, even as stocks seem to have recovered somewhat recently.

Still, financial experts have warned that things could get worse, economically and possibly for capital markets, before they get better.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a 21-day lockdown that does not allow countrymen to step out unless essential.

India has so far reported over 2,000 cases, with over 50 cases.

The government and the central bank have announced a series of measures, costing about Rs 5.4 lakh crore, to help the economy cope with the shock.

But scientists and economists maintain that currently there is lack of clarity on what the human and monetary costs of the pandemic will be, clarity on which will depend on how the pandemic evolves -- and when steps taken to combat it help "flatten the curve" of infections.