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- What is the daily number of confirmed cases?
- Daily confirmed cases: are we bending the curve?
- Daily confirmed cases: when did countries bend the curve?
- What is the cumulative number of confirmed cases?
- Cumulative confirmed cases: how rapidly have they increased compared to other countries?
- Biweekly cases: where are confirmed cases increasing or falling?
- Global cases in comparison: where are cases increasing most rapidly?
South Korea: What is the daily number of confirmed cases?
Related charts:
This first chart shows the number of confirmed cases per day.
You have the option to switch to the rolling 7-day average via the link to the Data Explorer below the chart.
Two tips on how you can interact with this chart
- Add any other country to this chart: click on the Add country button to compare with any other country.
- View this data on a world map: switch to a global map of confirmed deaths using the ‘MAP’ tab at the bottom of the chart.
South Korea: Daily confirmed cases: are we bending the curve?
Related chart:
To bring the pandemic to an end, every country has to bring the curve of daily cases down to zero.
This chart allows you to track whether countries are achieving this or not.
How you can interact with this chart
The default log view is helpful to compare the growth rates between countries: on a logarithmic scale the steepness of the line corresponds to the growth rate.
But in this chart, as in many of our charts, you can switch to a linear axis. Just click on ‘Linear’ in the top left corner.
Here is an explanation for how to read logarithmic axes.
South Korea: Daily confirmed cases: when did countries bend the curve?
Related chart:
This chart shows the number of daily confirmed cases plotted against the cumulative number of confirmed cases.
Plotting the data in this way allows us to see when different countries bent the curve.
How you can interact with this chart
Clicking on any country in the chart highlights that country. If you click on several countries you can create a view in which you can compare several countries.
Any country you might not see immediately you can find via the ‘Select Countries’ in the bottom left. Just type the name in the search box there.
South Korea: What is the cumulative number of confirmed cases?
Related charts:
This chart shows the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
What is important to note about these case figures?
- the reported case figures on a given date does not necessarily show the number of new cases on that day: this is due to delays in reporting;
- the actual number of cases is likely to be much higher than the number of confirmed cases – this is due to limited testing.
→ We provide more detail on these points in the section ‘Cases of COVID-19: background‘.
Five quick reminders on how to interact with this chart
- By clicking on Add country you can show and compare the data for any country in the world you are interested in.
- If you click on the title of the chart, the chart will open in a new tab. You can then copy-paste the URL and share it.
- You can switch the chart to a linear axis, by clicking on ‘Linear’ in the top left.
- If you move both ends of the time-slider to a single point you will see a bar chart for this point in time.
- You can switch to the ‘Map’ tab to see the world map.
South Korea: Cumulative confirmed cases: how rapidly have they increased compared to other countries?
Related chart:
The trajectory for every country begins on the day when that country had 100 confirmed cases. This allows you to make comparisons of how quickly the number of confirmed cases has grown in different countries.
Keep in mind that in countries that do very little testing the actual total number of cases can be much higher than the number of confirmed cases shown here.
How you can interact with this chart
Clicking on any country in the chart highlights that country. If you click on several countries you can create a view in which you can compare several countries.
Any country you might not see immediately you can find via the ‘Select Countries’ in the bottom left. Just type the name in the search box there.
South Korea: Biweekly cases: where are confirmed cases increasing or falling?
Why is it useful to look at biweekly changes in confirmed cases?
For all global data sources on the pandemic, daily data does not necessarily refer to the number of new confirmed cases on that day – but to the cases reported on that day.
Since reporting can vary very significantly from day to day – irrespectively of any actual variation of cases – it is helpful to look at a longer time span, which is less affected by the daily variation in reporting. This provides a clearer picture of where the pandemic is accelerating, staying the same, or reducing.
- The first map here provide figures on the number of confirmed cases in the last two weeks. To make comparisons across countries possible it is expressed per million people of the population.
- And the second map shows the growth rate over this period: blue are all those countries in which the case count in the last two weeks was lower than in the two weeks before. In red countries the case count has increased.
South Korea: Global cases in comparison: where are cases increasing most rapidly?
No country knows the total number of people infected with COVID-19. All we know is the infection status of those who have been tested. All those who have a lab-confirmed infection are counted as confirmed cases.
This means that the counts of confirmed cases depend on how much a country actually tests. Without testing there is no data.
Testing is our window onto the pandemic and how it is spreading. Without data on who is infected by the virus we have no way of understanding the pandemic. Without this data we can not know which countries are doing well, and which are just underreporting cases and deaths.
To interpret any data on confirmed cases we need to know how much testing for COVID-19 the country actually does.
Because testing is so very crucial to understanding the spread of the pandemic and responding appropriately we have focused our efforts on building a global dataset on COVID-19 testing.
- The testing dataset is updated around twice a week. The latest version is always available in the our page on COVID-19 testing
- And as with all our work, it is freely accessible for everyone. The data can be downloaded here on GitHub.
South Korea: Are countries testing enough to monitor their outbreak?
To be able to properly monitor the spread of the virus, countries with more widespread outbreaks need to do more testing.
So one important way to understand if countries are testing sufficiently is to ask: What share of the tests confirm a case? What is the positive rate? This is what the map here shows.
If you are interested in the development over time you can simply click on the country in the map (or switch to the Chart-tab at the bottom of the visualization).
We see enormous differences across countries.
- Some countries, like Australia, South Korea and many European countries have a positive rate of less than 1% – they do hundreds, or even thousands of tests for each case they find.
- Others, such as Mexico, several South American countries, and Nigeria, only do a handful of tests – five or fewer – for every confirmed case.
Countries that do very few tests per confirmed case are unlikely to be testing widely enough to find all cases. The WHO has suggested a positive rate lower than 10% – but better lower than 3% – as a general benchmark of adequate testing.
Countries that do very few tests per confirmed case are unlikely to be testing widely enough to find all cases. The WHO has suggested around 10 – 30 tests per confirmed case as a general benchmark of adequate testing.1
The countries that have a positive rate below 3% are shown in shades of blue. Those that have a positive rate higher than 5% are shown in shades of red.
In countries that test very little in relation to their outbreak – shown in shades of red in the chart – many cases are likely to go unreported. In these countries, the number of confirmed cases indicated may represent only a fraction of the total number of cases.
South Korea: The scale of testing compared to the scale of the outbreak
This scatter chart provides another way of seeing the extent of testing relative to the scale of the outbreak in different countries.
The chart shows the daily number of tests (vertical axis) against the daily number of new confirmed cases (horizontal axis), per million people.
Looking down the chart, we see some countries doing ten or hundred times fewer tests than other countries with a similar number of new confirmed cases.
Conversely, looking to the right, we see some countries find ten or a hundred times more cases than others out a similar number of tests.
Where the number of confirmed cases is high relative to the extent of testing, this suggests that there may not be enough tests being carried out to properly monitor the outbreak. In such countries, the true number of infections may be far higher than the number of confirmed cases.
South Korea: How many tests are performed each day?
Related charts:
This chart shows the number of daily tests per thousand people. Because the number of tests is often volatile from day to day, we show the figures as a seven-day rolling average.
What is counted as a test?
The number of tests does not refer to the same in each country – one difference is that some countries report the number of people tested, while others report the number of tests (which can be higher if the same person is tested more than once). And other countries report their testing data in a way that leaves it unclear what the test count refers to exactly.
We indicate the differences in the chart and explain them in detail in our accompanying source descriptions.
How to interact with this chart
- By clicking on Add country you can show and compare the data for any country in the world you are interested in.
- If you move both ends of the time-slider to a single point you will see a bar chart for this point in time.
- You can switch to the ‘Map’ tab.
In all our charts you can download the data
We want everyone to built on top of our work and therefore we always make all our data always available for download. Click on the ‘Download’-tab below the chart and you can download the shown data for all countries in a csv file.
- What is the daily number of confirmed deaths?
- Daily confirmed deaths: are countries bending the curve?
- Daily confirmed deaths: when did countries bend the curve?
- What is the cumulative number of confirmed deaths?
- Cumulative confirmed deaths: how rapidly have they increased compared to other countries?
- Biweekly deaths: where are confirmed deaths increasing or falling?
- Global deaths in comparison: where are deaths increasing most rapidly?
South Korea: What is the daily number of confirmed deaths?
Related charts:
This chart shows the number of confirmed deaths per day.
Why is it helpful to also look at the three-day rolling average of daily confirmed deaths?
For all global data sources on the pandemic, daily data does not necessarily refer to deaths on that day – but to the deaths reported on that day.
Since reporting can vary very significantly from day to day – irrespectively of any actual variation of deaths – it is helpful to view the 7-day rolling average of the daily figures. Below the chart you find the link to the Data Explorer where you can see the 7-day rolling average
→ We provide more detail in the section ‘Reported new cases on a particular day do not necessarily represent new cases on that day‘.
A tip on how you can interact with this chart
By pulling the ends of the blue time slider you can focus the chart on a particular period. If you bring them together to one point in time then the line chart becomes a bar chart – this of course only makes sense if you compare countries (that is what the Add country button is for).
South Korea: Daily confirmed deaths: are countries bending the curve?
This trajectory chart shows whether countries make progress on bringing down the curve of new deaths.
To allow comparisons between countries the trajectory for each country begins on the day when that country first reported 5 daily deaths.
This chart is shown on logarithmic axis, but you can switch to a linear axis
- The default view on a logarithmic y-axis is helpful to compare the growth rates between countries: on a logarithmic axis the steepness of the line corresponds to the growth rate. [Here is an explanation for how to read logarithmic axes.]
- But in this chart – as in many of our charts – you can switch to a linear axis – just click on ‘Linear’ in the top left.
South Korea: Daily confirmed deaths: when did countries bend the curve?
Related chart:
This chart shows the number of daily confirmed deaths (on the y-axis) plotted against the total number of confirmed deaths (on the x-axis).
Plotting the data in this way allows us to see when different countries bent the curve.
How you can interact with this chart
Clicking on any country in the chart highlights that country. If you click on several countries you can create a view in which you can compare several countries.
Any country you might not see immediately you can find via the ‘Select Countries’ in the bottom left. Just type the name in the search box there.
South Korea: What is the cumulative number of confirmed deaths?
Related charts:
Three points on confirmed death figures to keep in mind:
All three points are true for all currently available international data sources on COVID-19 deaths.
- the actual total death toll from COVID-19 is likely to be higher than the number of confirmed deaths – this is due to limited testing and problems in the attribution of the cause of death; the difference between reported confirmed deaths and total deaths varies by country
- how COVID-19 deaths are recorded may differ between countries (e.g. some countries may only count hospital deaths, whilst others have started to include deaths in homes)
- the reported death figures on a given date does not necessarily show the number of new deaths on that day: this is due to delays in reporting.
→ We provide more detail on these three points in the section ‘Deaths from COVID-19: background‘.
South Korea: Cumulative confirmed deaths: how rapidly have they increased compared to other countries?
Charts which simply show the change in confirmed deaths over time are not very useful to answer the question of how the speed of the outbreak compares between different countries. This is because the outbreak of COVID-19 did not begin at the same time in all countries.
This chart here is designed to allow such comparisons.
The trajectory for each country begins on the day when that country had 5 confirmed deaths.
This allows you to compare how rapidly the number of confirmed deaths increased after the outbreak reached a similar stage in each country.
The grey lines in the background help you to see how rapidly the number of confirmed deaths is increasing
These lines show the trajectories for doubling times of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 days. If the slope that a country is on is steeper than a particular grey line, then the doubling time of confirmed cases in that country is faster than that. For example, there are several countries for which the slope was steeper than the ‘…every 2 days’ line – this means their death count doubled faster than every two days
How you can interact with this chart
- Clicking on any country in the chart highlights that country. If you click on several countries you can create a view in which you can compare several countries.
- Any country you might not see immediately you can find via the ‘Select Countries’ in the bottom left. Just type the name in the search box there.
- To focus on the countries you highlighted click on ‘Zoom to selection’.
South Korea: Biweekly deaths: where are confirmed deaths increasing or falling?
Why is it useful to look at weekly or biweekly changes in deaths?
For all global data sources on the pandemic, daily data does not necessarily refer to the number of new confirmed deaths on that day – but to the deaths reported on that day.
Since reporting can vary very significantly from day to day – irrespectively of any actual variation of deaths – it is helpful to look at a longer time span, which is less affected by the daily variation in reporting. This provides a clearer picture of where the pandemic is accelerating, staying the same, or reducing.
- The first map here provide figures on the number of confirmed deaths in the last two weeks. To make comparisons across countries possible it is expressed per million people.
- And the second map shows the growth rate over this period: blue are all those countries in which the death count in the last two weeks was lower than in the two weeks before. In red countries the death count has increased.
Related chart:
South Korea: Global deaths in comparison: where are deaths increasing most rapidly?
To understand the risks and respond appropriately we would also want to know the mortality risk of COVID-19 – the likelihood that someone who catches the disease will die from it.
We look into this question in more detail here and explain that this requires us to know – or estimate – the number of total cases and the final number of deaths for a given infected population. Because these are not known, we discuss what the current data can and can not tell us about the risk of death (here).
South Korea: How did confirmed deaths and cases change over time?
So far we focused first on confirmed deaths and then on confirmed cases.
This chart shows both metrics.
How you can interact with this chart
By now you know that in these charts it is always possible to switch to any other country in the world by choosing Change Country in the bottom left corner.You can sort the table by any of the columns by clicking on the column header.
South Korea: The case fatality rate
The case fatality rate is simply the ratio of the two metrics shown in the chart above.
The case fatality rate is the number of confirmed deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases.
This chart here plots the CFR calculated in just that way.
During an outbreak – and especially when the total number of cases is not known – one has to be very careful in interpreting the CFR. We wrote a detailed explainer on what can and can not be said based on current CFR figures.
To understand how governments have responded to the pandemic, we rely on data from the Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), which is published and managed by researchers at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.
This tracker collects publicly available information on 17 indicators of government responses, spanning containment and closure policies (such as such as school closures and restrictions in movement); economic policies; and health system policies (such as testing regimes).
South Korea: Government Stringency Index
The chart here shows how governmental response has changed over time. It shows the Government Stringency Index – a composite measure of the strictness of policy responses.
The index on any given day is calculated as the mean score of nine policy measures, each taking a value between 0 and 100. See the authors’ full description of how this index is calculated.
A higher score indicates a stricter government response (i.e. 100 = strictest response).
The OxCGRT project calculates this index using nine specific measures, including:
- school and workplace closures;
- restrictions on public gatherings;
- transport restrictions;
- and stay-at-home requirements.
You can see all of these separately on our page on policy responses. There you can also compare these responses with countries around the world.