SYDNEY (REUTERS): Australia’s chief medical officer – Brendan Murphy – has claimed that at least 10 million people globally may have been infected by the novel coronavirus.
Talking to journalists today (Friday), he said, “Worldwide we have passed 1 million infections, but we believe the true number is five or 10 times as much.”
He further said that the mortality rates vary so much around the world that many infections are going undetected, adding that this is due to a lack of testing in some countries for the highly contagious respiratory disease.
In this regard, the World Health Organization has urged the countries to significantly increase testing for coronavirus.
Without criticising any country, he said that he did not trust any data beyond Australia. “The only numbers I have total faith in are the Australian numbers, frankly,” he added.
So far, coronavirus has claimed lives of almost 28 people and has affected more than 5,000 people across Australia. Globally, the confirmed number of coronavirus cases has passed 1 million with more than 50,000 deaths.
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