This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in May 2020, the virus which causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The first human cases of COVID-19 were identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
Case statistics
Pandemic chronology 1 May WHO Situation Report 102: Australia reported a total of about 6,700 cases and 93 deaths. Azerbaijan reported a total of 1,804 cases and 24 deaths. China reported 12 new cases (including six imported cases), bringing the total number of cases to over 84,000. France reported 218 deaths, taking the total to 24,594. 25,887 remain in hospital and 3,878 in intensive care. Germany reported 1,639 new cases, bringing the total to 160,758. The country also reported 193 deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,481. Indonesia reported 433 new cases, bringing the total number to 10,551. Indonesian health authorities reported eight deaths, bringing the death toll to 800. Indonesia reported 1,591 recoveries and tested 76,500 people. Iran reported 63 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,091. Iran reported a total of 95,646 cases with 2,899 in critical condition. Italy reported 269 deaths, bringing the death toll to 28,236. Italy announced 1,965 new cases, bringing the total to 207,428. Malaysia reported 69 new cases (12 imported and 57 local transmissions), bringing the total number of cases to 6,071. Malaysian authorities also discharged 39 patients, bringing the number of recoveries to 4,210. Malaysia also reported a new death, bringing the country's death toll to 103. Mexico reported 1,425 new cases, bringing the total to 19,224. Mexico reported 127 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,859. The Netherlands reported 475 new cases, bringing the total to 39,791. Dutch authorities reported 98 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 4,893. New Zealand reported three new cases, bringing the total to 1,479 (1,132 confirmed and 347 probable). NZ health authorities also reported 11 new recoveries, bringing the total 1,252. The Philippines reported 284 new cases, bringing the total number to 8,772. The Philippines reported 11 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 579. Qatar reported 687 new cases, bringing the total number to 14,096. Qatar also reported two new deaths, bringing the death toll to 12. A total of 1,436 people had recovered. Russia reported 7,993 cases, bringing the total to 114,431. Russia reported 96 deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,169. Singapore reported 932 new cases, bringing the total to 17,101. Another death was later confirmed, bringing the total to 16. South Korea reported nine new cases, bringing the total to 10,774, of which 9,072 had recovered. Spain reported 281 deaths, bringing the death toll to 24,824. Spanish health authorities also reported 1,781 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 215,216. Thailand reported six new cases, bringing the total number to 2,960. Thai authorities reported no new deaths, with the death toll remaining at 54. Turkey reported 84 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,258. Turkey reported 2,188 cases, bringing the total to 122,392. Ukraine reported 455 new cases and 11 new deaths, bringing the total numbers to 10,861 and 272 respectively; a total of 1,413 patients had recovered. The United Kingdom reported 279 deaths, bringing the death toll to 27,510. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that UK health authorities conducted 122,347 tests, meeting its goal of testing 100,000 people. In the United States, the estimated total death toll from the coronavirus reached 63,000. Yemen reported one new case in the Taiz governorate, bringing the total number to seven. Yemen recorded a total of two deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, there had been over 3.26 million cases, some 233,000 deaths, and more than one million recoveries.
2 May WHO Situation Report 103: The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) confirmed that Africa recorded nearly 40,000 cases, nearly 1,700 deaths, and more than 13,000 recoveries. The coronavirus occurred in 53 African countries. Australia reported a total of nearly 6,800 cases and 93 deaths. Health authorities identified a new cluster around a meat processing factory in the state of Victoria. Brazil reported a total of 92,200 cases and 6,412 deaths. Fiji confirmed two recoveries. France reported 166 deaths, bringing the death toll to 24,760. Germany reported 954 cases, bringing the total to 161,703. Germany also reported 94 deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,575. Italy reported 474 deaths, bringing the death toll to 28,710. 1,539 remain in intensive care while 79,914 had recovered. Malaysia reported 105 new cases, bringing the total number to 6,176. In addition, 116 patients were discharged, bringing the total number of recovered to 4,326. The death toll remains at 103. The Netherlands reported 445 new cases, bringing the total to 40,236. The Dutch reported 94 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 4,987. New Zealand reported 6 new cases (2 confirmed and 4 probable), bringing the total to 1,485 (1,134 confirmed and 351 probable). NZ authorities also reported 11 new recoveries, bringing the total to 1,263. NZ also reported a new death, bringing the total to 20. The Philippines reported 156 new cases, bringing the total to 8,928. The Philippines reported 24 deaths, bringing the death toll to 603. 40 more people had recovered, bringing the total number of recovered to 1,124. Russia reported 9,623 cases, bringing the total to 124,054. Russia reported 57 deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,222. The Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin also announced that 2 percent of Moscow's population (roughly 250,000 people) had tested positive for the coronavirus. Singapore reported 447 new cases, bringing the total to 17,548. One death was later confirmed, bringing the total to 17. Another person was later confirmed to have COVID-19 after he died, with the death caused by a heart attack. South Korea reported six new cases, bringing the total to 10,780. The country reported two new deaths, bringing the death toll to 250. 72 people had recovered, bringing the total to 9,123. Spain reported 276 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 25,100. Spain reported a total of 216,582 cases. Thailand reported six new cases, bringing the total number to 2,966. The death toll remains at 54 while 2,732 had recovered and 180 remain in hospital. Turkey reported a total of over 122,000 cases and 3,200 deaths. Ukraine reported 550 new cases and 7 new deaths, bringing the total numbers to 11,411 and 279 respectively; a total of 1,498 patients had recovered. The United Kingdom reported 621 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 28,131. England reported 370 deaths (25 of whom had no underlying health conditions) in hospitals, bringing the death toll to 20,853. The United States reported a total 65,645 deaths based on figures from Johns Hopkins University. The US also reported 34,000 cases, bringing the total number to more than 1.1 million. More than 164,000 people had recovered from the coronavirus and 6.5 million tests were conducted. Yemen reported three new cases, bringing the total to ten. Yemen reported a total of two deaths. There had been over 3.35 million cases, 239,000 deaths, and over 1.05 million recoveries globally.
3 May WHO Situation Report 104: Afghanistan reported a total of over 2,700 cases, 85 deaths, and conducted nearly 12,000 tests. Afghan health authorities also confirmed that 500 random tests in the capital Kabul identified 150 positive tests. Armenia reported a total of 2,386 cases and 35 deaths. Brazil reported 4,588 new cases, bringing the total to 101,147. Brazil reported 275 deaths, bringing the death toll to 7,025. Canada reported 160 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,606. Canada reported 1,576 new cases, bringing the total to 57,148. China reported two new cases and 12 new asymptomatic cases, bringing the total to 82,877. The death toll remains at 4,633. France reported 135 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 24,895. 25,815 remain in hospital and 3,819 in intensive care, down from 25,827 and 3,827 respectively. India reported 2,644 new cases, bringing the total to over 39,000. India reported 83 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 1,301. Indonesia reported 349 new cases, bringing the total to 11,912. Indonesia reported 18 deaths, bringing the death toll to 845. Iran reported 47 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,203. Iran reported a total of 97,424 cases. Israel reported a total of 16,194 cases and 230 deaths. Italy reported 174 deaths, bringing the death toll to 28,884. Italy reported 1,389 cases, bringing the total to 210,717. Malaysia reported 122 new cases, bringing the total number to 6,297. Malaysian health authorities also reported two new deaths, bringing the death toll to 105. The Netherlands reported 335 new cases, bringing the total to 40,471. The Dutch reported 69 new deaths, bringing the total to 5,056. New Zealand reported two new cases, bringing the total to 1,487 (1,136 confirmed and 351 probable). NZ health authorities also reported three new recoveries, bringing the total to 1,266. The Philippines reported a total of 9,223 cases and 607 deaths. Qatar reported 679 cases, bringing the total to 15,551. The country reported a total of 12 deaths. Russia reported 10,633 new cases. Singapore reported 657 new cases, bringing the total to 18,205. In addition, Singapore's Ministry of Health attributed the fluctuation of cases in recent days to a case backlog in a laboratory, with steps to fix that in progress. One death was later confirmed, bringing the total to 18. South Korea reported 13 new cases, 10 of which were imported. Thailand reported three new cases, bringing the total to 2,966. The country reported a total of 54 deaths. Turkey reported 61 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,397. Turkey reported 1,670 new cases, bringing the total to 120,045. A total of 63,151 had recovered. Ukraine reported 502 new cases and 9 new deaths, bringing the total numbers to 11,913 and 288 respectively; a total of 1,547 patients had recovered. The United Kingdom reported 315 deaths, bringing the death toll to 28,446 including hospitals, care homes, and community figures. In the United States, Virginia reported its first death due to the virus, bringing the total deaths in the United States to 65,646. Vietnam reported its first new case in nine days, bringing the total to 271. More than 30,500 people had been quarantined and 261,000 had been tested.
4 May WHO Situation Report 105: Bangladesh reported 688 new cases, bringing the total to 10,143. The country reported a total of 182 deaths. Brazil reported 4,075 new cases, bring the total to 105,222. Brazil reported 263 deaths, bringing the death toll to 7,288. Chile reported 980 new cases, bringing the total to 20,643. The country also reported 10 new deaths, bringing the total to 270. China reported three new cases, bringing the total to 82,880. China also reported 13 new asymptomatic cases. Germany reported 679 new cases, bringing the total to 163,175. Germany reported 43 deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,692. Indonesia reported 395 new cases, bringing the total to 11,587. Indonesian health ministry official Achmad Yurianto also confirmed 19 new deaths, bringing the total to 864. A total of 1,954 had recovered. Iran reported 74 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,277. Iran reported a total of 98,647 cases. Israel reported 38 new cases, bringing the total number to 16,246. Three people died, bringing the death toll to 233. A total of 10,064 people had recovered and 6,436 people had been tested. Italy reported 195 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 29,079. Italy reported 1,221 new cases, bringing the total to 211,938. 99,980 remain infected with 1,479 in intensive care. 82,879 had recovered and 1.48 million had beeb tested for COVID-19.