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COVID-19 Spatial and Temporal Distribution

The Spatial Distribution of COVID-19

  • Prior to late December 2019, COVID-19 was an unknown virus.
  • December 31, 2019: Chinese officials confirmed detection of a pneumonia-like virus in Wuhan, China.
  • The virus rapidly spread across mainland China and into surrounding countries.
  • Thailand and Japan were the second and third countries to report cases.
  • By January 2020, the virus was found in at least 20 countries.
  • Four weeks later, it had been reported in 50 countries.
  • March 11, 2020: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
  • As of April 20, 2025, there have been more than 777 million reported cases of COVID-19 since 2019.
  • The United States has the greatest number of reported cases (103 million).
  • China has more than 99 million cases.
  • The disease has caused more than 7 million deaths.
  • The majority of deaths occurred in the United States (more than 1.2 million), followed by Brazil (703,000).
  • Several Pacific Island Nations have recorded only 1 death from COVID-19, including Tuvalu and Nauru.
  • The Democratic People's Republic of Korea reports that it has had no cases of the disease, but this is considered unlikely.

WHO Regions

  • Africa
  • Americas
  • China: 99.4 million cases
  • Eastern Mediterranean
  • Europe
  • South-East Asia
  • India: 45 million cases
  • Western Pacific
  • France: 39 million cases

Temporal Distribution

  • It took only three months for COVID-19 to be declared a global pandemic.
  • January 2020: Countries in Asia were the most affected.
  • Mid-March: Every European country was affected.
  • Europe became the new center of the pandemic, overtaking China in reported cases.
  • The end of March saw the disease extending its reach to all of North America.
  • By April, all of South America was affected, spreading from a case in Brazil.
  • By May, all of Africa had been affected.
  • South America was declared the new epicenter, with cases growing exponentially.
  • Within Oceania, Australia had its first case in January 2020, with surrounding countries affected soon after.
  • Only a small number of countries within the Pacific have not reported any cases.
  • The COVID-19 disease has had many variants, each resulting in a new wave of outbreak.
  • In January 2023, the number of cases reported reached approximately 32 million, with the Omicron variant becoming the most reported strain.
  • As of April 20, 2025, there were 28,000 cases reported for the month across 86 countries.

Total COVID-19 Cases Reported to WHO (Weekly)

  • World, January 2020 - present

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of COVID-19 + Vulnerability

  • Reference: text pg 176-180 2nd Ed WA ATAR Geography

Syllabus points

  • Describe the spatial and temporal distribution of the hazard
  • Explain how physical and/or human processes determine the spatial and temporal distribution of the hazard.
  • Compare the physical and human factors that explain why less developed countries are more vulnerable to the hazard compared to more developed countries

Terminology-define

  • Spatial Distribution: The arrangement of geographical phenomena or activities across the Earth's surface.
  • Temporal Distribution: The distribution of geographical phenomena over time.

Take notes under the following headings:

  • Spatial distribution of COVID-19-a global spatial distribution
    • Until late December 2019, COVID-19 had never been seen before
    • First detected in Wuhan, China and quickly spread throughout mainland China to surrounding countries (origin and epicenter of the outbreak)
    • End of January 2020, 20 countries had confirmed cases such as Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the United States of America
  • TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION
    • End of February 2020, the virus had spread to over 50 countries, Mid March number of countries containing COVID-19 had doubled to 100
    • World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic 11th March 2020.
    • August 2021 only countries that hadn't been infected: Pacific Island nations, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Turkmenistan
  • Temporal distribution of COVID-19- (discovery to spread and infection worldwide took place in 3 months)
    • Jan 2020 - majority of infected countries were Asian countries
    • End of March-all but 2 countries in Asia were infected (Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Turkmenistan) and all North American countries had confirmed cases
    • Mid-March- every European country had at least one confirmed case which then led to it becoming the centre of the pandemic with greater numbers of confirmed cases than in China
    • Africa- took less than 3 months to spread through the entire continent after first case in Egypt on 14th Feb 2020
    • South America-just over 1 month to spread through whole continent after first case in Brazil on 26th Feb 2020 -> exponential rate of infection-> WHO declared new epicentre 22nd May 2020
    • Within Oceania, Australia was the first country to contract COVID-19 on the 25th of Jan 2020