Analysing and comparing the COVID-19 data: The closed cases of Hubei and South Korea, the dark March in Europe, the beginning of the outbreak in South America

Stefano De Leo; Gabriel Gulak Maia; Leonardo Solidoro

The South American countries in general, see Fig. 10 , still show signs of an increasing spreading rate with Ecuador and Chile displaying the largest increase. Fig. 11 compares the early development of the α-factors of South American and European countries. The magnitude of the spreading rate is the same for both continents, but while European curves seem to develop in greater agreement amongst each other, in South America, Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay single themselves out very quickly. From Fig. 11 , we can see that, as the disease starts to spread in a country, its spreading rate is similar to that of any other country. As more and more people are infected, however, this development becomes more discrepant. These differences might be the result of several different factors such as population density and cultural habits, as well as the earliness and effectiveness of the local authorities health measures.