Since first surfacing in China late last year, the novel Coronavirus infected 10 million people worldwide in the next six or so months, but it took just a little over six weeks for the figure to double.

In the past 45 days the global reported infections doubled to 20 million. Health officials believe the actual number is much higher than that tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40 per cent of those who are infected have no symptoms.