Europe

After the first cases of what would later be named "COVID-19" were notified by China on December 31, 2019, the European Union (EU) reported its three first detected cases on January 24, 2020. As of April 18, 785,229 detected cases and 78,576 deaths had been reported by the 27 EU member states, while the total number of detected cases and deaths reported worldwide were 2,197,593 and 153,090 respectively.

The Spitsbergen (Svalbard) archipelago, located over 400 miles East of northern Greenland in the Arctic Ocean, was terra nullius until a 1920 treaty (Svalbard Treaty) recognized the "full and absolute sovereignty of Norway" over this territory.[1] Snow crabs settled in the region some two decades ago and have since become abundant in these waters.