The total number of cases and the total number of deaths from COVID-19 outbreak data was drawn down (scraped) from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
The proportion of deaths to the total numbers of cases was meta-analysed using the R function metaprop, using fixed-effect inverse-variance weighting. Estimates from the cruise ship ‘Diamond Princess’ as well as countries with three or fewer deaths to date recorded were excluded from the analysis. Country-level case fatality is presented as a percentage along with 95% confidence intervals in a forest plot. Estimates of heterogeneity and a 95% prediction interval are presented, but a pooled overall estimate is suppressed due to heterogeneity. (understanding data in meta-analysis)
*case fatality rate is the number of reported deaths per number of reported cases (Updated 23rd March)