  The number of corona virus (COVID-19) infections grows worldwide. In order to
create short term predictions to prepare for the extent of the global pandemic
we analyze infection data from the top 25 affected countries. It is shown that
all country-specific infection rates follow a power law growth behavior and the
scaling exponents per country are calculated. We find two different growth
patterns: either steady power law growth from the very beginning with moderate
scaling exponents of 3-5 or explosive power law growth with dramatic scaling
exponents of 8-11. In the case of the USA we even find an exponent of 16.59. By
means of data analysis we confirm that instituting strict measures of
lock-downs combined with a strong adherence by the population are effective
means to bring the growth rates down. While many countries have instituted
measures there are only three countries (Denmark, Norway, and South Korea) so
far where such lock-downs led to a significant reduction of the growth rate. In
the case of Denmark we calculate the reduction of the scaling exponents to move
from 6.82 to 1.47.
