PARIS, June 28, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Global infections from the novel
coronavirus have surpassed 10 million as the rate of new cases surges,
according to an AFP tally on Sunday.
One million new cases were recorded in only six days, according to
the AFP count, just as countries start to unwind punishing lockdowns
that have devastated their economies and thrown millions out of work.
The worldwide death toll from the disease that first emerged in
China about six months ago is also nearing 500,000 as fears grow of a
full-blown second wave.
The United States, the hardest hit country, has surpassed 2.5
million cases alone, as efforts to reopen the world’s economic
powerhouse were set back by a jump in new infections in states such as
Florida.
Infections are also up in some other parts of the world that have
reopened, with Europe now registering over 2.6 million, according to
the AFP tally based on official sources.
– ‘Severe and complicated’ –
China on Sunday imposed a strict lockdown on nearly half a million
people in a province surrounding Beijing to contain a fresh
coronavirus cluster.
Beijing city official Xu Hejian told reporters that the situation
was “severe and complicated,” warning that the city needed to continue
tracing the spread of the virus.
The tension between reopening battered economies — efforts pushed
in the US by President Donald Trump — and public health is a source
of debate in nearly every country.
On Saturday alone the US recorded more than 43,000 new cases,
according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. US deaths now exceed
125,000, approximately one-quarter the world total of almost 499,000.
Across the Atlantic, the EU on Saturday pushed back a decision on a
list of “safe countries” from which travellers can visit Europe — a
list which could exclude the US.
Meanwhile stars including Coldplay, Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson
lent support to a European Commission-led drive Saturday that raised
6.15 billion euros ($6.9 billion) to support vaccine research and help
make it available to poorer countries.
In India, densely populated cities have been particularly hard hit.
The country set a daily record Saturday with 18,500 new cases and 385
deaths. Total infections are at 509,000, with more than 15,600 deaths.
In the Middle East, the governor of Bethlehem announced that the
Palestinian city would temporarily close due to rising infections.
Iran, which has struggled to curb its outbreak even as it gradually
lifted restrictions from April, has launched a mask-wearing campaign.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned Saturday that
Iran’s economic problems would worsen if the coronavirus spreads
unchecked.
The disease also continues to rampage through Latin America, with
Peru topping 9,000 deaths Saturday.
Brazil — the second hardest-hit country after the US — recorded
990 deaths on Saturday, the highest toll in the world that day, while
Mexico recorded the second highest at 719.
– ‘Explosion’ in Florida –
In the US state of Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has
conceded there has been an “explosion” in new cases.
On Saturday the “Sunshine State” notched 9,585 cases in 24 hours, a
new daily record.
The average age of people infected has dropped sharply — to 33 from
65 two months ago. Young people frustrated by months of confinement
have poured back to the state’s beaches, boardwalks and bars, often
without masks and seemingly unconcerned about social distancing.
Miami announced beaches will close over the July 4 holiday weekend
and bars are also shutting their doors.
With Trump struggling to lift his re-election bid off the ground
ahead of November, the campaign confirmed that events featuring Vice
President Mike Pence in Arizona and Florida next week have been
postponed “out of an abundance of caution.”
Trump had faced a backlash after insisting on a rally in Oklahoma a
week ago despite virus concerns.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered some areas to reinstate
stay-at-home orders, while San Francisco announced a “pause” in its
reopening.
Texas — among the first US states to reopen — also shut down its bars.
Governor Greg Abbott, another Republican who resisted lockdowns,
said Friday that if he could “go back and redo anything, it probably
would have been to slow down the opening of bars.”
Global events have had to be curtailed because of the virus.
Fifty years on from the first Gay Pride march, the LGBT community
and their supporters took many of their events online Saturday for
Global Pride, a 24-hour online event broadcast live, although there
were some small marches.
The virus has also thrown world sports into turmoil. Pakistan’s
cricket board announced it would leave 10 players off its tour of
England after they tested positive.