Iconic sites reopen across globe

From US to Israel, places restart as Latin America engulfed by COVID-19

Iconic world sites from the New York Stock Exchange to the Church of the Nativity reopened their doors on Tuesday from the coronavirus pandemic, but new alarm bells rang in Latin America over a spike of infections.

In a symbolic return of a high altar of capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange allowed a limited number of traders to return to the trading floor, wearing masks to reduce the risk of infection.

The reopening boosted the mood as the benchmark Dow Jones index surged more than 2.2 percent, casting aside grim predictions that the world could be entering a new Great Depression

after millions of job losses.

Visiting Wall Street, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for swift work on longmulled new mega-infrastructure projects, such as subway extensions, in the hard-hit metropolis.

“Let’s do something creative, let’s do it fast. Let’s put Americans back to work,” Cuomo told reporters.

There were also signs of hope at some of the world’s best-known destinations, including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built on the spot where Christians believe their savior Jesus was born.

The church’s opening “gives hope to the world that this pandemic will end,” said Rula Maaya, the Palestinian tourism minister.

The illness has killed more than 350,000 people worldwide and forced most countries to mothball their tourism industries, a crucial source of revenue.

The US is the country hardest-hit in both deaths and cases of infection and has passed the horrific milestone of 100,000 lives lost to the virus.

In Italy, the global epicenter of infections after the virus spread to Europe, the site of a previous natural disaster also reopened to visitors – the ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.

But the site, which attracted 4 million visitors in 2019, was largely deserted as foreign visitors are still banned from travel to Italy until June.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio said he was working with EU colleagues to agree on June 15 as a coordinated day for member states to reopen their borders.

The Vatican too has relaxed its lockdown, announcing that Pope Francis will address the faithful once more from his window overlooking Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday.

And Russia said it had passed its peak of infections, promising to hold postponed World War II victory celebrations in June.

There was no mistaking that the coronavirus was taking a growing toll in South America.

With about 730,000 cases, Latin America has outpaced Europe and the US in the number of daily infections.

“In South America, we are particularly concerned that the number of new cases reported last week in Brazil was the highest for a seven-day period, since the outbreak began,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the Washington-based Pan American Health Organization.