Mass tests, lockdowns after Beijing cluster
BEIJING: China reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases in months on Sunday, warning of a second wave as more European countries prepared to reopen their borders.
Of the 57 new cases logged by Chinese authorities, 36 were domestic infections in Beijing linked to a large wholesale food market that has been closed and nearby 11 housing estates put under lockdown.
“The meat sellers have had to close. This disease is really scary,” said a fruit and vegetable trader surnamed Sun at another central Beijing market, adding there were fewer customers than normal. The National Health Commission (NHC) reported 57 new infections on Sunday, of which 36 were local transmissions in Beijing, all linked to the Xinfadi market. Another two domestic infections were in northeastern Liaoning province and were close contacts of the Beijing cases.
The 19 other infections were among Chinese nationals returning from abroad. Beijing also carried out mass testing for coronavirus on Sunday after the new outbreak prompted travel warnings across the country. The shock resurgence in domestic infections has rattled China, where the disease emerged late last year but had largely been tamed through severe restrictions on movement.
BEIJING: China reported its highest daily total of Covid-19 cases in two months on Sunday and infections rose in South Korea, US and Italy, indicating a possible new wave of the disease as countries ease restrictions on travel and business.
The total number of cases in China has gone up to 74 since Saturday, with eight new cases in Beijing, the sharpest rise in the capital since the outbreak began last year. Most cases were linked to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale market, Beijing’s biggest.
The sudden spurt in cases in the city is a reminder that no fresh cases even for 55 days - as was the case in Beijing- doesn’t mean that the virus threat has been eradicated. Nineteen of the new cases recorded on Sunday were imported ones, with 17 of them reported in the southern province of Guangdong.
In the US, cases are rising in some states as President Donald Trump pushes to reopen businesses despite warnings by public health experts.
The number of new cases in Arizona in the southwest has risen to more than 1,000 per day from fewer than 400 when the state’s shutdown was lifted in mid-May, according to an analysis by AP.
Florida reported 75,568 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, up 2.7% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 2.3% in the previous seven days. Deaths among Florida residents reached 2,931, an increase of 0.2%.
The world is seeing more than 100,000 newly confirmed cases every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
South Korea’s government reported 34 more cases, adding to an upward trend in infections.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 30 were in the greater Seoul area, where half of the country’s 51 million people live. New cases have been linked to nightlife establishments, church services, an e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door sellers. Iran on Sunday reported over 100 deaths in a single day from the virus for the first time in two months, with authorities saying a recent surge in confirmed cases is due to increased testing. Since April, the country had progressively lifted restrictions.
There were 107 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 8,837. The total number of cases in the country has reached 187,427.
Yellow police tape - a familiar sight across Italy since the coronavirus began sweeping the country in March -- reappeared at the weekend outside a Rome squat where around 15 new cases have emerged. Health workers insist the outbreak among squatters including a Peruvian family is under control, at a time when Italy is cautiously relaxing measures to contain the disease that claimed more than 34,000 lives.
A second outbreak was far bigger and occurred at a hospital on the western edge of Rome, with 109 cases and five deaths. The two new outbreaks of Covid-19 came as Italy was re-emerging from lockdown in a phased process that began in early May.
“It means the virus hasn’t lost its infectiousness, it isn’t weakening... we shouldn’t let down our guard,” said WHO deputy director Ranieri Guerra.