Pandemic peaking – WHO
churches and hair salons starting July 4. The move came amid strong pressure from businesses to ease physical distancing rules.
Although gyms, pools, spas and tattoo parlors would remain shut, Johnson told lawmakers that “our long national hibernation” was coming to an end.
Pubs and restaurants wanted the government to cut its physical distancing requirements in half to 1 meter between people indoors, and said many businesses wouldn’t be able to survive without the change.
But some scientists worried the move is too hasty, especially since measures like a track-andtrace system to stamp out any outbreaks aren’t yet in place. “This is far too premature,” said
David King, a former chief scientific adviser to the government. “To come out of [lockdown] too early is extremely risky.”
South Africa braced for an anticipated surge of Covid-19 cases by opening a large field hospital with 3,300 beds in a converted car manufacturing plant.
The field hospital has been constructed in the city of East London in the Eastern Cape province, one of the country’s centers of the disease. South Africa has now reported a total of 101,590 coronavirus cases, including 1,991 deaths.
No room for complacency
In the Philippines, the Department of Health ( DoH) warned
the public not to be complacent as the country logged 470 new Covid- 19 cases, bringing the total count to 32,295 on Wednesday.
“We can never be complacent here. Habangwalapapongbakuna Covid- 19, siguraduhin natinnahindinatinitomaiuuwi
saatingpamilya ( While no vaccine is available, we should ensure that we will not bring the virus into our homes and infect our family),” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
According to Vergeire, while the virus curve is rising gradually, it means that the health system can still manage the rising number of cases.
The official said Covid-19 cases were expected to rise as the country eased lockdown restrictions to reboot the economy.
She said the virus curve in Metro Manila was starting to stabilize, but that in the Visayas region was starting to rise, mainly because of the spike in cases in Regions 7 and 8 ( Central and Eastern Visayas).
Vergeire said Cebu City, Cebu province, Ormoc City, Southern Leyte, Leyte and Samar have been deemed hotspots of the disease.
“Tayoaynagpadalangkagamitan ( We have sent equipment) to ramp up the testing capacity of Cebu province and required the strict implementation of public health standards with the help of local governments and the National Task Force in these emerging hotspots,” Vergeire said.