Lockdowns easing but ‘little flu’ deaths mount
NEW Zealand has eased a strict lockdown amid hopeful signs coronavirus has been all but vanquished in Australasia for the moment.
But elsewhere, Brazil is emerging as a potential new hotspot for infections, and fresh doubts have been raised over whether Japan would be able to host the already postponed Olympic Games next year.
Europe and some US states are also continuing to gradually ease limits on movement and commerce as they try to restart their economies.
But in a reminder of the virus’ increasing toll, President Donald Trump said the numbers of deaths could reach 70,000 in the US, after putting the number at 60,000 several times earlier this month.
With the number of new cases waning, New Zealand’s government loosened its lockdown, which for more than a month had closed schools and most businesses, and only allowed people to leave their homes for essential work, to get groceries or to exercise.
Most students will continue studying from home and workers are still required to work from home if they can, while everyone is required to maintain social distancing. But restaurants can now reopen for takeaway orders, construction can restart, and golfers and surfers can play.
New Zealand reported just three new infections yesterday and the country’s health authorities said they are winning the battle against the virus. Nevertheless, they cautioned people not to get complacent and to maintain social distancing.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said people had done an incredible job to break the chain of transmission, but cautioned they needed to remain vigilant. Quoting a microbiologist, Ms Ardern said “there may still be some smouldering ashes out there, and they have the potential to become a wildfire again, if we give them the chance.”
In Australia, authorities reopened Sydney’s Bondi Beach to swimmers and surfers and hundreds returned to the water as soon as the restrictions were lifted. People can only use the beach during daylight hours, cannot linger on the sand and are counted to ensure social distancing.
In France, President Macron wants schools to start reopening May 11, but teachers, parents and even some mayors are raising alarms.
The government says it will be up to parents to decide whether to send children back to class, with details due to be revealed yesterday.
Greece, which has managed to keep its coronavirus death toll low, at 136 people, is also releasing more lockdown easing details yesterday but the issue of schools remains tricky.
Schools will be reopened “gradually, with conditions” and subject to constant review, said the Health Ministry’s virus spokesman, infectious diseases specialist Sotiris Tsiodras. The team of experts he is on has not recommended a date.
In Japan, a top medical expert said he thinks it will be difficult to hold the Olympics in 2021 without an effective coronavirus vaccine.
“I hope vaccines and drugs will be developed as soon as possible,” said Yoshitake Yokokura, the president of the Japan Medical Association.
Japan and the International Olympic Committee agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Games until July next year due to the pandemic. Japan is under a month-long state of emergency amid a rapid increase of infections throughout the country, where hospitals are overburdened.
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has insisted Covid-19 is just a “little flu” and that there is no need for the type of restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the US.
Brazil has reported 4,600 deaths and 67,000 confirmed infections. But the true numbers are believed to be vastly higher given the lack of testing and the many people without severe symptoms who have not sought hospital care.
Medical officials in Rio de Janeiro and at least four other major cities have warned that their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse or are too overwhelmed to take any more patients. There are also signs that a growing number of victims are now dying at home. Brazil is Latin America’s biggest country, with 211 million people.
“We have all the conditions here for the pandemic to become much more serious,” said Paulo Brandao, a virologist at the University of Sao Paulo.
Mr Bolsonaro has disputed the seriousness of coronavirus and said people need to resume their lives to prevent an economic meltdown. But most state governors in the country have adopted restrictions to slow the spread and pushed people to stay at home.
The number of confirmed infections worldwide has risen over three million and the confirmed death toll has topped 211,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy, Spain, France and Britain accounted for more than 21,000 virusrelated deaths each.
The latest lockdown moves come after the World Health Organisation warned people need to be “mentally prepared” that the Covid-19 pandemic is “nowhere near over”.
The WHO said there is still “a long road ahead” and countries will be “balancing lives against livelihoods” as they make decisions about lifting lockdowns.
The WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva: “We have a long road ahead of us and a lot of work to do. As lockdowns in Europe ease with declining numbers of new cases, we continue to urge countries to find, isolate, test and treat all cases and trace every contact, to ensure these declining trends continue.
“The pandemic is far from over.” Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies programme, said: “Each country has to balance lives against livelihoods, but at the same time while doing that be assured that if the calculation is made, and restrictions are lifted too early, you may be back in the situation where lockdowns need to be reimposed and that then has a potentially greater impact on livelihoods.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for Covid-19, said multiple factors will contribute to decisions on lifting restrictions, adding: “It cannot only be based in the numbers of cases and deaths reported.
“It requires having the entire population engaged and informed to understand that this needs to happen in a slow, measured and controlled way. This will take some time. And this is nowhere near over, and we need everyone to be mentally prepared, that we have some more to go.”
Governments should not only be looking at capabilities of health facilities – from contact tracing to caring for those who have mild or severe illness – but they should also consider whether social distancing can be in place when schools and workplaces reopen, she added.
Dr Ryan added: “These measures had to be put in place in order to suppress what was a very, very rapidly developing and deteriorating situation in many countries.
“And it’s to the credit of governments and their people that they’ve managed to successfully suppress the worst parts of the pandemic in their countries. The challenge now is how to unlock, how to have an exit strategy that doesn’t result in the disease bouncing back.”