Flare-ups popping up across globe
Several countries sounding alarm as spread accelerates
BELGRADE, SERBIA — Asian and European officials pleaded with their citizens Thursday to respect modest precautions as several countries saw coronavirus outbreaks accelerate or sought to prevent new flareups, while the virus showed no signs of slowing its initial advance in Africa and the Americas.
Following two nights of anti-lockdown protests in Serbia, authorities banned mass gatherings in the capital of Belgrade amid an uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Officials elsewhere in Europe warned of the risk of flare-ups due to lax social distancing, while officials in Tokyo and Hong Kong reviewed nightclubs, restaurants and other public gathering spots as a source of their latest cases.
Infections mounted at a frightening speed in countries with the world’s highest confirmed caseloads — the United States, India and Brazil. Between them, the three have logged more than 5.5 million cases and account for the majority of new cases worldwide reported daily.
India on Thursday reported 25,000 new cases; the U.S. on Wednesday reported just short of the record 60,000 cases set a day earlier; and Brazil reported nearly 45,000. In the U.S., the total number of confirmed cases has passed 3 million, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the continent would be wise to prepare for the worst-case scenario as virus-related deaths passed 12,000 and confirmed cases climbed fast. A day after confirmed virus cases across Africa surpassed half a million, the total was over 522,000, and the actual number of cases is unknown since testing levels are low.
‘We’ve crossed a critical number here,” Africa CDC chief John Nkengasong. “Our pandemic is getting full speed.”
Much of Europe appeared to have put the worst of the crisis behind it, at least for now. But Serbia has emerged as a new focus of concern — and of unrest.
On Thursday, authorities banned gatherings of more than 10 people in Belgrade in what they said was an effort to prevent the further spread of the virus. They also ordered shorter working hours for businesses such as cafes and shops.
“The health system in Belgrade is close to breaking up,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said. “That is why I can’t understand what we saw last night and the night before.”
“It will cost us, there is no doubt,” Brnabic said, referring to the possible spread of the virus after large protests that featured little social distancing or mask-wearing.
Serbia, which has a population of about 6.9 million, has confirmed more than 17,300 cases of the coronavirus, including 352 deaths.
Critics accuse President Aleksandar Vucic of letting the crisis spin out of control by lifting an earlier lockdown to allow for an election last month that tightened his grip on power.
Vucic’s announcement this week that new measures would include a lockdown sent thousands into the streets, and rockthrowing demonstrators fought running battles with police. The new government measures don’t include the originally planned weekend curfew, but effectively ban further protests.
Flare-ups of new cases are causing concern in several parts of the world, and in some cases leading to the reintroduction of restrictions on public activity.
In France and Greece, officials warned that people were too frequently ignoring safety guidance. The French government’s leading coronavirus adviser, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, lamented that “the French in general have abandoned protective measures.”
Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said authorities were “determined to protect the majority from the frivolous few.” He said the government may announce new restrictions Monday.
Petsas said authorities were focused on the rising number of cases in nearby Balkan countries and tourists who traveled to Greece over the land border with Bulgaria.
In Australia, which had initial success containing the outbreak, authorities on
Thursday reported 179 new cases, most in Melbourne, where authorities are battling a resurgence and have imposed a new sixweek lockdown.
Tokyo confirmed more than 220 new cases Thursday, exceeding its record daily increase from mid-April and prompting concerns of widening of the infections. Tokyo’s more than 7,000 cases are about one-third of Japan’s total.
“It’s a wake-up call,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters. “We need to use extra caution against the further spread of the infections.”
Experts on Tokyo’s virus task force said the majority of recent cases were linked to night clubs but rising infections from households, workplaces and parties raised concerns the virus is spreading in the wider community.
Hong Kong moved to tighten socialdistancing measures after it reported 42 new infections on Thursday. Rules for restaurants, bars and fitness centers will be tightened for two weeks starting Saturday.