New cases attest to still-raging pandemic
BERLIN — Renewed lockdown measures in a German region where hundreds of COVID-19 cases had sprung up at a slaughterhouse and news that the world’s top-ranked men’s tennis player had tested positive provided a stark reminder to Europeans on Tuesday that the pandemic was far from over.
Meanwhile, Britain, which has recorded the most coronavirus-related deaths in Europe, pressed on with its easing of the lockdown by confirming that restaurants, bars, hair salons and cinemas could reopen on July 4.
By contrast, Germany was reimposing some lockdown restrictions in North Rhine-Westphalia state after more than 1,550 people tested positive for the coronavirus at the Toennies slaughterhouse in RhedaWiedenbrueck, and thousands more workers and family members were put into quarantine to try to halt the outbreak.
On Tuesday, North Rhine-Westphalia Gov. Armin Laschet said people in Guetersloh and parts of a neighboring county would now face the same restrictions that Germany saw in March and April, including curbs on social gatherings and bar closures.
“The purpose is to calm the situation,” Laschet said, “to expand testing to establish whether or not the virus has spread beyond the employees of Toennies.”
He expressed frustration at the company’s handling of the outbreak, saying authorities had to order Toennies to release the names of its employees.
“The readiness to cooperate could have been greater,” he said.
Union officials have blamed poor working and living conditions that migrant workers face.
Word of Novak Djokovic’s infection again illustrated that there was little room for complacency in doing what was necessary to beat back the disease.
The No. 1 men’s tennis player said he and his wife contracted the coronavirus after he played in a series of exhibition matches he organized in Serbia and Croatia with zero social distancing.
The announcement by Djokovic, who stands third in men’s tennis history with 17 Grand Slam titles, has put into question the wisdom of a full-fledged return of tennis, including the U.S. Open in August.
The Serbian tennis star is the fourth player to test positive for the illness after participating in the matches in Belgrade and Zadar, Croatia.
“Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with,”
Djokovic said in a statement released Tuesday.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a major rollback of lockdown measures, which will let millions in England back into pubs, cinemas, churches and hair salons starting July 4. The move came amid strong pressure from businesses to ease social distancing rules.
Although gyms, pools, spas and tattoo parlors will remain shut, Johnson told lawmakers “our long national hibernation” was coming to an end.
Pubs and restaurants wanted the government to cut social distancing requirements in half, to three feet, between people indoors, and said many businesses wouldn’t be able to survive without the change.
But some scientists worried the move was too hasty, especially since measures like a track-and-trace system to stamp out outbreaks isn’t yet in place.
“This is far too premature,” said David King, a former chief scientific advisor to the government. “To come out of [lockdown] too early is extremely risky.”
The World Health Organization says the pandemic is still in ascendance.
“The epidemic is now peaking or moving toward a peak in a number of large countries,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief.
South Africa braced for an anticipated surge of COVID-19 cases by opening a large field hospital with 3,300 beds in a converted carmanufacturing plant.
The field hospital has been constructed in the city of East London in Eastern Cape province, one of the country’s hot spots. South
Africa has reported more than 106,000 coronavirus cases, including more than 2,100 deaths.
India has been recording about 15,000 new infections each day, and some states Tuesday were considering fresh lockdown measures to try to halt the spread of the virus among the country’s 1.3 billion people.
The government had lifted a nationwide lockdown to restart the ailing economy.
In Pakistan, the government is determined to buoy the frail economy by opening up the country even if overcrowded hospitals are turning away patients. The number of new cases has also been rising steeply in Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia.
Concerns over the spread of the virus prompted Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented decision to limit the number of pilgrims performing the hajj this year to only a few thousand.
Saudi Arabia has more than 164,000 cases so far, including 1,346 deaths.
The U.S. leads the world with 2.3 million cases and more than 121,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Worldwide, more than 9.2 million people have been infected, and more than 476,000 have died.