Europe reopens; Beijing tries to contain outbreak
BERLIN — European countries reopened their borders Monday after a three-month coronavirus shutdown, although international visitors are still being kept away and there was uncertainty over whether many Europeans will quickly embrace travel outside their home countries.
Reopening continued in Mexico and Brazil despite cases climbing in the two largest nations in Latin America, where authorities struggled to handle the pandemic’s effect on alreadyweak medical systems.
In the U.S., Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors to highlight the “good news” around efforts to fight the virus despite several states reporting a rise in infections, which could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.
The need for constant vigilance came into sharp focus as China, where COVID-19 first emerged late last year, rushed to contain a fresh outbreak in the capital of Beijing.
The head of the World Health Organization said more than 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus have been reported globally each day in the last two weeks, and that countries that have curbed transmissions “must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that it took over two months to reach 100,000 reported cases, now a daily norm. Each day, nearly three-fourths of the new cases come from 10 countries — mostly in South Asia and the Americas, Dr.
Tedros said.
Mr. Pence said in a private call with governors that except for a few places, the U.S. is seeing strong drops in virus-related hospitalization and mortality rates. In audio of the call obtained by The Associated Press, the vice president urged governors to make it clear to residents that “there’s a lot of really, really good news.”
White House officials have played down the severity of the virus’s surge in places like Arizona and Texas. On Monday, the nation’s second-most populated state set a one-day high in hospitalizations of coronavirus patients for the seventh time in eight days. Arizona’s hospitals were at about 82% capacity.
Meanwhile, Germany and France dropped border checks nearly two weeks after Italy opened its frontiers. Greece welcomed visitors Monday with passengers on flights from other European countries not having to undergo compulsory coronavirus tests.
The European Union’s 27 nations and other European states aren’t expected to start reopening to visitors from outside the continent until at least the beginning of July and possibly later.
Spain allowed thousands of Germans to fly to its Balearic Islands without a 14-day quarantine in a pilot program designed to help authorities gauge what’s needed against possible virus flare-ups.
Martin Hofman was delighted to board a flight from Dusseldorf to the island of Mallorca because he said his vacation couldn’t be postponed.
“To stay in Germany was not an option for us,” Mr. Hofman said. “We are totally happy that we can get out.”
Slovenia lifted travel restrictions with Italy, and the mayors of two towns on opposite sides of the border jointly removed a traffic sign that barred movement from one to the other. The towns of Nova Gorica in Slovenia and Gorizia in Italy are closely linked culturally and economically.
Mexico City residents were free to drive without restrictions, and subway and bus stations that had been closed resumed service Monday as the city of 9 million continued its gradual return.
Mexico City’s graduated reopening is based on hospital occupancy levels. As of Saturday, the capital and the surrounding state had 74% of their hospital beds occupied.
Construction, auto manufacturing, mining, bicycle sales and beer production already had been allowed to resume. Parks were allowed to open at 30% of their capacity.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador encouraged Mexicans to get out of the house and get the economy moving again.
“Health is the most important thing, but at the same time the economy, well-being, the return to coexistence, harmony and freedom,” Mr. López Obrador said as he began his second weeklong road trip, this time from the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. “We can’t let fear overwhelm us.”
In Beijing, where an outbreak was traced to a market that supplies much of the city’s meat and vegetables, thousands lined up for tests. Authorities confirmed 79 cases over four days in what looks to be the largest outbreak since China largely stopped its spread at home more than two months ago.
Tests were administered to workers at the Xinfadi market, anyone who had visited it in the past two weeks, or anyone who had come in contact with either group. The market is Beijing’s largest wholesale food market, prompting inspections of fresh meat and seafood in the city and elsewhere in China.
Authorities also locked down the neighborhood around a second market, where three cases were confirmed. In all, 90,000 people are affected in the two neighborhoods in the city of 20 million.