Prodded by U.S., Mexico to reopen
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged Wednesday to begin reopening Mexico’s economy next week — encouraged by U.S. officials — even as hospitals from Mexico City to the border reeled under the pressure of the largest oneday jump in COVID19 case numbers and the lack of testing made decisionmaking difficult.
Economy Secretary Graciela Márquez said the reopening would be “gradual, orderly and cautious,” and that by May 18, industries like construction, mining, and car and truck manufacturing would be allowed to resume.
Mexico has been under pressure from U.S. officials to reopen auto plants because without them, integrated supply chains would make it hard for plants in the U.S. and Canada to reopen.
Kingdom reports its first case
Southern Africa’s tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho has confirmed its first positive case of COVID19, making it the last of 54 African countries to report the disease. The Lesotho health ministry says one person, who recently arrived in the country, had tested positive without showing signs of illness. The patient is isolated. Lesotho, a country of 2 million people, is surrounded by South Africa, which has the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa at 11,350. The coronavirus has been slow to spread in Africa, but cases are rising. More than 69,500 cases have been confirmed and more than 2,400 deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lockdown rules are easing
Golf courses are reopening as part of some modest socially distanced easing of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Britons can exercise more than once a day and with one person from outside their household, provided they stay around 6 feet apart. Outdoor tennis and basketball courts can be used, and people will also be able to swim in lakes and the sea. Garden centers can also reopen, while people who cannot work from home are being encouraged to return if they can do so in a COVIDsecure way.
Financial center strains from virus
As Indians await details of a huge coronavirus relief package Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced to jumpstart the economy, the virus outbreak in the financial capital of Mumbai and in Maharashtra state is starting to overwhelm hospitals and slums. About a third of India’s 71,865 confirmed virus cases, and nearly 40% of its 2,415 deaths, have been reported in Maharashtra, the coastal state in the center of the country that is home to Bollywood, a huge agriculture industry and India’s largest stock market.
States, cities lurch to lockdowns
Faced with overwhelmed hospitals and surging coronavirus deaths, Brazilian state and city governments are lurching forward with mandatory lockdowns against the will of President Jair Bolsonaro, who says job losses are more damaging than COVID19. The movements of Brazilians have been completely restricted in fewer than two dozen cities scattered across the vast nation of 211 million — even though Brazil’s death toll stands at more than 12,000, Latin America’s highest. But as the death toll rises, local authorities are adopting stricter antivirus measures.
Concern over not releasing data
The United States says Tanzania has not publicly released any data on COVID19 in two weeks as concerns rise about the true number of cases there. The World Health Organization also has openly worried about Tanzania, whose president has questioned his own government’s virus testing and refused to close churches in the belief that the virus can’t survive in the body of Christ. A new U.S. Embassy statement warns that the risk of being infected in Tanzania’s commercial hub Dar es Salaam is “extremely high” and says many hospitals in the city have been overwhelmed. The country has more than 500 confirmed cases and 21 deaths.
Nation plans to open its borders
Austria has agreed to a plan to open its border with Germany on June 15 and expects something similar soon with Switzerland and Liechtenstein as long as the “infection figures allow,” according to Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. But Kurz also said it’s too early to talk about such measures with Italy — one of the European countries hardest hit by the virus with more than 220,000 infections and 30,000 deaths. Austria has recorded some 16,000 infections and more than 600 deaths.