Global virus death toll tops 375,000
June 3, 2020
RIO DE JANEIRO: The global death toll from the coronavirus topped 375,000 as the disease continued to tear through Latin America, but in Europe the return to normality gathered pace with the French heading back to their beloved cafes and restaurants.
Healthcare systems across Latin America risk being overwhelmed by the illness, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, as fatalities from the disease in hard-hit Brazil neared 30,000.
The warning from the global health body came as a sister UN agency issued new guidelines for pandemic-hit airlines that reveal what flying might look like when passenger planes take to the skies again in earnest.
The march of the illness across the Americas comes as other parts of the world return to relative normality after weeks of restrictions on daily life that have wrecked economies and left millions jobless.
Schools, swimming pools, pubs and tourist sites have begun to open again in Europe as the continent continues easing lockdowns despite the threat of a second wave of infections.
The pandemic has now infected at least 6.2 million since erupting in China in late 2019.
Four of the 10 countries across the globe with the greatest number of new coronavirus infections on Monday were in Latin America, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said.
Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico are suffering the highest daily increases, but numbers are also on the rise in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Haiti.
The region has logged one million cases and recorded more than 50,000 deaths, with Brazil accounting for more than half of those cases and close to 60 per cent of the fatalities.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro said Monday, however, that the popular tourist city would start gradually easing lockdown measures from Tuesday, beginning with the re-opening of places of worship, and water sports.
Mexico also began re-opening on Monday, reactivating the automotive industry, mining and construction even as the country recorded more than 10,000 virus deaths.
Ryan warned that the region faces a tough battle in the weeks ahead.
“I don’t believe we have reached the peak in that transmission and, at this point, I cannot predict when we will,” he said.
In Europe however, countries have started to emerge from lockdowns – cautiously adopting a post-pandemic normal.
Bars resumed service in Finland and Norway – with social distancing restrictions or shortened hours in place – while some schools in Britain and Greece opened their doors.
Britain reported 111 more virus deaths on Monday, the lowest daily toll since its lockdown started on March 23.
Greece opened some hotels, schools, pools and tattoo parlours, while Italy re-opened version of the Colosseum, although only to Italians.
There was also good news from Spain, which on Monday recorded its first 24-hour period without a Covid-19 death since March 3.
France registered 31 deaths over the last 24 hours and on Tuesday re-opened cafes, restaurants and bistros that have been closed since its lockdown began in mid-March.
Much of East Asia, meanwhile, has seen infections slow to a trickle in recent weeks, but restrictions on mass gatherings remain.
Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigil for those killed in China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has been banned for the first time due to Covid-19 concerns.
And in New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern criticised Black Lives Matter protesters for flouting social distancing rules when the country is on the verge of eliminating the virus. — AFP