Lockdowns return as number of cases rise
never imposed a full lockdown.
Officials have struggled over the trade-off between curbing the spread of the virus and protecting the ailing economy.
In Australia, where some have advocated a policy of virus eradication rather than suppression, Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out the strategy as costly, risky and a potential illusion.
“You can’t mortgage off your economy for what would prove to be an illusory goal,” he said.
After initially suppressing the pandemic, Australia saw the virus regain a foothold with breaches of controls in Melbourne hotel quarantines just as the nation was lifting its lockdown restrictions.
The city has been shut down again, for six weeks, as 317 new cases were added yesterday to the tally in Melbourne and surrounding Victoria state.
Australia’s smaller neighbour, New Zealand, has had success with its goal of eradication, having had no community-spread cases in 76 days.
All of its 27 active cases are people in quarantine after returning from foreign travel.
With its borders closed to foreigners, New Zealand has resumed most activities.
But for most countries, a return to normalcy appears further off than many envisioned just weeks ago.
Governors in several US states ordered requirements for masks and imposed further limits on operations of bars and restaurants as the number of cases in the US surged.
California, Arizona, Texas and Florida together reported about 36,000
Health workers prepare to test a woman for Covid-19 at a mobile test clinic in Los Angeles, which is on the verge of a shutdown due to the number of cases new cases on Wednesday. The four states reported a total of more than 450 new deaths.
In Alabama, which reported a oneday high of 40 deaths, officials said the state will begin requiring face masks.
The mayor of Los Angeles declared the nation’s second-largest city is on the verge of a shutdown of all but essential businesses and more school districts made plans to start the fall semester without on-site instruction.
San Francisco and Sacramento joined Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and other districts in announcing public school students will not return to classrooms but stick with digital learning when the new term begins because of the spreading virus and testing delays.
In Texas, which again set a record for confirmed new cases, with nearly 10,800, Republican governor Greg Abbott has increasingly emphasised face coverings as the way to avoid another lockdown.
Montana governor Steve Bullock required masks at indoor public spaces and at larger outdoor gatherings in counties where four or more people are known to have Covid-19.
The Democrat’s order came as the state reported a record number of new confirmed cases.
Ohio governor Mike DeWine appealed in a televised address to Ohioans to make “once-in-a-hundred year sacrifices” to protect their neighbours – whether or not the government requires them to do so.
Alluding to the dire death tolls of the Spanish flu pandemic and the Vietnam War, he urged them to wear face coverings at all times while in public, but issued no mandate.
“Friends, this is not a drill. It certainly is not any hoax. This is not a dress rehearsal,” he said.
Businesses have been tightening precautions, with Walmart becoming the largest US retailer to require customers to wear face coverings at all of its Sam’s Club and namesake stores.
In Las Vegas, some casinos began limiting smoking to keep customers from removing the masks they are required to wear.
Showing that there can be a way forward, China became the first economy to resume growing since the pandemic began in its central city of Wuhan.
It reported an unexpectedly strong 3.2% expansion in the latest quarter after anti-virus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened.
The 6.8% contraction in JanuaryMarch was the countries worst downturn since at least the mid-1960s.
Economists say China is likely to recover faster than some other major economies due to the ruling Communist Party’s decision to impose the most intensive anti-disease measures in history.
Those cut off most access to cities with a total of 60 million people and suspended trade and travel – steps later imitated by some Asian and European governments as the virus spread.
Few other countries have shown the will to impose such stringent measures to keep the virus at bay.
More than 13.5 million people have been infected worldwide and over 580,000 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The true numbers are thought to be far higher for a number of reasons, including limited testing.