PHILIPPINES reinstates lockdown.
U.N. warns of disaster as virus shuts school in 160 nations
MANILA, Philippines — Commuter trains, buses and other public vehicles stayed off the main roads of the Philippine capital Tuesday and police were again staffing checkpoints to restrict public travel as surging virus cases forced another lockdown.
Officials deployed dozens of shuttle buses, along with army trucks, to ferry stranded medical personnel and workers of authorized businesses. Most domestic flights to and from the capital were canceled, and night curfews will return in places.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday the coronavirus pandemic has led to the largest disruption of education in history, with schools closed in more than 160 countries in mid-July, affecting over 1 billion students.
In addition, the U.N. chief said at least 40 million children worldwide have missed out on education “in their critical preschool year.”
As a result, Guterres warned that the world faces “a generational catastrophe that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched inequalities.”
According to a global projection covering 180 countries by the U.N. education agency UNESCO and partner organizations, some 23.8 million additional children and youths from pre-primary school to university level are at risk of dropping out or not having access to school next year because of the pandemic’s economic impact.
“We are at a defining moment for the world’s children and young people,” Guterres said in a video message and a 26-page policy briefing. “The decisions that governments and partners take now will have lasting impact on hundreds of millions of young people, and on the development prospects of countries for decades to come.”
According to the policy briefing, “the unparalleled education disruption” from the pandemic is far from over and as many as 100 countries have not yet announced a date for schools to reopen.
Crowds in the Philippines visited some supermarkets Monday to stock up on food after the hasty return to a lockdown sparked panic-buying.
The lockdown is milder than the first one imposed, which largely confined most people to their homes for months, but is more severe than the quarantine restrictions the capital had been under recently. It is being imposed in metropolitan Manila and outlying provinces for two weeks.
Businesses previously allowed to partly reopen, including barbershops, gyms, dine-in restaurants and tourist destinations, will again be closed. Authorized companies including banks, health and food processing firms must shuttle their employees between home and work. Traveling by bike, motorcycle and private car is allowed for essential reasons, but mass transit will be closed.
President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to reinstate the lockdown after medical groups warned the health care system was being overwhelmed by covid-19 patients. Health officials reported a record-high daily tally of 6,352 new infections Tuesday, bringing the country’s total to more than 112,500, including 2,115 deaths.
In other developments in Asia and the Pacific:
■ India’s daily increase in infections topped 50,000 for a seventh straight day. Tuesday’s spike of 52,050 cases recorded in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,855,745, according to the Health Ministry database. The ministry also reported 803 new deaths, taking total fatalities up to 38,938.
■ Two more patients have died in Vietnam’s outbreak, with an additional 10 people infected. All eight of Vietnam’s deaths from covid-19 were connected to a Da Nang hospital where another dozen patients remain in critical condition.
■ Australia’s Victoria state banned people who should be self-isolating from exercising outside their homes and introduced tougher fines for infected people who continue to go to work. Military and health teams who knocked on the doors of 3,000 homes recently could not find 800 people who should have been there because they had the virus or were awaiting a test result.
■ Both mainland China and Hong Kong reported fewer new cases of covid-19 on Tuesday as strict measures to contain new infections appear to be taking effect. Mainland China announced 36 new cases across the country, down from 43 the previous day. Hong Kong reported 78 new cases, the first time in almost two weeks that new cases had fallen into double-digits.