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Fresh waves fuel lockdown woes

China Daily Global | Updated: 2020-10-12 09:00
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COVID-19 rebound, rising cases across Europe, Americas put severe strain on health services

A man receives the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test, distributed by the Wisconsin National Guard at the United Migrant Opportunity Services center, as cases spread in the Midwest, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, Oct 2, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

Second and third waves of the novel coronavirus are hitting various parts of the world, prompting health authorities to consider new lockdowns to deal with the pandemic, according to latest reports.

COVID-19 cases continued to climb in at least 72 countries, with more than 37.2 million reported infections and 1.07 million reported deaths from the coronavirus worldwide as of Sunday, figures from health authorities showed.

Coronavirus infections in the United States are much higher than the 7.6 million recorded so far by Johns Hopkins University and the COVID Tracking Project focusing on the outbreak, according to Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Almost certainly there have actually been more than 40 million people infected by this virus in the US," Frieden said on Saturday during a CNN news town hall event.

"And that's why there have been well over 200,000 deaths," said Frieden, who also predicted that with the current surge in cases across the country, as many as 20,000 more people could die from the virus by the end of the month.

Europe's second wave of coronavirus infections also struck well before flu season started, with intensive care wards filling up again and bars shutting down, according to Associated Press reports.

Record high daily infections in several Eastern European countries and sharp rebounds in the hard-hit West have made clear that Europe "never really crushed the COVID-19 curve as hoped, after springtime lockdowns", AP reported.

Last week, Spain declared a state of emergency for Madrid amid increasing tensions between local and national authorities over virus containment measures. Germany offered soldiers to help with contact tracing in newly flaring hot spots, while Italy mandated masks outdoors and warned that for the first time since the country became the European epicenter of the pandemic, the health system was facing "significant critical issues" as hospitals filled up, AP reported.

Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, warned that the United Kingdom has reached a "tipping point" in its coronavirus epidemic similar to that last seen in March.

In a statement published on Sunday, Van-Tam said the UK is in a different position than it was during the first wave because "we are now going into the colder, darker winter months", according to the BBC.

"We are in the middle of a severe pandemic and the seasons are against us. Basically, we are running into a headwind," he said.

Tensions are rising in cities where new restrictions have been reimposed, with hundreds of Romanian hospitality workers alone holding protests this week after Bucharest once again shut down the capital's indoor restaurants, theaters and dance venues.

Brazil's health ministry said the number of people who died from COVID-19 in the country has passed 150,000, the BBC reported. Brazil has by far the highest number of deaths in South America and Sao Paulo has been the worst hit. Brazil has the second-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, after the US, and the third-highest number of cases after the US and India.

Brazil's total infections passed 5 million cases earlier last week. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of downplaying the risks of the virus throughout the pandemic, ignoring expert advice on restrictive measures.

In Colombia, the next worst-hit country in South America, more than 27,000 people have died and there have been at least 894,000 confirmed cases.

In Asia, the average number of new infections reported in Malaysia has been consistently increasing for 10 days, according to Reuters data, while India leads the world in the daily average number of new infections reported, accounting for one in every 22 infections reported worldwide each day.

Myanmar reported 2,158 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday in a record daily rise, along with 32 new deaths.

As Iran battles a third wave of coronavirus infections, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday that mask wearing is mandatory in public in Teheran and violators will be fined.

The pandemic has severely hit the global economy, with poverty levels also increasing and inequality accelerating between and within countries, according to the World Economic Forum.

Up to 150 million people could slip into extreme poverty, living on less than $1.90 a day, by late next year depending on how badly economies shrink during the public health crisis, according to World Bank estimates.

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