Bolsonaro wants salons, gyms open in outbreak

RIO DE JANEIRO－Several cities in Brazil, the hardest-hit country in Latin America, stepped up lockdown measures on Monday in a bid to fight the novel coronavirus, while the president declared gyms and hair salons as essential services that can stay open through the outbreak.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro argued that state and municipal governments have gone overboard in social isolation measures to restrict the disease's spread and that they are overly damaging to the economy.

Meanwhile, in Rio de Janeiro, the city with the second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths after Sao Paulo, Mayor Marcelo Crivella announced a measure to restrict traffic in 10 districts starting on Tuesday and banned the reopening of shops in the favelas.

In northeast Pernambuco state, the government declared a 15-day lockdown for its capital Recife and metropolitan area to stop the spread of the virus.

The decision made Recife the fourth regional capital, after Sao Luis, Belem and Fortaleza, to make it mandatory for residents to stay at home and wear face masks when going out, if necessary.

Brazil had registered a total of 168,331 confirmed cases of the virus with 11,519 deaths due to the disease as of Tuesday.

In Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday said he was confident of seeing a drop in the rate of infections soon, and will unveil a plan this week for resuming economic activity following the lockdown.

The government's strategy for flattening the curve of infections has been effective, and the country is expecting a decrease in the infection rate soon, said the president.

"That is why we are now going to present a plan to reopen (the economy), but little by little," he said.

As of Monday, Mexico had reported 36,327 confirmed cases and 3,573 deaths.

Hospitals under pressure

In Chile, the health ministry said on Monday the country had surpassed 30,000 cases of the new coronavirus, amid a spike in infections that has put hospitals under stress and raised fears of complications with the arrival of the Southern Hemisphere winter.

The tally puts Chile fourth for confirmed cases in Latin America, behind Brazil, Peru and Mexico.

Chile is bracing for a peak in infections as cool temperatures settle across the region. Many homes in poor urban areas depend on cheap firewood for heat, increasing concerns that worsening air pollution could make more people vulnerable to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

Xinhua - Agencies