World

Coronavirus: Deaths tolls climb in US and UK as number decrease in Spain

Prematurely easing restrictions could lead to a ‘deadly resurgence’ of virus, says WHO

People line up to buy supplies from a supermarket, as the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus continues in Madrid, Spain on April 11th. Photograph: Manu Fernandez/AP

Sat Apr 11 2020 - 18:34

The United States on Friday became the first country in the world to report more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours and briefly surpassed Italy with the most deaths of any country. The death toll in the US now stands at 18,850.

US health authorities said there were further outbreaks in New York City and the surrounding region, an area with some 20 million people that accounts for more than half of the 500,000 American cases.

Other hot spots in the US are in Detroit, Louisiana and the national capital, Washington.

The death toll from coronavirus in the United Kingdom rose by 917 to 9,875 people as of 4pm on April 10th, health officials said on Saturday.

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The number of coronavirus deaths in Spain fell for a third consecutive day on Saturday, with 510 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours - the smallest overnight increase since March 23rd. Spain's total death toll from Covid-19 disease rose to 16,353 with 161,852 confirmed cases.

Questions intensified about when restrictions might be loosened. Spain said factories and construction sites could resume work Monday, while schools, most shops and offices will remain closed.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said prematurely easing restrictions on the movement of people introduced in response to Covid-19 could lead to a "deadly resurgence" of the virus.

Chinese workers and health officials wear protective gear as they gather to take buses while being processed and taken to do 14 days of quarantine, after arriving by train in Beijing, China. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Cautious reopening

Worldwide, confirmed infections rose to 1.7 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

In Italy, there were pleas to restart manufacturing as people strain against a strict lockdown against the coronavirus, that is just now showing signs of ebbing at the end of five weeks of mass isolation.

Italy has suffered the most deaths of any nation: nearly 19,000. Now it is likely to set an example of how to lift broad restrictions that have imposed the harshest peacetime limits on personal freedom and shut down all non-essential industry. The so-called Phase II is being described as a cautious reopening.

“We obviously don’t want to delude ourselves that everything will change,” prime minister Giuseppe Conte said this week. On Friday he extended the lockdown to May 3rd.

In Canada, confirmed cases of the virus have risen to 22,559, up from 21,243 on April 10th. The country’s death toll has also risen to 600, up from 531, according to the latest pubic health agency data.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani urged citizens to continue to respect measures to guard against the new coronavirus as “low-risk” business activities resumed in most of the country on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported.

So-called low-risk businesses, mainly factories and workshops, resumed across the country, with the exception of the capital Tehran, where they will re-open from April 18th.

The Islamic Republic is the Middle Eastern country worst-affected by the virus and has been struggling to curb the spread of the infection, but the government is also concerned that measures to limit public activities could wreck an already sanctions-battered economy.

High-risk businesses including theatres, swimming pools, saunas, beauty salons, schools, shopping centres and restaurants will remain closed.

Yet health authorities have repeatedly complained that many Iranians have ignored appeals to stay at home, warning of a second wave of the outbreak in Iran where the death toll has reached 4,357 with 70,029 infected cases.

Greece has also extended its restrictions into May.

Restrictions

As the global death toll passed 100,000, the WHO said a premature lifting of restrictions on movement by countries fighting the pandemic could spark a “deadly resurgence”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, said it was working with countries on ways in which lockdowns could be gradually eased, but said doing so too quickly could be dangerous.

“I know that some countries are already planning the transition out of stay-at-home restrictions. WHO wants to see restrictions lifted as much as anyone,” he told a press conference in Geneva.

“At the same time, lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to a deadly resurgence. The way down can be as dangerous as the way up if not managed properly.”

America’s top infectious disease expert also cautioned against moves to relax restrictions, echoing calls from other global public health officials but putting him at odds with president Donald Trump, who is agitating for a reopening of the coronavirus-battered US economy.

Anthony Fauci said “now is not the time to back off” on restrictions, despite what he described as “favourable signs” in America’s early hotspots.

Economy

Mr Trump, seemingly concerned by deflating approval ratings and exploding unemployment figures, had told reporters that he hoped to open up the economy “very, very, very, very soon”.

In Brazil, 1,057 people have died from the virus with 19,638 confirmed cases, according to the latest official figures.

In China, where the pandemic began in December, the government reported three deaths and 46 additional cases in the 24 hours to midnight Friday.

The number of new daily cases has declined dramatically, allowing the ruling Communist Party to reopen factories and shops.

China has reported 3,339 deaths and 81,953 confirmed infections, though critics say the real totals might be higher.

Also Saturday, the US consulate in Guangzhou in southern China advised African-Americans to avoid the city following complaints that police ordered restaurants and bars not to serve people of African origin.

It said authorities were requiring mandatory self-quarantine for anyone with “African contacts”.

Public health officials and religious leaders urged Roman Catholics and Protestants to stay at home on Easter Sunday, their faith’s most important holiday.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans sprinkled holy water from the Jordan River on the city from a biplane flying overhead.

Wristbands

South Korea has announced plans to strap tracking wristbands on people who defy quarantine orders, and Christians were urged to stay at home over the Easter weekend as the global coronavirus death toll passed 100,000.

South Korean officials said stricter controls are required because some of the 57,000 people who are under orders to stay at home have slipped out by leaving behind smartphones with tracking apps.

Plans for broader use of wristbands were scaled back after objections by human rights and legal activists.

South Korean health officials acknowledged privacy and civil liberties concerns about the wristband plan, but said they were necessary because the number of people under self-quarantine soared after the country began requiring 14-day isolation for anyone arriving from abroad from April 1st.

The wristbands, which communicate with tracking apps installed on smartphones through Bluetooth, are designed to alert officials if the wearers leave home or try to destroy or cut them off.

South Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said at least 886 of the country’s 10,480 coronavirus infections have been traced to international arrivals.

The number of people under self-quarantine includes 49,697 who arrived from abroad. Another 1,340 foreign short-term visitors are quarantined. – Agencies

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