Moscow: New coronavirus cases have been spiking from India to South Africa to Mexico in a clear indication that the pandemic is far from over, while Russia and Brazil now sit behind only the United States in the number of reported infections.
The surges come even as much of Asia, Europe and scores of US states have seen enough progress in their fight against the virus to focus on how best to reopen their economies. US autoworkers, French teachers and Thai mall workers are among the hundreds of thousands of employees back on the job with new safety precautions.
Russia reported a steady rise in new infections on Tuesday and new hot spots have emerged across the vast nation of about 147 million.
Russia registered 9,263 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to nearly 300,000 infections about half of them in Moscow. Authorities say 2,837 people with COVID-19 have died in Russia, a figure that international health experts have questioned.
Latin America has seen more than 483,400 confirmed coronavirus cases and 30,900 dead to date. The largest number of infections are in Brazil, which became the world’s third worst-hit county on Monday evening with more than 250,000 infections despite limited testing.
Hospital officials report more than 85% occupancy for intensive care beds in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Alarmingly, some countries have seen encouraging signs reverse: Iran reported a steady drop in new virus infections through April, only to see them rise again in May.
But there is new hope after an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus yielded encouraging results, albeit in a small and extremely early test. Stocks rallied Monday on the news.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has declared that a partial economic shutdown imposed in late March helped slow the outbreak and prevent the nation’s health care system from being overwhelmed.
In densely populated Bangladesh, where authorities reported a record 1,602 positive tests, thousands of cars were on the streets of the capital, Dhaka, despite a lockdown that extends through May 30.
Authorities in Bangladesh have relaxed some rules and allowed shops to open ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, at the end of the month. Public transportation is suspended but the country’s thousands of garment factories are operating. (AP)
