HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
— Virus measures targeted by protesters despite case spikes
— The director of the University of Colorado’s football operations cited for violating coronavirus health orders after a team practice involved 108 people on a mountain hike.
— Police in London clashed with protesters at a rally against coronavirus restrictions, even as the mayor warned that it was “increasingly likely” that the British capital would soon need to introduce tighter rules to curb a sharp rise in infections.
— The official Oktoberfest is canceled in Munich, so 50 of the German city’s beer halls are hosting their own, smaller parties conforming to coronavirus guidelines.
MADRID — Spaniards are protesting in Madrid against the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the city’s regional head, who has placed new restrictions on neighborhoods with the highest contagion rates.
Wearing face masks and trying to maintain social distancing, protestors clapped in unison while shouting for regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso to step down. The protesters gathered at noon Sunday around the city, making it difficult to estimate the size of the protest.
In the Vallecas neighborhood, protesters chanted “For everyone or no one!” in a criticism of the restrictions Díaz Ayuso announced Friday for some of the poorest areas of Madrid where local authorities say the virus is spreading the fastest.
The restrictions affect around 860,000 people who won’t be able to leave their neighborhoods except for work, study or a medical appointment. Parks in the area are closed and shops and restaurants have to limit occupancy to 50%,
Spain is struggling to contain a second wave of the virus, which has killed at least 30,400 people according to the Spanish Health Ministry. Madrid’s rate of transmission is more than double the national average, which already leads European contagion charts.
___
LONDON — Britain’s government will fine people who refuse an order to self-isolate up to 10,000 pounds ($13,000) as the country sees a sharp surge in coronavirus infections.
The new rule obliges people to self-isolate if they test positive for the coronavirus or are traced as a close contact. The rule comes into effect on Sept. 28.
The government will help those on lower incomes who face a loss of earnings as a result of self-isolating with a one-time support payment of 500 pounds ($633).
The latest figures show that new daily coronavirus cases for Britain have risen to 4,422, the highest since early May. An official estimate also shows that new infections and hospital admissions are doubling every seven to eight days in the U.K.
The Conservative government is widely expected to impose further restrictions after Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that Britain is seeing a second wave of infections, following the trend elsewhere in Europe. London’s mayor has also said tighter restrictions could be needed soon in the British capital.
___
NEW DELHI — India has registered 92,605 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and is expected to surpass the United States as the pandemic’s worst-hit country within weeks.
The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported 1,133 additional deaths for a total of 86,752.
Sunday’s surge raised the country’s virus tally to over 5.4 million. India, however, also has the highest number of recovered patients in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Its recovery rate stands at about 80%.
Over 60% of the active cases are concentrated in five of India’s 28 states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced scathing criticism for its handling of the pandemic amid a contracting economy that left millions jobless.
___
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, has moved close to easing severe lockdown restrictions after recording only 14 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday.
It was the second day in a row new infections fell below 30. There were also five deaths recorded Sunday.
Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions are due to be eased next weekend when child care centers will be allowed to reopen and gatherings of up to five people from two different households will be permitted. But that depends on the rolling 14-day average of new cases being below 50. It now stands at 36.2.
Victoria state Health Minister Jenny Mikakos praised residents for adhering to lockdown rules, saying, “The huge sacrifices made by Victorians are saving many lives.”
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described an unexpected fall in Australia’s unemployment rate to 9.3% — down 14 percentage points from its peak during the pandemic — as “pleasant encouragement.”
The figures show about 400,000 Australians recently have returned to work.
___
SEOUL, South Korea __ South Korea’s new coronavirus tally has fallen below 100 for the first time in more than a month.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that the newly counted 82 cases took the country’s total to 22,975 with 383 deaths.
The drop is likely partly driven by the fact that authorities conduct fewer tests on weekends. But even before Sunday, South Korea’s daily tally has held in the 100s for more than two weeks, down from 400 in late August.
Health officials say the downward trend is a result of stringent social distancing rules imposed on the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area. Those rules were recently relaxed.
The government is urging the public not to lower their guard as small-scale clusters are still being reported.
___
TOKYO — Train stations and airports in Japan are filled with people traveling over the “Silver Week” holiday weekend, in a sign of recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The surge in domestic travel is in contrast to previous holidays, when pressure was high for people living in urban congested areas to stay home and avoid areas with fewer infections.
The new daily cases in Tokyo have recently fluctuated around 200, but Japan does not have widespread testing and many cases are likely going undetected. Baseball games, stores and theaters are open again with social distancing, mask-wearing, hand sanitizers and temperature checks.
A study by mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo showed crowd size at a domestic terminal at Tokyo’s main Haneda airport, as well as train stations and shopping districts nationwide.
Japan, with about 1,500 deaths related to COVID-19, has banned almost all overseas visitors and requires quarantine and virus checks for returning Japanese. The Silver Week includes this weekend and two national holidays, Respect for the Aged Day and the Autumn Equinox.
___
PARIS — Coronavirus infections tipped the scales again in France on Saturday with nearly 13,500 new infections in 24 hours. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire is among them.
He announced Friday in a tweet that he had tested positive with no symptoms and was working during self-isolation. The high-profile Le Maire is the fourth French minister to test positive since March.
It was the second day in a row that new COVID-19 cases in France were above 13,000. The French health agency said Friday’s big jump was the result of one hospital in the Essonne region south of Paris belatedly reporting numerous cases. It wasn’t clear whether that kind of add-on effect was at play on Saturday.
For health authorities, it is clear that France needs to worry about the spread of the coronavirus, with over 1,000 clusters detected. There have been 31,274 deaths since the start of the pandemic — among the highest death tolls in Europe — and 26 deaths in the last 24 hours.
In Paris, the Prefecture de Police warned in a tweet that there will be no more tolerance for bars and restaurants where rules to counter the virus aren’t respected, like standing at counters or failing to respect social distancing. Police “are intensifying” checks that can lead to closing establishments, it said. In one Paris district, 13 establishments were formally notified that they risk being shut down and 16 others were fined, the prefecture tweeted.
Continue reading “Virus Infections grow As do lock down Protests”
