Global report: US suffers fresh record increase as NZ health minister resigns
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Version 0 of 1. US sets fresh high of 52,000 fresh cases, a day after previous record; New Zealand minister becomes a ‘distraction’; Middle East at ‘critical threshold’ The United States has reported another daily record of new coronavirus cases in the country’s accelerating pandemic, as New Zealand’s health minister resigned over a series of blunders that stood in contrast to the government’s successful handling of the outbreak. After setting a new high with 44,000 cases on Tuesday, figures collated by Johns Hopkins University showed that the US racked up 52,000 fresh infections on Wednesday. There is growing alarm at the spread of the disease in the world’s most powerful economy, with president Donald Trump saying he thought the virus would “just kind of disappear” despite a warning from his administration’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, that daily cases could reach 100,000. California became the latest state to reverse plans to ease restrictions on public gatherings and the reopening of businesses. Its governor, Gavin Newsom, on Wednesday ordered the immediate closure of bars, restaurants and public venues such as cinemas in a ruling that will apply to 19 counties around the state, or about 70% of its 41 million population. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has delayed the city’s resumption of indoor dining, while McDonald’s announced on Wednesday that it is delaying the reopening of indoor dining at its restaurants by 21 days. The disease is also spreading more quickly again in other countries where restrictions have been lifted. In Japan, the capital Tokyo confirmed more than 100 new coronavirus infection cases on Thursday, according to public broadcaster NHK – the highest daily tally in two months. The city of 14 million initially sought to keep new daily cases below 20 since Japan lifted a state of emergency on 25 May, but its tally has consistently exceeded 50 recently. Britain has already seen the city of Leicester put back into lockdown after a sharp spike in infections, with officials announcing on Wednesday that the spread had been noticeable among under-19s and the general working-age population. Pubs in England reopen on Saturday amid concern that it might encourage large gatherings of people and lead to another spike throughout the country, which has been one of the worst-affected in Europe. New Zealand’s health minister, David Clark, has resigned after a series of missteps meant that he had become a “distraction” from the government’s broadly very successful containment of the disease. Clark twice breached the strict national lockdown earlier this year – once to go cycling and once to take his family to the beach – but the final straw came last week when he blamed the much-admired chief health official for blunders that led to two women leaving isolation to visit a relative. They both later tested positive for Covid-19. India has now recorded more than 600,000 coronavirus infections, and 17,834 deaths, figures released on Thursday showed. The country has the fourth largest outbreak in the world, and the increase in infections presents a severe challenge for its overburdened health system. The US has postponed flights for dozens of American diplomats who had planned to return to China later this month, after failing to reach agreement with Beijing over issues including Covid-19 testing and quarantine. Washington and Beijing have been locked in negotiations over conditions for their return. In Australia, a man from Sydney who was quarantined in the state of Victoria after returning from abroad has since tested positive for Covid-19. Fifty staff at the Woolworths supermarket in the Sydney suburb of Balmain where the man works have been isolated. The World Health Organization has warned that the Middle East is at a “critical threshold” in the pandemic after the region reached 1 million cases. Several countries have begun to ease restrictions, such as Egypt where tourists have returned this week, heightening concerns at the WHO that the outbreak could worsen. “We are at a critical threshold in our region,” the WHO’s Middle East head, Ahmed al-Mandhari, said in an online press conference, adding that it was a “concerning milestone”. “The number of cases reported in June alone is higher than the total number of cases reported during the four months following the first reported case in the region on 29 January,” he said. |