Tue 09 June 2020:
Governments around the world are cautiously peeling back those restrictions to resuscitate their economies while trying to avoid a resurgence of infections.
As New York entered phase one of its reopening and some of Europe’s hardest-hit nations lurched back to a new kind of normal, the WHO reported a record number of new cases globally.
Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 136,000 cases had been reported in the past 24 hours, “the most in a single day so far,” with the majority of them in the Americas and South Asia.
“Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” he told reporters.
In Belgium, pubs and eateries flung their doors open, but with social distancing measures in force, while Ireland opened shops and allowed gatherings of six people and limited travel.
Moscow said Monday it would ease border restrictions and lift lockdown measures in the Russian capital from Tuesday.
New Zealand meanwhile buoyed hopes for the rest of the world as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared that her country had beaten the virus, though strict border controls remain.
New Zealand Rugby also announced its top-flight domestic competition would restart this week, with fans allowed to pack into the stadiums for the first time in months.
But Britain, embarking on a more cautious reopening, imposed a two-week quarantine for anyone coming into the country, British nationals included — sparking legal action by airlines.
The quarantine came as it recorded its lowest daily death toll in more than two months, with 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
Across the Atlantic, figures showed the US economy entered a recession in February, ending 128 months of expansion.
And the World Bank said the pandemic has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870, despite unprecedented government support.
In Latin America, countries geared up for the worst as the outbreak escalated, with Brazil, Mexico and Peru particularly hard hit.
Brazil has the world’s third-highest death toll at more than 36,000, but President Jair Bolsonaro continues to play down the impact of the virus and has urged regional officials to lift lockdown measures.
And in Chile the confirmed death toll reached 2,290 after miscalculations from March and April were corrected, adding 1,541 to the figure, officials said.
Fears in Asia that the virus may not be under control persist, with the death toll and infection rate climbing sharply in India, even as the government lifted some curbs Monday after a 10-week lockdown.
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