- Catastrophy in South Asia
- US death toll drops below 1K
Early optimism that South Asia might have dodged the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic has disappeared as soaring infection rates turn the densely populated region into a global hot spot.
After several months trailing the US and western Europe, cases of COVID-19 are surging across South Asia – home to almost a quarter of the world’s population – where the virus is wreaking havoc on fragile medical systems and underfunded health agencies are pushed to breaking point.
Overflowing hospitals from Kabul to Dhaka are turning away suspected virus patients, mortuaries are being overwhelmed as cemeteries and crematoria struggle to cope, and desperate families are searching for help for critically ill loved ones.
“The situation is catastrophic,” Abdur Rob, a senior doctor at Bangladesh’s Chittagong General Hospital, told AFP. “Patients are dying in the ambulances on the roads as they shunt between hospitals looking for (intensive care) beds or hospital admission.”
Chinese county restricts travel
Travel restrictions were placed on nearly half a million people near Beijing on Thursday as authorities rush to contain a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus with a mass test-and-trace effort and lockdowns in parts of the Chinese capital.
Another 21 cases of the virus were reported in the past 24 hours in Beijing, the National Health Commission said, taking the total number to 158 since a fresh cluster was detected last week after months of no confirmed local transmissions.
One case was also recorded in the neighbouring city of Tianjin and two more in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing—prompting travel restrictions to be placed on Anxin county, home to around 460,000 people, banning most traffic going in and out of the area.
US death toll drops below 1,000 for seven days now
The United States recorded 840 deaths from the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, according to data from Johns Hopkins University Wednesday, the seventh day in a row the toll has dropped below 1,000.
The country remains the most affected in the world by the pandemic in absolute terms, with more than 117,000 deaths overall and more than 2.1 million cases diagnosed.
Despite the encouraging drop in deaths, the number of new infections has plateaued around 20,000 a day, as infection rates wax and wane around the country.
Kazakh leader has coronavirus
Kazakhstan’s 79-year-old former president and official “Leader of the Nation” Nursultan Nazarbayev has tested positive for the coronavirus, a statement on his official website said Thursday.
“Currently, the First President of Kazakhstan is in self-isolation. Unfortunately, the last test… for the coronavirus infection showed a positive result. There is no cause for concern,” the statement said.
The statement said that Nazarbayev is “continuing to work remotely.”
Strongman Nazarbayev, who turns 80 next month, served as Kazakhstan’s president for close to three decades before handing the reins over to hand-picked successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev last year.
No more face masks for Czechs
Czechs will no longer have to wear face masks as of July 1, apart from in the capital, the health minister said Thursday, lifting a measure adopted to curb coronavirus infections.
Introduced on March 19, the order to cover the mouth and nose led Czechs to sew face masks at home amid a dire shortage in the EU member of 10.7 million people.
“The blanket duty to wear face masks will be abandoned on July 1, 2020… with the exception of regions with a worse epidemiological situation,” Health Minister Adam Vojtech told reporters.
Masks will still be mandatory in shops and on public transport in Prague where city hall has been paralyzed after a deputy mayor tested positive for COVID-19.
Masks will also be required in the northeastern Karvina district, where nearly 500 people with ties to the Darkov coal mine recently tested positive.