Australia reports 1,684 new COVID-19 cases, plans merry Christmas

MELBOURNE - Australia reported 1,684 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday as authorities race ahead with vaccinations in a bid to end lockdowns on the populous southeast coast in the hope of making Christmas as close to normal as possible.

More than 15 million people in Victoria state, neighboring New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have been under stay-at-home orders as officials struggle to quell Australia's worst wave of the coronavirus infections, driven by the Delta variant.

New South Wales reported 1,485 cases of Delta and three further deaths on Sunday. Victoria had 183 new cases, while the Australian Capital Territory had 15. There was also one new infection reported in Queensland, which is not under a lockdown.

The lockdowns, which keep borders between states and territories closed, are part of a federally advised strategy to manage the outbreaks until at least 70% of those aged 16 and older get fully vaccinated.

The plan envisages that Australia might start reopening its international border, closed since March 2020, when 80% of people get their shots.

"When we get those vaccination rates, life will look better and feel better and we certainly will not have to have a state-wide lockdown ever again when we hit the 80% double dose vaccination rates," said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of New South Wales.

Only about 37% of eligible people have been vaccinated nationwide, due to the scarce supply of the Pfizer vaccine and public unease about the AstraZeneca shot. The pace has picked up considerably with the federal government racing to secure more Pfizer shots.

Based on current rates, the 70% target may be achieved in late October of early November.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison reiterated that the Delta outbreak could not be fully eliminated - a successful strategy used by states and territories in earlier waves - but that achieving the vaccination targets could open up interstate travel.

"And everyone can make plans for a family Christmas, with all our loved ones at the dinner table, cracking bon-bons and bad jokes together," Morrison told the Sunday Herald Sun.

"Nobody wants COVID to be the virus that stole Christmas, and we have a plan and the vaccinations available to ensure that's not the case."

Australia has recorded just under 62,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,040 deaths, far fewer than many other countries. 

-reuters-

Millions under coronavirus lockdown as China battles Delta outbreak

Millions of people were confined to their homes in China Monday as the country tried to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months including seven positive tests found in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.

China reported 55 new locally transmitted cases on Monday as an outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta variant reached over 20 cities in more than a dozen provinces.

The Wuhan cluster came after the official daily tally was released, but it was confirmed by state media which said the infections had been traced to a train station.

"The seven were identified as migrant workers," Xinhua reported, citing COVID-19 prevention and control officials. 

Major cities including Beijing have now tested millions of residents while cordoning off residential compounds and placing close contacts under quarantine.

Over 1.2 million residents were placed under strict lockdown for the next three days in the central city of Zhuzhou in Hunan province Monday, as authorities roll out a citywide testing and vaccination campaign, according to an official statement.

"The situation is still grim and complicated," the Zhuzhou government said.

Beijing had previously boasted of its success in bringing domestic cases down to virtually zero after the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, allowing the economy to rebound.

But the latest outbreak, linked to a cluster in the city of Nanjing where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive on July 20, is threatening that success with more than 360 domestic cases reported in the past two weeks.

In the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, famed for its national forest park, an outbreak spread last month among theatre patrons who then brought the virus back to their homes around the country.

Zhangjiajie locked down all 1.5 million residents on Friday.

Officials are urgently seeking people who have recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.

Meanwhile, Beijing has blocked tourists from entering the capital during the peak summer holiday travel season.

Only "essential travellers" with negative nucleic acid tests will be allowed to enter after the discovery of a handful of cases among residents who had returned from Zhangjiajie.

Top city officials on Sunday called for residents "not to leave Beijing unless necessary".

The capital's Changping district locked down 41,000 people in nine housing communities last week.

Fresh cases were also reported on Monday in the popular tourist destination of Hainan as well as in flood-ravaged Henan province, national health authorities said.

Agence France-Presse

Pandemic fuels travel boom -- in virtual reality

Jem Jenkins Jones was stuck at home in Wales for much of the past year amid pandemic lockdowns but managed to fulfill a promise to her 10-year-old daughter to see the northern lights from Iceland and South Africa's game reserves -- in virtual reality.

"She was amazed," she said, calling the VR travel experiences "a lifesaver for us."

Strict lockdowns and travel limitations during the pandemic have sparked fresh interest in immersive virtual travel experiences, which have become more accessible and affordable with new apps and VR hardware.

Even those confined to their homes can take a virtual jaunt to Machu Picchu, the rainforests of Borneo or a road trip across the United States in a convertible.

Data on VR travel usage is limited but developers have seen surging interest since the pandemic hit.

"It has been skyrocketing," said Cezara Windrem, creator of the Alcove VR platform at AARP Innovation Labs. "We're getting more adoption every month."

Alcove enables users to visit exotic locales such as Australia's coral reef or the island of Malta, while adding a "shared" experience which enables people to interact and even "lead" a family member without the technical skills to navigate in a VR headset.

"We’ve heard from a lot of people who discovered Alcove and decided buy a headset for their elderly family members," Windrem said. 

This allows for shared travel even during a lockdown and other kinds of experiences such as "playing chess with someone on the other side of the planet."

- Travel substitute, complement -

With the tourism industry largely obliterated by the coronavirus outbreak, virtual reality has emerged as both a substitute for real-world travel and a complement to help people plan their next trip.

App developers have created a range of travel experiences: touring the pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the savannahs of Kenya or the Antarctic from a kayak. These come from commercial operators or organizations such as National Geographic or World Wildlife Fund.

Users can opt for hardware from Facebook's Oculus, Sony's PlayStation or the inexpensive Google Cardboard, among others. Some gear costs as little as $300 and many apps are free.

"I have traveled every week since the pandemic, from the comfort of my home," said Rafael Cortes, a San Antonio computer professional who uses Alcove and YouTube VR.

"I've been to London, the glass bridge in China, Angel Falls in Venezuela, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, a helicopter tour of New York."

Amy Erdt lives in Portland, Oregon, but with VR, "I like to walk around my sister’s town in Wallingford, England, occasionally because I can’t be there."

Erdt, who administers a Facebook group of VR users, said there are "some great travel experiences" in virtual reality, which can be remarkably realistic.

"I once sat at VR poker table at 1 am with a guy in Australia who was eating KFC (chicken), she said. "I could hear his KFC crunch. It was a trip."

- Gaming and beyond -

Virtual reality's most popular applications are in gaming and fantasy worlds, but travel is seen as a new growth vector.

"During the pandemic when everyone is socially isolated it may seem strange to isolate yourself further to transport yourself somewhere else but it does allow us to experience things we can’t experience today," said Avi Greengart, analyst with the consultancy Techsponential.

Greengart said VR travel has some advantages but can't be compared with the real thing.

"With VR travel you're not getting the food unique to the area, you're missing a lot of the sensory experiences and serendipitous meetings with locals," he said.

On the other hand, "you can browse a museum and have it all to yourself," which may be impossible in the physical world.

A report by research firm GlobalData shows that virtual and augmented reality had already been gaining momentum from travel operators and tourism boards before the pandemic to enable people to get a taste of a destination before going there.

GlobalData analyst Ralph Hollister said the pandemic may be giving the sector a lift that will endure even after the pandemic.

"Spending considerably more time indoors with an abundance of spare time, combined with an urge to travel, has meant that aspiring travelers have been turning to VR to fill a void that travel restrictions have left," Hollister said.

Hollister said he sees VR becoming an important part of the process of travelers viewing and selecting a travel destination.

"The widespread adoption of VR for this kind of purpose could be the next step for this technology and help it permanently move away from its ‘gimmick’ label,” he said.

Agence France-Presse

 

New lockdowns in Europe, overseas fans banned at Tokyo Olympics

PARIS - Several European countries introduced new lockdown measures Saturday as they battled surging coronavirus infections, while Tokyo Olympics organizers were forced to announce an "unavoidable" ban on overseas fans to keep the Games safe.

Residents in Poland, parts of France and Ukraine's capital Ukraine all faced new restrictions, with most shops shut and people urged to work from home. 

Elsewhere in Europe, frustrations with COVID-19 curbs were spilling over, with scuffles breaking out at a large anti-restrictions protest in the German city of Kassel, and thousands joining similar demonstrations in Liestal, Switzerland and London.

"End the lockdown" and "Corona rebels", read signs held by demonstrators at the protest in Kassel, which was organized by a group that has drawn in activists from both the far-left and far-right as well as anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.

In Africa, Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina reiterated his own vaccine skepticism, adding that it would be an untested herbal remedy he has previously touted "that will protect me and my family". 

The pandemic is still speeding up worldwide, with the number of new COVID-19 infections rising globally by 14 percent over the past week, according to AFP data. 

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan became the latest world leader to test positive -- two days after receiving China's Sinopharm vaccine. 

The former cricketing legend is self-isolating with mild symptoms, his spokesman said.

FRANCE'S 'LOCKDOWN-LITE'

More than a third of France's population is now under a renewed lockdown as the country, along with several European neighbors, battles a third wave of the virus. 

But the curbs are lighter than those enforced at the height of the pandemic last year, with schools remaining open and hairdressers, shoemakers and chocolate shops added to an expanded list of businesses allowed to accept customers.

The government has also scrapped the forms once required to justify all trips outside the home, which were widely derided as an example of excessive French bureaucracy.

On the sunny banks of the River Seine, some Parisians questioned whether the restrictions could really be described as a "lockdown" at all. 

"I can't see any change, apart from the closed shops," said a resident named Philippe, strolling with his daughter in the midst of cyclists and joggers. 

ASTRAZENECA ROW ESCALATES

The row over AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine meanwhile shows no signs of abating, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen threatening to halt exports of the jab if the bloc does not receive its deliveries first.

The Anglo-Swedish pharma giant has delivered only 30 percent of the 90 million vaccine doses it had promised for the first quarter of the year, blaming production delays at its EU plants.

"We have the option of banning a planned export. That's the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start delivering to other countries," von der Leyen told Germany's Funke media group.

European officials are furious that AstraZeneca has fallen short on the continent while fully delivering on its UK commitments -- something that has allowed the recently-departed EU member to give half of its adult population at least one jab as of Saturday.

AstraZeneca has also had to contend with worries that its jab may cause blood clots, with more than a dozen countries pausing its use recently.

Several European countries including Germany and Italy resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations Friday after an all-clear from EU regulators and the World Health Organization.

But Scandinavian nations Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have all said they want more information before deploying the vaccine again.

Seeking to reassure their populations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his French counterpart Jean Castex both received a dose of AstraZeneca on Friday.

"I literally did not feel a thing. It was very good, very quick," said Johnson who became seriously ill from COVID-19 last year.

Brazil, meanwhile, said it was in talks with the US to import COVID-19 vaccines that Washington is not currently using and has already vowed to share with Mexico and Canada.

FOREIGN FANS BANNED FROM OLYMPICS

With more than 400 million vaccine doses already injected globally, organizers of the Tokyo Olympics had previously billed this summer's Games as a chance to provide "proof of humanity's triumph over the virus".

But on Saturday, Olympics chiefs announced that overseas fans would be banned as it remains too risky to invite large international crowds to Japan.

"We have to ensure a safe and secure environment for all the participants," said Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto. "It was an unavoidable decision."

The unprecedented ban will make the Tokyo Games the first ever without overseas spectators.

Agence France-Presse

Hong Kong imposes COVID-19 lockdown Tyrone Siu, Reuters

A medical worker in a protective suit helps a resident to register outside a residential area at Jordan district where tens of thousands of its residents will be placed in a lockdown to contain a new outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong on Friday. The lockdown is the first such measure the city has taken since the start of the pandemic, with Hong Kong reporting far fewer infections than other major world cities, recording less than 10,000 in the past year. 

-reuters-

'Lockdown' is Collins Dictionary Word of the Year

LONDON, United Kingdom - Collins Dictionary said on Tuesday that "lockdown" is its Word of The Year in 2020 following a dramatic increase in usage during the spread of COVID-19. 

Lexicographers said they picked the word because it had become synonymous with the experience of populations across the world as governments look to curb the coronavirus pandemic. 

"It is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had collectively to play their part in combating the spread of COVID-19," publishers Harper Collins said.

Collins registered more than a quarter of a million usages of "lockdown" during 2020, against only 4,000 the previous year.

Because of the way the pandemic has affected the daily use of language, six of Collins' 10 words of the year in 2020 are related to the global health crisis. 

"Coronavirus", "social distancing", "self-isolate" and "furlough" as well as "lockdown" and "key worker" were included in the longer list of 10 words of the year. 

"Key worker" alone has seen a 60-fold increase in usage reflecting the importance attributed this year to professions considered to be essential to society. 

"2020 has been dominated by the global pandemic," Helen Newstead, a language consultant at Collins, said. 

"Lockdown has affected the way we work, study, shop, and socialize. 

"With many countries entering a second lockdown, it is not a word of the year to celebrate but it is, perhaps, one that sums up the year for most of the world." 

Collins defines "lockdown" as "the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces". 

According to the dictionary, coronavirus is: "Any one of a group of RNA-containing viruses that can cause infectious illnesses of the respiratory tract, including COVID-19." 

Significant social and political developments beyond the virus have also been reflected in the list, which has already made its way into online editions of the English dictionary. 

A wave of Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the death in US police custody of unarmed black man George Floyd, spread around the world and brought a new awareness of the movement. 

The abbreviation "BLM", often used as a hashtag on social media, was widely used in conversations and reporting following the protests, registering an increase in usage of 581 percent by Collins. 

Social media regularly throws up new words for the dictionary.

This year, Collins has included "TikToker", which describes someone who shares content on the TikTok social media platform. 

"Mukbang", which refers to a South Korean trend of video bloggers eating large quantities of food in videos broadcast to their followers, has also made the list. 

The UK royal family influenced the shortlist in 2020. 

"Megxit", which refers to the withdrawal of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan from royal duties, passed into regular usage. 

The word, modelled on "Brexit", which was Collins' word of the year in 2016, illustrates just how firmly established that word now is in the British lexicon.

Agence France-Presse

France says COVID-19 crisis 'worsening', aims to avoid lockdown

French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned Friday the country was seeing a "clear worsening" of the coronavirus pandemic, but aimed to avoid a new nationwide lockdown that would hammer the economy.

In an eagerly-awaited statement after a meeting of ministers and health experts, Castex did not announce any new restrictions but promised more efficient testing and said it was up to local authorities to decide additional measures.

Nearly 10,000 new cases have been recorded daily in the last two days, a record since wide-scale testing began, but Castex said a recent increase in Covid-19 hospitalisations was particularly worrying.

"We have to succeed in living with this virus, without returning to the idea of a generalised lockdown," he said in a televised statement from his official residence in Paris.

"Our strategy is not changing. We must fight the virus without putting on hold our social, cultural and economic life, the education of our children and our ability to live normally," he added.

Castex said 42 of France's 101 departments are now classified as "red zones" where the virus is circulating rapidly, up from 28 earlier this week.

- 'Reaches most vulnerable' -

He said the authorities in Marseille, Bordeaux and the overseas territory of Guadeloupe should by Monday present plans to deal with significant local outbreaks.

"There is no Maginot Line -- inevitably it ends up reaching the most vulnerable," he said in reference to supposedly impenetrable defences France built ahead of World War II.

But he did not announce any major new restrictions, urging people instead to respect social distancing guidelines and to wear face masks.

And the quarantine period for people who catch the virus will be shortened to just seven days from 14, to better match "the period when there is a real risk of contagion," he said.

Castex also said that testing capacities would be ramped up in response to long wait times for appointments and results.

Priority cases involving people with confirmed exposure to Covid-19 patients or already showing symptoms will be given reserved spots at testing centres, and 2,000 more people will be hired to carry out contact tracing.

Officials have been increasingly concerned about the high number of infections in France, even if the death toll and admissions to intensive care are well below the highs recorded in March and April.

The health ministry said 9,406 new coronavirus infections were recorded on Friday after 9,843 were registered on Thursday, the highest number since large-scale testing began.

France's total death toll from the pandemic stands at 30,893 after 40 more people died in hospital.

The head of a scientific council advising the government on the pandemic, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, said Wednesday that the government might soon have to make "tough" decisions to stem the outbreak.

People at high risk because of old age or health problems including diabetes, obesity and respiratory issues might require a protective "bubble" around them, for example.

Castex himself is in a seven-day period of self-isolation, having spent part of last weekend with the boss of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, who tested positive for Covid-19. 

Castex was later deemed virus-free after an initial test.

Agence France-Presse

Italy plunges into recession as virus bites

ROME - Italy posted a record economic contraction Monday as household spending and investment crashed during the country's coronavirus lockdown, driving the eurozone's third-largest economy deep into recession.

The country's gross domestic product fell by 12.8 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter and by 17.7 percent versus the same period last year, national statistics agency Istat said.

"The full estimate of the quarterly economic figures confirm the exceptional extent of the drop in GDP in the second quarter, due to the economic effects of the health emergency and the containment measures adopted," Istat said.

The contraction was even worse than predicted in July, when Istat estimated a second-quarter drop of 12.4 percent.

A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive periods of a quarter-on-quarter drop in GDP.

Italy's economy shrunk 5.4 percent in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, household spending fell by 11.3 percent compared to the first quarter, while exports plummeted 26.4 percent, the agency said.

Italy, the first European country to be hit full force by the coronavirus outbreak, went into total lockdown in early March as Covid-19 tightened its grip on the country.

The peninsula is set to suffer its worst recession since World War II this year, with experts estimating GDP to plummet between 8.0 to 14 percent.

The eurozone economy is predicted to contract by a record 8.7 percent this year, with mass unemployment and other dire consequences still very much a possibility.

Agence France-Presse

Tennis: Djokovic says he will play at US Open

Novak Djokovic confirmed on Thursday he will play at the US Open, ending speculation about his presence at the first Grand Slam tournament since the coronavirus restart.

"I'm happy to confirm that I‘ll participate at #CincyTennis and #USOpen this year," Djokovic tweeted.

"It was not an easy decision to make with all the obstacles and challenges on many sides, but the prospect of competing again makes me really excited," the 17-time Grand Slam winner added.

The US Open is due to get underway behind closed doors in New York on August 31.

It is preceded by the Western and Southern Open, which is normally played in Cincinnati but has been moved to New York this year.

The 33-year-old's decision to take part is a major boost for the US Open after a host of headline names pulled out.

The list of absentees includes four-time champion Rafael Nadal and woman's world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and her Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Djokovic makes his competitive return after being heavily criticized for hosting a charity tennis event in the Balkans in June at which he and a raft of players tested positive for COVID-19.


Kyrgios was among those to serve up verbal volleys, describing Djokovic's decision to put on the ill-fated Adria Tour as "boneheaded".

Djokovic, president of the ATP Player Council, said he was "deeply sorry" and admitted he and the event's organisers had been "wrong".

His confirmation that he will appear at the US Open came after he initially expressed scepticism that the tournament will go ahead, describing limits on players' entourages at the tournament as "extreme" and "impossible".

In a statement on his website on Friday he wrote: "I am aware that this time around it will be very different with all the protocols and safety measures that are put in place to protect players and people of NY.

"Nevertheless, I have trained hard with my team and got my body in shape so I am ready to adapt to new conditions."

He said he had completed "all the check-ups" and was fully recovered from coronavirus and was "ready to get back on court fully committed to playing my best tennis".

The winner of a record eighth Australian Open before the season went into lockdown said he respected and appreciated the "time, effort, and energy" taken to put on the two events.

Agence France-Presse

Coronavirus deaths top 150,000 in worst-hit US

Southern and western regions of the United States were grappling Thursday with a renewed surge of coronavirus infections as the death toll in the world's worst-affected nation passed 150,000.

Brazil is second to the US in terms of cases and fatalities, and also reported a sobering figure as it surpassed 90,000 deaths.

Exactly six months after the World Health Organization declared an international emergency over the deadly pathogen, countries around the globe are seeing rises in infections that are damaging economies and forcing disruptive protection measures.

Even nations that believed they had largely curbed the disease are being gripped by worrying second and third-wave resurgences, with Australia on Thursday reporting a record number of new infections and its deadliest day of the pandemic so far.

Despite efforts in place to contain the virus, COVID-19 has killed more than 666,000 people around the world and total infections have passed 17 million, according to an AFP tally.

Global daily cases are now approaching the 300,000 mark, with the curve showing no sign of flattening -- it took just 100 hours for one million new cases to be recorded.

- Surge in Australia -

Days after Australian authorities expressed hope that a Melbourne lockdown -- now in its third week -- was bringing persistent outbreaks under control, the surge is a potent warning that initial successes in managing COVID-19 can quickly unravel.

Thirteen deaths and 723 positive tests were reported in the southeastern state of Victoria alone, well beyond the previous nationwide record of 549 cases set on Monday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the steep rise in numbers was "very concerning".

In Hong Kong, where authorities fear a worrying third-wave of infections could cripple the healthcare system, the government reversed a day-old ban on restaurants serving dine-in customers following widespread public anger.

All restaurants in the city of 7.5 million were ordered to only serve takeaways as part of a raft of ramped-up social distancing measures aimed at combating the fresh wave of virus cases.

But social media was quickly swamped by photos of primarily blue-collar workers forced to eat on pavements and in parks -- and even inside public toilets to escape a torrential downpour.

The United States, however, is still battling its first wave, having never taken control of the virus, and on Wednesday alone the country recorded 1,267 new deaths in the past 24 hours and notched more than 68,000 new daily cases.

Southern and western states have been particularly hard-hit -- especially Florida, where more than 6,300 people have died.


- EU travel list -

The EU is due Thursday to update its list of countries approved for travel to the European bloc, which it reviews every two weeks. The United States was not on the list and is not expected to be included.

The EU's safe list does, however, include Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The bloc is expected to announce that Algeria is being removed from the list after a resurgence of coronavirus.

Meanwhile several countries in Europe have slapped restrictions on travel to and from Spain, while officials elsewhere bicker over the seriousness of the current outbreak.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, fresh from announcing quarantine for travelers returning from Spain, suggested the rest of Europe could be facing a second wave -- despite his own country's dismal figures.

France's health minister hit back on Wednesday, saying his country was categorically not in a second wave.

Spain, one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, insists it is a safe destination and was critical of Britain's blanket quarantine, which includes islands without significant outbreaks.

Brazil also wants visitors back, and on Wednesday reopened travel to foreigners arriving by plane, hoping to revive its lockdown-devastated tourism industry. The country closed its air borders to non-residents on March 30, at a time when the virus was just taking hold in South America.

Neighboring Peru on Wednesday passed 400,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health ministry said, after the largest daily increase in infections for more than six weeks.

Nearly 19,000 people have died as a result of the disease nationwide, and the country has recorded more COVID-19 cases than anywhere in Latin America except for Brazil and Mexico.

Agence France-Presse bureaus

Italy extends coronavirus state of emergency

Italy’s parliament on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to extend the country’s state of emergency until October 15, allowing the government more flexibility to fight the lingering coronavirus pandemic.

The state of emergency serves primarily to cut red tape and accelerate decision-making for the government when faced with disasters such as earthquakes, floods and other catastrophes.


Italy was the first European country to be hit by the coronavirus crisis and a more than two-month lockdown dealt a severe blow the economy.

The decree had been set to expire on July 31.

Italy’s Senate on Tuesday night gave its approval to extend the state of emergency, followed by the chamber of deputies on Wednesday, which voted 286 to 221 for the measure, with five abstentions.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic today is not fully over, even though its effects are more contained and geographically limited,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday, assuring MPs that the extension did not necessarily mean new lockdowns.


More than 35,000 people have died due to coronavirus in Italy, which has seen more than 246,000 infections.

Agence France-Presse 

'It's emotional whiplash’: California is once again at the center of the virus crisis

(Closing a Second Time)

LOS ANGELES — When everything shut down in March as the coronavirus took off in California, Canter’s Deli, a mainstay in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, laid off dozens of employees.

A few months later, it called them back to work. By then, the state appeared to have emerged from the initial virus crisis in much better shape than other parts of the country.

But now California’s caseload is exploding, with rising deaths and hospitalizations. As quickly as things had opened up, they have shut down again.

"To have to call those people up so many times, starting March 15, to say, ‘I’m sorry, we have to lay you off, we have to furlough you,’” said Jacqueline Canter, 59, among the third generation of her family to run the restaurant. “Then call them back: ‘Oh, guess what, we’re opening again, come back.’ Then call them back: ‘Guess what, you don’t have a job anymore.’ It’s just a devastating experience for me.

“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” she added. “It’s emotional whiplash.”

If America is now experiencing a sense of national déjà vu, with coronavirus deaths rising and hospitalizations at a level similar to the spring peak, that feeling is perhaps nowhere more intense than in California.

In the Northeast, the crisis that was so acute this spring in places like New York and Connecticut has now abated and shifted to the Sun Belt, where states like Texas and Florida had managed at first to escape the worst of the virus. But California is now in the unwelcome position of having found itself at the center of the pandemic twice over.

California was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order this spring, helping to control an early outbreak. But after a reopening that some health officials warned was too fast, cases surged, leading to a new statewide mask mandate and the closure of bars and indoor dining again. With more than 420,000 known cases, California has surpassed New York to have the most recorded cases of any state, and it set a single-day record Wednesday with more than 12,100 new cases and 155 new deaths.

And as California struggles once again to contain the virus, the multitude of challenges playing out across America has collided in every corner of the state, as if it were a microcosm of the country itself.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is wrestling with how to convey a consistent message while dealing with local officials who have resisted both new shutdowns and enforcing a mandatory mask order. Some rural areas of the state remain relatively unscathed with low case counts, while cases in Los Angeles are skyrocketing. The city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, has warned that a new stay-at-home order could come down in the coming days.

In many parts of San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, people do not leave home without a mask. In Huntington Beach and across Orange County, residents have openly defied mask orders and protested against them.

In Los Angeles and San Diego, classrooms will be empty this fall, after public school officials decided they were unwilling to risk in-person instruction. But in Orange County, a recommendation by the Board of Education that children return to school without masks became political fodder for debate, even as the governor announced that most California schools would not be able to teach in person.

The contradictions span the state, creating a sense of regional dissonance. In Imperial County, on the southern border with Mexico, hospitals have been so overwhelmed with virus cases that patients have had to be airlifted elsewhere. But in the northernmost tip, the virus has yet to hit Modoc County, an agricultural community of around 9,000, where there were zero known cases as of Thursday.

“It’s a small town,” said Cynthia Peña, owner of Java Doc, a coffee shop in Alturas, California, where seasonal fires were the most pressing issue for local officials. “Everyone is pretty much social distancing; we already know a cow’s length.” Still, she has shut down her dining room and asked her employees to wear masks when customers arrive at the drive-thru window.

In recent weeks, Newsom has walked a fine line between justifying the state’s reopening and imploring Californians to stay home and refrain from gathering. He has pleaded with residents to wear masks and chided them for allowing their children to hug their cousins or grandparents.

He has repeatedly pointed out that conditions across a huge state are varied, saying, “None of us live in the aggregate; it’s a very different picture you can paint depending on where you live in the state.”

It is in some ways California’s sprawling nature, with 40 million residents spread across urban downtowns and rural areas, liberal strongholds and conservative alcoves, that has aggravated the feeling of back and forth. What applies in one area may not feel necessary in another, even as residents live under statewide orders. And the sense of confusion is often made worse by conflicting political messages from local leaders, the governor and the White House.

“It’s very hard to go backwards,” said Jonathan Fielding, a professor of health policy and management at UCLA and former public health director for Los Angeles County, who worried that a lack of consistent messaging had allowed many Californians to choose which message they wanted to hear at various points in the pandemic.

“When people have been isolated and in some cases lost a job and are hearing all of these different things, what is the message?” he said. “What is the message when you are hearing, basically, a cacophony?”

In Los Angeles — which has seen the most cases in California and where hospitals are filling up — parts of the city feel under siege, and in other areas, there is little palpable sense of the severity of the situation. Unlike in New York City during the height of the outbreak, most Angelenos have not had to absorb the piercing wail of ambulance sirens at all hours, a sound that came to define the pandemic there.

California’s numbers are in part a reflection of its vast population, about double that of New York state, and testing is far more available now than in the spring. Antibody tests suggest that far more people than previously reported were infected in New York City at its peak. But because Los Angeles is so less dense than New York City, there are parts of Los Angeles where the reality of the virus at this stage of the pandemic can go unnoticed.

“It feels as normal as it always did,” said Michael Lee, the owner of a hair salon, Bang Bang LA, in the Los Feliz neighborhood.

For Lee, the past several months have been turbulent in the extreme. He was set to open his business just as the pandemic gained a hold in the country, forcing shutdowns.

“We opened March 19 and got shut down March 20,” he said.

Lee, who rents space to other hair stylists, did not collect any rent for the first months of the shutdown. Now he is charging tenants just 35% of their rent “just to keep the doors open for when we can go back to work.”

He was allowed to open for about five weeks beginning in early June, but many of his clients stayed away, saying they feared another coronavirus wave. “They were right, I guess,” he said.

The salon shut down again last week, and Lee has been spending his time cleaning it, touching up the paint on the walls and researching business loans to help him stay afloat. “I’ve just been watching the numbers every day, hoping to see them start dropping,” he said.

For essential workers, many of whom are people of color who have faced the risk of the virus on a daily basis for months, the latest upticks were especially worrisome.

“It’s scary,” said Christina Lockyer-White, a nursing assistant at a nursing home in Kern County, who watched as dozens of patients and fellow employees fell ill in April. “Nobody should have to go through or see what I experienced.”

As cases rise, Lockyer-White, who said she tested negative this spring, once again worries about contracting the virus and taking it home to her son. “You always wonder if a second wave can come back, because you hear that they can,” Lockyer-White said Thursday during a break from a shift at the nursing home. “It’s always, make sure you don’t let your guard down.”


-The New York Times Company-

Australia locks down second city as global cases top 12 million

MELBOURNE - Millions of people in Australia's second-biggest city went into lockdown on Thursday to battle another coronavirus outbreak, as the number of infections worldwide surged past 12 million.

Caseloads and death tolls have risen relentlessly in many of the world's biggest nations, with the virus now claiming over 550,000 lives across the planet.

In Melbourne, five million people began a new lockdown just weeks after earlier restrictions ended as Australia battles a COVID-19 resurgence, with residents bracing for the emotional and economic costs.

"The idea of not being able to see people that you love and care for is really distressing, really distressing," said tearful Melbourne resident Monica Marshall, whose 91-year-old mother recently entered a care home.

Shoppers in the state of Victoria -- of which Melbourne is the capital -- stripped shelves bare on Wednesday before the lockdown began, and the country's largest supermarket chain said it had reimposed buying limits on items including pasta, vegetables and sugar.

'VIRUS THRIVES ON DIVISION'

National and international responses to the virus are under the microscope, with US President Donald Trump's earlier criticism of the World Health Organization as a "puppet of China" coming to a head this week.

The US has begun its formal pullout from the UN body, which opened an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic on Thursday while issuing a strong message on the need for togetherness.

"The virus thrives on division but is thwarted when we unite," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The inquiry panel, led by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, will present initial findings next year.

The global death toll from the virus reached nearly 551,000, although nearly half of the 12.1 million reported cases being classed as recovered.

In a potentially worrying discovery, scientists in Italy said there was "strong evidence" that COVID-19 positive mothers can pass the virus on to their unborn children.

"Our study is aimed at raising awareness and inviting the scientific community to consider the pregnancy in positive women as an urgent topic to further characterize and dissect," said Claudio Fenizia, from the University of Milan and lead study author.

'I'M KIND OF SCARED'

Punishing lockdowns to try to prevent the spread of the disease have led to catastrophic economic downturns.

The pandemic could push 45 million people from the middle classes into poverty in already economically troubled Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations warned Thursday.

The United States remains the worst-hit nation but Trump remains keen for the economy to restart despite warnings about the dangers of reopening too soon.

He has even faced off with his own government's experts, lashing out at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for issuing school reopening guidelines that he complained were too restrictive.

While a spike in coronavirus cases has forced some states to again close bars and restaurants, the measures do not seem to be affecting the steady drop in new claims for unemployment benefits -- with the number at 1.3 million last week according to US government figures.

Local officials in many parts of the US are scrambling to contain the virus and several areas have canceled plans to reopen, with tens of thousands of new cases reported each day.

The Trump administration has set off alarm bells among foreign students at American universities, saying they cannot stay in the United States if their entire courses are forced online because of the pandemic.

"I'm kind of scared... I don't have anyone to take care of me if I get ill," said an Indian graduate student in Texas, who asked not to be named.

'CHAOS OF BELGRADE'

As talk of a second wave of the virus multiplies, some of the world's most populous nations including India, Pakistan and Brazil are still reeling from their first outbreaks.

In the Middle East, hard-hit Iran reported a record single-day death toll of 221, taking its total to over 12,300. 

In Europe, where many nations have successfully suppressed their outbreaks, France continued to re-emerge from the darkest days, announcing the Eiffel Tower would reopen its top level for the first time in three months.

Gyms, swimming pools and outdooors are set to reopen in England later this month as the government further eases lockdown restrictions. 

However, countries further east that had lifted their lockdowns sooner than France have found themselves plunged back into restrictions with a resurgent virus.

Bulgaria banned sports fans from stadiums and shut bars and clubs and Serbia announced that it would reinstate a weekend curfew -- sparking two nights of violent protests. 


Police fought with outraged demonstrators in Belgrade late on Wednesday, with clouds of tear gas and smoke filling the city center, a day after thousands came out to protest against the return of the lockdown.

Critics have accused the president of inviting a second wave of infections by lifting the initial lockdown too soon.

"The government only seeks to protect its own interests," said 53-year-old Jelina Jankovic at the rally.

Sport continues to be affected. The final eight of the European Champions League in Lisbon is set to go ahead behind closed doors after UEFA confirmed Thursday that all matches in European competitions would be played without spectators "until further notice".

Agence France-Presse

Australia's second-biggest city under new virus lockdown

MELBOURNE, Australia - Five million Melbourne residents were ordered back into lockdown after coronavirus cases surged in Australia's second-biggest city Tuesday.

State Premier Daniel Andrews announced a six-week lockdown would begin Wednesday, warning "we can't pretend" the coronavirus crisis is over.

It is the first such spike in Australia since the virus was believed suppressed countrywide in April, and a brutal reminder that risks remain even as life returns to normal.

After the south-eastern city detected 191 new cases in 24 hours, Andrews said there were now too many to trace properly.

"These are unsustainably high numbers," he said. 

"No one wanted to be in this position. I know there will be enormous amounts of damage that will be done because of this. It will be very challenging."

Residents will be restricted to their homes except for work, exercise, medical care or to buy essentials.

Most students will return to remote learning while restaurants and cafes will be limited to serving takeaway food.

Although the lockdown covers the Melbourne metropolitan area, the entire state of Victoria will effectively be sealed off from the rest of the country from late Tuesday, as state borders are closed.

Police and the military are patrolling dozens of border crossings and using drones and other aircraft to check the vast frontier with other states where the coronavirus has been successfully contained.

Health officials last week effectively shut off some 300,000 Melbourne residents from the rest of the city until the end of July, but that has now been extended beyond those neighborhoods.

Around 3,000 people were also locked down in their homes on Saturday in Australia's strictest coronavirus response to date after a cluster emerged in a high-rise public housing estate.

So far, 69 cases have been recorded across the nine densely populated towers and there are concerns the virus could spread widely, with one health official likening the crowded conditions inside to "vertical cruise ships".

Cruise ships emerged as early coronavirus hotspots, with passengers and crew often packed in small cabins and at high risk of infection.

Australia has recorded almost 9,000 cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths from the virus. 

Almost all new daily cases are being detected in Melbourne, while all other regions are enjoying relaxed restrictions after largely curbing the virus spread.

Health officials have begged the public to get tested, saying online disinformation had spurred more than 10,000 people to refuse testing. 

Throughout the pandemic, falsehoods have spread quickly online across the world.

Agence France-Presse

Australia locks down high-rise apartments as virus cases spike

Thousands of residents in several high-rise apartments in Melbourne went into lockdown for at least five days Saturday, as officials struggle to control a virus outbreak in Australia's second biggest city.

Hundreds of police were deployed to enforce the lockdown of nine public housing towers, as the country recorded its biggest daily increase of coronavirus cases in months.

The rise is driven almost entirely by 108 new cases in the southeast state of Victoria. 

"There are many, many vulnerable people who live in these towers," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told media on Saturday.

"Some of them will be returning home in the latter part of today, knowing that they will not be able to leave their home for a further five days."

The immediate lockdown in Melbourne's north would be a "massive logistical task" that includes supplying food to around 3,000 residents and deploying at least 500 police officers per shift, he added.

Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said a number of cases had been detected in the towers, possibly exposing a highly vulnerable community with underlying health conditions.

"The first priority here is to find every case in those towers, so that we don't have an explosion of infections," van Diemen said.

Victoria has ramped up testing and restrictions since a flare-up of cases last week.

Another two Melbourne neighbourhoods were also told to stay at home from midnight Saturday, adding to the nearly 300,000 people put under restrictions on Tuesday.

The measures allow residents to leave their homes for essential reasons only, including for work and to buy food.

The lockdowns were a "difficult but important step" Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said, ahead of an emergency meeting of top health officials on Saturday evening.

"That rising number of active cases in Victoria is the major concern at the moment," Kelly told reporters in Canberra.

Twenty-five thousand tests were carried out in Victoria in 24 hours as officials increased efforts to trace, track and ultimately check the spread of the disease, Kelly said.

Australia has managed to dodge the worst ravages of the virus and continues to roll back restrictions with more than 8,300 coronavirus cases and just over 100 deaths in a population of 25 million.

Agence France-Presse

Fun-hungry young adults in Florida fuel rise in virus infections

They are itching for a good time after months of lockdown, coronavirus be damned: young adults in Florida are fueling a dangerous rise in COVID-19 infections.

Seemingly feeling immortal, these fun-crazed people began gathering in bars, nightclubs and elsewhere after the Sunshine State reopened its economy this month -- though the state has now had to put a hold on alcohol-fueled nightlife.

Check out Instagram, and there's always a party on a beach somewhere, or at a swimming pool, or on a rented yacht in south Florida, where nightlife spots other than restaurants are still closed.

Plus, buses are hired for bachelorette parties teeming with folks drinking beer, dancing to reggaeton music -- and spreading the coronavirus.

Infection rates were stable as Florida joined the rest of America in lockdown from March through May. But they shot up in June after the state moved to reopen and tourists from all over the country started pouring in.

On Ocean Drive, which is a kind of party central in Miami Beach, visitors from Missouri, Texas, Georgia and elsewhere stroll by the sea. 

Round about midnight Mike Olivera, a 25-year-old visiting from New York, sits on a wall on the oceanfront promenade and sneaks sips of vodka with a buddy, watching a steady flow of fresh-faced young humanity saunter by.

And listen to how concerned Olivera is about mask-wearing and social distancing: "I wanted to get laid," he said, explaining why he came to Miami.

Olivera chuckles, then clarifies. He is from New York, the former COVID epicenter of America, with its tight social distancing restrictions. 

"So I wanted a break and actually to be able to do things, meet nice people and hang out," said Olivera.

With that kind of attitude common, Florida has set records for new cases almost every day for the past two weeks -- more than 5,000 on Wednesday and Thursday as infection rates rise ominously here and elsewhere in the South and West of the country.

On Monday, Florida surpassed 100,000 known coronavirus cases, and the average age of the people infected is now 33 -- down from 65 two months ago.

Governor Ron DeSantis said this week the state is seeing a "real explosion" of virus cases among young people, and he warned that places serving booze without enforcing social distancing rules could be stripped of their liquor licenses.

On Friday, the state abruptly halted on-site alcohol consumption in bars because of the surging infection rate.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said young people nationwide, many of them asymptomatic and spreading the virus unknowingly, are now driving a "paradigm shift" in the dynamics of the pandemic. In stern terms, he warned them to think about the health of others.

"If you get infected you will infect someone else," he told a news briefing after a meeting of the national coronavirus task force, the first in two months. "And then ultimately you'll infect someone who's vulnerable. 

"The only way we're going to end it is by ending it together."

In Florida, servers braving crushing heat sweat through their face masks and wear plastic gloves as they wait on customers.

Some restaurants have been shut down or closed voluntarily to try to contain the spread of the virus in a state heavily dependent on tourism revenue.

- Life is not normal -

Olivera shrugs off the threat of the virus.

"No, I don't feel like it's going to affect me. I'm 25 years old, I don't feel like I have anything to worry about," he said.

"I faced uglier things. I come from the Bronx, you know what I mean. If I survived that I can survive Miami," he said, then downed a shot of vodka.

But Annalisa Torres, a data analyst newly graduated from the University of Florida, said it irks her to see people her age behave this way.

"It’s important to recognize that as young adults, the actions we take throughout this pandemic don’t only affect us, but the people around us," she said from self-quarantine in her home in Miami.

"In my case, I live with my parents and younger brother. I stay home not for me, but for them," said Torres.

The problem is that when young people are told they are less vulnerable to the coronavirus they feel impervious to it, said Mary Jo Trepka, an epidemiologist at Florida International University.

"The message has been that it's primarily severe for older people, and that young people are less likely to get sick," she told AFP.

"That's very true, but once you start getting so many young people that are sick, there will be some that are going to get very sick and will end up being hospitalized," Trepka added.

And many families in south Florida are multi-generational, so younger people are often in contact with elderly relatives at home, she added.

Agence France-Presse

Heatwave hits UK amid COVID19 pandemic

Beachgoers enjoy the sunshine as they sunbathe on the beach and play in the sea in Southend on Sea, south east England, on Wednesday. Britain was bracing for a flood of visitors to its beaches as temperatures rise to 40 degrees Celsius in different parts of Europe, just days after lockdown ended and travel restrictions were lifted, with the heatwave expected to last until Friday in the south and center of the United Kingdom.

AFP

Thailand marks 28 days without local transmission, aims to ease travel

BANGKOK — Thailand hopes to ease some coronavirus restrictions on foreigners entering the country after going for 28 days without recording any domestic transmissions, a senior official said on Monday.

Those who will benefit from the easing of restrictions will include business executives, skilled workers and foreigners who live in Thailand.

"The first 3 groups will be able to return to Thailand and stay in 14-day state quarantine," said the spokesman for the government's Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, Taweesin Wisanuyothin.

Medical tourists will also be allowed back for treatment in hospital, he said.

Short-term business travelers and tourists from China, Japan and South Korea might be allowed back without having to spend 14 days in quarantine, he said, adding that the guidelines were still being worked out.

The proposed easing of restrictions will be put to the government's coronavirus task force on Friday.

Thailand, which has banned international commercial flights up to the end of June, has recorded 3,151 cases and 58 deaths related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

On Friday, Myanmar reported 23 coronavirus cases among Myanmar migrant workers deported from Thailand, raising questions about the possibility of transmission in Thailand.

Both Thailand and Myanmar are investigating. 

-reuters-

COVID-19 cases force closures of MLB, NHL training facilities

Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies have closed their Florida training base after eight COVID-19 positives and multiple reports say MLB's Toronto Blue Jays and the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning also shuttered training facilities.

Friday's moves came as state officials announced a record one-day spike of COVID-19 cases, with nearly 4,000 new record infections in Florida.

The NBA and Major League Soccer plan to gather in quarantine areas near Orlando to resume their virus-halted campaigns in July after play was stopped in March.


The Phillies said five players and three staff members tested positive for COVID-19 at the club's Clearwater training facility, which MLB said was being shuttered indefinitely.

The team said a further 12 staff members and 20 players from the club's major league and minor league rosters were awaiting results of tests.

The Tampa Bay Times and ESPN reported the NHL Lightning closed its training facility, just 23 miles (37km) from Clearwater, after multiple players and staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

The Lightning facility is closed until at least July 6, the Times reported.

Also on Friday, Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews went into quarantine at his home in Arizona after testing positive for COVID-19, the Toronto Sun reported.

The 22-year-old Matthews is hoping to be healthy enough to attend the Leafs' training camp which begins on July 10. Arizona, and especially the Phoenix area where Matthews grew up, has also seen a spike in cases.

The Blue Jays closed their spring training facility in Dunedin, four miles north of Clearwater, after a player exhibited coronavirus symptoms, ESPN reported, saying the player had recently spent time with Phillies players. He is awaiting results of a COVID-19 test.

Phillies managing partner John Middleton said all the team's facilities were being closed as a precaution.

"The Phillies are committed to the health and welfare of our players, coaches and staff as our highest priority, and as a result of these confirmed tests, all facilities in Clearwater have been closed indefinitely to all players, coaches and staff and will remain closed until medical authorities are confident that the virus is under control and our facilities are disinfected," Middleton said in a statement.

The club said it was "too early to know" how the Clearwater outbreak could impact the Phillies' 2020 season.

Major League Baseball is currently locked in bitter negotiations with the league's players union over the terms of a shortened season.

Agence France-Presse