Governments were stepping up testing and warily considering their next moves on Monday as the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases surges in many countries.
India reported 20,000 new cases on Monday, while the US confirmed more than 40,000 new infections for the third straight day.
As infections rise along with summer temperatures in the northern hemisphere, many governments are stepping up testing and mulling more aggressive moves such as renewed lockdowns to stem fresh outbreaks.
India’s 20,000 new infections was a new daily record. Several states reimposed partial or full lockdowns after the total number of cases jumped by nearly 100,000 in one week to 548,318.
While some states have tightened precautions, in the worst-affected regions of Maharashtra, which includes India’s financial capital, Mumbai, and Delhi, home to the federal capital of New Delhi, most restrictions have been eased, with restaurants, shopping centres and parks reopened, and public buses and shared-ride services back on the roads.
Experts say the actual numbers, both in the US and globally, are likely far higher due to the large number of apparently asymptomatic cases and issues with testing.
Beaches were closing and beer was going untapped as Florida, Texas and other states backpedalled on their pandemic reopenings, ordering mandatory use of masks in public places and closing down restaurants and bars in hopes of stemming a resurgence in cases.
Nearly 8.3 million people out of some 21 million have undergone testing in recent weeks in the Chinese capital after an outbreak centred on a wholesale market.
The country had 12 new cases on Monday, including seven in Beijing, down by more than half from the day before, the National Health Commission reported.
Widespread testing and contact tracing helped contain South Korea’s initial outbreak in which it was finding hundreds of new cases a day in late February and early March.
Most of those cases were in the area surrounding city of Daegu, where many were linked to a single church congregation with thousands of members.
Tracing recent transmissions in the Seoul metropolitan area, home to about half of the country’s 51 million people, has proved to be more difficult.
South Korean health officials have said they are ready to implement stronger social distancing measures – including banning all gatherings of more than 10 people, shutting schools, halting professional sports, and restricting operations of non-essential businesses — if the daily increase in infections doubles more than two times in a week.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said on Monday that 75 people had tested positive in the state in the latest 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 2,099.
Brett Sutton, Victoria’s chief health officer, said the outbreak could surge out of control as pandemic restrictions ease elsewhere in Australia.
“l think it’s a genuine challenge now. I think we’re right at the edge in terms of being able to manage it,” Mr Sutton said.
Performers in native wear and face masks danced during the night procession, which drew a large crowd in Basak village on Cebu, in the central Philippines.
The Philippines remains a Southeast Asian coronavirus hotspot with more than 35,000 confirmed infections, including 1,244 deaths.
Restrictions have been eased in many places to help salvage the ailing economy, but Cebu resumed a strict lockdown this month after new cases spiked.
Some governments are pushing ahead with reopening travel, particularly between countries where outbreaks of the virus appear to be contained, though the changing landscape of the pandemic suggests the process will be complicated and subject to change.
The European Union is preparing a list of 15 countries whose nationals will be allowed to visit the bloc beginning on Wednesday, Spain’s foreign minister, Aranch Gonzalez Laya, told the Cadena SER radio network.
The resurgence of cases in the US means Americans may not be on that list.
Ms Gonzalez Laya said countries will be chosen according to their coronavirus status and the reliability of their data, she said.
“This is not an exercise to be nice or unfriendly to other countries, this is an exercise of self-responsibility,” she said.
She confirmed that Spain will reopen its borders with Portugal despite rising infections there.
