1 August 2020 | New Scientist | 7CASES of the coronavirus hit a
new daily high of around 300,
globally on 27 July, with more than
half occurring in the Americas –
the US alone has been reporting a
seven-day average of 67,000 daily
cases since 21 July. The virus is also
spreading rapidly in India, Brazil
and South Africa, which haven’t
yet suppressed their first peaks.
There has also been a worrying
uptick of cases in Asia. On 26 July,
China, where the outbreak began,
saw its highest number of new
daily cases since March. The next
day, Hong Kong announced new
restrictions to curb infections, as
did the city of Danang in Vietnam,
which reported the country’s
first community transmission
since April.
Speaking during a World Health
Organization press conference on
27 July, Maria Van Kerkhove saidthe global picture is complicated,
but countries where transmission
is growing fall into two camps.
“Many countries are really
in the thick of it, they are really
seeing intense transmission,” she
said. “Other countries which have
already passed through their first
peak, many of them are keeping
transmission low. [However] in
some of those countries, they’re
starting to see a resurgence,
clusters of cases and outbreaks in
certain geographic areas or areas
associated with certain types of
industries, such as nightclubs.”
Worldwide, the cumulative
number of cases has roughly
doubled in the past six weeks,
which WHO director generalTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
cited as a sign that the pandemic
is continuing to accelerate.
In total, there have been more
than 16 million cases and more
than 650,000 deaths. The US
is approaching the milestone
of 150,000 deaths.
New Zealand, Cambodia,
Rwanda, Germany, China, Canada
and South Korea were among
countries that had done well at
controlling transmission, Tedros
told the press conference. “Our
world has changed, the response
has not,” he said, listing strong
political leadership, testing and
tracing, social distancing, hygiene
and wearing masks as important
factors in controlling the virus.The world is facing a resurgence of covid-19 cases as the pandemic
continues to accelerate, reports Adam VaughanGlobal cases rise and rise
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newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest“Where these measures are
followed, cases go down. Where
they are not, cases go up,” he said.
In Africa, more than half of the
continent’s cases are in South
Africa. The country was quick
to impose lockdown but cases
have soared in recent weeks as
restrictions were relaxed. Some
epidemiologists expect it to see
more than a million cases, as cases
rise by more than 10,000 a day.While most of Australia is
largely free of covid-19, hotspots
in the state of Victoria led to the
highest daily increase in cases on
27 July. That prompted warnings
from authorities of an extension
to a six-week lockdown.
New cases in the European
Union and UK overall have
remained stable. However, the
cumulative number of cases over
a fortnight per 100,000 people
is considerably higher in some
countries, at 40.1 in Sweden, 35.1 in
Spain, 35.5 in Portugal and 63.2 in
Romania, compared with 14.7 in
the UK and eight in Germany.
Concerns over outbreaks in
Spain saw the UK impose a 14-day
quarantine on people returning
from Spain, to limit potential
spread to the UK. Michael Ryan
at the WHO said: “The fact is the
virus is pretty much everywhere
and it can move between areas.
Where we need to look at is what
is the risk of the disease moving
from an area of high transmission
to areas where it’s under control.
I think that’s what’s worrying
governments now.”
Nonetheless, he added that
keeping international borders
sealed wasn’t sustainable.
Spain has said the country
is safe for tourists, but the UK
government defended its decision
as a necessary step to avoid a
second spike. ❚Healthcare workers
check temperatures
in Mumbai, India“ Many countries are
really in the thick of it,
they are really seeing
intense transmission”