Fears of a more widespread ‘second wave’ mounted yesterday, with infection spikes in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The BBC reported rises in new cases in Spain, France and Germany, noting that the European infection increases are echoed in far bigger increases across the rest of the globe, with record daily new-infection figures of around 280 000 in both of the past two days.
France’s health ministry said there were now more than 1 000 new cases each day in hospitals. Germany has said it may introduce compulsory testing for holidaymakers returning from high-risk destinations after infections hit a two-month high. Belgium has slowed down its reopening amid a sharp rise in cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement yesterday: ‘While no country is unaffected, this rise is driven by high transmission in large and populous countries in the Americas and South Asia.’
Johns Hopkins University said there were now more than 15.7 million cases globally and more than 640 000 deaths.
Positive cases grew in South Africa yesterday by 12 204 to a cumulative total of 434 200 (with 263 054 recoveries). Deaths rose by 312 – 209 in Gauteng – to 6 655.
The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (156 821), followed by the Western Cape (91 033), the Eastern Cape (72 772) and KwaZulu-Natal (60 532).
AFP reported that the WHO expressed concern on Friday over a coronavirus resurgence in Europe as Britain joined France, Germany and Austria in announcing tighter mask rules and greater testing.
The WHO said: ‘If the situation demands, reintroduction of stricter, targeted measures with the full engagement of communities may be needed.’
Europe accounts for a fifth of the world’s more than 15 million infections and remains the hardest-hit region in terms of deaths, with 207 118 fatalities reported.
The BBC said that Europe, like other regions, was struggling to balance restrictions to halt Covid-19 against the need to revive economies as people emerged from some of the world’s toughest lockdowns.
In Asia, India has recorded 1.3 million confirmed cases – 100 000 in the past two days – with experts fearing the worst is still to come; Vietnam is reportedly back on high alert after detecting its first locally transmitted case in about three months; Hong Kong reported its highest daily total of new infections yesterday – more than 130 – and extended social-distancing measures; reports said imported cases had pushed the number in South Korea to levels not seen since March; and a surge was reported in Japan, which recorded its highest number of new cases this week.