Coronavirus: California rolls back reopening

California has drastically rolled back its reopening plans as coronavirus cases surged across dozens of US states.

Cars queue outside a mobile COVID-19 testing site at the Miami Beach Convention Centre on Florida on Monday. Picture: AFP

California has drastically rolled back its reopening plans as coronavirus cases surged across dozens of US states and the World Health Organisation warned that too many nations are mismanaging their pandemic response.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday (Tuesday AEST) ordered all indoor restaurants, bars and cinemas to close again across California.

Churches as well as gyms, shopping malls, hair salons and non-essential offices must also shut indoor operations in half of the Golden State’s worst-hit and most densely populated counties, including Los Angeles.

“We’re moving back into a modification mode of our original ‘stay-at-home’ order,” said Mr Newsom, whose state was the first to close down in March, but began easing restrictions in May.

The move came as California reported 8358 new daily coronavirus cases, bringing its total to nearly 330,000, including more than 7000 deaths. Like the governors of Texas, Arizona, and Florida — which were also hit hard in the virus’s second spike — Mr Newsom initially declined to issue a statewide mask order and allowed counties to reopen indoor dining, gyms, and bars.

With new infections spreading like wildfire globally, many countries are also reimposing restrictions, locking down towns and cities and reintroducing measures to halt the spread of the sickness. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that too many countries were “headed in the wrong direction” with governments giving out mixed messages that were undermining trust.

“There will be no return to the ‘old normal’ for the foreseeable future,” he said, warning that without governments adopting a comprehensive strategy, the situation would get “worse and worse and worse”.

Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been registered around the globe, with the number of cases doubling over the past six weeks.

Latin America on Monday recorded the world’s second-highest death toll, declaring a total of 144,758 deaths to pass the 144,023 recorded in the US and Canada.

It now stands second only to Europe, where 202,505 people have died.

Worldwide, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed more than 566,000 and triggered massive economic damage in the seven months since it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

South Africa reimposed a nationwide curfew to prevent a “coronavirus storm” from ravaging Africa’s hardest-hit nation, where new infections have topped 12,000 a day.

Morocco followed suit on Monday, locking down Tangiers, with public transport suspended, cafes and public spaces closed and movement restricted in the northern port city.

With eyes keenly focused on the economic fallout, the IMF warned on Monday that the Middle East and North Africa region was facing its worst downturn in 50 years, citing the “twin shock” of the virus and low oil prices.

Iran, the worst-hit country in the Middle East, counted more than 200 new deaths in 24 hours, pushing its toll over 13,000.

In Asia, The Philippines imposed a two-week lockdown on 250,000 people in the capital Manila as new infections soared, and Hong Kong stepped up precautions to combat a sudden spike in infections.

The latest high-profile personality to test positive for COVID-19 was India’s Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai.

And two US Marine bases on Japan’s Okinawa island have been locked down after a spike in cases, with dozens infected and local officials expressing “serious doubts” about the US military’s containment efforts.

At the weekend, US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time in the world’s worst-hit country where some 135,000 people have died. Florida suffered 12,624 new cases — the second highest daily count by any state, after its own record of 15,300 new cases a day earlier.

Mexico became the country with the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, climbing to a total of 35,006 and surpassing Italy.

AFP