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Coronavirus: Cases hit 2 million in Latin America

Coronavirus infections in Latin America surged past two million at the weekend with Brazil home to nearly half of the cases.

Soldiers help a city worker who fainted at an army soup kitchen for people facing hardship because of lost income due to the new coronavirus pandemic, in Maipu, on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. Picture: AP
Soldiers help a city worker who fainted at an army soup kitchen for people facing hardship because of lost income due to the new coronavirus pandemic, in Maipu, on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. Picture: AP

Coronavirus infections in Latin America surged past two million at the weekend with worst-hit Brazil home to nearly half of the cases as the virus accelerates its spread in the region.

Europe, which has endured months of lockdowns to slow the virus but at a crippling economic cost, was set to further ease restrictions with Spain reopening to tourists on Sunday and Italy enjoying its first Serie A soccer match in 103 days.

The US remains the country hardest-hit by the pandemic with 119,719 deaths out of 2,254,630 official cases by Sunday.

With nearly 50,000 deaths and more than one million cases, Brazil is the second worst-affected. In total, Latin America and the Caribbean have 2,007,621 confirmed cases.

The figures were particularly alarming in Chile, where the death toll nearly doubled to more than 7000 under a revised tallying method, and passed 20,000 in Mexico.

Europe chalked up more than 2.5 million cases. Although the spread has slowed, Europe is still the worst-affected continent.

The continent is easing its way out of strict lockdowns, even as the World Health Organisation warns against giving in to isolation fatigue.

Spain on Sunday reopens its borders to EU countries in a bid to gets its tourism industry back up and running after lifting its state of emergency. British tourists would also be allowed in without having to quarantine, the Spanish Foreign Minister said.

As his country emerges from a 14-week lockdown, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that Spain remained vulnerable to the virus, which has claimed more than 28,000 lives there.

“We must remain on our guard and strictly follow hygiene and protection measures,” he warned hours before the borders opened.

In France, millions more children were preparing to return to school on Monday after three months away.

“I cried with joy when I got the confirmation from the teacher that my two children would be going back to school full-time,” said Noemie from the southern city of Nice.

France is also reopening cinemas from Monday and stadiums for team sports, and in another sign of returning normality, actors have also started kissing again on film shoots.

A vaccine remains months off at best despite several trials, and scientists are still learning more about the virus, its symptoms and the extent to which it may have spread before being identified.

“The world is in a new and dangerous phase,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Friday. “Many people are understandably fed up with being at home ... but the virus is still spreading fast.”

The virus has now killed more than 461,000 people and infected 8.7 million worldwide.

The Palestinian Authority announced on Saturday it was temporarily closing the cities of Hebron and Nablus in the occupied West Bank after a sharp rise in infections.

Only goods would be allowed in, said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh. Authorities have reported a total of 687 cases in the West Bank, including two deaths so far.

China’s capital reported 22 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday after a mass testing effort that has collected more than two million samples in a race to contain a new outbreak.

The fresh cluster in Beijing has raised fears of a resurgence of the virus in China, which had largely brought the disease under control over recent months.

Dozens of communities have been sealed off in the city to contain the spread, with residents told to avoid non-essential travel and schools closed.

The new infections reported Sunday include a nurse — the first health worker to test positive since the re-emergence of the illness just over a week ago.

More than 220 people have tested positive in the new cluster. State news agency Xinhua said local authorities had set up more than 2000 sites across the city that had obtained 2.3 million samples. The latest outbreak first emerged at a wholesale food market, prompting fears over the safety of the city’s food supply.

AFP

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/coronavirus-cases-hit-2-million-in-latin-america/news-story/6686672131be165187f9f5eade1c4891