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Total cases worldwide rose to 2.86 million and deaths increased more than 200,000, doubling since April 10, according to an AFP count.
FILE: The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrives at a press conference after a WHO emergency committee on January 30, 2020 in Geneva. Image: AFP.
GENEVA – The global number of deaths in the new coronavirus pandemic soared on Sunday, surpassing the grim 200,000 milestone, when the World Health Organization warned against “immunity passports” for recovered patients, seen as a possible tool for countries preparing to reopen their economies.
The WHO opposes such “passports” because recovering from the virus may not protect a person from reinfection.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from # COVID19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide spent the second day of the holy month of Ramadan outside mosques and avoiding large family meals to break the fast due to kidnapping and social distancing policies.
And Australians and New Zealanders celebrated Anzac Day without the normal parades and public ceremonies to commemorate the fallen soldiers. Instead, according to social distancing policies, people held vigils at dawn in front of their homes.
Even as governments from Sri Lanka to Belgium to the United States began to move in the direction of a partial reopening, the COVID-19 pandemic still had nearly half of humanity under some form of confinement or confinement.
Total cases worldwide rose to 2.86 million and deaths increased more than 200,000, doubling since April 10, according to an AFP count.
Europe, the most affected region, has recorded 122,171 deaths from coronavirus.
The number of Americans increased by 2,494 in the past 24 hours to reach 53,511 deaths. The number of coronavirus cases in the United States increased by almost 46,000 to 936,293 since Friday.
In Italy, the number of COVID-19 deaths increased to 26,384; Spain 22,902, France 22,614 and the United Kingdom 20,319.
REINFECTION WARNING
The world was on hold as companies and governments rushed to develop treatments and eventually a vaccine against the virus, which first appeared in China in late 2019.
The WHO warned Saturday that people who test positive and survive the infection cannot be sure that they will not be attacked again by the coronavirus.
The warning came as some governments study measures like “immunity passports” for those who have recovered as a way to get people back to work after weeks of economic shutdown.
People who hold such a “passport” may tend to ignore public health advice, such as continuing to wear face masks, assuming they are not a danger to themselves or others, the WHO said.
That’s a particular concern as testing becomes more widespread, especially tests for antibodies to the coronavirus, the presence of which indicates that a person had previously contracted the virus and recovered.
“If I have already had a crown, then I am not infectious,” said Berlin resident Lothar Kopp, hoping to test positive for antibodies as it could allow him to visit his elderly mother.
Germany has carried out tens of thousands of tests and other countries are also working to determine so-called levels of immunity.
SECOND ROUND TEMADA
Despite Saturday’s grim milestone in virus deaths, the daily figure in western countries seemed to be stabilizing and even falling, a sign that hopeful epidemiologists had been looking for.
Also, new reported cases appear to have stagnated at around 80,000 per day.
But in many countries there were concerns of a second increase after closure restrictions were reduced, possibly also coinciding with a new flu season.
In hit Iran, health officials on Saturday expressed fear of a “new outbreak” with another 76 reported deaths, bringing the official death toll in the country to 5,650.
Iran has consistently allowed the restart of businesses that were closed to stop the spread of the virus. But Alireza Zali, the capital’s health coordinator, criticized “hasty reopens” that could “create new waves of disease in Tehran.”
In Washington, White House chief pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said this week that the United States will certainly have a coronavirus problem in the fall, which could be complicated by the return of seasonal flu by the end of the year.
ON THE BEACH
Still, the pressure of broken economies and citizens frustrated by orders to stay home had areas they pushed to open up.
German police arrested dozens of protesters in Berlin on Saturday for ignoring the coronavirus blockade measures they were protesting against.
The Governor of the US state of Georgia rejected warnings from leading disease experts and allowed companies such as hair salons, nail salons, and bowling alleys to reopen.
On Saturday, many Georgians accepted a return to something akin to normality by flocking to the beach.
“It feels great, how it’s supposed to feel,” mother and housewife Rachel Lilly, 39, told AFP, barely lifting her head from her watermelon-themed towel as she relaxed under a clear sky in Tybee. Island.
“I’m not worried” about getting coronavirus, “as long as it’s not packaged,” she said.
“But if everyone does what we are doing, that is a problem.”
In southern California, thousands of people scoffed at policies to stay indoors and head to the beaches amid a heat wave.
On Friday, Belgium Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes announced a phased plan to reopen businesses and schools in mid-May and restaurants starting June 8.
“The spread of COVID-19 has slowed down, but the virus has not disappeared,” he warned.
Italy, near the end of the world’s longest active blockade, on Saturday announced plans to set price limits on face masks and increase antibody testing.
The Italians await a decision this weekend on what restrictions will be lifted. They will probably be allowed to leave their homes freely for the first time from March 9 to the beginning of May.
Spaniards will be able to go out to exercise and walk starting next weekend, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Saturday.
The government will reveal its broader coronavirus exit plan on Tuesday that will likely be implemented in the second half of May, he said.
“If the pandemic continues to evolve positively as it has been doing so far, starting May 2, individual physical activity and walking with the people you live with will be allowed,” he said.
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