The second wave COVID-19 forces new travel curves around the world

SYDNEY / LONDON (Reuters) – Asian nations imposed new restrictions on Monday, as an abrupt British quarantine on travelers from Spain threw the reopening of the European summer in disarray, as the world faced the possibility of a second wave of COVID infections. -19.

In the United States, which still faces its first wave as infection rates have increased since June, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien became the highest-ranking official to test positive. The White House said Trump had not interacted with him in days and was not at risk.

Overvoltages were reported in several countries that previously appeared to have the virus under control.

Australia recorded a record daily increase. Vietnam was forcing tens of thousands of tourists to evacuate the central city of Danang. Mainland China, where the virus first emerged late last year, confirmed the majority of locally transmitted cases since early March.

Hong Kong banned gatherings of more than two people, closed restaurants in restaurants, and made facial masks mandatory in public.

A wave of new infections in Spain, another early epicenter of the pandemic, prompted Britain on Saturday to order all travelers there to quarantine for two weeks, undoing the months of preparation for the reopening of tourism in Europe.

On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave Madrid another blow by extending its advice against non-essential travel to mainland Spain to include the Balearic and Canary Islands.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said travel restrictions were not a long-term response. He said proven strategies like social distancing and facial coverage should be used to stop the spread of the virus.

“It will be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders closed for the foreseeable future. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume, “said WHO emergency program director Mike Ryan.

A MISTAKE’

Officials in some European and Asian countries where the virus is spreading again said the new outbreaks could be contained with local measures rather than nationwide closings.

The British quarantine was a “mistake,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday.

The rebound in infections focuses on two regions, he said, adding: “In most of Spain, the incidence (of the disease) is much lower even than the numbers recorded in the UK.”

Hotels in Spain on Monday offered to pay foreign tourists for coronavirus tests. Last year, the British accounted for more than a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies heavily on tourism.

Airlines and travel companies that managed to survive the first wave now fear that an aborted reopening could be fatal.

Europe’s largest airline Ryanair cut its annual passenger target by a quarter on Monday and warned that a second wave of COVID-19 infections could further reduce it.

Europe has yet to lift bans on travelers from several countries, including the United States, where premature reopens have led to a record number of infections and deaths in many states.

BASEBALL IN JEOPARDY

A pandemic-shortened North American baseball season, launched last week in empty stadiums, suddenly appeared in jeopardy after 12 players and two Miami Marlins coaches tested positive on the road in Philadelphia. Monday’s games were postponed in both cities.

About 200 federal health care workers have been sent to California’s Central Valley agricultural barn, where hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases as new infections increase, Governor Gavin Newsom said.

Florida in particular has been hit hard this month, with 10,000 new cases a day becoming the norm statewide. Hospitals have requested additional staff as workers get sick.

“In 10 years of medicine, I never had to put another nurse on life support. I never had to worry about the death of my coworkers, ”said Kevin Cho Tipton, a critical-care nurse practitioner who works at one of Miami’s largest public hospitals. “It has been emotionally very challenging, physically very challenging.”

Republicans in the US Senate on Monday proposed a coronavirus aid package drawn up with the White House, paving the way for negotiations with Democrats before the expanded unemployment benefits for millions expire this week. The plan drew immediate opposition from both Democrats and Republicans.

Nearly 150,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States from more than 4.2 million confirmed cases.

In China, which managed to silence local transmission through firm blockades after the virus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, a further surge has been fueled by infections in the western Xinjiang region.

Australian authorities, who imposed a six-week lockdown in parts of the southeastern state of Victoria, said it could last longer after the country reported its largest daily increase in infections.

In Japan, the government said it would urge business leaders to increase anti-virus measures, such as staggered changes, and aimed for teleworking rates to return to levels reached during a previous state of emergency.

Vietnam was evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local Vietnamese, from the Danang tourist area after three residents tested positive over the weekend. As of Saturday, Vietnam had not reported infections in the community since April.