By Gary McWilliams
HOUSTON, June 27 (Reuters) – A small city outside Houston, Texas, instituted a curfew starting Saturday night due to increasing cases of the new coronavirus, the latest move by officials in some states. from the south and west to back off on their reopening plans
Mayor of Galena Park, a community of 10,000 people east of Houston, said she was hearing a warning from Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who on Friday raised the level of public threat to its most severe level, a signal that people should take refuge in their homes.
“It is crucial to continue practicing good hygiene, staying home as much as possible, avoiding unnecessary trips, meetings, and covering your face at all times when you leave your home,” Mayor Esmeralda Moya said in a statement Friday night. .
The Galena Park curfew will last from 10 pm to 5 am daily.
The United States recorded more than 45,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the largest increase in the pandemic in a single day, according to a Reuters count, bringing the total number of Americans who tested positive to at least 2.48 million. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The new record for positive testing for COVID-19 came as Texas and other states at the center of a new spike in infections backed off efforts to ease business restrictions, threatening economic recovery and expected jobs.
In a change from his first moves to relax restrictions, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the closure of bars across the state and required restaurants to limit indoor seating capacity to 50%. Florida, another state that reopened its economy relatively quickly, told bar owners in the state to stop serving alcohol on its premises.
Florida released its new rules after registering 8,942 new cases on Friday, overshadowing the state record of 5,511 reached on June 24. (Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston, Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Sinead Carew in Maplewood, New Jersey; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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