New York starts reopening as WHO says virus ‘worsening’ worldwide
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by Peter Hutchison, with AFP bureaus
New York City – The epicenter of America’s coronavirus outbreak — began partially reopening its shattered economy Monday after almost three months of lockdown, as the World Health Organization warned the health crisis was “worsening” worldwide.
Some 400,000 New Yorkers were allowed to return to work as retailers began offering limited in-store and curbside pickup, with construction and manufacturing also permitted to resume operations.
“It’s good to be back,” said Michael Ostergren, manager of the Shakespeare and Co bookshop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where a trickle of customers arrived shortly after the doors reopened.
“Everybody wants to be out of the house. We’re just picking up where we left off in March,” he added.
As New York entered phase one of its reopening and some of Europe’s hardest-hit nations lurched back to a new kind of normal, the WHO reported a record number of new cases globally.
Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 136,000 cases had been reported in the past 24 hours, “the most in a single day so far,” with the majority of them in the Americas and South Asia.
“Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” he told reporters.
COVID-19 caused more than 21,000 confirmed and probable deaths in New York after America’s most populous city quickly became ground zero of the US epidemic in late March.
Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the first easing of restrictions but warned residents that they must continue to social distance and wash their hands regularly.
“This is a triumphant moment for New Yorkers who fought back against this disease,” he told CNN.
“Come back to work, but remember to stick to those smart rules that got us this far.”
But the reopening effort was stymied by large numbers of high-end stores remaining boarded up following widespread looting during anti-racism protests a week ago.
The start of the economic reboot came a day after de Blasio lifted a controversial week-long curfew he had imposed over the looting.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged the thousands of protesters who demonstrated the police killing in Minneapolis of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, to get tested for COVID-19, fearing they may trigger a surge in infections. (AFP)
