Global virus deaths pass 650,000 as new surges prompt fresh curbs

by AFP bureaus

Officials around the world reintroduced a raft of restrictions Monday — from beach closures to quarantine measures — to try to tamp down coronavirus hotspots as the official global death toll passed 650,000.

European countries trying to repair the economic damage caused by the earlier lockdowns struggled to balance keeping the lifeline of tourism open while guarding against new flare-ups of infection.

Spain’s tourism industry faced fresh misery after British travelers — and one major tour operator — cancelled flights there following London’s decision to reintroduce quarantine for travellers returning from the country.

Hong Kong mandated wearing masks in public in response to a new wave of infections.

Belgium tightened its social distancing measures to try to halt what one expert called a “worrying” surge in cases.

In Washington, meanwhile, the White House announced that another senior administration figure, national security advisor Robert O’Brien, had contracted the virus.

As of Monday evening, the US, the worst-hit nation in the world, had added another 57,000 cases of infection and its recorded death toll stood at 147,588, said Johns Hopkins University.

Until Sunday, the number of US daily infections had exceeded 60,000 for 12 straight days, with some days notching more than 70,000 new cases.

But as the grim figures kept rolling in, the World Health Organization argued against a wholesale closing of borders.

This was “not necessarily a sustainable strategy for the world’s economy, for the world’s poor, or for anybody else,” said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan.

A “global one-size-fits-all policy” was impossible because outbreaks were developing differently in different countries, he added. (AFP)

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