Global coronavirus cases top 3.5mn; India likely hit by second wave

The United States still stands on the top of the list of countries affected by the virus, with 1,118,122 known cases and 68,598 deaths.

While many countries have brought the epidemic relatively under control and eased stay-at-home restrictions, some nations have just started to register what looks like a second wave of infections.

Second in population only to China, India reported 2,600 new infections on Sunday — the country’s highest single-day jump, yet.

The Indian Health Ministry has reported 40,263 confirmed cases of infection and 1,306 deaths as of Sunday evening.

The ministry said that the government was set to impose another two weeks of extended lockdown for a second time. The country’s population of 1.3 billion has already been under a three-week complete lockdown since late March.

This time, however, some restrictions would be eased in districts that have a low risk of spreading the virus.

In Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, a third of the 500 people selected in random testing came out positive for the new coronavirus.

The results of the random tests in Kabul are “concerning,” said Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Mayar on Sunday.

Afghanistan has reported 2,700 confirmed cases and 85 deaths.

The true figure of cases could be much higher as officials have so far tested only 12,000 people in the nation of 36.6 million.

China, the first ever country to report the virus, reported only three new cases and no additional deaths on Monday.

China’s death toll stands at 4,633, with a total number of 82,880 cases.

New Zealand

New Zealand’s Health Ministry said on Monday that no new cases of infection had been reported in the country over the last 24 hours.

But one probable case had changed to a confirmed one, it said.

The total number of confirmed and probable cases of infection in New Zealand is currently 1,487, with 20 deaths.

Most of those infected with the virus are said to have recovered now.

Australia

In neighboring Australia, officials reported 26 new cases across three states on Monday.

The figure, the biggest daily jump in two weeks, brought the total number of infections to 6,822.

The country has so far had only about 95 deaths.

Singapore

Singapore reported 657 confirmed cases on Sunday.

That brought the total number of infections to more than 18,000 cases so far, with 18 deaths.

Singapore’s Health Ministry said most patients had mild symptoms or were clinically well. It said they were being kept in isolation at community facilities while a little over 1,600 people were currently hospitalized.

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to extend the country’s state of emergency until the end of this month.

He is due to announce new measures on Wednesday.

Japan has so far reported around 15,000 cases and 487 deaths nationwide.

Bangladesh

The number of confirmed cases in Bangladesh passed 10,000 on Monday, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

It reported 688 new cases of the viral infection over the past 24 hours, taking the nation’s tally to 10,143 since the first case was reported two months ago.

The death toll rose to 182 on Monday from 177 the day before.

Last week, over 2,000 garment factories defied lockdown restrictions in Bangladesh to reopen. Bangladesh is home to around 4,000 garment factories employing 4.1 million workers.

This is while schools and colleges may have to remain closed until September, according to the government.

South Korea

South Korea will reopen schools in stages starting from May 13, as the daily number of domestic cases of infection is now close to zero.

Some 5.5 million elementary, middle, and high school students, along with teachers will have to wear a mask at school, except for during mealtimes.

The country will relax distancing rules starting Wednesday.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported eight new cases on Monday, all of them imported. That brought the national tally to 10,801, with 252 deaths.

Outbreak slowing down in Europe

In Europe, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany still remained some of the worst-hit countries, though the outbreak has been slowing down.

In the lowest daily report, Italy’s fatalities rose by 174 new deaths to 28,884 on Sunday.

Figures also showed there were 1,389 new cases in Italy, down from 1,900 a day earlier. The new figures brought the country’s tally to 210,717.

As both new cases and fatalities have been at their lowest levels, the country has been preparing to gradually ease its two-month lockdown as of Monday.

Spain also reported its lowest daily rise in deaths in almost seven weeks.

Officials recorded 164 new deaths on Sunday, taking the total fatalities to 25,264.

Confirmed coronavirus cases also rose to 217,466 on Sunday, from 216,582.

The country with one of the strictest lockdowns in the continent on Sunday allowed adults out of their homes for solo exercise for the first time since its lockdown began in mid-March.

Spain is now the fourth worst-hit country in the world in terms of deaths, after the US, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

The UK’s death toll is getting close to that of Italy as another 315 people died from COVID-19, on Sunday. The new fatalities took the country’s tally to 28,446.

Britain has also recorded 186,599 known cases of coronavirus infections.

In France, the number of deaths rose by 135 to 24,895 on Sunday, the French Health Ministry said.

The number of patients treated in hospitals for COVID-19 fell to 25,815 from 25,827 on Saturday. The number of those in intensive care also fell to 3,819 from 3,827.

France, with a total of 168,693 confirmed cases, will start to unwind its lockdown in the week starting May 11.

Meanwhile, some 10,633 new cases were detected in Russia on Saturday.

The new cases brought the total to 134,687, with more than half the cases and deaths being recorded in Moscow.

The nationwide death toll rose to 1,280 after 58 patients died over the last 24 hours.

Officials said the mortality rate had slowed in recent days.

Russia has been under partial lockdown since the end of March. President Vladimir Putin has ordered the lockdown to remain in place until May 11.

In the Balkan region, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that the state of emergency would end next week, as the rate of infections had slowed sufficiently.

“Conditions have been met… we should not have curfew by Thursday,” Vucic said, adding that the decision needed to be ratified by the parliament on Wednesday.

The nation has 9,464 cases of infection and 193 deaths.

Brazil

Brazil recorded 4,588 new cases of COVID-19 and 275 deaths over the last 24 hours, the Brazilian Health Ministry said Sunday.

There have been over 101,147confirmed cases and 7,025 deaths nationwide.

The number of cases and deaths rose by 5 percent and 4 percent respectively over the last 24 hours, according to the ministry.

This is while President Jair Bolsonaro has been downplaying the impact of the pandemic.

Dozens of public figures signed an open letter to his government on Sunday, calling on officials to protect the country’s indigenous people, who often live in remote areas with limited access to healthcare.