WASHINGTON • Coronavirus infections continued to rise unabated in the US and Europe, prompting new controls to check the spread of the pandemic, while several parts of Asia reported fresh clusters.
The United States on Sunday added one million new cases to its tally in less than a week, according to Johns Hopkins University, as stay-at-home orders and new restrictions on bars and restaurants kicked in yesterday in major cities like Chicago and New York.
The health crisis that threatens to overwhelm the country's hospitals was made worse by the Trump administration's continuing refusal to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden and his team, who have not been able to consult experts like top government immunologist Anthony Fauci.
Dr Fauci said on Sunday that thousands more Americans could die from Covid-19 by the time Mr Biden takes office on Jan 20.
The US has the highest absolute tolls in the world, with over 11 million cases and more than 246,000 deaths. More than 1,000 Americans have been dying each day over the past week.
In Germany, under partial lockdown since Nov 2, the government was set to propose tougher measures yesterday to tackle a stubborn upsurge in cases. These include limiting meetings in public to a maximum of two people from another home and urging people to avoid private parties altogether.
While Germany's case numbers are far below those of other European nations like Britain, France and Italy, it has warned that the health system could be overloaded after infections crossed 800,000.
Britain, the worst-hit nation in Europe with over 50,000 coronavirus deaths from 1.2 million positive cases, struck an optimistic note in its coronavirus fight yesterday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, once more under isolation after meeting a lawmaker who later tested positive for the virus, said mass testing capacity is set to double early next year and that a potential vaccine could be available before Christmas.
Despite their relative success in containing the pandemic, easing travel curbs and reopening their economies, countries in East Asia remained on alert yesterday after fresh outbreaks emerged in Japan and South Korea.
New daily cases in Japan reached a record 1,722 last Saturday, while infections in the capital Tokyo neared 400 in recent days, levels not seen since early August.
Meanwhile, South Korea is considering tighter social distancing rules after reporting more than 200 new coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day yesterday.
Efforts to flatten the curve also carried on in other parts of Asia. While India has seen its overall caseload stabilise in recent days, its capital New Delhi has seen record infection levels - at more than 7,000 daily cases of late, requiring doctors to be flown in from other states to help.
Indonesia, which has the highest tallies in South-east Asia, reported 3,535 new coronavirus infections yesterday, taking the total to 470,648, while the death toll from the pandemic reached 15,296.
Malaysia's partial movement controls, extended to cover most of the country a week ago, have failed to bring down the number of new daily cases, which has stayed above 1,000 over the last four days.
Meanwhile, Australia's strong record of controlling the disease through stringent lockdowns was threatened yesterday after 14 new cases were reported in South Australia, after a months-long streak of no infections in the state.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
