Coronavirus report: India reports record spike as cases double in South Africa

Coronavirus report: India reports record spike as cases double in South Africa

Indian cases pass 800,000; Johannesburg struggles to find vital equipment; Texas warns ‘worst is yet to come’

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Indian health workers prepare to screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms in Deonar, Mumbai. Photograph: Rajanish Kakade/AP

Emma Graham-Harrison and agencies-Sat 11 Jul 2020 

India reported a record spike in coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the national total to more than 800,000 and pushing several states to bring back lockdowns, despite the punitive economic cost.

Now the world’s third-worst affected country by case load, it reported a spike of 27,114 cases on Saturday, although mortality rates have been lower than in other badly affected countries with confirmed death toll now 22,123.

The country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, home to nearly 230 million people, imposed a weekend lockdown. Several others announced restrictions in districts reporting large spikes.

India is one of several countries that appeared to have had success containing Covid-19 with lockdowns but after easing controls saw the disease come roaring back.

South Africa, which had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world but started easing it under economic pressure, has also seen confirmed cases double over the past two weeks, with extreme inequality exacerbating the outbreak.

In Johannesburg, oxygen concentrators, which help people with Covid-19 breathe, are hard to find as private businesses and individuals are buying them up, AP reported.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s struggling public hospitals are short on medical oxygen and are seeing a higher proportion of deaths than in private ones, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said.

There have been more than 12m cases worldwide and more than half a million confirmed deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins university.

From Texas to Johannesburg, hospitals are being overwhelmed by patients. Scenes that first played out in Wuhan in January, and became grimly familiar in Iran and Europe through the spring, are repeating around the world.

The busiest hospitals in Houston are increasingly telling emergency responders they cannot safely accept new admissions as hundreds of coronavirus patients crowd emergency rooms, ProPublica and NBC reported.

The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has warned residents “the worst is yet to come” after a week in which coronavirus diagnoses exceeded 10,000 new cases per day on Tuesday.

In Florida, daily new cases have nearly doubled and intensive care capacity is full at more than 40 hospitals across the state, NBC News reported.

California has experienced one of its toughest weeks yet in the battle against coronavirus, having experienced its two deadliest days since the start of the pandemic, as cases continue to rise.

Despite the rising global toll and the return of lockdowns in many countries, public health interventions including requiring face coverings are increasingly divisive.

They have been derided by many leaders, including the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has contracted Covid-19, and the US president, Donald Trump, who reportedly agreed to wear one in public for the first time on Saturday.

In the US, there are regular physical fights and verbal confrontations over wearing masks. In southern France, a bus driver has died after being badly beaten by passengers who he had asked to wear face masks, in line with coronavirus rules.

Political leaders have paid tribute to Philippe Monguillot, 59, who was left braindead by the attack in the south-western town of Bayonne last weekend. He died in hospital on Friday. Two men have been arrested and charged over the attack.

Australia reported progress in efforts to contain an outbreak in Victoria that prompted the state to go back into lockdown. The number of new cases reported overnight fell slightly to 216, down from 288 the previous day.

The country appeared to have successfully suppressed the virus before the spike in infections in Melbourne. It will reduce the rate of international arrivals by half as it struggles to push cases back towards zero.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, said at least 4,000 fewer Australians will be returning home each week, and states will charge people for a compulsory two-week hotel quarantine.

Morrison acknowledged “it will be more difficult” for Australians to return home when the measure comes into force on Monday. He defended it, however, on the basis that halving arrivals would allow health authorities to focus resources on contact tracing and testing for Covid-19.

The country’s health authorities approved Remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19, but warned it was not a “silver bullet”. In June the US bought the global supply for several months but Australia has supplies donated by maker Gilead, which will cover current needs.

Bill Gates has called for Covid-19 drugs and any eventual vaccine to be made available to countries and people that need them most, not the highest bidder. He said relying on market forces to ensure their distribution would prolong the pandemic.