As New York enters the first phase of its reopening, WHO has reported record numbers of new cases worldwide
New York:
New York City – the epicenter of America’s coronavirus epidemic – began partially reopening its shattered economy on Monday after nearly three months of foreclosure, as the World Health Organization warned that the health crisis “getting worse” around the world.
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 allowed to resume operations.
“It’s good to be back,” said Michael Ostergren, director of the Shakespeare and Co bookstore on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where a net of customers arrived shortly after the doors reopened.
“Everyone wants to get out of the house. We are just picking up where we left off in March,” he added.
As New York enters phase 1 of its reopening and some of the hardest hit countries in Europe are returning to a new type of normalcy, WHO has reported a record number of new cases worldwide.
Managing Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 136,000 cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, “the most in one day so far”, the majority of them in the Americas and Asia. South.
“Although the situation in Europe is improving, it is getting worse on a global scale,” he told reporters.
COVID-19 has caused more than 21,000 confirmed and probable deaths in New York after the most populous city in the United States quickly became the zero point of the American epidemic in late March.
Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed the first relaxation of restrictions, but warned residents that they should continue to distance themselves and wash their hands regularly.
“This is a triumphant moment for New Yorkers who have fought against this disease,” he told CNN.
“Come back to work, but don’t forget to stick to those smart rules that have gotten us here.”
But the effort to reopen has been thwarted by a large number of high-end stores that remained closed after widespread looting during the anti-racism protests a week ago.
The start of the economic recovery came a day after de Blasio lifted a controversial week-long curfew he imposed on looting.
Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the thousands of protesters who demonstrated the murder in Minneapolis of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, to be tested for COVID-19, fearing that they would trigger an outbreak of infections.
American recession
One store that opened in Midtown Manhattan was The Container Store, a home storage store.
K.B Barton, 61, left with three bags of items he had ordered online for the first time.
“It’s more alive today in Manhattan. I see a lot more people on the streets. I’m happier but not everyone is wearing a mask,” he told AFP.
In the Queens district, rush hour subway trains to Manhattan were slightly busier than in recent weeks, but still far from pre-coronavirus numbers.
Brandy Bligen, seventy, said he is looking forward to dining out, which will be included in phase two of the reopening alongside the hair salons, and expected in two weeks if the cases escalate not.
“Being confined is enough to drive you crazy,” he told AFP at Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights station.
New York bars will be allowed to open in phase three, but cinemas and museums will have to wait for phase four, likely in late July and with reduced capacity.
COVID-19 deaths have exceeded 404,000 worldwide, with more than seven million infections, since the disease first appeared in China late last year before sweeping the world, subjecting billions of people in a form of lockdown and paralysis of savings.
Governments around the world are carefully removing these restrictions to revive their economies while trying to avoid a resurgence of infections.
In Belgium, pubs and restaurants have opened, but with social distancing measures in force, while Ireland has opened stores and allowed gatherings of six people and limited travel.
British quarantine
Moscow announced on Monday that it will ease border restrictions and lift the blocking measures in the Russian capital from Tuesday.
Meanwhile, New Zealand has nurtured hope for the rest of the world as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country has defeated the virus, although strict border controls remain.
But Britain, embarking on a more cautious reopening, has imposed a two-week quarantine on anyone entering the country, including British nationals – triggering legal action by the airlines.
Quarantine occurred when it recorded its lowest number of daily deaths in more than two months, with 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours.
Across the Atlantic, figures show that the US economy went into recession in February, ending 128 months of expansion.
And the World Bank has declared that the pandemic has caused the widest collapse of the world economy since 1870, despite unprecedented government support.
In Latin America, countries have prepared for the worst with the escalation of the outbreak, with Brazil, Mexico and Peru being particularly hard hit.
Brazil has the third highest death rate in the world with more than 36,000 deaths, but President Jair Bolsonaro continues to minimize the impact of the virus and urged regional officials to lift the lockdown measures.
Fears in Asia that the virus is not under control persist, the number of deaths and the rate of infection increasing sharply in India, even as the government lifted some brakes on Monday after a blockage of 10 weeks.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
