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September 29, 2020

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COVID-19 deaths top the 1m mark

Source: Agencies | 00:00 UTC+8 September 29, 2020 | Print Edition

More than 1 million people have died from COVID-19, marking a grim milestone in the spread of the disease that has ravaged the world economy and upended lives.

Drastic controls that put more than 4 billion people under some form of lockdown by April at first slowed the spread, but since restrictions were eased, infections have soared again.

Yesterday, contagions in India, where 1.3 billion people live, surged past 6 million, keeping the country second to the United States in number of reported cases.

Health experts have warned about the potential for the coronavirus to spread during the upcoming religious festival season, which is marked by huge gatherings of people in temples and shopping districts.

But even as infections soar, most Indian states have completely opened up in an effort to repair an economy that is suffering its worst slump in decades after India imposed a draconian lockdown in late March, which forced India鈥檚 1.4 billion people to stay indoors, closed businesses and triggered an exodus of millions of informal workers who lost their jobs in the cities.

Europe, hit hard by the first wave, is now facing another surge in COVID-19 cases.

One million Madrid residents were under partial lockdown yesterday. The city and the surrounding region is at the epicenter of a second wave of coronavirus that is sweeping Spain, which has claimed more than 31,000 lives and infected over 700,000 in the highest infection rate in the European Union.

Since midnight, the new measures impose mobility restrictions on another 167,000 people who can only leave their neighborhoods for work, school or medical reasons.

Police were conducting random checks to ensure compliance with the new rules, which now apply to nearly one in six of the region鈥檚 6.6 million residents.

Over the past week, Spain has registered the highest number of new cases within the EU with a rate of nearly 300 per 100,000 inhabitants 鈥 but in the Madrid region, the figure is currently more than 700 per 100,000.

In France, bars and restaurants were ordered to close in its second largest city Marseille, from Sunday evening for at least one week.

Milder restrictions have also been ordered in 10 other cities including Paris, with gyms shut down, public gatherings of more than 10 people banned and bars ordered to close at 10pm.

President Emmanuel Macron yesterday justified new restrictions in the country to limit the spread of the virus as restaurant and bar owners forced to shut down expressed anger at the measures.

The virus situation in major French cities is 鈥渟erious and worrying,鈥 he said.

The country has seen a steady increase in new infections and hospitalizations in recent weeks.

As the restrictions tighten, protests and anger are rising as businesses worry about their survival and individuals grow frustrated about their jobs and families in the face of another round of curbs. Authorities have clashed with anti-lockdown protesters around the world.

In Mid-September, the World Health Organization has warned deaths toll could even double to 2 million without more global collective action.

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