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South Korea Mulls Return To Strict Social Distancing Amid Spike In COVID-19 Cases: Live Updates

May 28, 2020
Tyler Durden

South Korea Mulls Return To Strict Social Distancing Amid Spike In COVID-19 Cases: Live Updates

Tyler Durden

Thu, 05/28/2020 – 11:36

Summary:

  • NY reports just 74 deaths for the second day in a row.
  • Italy reports <100 deaths for 4th time in 5 days
  • Trump tweets condolences
  • Brazil cases top 400k
  • South Korea reports alarming jump in cases
  • Blue House mulls reinstating strict social distancing measures
  • Philippines President to end Manila lockdown
  • Denmark decision to partially reopen schools deemed a ‘success’
  • New evidence of ‘Community Spread’ found in certain African countries

* * *

Update (1200ET): As NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov Cuomo say the city will likely enter ‘Phase 1’ of the reopening some time in June, Italy has reported its latest results. Across the country, only 70 deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours – fewer deaths than were recorded in the state of New York, which has a population 1/3rd the size of Italy. Officials reported 70 deaths, the fourth time in the past 5 days where fewer than 100 deaths have been reported.

Italy also reported 593 new cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 231,732, while the death toll hit 33,142 deaths.

Cuomo said Thursday that NYC needs to figure out “contact tracing” and “public transit” before it can safely reopen. The city has hired an army of contact tracers.

He also discussed the importance of “uniform standards” across the state. State rules and metrics to reopen New York City are the same rules and metrics to reopen all other regions of the state. “What is safe to reopen is safe, and if it’s safe for your family, it’s safe for my family,” Cuomo says. “I’m not going to reopen any region that I do not believe is safe.”

* * *

Update (1155ET): As scientists parse the effectiveness of lockdowns, here’s another reason to suggest that the more strict, more timely and more short-lived approach has shown compelling results.

Still, as the NYT highlighted today in a summary of recent research, there’s little evidence to suggest that the world is anywhere near ‘herd immunity’ levels.

It also designed a nifty chart to illustrate the ‘surveillance’ penetration estimates in various ‘hot spots’

* * *

Update (1140ET): Before we start, remember…

…the CDC recommends people wear masks when indoors or anywhere with poor ventilation, and anywhere people might be around crowds, though, to be sure, research suggests that active copies of the virus don’t linger in the air long enough to be infectious (though being within 6 feet of another might put you at risk of being hit by a stray bit of infectious saliva).

Now, Cuomo is launching into his latest press briefing, laying out plans for more businesses to reopen across the state.

For the second straight day, New York State recorded exactly 74 deaths, bringing the total death count above 23,600.

“This is always painful,” Cuomo, who’s holding his briefing in Brooklyn today, acknowledged, as he always does. He also reported that the number of hospitalized patients around the state has fallen to ~4,000, with only 163 new patients admitted over the last day.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Cuomo presser without him griping about the federal government abandoning NY.

Interestingly, Massachusetts last night said it recorded 527 new coronavirus cases and 74 new deaths. Will mass also report sub-100 deaths for another day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the latest figures have just been released.

As investigations into outbreaks at long-term care homes (including nursing homes) continue across the US and around the world, Virginia has released data on Thursday showing more than half of total COVID deaths in the state involved LTC patients.

* * *

With Johns Hopkins finally confirming that the US death toll had passed the 100k mark…

…President Trump tweeted his condolences to the families of all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

With the US temporarily preoccupied by looting in Minneapolis and elsewhere – the focus during the early morning hours was on Asia, as Japanese health officials reported a new cluster: A hospital in Koganei city, located on the outskirts of Tokyo, have confirmed 3 infected patients, with 18 more reporting symptoms, including a fever. South Korea recently uncovered a ‘silent’ cluster after testing tens of thousands of people who had traveled to a popular nightlife district of Seoul one evening after a nightclubber tested positive, raising fears of a new ‘superspreader’ cluster.

With testing ramping up once again, officials are reportedly weighing whether to revive more-strict social distancing rules due to a recent increase in confirmed cases.

The 79 new cases of COVID-19 reported Thursday by SK health officials was the highest single-day total seen in nearly eight weeks. The total number of infections now stands at 11,344 in the country of 51 million.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte approved a recommendation to ease the lockdown in the capital Manila beginning on June 1 as he tries to pull his country’s economy back from the brink of what would likely be a bruising recession.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her fellow world leaders to provide more money to multinational NGOs like the UN and WHO in the name of accelerating the global recovery from the virus.

Expanding on that point, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres agitated for more comprehensive sovereign debt relief for the poorest nations, insisting that “relief must be extended to all developing, middle-income countries that request forbearance as they lose access to financial markets” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Later today, PM Johnson will set out the next steps on easing Britain’s lockdown, describing what will be possible from June 1.

As France and Germany abandon the drugs, Indonesia said Thursday it will continue to prescribe two anti-malarial drugs – chloroquine and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine – for coronavirus patients but monitor their use closely.

UK police have said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings did breach the coronavirus lockdown but that it was minor and they will take no further action, the Telegraph has reported.

Source: Al Jazeera

Though Africa has been largely spared the brunt of the global outbreak, Al Jazeera warned that cases of community transmission of the coronavirus are growing, particularly in Ethiopia, and that a new strategy for testing is needed to prevent further spread.

“We are beginning to see sustained community transmission within Ethiopia and many other countries across Africa. That means we need to increase our public health measures like distancing, wearing of masks, washing of hands,” Head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention John Nkengasong told journalists.

Brazil recorded more than 1,000 new deaths from the coronavirus over the past day, officials said Wednesday. The 1,086 new casualties bring the total number of deaths to 25,598. With 20,599 new cases, one of the largest single-day increases yet, the number of infected people has reached 411,821.

And finally, a partial reopening of schools in Denmark has not lead to an increase in coronavirus infections among pupils, a doctor of infectious disease epidemiology and prevention at the Danish Serum Institute said Thursday, citing newly released government data.

Denmark was one of the first countries to reopen, as it allowed some younger students – up to the fifth grade – to return to school on April 15 after a month-long break.

“You cannot see any negative effects from the reopening of schools,” the scientist said. In the US, NJ Gov Phil Murphy said earlier this week that he would allow outdoor high school graduation ceremonies to continue.