Spain calls on army to fight virus as WHO signals slowdown
MADRID, Spain (AFP)— Spain said Tuesday it will call in the army to try to help curb the spread of the coronavirus as parts of Europe and Asia battle new surges, while data from the UN health agency suggested the pace of transmission was easing in many parts of the world.
Governments have been ramping up efforts to contain the disease, which has claimed the lives of almost 814,000 people and infected at least 23 million since late last year.
World Health Organization data said fatality and infection rates were easing in most regions, notably in the hard-hit Americas, except Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.
In Africa, WHO regional director Matshidiso Moeti said new cases were declining after the continent passed “what seems to have been a peak”.
But Health Minister Zweli Mkhize of hard-hit South Africa warned that “our biggest worry is whether in fact this is the first surge and there might be another one”, pointing to the latest developments in Spain.
One of the worst affected countries in Europe, Spain is to use 2,000 soldiers trained in tracking to help regions identify those who have been exposed to infected people.
“We can’t let the pandemic once again take control of our lives… we must take control and halt this second curve,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Thousands of miles away, South Korea ordered the closure of all schools and kindergartens in the greater Seoul region and a return to online learning.
– ‘Alarming emergence of mass infections’ –
South Korea’s move — coupled with Mexico’s launch Monday of a nationwide televised schooling programme — underlined the effect on young people of a pandemic now dragging into its ninth month.
UN estimates say at least 60 percent of the global student population has been impacted by school closures across more than 140 countries.
The challenges of reopening schools safely were highlighted as the University of Alabama reported close to a thousand positive coronavirus tests since term started last week.
Although fatality rates have been falling, the WHO said it recorded more than 1.7 million new coronavirus cases and some 39,000 new deaths in the week to August 23.
That represented however a five-percent decrease in new cases globally and a 12-percent drop in new deaths compared with the week before.
In some parts of the world, people feel too desperate to keep up the virus fight.
Still staggering from the effects of a massive detonation that devastated capital Beirut on August 4, Lebanese service sector businesses said they would defy a new lockdown order despite record case numbers.
Tony Ramy, who heads the syndicate of owners of restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and pastry shops, urged owners to defy an “arbitrary and demagogic decision to close down” for two weeks.
In Gaza, the Hamas government of the Israeli-blockaded strip announced a 48-hour curfew after a cluster of cases was identified, prompting a rush on bakeries.