Published on May 12th, 2020 📆 | 7438 Views ⚑
0COVID-19 resurges in reopened countries; Wuhan sees first cluster in a month
The World Health Organization on Monday called for continued vigilance as several areas that have eased lockdown restriction began to see a resurgence in COVID-19 casesâand the United States begins unbuttoning as well.
The Chinese city of Wuhanâwhere the pandemic began last Decemberâsaw its first cluster of cases in at least a month. The city began reopening in early April.
The cluster was just six cases: an 89-year-old symptomatic man and five asymptomatic cases. All of the infected lived in the same residential community. However, it was enough to spook government officials.
NPRâs Emily Feng reported from Beijing that âThe rise of such hard-to-detect asymptomatic cases has alarmed public health authorities in China, who have ramped up contact tracing and testing efforts.â
China state media announced Tuesday that it has ordered all residents of Wuhanâroughly 11 million personsâto be tested within the next 10 days.
Likewise, the mayor of Seoul shut down bars and restaurants over the weekendâjust days after South Korea had eased restrictions and allowed businesses to reopenâdue to a spike of 86 new COVID-19 cases. Authorities identified a 29-year-old who visited five nightclubs and a bar while infected with the virus, sparking an outbreak of at least 54 cases, according to NPR. The uptick also led South Korean officials to delay the reopening of schools.
Germany, too, saw increases in cases after restrictions eased last week.
âReleasing lockdowns is both complex and difficult,â WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who goes by Dr. Tedros, said Monday. Whatâs happening in these places are âsigns of the challenges that may lie ahead.â
âFortunately, all three countries have systems in place to detect and respond to a resurgence in cases,â he added.
Though many areas of the US are beginning to reopen, it is unclear if the country has those systems in place to handle resurgence. In a Senate hearing earlier Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the countryâs leading infectious disease expert and director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress that resurgence âabsolutely will occurâ after we reopen.
âIf you do not do an adequate response, we will have the deleterious consequence of more infections and more deaths,â he said.
Gloss