A curfew is in effect in Melbourne. According to the Johns Hopkins Institute, the total number of Covid-19 infections worldwide is approaching 18 million, with more than 685,000 deaths reported. The pandemic continues to spread actively in several regions, including Australia, the United States, South Africa and India.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Australian state of Victoria due to rising infection statistics – 671 new cases of the disease have been confirmed there in the past day. In the state capital of Melbourne, Level 4 precautions have been put in place, which means that residents are only allowed to leave their homes to shop for food within a 5km radius of their home or to participate in sporting activities. These restrictions will remain in place for at least 6 weeks.
As explained by the Premier of the State, Daniel Andrews, doctors have not been able to trace the chain of infection in 760 people, whom they call “unexplained cases”, which partly explains the severity of the measures taken. According to Andrews, the quarantine measures introduced so far have not yielded sufficient results. “We have to be more decisive. That is the only way we are going to survive this,” Andrews said. Experts are increasingly concerned about the emergence of so-called “unexplained cases” of infection – when new cases cannot be linked to existing outbreaks or confirmed to have been in contact with a confirmed carrier of the coronavirus.
In Hong Kong, all bars and restaurants are closed and office workers are forced to eat on the go. This is exactly what makes it difficult to contain the infection and forces the authorities to take stricter restrictive measures, as is now happening in Melbourne, where 51% of cases are specifically unexplained – or still in the process of identifying the chain of infection. Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million people, managed to avoid a strict quarantine throughout the spring. In July, however, there was an outbreak of mostly unexplained origin. This immediately forced the authorities to announce early summer vacations in schools, close bars, gyms and beaches, ban gatherings of more than 4 people, and impose stiff fines for appearing in public places without a mask.
In Japan, which has also managed to avoid a large-scale pandemic so far, cases of “infection of unknown origin” rose from 19% in mid-June to 51% within a month, according to Bloomberg Law. However, the Japanese authorities did not close any businesses or institutions, but merely advised the public to exercise caution. On Sunday, a small group of pilgrims, adhering to the principles of social distancing, completed the final stage of their pilgrimage by making a circuit around the Muslim shrine of the Kaaba, located in the center of the Mecca Shrine Mosque.
All pilgrims must wear a face mask and maintain social distance. Because of the pandemic, only 10,000 Muslims were able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca this year, compared to the 2.5 million faithful who made the five-day hajj last year. As reported by King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the organization of this important event for every Muslim required a double effort from the authorities. “This year’s Hajj was limited to a very small number of participants from different countries to perform this ritual despite the current difficult circumstances,” said the 84-year-old monarch. For example, for one part of the ritual – the stoning of the devil – the authorities had to provide the faithful with bags of sterilized stones, whereas pilgrims usually collect the stones themselves. This year, the Saudi Arabian authorities paid for accommodation, food and medical services for those who came to perform the Hajj. Russian Muslims could not be among those who arrived due to quarantine measures in Russia.
On Saturday, American media, including the Associated Press, reported that the Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump will be officially announced as the party’s presidential nominee, will be held in a closed press environment for the first time in history – due to the coronavirus. It is scheduled to take place on August 24th in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, with the presence of 336 delegates.
The White House coordinator warned that the United States has entered a new phase in the fight against the infection. On Sunday, however, the Republican Party hastened to distance itself from these messages, issuing a statement through its representative that no final decision has been made on the issue of press access. White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx warned over the weekend that the United States has entered a new phase in the fight against the pandemic. In an interview with CNN, she confirmed that the infection is spreading throughout the country and has become a greater threat than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. She also warned residents of rural areas that they too are at risk of infection. In Russia, 5,427 new cases were registered on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic to over 850,000, making Russia the fourth most infected country in the world. Covid-19 has killed more than 200,000 people in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the majority, about 75%, in Brazil and Mexico. More than 500,000 people have been reported infected in South Africa, which has reinstated a dry law that officials say is helping the health system cope. In India, the number of infections exceeded 50 thousand for the third day in a row. In Iran, 2,685 infected people have been identified in the past 24 hours – the highest increase in almost a month. Sima Sadat Lari, a representative of the Ministry of Health, said the situation is worrying in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces.