The latest:
- India’s coronavirus infections overtake Brazil as some rail services resume.
- Rise in U.K. COVID-19 called ‘concerning’ but not out of control.
- Pakistan to start opening schools as cases fall.
- South Korea reports 5th straight day of keeping cases under 200.
- Empty chairs in Tel Aviv square mark COVID-19 deaths.
India displaced Brazil on Monday to take second place in the number of coronavirus infections after the United States, with 90,082 new cases, and those numbers are expected to grow as some cities reopen underground train services that had been shuttered for months.
With its nationwide tally of 4.2 million exceeded only by the U.S. figure of 6.2 million, India is adding more cases each day than any other country this year since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Monday’s jump was the third straight daily record in India, government data showed, provisionally carrying its tally past Brazil, which has just over 4.1 million cases, although the time difference means the South American nation will release its corresponding figure later.
Commuters were sparse as New Delhi resumed metro rail services on Monday after a break of more than five months, with stations nearly deserted. Bars will open from Wednesday in the capital.
Partial metro train services also opened in the western city of Ahmedabad, the northern city of Lucknow and several other places, after being suspended for nearly six months due to the pandemic.
Pressure is growing for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pull the economy out of a deep freeze after a severe lockdown in March shuttered businesses, leaving millions without jobs and bringing a 24 per cent contraction in GDP for the most recent quarter.
In Britain, the rise in COVID-19 infections is “concerning,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday, but he said the government was still in control of the pandemic.
The daily number of cases of COVID-19 jumped on Sunday to 2,988, the highest daily rise since May.
“The rise in the number of cases we’ve seen in the last few days is largely among younger people,” Hancock told LBC Radio.
Asked if the government had lost control, he said: “No, but the whole country needs to follow the social distancing because we can only do this as a whole society.”
He noted that the rise was prevalent among younger people from more affluent backgrounds.
What’s happening with coronavirus in Canada
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada had 131,895 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 116,357 of those as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 9,183.
Holiday weekends in Canada this summer have been associated with a rise in COVID-19 cases, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease physician in Hamilton, Ont.
WATCH | COVID-19 expected to spike after Labour Day long weekend:
“There has always been this two-week kind of afterwards where we start seeing growth in cases. The September long weekend is no different, other than the fact that we get a bit more mobility amongst people,” he said.
Chagla warned that enjoying these last days of summer away from home comes with risks.
“When you’re at the cabin, sleeping in the same accommodations, you’re sharing a lot of the same objects. You’re pretty much in each other’s faces.”
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, issued a statement on Sunday in which she referred to “the trend of increased disease activity among younger individuals,” which has continued “for many weeks.”
She said people under 40 years of age account for over 62 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the latest data reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Here’s what’s happening around the world
According to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, the global total of confirmed coronavirus cases is now more than 27.1 million. More than 889,000 people have died while 18.1 million have recovered.
Education officials in Pakistan say authorities will start reopening schools from Sept. 15 amid a steady decline in coronavirus deaths and infections.
Schools were closed in March when the government enforced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. Authorities lifted curbs on most of the businesses in May, but schools remained closed across the country.
Officials said schools will reopen in Punjab and Sindh provinces from Sept. 15 and a formal announcement about opening of schools elsewhere was expected later Monday.
On Sunday, Pakistan reported three new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, one of the lowest number of daily fatalities in more five months.
Pakistan has reported 298,903 infections and 6,345 deaths since the pandemic began.
South Korea has added 119 more cases of the coronavirus, its lowest daily jump in more than three weeks amid a downward trend in new cases.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday the additional figures took the country’s total to 21,296 with 336 deaths.
It’s the fifth straight day the country’s daily jump has stayed under 200. The 119 additional cases are the lowest in kind since mid-August.
South Korea’s caseload had risen since early last month, with many associated with churches, restaurants and schools and an anti-government street rally in the greater Seoul area. One day in late August, South Korea’s daily jump hit over 400.
But the caseload has gradually slowed down, largely thanks to toughened physical distancing rules that restrict dining at restaurants and ban gatherings at churches, night spots, after-school academics and fitness centres.
In Israel, more than 1,000 empty chairs were placed in a central Tel Aviv square early Monday, an eerie display symbolizing the lives the novel coronavirus has claimed in the country.
A red rose was laid on every empty chair with black and white mourning signs representing a person who died due to COVID-19.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced overnight curfews, starting Monday, for some 40 cities and towns hit hard by the virus.
Overall, Israel has recorded nearly 130,000 cases of the virus, with more than 26,000 still active. It recently has been reporting some 3,000 new confirmed cases each day.