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11-04-2020
By SJA Jafri + Agencies + Bureau Reports
WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK/ LONDON/ GENEVA: Lifting coronavirus lockdown measures too early could spark a “deadly resurgence” in infections, the World Health Organization chief has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries should be cautious about easing restrictions, even as some struggle with the economic impact.
Europe’s worst hit countries, Spain and Italy, are both relaxing some measures, while their lockdowns continue.
Globally there are 1.6 million cases of coronavirus and 101,000 deaths.
Speaking at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros said there had been a “welcome slowing” of the epidemics in some European countries.
He said the WHO was working with governments to form strategies for easing restrictions, but that this should not be done too soon.
“Lifting restrictions too quickly could lead to a deadly resurgence,” he said.
“The way down can be as dangerous as the way up if not managed properly.”
The government in Spain is preparing to allow some non-essential workers in sectors including construction and factory production to return to their jobs on Monday.
Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll in 17 days on Friday, with 605 people dying. According to the latest figures, Spain has now registered 15,843 deaths related to the virus.
However, the government has urged people to continue to uphold social distancing rules over the Easter long weekend.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the national lockdown until 3 May, warning that the gains made so far should not be lost.
However, a small proportion of businesses that have been shut since 12 March will be permitted to reopen on Tuesday.
Conte specifically mentioned bookshops and children’s clothing shops, but media reports suggest laundrettes and other services may also be included.
Only grocery stores and pharmacies have been allowed to operate since the lockdown started.
The number of deaths in Italy rose by 570 on Friday, down from a daily figure of 610 the day before, and the number of new cases also slowed slightly to 3,951 from 4,204.
Elsewhere:
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has announced his country’s lockdown measures will be extended until 5 May
Turkey has ordered a 48-hour curfew in 31 cities – including Istanbul and Ankara – to start at midnight. The announcement, made just two hours before the curfew was due to start, sparked panic buying and crowds shoppers
Portugal’s state of emergency is set to stay in place until 1 May, according to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
The UK government is under pressure to explain how could eventually be lifted but says lockdown restrictions will remain until evidence shows the peak has passed
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said late on Thursday that the country’s 21-day lockdown would be extended for a further 2 weeks – a move the main opposition party said would economic disaster
The number of people who have died with Covid-19 in France went up by nearly 1,000 to 13,197 on Friday. However, the number of people in intensive care units fell slightly for the second day in a row.
“We seem to be reaching a plateau, albeit a high level,” Director of Health Jérôme Salomon said.
On the other side, experts on the White House Covid-19 task force say the coronavirus outbreak is starting to level off across the US.
Dr Deborah Birx said there were good signs the outbreak was stabilising, but cautioned: “As encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak.”
President Donald Trump also said he expects the US to see a lower death toll than the initial predictions of 100,000 fatalities.
The US has at least 18,637 deaths and nearly half a million confirmed cases.
Dr Anthony Fauci, US infectious diseases chief, concurred that the US was “starting to see the levelling off and coming down” of cases and deaths but he added that despite the “important advance”, mitigation efforts such as social distancing should not be pulled back yet.
Dr Birx noted that the rate of increase appears to be stabilising in hard-hit regions like New York, New Jersey and the city of Chicago.
She added that the US mortality rate is “significantly less than many of the other countries, when you correct them for our population”, but she emphasised the nation had yet to see the peak of the outbreak. “We need to continue to do what we did yesterday, and the week before, and the week before that because that’s what, in the end, is going to take us up across the peak and down the other side.”
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington state has predicted the nation’s death count will peak on Friday and then begin declining.
On Friday, the governor of New York – the global epicentre of the virus – said the latest data shows that the state is successfully “flattening the curve”.
Despite 777 new deaths in New York on Thursday, the number of patients requiring intensive care treatment in hospital had gone down for the first time since the crisis began.
“Even though it’s a grind, even though it’s difficult, we have to stay with it,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said, cautioning that it was still too early to relax social distancing measures.
The danger appears to be highest for America’s minority communities, 
which have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
Dr Jerome Adams, the US Surgeon General, said that trend was “alarming, but not surprising” given that minorities in the US generally have more chronic health conditions such as asthma, hypertension and diabetes.
“As a matter of fact, I have been carrying an inhaler in my pocket for 40 years out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack,” continues Dr Adams, who is African-American.
In Friday’s White House briefing, Trump said he had seen the drone images of coffins being stacked in a mass grave on New York’s Hart Island.
Officials there say the island, which has been used to bury people with no next of kin for over 150 years, is now burying bodies at five times the normal rate.
