Global surge in COVID cases raises fears about 2nd wave

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But the risk of a second wave big enough to require lockdowns to be reimposed is moderate to high, it said, and fending it off will depend on the gradual easing of restrictions and how people stick to them, Reuters reported.

As of Sunday evening, the number of infected persons in the Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe region reached 116,261 up by 9,999 from a week ago. Meantime, 5,405 people have died and 74,945 recovered (there is no data for Kosovo), data by Worldometers.info shows.

According to John Hopkins University data from yesterday evening (June 15), Poland reported the most cases, with 29,788 infected persons (up from 26,561 a week ago) and 1,256 fatalities (compared with 1,157 six days ago), followed by Romania at 22,165/1,427 (from 20,479/1,326) and Serbia 12,367/255 (from 11,823/249).

The number of cases increased in Moldova to 11,740 with 408 deaths (9,700/341), followed by the Czech Republic 10,027/330, (9,609/327); North Macedonia 4,157/193 (3,025/153); Hungary 4,076/563 (from 4,008/541); Bulgaria 3,290/174 (from 2,711/160);  Greece 3,121/183 (2,997/180); Bosnia and Herzegovina 2,893/163 (from 2,606/159); Croatia 2,252/107 (from 2,247/104); Estonia 1,973/69 (from 1,969/69);  Lithuania 1,768/75 (from 1,714/71);  Slovakia 1,548/28 (from 1,528/28);  Albania 1,521/36 (from 1,246/34); Slovenia 1,495/109 (from 1,485/109); Latvia 1,097/28 (from 1,088/25); Kosovo 1,437/32 (from 1,142/30); and Montenegro 324/9 (from 324/9).

Governments globally have started to reopen economies and ease lockdown restrictions, despite, the number of people infected by the pandemic coronavirus continuing to spread. Since India started gradually easing lockdowns of its 1.3 billion people imposed in March, the pace of the virus spread has accelerated sharply. India has reported roughly 10,000 new infections daily over the last week and the country’s case count surpassed Britain on Friday.

South Korea and Singapore, which drew attention for what was seen as success in containing the early stages of the outbreak, experienced fresh outbreaks in recent months, showing how easily the virus may return.

COVID-19 deaths continue to increase in many U.S. states. Fears about a second wave grew late last month as Americans traveled to beaches and lakes to celebrate the Memorial Day long weekend.

Russia, which has the third-largest number of confirmed cases globally, reported 8,779 new cases on June 11. It lifted a lockdown imposed on Moscow for more than two months on June 9, even though the capital is still reporting more than 1,000 cases daily.

Brazil reported 30,412 new cases on June 11, bringing its cumulative total to above 800,000, the second highest after the United States.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of people infected by the virus had increased to 7,949,973 as of yesterday evening, up by 880,069 from a week ago. At least 434,181 people have died (up from 400,792), while around 4,070,000 have recovered.