China reports 61 new COVID-19 cases, the most in a day since March 6
Science & Health
China continues to play whack-a-mole with regional flare-ups of COVID-19. But mass testing and targeted lockdowns appear to be containing the virus in the country, while elsewhere in the world it spreads unabated.
Over the weekend, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic set records in multiple places, though the differences in scale are remarkable. Here is a snapshot of what July 26 looked like in new coronavirus cases around the globe:
- More than 54,000 in the U.S., according to a New York Times database. This follows two weeks of about 60,000 or more Americans contracting the virus every day.
- Nearly 50,000 in India, a new daily record, according to a NYT database.
- 24,578 in Brazil, according to the Rio Times.
- 532 in the Australian state of Victoria, a daily record, the Australian ABC reports.
- 128 in Hong Kong, on top of a record 133 new cases the day before, the SCMP says.
- 61 in mainland China, the highest daily number of new cases since March 6, according to Reuters.
Ironically, the places with the fewest cases are taking the most extreme measures to address the outbreaks.
- Hong Kong has announced a two-person limit on group gatherings starting on July 29, and will ban dining inside restaurants and require mask wearing in outdoor public places, per the Hong Kong Free Press.
- In Dalian, a northeastern port city in China, 14 new locally transmitted cases were reported today, per Caixin (paywall). In response, the city now plans to undertake a mass testing campaign, similar to what occurred in Wuhan and Mudanjiang, Beijing, and now Urumqi. See also a Sixth Tone report on Dalian’s new outbreak, which was first reported on July 23.
- Most of the other cases in China were found in Urumqi, Xinjiang, which “has recorded 254 cases since mid-July” and is nearly completed with testing all 3.5 million of its residents, Caixin reports. While testing was underway in Urumqi, “subway and bus services have been cut off for over a week while housing compounds limit the number of people who can go in and out,” Bloomberg notes.
