South Korea is reporting a steady rise in cases around the capital as officials push to require entertainment venues to register their customers with smartphone QR codes so they could be easily located when needed.

The 35 new cases of COVID-19 reported Monday include 30 around Seoul. The figures released by South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought national totals to 11,503 cases and 271 deaths.

Officials have reported 238 infections over the past five days, most of them in the Seoul metropolitan area where around half of South Korea’s 51 million people live, causing alarm in a country that had eased up on social distancing and started to send millions of children back to school. Hundreds of infections have been linked to nightspots, restaurants and a massive e-commerce warehouse near Seoul.

From Monday, a designated group of businesses in Seoul, Incheon and Daejeon will begin collecting the personal details of their customers with smartphone QR codes in a trial run before the requirement is expanded nationwide on June 10.

While local governments can enforce the QR codes on “high-risk” facilities such as nightclubs, bars, karaoke rooms, gyms and concert venues, Health Minister Park Neunghoo expressed hope that the technology would be expanded to churches, libraries, hospitals and restaurants.

China reports small spike in cases

BEIJING — China on Monday reported a spike in daily confirmed coronavirus cases to 16, all in newly arrived travelers.

Eleven were people arriving in the southwestern province of Sichuan, three in the northern region of Inner Mongolia and two in the southeastern manufacturing heartland of Guangdong. No new deaths were reported and just 76 people remain in hospital for treatment.

Another 400 were in isolation while being monitored for showing signs of COVID-19 or having tested positive for the disease without showing symptoms.

China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths among 83,017 cases.

With local transmissions having fallen to virtually zero, much of the country has reopened for business and Monday saw the further restart of classes in middle and high schools that had previously only allowed those preparing for graduation exams to return to campus. Kindergartens, and fourth- and fifth-graders will be allowed back next week as part of a staggered opening to prevent the further spread of the virus.

U.S. sends Brazil malaria drug unproven for COVID-19 treatment

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has sent to Brazil more than 2 million doses of a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as potentially protecting against and treating the coronavirus, even though scientific evidence has not backed up those uses.

No large, rigorous scientific studies have found the drug, hydroxychloroquine, safe or effective for preventing or treating COVID-19, and some smaller studies have indicated worse outcomes from those taking the drug.

Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country, continues to see a surge in virus cases, and last week Trump announced that the U.S. was restricting travel from the country to prevent travelers from spreading the virus in the U.S.

In a joint statement with the Brazilian government on Sunday, the White House said the doses of hydroxychloroquine had been sent to Brazil as a prophylactic for front-line health workers and as a therapeutic for those who may come down with the virus. The White House said it was also delivering 1,000 ventilators to Brazil.

Egypt reports its highest number of infections, deaths

CAIRO — Egypt’s Health Ministry reported its highest-ever number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus.

The ministry said Sunday there were 46 deaths in the last 24 hours, jumping from 34 the previous day. There were also 1,536 confirmed cases.

Egypt, a country of 100 million people, has seen a surge in infections in the past week. It has the highest announced deaths from COVID-19 in the Arab World, and the third in the Middle East behind Iran and Turkey, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Sunday’s figures have taken the tally in the Arab World’s most populous country to 24,985 confirmed cases and 959 deaths. The ministry says over 6,000 patients were discharged from quarantine after their recovery.

Turkey opens COVID-19 hospitals

ANKARA, Turkey — Two hospitals for coronavirus patients were opened in Istanbul as Turkey’s daily number of new cases fell to its lowest since the peak of the outbreak.

“Thank God, we prevented the spread of the pandemic even without needing the additional capacity we created here,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday as he opened a 1,008-bed hospital, built over 45 days on the site of the former Ataturk airport.

Turkey recorded 839 cases over the previous 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted, taking the total to 163,942 since the first infection was announced on March 11. There were 25 coronavirus-related deaths over the same period, bringing the toll to 4,540.

Turkey ranks 10th worldwide for the number of virus cases, according to John Hopkins University, although experts believe the rate of infections globally could be much higher than reported.

Italy records 355 new virus cases, 75 deaths

ROME — Italy registered 355 new coronavirus cases and 75 deaths, some of the lowest such numbers since the nation’s lockdown against the pandemic began in early March. Italy now totals 233,019 known cases of COVID-19 and 33,415 deaths.

But health experts say many people with no or mild symptoms likely didn’t get tested and note that many died in residences for the elderly or in their own homes also without being tested for the virus. The latest figures from the health ministry come three days before Italy lifts a lockdown rule against travel for tourism between Italian regions and from most European countries.

This prospect has made some governors nervous in regions which have been relatively less hard hit in the pandemic. Sicily’s governor, Nello Musemeci told the Corriere della Sera daily that if vacationers come from places like northern Lombardy, Italy’s most stricken region, they should be prepared to indicate “day-by-day” whereabouts so they can be traced while visiting the Mediterranean island in case of infection.

For 10 days straight, Lombardy has been the only region in the country with daily increases of cases in the three digits, registering 210 confirmed infections in patients in the 24-hour period ending Sunday.

China pledges testing kits to African nations

JOHANNESBURG — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says that China has pledged to make available 30 million COVID-19 testing kits per month to African countries, which are facing a shortage of the materials to test for the disease.

Ramaphosa, currently the chairman of the African Union, told journalists that Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged that Chinese companies would make available the testing kits as well as 10,000 ventilators per month and 80 million masks per month to African countries.

Ramaphosa didn’t specify if the equipment would be donated or sold to African countries. South Africa, which has the continent’s highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 30,967 and 643 deaths, has faced a shortage of testing kits and other equipment.

The shortage of testing materials and ventilators has been a problem for all the countries of Africa, which have had to compete with richer countries for the equipment. The coronavirus is spreading steadily but relatively slowly across Africa, with the continent’s 54 countries reporting 141,535 cases and 4,069 deaths, according to figures provided Sunday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Britain announces plans to help homeless

LONDON — Britain has announced new plans to help the homeless, pledging to provide 6,000 new “supported homes’’ as the country moves to lift the lockdown put in place to stall COVID-19.

The measure builds on the work of a task force that succeeded in bringing 15,000 homeless people off the streets and into hotels during the pandemic.

The head of task force, Louise Casey, warned that “the pandemic is not over” and vulnerable people must still be protected.

But she praised the “absolutely extraordinary response” from charities and businesses. She says it has been “a heartening example of what we can do when we need to do it, and the best of Britain in this time of crisis.”

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said Sunday that the government is offering 433 million pounds ($534 million) for the new accommodation.

Emirates airline fires workers

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s long-haul carrier Emirates says it fired an undisclosed number of employees as the coronavirus pandemic has halted global aviation.

That makes it the latest Mideast airline to shed staff over the outbreak. Emirates is the jewel of the sheikhdom’s vast array of state-link enterprises known as “Dubai Inc.” to diplomats and investors.

The airline declined to offer figures on how many staff it fired after releasing its statement acknowledging the firings on Sunday.

Spain looks to extend state of emergency

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says he will ask Spain’s Parliament for a final two-week extension of the nation’s state of emergency that has allowed the government to take lockdown measures to control its coronavirus outbreak.

Sánchez says this will be “the last, definitive extension of 15 days.”

The current state of emergency is set to expire on June 7. The government will ask for the extension in the coming days.

The lockdown measures have succeeded to reining in a COVID-19 outbreak that has claimed at least 27,000 lives in Spain.

Sánchez says this final stretch of the lockdown will include the handing back of control over health care to the regions that have shown the most progress in containing the virus.

“We have almost reached safe harbor,” Sánchez said.

The central government is slowing rolling back confinement measures depending on which areas have fewer infections and are better prepared for a possible second outbreak.

The focus is now on maintaining the virus in check while reactivating an economy that Sánchez’s said will shrink by over 9% this year and take two years to recover.

Pope greets faithful returning to Vatican City

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis cheerfully greeted people in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, as he resumed his practice of speaking to the faithful there for the first time since a coronavirus lockdown began in Italy and at the Vatican in early March.

“Today the square is open, we can return to it with pleasure,’’ Francis said.

Instead of the tens of thousands of people who might have turned out on a similarly brilliantly sunny day like in pre-pandemic times, perhaps a few hundred came to the square on Sunday, standing well apart from others or in small family groups.

Until June 3, people aren’t allowed to travel between regions in Italy or arrive from abroad for tourism, so the people in the square came from Rome or places in the region.

Francis cited those who have been infected by the virus or who died in the Amazon region, especially the “particularly vulnerable” indigenous people. He prayed that no one in the world lack medical assistance, especially due to economic priorities.

“Persons are more important than the economy,” Francis said.

Noting this was the first time he could greet people in the square for weeks, Francis said that “one doesn’t emerge from a crisis the same. You either come out better or you come out worse.” He said he’d be back to greet them next Sunday in the same place at noon, smiling and pointing down to the vast square far below his studio window.

Russia reports more than 9,000 new cases

MOSCOW — Russia reported 9,268 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, the first time in a week that the daily tally exceeded 9,000, but the lowest death toll in several days: 138.

Overall, Russia has recorded 405,843 cases and 4,693 deaths from COVID-19. The relatively low mortality rate compared with other countries has prompted skepticism domestically and abroad.

In a bid to dispel suspicions that authorities are trying to lower the death toll for political reasons, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova explained last week that Russia’s count contains only those confirmed to have died directly of the infection, but she also gave figures for people who tested positive for the virus but died of other causes.

Death toll climbing in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s daily death toll from the coronavirus is climbing, hitting a new high of 88 overnight, amid reports of acute care bed shortages and near daily warnings from health professionals to tighten lockdown measures.

The government, however, has kept mosques open, urging safe distancing but not enforcing the rules.

In the latest reduction of restrictions, the government has withdrawn the limits on congregations in mosques and churches in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where minorities make up less than 5% of the population of 220 million.

Pakistan has confirmed 69,496 cases of the coronavirus, including 1,483 deaths.

Mosques reopen in Saudi Arabia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tens of thousands of mosques across Saudi Arabia have reopened for the first time in more than two months.

Worshipers have been ordered to follow strict guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Islam’s holiest site in Mecca remains closed to the public.

Also Sunday, the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that had been closed since mid-March reopened for prayers. Worshipers waited outside the gates, many wearing surgical masks. As they entered, they were stopped to have their temperature taken.

The new measures come as Saudi Arabia and other countries around the world begin to loosen restrictions following weeks of curfews and lockdowns.

Restrictions begin to ease in Australia

BRISBANE, Australia — COVID-19 restrictions are easing in most of Australia, but authorities say they’ll be watching carefully to ensure the country’s success in containing the pandemic remains on track.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth says the lifting of restrictions is a balancing act between the socio-economic benefit from their removal and the public health risk.

“We’re taking a deliberately safe and cautious approach,” Coatsworth said. “Most importantly we’re taking the time to gather the data over the coming weeks to determine whether it’s safe to move to the next round of lifting restrictions.”

Coronavirus cases remain low in Australia by international standards, with 7,180 infections and 103 deaths.

The more flexible restrictions, which differ across the states, will mean more movement in public places, including pubs, cafes, and restaurants. But authorities have renewed their call for safe hygiene and social distancing measures to remain.

India records more than 8,000 new cases

NEW DELHI, India — India has recorded more than 8,000 new cases of the coronavirus in a single day for the first time as the infection tally surged to 182,143.

The death toll climbed to 5,164 after 193 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry data. This week has been the deadliest in India, with cases of infections and deaths reaching a new high almost every day.

Overall, more than 60% of the country’s virus fatalities have been reported from only two states — Maharashtra, the financial hub of India, and Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new cases of infections are also largely concentrated in six Indian states, including the national capital New Delhi.

Public health experts have criticized the Modi government’s handling of the outbreak. A joint statement by the Indian Public Health Association, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine and Indian Association of Epidemiologists, which was submitted to Modi’s office on May 25, said it was “unrealistic” to eliminate the virus at a time when “community transmission is already well-established.”

India has denied of any community transmission of the virus even though new cases have continued to mount significantly.

The health experts said that the infections were rising exponentially despite India’s “draconian lockdown” which began on March 25. The restrictions have slowly been relaxed in the months since with the government announcing on Saturday a phased ‘Unlock 1’ plan from June onwards which allows more economic activities to restart.

The restrictions in so-called containment zones — areas that have been isolated due to coronavirus outbreaks — will, however, remain through June 30.

Experts warn that the pandemic is yet to peak in India.

South Korea reports 27 new cases

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 27 new cases of the coronavirus, including 21 from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where officials have been scrambling to stem transmissions linked to club-goers and warehouse workers.

The figures announced by South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday brought national totals to 11,468 cases and 270 deaths. Twelve of the new cases were linked to international arrivals.

South Korea was reporting about 500 new cases per day in early March but had seemed to stabilize its outbreak with aggressive tracking and tracing, which allowed authorities to ease social distancing guidelines.

But cases in the greater capital area have been rising steadily again since May amid increased public activity, causing alarm as millions of children have begun returning to schools.

On Saturday, KCDC senior official Kwon Jun-wook said at least 108 infections were linked to workers or visitors at a warehouse of local e-commerce giant Coupang, which has seen orders spike amid the epidemic.

Around 270 other infections have been linked to nightclubs and other entertainment venues, which saw huge crowds in early May amid the relaxed atmosphere on social distancing.

Bogota to undergo lockdown

BOGOTA, Colombia — The mayor of Colombia’s capital is planning to shut down one of the city’s largest neighborhoods as cases there continue to rise.

Mayor Claudia Lopez said Saturday that starting June 1st the working-class Kennedy area – home to nearly 1.5 million people – will be under a strict quarantine.

Police and military will enforce the lockdown and no one will be allowed out, except to seek food or medical care or in case of an emergency.

Businesses like manufacturing that had been allowed to operate will be ordered closed. Lopez said that testing for the virus will be doubled.

The Kennedy area was inaugurated by late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who visited Bogota in 1961 as part of the Alliance for Progress.

The area today has more nearly 2,500 cases and hospitals there are reaching maximum capacity.

Lopez said that in the rest of Bogota no new sectors of the economy will be allowed to reopen until at least the middle of June.

Greece announces travel restrictions

ATHENS — Greek officials said Saturday said that the country will not limit incoming tourists to those from a list of 29 nations, but travelers from countries not on the list will be subject to mandatory testing on arrival and a period of quarantine depending on test results.

The policy will only be applied during the final two weeks of June, although Greek authorities left open the prospect of additional restrictions after that date.

The list announced Friday includes Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Finland.

Arrivals from those countries will be tested randomly.

The list was drawn up based on a document from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

Alaskan governor says travelers must be tested or quarantine

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy says travelers to Alaska will have to be tested for COVID-19 before boarding a plane to the state, or submit to a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

Out-of-state travelers will need to show proof of testing within 72 hours of boarding and fill out paperwork. If either test results or paperwork are lost, travelers will be subjected to another test at the airport or quarantine for two weeks.

Dunleavy also extended the state’s 14-day quarantine rule until the new policy begins Friday.

Further policy changes are expected to be clarified Monday.

« Previous

How Maine’s members of Congress voted last week

Next »

SpaceX’s historic encore: Astronauts arrive at space station