SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea continues to struggle to contain a resurgence in the coronavirus that has seen some of the country’s hard-won pandemic gains erased since social distancing rules were eased in mid-April.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 48 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the national caseload to 12,421 infections, with 280 deaths.
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The agency says 24 of the new cases are in the Seoul region, which has been the center of the country’s outbreak since late May. Ten of the new cases, however, are from the central city of Daejeon, indicating the virus is beginning to spread more broadly.
Some experts say the country should reimpose stronger social distancing guidelines, but officials are reluctant to do so in fear of hurting an already fragile economy.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Zimbabwe health minister charged with illegally awarding contract for COVID-19 supplies
— Outbreak at German slaughterhouse tops 1,000 cases
— U.S. Navy upholds firing of carrier captain in virus outbreak
— Volunteer sleuths are tracking down people who break the U.S. state of Hawaii’s two-week quarantine order on travelers. A former TV reporter put her skills to use by uncovering clues from social media and using other information to identify potential scofflaws. She founded a group called Hawaii Quarantine Kapu Breakers that so far has found about 45 people who were later arrested by police.
— As the coronavirus spreads deeper across America, it is ravaging Latino communities from the mid-Atlantic to the Southwest, infecting them at alarmingly high rates and amplifying the inequalities they live with. Latinos are especially vulnerable to infection because they tend to live in tight quarters with multiple family members and have jobs that expose them to others.
— The “COVID” is a coffin that eliminates precious woods, detailed carvings and glass viewing panes in favor of a plain box of cheaper wood that is fast to produce in quantity. It’s the perfect product for Chile, a country that has become a hot spot for the coronavirus despite aggressive government measures to control its spread.
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Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
TULSA, Okla. — President Donald Trump is suggesting to supporters that he has told members of his administration to slow the rate of coronavirus testing in the United States.
Speaking at a campaign rally Saturday night in Oklahoma, Trump said the United States has tested 25 million people, and far more than any other country. He also told the crowd that more testing leads to finding more cases of people who test positive.
Trump said that “so I said to my people slow the testing down, please.”
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TULSA, Okla.— Teams of people wearing goggles, masks, gloves and blue gowns checked the temperatures of those entering the area where President Donald Trump is to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma..
The Trump campaign had pledged to conduct temperature checks as rally-goers entered and to offer face masks. Some of the people entering wore masks while their temperatures were checked with handheld thermometers that appeared not to touch the skin.
Oklahoma’s The health department on Saturday reported 331 new virus cases to bring the total number of confirmed cases to 10,037, with 368 deaths due to COVID-19. The actual number is likely higher because many people have not been tested.
Tulsa County has both the most confirmed cases and virus-related deaths in Oklahoma. Trump’s rally is taking place at a 19,000-seat indoor arena in the city of Tulsa.
Tulsa Health Department director Bruce Dart had said he would have liked to see the rally postponed, noting that large indoor gatherings are partially to blame for the recent spread of the virus in Tulsa and Tulsa County.
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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has announced nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases for a new daily record.
The country has recorded a total of 92,000 confirmed cases as of Saturday, which is about 30% of all cases across the African continent. More than half of South Africa’s cases are in Western Cape province and centered on the city of Cape Town.
But more than one-fifth are in Gauteng province, home to the economic hub of Johannesburg and to the South African capital of Pretoria.
Even as cases rise, President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a further loosening of what once was one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
Casinos, beauty salons and sit-down restaurant service are among the latest businesses to be up and running again as South Africa’s feels the pain of the pandemic’s economic impact.
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ATHENS — Greece has reported one more death from the coronavirus while the small neighboring country of North Macedonia reached a new daily record with 11 virus-related fatalities.
The deaths brought North Macedonia's toll in the pandemic to 233 and confirmed cases to 5,005 as of Saturday. Infections began to climb there early this month after authorities lifted movement restrictions and ended a curfew.
Health Minister Venko Filipce said in a TV interview that cases are increasing because residents ignored recommendations to avoid family gatherings, to wear masks and to maintain social distance.
In Greece, authorities announced 19 new confirmed new cases Saturday from a day earlier. The country's total number of confirmed cases now stands at 3,254, with 190 deaths.
Greek authorities said the median age of everyone who tested positive is 48 and 76 for those who died.
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MADRID — Spain’s government is dropping the country’s 14-day quarantine requirement for British visitors when citizens of countries that are in Europe’s Schengen Area zone will be allowed to freely enter.
Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya told the BBC on Saturday: “We are doing this out of the respect for the 400,000 British citizens who have a second residence in Spain.”
González Laya says she hopes the British government will likewise drop the quarantine requirement for Spanish citizens traveling to the U.K.. Some 250,000 Spaniards have homes in the U.K., she said.
Spain’s three-month-long state of emergency over the coronavirus is ending on Sunday, which is when people from Schengen Area countries will be allowed into Spain without having to quarantine.
Face masks, however, will still be mandatory along with some other rules decided by regional authorities.
British travelers provide a big part of Spain’s tourism sector, which has been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The U.K. wasn’t part of the Schengen Area even before it left the European Union on Jan. 31.
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PHOENIX — Arizona’s total number of coronavirus cases is approaching 50,000 as the state’s surge in new cases continued to set daily records for hospitalizations, ventilator use and intensive care beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
The state Department of Health Services reported 3,109 new cases Saturday and 26 more virus-related deaths on Saturday, bringing the statewide totals to 49,798 confirmed cases and 1,338 deaths.
Arizona has emerged as a national hot spot for the coronavirus since Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-home orders in mid-May.
Health officials have attributed the new cases to increased testing and to community spread of the coronavirus.
Arizona set daily new-case records this week with 3,246 on Friday, 2,519 cases on Thursday and 2,392 on Tuesday.
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DOVER, Delaware — Health officials in Delaware are urging teenagers who participated in senior week activities at the state’s beaches to get tested for the coronavirus after several participants tested positive.
The state Division of Public Health said Saturday that at least three teens staying at a rental unit in Dewey Beach tested positive for the virus. More than a dozen teens were staying there at the time.
The health department says the teens attended large parties in nearby Rehoboth where more than 100 attendees might have been exposed to the virus.
Health officials did not specify the time of the teenagers' stay in Dewey. They are trying to trace the infected teens’ potential contacts.
Senior week is a longstanding tradition in which graduating high school seniors in Delaware and Maryland celebrate at the beaches in those states, usually unchaperoned.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority is reinstating coronavirus restrictions in the West Bank following a spike in infections.
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Saturday that a closure and 5-day curfew have been imposed on Hebron and that the city of Nablus would be cutoff for two days to contain the spread of the virus.
The actions came after 86 Palestinians tested positive for the virus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases there to 687, including two deaths.
The government, which controls parts of the West Bank, reopened quarantine centers, stepped up restrictions on movement and limits on gatherings, and called on Arab residents of Israel to stop visiting the territory for 14 days.
In the Gaza Strip, 72 confirmed virus cases and one death have been reported, They all came from inside mandatory quarantine facilities for returnees through Israel and Egypt, which have blockaded the Hamas-controlled enclave since 2007.
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COLUMBIA, South Carolina — The coronavirus continues to spread and set daily records in South Carolina, one of the new outbreak hot spots in the United States.
Health officials said Saturday that South Carolina again saw more new cases, more people in the hospital with the virus and the highest percentage of positive tests in a day.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control reported more than 1,150 new confirmed cases, for a total of more than 23,750 in South Carolina since the outbreak began in March.
More than 16% of the people tested had the virus, compared to just over 9% two weeks ago. Health officials said when that figure rises, it is one of the strongest indicators the virus is spreading.
Health officials reported five additional deaths in the state, bringing South Carolina’s COVID-19 death toll to 644 people.
Another trend bothering health officials is an increase in young people with the virus. About 18% of all cases in the state involve people ages 21 to 30, and 7% involve teenagers, the Department of Health and Environmental Control said.
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OKLAHOMA CITY— Oklahoma has surpassed 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and the interim commissioner of the state’s Department of Health says a surge in infections was expected after the state began reopening in late April.
The health department on Saturday reported 331 new virus cases to bring the total number of confirmed cases to 10,037, with 368 deaths due to COVID-19. The actual number is likely higher because many people have not been tested.
A record 450 new cases of the virus was reported Thursday and more than 350 more were recorded Friday.
The new wave comes amid ongoing demonstrations to protest police killings of black citizens and a rally planned for Saturday by U.S. President Donald Trump at a 19,000-seat indoor arena in Tulsa.
Tulsa County has both the most confirmed cases and virus-related deaths in Oklahoma.
Tulsa Health Department director Bruce Dart has said he would like to see the rally postponed, noting that large indoor gatherings are partially to blame for the recent spread of the virus in Tulsa and Tulsa County.
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ROME — Italy has added another 49 deaths to its official coronavirus death toll as it approaches the four-month anniversary of the start of its outbreak.
The civil protection agency said Saturday that Italy registered 262 new confirmed cases over the past 24 hours, with the hard-hit Lombardy region still tallying the most.
In all, Italy has reported 238,275 confirmed cases and 34,610 deaths since identifying its first domestic coronavirus infection on Feb. 21 in the Lombardy town of Codogno.
The 38-year-old patient with that unpleasant distinction, had come down with pneumonia. At the time, Italy’s protocols called for coronavirus testing only on people who had been to China or come into contact with an infected person.
The doctor on call ordered a test for Mattia Maestri anyway, given the gravity of his condition. Maestri recovered from COVID-19 and was on hand for the birth of his daughter.
The Italian government began loosening virus lockdown restrictions last month. Public health officials say that while new cases are getting confirmed in much smaller numbers than before, they show the virus is still circulating.
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PODGORICA, Montenegro — Montenegrin health authorities have restored some lockdown measures in a northeastern border town to contain a cluster of coronavirus cases.
Authorities have confirmed new cases of the virus after there had been none in Montenegro for several weeks. They say that out of the country's 31 active cases, 26 were imported from neighboring Serbia.
The infected people include some who went to a soccer game in Serbia's capital of Belgrade and some citizens of the northeastern Montenegrin town of Rozaje who traveled to a town across the border.
In response, authorities closed down the local border crossing, banned gatherings and ordered the mandatory use of face masks in Rozaje.
The Adratic Sea nation had started to reopen in hopes of salvaging the upcoming tourism season.
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FRANKFURT, Germany — An official in northwest Germany says the number of workers infected in a coronavirus outbreak at a slaughterhouse in Germany has risen to 1,029 from 803 reported a day earlier but there is no evidence of a “significant” spread into the community.
The regional government has issued a quarantine order for all 6,500 workers and managers at the Toennies firm’s meat processing facility in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck and for their family members.
German news agency dpa quoted regional official Sven-Georg Adenauer as saying Saturday, “We have no significant introduction of coronavirus into the general population.”
More than 3,000 workers have been tested thus far. Testing continued Saturday at the facility with the support of police and 25 military personnel, dpa reported.
Some employees were under a so-called working quarantine, meaning they only are allowed to travel between home and work.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s official COVID-19 death count has risen above 8,000.
The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 161 deaths over the past day, bringing the national total in the pandemic to 8,022.
Russia also recorded 7,889 new confirmed cases, the third consecutive day that the number of new cases dipped below 8,000. Overall, Russia has reported 576,982 confirmed cases.
The country’s comparatively low virus mortality rate has raised questions both in Russia and in the West, with some suggesting officials may be manipulating the numbers for political purposes.
Russian officials have bristled at the accusations, citing effective response measures.
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ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrapped up a string of more than 100 daily briefings that had become appointment viewing around the nation by declaring that the state has “done the impossible” in taming the coronavirus.
The Democratic governor appeared alone behind his desk Friday during a brief address, a departure from his routine of presenting slides with bar graphs of COVID-19 hospitalizations and then taking questions from reporters.
But his message was the same as in recent days: New Yorkers at the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak worked together to fight the virus and now must be on guard for a second wave.
As case numbers climbed, the briefings, usually from the state Capitol, were covered live daily by networks, notably CNN, the employer of the governor’s younger brother and on-air sparring partner, Chris Cuomo.
Through his 110 briefings with reporters, the governor could be alternately informative, grave, jocular and combative.
On any given day, Cuomo fretted over the safety of his 88-year-old mother, got misty-eyed over the gift of a single mask, defended charges he locked down the state too late or grieved over daily death tolls that climbed as high as 800.
On Friday, Cuomo said an average of 25 people per day were dying this week. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 1,284, compared with more than 18,000 at the peak of the outbreak.
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ROME — Pope Francis has welcomed doctors and nurses from Italy’s coronavirus-ravaged Lombardy region to the Vatican to thank them for their selfless work and sacrifice.
Francis told the delegation on Saturday that their example of professional competence and compassion would help Italy forge a new future of solidarity.
Francis said Lombardy’s medical personnel became “angels” helping the sick recover or accompanying them to their death, given their family members were prevented from visiting them in the hospital. He said they “gave witness to God’s proximity to those who suffer; they were silent artisans of the culture of proximity and tenderness.”
The northern region of Lombardy, Italy’s financial and industrial capital, was the hardest-hit region in the onetime European epicenter of the pandemic. It has counted more than 92,000 of Italy’s 232,000 infections and half of its 34,500 dead.