World dispatch: China cases show coronavirus can return if curbs eased

A patient in Seattle served $ million bill, UK PM urged to relax 2-meter social distancing rule, massive labour migration in Africa - round up of Covid-19 news across the globe

China has reported its highest daily total of new coronavirus cases in two months and infections in South Korea also rose, showing how the disease can come back as curbs on business and travel are lifted. China had 57 new confirmed cases in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday. That was the highest since mid-April and included 36 in the capital, Beijing, a city of 20 million people. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 7,789,024

Change Over Yesterday: 137,909

Total Deaths: 430,173

Total Recovered: 3,709,737

Nations hit with most cases: US (2,074,526), Brazil (850,514), Russia (519,458), India (320,922) and UK (295,828)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Nearly half of coronavirus spread may be traced to people without symptoms: In a study published June 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at the Scripps Research reviewed data from 16 different groups of Covid-19 patients from around the world to get a better idea of how many cases can be linked to asymptomatic carriers. Their conclusion: at minimum, 30 percent, and more likely 40-45 percent. Read more here

A coronavirus patient in Seattle served $ million bill: After the coronavirus almost killed him, 70-year-old Seattle resident Michael Flor said getting a hospital invoice listing $1.1 million in charges was a near-death experience. Flor spent 62 days in the hospital. Read more here

UK PM urged to relax 2-meter social distancing rule:

Law makers are turning up the heat on Boris Johnson to cut the two-meter distancing rule after official figures showed Britain’s economy crashed by a record 20.4 per cent in April.

Concerns exist that a full-throated recovery is out of reach until there is a proper reopening of the hospitality industry, which will require reduced social-distancing rules. Read more here

First post-Covid IPO in Middle East- Saudi home financier: Amlak International for Real Estate Finance plans to sell shares in an IPO this month, in what will be the first Middle Eastern sale since the coronavirus prompted governments to shut down economies. The Saudi non-bank real estate finance company will offer 27.2 million shares, representing 30 percent of its capital. Read more here

Specials

Massive labour migration is starting in post-lockdown Africa

South Africa’s gold and platinum miners are racing to bring back thousands of skilled migrant workers who are crucial to ramping up output. For almost 150 years, South Africa’s deep-level mines relied on cheap labor from neighboring Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Botswana. That’s pushing producers to undertake a huge logistics operation to bus thousands of migrant workers back from their homes, where they sought refuge during the pandemic. After journeys of often more than 500 kilometers, those employees will be quarantined for 14 days in hostels and hotels close to the mines. Read more here

What it’s like to be stranded in the sea during the coronavirus crisis

Read the account of Spanish fisherman Josu Bilbao, stranded on-board Albatun Tres, a tuna fishing boat, in the Arabian Sea. Normally, about 100,000 seafarers change ships every month during scheduled port stops, when vessels discharge and pick up freight. The UN’s International Maritime Organization estimates that there are about 150,000 people at sea waiting to leave their ships. It said the sector was “on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.” Read more here

Inside Chinese Communist Party's coronavirus-fighting mini-unit

A key component on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus were residential communities called shequ, organizations that could be described as residential communities or neighborhood associations. The country's thorough coronavirus control efforts, including temperature checks at the entrances of each shequ, isolation of patients and confirmation of QR-code-based health kits, drew global attention. Read more here