The coronavirus pandemic has put much of the world at a standstill. In recent months, many offices and establishments have been shut down, travel restrictions put in place and flights grounded. For most of us, staying home and practicing social distancing have also become the new normal.
The shutdowns have also hit the economy hard – businesses are struggling and millions of jobs have been lost. Many are struggling financially, and hunger has become a very real threat.
As the spread of the cases show signs of slowing or containment in some countries, their governments have begun walking the precarious path between lifting restrictions and containing the virus in an effort to restart their economy. However, easing the restrictions have led to a resurgence in the number of new cases in some cities, prompting another wave of lockdown.
In the city of Shulan, China, new cases were reported after more than 70 days without registering any new infections. Reuters reports that officials have now raised the city’s risk level from medium to high and has re-imposed some lockdown measures again – including closing public spaces like sporting facilities and libraries, and halting some train service in and out of the city.
South Korea managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus with aggressive testing and contact tracing, and brought down the number of new cases to single digits. The country has since relaxed its social-distancing measures. However, over the weekend, they saw another spike in the number of cases – a record high in a month, based on WHO data. According to Reuters, many of those cases are being linked to several nightclubs and bars in Seoul, and now has the government seriously rethinking whether they will re-open schools as planned.
Hokkaido was the first city in Japan to declare a state of emergency, closing schools cancelling large gatherings and advising people to stay home in late February. By mid-March, the city lifted its state of emergency only to reinstated less than a month later after an increase of new infections was found, per Kyodo News. The Japanese Prime Minister has extended the nationwide state of emergency to May 31.
Lebanon has also re-imposed restrictions after experiencing a surge of infections nearly two weeks since appearing to have contained the virus.
Globally, there have been over 4 Million cases reported, with almost 300,000 people succumbing to coronavirus-related causes. The U.S. has over 1.3 million cases – the highest among the countries – and has claimed the lives of more than 83,000 people, per John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
In the U.S., several states have completely or partially reopened, lifting some restrictions ranging simply opening state parks to allowing some businesses to restart.
On Tuesday (May 12), the Senate held a hearing whether the U.S. is really ready to re-open. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, cautions reopening states before having COVID-19 containment measures in place may lead to “little spikes that might turn into outbreaks.” He also warns that “consequences could be really serious.”
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also expressed to the committee that social distancing remains “imperative” for Americans.
However, the summer months may be able to help bring down the spread of coronavirus.
William Bryan, acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, previously shared that U.S. government researchers have determined that the virus survives best indoors and in dry conditions. The virus becomes less potent when exposed to heat and humidity, and “dies quickest in the presence of direct sunlight.”
He says that the novel coronavirus, when on nonporous surfaces like stainless steel, takes 18 hours to lose half its strength in a dark, low-humidity environment.
A high-humidity environment brings the potency down to half in just six hours. And when the virus was exposed to high humidity and sunlight, the half-life dropped to two minutes, he said.
He also shared that researchers also found that isopropyl alcohol was a more effective disinfectant than bleach.
However, those findings also raise more questions about the impact environmental factors as the virus has also proven to be lethal in tropical countries like Singapore.
