Berlin: As millions of people in Europe, the US and beyond began holing up at home, stocking up on supplies and keeping a wary eye on how close they get to friends and neighbours, the coronavirus pandemic marked a distinct shift in focus on Monday, with reported infections in the rest of the world overtaking those in China.
But while the outbreak appears to be moving away from its original epicenter, many in Asia, where the virus has been a brutal fact of life for months, continue to urge vigilance against anything that might hurt hard-won gains.
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“If we loosen our grip on the quarantine, it could be a matter of time for the embers of small-scale cluster infections to be revived,” the South Korean mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
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Around the globe, societies inched toward a shutdown of much of public life — bars, restaurants, school, work. Resorts closed on the Las Vegas strip. Many restaurants offered the only takeout if they were open at all. Schools, concerts, sporting events — even small-scale St. Patrick's Day parties — were cancelled.
China, where the virus was first detected in December, now accounts for less than half of the world's 1,69,000 cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
A shutdown of public gatherings and a quarantine of the hardest-hit central region has steadied China's caseload as the virus spreads rapidly elsewhere. Most of the world's 77,000 recovered patients are in China.
Traffic has begun returning to Beijing. Office buildings, however, are enforcing strict screenings for fever, and many still restaurants only offer takeout. Children who would usually be snowed under with classes and homework remained glued to screens, shopping, chatting and watching video clips.
China was relaxing travel restrictions in the hardest-hit virus province of Hubei, sending thousands of workers back to jobs at factories desperate to get production going again.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday that cities just outside the epicenter of Wuhan were chartering buses to send back to work residents who had returned home for the Lunar New Year in late January.
The move came as Chinese officials said the outbreak that spread from Wuhan starting in December had mostly run its course domestically, while they remained vigilant against imported cases.
A number of Asian cities have become increasingly worried about importing cases of the virus from abroad after making inroads in containing its spread at home.
Starting on Monday, travellers arriving in Beijing from overseas will be quarantined for 14 days in designated facilities at their own expense. Previously, people without symptoms could self-quarantine at home.
In the latest tally, China's National Health Commission reported 16 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours. Twelve of them were imported from overseas.
China now has 80,860 confirmed cases. The health commission said that 67,749 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Fourteen more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, raising the toll to 3,213.
Though China still has the most infections, a dozen other countries have more than 1,000 cases, mostly in Europe, where numerous countries have been imposing border controls in what not long ago was a passport-free travel zone stretching from Portugal to Finland.
Religious leaders gave sermons to empty pews or to the faithful watching online on Sunday after the public worship was curtailed in many places. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City was being closed indefinitely and the Vatican closed off next month's Holy Week services to the public. Still, 83-year-old Pope Francis ventured out of the Vatican to visit two churches in Rome to pray for the sick.
In the US, health officials recommended a limit to groups of 50 or more people and a government expert said that a 14-day national shutdown may be needed. Americans returning from abroad encountered chaotic airport health screenings and closed-down communities.
There are signs that the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea is slowing down, but officials are still scrambling to prevent infections from exploding again.
South Korea on Monday reported 74 more cases over the past 24 hours, a day after it announced 76 new cases. The figures are the lowest daily increase in new infections in about 25 days. That's a stark contrast with the more than 900 new cases reported on one day in late February.
With inputs from AP
