As some U.S. states moved to relax measures against the new coronavirus, parts of Asia where the coronavirus pandemic has waned moved closer to normalcy on Friday as they entered a holiday weekend, though governments warned people to stay vigilant because of the risk of a resurgence.
Globally, coronavirus cases totaled more than 3.2 million and the death toll exceeded 233,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University that experts say understates the extent of the pandemic. In the U.S., total infections climbed to 1,070,032, with more than 63,000 dead from the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus, according to Johns Hopkins.
Between 8 p.m. Wednesday and the same time Thursday, 1,984 people in the U.S. died from Covid-19, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data, a fairly typical tally in recent weeks.
The U.S. government’s social-distancing guidelines expired Thursday, replaced by recommendations that leave it up to each state to decide when and how best to reopen their economies.
Governors and local officials across the country took varying approaches, reflecting the virus’ uneven spread. Retailers in Texas and Alabama are set to reopen with capacity restrictions on Friday.
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
In California, state beaches in Orange County, one of the most affected by the virus, will be closed this weekend to avoid large crowds after many residents gathered there last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. Mr. Newsom said the images of crowded shores last week were “disturbing” and “raised alarm bells” because of a lack of social distancing.
Michigan’s Republican-controlled legislature declined to support the extension of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s state of emergency, which expired late Thursday, and moved to take her to court over her authority to issue measures such as a blanket stay-at-home order. Ms. Whitmer has said the order will remain in place by her executive authority.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state planned to hire “an army” of up to 17,000 contact tracers to follow the path of those infected and determine whether their contacts should be isolated as restrictions eventually ease. Also, for the first time in more than a century of operation, the New York City subway system will stop running 24 hours a day. Mr. Cuomo said the system’s 472 stations would close between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for cleaning and disinfecting.
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- confirmed cases in the U.S.
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- total deaths in the U.S.
Public health officials have cautioned that lifting restrictions too hastily could lead to a surge in new cases. They say governments should expand testing capacity and develop robust contact-tracing teams to get on the path to normalcy.
Policy makers and business leaders are looking at Germany’s success in battling the pandemic for clues about how to return to a level of normalcy in the absence of any vaccine or treatment. German regional authorities created and policed social-distancing rules, worked with businesses to manage shutdowns and safety measures, and prepared the already-robust health-care infrastructure for the illness’s onslaught.
To help guide policy makers, researchers at King’s College London have developed a smartphone app and are using data reported daily by 2.5 million British users to pinpoint surges in coronavirus infections. The research team is working with counterparts at Massachusetts General Hospital, who are analyzing data from 177,000 users in the U.S.
In Asia, many places have seen a sharp decline in cases recently.
Hong Kong reported two new cases Friday after a five-day string of zero new infections. New cases have stayed below five over the past 13 days.
China’s National Health Commission on Friday reported 12 new infections for the previous day, with half of those coming from overseas travelers.
In South Korea, one of the hardest-hit countries in Asia in the early stages of the pandemic, daily cases have stayed below 11 all week, prompting many people to take advantage of a six-day public holiday.
The Latest on the Coronavirus
- Johns Hopkins: U.S. cases close in on 1.1 million, with more than 63,000 deaths.
- Johns Hopkins: World-wide cases pass 3.2 million; deaths exceed 233,000.
- Michigan’s Republican-controlled legislature and Democratic governor clashed over extending the state of emergency.
- New York City’s subway system will stop running 24 hours a day for the first time in more than century of operation, with stations closing between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for disinfecting.
Thousands of people were expected to visit the southern resort island of Jeju during the long weekend that began on Thursday, the government said. A Korean Air reservations employee said that several afternoon flights returning to Seoul from Jeju on the last day of the long holiday were fully booked.
Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip urged caution, though, warning people to honor the sacrifices of health-care workers and abide by personal hygiene and social-distancing measures during the holiday.
Sunseekers at Huntington Beach in Orange County, Calif., on Thursday. The county’s state beaches will be closed this weekend to prevent crowds from gathering.
Photo: Leonard Ortiz/Zuma Press“We should not let down our guard in light of the current number of cases,” he said. “One act of carelessness can lead to an outbreak.”
South Korea and Hong Kong plan to ease some social-distancing measures next week.
Japan will extend a national state of emergency by about a month beyond the original end date of May 6, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday. While new infections have fallen off sharply, Japan continues to report nearly 200 additional cases each day.
Japanese government leaders pleaded with people to stay home during the public holidays. The governor of Okinawa took to Twitter to ask people not to visit the island, a popular national tourist destination, until the pandemic subsides.
Australia reported 16 new cases, the country’s department of health said, with additional data showing that the number of daily infections has dropped below 50 since mid-April.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country will decide on May 8 whether it can relax social-distancing rules, accelerating the decision by three days.
“We need to restart our economy. We need to restart our society,” he said.
Elsewhere, countries with high but declining Covid-19 death rates were moving cautiously.
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French health officials, preparing to ease one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns starting May 11, are studying maps that color-code each of France’s 101 departments according to the speed of the contagion and the number of hospital beds occupied in intensive care. Green-colored departments will be allowed to reopen more quickly. The maps, updated each day, show 35 departments, including the country’s entire northeast corner, marked red.
Iran’s government is promoting social-distancing by organizing drive-in prayers in urban parks and parking lots across the country during the holy month of Ramadan. And authorities in the capital, Tehran, have set up a drive-in cinema outside the iconic Milad tower, the first of its kind since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in a one-week experiment to help a cinema industry hurt by the pandemic’s economic fallout.
In Russia, where infection rates are rising, Anna Popova, head of a public health watchdog agency that helps shape government policy, warned that the country’s strict quarantine measures could be tightened if Russians ignore them during the May holidays that began Friday. Ms. Popova had previously said that the lockdown regime could be gradually loosened after the holidays, which end May 11, to allow people to walk and run outside. Many stores and shopping centers remain closed.
Write to Frances Yoon at frances.yoon@wsj.com and Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
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