Second Wave? China Orders ‘Partial Lockdown’ Of Border City; Seoul’s Newest Cluster Explodes To 120 Cases: Live Updates

As we reported last night, news that LA County suspects its reopening will take up to 3 months – a month longer than previously expected – sent markets lower into the close. That news, combined with Dr. Fauci’s warning about states rushing to reopen, cemented the impression that the reopening of the American economy would probably be much more fraught with delays. And for a brief moment, it seemed like fun-durr-mentals almost mattered again…

Anyway, European markets wobbled Wednesday following reports that the latest cluster of cases in Seoul had climbed to 119, the latest increase of dozens of cases as contact-tracers scramble to test as many people as possible. More than 14k people have been tested so far. To be sure, investigators have made some discoveries that undermined the theory that all of these cases are connected to one “super-spreader”. Rather, it’s believed that most of these cases were likely individuals who were asymptomatically infected elsewhere. The cases have been linked to multiple cases.

While South Korea remains on high alert, the situation in northeastern China grew even more dire. As we have reported this week, local party officials in Jilin City had reimposed restrictions after an outbreak. Now, they’re taking things a step further and ordering a ‘partial lockdown’ of the village. Residents will only be allowed to leave after they’ve completed a period of ‘self-isolation’ and tested negative for the virus. Residential compounds have been closed to visitors, and public transit has been halted.

It’s just the latest sign that both China and South Korea might be seeing the first stirrings of the ‘second wave’ that Dr. Fauci and other scientists have warned about.

After rocketing into the No. 2 spot directly behind the US, Russia’s rate of new coronavirus cases eased on Wednesday, even if only slightly, as the country recorded an 11th consecutive day with more than 10,000 fresh infections. Russia recorded 10,028 new cases on Wednesday, according to official government data, the smallest rise in almost a fortnight. Its total number of cases is now at 242,271, with 2,212 deaths.

As of Wednesday morning, the virus had infected more than 4.2 million people globally and killed 287,349, according to the Reuters tally.

According to data released around the world on Tuesday, the number of new infections confirmed jumped day-over-day on Monday (though Mondays often see the largest daily tallies of the week since they directly follow the weekend).

The German government says it has extended controls on its borders with France, Switzerland and Austria until June 15, according to interior minister Horst Seehofer. Germany plans to open its border with Luxembourg on Saturday, and hopes to reopen its border with Denmark.

Austria said Wednesday it would fully reopen its border with Germany by mid-June and plans to open travel to most of its neighboring countries in the coming weeks, beginning on Friday, as it continues with its reopening push.

Elsewhere in Central Europe, Poland reported its highest daily coronavirus infection count on Wednesday (with the data representing the totals from Tuesday), with 595 people testing positive for the virus amid an accelerating outbreak in the southern region of Silesia.

Just days after Colombia’s Avianca, Latin America’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection, Dubai’s Emirates has announced plans to reopen scheduled flights to nine destinations from May 21, the latest sign of “green shoots” in the air travel industry, even though traffic remains more than 90% below average.

As Democrats in Congress push a $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill targeted at states and American households, Reuters reports that one progressive lawmaker and Democratic Socialist icon is taking the cause of coronavirus relief a step further, and pushing for the IMF and World Bank to forgive the debts of the poorest countries. Both NGOs have already waived the next six months’ worth of payments for 25 of the world’s poorest countries.

Over 300 lawmakers from around the world on Wednesday urged the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to cancel the debt of the poorest countries in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and to boost funding to avert a global economic meltdown.

The initiative, led by former U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilham Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, comes amid growing concern that developing countries and emerging economies will be devastated by the pandemic.

We can already hear the Sanders-nistas cooing about how their brave hero, having been robbed of the nomination he so rightfully deserved, continues to fight for not only the ‘real American’ – the struggling Brooklyn-based ‘freelance writer’ – but also the besotted masses of the ‘developing world’ (a racist term, no doubt).