Coronavirus: latest global developments

PARIS: Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

No return to normal soon

The World Health Organization warns that some countries easing their way out of lockdowns are now witnessing a resurgence of the virus because they are not following proven methods to reduce risks.

"I want to be straight with you: there will be no return to the 'old normal' for the foreseeable future," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns, speaking after a daily record of 230,000 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday.

Catalonia lockdown standoff

Officials in northeastern Spain's Catalonia region mull what to do after a local court suspends a home confinement order that was imposed on more than 160,000 people after an upsurge in virus cases there.

The Catalan government had on Sunday issued a stay-at-home order in and around the city of Lerida. A local judge, however, ruled it "contrary to law", saying such restrictions can only be imposed by the central government.

569,000+ deaths

The pandemic has killed at least 569,879 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT on Monday based on official sources.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 135,400 deaths. It is followed by Brazil with 72,100, Britain with 44,830, Mexico with 35,006 and Italy with 34,967 fatalities. Latin America overtakes the United States and Canada to become the second worst hit region of the world, after Europe,

Pandemic worsening hunger crisis

The economic slowdowns caused by the pandemic are exacerbating the global hunger crisis, which affects nearly one in nine people in the world, according to a United Nations report.

The pandemic, which has hit hard in nations with widespread poverty, could cause another 83 to 132 million people to become undernourished this year, the report says.

Immunity limited in time

Coronavirus patients who recover may lose their immunity to reinfection within months, according to researchers from King's College London, who examined the levels of antibodies in more than 90 confirmed virus patients and how they changed over time.

New lockdowns in Tangiers, Manila

The one million population of the northern Moroccan city of Tangiers is locked down again from Monday, after the appearance of epidemic hotspots there.

And the 250,000 people living in Navotas, one of the areas of Manila, will go back into lockdown for two weeks in the coming days.

New restrictions in Hong Kong

Hong Kong reimposes social distancing measures after a cluster of 180 local infections in the past two weeks, banning more than four people from gathering in public and requiring passengers to wear face masks on public transport or risk a US$650 fine.

Some businesses will also be closed and restaurants restricted over when they can serve diners.

US turf war over new lockdowns

The question of what to do about a spike in cases in hard-hit southern US states is boiling down to a political turf war between Democratic mayors who are calling for a return to lockdowns and Republican governors who favour less restrictive measures.

While officials in the greater Houston area, in Texas have called for a new lockdown after it saw nearly 1,600 cases in 24 hours the Republican governor has so far resisted, in an example mirrored in places such as Atlanta, Georgia.