(Adds detail on China loosening border rules with Macau)
* HK sets tough new social distancing rules, Disneyland to
close
* Japan tracing 800 audience members after theatre infection
* Australian states tighten borders, social distancing rules
* Southeast Asian countries eye fresh lockdowns
By Colin Packham and Naomi Tajitsu
SYDNEY/TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Australian states
tightened borders and restricted pub visits on Tuesday, while
Disney prepared to close its Hong Kong theme park and Japan
stepped up tracing as a jump in novel coronavirus cases across
Asia fanned fears of a second wave of infections.
Many parts of Asia, the region first hit by the coronavirus
that emerged in central China late last year, are finding cause
to pause the reopening of their economies, some after winning
praise for their initial responses to the outbreak.
Australia largely avoided the high numbers of cases and
casualties seen in other countries with swift and strict
measures, but a spike in community-transmitted cases in Victoria
state and a rise in new cases in New South Wales has worried
authorities. South Australia cancelled plans to reopen its border to New
South Wales on July 20, while Queensland introduced a mandatory
two-week quarantine for people who have visited two areas in
Sydney's western suburbs.
New South Wales, which has seen several dozen cases linked
to the outbreak in Victoria, said pubs will be limited to 300
people, responding to an outbreak centred at a large hotel in
southwestern Sydney.
"Indoor activity, where people aren't seated is a huge
health risk. It increases the chance of transmission," state
Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
Australia's second largest city, Melbourne, is in the second
week of a six-week lockdown
WRONG DIRECTION
The number of coronavirus infections around the world hit 13
million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, climbing by a
million in just five days. The pandemic has now killed more than half a million people
in six-and-a-half months.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the pandemic
would worsen if countries failed to adhere to strict
precautions.
"Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong
direction, the virus remains public enemy number one," WHO
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual
briefing on Monday. In the Northern Hemisphere, countries are racing to get a
handle on outbreaks before winter, which could bring a renewed
surge.
A second wave of infections in Britain this winter could
kill up to 120,000 people over nine months in a worst-case
scenario, according to health experts. Hong Kong, which suffered remarkably few cases in the first
wave of the pandemic, will impose strict social distancing
measures from midnight on Tuesday, the most stringent yet in the
Asian financial hub. Hong Kong recorded 52 new cases on Monday, including 41 that
were locally transmitted, health authorities said. Since late
January, Hong Kong has reported 1,522 cases and media reported
an eighth death on Monday.
"The recent emergence of local cases of unknown infection
source indicates the existence of sustained silent transmission
in the community," the Hong Kong government said.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N said it is temporarily closing its
Hong Kong Disneyland theme park from Wednesday. China, which has contained a cluster in Beijing in recent
weeks, loosened border restrictions between Macau and the
neighbouring province of Guangdong, sending shares of Macau
casino operators surging. TRACING
In Tokyo, health officials were trying to locate more than
800 members of an theatre audience after 20 people including
cast members of a recent performance tested positive for the
coronavirus. Japan, which has not seen an explosive outbreak, is pushing
ahead with its easing of restrictions, with plans to reopen a
runway at one of its biggest airports, even as infections
persist in big cities, rural areas and on U.S. military bases.
India's tech capital of Bengaluru begins a new, week-long
lockdown on Tuesday after a surge in cases following the easing
of restrictions. From about 1,000 cases on June 19, when the
city was believed to have escaped the worst thanks to contact
tracing, it has gone up to nearly 20,000.
Health experts say the movement of people following the
lifting of a nationwide lockdown in June has led to Bengaluru
falling back. Other cities, including Pune and Aurangabad, have
reimposed curbs in recent days.
The Philippines this week recorded the biggest daily rise in
coronavirus deaths in Southeast Asia and part of Manila will
return to lockdown affecting 250,000 residents. A presidential
spokesman said restrictions in other parts of the capital were
unlikely to be relaxed. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has resisted pressure to
lock down due to concern about the economy, despite the highest
death toll from virus in East Asia outside China.
Now, the governor of Jakarta is reported to be considering
tightening some of the relatively mild restrictions in place
after a spike in cases in the capital.
Even Thailand, which has had no locally transmitted cases
reported for six weeks, has stepped up border security over
concern about a second wave of infections after the arrests of
thousands of illegal migrants in the past month.
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Global coronavirus cases rise above 13 million, U.S. infections
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