Monday, 15 June_As the number of coronavirus cases nears the eight million mark worldwide, China has reintroduced strict lockdown measures and begun mass testings in some areas of the capital, Beijing, where a never-before-seen cluster of the virus has added to concerns of a new wave of the outbreak.
Johns Hopkins University, which compiles data on the pandemic, put the number of global coronavirus cases at 7,914,188 on Monday, with at least 433,457 fatalities.
Some 3.8 million people have also recovered from the illness.
The worst-affected countries have so far been the United States with more than 2.09 million cases, Brazil with 867,624, Russia with 528,267, India with 320,922, and the United Kingdom with 297,342.
Meanwhile, many European countries have eased their coronavirus lockdowns and lifted travel restrictions to revive their tourist industries as the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities there has significantly dropped.
The following is the latest on the coronavirus pandemic across the globe:
China tightens lockdown measures in Beijing
China — where the coronavirus first emerged last December — recorded 36 new COVID-19 cases in the capital Beijing on Monday, taking the total number to 79 since June 12, when a locally-transmitted infection was for the first time in almost two months.
The new cluster of the virus discovered in Beijing has prompted Chinese authorities to impose tough restrictive measures and launch mass testings in Beijing, which was once viewed as one of China’s safest cities.
The outbreak has been traced to Xinfadi, a wholesale food market that is the biggest in Asia and accounts for 80% of Beijing’s farm produce supply sourced both domestically and from overseas.
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