Across the Asia-Pacific region, where countries were among the first hit by the virus and the first to contain it, there have been new and in some cases seemingly unexplained increases in the number of infections. Governments that had previously been lauded for their response to the pandemic now seem to be struggling.
All this is concerning news for those where the first wave of the virus has yet to come fully under control, let alone in the disaster zones of the United States and Brazil. It's especially scary as there are only a few more weeks of summer left in parts of the northern hemisphere, and many epidemiologists expect the virus to peak again in winter.
Setbacks in Asia-Pacific
On Tuesday, China reported the highest number of locally transmitted coronavirus cases since early March for the second consecutive day, with the majority of the 64 new domestic cases in Xinjiang. The far western region has seen a fresh outbreak in its capital Urumqi since July 15, after nearly five months of no new cases.
Down south in Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous Chinese city is also experiencing a major new outbreak, with more than a thousand new cases in the past two weeks, and six days straight of over 100 cases. The new surge came after the city appeared to be almost cornonavirus free, relaxing restrictions and beginning discussion of potential "travel bubbles" with other post-pandemic parts of the world.
While there was a slight dip in the number of cases recorded on Monday, Japan has been seeing some of its worst numbers since the early phases of the pandemic, with some 5,000 new cases in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data. The worst of the new outbreak has been focused on the capital Tokyo, which recorded six straight days of over 200 new cases until Monday, when there were 131 cases. However, that dip may be because there were far fewer tests performed over a four-day holiday weekend designed to promote domestic tourism.
Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Australia is also experiencing a major upsurge in the number of cases. The country had cases down to just a handful in June, but that surged towards the end of the month and has exploded in July, with the worst-hit area the southern state of Victoria, which on Monday announced a further 384 cases. There are 4,775 active cases in Victoria, 414 of which are health workers, putting further strain on the state's ability to treat the sick.
What happened?
Many of the most recent waves of the virus, in Hong Kong, Australia, China and elsewhere, have come as a surprise to officials. While there are a number of flaws to point out in various governments' responses, the numbers did not explode until very recently -- potentially because a more virulent strain of the virus had been introduced, or that cases were simply building up undetected and suddenly reached a tipping point.
Ben Cowling, a professor at Hong Kong University's school of public health, wrote this week that "we may never know" how the la
