A resurgence of coronavirus cases is starting to hit China, as well as other countries including South Korea and Germany, just as governments are starting to loosen restrictions. Even Wuhan, the Chinese city and epicenter of the now global pandemic, experienced a new cluster of five cases.
The trend has governments worried. Is this the much-feared second wave, or a sign of smaller and controllable valleys and peaks as testing becomes available to a larger number of people?
While it’s still too early to predict the scale of this second wave — if it turns out to be one at all, as opposed to statistical noise — it demonstrates that countries are shifting towards a whack-a-mole approach, putting out a number of smaller fires rather than instituting blanket rules to contain a nationwide spread.
Chinese authorities reported 17 new cases over the weekend, The Guardian reports, which is the second day of double-digit new cases and the highest in almost two weeks. It’s a far cry from the four digit daily new cases the country experienced back in February — but still an ominous trend for the deadly, highly-contagious virus.
China’s new cases were largely isolated to regions in the northeast. Shulan, a city in Jilin province on the border to North Korea and Russia, had to be put back under partial lockdown over the weekend after officials reported 13 new cases. Other regions also had to be put under renewed lockdown over smaller outbreaks.
A number of new cases related to nightclubs in Seoul, South Korea also has authorities worried about a potential second wave. As a result, bars and clubs are again temporarily closed in the capital. The South Korean government even
