Spain Reopens Borders for Europeans After COVID Lockdown

Spain reopened its borders to European tourists on Sunday as the continent continues to ease lockdowns put in place to quell the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Once the country with the third-highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, Spain has now fallen to 7th place with nearly 246,000 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

But while Europe sees slow improvement, countries including Brazil, South Africa, India, and the United States are reporting alarming increases.

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With more than 2.2 million cases, the U.S. has more infections than anywhere else in the world. Brazil and Russia follow with more than one million and more than 576,000 infections, respectively. The U.S. also leads the world in COVID deaths with nearly 120,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Six members of U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign advance team have contracted the coronavirus. The announcement was made Saturday just hours before the president's Tulsa, Oklahoma campaign rally, his first since the country went on lockdown because of the coronavirus.

At the rally, the president joked that the U.S. infection numbers are high because of extensive testing. "When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more cases," he said. "So, I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down.' They test and they test." The White House later issued a clarification of the president's remarks, insisting he was joking.

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South Korea reported 48 new coronavirus cases Sunday, half of them in Seoul, the capital. China recorded 25 new cases and like South Korea, most of China's cases were found in its capital, Beijing. Both countries had launched strict measures to bring the virus under control, but outbreaks are reappearing after they eased restrictions.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week that the pandemic is accelerating. "We are in a new and dangerous phase," Tedros said. He warned that lockdown measures are still needed to halt the spread of the virus. (VOA)