The shock resurgence in domestic infections on Sunday has rattled China, where the disease emerged late last year but had largely been tamed through severe restrictions on movement that were later emulated across the globe.

It also provides a bleak insight into the difficulties the world will face in conquering COVID-19 – even as countries in Europe prepare to reopen borders at the beginning of the summer holiday season after an encouraging drop in contagion.

Of the 57 new cases logged by Chinese authorities, 36 were domestic infections in the capital, where a large wholesale food market at the center of the outbreak has been closed and nearby housing estates put under lockdown.

“People are scared,” a fruit and vegetable trader at another local market in central Beijing told AFP.

“The meat sellers have had to close. This disease is really scary,” said the man, adding that there were fewer customers than normal, The Guardian reported.

At least 430,000 people worldwide have died from COVID-19, and the total number of confirmed cases has doubled to 7.78 million in slightly over a month. The disease is now spreading most rapidly in Latin America, where it is threatening healthcare systems and sparking political turmoil.

Brazil now has the second-highest number of virus deaths after the US, surpassing Britain’s toll, and the Chilean health minister, Jaime Manalich, resigned on Saturday amid a furor over the country’s true number of fatalities.

There have been frequent reports of spats among health ministry officials, and Manalich has been criticized by opposition politicians, mayors, medical experts, and social groups for refusing to release more detailed contagion data or apply lockdowns sooner.

The sudden reshuffle comes as Chile faces its toughest month in the pandemic so far, with spiraling active cases and death rates. The country now has the highest number of confirmed cases per million people in Latin America, reporting a total so far of 167,355 on Saturday and 3,101 deaths in a population of 19 million.

Elsewhere in Latin America, an evacuation flight carrying about 230 British nationals and residents left Colombia’s main airport in Bogota, bound for Heathrow. The plane will return with Colombian evacuees on Sunday.

Colombia, which is relaxing some of its lockdown measures, currently has confirmed 46,858 cases of COVID-19, with 1545 deaths. Daily cases are climbing, with 1646 confirmed on Saturday, worrying experts that the worst is about to hit.

In Mexico, the health ministry reported 3,494 new confirmed coronavirus infections along with 424 additional fatalities on Saturday, bringing the total in the country to 142,690 cases and 16,872 deaths.

While Latin America grapples with its rising tide of cases, many European nations are lifting lockdowns and opening borders.

After the European Commission urged a relaxation of restrictions, a number of nations are preparing to reopen borders on Monday – while some like Poland have done so already, with people from other European Union countries allowed to visit.

Germany said it would end land border checks on Monday, and France said it would gradually reopen its borders to non-Schengen countries from July. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to picturesque Santorini Island to open his country’s tourism season, while Venice sprang back to life on Saturday as hundreds of tourists flocked to the city for the reopening of the iconic Doge’s Palace.

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Mapping a “network” of coronavirus genomes and tracing mutations over time, a team of researchers led by Cambridge University determined the first COVID-19 outbreak may have come as early as September in a region south of Wuhan, noting the pathogen could’ve been carried by humans well before it mutated into a more lethal form, RT reported.

“The virus may have mutated into its final ‘human-efficient’ form months ago, but stayed inside a bat or other animal or even human for several months without infecting other individuals,” said Cambridge geneticist Peter Forster, who took part in the ongoing yet to be peer-reviewed research, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Then, it started infecting and spreading among humans between September 13 and December 7, generating the network we present in (the study).

Though the virus is thought to have transmitted from bats to another host animal – pangolins are a popular candidate – and finally to humans, the new findings could overturn prevailing ideas as to precisely how, when and where it made the interspecies leap. Initial theories posited the jump to humans took place at a wet market in Wuhan, but the Cambridge study has called that into question, suggesting COVID-19 might have originated south of the central-Chinese city.

The original spread started more likely in southern China than in Wuhan, he said.

Any solid conclusions, however, could only be made after analyzing more bats and other potential host animals, as well as tissue samples in Chinese hospitals, Forster cautioned.

As questions swirl about the origins of the pandemic, a number of controversial theories have gained prominence recently, with several major US media outlets running stories this week suggesting the virus may have escaped a maximum-security virology lab in Wuhan.

Though US President Donald Trump has yet to endorse the claim outright, he said the White House is currently looking into the idea, all the while blaming Beijing for the global health crisis. Trump has repeatedly accused the country of a “cover-up” in the early stages of its outbreak, insisting the World Health Organization conspired to help Chinese officials conceal information.

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Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remark in response to a question about accusations the coronavirus originated in a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019, Reuters reported.

Zhao told reporters during a daily briefing in Beijing that the World Health Organization’s officials “have said multiple times there is no evidence the new coronavirus was created in a laboratory.”

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing “needs to come clean” on what they know.

Zhao did not directly address Trump’s comments.

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The National Health Commission in China said 46 new cases were reported on Friday, including 42 involving travelers from abroad, up from 42 cases a day earlier.

In its statement, the commission added that 34 new asymptomatic cases were reported, down from 47 the previous day.

Mainland China’s tally of infections now stands at 81,953. The death toll rose by three to 3,339.

Tough curbs imposed since January helped rein in infections sharply from the height of the pandemic in February. But policymakers fear a second wave triggered by arrivals from overseas or asymptomatic patients.

Northeastern Heilongjiang recently reported a spike in new cases because of Chinese nationals entering the province from Russia, which has seen a surge of cases.

Provincial health officials said it had 22 new imported cases on Friday, all Chinese nationals coming from Russia, and one new local case, in its capital of Harbin.

Inner Mongolia had a daily tally of 27 new imported cases by Saturday morning, all from Russia, the region’s health authority said, Reuters reported.

The central province of Hubei, where the virus emerged late last year, reported no new cases for a seventh successive day.

A rise in virus infections has prompted authorities in Guangzhou to step up scrutiny of foreigners, ordering bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin, the US consulate in the southern city said.

Anyone with “African contacts” faces mandatory virus tests followed by quarantine, regardless of recent travel history or previous isolation, it said in a statement.

It advised African-Americans or those who feel they might be suspected of contact with nationals of African origin to avoid the city.

Since the epidemic broke out in the provincial capital of Wuhan, it has spread around the world, infecting 1.7 million people and killing more than 102,000.

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The government also will begin refusing entry of foreign nationals who have been in certain areas of Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as all of Ireland, the report said, Reuters reported.

Citing an unknown number of government sources, the report said ministers would meet on Wednesday to make a formal decision. The report did not say when the measures would take effect.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not able to comment immediately.

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Asked by reporters about the measures taken by the Foreign Ministry in issues relating to the coronavirus epidemic, Seyed Abbas Mousavi said on Friday, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is proud to be one of the first organizations that joined the national efforts to fight against coronavirus in tandem with the people and the Health Ministry.”

“Supporting fellow citizens residing abroad is one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ main priorities. Thus, during the period of spread of coronavirus in China, all possible approaches to helping the dear Iranian students residing in China’s Wuhan were adopted, and following the considerations and examination of all options and coordination with the relevant institutions, particularly the Health Ministry, the repatriation of those dear ones became possible with the deployment of an exclusive flight of Mahan Air,” he explained.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Iranian students owe their health to the devotion shown by the Mahan Air flight crew.

“In the next stage and after the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs focused its efforts on attracting voluntary help from the friendly governments and nations as well as the international organizations, and on the arrangements to transfer them to Iran, which is still in progress,” Mousavi said.

He further listed the aids that Iran has so far received from the Chinese government and people, saying the consignments have been transferred to Iran and delivered to the Health Ministry with eight cargo flights of Mahan Air free of charge.

According to Mousavi, the Chinese aids for Iran include approximately 350,000 various types of coronavirus diagnostic test kits, approximately 2,400,000 masks, approximately 130,000 isolation gowns, approximately 120 medical ventilators, and aspirators, approximately 2,800 fever thermometers and oxygen meters, approximately 13,000 protective eyewear, approximately 160,000 face shields or head covers, and approximately 50 boxes of medication for treating coronavirus patients.

“The process of receiving generous assistance from people in China is going on, and at present, a large amount of aid, around 32,000 kilograms of various supplies, have been packaged and are going to be shipped to Iran with the next flights,” he added.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman then praised the Chinese government and people for their assistance, and also expressed gratitude to Mahan Air, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs for cooperation in the transfer of the aid supplies, the Foreign Ministry’s website reported.

“After the Twitter posts from Dr. Zarif, a number of countries and organizations expressed their readiness to send medical aid or to provide and sell them to Iran, as some cases have been publicized, and the noble and resisting people of Iran will be notified of the future cases as well,” he concluded.

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In a meeting with Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior assistant to the Iranian Parliament speaker in Tehran, Syria Ambassador stressed the need for mutual cooperation with Iran in the battle with coronavirus.

He also called for taking advantage of the Islamic Republic’s experience in containing the coronavirus epidemic.

The ambassador further noted that Syria owes its success in defeating terrorism to the sacrifices made by its army and the support provided by Iran, Russia and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Mahmud also called for the expansion of economic cooperation between Damascus and Tehran and the holding of the Joint Economic Commission considering the economic war that the enemies have waged on Syria and Iran.

For his part, Amir Abdollahian congratulated Syria on its victories over terrorist groups in Idlib, emphasizing the necessity for the political settlement of the crisis there.

He also highlighted the significance of the trilateral negotiations among Iran, Turkey, and Russia, saying the agreements reached in the Astana Process and the Sochi meetings must be preserved.

Iran, Russia, and Turkey are guarantor countries that brokered a ceasefire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks.

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Photographs published by CCTV show medical personnel who worked at one of the facilities celebrating and waving Chinese flags following the closure of their hospital, RT reported.

The Twitter page of CCTV wrote: “The temporary hospital of Jianghan in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, which was converted from Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, closed on Monday afternoon. #CombatCoronavirus #UnityIsStrength”

The impromptu hospitals closed their doors on the same day that Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Wuhan, the first time since the coronavirus epidemic began more than two months ago. Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province were hit hardest by the illness, but infection rates have dropped significantly in recent days.

Some of the medical facilities were constructed in record time, with one hospital in Wuhan going up in under two weeks.

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