China backs virus inquiry as Europe eases out of lockdown

GENEVA: China supports an independent inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic after it is “brought under control”, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, as Europe accelerated its reopenings with landmarks Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Acropolis in Athens welcoming visitors again.

After weeks dogged by allegations from the US and elsewhere that Beijing had covered up the virus’ origins, Xi insisted during the World Health Assembly that China has “always had an open, transparent and responsible attitude”.

More than 4.7 million people have tested positive and 315,270 killed by the disease since it emerged in Wuhan late last year, according to an AFP tally.

Russia offered a glimpse of hope as it reported that growth in new cases had been halted, and US biotech firm Moderna reported “positive interim” results in the first clinical tests of its vaccine against the new coronavirus.

But fears were growing over soaring infections in Brazil, India and South Africa. The Covid-19 outbreak “must be a wake-up call,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told the same virtual assembly, as he called out countries for failing to heed warnings from the World Health Organisation about the virus.

“Different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies and we are all paying a heavy price,” Guterres said, singling out in particular those who “ignored the recommendations” of the WHO.

Beyond the heavy toll on human lives, the pandemic has left a trail of economic destruction as governments shut borders, schools, offices and shops to halt transmission of the virus. With infection tolls slowing, Europe’s worst hit countries are gingerly returning to normal.

World-famous landmarks like Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and the Athens Acropolis joined a slew of reopenings in Europe, alongside other churches, shops and restaurants which were allowed to welcome the public again.

Italy, once the hardest-hit country in the world, saw the first such openings after more than two months of lockdown, although the public reacted cautiously.

In Venice, where gondolas returned to the waters again albeit with the gondoliers wearing with gloves and masks, locals heaved a sigh of relief. UN chief Guterres warned that the eye of the storm is turning to the southern hemisphere, where its impact might be “even more devastating”. The latest data has focussed fears concerning South America and Africa.

In Asia, India extended its lockdown covering 1.3 billion people to the end of May as it reported its biggest single-day jump in infections on Sunday.

Covid-19 has left the world economy facing its worst downturn since the Great Depression, with Japan announcing its first recession since 2015 -- new evidence of the deep economic damage.

The world’s biggest economy is also going to suffer a massive downturn, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned. “The data we’ll see for this quarter, which ends in June, will be very, very bad. There’ll be a big decline in economic activity, big increase in unemployment,” Powell said. He added that a full recovery may not happen without a vaccine.