China records dozens of COVID-19 cases for two consecutive days

In what seems to be a second wave, China has reported dozens of new COVID-19 cases for the two consecutive days on Monday.

This growing cluster of infections stoked fears of a second wave, while more borders were opened in Europe ahead of the summer holiday season.

Streams of people queued in a stadium as mass testing was carried out in Beijing, the capital of the country where the disease emerged late last year.

The pandemic is gathering pace in Latin America, and Iran and India have reported worrying increases in deaths and infections — adding to concern over challenges the world will face in the long fight against COVID-19.

But for the moment, news has been better in Europe, which has mostly seen caseloads fall steadily in recent weeks.

Many countries are further lifting painful lockdowns that have saved lives but have also devastated economies and wearied confined populations.

“Very few people have been infected… it’s why I’ve chosen to travel to Santorini. Next week I’m going to Crete,” Max Han, a young Chinese tourist, told AFP on the Greek island as he admired the sunset.

Greece is already allowing travellers from nations deemed low-risk, and on Monday it opened its borders to EU countries — as did Germany, Belgium, France, with Austria to follow the next day.

China was the first country to implement extreme restrictions on movement early this year, forcing local transmission down to near-zero as the crisis walloped the rest of the world.

But on Monday Chinese health officials reported there have now been 75 cases of the respiratory illness in Beijing where the fresh cluster has been linked to a wholesale food market.

More than 10,000 people there have already been tested, including workers at the Xinfadi market, local residents, and anyone who visited it in recent weeks.

Officials have said they plan to test 46,000 people who live in the area, and a strict lockdown was extended across 21 neighbourhoods in the capital.