Vietnam is evacuating tourists from the Danang area after several people tested positive for COVID-19, as governments in many parts of the world try to stop the spread of the virus that has killed nearly 650,000 people.
A Vietnamese government statement said the evacuations of 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, will take at least four days. The country remains closed to foreign tourists.
Vietnam on Saturday reported its first locally transmitted cases since April, putting the government on high alert.
In Australia, authorities in the southeastern state of Victoria reported a record 532 new cases Monday and warned a lockdown there could be extended beyond its original six-week timeline.
"As it stands right now, we are seeing too many people for whatever reason attending work with symptoms,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews. “That just cannot continue. Otherwise, these restrictions will be in place for longer than they should be and I'm sorry to say, we will see more people die, particularly in aged care.”
The rest of Australia is virtually free from new confirmed coronavirus cases, with Victoria and neighboring New South Wales accounting for nearly all new infections.
The United States leads the world in the number of confirmed cases with more than 4.2 million, and on Sunday added 55,000 new cases and more than 500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
The southeastern state of Florida, which has been among the leaders in a surge in cases during the past month, added 9,300 cases on its own Sunday to move into second place among U.S. states. Only California, with a much higher population, has more. Just behind Florida are New York and Texas.
Health experts blame the leap in the number of cases on businesses and public attractions reopening too soon, and not enough people wearing masks and social distancing.
Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins delayed what would have been a Sunday departure from the city of Philadelphia as the team tries to contain an outbreak with several players already testing positive.
The Marlins are traveling to Baltimore on Monday hours before the scheduled start of their game there. Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the players who had tested positive remain under quarantine in Philadelphia.
“There's nothing we can really do,” Marlins pitcher Robert Dugger said Sunday. “It's out of our control. We just do the best we can with the masks and social distancing and all that, and hope for the best.”
Baseball opened its 2020 season last week, three months late, and will play 60 games instead of the usual 162. Many of the league’s 30 teams have reported multiple players testing positive for COVID-19.
Spain is safe for tourists, it said Sunday, rebuking Britain for imposing a two-week quarantine on all travelers entering the country from Spain because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists," Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters.
She said Spain would try to persuade Britain to exclude the Balearic and Canary Islands from the quarantine measure, contending that the prevalence of the virus in the two popular travel destinations was much lower than in Britain itself.
A year ago, Britons made up about a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, meaning the British quarantine could deal a blow to the Mediterranean country’s efforts to jump start its economy after months of lockdown because of the virus.
But the number of COVID-19 cases has risen in Spain in the last few weeks, prompting Britain to announce late Saturday it was taking Spain off its safe-travel list. Hours later, the quarantine took effect.
