Countries that imposed lockdown again as coronavirus cases spiked - Business Insider

China — where the first coronavirus case was discovered, and the first to impose a lockdown — has had a stop-start reopening the country.It first closed the city of Wuhan in late January, and gradually shut other regions until around half the country's population was under some form of restriction by mid-February.By early March, new reported cases of the coronavirus had slowed to 200 per day or fewer. Germany is gradually reopening, but has had to quickly clamp down on districts that have seen sudden spikes of new cases.Some shops and schools have reopened, and according to Reuters, the country intends to relax border controls on Saturday.However, on May 8, local governments had to activate emergency measures in three districts that have seen flare-ups of the virus.All the spikes were associated with local meatpacking centers in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, according to Deutsche Welle.The emergency measures activated in those districts — all relatively small areas — included limiting public movements and mandating coronavirus testing for all plant workers.Indeed, while announcing the lifting of lockdown measures on May 6, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said she stood ready to pull an "emergency brake" on newfound freedoms if necessary.The country is seeing an overall decline in new cases and has for several days kept the R rate — which notes how many people the average person can infect with COVID-19 — below one. Many of the cases can be traced to a single nightclub district, Itaewon, in Seoul.Thirty-four daily new cases is a small figure compared to global averages, but was enough to alarm South Korea, which had considered itself as having a good handle on the outbreak.Bars and clubs in Seoul have since been shuttered again, and the reopening of schools and some businesses have also been delayed, according to the Straits Times.The new lockdown came less than a week after officials had removed social-distancing restrictions and told the country to get ready for the start of "a new everyday life with the coronavirus," The Post reported. But on May 7, daily new cases spiked to 34.Around this time, the country had been just one week into reopening bars, restaurants, hairdressers, places of worship, and some outdoor work sites.While announcing the new measures, Prime Minister Hassan Diab blamed people who did not follow guidelines, according to Agence France-Presse.The country has mostly avoided a mass outbreak, reporting just 886 cases and 26 deaths as of Thursday.Regardless, it imposed a strict nationwide on March 21 and even forbade outdoor exercise, according to the Independent.The renewed lockdown has primarily been imposed for more testing to take place, Diab said.