Virus numbers surge globally as many nations ease lockdowns

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The number of global coronavirus cases continued to surge Tuesday in many large countries that have been lifting lockdowns, including the U.S., even as new infections stabilized or dropped in parts of Western Europe.

India has been recording about 15,000 new infections each day, and some states Tuesday were considering fresh lockdown measures to try to halt the spread of the virus in the nation of more than 1.3 billion. The government earlier lifted a nationwide lockdown in a bid to restart the ailing economy, which has shed millions of jobs.

Hospitals in Pakistan are turning away patients, but with the economy there teetering, the government remains determined to reopen the country.

New cases have also been rising steeply in Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia.

Brazil, with more than 1.1 million cases and 51,000 deaths, has been affected more than anywhere but the U.S., which has reported more than 2.3 million cases and 120,000 deaths, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

In the U.S., surges in cases across the South and West are raising fears that progress against the virus is slipping away, as states reopen and many Americans resist wearing masks and keeping their distance from others.

On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci will return to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment in the nation’s response. The government’s top infectious disease expert will testify before a House committee.

His testimony comes after President Donald Trump said at a weekend rally in Oklahoma that he had asked administration officials to slow down testing, because too many positive cases are turning up.

Many rally goers did not wear masks, and for some that was an act of defiance against what they see as government intrusion. White House officials...