fragments Tests in recovered patients found false positives, not reinfections, experts say South Korea’s infectious disease experts said Thursday that dead virus fragments were the likely cause of over 260 people here testing positive again for the novel coronavirus days and even weeks after marking full recoveries. spain Outcry as Spanish beach sprayed with bleach Authorities in a Spanish coastal resort have apologised after spraying a beach with bleach in an attempt to protect children from coronavirus. Zahara de los Atunes, near Cadiz, used tractors to spray more than 2km (1.2 miles) of beach with a bleach solution a day before Spain allowed children out of lockdown for the first time. Environmentalists say the move caused "brutal damage" to the local ecosystem. Spain has been badly affected by the coronavirus, with 23,800 deaths. It recently announced a four-phase plan to lift its stringent lockdown measures and return to a "new normality" by the end of June. María Dolores Iglesias, who heads an environmental volunteer group in the Cadiz region, said she had visited the beach at Zahara de los Atunes and seen the damage for herself. She said the bleach "killed everything on the ground, nothing is seen, not even insects". The beach and its dunes are protected breeding and nesting places for migratory birds and Ms Iglesias said she had seen at least one nest with eggs destroyed by the tractors.

japan Japanese island suffering second wave of coronavirus after lifting lockdown too early A northern region of Japan is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections - and deaths - that experts say could have been avoided if the state of emergency had not been lifted too early. The island of Hokkaido had been held up as a model of how to control the spread of the virus, but it has now become a case study for the impact the disease can have if a lockdown is relaxed too soon. And experts say they hope that other cities and nations that are toying with the idea of lifting restrictions on travel, work and schools can learn from Hokkaido’s experience. Naomichi Suzuki, the prefectural governor, on February 29 declared a state of emergency in response to a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, all of which could be traced back to the Sapporo Snow Festival at the beginning of the month. The annual event attracted more than 2 million people to the city, with local health authorities treating a Chinese tourist from Wuhan who had contracted the illness before arriving in Hokkaido. Despite the state of emergency, 118 people were being treated for the virus by March 12, making Hokkaido the worst-hit of all Japan’s 47 prefectures. In tandem with the state of emergency - under which schools were closed, large-scale gatherings were cancelled and people were officially “encouraged” to stay at home - the local government introduced aggressive measures to trace and isolate anyone who had been in contact with victims. The approach appeared to have been effective and, just a week later, the number of new cases had fallen to one or two a day. Assuming that they had weathered the storm - and keen to get the local economy operating again - local authorities lifted the state of emergency on March 19, with schools and businesses reopening. With hindsight, experts agree, it was too early and, just 26 days later and after 135 new infections were reported in the space of a week, the lockdown was reimposed on Hokkaido’s 5.3 million residents.