Mounting beef export concerns over US COVID relapse
THE second-wave COVID-19 crisis unfolding in the United States is creating renewed concerns among manufacturing beef exporters in Australia.
As of yesterday, the US recorded just over 60,000 new COVID cases, a record for a 24-hour period, as the second wave of infections unfolds. New infections are up more than 90pc from where they were two weeks ago. An additional 1114 deaths were counted yesterday taking the grim total to more than 131,000 since the virus first started to take hold in April.
Authorities have reported alarming upswings of daily case-loads in 24 states over the past two weeks, a sign that efforts to control transmission of the disease have failed in large parts of the country.
California, Hawaii, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and Texas on Tuesday shattered their previous daily record highs for new cases. In Texas alone, the number of hospitalised patients more than doubled in just two weeks.
The surge has forced US authorities to back-pedal on moves to reopen businesses, such as restaurants and bars, after mandatory lockdowns in March and April reduced economic activity to a virtual standstill.
Australian beef exporters are watching the developments with a sense of unease.
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