Berlin, Jun 23 (AP) Nations around the world and U.S. states struggled mightily Tuesday to contain a surge of coronavirus infections as lockdowns eased.

Germany slapped new restrictions on a region where hundreds were infected at a slaughterhouse and a top U.S. expert headed to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment in the U.S. battle against the virus.

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Rapid increases in cases across the U.S. South and West are raising fears that progress against the virus is slipping away, as states reopen and many Americans resist wearing masks for political reasons and refuse to limit contacts to social-distancing bubbles.

The United States has the most infections and deaths by far in the world, with 2.3 million cases and over 120,000 confirmed virus-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, was testifying before a House committee just days after President Donald Trump told an Oklahoma rally that he had asked officials to slow down testing because too many positive cases were turning up.

Trump's office later claimed he was joking.

In Germany, more than 1,550 people have tested positive for coronavirus at the Toennies slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck and thousands more workers and family members have been put under a quarantine to try to halt the outbreak.

On Tuesday, North Rhine-Westphalia state Gov. Armin Laschet said people in Guetersloh and parts of a neighboring county will now face the same restrictions that Germany saw in March and April, including curbs on social gatherings and bar closings.

“The purpose is to calm the situation, to expand testing to establish whether or not the virus has spread beyond the employees of Toennies,” Laschet said.

Laschet expressed frustration at the company's handling of the outbreak, saying authorities had to order Toennies to release the names of its employees.

“The readiness to cooperate could have been greater,” he said. Union officials have blamed poor working and living conditions that migrant workers faced under a loosely regulated sub-contractor.

Across the Channel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday announced a major rollback of lockdown measures that will let millions in England back into pubs, cinemas, churches and hair salons starting July 4.

The move came amid strong pressure from businesses to ease social distancing rules.

Although gyms, pools, spas and tattoo parlors will remain shut, Johnson told lawmakers that “our long national hibernation” was coming to an end.

Pubs and restaurants wanted the government to cut its social distancing requirements in half to 1 meter (3 feet) between people indoors, and say many won't survive without the change.

But some scientists worried the move is too hasty, especially since measures like a track-and-trace system to stamp out any outbreaks isn't yet in place.

“This is far too premature,” said David King, a former chief scientific adviser to the government. “To come out of (lockdown) too early is extremely risky.” The World Health Organization says the pandemic is still in its ascendancy.

“The epidemic is now peaking or moving towards a peak in a number of large countries,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's emergencies chief.

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 among the country's 1.3 billion people.

The government had lifted a nationwide lockdown to restart the ailing economy and give hope to millions of hungry, unemployed day laborers.

In Pakistan, the government is determined to buoy the frail economy by opening up the country even if overcrowded hospitals are turning away patients. New cases have also been rising steeply in Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)