Oil prices were mixed on Monday, with Brent crude edging higher, supported by tighter supplies, while US benchmark WTI futures dropped on concern that a spike in coronavirus cases could curb oil demand in the United States. Brent crude rose 41 cents, or 1%, to $43.21 a barrel by 0634 GMT after a 4.3% gain last week, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $40.61, down 4 cents, or 0.1%, from its previous settlement on Thursday. US markets were closed on Friday to mark the country’s July 4 holiday. With coronavirus infections rising in 39 US states, a Reuters tally showed that in the first four days of July, 15 of them reported record increases in confirmed COVID-19 cases. “There will be some kind of decline in demand if cases were to increase as people will stay at home,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC bank. “The pace of US demand recovery will not be as steep as expected.” Analysts at ING bank said data for several cities in affected states for now showed no significant reduction in road traffic week-on-week. “We will get a better idea of what impact tighter restrictions in several states have had on gasoline demand with the EIA (Energy Information Administration) report this week,” ING said in a note.