Greece, Ireland Among 16 New ‘Very High’ Covid Risk Zones, CDC Says

CNN: CDC Adds 16 Destinations To 'Very High' Covid-19 Travel Risk List 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added 16 destinations to its "very high" Covid-19 risk level on Monday, including Greece, Ireland and the US Virgin Islands. According to the CDC, a risk designation of "Level 4: Covid-19 Very High" means people should avoid travel to these locations. Those who must travel should be fully vaccinated first. In its overarching guidance, the CDC recommends against all international travel until you are fully vaccinated. (Langmaid and Hunter, 8/3)

In other global developments —

The New York Times: Germany Will Offer Vaccine Booster Shots Starting In September 
As concerns grow over the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, Germany on Monday became the biggest Western country yet to announce that it will offer vaccine booster shots to a wide range of people considered potentially vulnerable, adding to growing momentum in rich nations to give additional shots to fully vaccinated people. The move by Germany came even as a top European Union official criticized the bloc as falling far short of its promises to donate vaccine doses to Africa and Latin America. (Bennhold, 8/2)

Bloomberg: U.K. Tweaks NHS Covid App To Limit ‘Pingdemic’ Disruption
The U.K. government has changed the National Health Service’s Covid-19 mobile-phone app so that fewer people will be told to self-isolate, seeking to limit disruption to industry from the so-called pingdemic. Under the changes taking effect Monday, only those who come into contact with an infected person within two days prior to the positive test will be asked to self-isolate, rather than within five days previously. The changes won’t affect the sensitivity of the app or change the risk threshold. The announcement from the Department of Health comes after a surge in “pings” caused havoc for British food producers, retailers and pubs who warned supply chains were nearing the breaking point. The government is encouraging people to continue using the app after surveys suggested that many may have deleted it in recent weeks to avoid being alerted. (Gitau and Ashton, 8/2)

The Boston Globe: Can The UK And India Offer Clues Into The Future Of The Delta Variant?
The spike in coronavirus cases in New England due to the Delta variant has sparked familiar worries in a region that has seen more than a year of death and disruption because of the pandemic. But there may be some hopeful signals emerging from places overseas that have experienced earlier Delta outbreaks. Cases have been plummeting in the United Kingdom recently, even as that nation has fully opened up its economy after a long delay. The Netherlands has seen a similar decline. And India, where the super contagious variant was first identified, also saw a rapid drop after the horrific toll of April and May. (Chaidez and Huddle, 8/2)

Reuters: S.Korea On Alert For New Delta Plus COVID-19 Variant
South Korea has detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Tuesday, as the country battles with its fourth wave of infections. The Delta Plus variant is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first identified in India, and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N, which is also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa. (Cha, 8/3)

AP: China Orders Mass Coronavirus Testing For Wuhan
Chinese authorities have announced mass coronavirus testing in Wuhan as an unusually wide series of COVID-19 outbreaks reached the city where the disease was first detected in late 2019. The provincial capital of 11 million people in central China is the latest city to undergo city-wide testing. Three cases were confirmed in Wuhan on Monday, its first non-imported cases in more than a year. (8/3)

Axios: Nigerian Doctors Go On Strike Amid Nationwide COVID-19 Surge 
Doctors at Nigeria's state-run hospitals began an indefinite strike Monday to protest low pay and inadequate facilities many doctors say they are working in. The strike comes as COVID-19 cases numbers surge in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. July saw the nation's highest case numbers since March, sparking fears of a third wave, Bloomberg reports. (Saric, 8/2)

NBC News: Italian Vaccination Registration System Down In Apparent Ransomware Attack
Hackers have attacked the vaccination registration system in one of Italy’s largest regions, temporarily blocking residents from booking new vaccination appointments, officials said. Residents of Lazio, which includes Rome, won’t be able to book new appointments for several days, the region’s president, Nicola Zingaretti, posted Monday on Facebook. While the hackers’ identity and motivations weren’t immediately clear, the incident appeared to be a ransomware attack, said Allan Liska, an analyst who analyzes such attacks for the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. (Collier, 8/2)

In news from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics —

Reuters: Top Japan Medic Urges Nationwide State Of Emergency Amid COVID Surge
The head of the Japan Medical Association called on Tuesday for a nationwide state of emergency to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases in Olympics host city Tokyo and elsewhere, Kyodo news agency said, as worries grow about a strained healthcare system. The call by JMA President Toshio Nakagawa followed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's announcement that only COVID-19 patients who are seriously ill and those at risk of becoming so will be hospitalised, while others isolate at home, a shift in policy some fear could boost the death toll. (Okamoto, Sieg and Takenaka, 8/3)

AP: Clean, Repeat: At Tokyo Games, Virus Is Olympians' Chief Foe
Holding each other tighter than lovers, the wrestlers smear each other with sweat, spittle and — when they inadvertently cut each other — sometimes blood. Lungs heaving, mouths agape, they huff and puff into each others’ flushed faces. On their glistening bodies, it’s impossible to tell their opponents’ fluids and theirs apart. Underscoring the health risks of such proximity: They are the only people in the cavernous hall not wearing face masks. Watching Olympic wrestling in the midst of the pandemic of a deadly airborne disease feels like being part of a virological experiment, a real-life study of droplets, aerosols and fluid dispersion. (Leicester, 8/3)

The Wall Street Journal: There Will Be A New 800-Meter Champion In Tokyo. Thank The Testosterone Rules
Not a single woman who stood on the podium in the 800 meters in Rio will be in the starting blocks for the race final in Tokyo at this Olympics. That owes more to a change in the International Association of Athletics Federations’ rules than anything to do with athletic performance. In 2018, the governing body of track and field updated its rules to include hormonal regulations for women’s events in distances between 400 and 1,500 meters. Athletes’ testosterone must fall below a specified threshold to compete, something they can achieve with medication if necessary. (Higgins, 8/3)