Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health News From Around The Globe: Americans Sneak Around Travel Bans
Politico: Americans Hunt For Loopholes To Get Into Europe
It's supposed to be almost impossible for American tourists to get into the EU. Don't tell that to one Miami resident happily sunning himself in Spain. He arrived from Florida — the state with the greatest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. — by traveling through the United Kingdom. (Eccles and Hernandez-Morales, 8/5)
CIDRAP: Study: Few COVID-19 Outbreaks, Limited Spread In Australian Schools
Spread of COVID-19 in New South Wales, Australia, schools and childcare centers was low, according to an ongoing observational study published earlier this week in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. The study, which began on Jan 25, involved analysis of virus transmission in 15 schools and 10 childcare facilities with COVID-19 cases. Twelve students and 15 adults tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 633 close contacts tested, 18 secondary cases were detected (attack rate, 1.2%); 5 of them (28%) were asymptomatic (3 infants, 1 teen, and 1 adult). (8/5)
AP: The Latest: Japan Region Declares Coronavirus Emergency
The governor of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture has announced a regional “state of emergency” seeking to curb the coronavirus. Gov. Hideaki Ohmura on Thursday asked businesses to close altogether or close early and urged people to stay home at night. The measures continue through Aug. 24, a period that coincides with the Obon holidays, when schools and many companies close. Aichi includes Nagoya, which is home to Toyota Motor Corp.’s headquarters. (8/6)
AP: Top Court Rules Brazil Must Protect Indigenous In Pandemic
The Brazilian Supreme Court ordered President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration Wednesday to adopt measures to shield Indigenous peoples from the new coronavirus, in a vote that came hours after a prominent Indigenous leader died from COVID-19. The justices voted unanimously in favor of forcing the government to install health checkpoints for all isolated Indigenous villages and to draft and implement a plan for removing outsiders now in protected areas illegally, such as gold miners. (Alvares, 8/6)
Reuters: Chinese Court Sentences Canadian To Death For Making Drugs
A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian to death on Thursday for making drugs, the third Canadian to be sentenced to death for drugs in China since Canada detained a top executive of Chinese company in 2018. The Canadian, identified as Xu Weihong, was sentenced after a trial in the southern city of Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Intermediate Court said in a notice on its website.It did not say what drugs he had been convicted of making, nor give any other details about his crime. The court ordered his property to be confiscated. (Lun Tian, 8/6)
AP: Closed For Vacation: France Faces New Virus Testing Troubles
With virus cases rising anew, France is struggling to administer enough tests to keep up with demand. One reason: Many testing labs are closed so that their staff can take summer vacation, just as signs of a second wave are building. Doctors and experts say the vacation crunch is just part of a larger web of failures in France’s testing strategy – a strategy that even the government’s own virus advisory panel this week called disorganized and “insufficient.” (Charlton and Achoui-Lesage, 8/6)
AP: N. Korea's Escalating Virus Response Raises Fear Of Outbreak
North Korea is quarantining thousands of people and shipping food and other aid to a southern city locked down over coronavirus worries, officials said, as the country’s response to a suspected case reinforces doubt about its longstanding claim to be virus-free. But amid the outside skepticism and a stream of North Korean propaganda glorifying its virus efforts, an exchange between the country and the United Nations is providing new clarity — and actual numbers — about what might be happening in North Korea, which has closed its borders and cut travel — never a free-flowing stream — by outsider monitors and journalists. (Kim, 8/6)
Reuters: Slovakia Daily Coronavirus Case Hits Highest Since April
Slovakia, which has one of Europe’s lowest COVID-19 death tolls, reported its biggest daily rise in new cases in more than three months, saying it had recorded 63 on Wednesday. The central European country of 5.5 million people has fared better than most in containing the spread of the coronavirus, although daily cases have risen since June as Slovakia opened up from lockdowns, mirroring a European trend of rising infections. (8/6)
AP: Lockdown Reimposed In Scottish City Over Virus 'cluster'
Officials in Scotland ordered bars, cafes and restaurants in the city of Aberdeen to close Wednesday, reimposing anti-virus restrictions after a cluster of 54 COVID-19 cases in the area was linked to a single bar. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the new cases raised wider alarm of a “significant outbreak” of the coronavirus emerging in the northeastern port city. (Hui, 8/6)
Also —
The Washington Post: Hiroshima Anniversary: 75 Years On, Nuclear Testing Killed Untold Thousands
On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and then Nagasaki. The weapons caused unparalleled destruction, snuffing out more than 150,000 lives. But those were not the last people to die as a result of nuclear detonations. The competition among nations to develop stronger nuclear devices took a human toll as governments subjected people at home and abroad to high radiation levels, sometimes with indifference. (Noack, 8/5)
