How The World Is Faring: More Infectious Strain Emerges

Reuters: Mutated Coronavirus Strain Found In Indonesia As Cases Jump 
A more infectious mutation of the new coronavirus has been found in Indonesia, the Jakarta-based Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology said on Sunday, as the Southeast Asian country’s caseload surges. ... The “infectious but milder” D614G mutation of the virus has been found in genome sequencing data from samples collected by the institute, deputy director Herawati Sudoyo told Reuters, adding that more study is required to determine whether that was behind the recent rise in cases. (8/30)

AP: In China's Xinjiang, Forced Medication Accompanies Lockdown
When police arrested the middle-aged Uighur woman at the height of China’s coronavirus outbreak, she was crammed into a cell with dozens of other women in a detention center. There, she said, she was forced to drink a medicine that made her feel weak and nauseous, guards watching as she gulped. She and the others also had to strip naked once a week and cover their faces as guards hosed them and their cells down with disinfectant “like firemen,” she said. (Kang, 8/31)

Reuters: Police Break Up Forest Rave In England Amid COVID-19 Clampdown 
Police broke up an overnight illegal rave in a forest in eastern England on Sunday, days after the British government introduced tougher measures to target “serious breaches” of COVID-19 restrictions, including 10,000-pound ($13,000) fines. Dozens of officers, some holding protective shields, faced off with the revellers in Thetford Forest but despite a few scuffles, the party was largely dispersed peacefully. There did not appear to have been any arrests and the police dismantled the sound system. (8/30)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Inflammatory Syndrome Reported In Kids In Iran, Chile
A rare but serious complication from pediatric COVID-19 infection is MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children), and two new studies describe the first cases of the syndrome in Iran and Chile. MIS-C, which can look like Kawasaki disease, toxic shock syndrome, or sepsis, has been described in Europe and the United States during the current pandemic, but it has been rare in the Middle East and South America. (8/28)

AP: Mexico President Tries To Shoo Away Crowds As Virus Persists
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador loves hugging supporters and shaking hands in crowds but even he appears to be spooked by the country’s continued high coronavirus infection rates, shooing away fans and warning them not to come to see him. López Obrador visited the northern border city of Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas, on Friday and told an audience he considers anyone who joins a crowd to see him as an opponent, not a supporter. (8/29)

The Wall Street Journal: In The World’s Coronavirus Blind Spot, Fears Of A Silent Epidemic 
The global scramble to thwart the coronavirus has a vast blind spot: sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, the government outlawed coronavirus testing and declared its national outbreak defeated, even as hundreds of people died monthly from unexplained respiratory problems. Last month in Zambia, 28 people died at home in a single day with Covid-19-like symptoms while waiting to be tested. In South Sudan, government forces barricaded thousands of people inside refugee camps, claiming they were infected but refusing to conduct tests. (Bariyo and Parkinson, 8/30)

Also —

The Washington Post: How Japan's Elder-Care System Fought Back Against The Coronavirus 
Japan has the world’s oldest population, with an average age of 47 and a life expectancy of more than 81 years. More than 28 percent of its residents are over the age of 65, ahead of Italy in second place with 23 percent, and compared with 16 percent of Americans. It could have been sitting on a coronavirus disaster, with the pandemic hitting seniors particularly hard, especially those in group facilities. But Japan has recorded 1,225 deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, compared with about 180,000 in the United States. In Japan, 14 percent of the deaths have been in elder-care facilities. That is compared with more than 40 percent in the United States, despite a lower proportion of U.S. seniors living in nursing homes. (Denyer and Kashiwagi, 8/30)

Politico: Germany Eyes Global Health Ambitions As U.S. Steps Back
Germany might be on its way to filling the void left by the U.S. in global health. But it’s not going to admit it.In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s confirmation that the U.S. will exit the World Health Organization — leaving a gaping financial and political hole in global health — Germany is trying to step up to the plate. Weeks after the Trump administration formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the WHO, German Health Minister Jens Spahn took to the stage in Geneva, flanked by French Health Minister Olivier Véran, and announced a €200 million increase in German funding. The cash injection would put Germany’s contributions at around €500 million — an amount exceeded in the last two years by only the U.S. (Furlong, 8/30)