How The World Is Faring

CIDRAP: Global Trend Shows Hint Of Plateau, NZ Suspicion Shifts To Quarantine Breach In Flare-Up Source 
Yesterday, New Zealand officials said they are weighing freight contamination as one potential trigger for a newly identified cluster, its first locally acquired cases in 102 days. However, today Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said he suspected the virus came from a breach of quarantine, and he said he hoped there will be more information shortly. The WHO has said there is no evidence that people can contract the virus from food or food packaging. And at today's briefing, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said the WHO is aware of the investigation development. She said China has been testing packaging, with samples numbering a few hundred thousand, and so far they have found less than 10 positives. (Schnirring, 8/13)

The New York Times: New Zealand Beat The Coronavirus Once. Can It Do It Again? 
As the week began, New Zealanders were celebrating 100 days without community spread of the coronavirus, drinking at pubs, packing stadiums and hugging friends. Two days later, that suddenly changed: Four new cases, all related, emerged in Auckland. On Thursday, officials said the cluster had grown to 17, as they struggled to map out how the virus had returned to an isolated island nation championed for its pandemic response. (Cave and Solomon, 8/13)

AP: North Korea Lifts Lockdown In City, Rejects Flood, Virus Aid
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lifted a lockdown in a major city near the border with South Korea where thousands had been quarantined for weeks over coronavirus worries, state media said Friday. But Kim, during a key ruling party meeting on Thursday, also insisted the North will keep its borders shut and rejected any outside help as the country carries out an aggressive anti-virus campaign and rebuilds thousands of houses, roads and bridges damaged by heavy rain and floods in recent weeks. (Tong-Hyung, 8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: South Korea’s Coronavirus Response Under Pressure As Doctors Plan Strike
South Korea’s largest physicians group plans to strike on Friday, protesting a government proposal to increase the number of doctors after the country suffered staffing shortages when coronavirus cases surged earlier this year. About a quarter of South Korea’s 33,000 hospitals and clinics will close their doors Friday. The one-day walkout is being organized by the Korean Medical Association, a trade group that represents 130,000 doctors. The association has called for the government to retract a variety of overhauls it unveiled last month. (Yoon, 8/13)

The Washington Post: Britain Says It Overcounted Coronavirus Death Toll By 5,377 
England's coronavirus death toll is being revised downward by more than 5,000 fatalities after experts belatedly concluded they were probably overcounting deaths. This recently discovered “statistical anomaly” means that on Wednesday Britain’s official tally of deaths due to covid-19 was trimmed from 46,706 to 41,329 — a reduction of more than 10 percent. (Booth and Adam, 8/13)

Reuters: Belgian Hospitals Stock Up On Drugs, Kits For Possible Second COVID Wave 
Belgian hospitals are stockpiling drugs and protective kits and putting in place contingency plans amid a continuing spike in new COVID-19 infections that has forced the capital Brussels to make face masks compulsory in public spaces. With nearly 10,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus so far, Belgium with a population of 11 million has one of the world’s highest death rates from COVID-19 per head. (Rossignol and Levaux, 8/14)

AP: Africa Begins Continent-Wide Study Of COVID-19 Antibodies
An Africa-wide study of antibodies to the coronavirus has begun, while evidence from a smaller study indicates that many more people have been infected than official numbers show, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Experts are eager to know the real number of COVID-19 cases in Africa, as confirmed cases and deaths have been relatively low on the continent of 1.3 billion people. Poor data collection, however, has complicated efforts. (Anna, 8/13)

In other news —

AP: 75 Years Later, Japan War Orphans Tell Of Pain, Recovery
For years, orphans in Japan were punished just for surviving the war. They were bullied. They were called trash and left to fend for themselves on the street. Police rounded them up and threw them in jail. They were sent to orphanages or sold for labor. They were abandoned by their government, abused and discriminated against. Now, 75 years after the end of the Pacific War, some have broken decades of silence to describe for a fast-forgetting world their sagas of recovery, survival, suffering — and their calls for justice. (Yamaguchi, 8/14)