South Africa Braces For Continued Spike In Cases As Workplaces Reopen; Daily Records Of New Cases Strike Several States In India

AP: South Africa's Surge Of Virus Cases Expected To Rise Rapidly
South Africa’s current surge of COVID-19 cases is expected to dramatically increase in the coming weeks and press the country’s hospitals to the limit, the health minister said Sunday night. South Africa, a country of 57 million people, already has more than a third of the reported cases for all 54 countries in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people. (Meldrum, 6/28)

AP: Testing Stepped Up As Number Of New Coronavirus Cases Surges
Governments were stepping up testing and warily considering their next moves Monday as the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases surges in many countries. India reported 20,000 new cases Monday, while the U.S. confirmed more than 40,000 new infections for the the third straight day. As infections rise along with summer temperatures in the northern hemisphere, many governments are stepping up testing and mulling more aggressive moves such as renewed lockdowns to stem fresh outbreaks. (Schmall and Kurtenbach, 6/29)

Reuters: Australia Sees Biggest Daily Rise In COVID-19 Cases In Two Months
Australia’s second most populous state said on Monday it is considering reimposing social distancing restrictions after the country reported its biggest one-day rise in new coronavirus infections in more than two months. Propelled by Victoria state reporting 75 cases, Australia recorded 85 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, its biggest daily outbreak since April 11. (Packham, 6/29)

NPR: Pandemic Causes China To Rethink Breeding Wild Animals For Food 
This year was supposed to be a good year for selling bamboo rats to eat. Prices had been rising steadily as had their popularity as a delicacy when grilled. Then the coronavirus hit. "People nowadays are always talking about poverty alleviation. But now, I'm close to being in extreme poverty," said Liu Ping, a breeder of bamboo rats — plump rodents known for their sharp, bamboo-gnawing incisors and ample flesh. (Feng and Cheng, 6/28)

Boston Globe: From Hard-Hit Boston To Beleaguered Haiti, A Lifeline For COVID Patients 
Dr. David Walton and Jim Ansara are no strangers to Haiti and its challenges. The pair — a Boston physician and the founder of Shawmut Design and Construction — helped plan and build a 300-bed hospital north of the capital of Port-au-Prince after the 2010 earthquake. They also helped transform and expand a small hospital in southern Haiti into the only round-the-clock medical facility for the area’s 2.3 million people. Now, Walton and Ansara have turned their attention to the coronavirus and its potentially devastating impact on an impoverished nation where many people, already hobbled by a fragile health care system, have suspicions that the disease is a myth. (MacQuarrie, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Crisis Strains Russia’s Soviet-Era Regional Health System 
In mid-April, when the hospital in this hardscrabble rural town saw its first confirmed coronavirus infections, the district’s chief doctor ordered 16 nurses and doctors to quarantine at the facility, together with 40 patients, many suspected of having the virus. The health workers cared for the sick without any protection such as masks, said Nina Rogova, 46 years old, a nurse at Karabanovo hospital, in the Vladimir region some 130 miles northeast of Moscow. The hospital’s management threatened them with criminal charges if they left. Medical personnel slept in their offices or in wards next to the sick. “There we were, all together in this broth,” Ms. Rogova said. (Simmons, 6/28)

AP: The Latest: Greece Eases More Coronavirus Restrictions
Movie theaters, casinos and children’s summer camps reopened in Greece on Monday, while concerts, conferences, commercial fairs and artistic events can once again be held, in the latest phase of the country’s easing of lockdown measures. (6/29)

The Washington Post: How The World’s Beaches Are Readying For A Summer Of Social Distancing 
As tourists and travelers start to return to many of the world’s seasides, government health officials and scientists are turning their attention to every inch of sand to assess the risk of the coronavirus’s spread. But while the novel coronavirus may dislike direct sun and open air, it loves a crowd and shared spaces. That’s why officials in southern England were so shocked last week by what they classed as a “major incident” amid a heat wave: thousands of people packing beaches, all in violation of social distancing measures. In Brazil, beachgoers have similarly flocked to sandy shores while flouting face mask recommendations. (Berger, 6/27)

AP: Worst Virus Fears Are Realized In Poor Or War-Torn Countries
For months, experts have warned of a potential nightmare scenario: After overwhelming health systems in some of the world’s wealthiest regions, the coronavirus gains a foothold in poor or war-torn countries ill-equipped to contain it and sweeps through the population. Now some of those fears are being realized. (Imray and Krauss, 6/29)

The New York Times: 3 Die In New Mexico After Drinking Hand Sanitizer, Officials Say 
Three people have died, three are in critical condition, and one is permanently blind after ingesting hand sanitizer that contained methanol, the New Mexico Department of Health announced Friday. (Fazio, 6/26)

Reuters: Indonesia Reports 1,082 New Coronavirus Cases, 51 Deaths - Reuters
Indonesia reported 1,082 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the total number of infections to 55,092, said health ministry official Achmad Yurianto. The Southeast Asian nation also recorded 51 more deaths on Monday, taking the total number of COVID-19 fatalities to 2,805, the highest in East Asia outside China. (6/29)

The New York Times: How The World Missed Covid-19’s Silent Spread 
Dr. Camilla Rothe was about to leave for dinner when the government laboratory called with the surprising test result. Positive. It was Jan. 27. She had just discovered Germany’s first case of the new coronavirus. But the diagnosis made no sense. Her patient, a businessman from a nearby auto parts company, could have been infected by only one person: a colleague visiting from China. And that colleague should not have been contagious. The visitor had seemed perfectly healthy during her stay in Germany. (Apuzzo, Gebrekidan and Kirkpatrick, 6/27)

NPR: In Colombia, Tax-Free Holidays Lead Critics To Decry 'COVID Friday' 
After imposing one of the tightest coronavirus lockdowns in Latin America, Colombia is now searching for ways to jump-start its economy. One experiment is a series of tax-free shopping days, but critics fear they could turn out to be super-spreader events. At a time when the country is facing a spike in COVID-19 cases, urging Colombians to flock to stores and malls "sends an erroneous message," said Bogotá Mayor Claudia López. (Otis, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Brazilian Black Lives Matter Anti-Racism Protests For Miguel Otavio Santana 
In the early days of Brazil's coronavirus outbreak, when businesses and churches went dark, anyone who could stay home did. But not Mirtes Souza. She worked as a maid, and her duties cooking and cleaning for a wealthy family were to continue. One day this month, she left the luxury building to walk the family’s dog, leaving her 5-year-old son, Miguel, in the care of her boss. But security footage broadcast widely in Brazil showed the woman leaving him unattended inside an elevator and the door closing. (McCoy, 6/28)

Reuters: Thailand To Re-Open Bars And Allow In Some Foreigners
Thailand will allow pubs and bars to re-open on Wednesday and plans to let in some foreign travellers after recording five weeks without any community transmission of the coronavirus, a government official said. Foreigners with work permits, residency and families in Thailand will also be able to enter the country, but will be subject to a 14-day quarantine. (6/29)

The New York Times: African Migrants In Yemen Scapegoated For Coronavirus Outbreak 
The Yemeni militiamen rumbled up to the settlement of Al Ghar in the morning, firing their machine guns at the Ethiopian migrants caught in the middle of somebody else’s war. They shouted at the migrants: Take your coronavirus and leave the country, or face death. Fatima Mohammed’s baby, Naa’if, was screaming. She grabbed him and ran behind her husband as bullets streaked overhead. (Yee and Negeri, 6/28)

The Washington Post: A Covid-Free Town In Italy Reopens To Travelers And Coronavirus Risk 
The mountaintop town is four hours south of Rome, reachable by switchback roads — appropriately remote for an alternate reality. Here, far away from the coronavirus pandemic, in a place where nobody has tested positive or gotten sick, it was lunchtime, and a restaurant in town was filling up: tables of four, tables of six, a table of eight, and then the biggest table of all, reserved for teachers and middle schoolers celebrating graduation. (Harlan and Pitrelli, 6/27)

In other news —

AP: China Forces Birth Control On Uighurs To Suppress Population
The Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country’s Han majority to have more children. While individual women have spoken out before about forced birth control, the practice is far more widespread and systematic than previously known, according to an AP investigation based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor. The campaign over the past four years in the far west region of Xinjiang is leading to what some experts are calling a form of “demographic genocide.” (6/29)

The New York Times: India Debates Skin-Tone Bias As Beauty Companies Alter Ads 
Throughout the years she was growing up in southern India, Christy Jennifer, a producer with a media house in the city of Chennai, was traumatized by episodes of prejudice. As she walked through school corridors, classmates pointed at her darker skin and teased her, she said. Even friends and family members told her never to wear black. She said she was constantly advised on which skin lightening cream to use, as if the remedy to this deep-seated social bias lay in a plastic bottle. (Yasir and Gettleman, 6/28)