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 Worsening U.S. outbreak prompts tough actions
New Jersey adopted a stringent coronavirus face-mask order on
Wednesday, and New York City unveiled a plan to allow public school
students back into classrooms for just two or three days a week, as
newly confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases soared to a daily global record.
More than 47,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the two
northeastern states, accounting for more than a third of the
132,000-plus Americans killed by the virus, according to a Reuters
tally.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy unveiled an executive order
requiring face coverings outdoors where social distancing is not
possible, citing a rise in the state’s coronavirus transmission
rate. “It’s about life and death,” Murphy, a Democrat, said at a
briefing.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in 42 of the 50 states over
the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.
A controversial campaign rally held by President Donald Trump in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month likely contributed to a rise in the
number of coronavirus cases there, a top local health official said
on Wednesday.
Brazil's drug debate
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, 65, has placed his faith in
hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to help his coronavirus-ravaged
country and now himself beat COVID-19, turning them into the
centrepiece of his government's virus-fighting playbook.
Amid mounting evidence that these drugs have no benefit for
hospitalized patients, they are now flashpoints in Brazil's
polarized politics. People's views of the drugs have become
something of a referendum on their president, much like masks in the
United States.
To understand how Bolsonaro, who has derided the virus as "a little
flu", embraced this unconventional strategy, Reuters interviewed
more than two dozen people including current and former health
officials. What emerged was a picture of a leader worried about the
crippling effects of lockdowns imposed by governors and mayors
across Brazil, and eager for a quick fix to re-open the economy.
Good news in South Korea
Just one person in a South Korean survey of more than 3,000 people
showed neutralizing antibodies to the novel coronavirus, health
authorities said on Thursday, indicating the virus has not spread
widely in the community.
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While the sample size is small it is believed to be a reliable indicator of a
low infection rate among the 51 million people of a country held up as a
coronavirus mitigation success story.
South Korea at one time had the most serious outbreak of the coronavirus outside
China. It has had 13,293 cases and 287 deaths and has won praise for handling
the pandemic without a full lockdown of its economy.
Remdesivir that can be inhaled
Gilead Sciences Inc said on Wednesday it has started an early-stage study of its
antiviral COVID-19 treatment remdesivir that can be inhaled, for use outside of
hospitals.
The drug is currently used intravenously and an inhaled formulation would be
given through a nebulizer, which could potentially allow for easier
administration outside hospitals.
Remdesivir is believed to be at the forefront in the fight against the
coronavirus after the drug helped shorten hospital recovery times in a clinical
trial.
Silver bullet?
As global public transport operators look for ways to keep the coronavirus at
bay on planes, trains and buses, one of Japan's biggest rail firms is betting on
the anti-microbial properties of silver to keep passengers safe on the world's
busiest subway.
Tokyo's labyrinthine rail network of about 900 stations and roughly 85 lines has
seen passenger numbers approach pre-virus levels since the city's de facto
lockdown was lifted in late May. This raises the risk of transmission via
high-contact points such as hand straps, hand rails and seats, just as the
city's number of new cases of COVID-19 infection is rising again.
Tokyo Metro, the city's main subway operator, has begun spraying its nearly
3,000 cars with a super-fine atomisation of a silver-based compound to repel the
virus from surfaces.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes and Karishma Singh; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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