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 Doctors' strike ends in South Korea
South Korean doctors have agreed to end a two-week strike which has
complicated efforts to curb a new wave of coronavirus infections,
after overnight talks about the government's medical reform plans.
About 16,000 intern and resident doctors have been on strike since
Aug. 21, over the reform proposals, which include increasing the
number of doctors, building public medical schools, allowing state
insurance to cover more oriental medicine, and expanding
telemedicine. The doctors argue it would only deepen the
concentration of physicians in cities without improving poor medical
infrastructure and work conditions in rural provinces.
The government had agreed to halt the reforms and discuss them again
with the industry and the parliament once the coronavirus outbreak
had stabilised, according to ruling party officials who brokered the
agreement. [nL4N2G10FW]
COVID-19 spreads on U.S. campuses, 'Batman' movie set
Indiana University at Bloomington on Thursday urged students living
in fraternity and sorority houses to move out, citing an "alarming"
rate of positive COVID-19 tests that marked the latest outbreak in
the U.S. Midwest and at a college campus.
The university said on Twitter that positive tests for coronavirus
were exceeding 50% in some Greek houses, higher than in dorms, and
told fraternity and sorority members to "re-evaluate their current
living situation." [nL1N2G01UN]
British actor Robert Pattinson has tested positive for COVID-19,
news media reported on Thursday, halting production of "The Batman"
north of London, and highlighting the industry's struggles to get
back to business under complex safety procedures that include
testing, quarantine and social distancing on sets that employ dozens
of crew members, makeup artists, actors, extras and other production
staff. [nL1N2G01KR]
Australia deaths jump, NZ keeps restrictions
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Australia's Victoria state reported a record 59 deaths on Friday, the highest
ever daily total for the country, including previously unrecorded fatalities in
aged care homes over the past several weeks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's federal government is pushing state and
territory governments to reopen borders as Australia tackles its first recession
in almost 30 years. The national cabinet meeting is expected to discuss the
potential of an agreed definition across the country for virus "hotspots".
[nL4N2G045Q]
In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Friday current
restrictions to beat the spread of the coronavirus would be in place until at
least mid-September. Auckland, the country's largest city and the centre of a
fresh outbreak, will remain on alert level 2.5 that limits gatherings to no more
than 10 people. [nL4N2G10K8]
Jump in rural India's cases
The quaint, sugarcane-growing village of Rajewadi in India's west did not have a
single confirmed coronavirus case until mid-August. Now one in every four people
there is positive for the virus, with police blaming a local religious event for
the spread.
Such spurts in cases in small towns and villages, where mask wearing and social
distancing have nearly vanished and community gatherings are back, explain why
India's infections are now rising faster than anywhere else in the world and why
the country is soon set to top 4 million cases.
"In April and May, people were following all the rules but now the mentality has
changed. They have become casual and are taking coronavirus lightly," said
Subhash Chavan, civil surgeon in Satara district where Rajewadi village is
located. This trend has played out across India's countryside where 60% of its
1.35 billion people live. [nL4N2FU3GS]
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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