Health News at Your Fingertips

The rising number of cases in the US could be under control within four to eight weeks if everyone wore a mask, the director of the CDC has said.

Robert Redfield was speaking in an online interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, a medical publication. He also said wearing a mask was a public health issue and that he was “sad” to see it become politicised.

I am glad to see the president and vice president wear a mask. Clearly, in their situation they could easily justify they don’t need to … but we need for them to set the example.

The CDC said in a publication released on Tuesday that most Americans wore cloth face-coverings after the government recommended their use in April.

Venezuela’s capital Caracas will go into a strict lockdown on Wednesday in a bid to slow its outbreak, Joe Parkin Daniels writes. The neighbouring state, Miranda, will also be locked down.

The country’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez said the measures were taken to “protect the health of the people”.

Much of Venezuela has been shut down since its first case was reported in early March. Air travel has been suspended until 12 August. It has confirmed 9,707 cases and 93 deaths. However, observers worry that the infamously opaque government of Nicolás Maduro is underreporting the numbers.

Few countries are as ill-prepared to deal with the pandemic as Venezuela, which remains mired in economic turmoil despite boasting the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Hyperinflation is rampant, with shortages in food and medicines a daily reality. Many homes across the country go for days without power or water. The US-led coalition of 50 countries does not formally recognise Maduro’s presidency, instead backing opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

Here’s a summary of the latest news:

• Cities and states around the world returned to tighter coronavirus restrictions to battle recurring outbreaks, including India’s IT hub Bangalore which was set to go into a new week-long lockdown on Tuesday as the number of coronavirus cases surged.
• In France masks will become mandatory in all enclosed public spaces within the next few weeks, President Emmanuel Macron has said in a major Bastille Day interview. This comes as a a French study revealed the case of a baby boy infected with coronavirus in the womb This is believed to be first such confirmed case but doctors say infant has made good recovery.
• 6,000 new coronavirus cases in Russia. Russia has reported 6,248 new cases on Tuesday, and 175 deaths in the last 24 hours. That means the confirmed national tally is 739,947, the fourth highest in the world, and the official death toll is 11,614. But the number of cases in Moscow has dropped in recent weeks, and from yesterday rules requiring residents to wear masks outside were relaxed.
• EU drops Serbia and Montenegro from safe list. The European Union has decided to drop Serbia and Montenegro from its safe list of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed, and did not even discuss including the United States given its sharp rise in coronavirus cases, EU officials have said.
• The White House dropped plans that would have forced some international students out of the US if the pandemic pushed their coursework online. The Trump administration came to a settlement with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after they sued over the proposed measures.

Most people in the US wore cloth face-coverings after Washington recommended it in April, an official study has suggested.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers analysed data from more than 800 adults in two internet surveys in April and May who reported going outdoors in the past week.

Data published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report showed that, within days of the first national recommendation, 61.9% people reported using cloth face-coverings when they left home. This number rose to 76.4% a month later.

While more research is needed to understand why some people still do not wear cloth masks, the CDC said public health authorities should continue communicating the importance of covering the mouth and nose.

A Republican member of congress has tested positive, his office has said. Morgan Griffith is the 10th US Representative whose infection has either been confirmed or presumed by doctors, Reuters reports. The 62-year-old has been in self-imposed isolation since being tested. His office said:

Although he does not currently have significant symptoms, he will continue to self-isolate as he performs his duties.

A member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Griffith has participated in hearings and news conferences on Capitol Hill, including an outdoor news conference last week to push for reopening US schools.

Last month, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on committee chairmen to require members to wear masks during proceedings after Republican lawmakers defied public health recommendations.

Cases have recently increased in areas of Virginia outside the Washington suburbs. Griffith represents the state’s ninth congressional district in the southwest, along the state’s borders with West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.

The White House has backtracked on plans that would have forced some international students to leave the US if all their coursework was moved online because of the pandemic.

The Trump administration made the dramatic reversal after a US district judge said Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who sued over the proposed measures, had come to a settlement with Washington that would render them moot.

The US has suffered another 351 and registered 58,858 new cases, Washington’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said, taking the respective official totals to 135,235 and 3,355,457.

Here are the key global developments in the coronavirus pandemic from the last few hours:

• Cities and states around the world returned to tighter coronavirus restrictions to battle recurring outbreaks, including India’s IT hub Bangalore which was set to go into a new week-long lockdown on Tuesday as the number of coronavirus cases surged.
• In France masks will become mandatory in all enclosed public spaces within the next few weeks, President Emmanuel Macron has said in a major Bastille Day interview. This comes as a a French study revealed the case of a baby boy infected with coronavirus in the womb This is believed to be first such confirmed case but doctors say infant has made good recovery.
• 6,000 new coronavirus cases in Russia. Russia has reported 6,248 new cases on Tuesday, and 175 deaths in the last 24 hours. That means the confirmed national tally is 739,947, the fourth highest in the world, and the official death toll is 11,614. But the number of cases in Moscow has dropped in recent weeks, and from yesterday rules requiring residents to wear masks outside were relaxed.
• EU drops Serbia and Montenegro from safe list. The European Union has decided to drop Serbia and Montenegro from its safe list of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed, and did not even discuss including the United States given its sharp rise in coronavirus cases, EU officials have said.

Daily new cases in Turkey dropped to fewer than 1,000 for the first time since 11 June, the country’s health minister Fahrettin Koca has said.

There were 992 cases identified in the latest count. Koca said the total number now stood at 214,993, while the death toll rose by 20 on Tuesday to 5,402. Daily cases hit a low of 786 on 2 June, but more than doubled to 1,592 two weeks later after Ankara eased lockdown measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working to ensure vulnerable Latin American nations receive a “subsidised” vaccine at an “affordable” price once it is available, its regional director for the Americas Carissa Etienne has said.

The Latin America region has become the latest pandemic epicentre, with deaths in the region on Monday surpassing the North American death toll for the first time since the start of the outbreak, Reuters reports.

Many Latin American nations are relatively poor, with healthcare systems struggling to cope with the region’s 3.4 million confirmed cases and 146,000 deaths according to the news agency’s data.

In a virtual briefing, Etienne said Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), WHO’s regional office based in Washington, was to working to “ensure the most vulnerable countries in the region receive the Covid-19 vaccine on a subsidised basis and at an affordable price”.

The global race for a vaccine and treatments has turned into a battle between the world’s wealthiest nations, with rich countries buying up limited drug stocks or procuring future supplies of the most promising potential vaccines.

While the vaccine may be some way off, Latin American nations with small budgets will struggle to compete, experts said.

“What good is a vaccine if people don’t have access to it?” Etienne said.

Singapore’s economy shrank more than 40% in the second quarter of this year as the pandemic plunged the Southeast Asian financial hub into recession for the first time in more than a decade, according to a report of official data by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The 41.2% quarter-on-quarter drop was the worst ever recorded in the city-state, which is considered a barometer for the health of global trade.

It marked the second consecutive quarter of contraction, meaning the city state has entered a recession for the first time since 2009, when it was battered by the global financial crisis.