August 7 coronavirus news

Schools in a district in the US state of Georgia will operate remotely after dozens of staff members were placed in quarantine.

The Barrow County School System (BCSS) will work virtually instead of offering some in-person learning as originally planned, officials announced in a statement Wednesday.

Education officials came to the decision after more than 90 BCSS staff "had to quarantine due to a confirmed case of Covid-19, a suspected case, or direct contact with a confirmed case," the statement said.

He called the decision a "very difficult" one based on the "increasing number of Covid-19 cases in our county." 

In the statement, the district acknowledged "the difficulties that 100% online learning will cause for families" and said it was planning a phased approach to bring students back into the classrooms as quickly as possible.

The school year is scheduled to begin for all students in the Barrow County School System on Monday, August 17.

The state of Georgia has 204,895 confirmed coronavirus cases overall, and more than 4,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Hong Kong will offer universal, voluntary coronavirus testing for all citizens, the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced Friday. 

Lam said she hoped the testing scheme would launch in two weeks time.

Hong Kong officials have moved to contain a third wave of the virus, as cases continue to rise across the city.

Officials requested support from Beijing in late July to help increase its virus detection capability and its community treatment resources, Lam said Friday.

Sitting in front of backdrop reading “Fight the Virus with Central Government’s Full Support,” Lam added that Hong Kong will build an additional temporary hospital near the city's Asia World-Expo treatment center.

A new testing lab will also be built at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre, in an effort to ease pressure on hospitals.

Hong Kong confirmed 89 new cases of Covid-19 in the city on Friday, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 3,939.

The city has been reporting between 80 and 95 cases daily since Monday this week.

Poor mental health during lockdown was most common among younger women in Britain, a study from University College London (UCL) suggests.

UCL researchers surveyed more than 18,000 people in four cohorts -- those aged 62, 50, 30 and 19 -- in research conducted in May 2020 during Britain's coronavirus lockdown.

They found that poor mental health during the lockdown was most common among the 19-year-olds, followed by the 30-year-old bracket. Women were more likely than men to experience difficulties with mental health across all four age categories.

Over a third of women and a quarter of the men among the 19-year-olds had symptoms of depression during lockdown in May, and 45% of women and 42% of men said they felt lonely during this time, according to the study.

The researchers had data on the three older cohorts across several years, predating the pandemic. They found the 30-year-old women displayed a significant increase in poor mental health during the lockdown, when compared to when they were last surveyed at the age of 25.

UCL noted that the study was limited by the fact that it includes people at specific ages rather than at all ages.

"However the findings about high levels of difficulties especially among young women at the ages of 19 and 30 are likely to apply to young women in their twenties too," the university said in a statement.

It's nearing 11 a.m. in Berlin and 2:30 p.m. in New Delhi. If you're just tuning in, here's the latest on the pandemic.

The South Korean government has approved a private organization's request to send Covid-19 relief products to North Korea.

The group, the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Research Center (IKECRC), said it plans to send 10,000 virus test kits, 20 thermal cameras and a real-time PCR test set to Pyongyang. Kim Han-shin, who leads IKECRC, said the South Korean Unification Ministry approved the shipment on Friday.

North Korea has not publicly confirmed the existence of a single case of Covid-19, but experts are dubious that the virus did not cross into its borders at some point. However, Pyongyang is taking the virus' threat very seriously. The city of Kaesong was placed under lockdown last month after reports that a North Korean defector might have returned to the country from South Korea while possibly infected.

The goods are worth about $1 million, he said. The shipment is not a violation of the punitive United Nations sanctions levied on North Korea for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

The UN Security Council approved IKECRC's sanctions exemption requests last month, shortly before the South Korean government gave its own assent.

According to Kim, his group was able to raise funds for these products through help from a local government, but he didn’t reveal which local government that was.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, 40 tons of disinfectant and 20,000 hazmat suits have been sent to North Korea by private groups from South Korea, a Unification Ministry official said. The disinfectants and hazmat suits arrived in North Korea in early May and late July, respectively, according to the ministry.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a Friday news conference he believes any country that eventually produces a viable Covid-19 vaccine needs to share it with the world.

Morrison also pledged that if Australia finds the vaccine, "we will share it."

He also said that Australia is well-positioned to take advantage and be "in a position to be able to manufacture and supply vaccines should they be developed."

Where Australia's vaccine efforts stand: Australia's research and development for a coronavirus vaccine around the world are happening at "warp speed," said Paul Kelly, the country's acting chief medical officer.

Kelly also said the Australian government is looking "very clearly and carefully" into advance purchasing options, as well as local manufacturing options for potential vaccines.

Germany reported 1,147 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the country's center for disease control, the Robert Koch Institute. 

The death toll rose by eight to 9,183, the center reported.

Germany is currently experiencing a spike in coronavirus infections. Thursday marked the first time in almost three months that more than 1,000 new infections were recorded in a single day.

To date, more than 215,000 cases of Covid-19 have been identified in Germany, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Starting on Saturday, visitors to the country arriving from high-risk areas will be required to undergo a coronavirus test. 

Pakistan’s government has announced plans to reopen tourist hot spots, restaurants, salons and movie theaters next week due to a continued drop in coronavirus infections in the country.

The country has identified 281,863 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 6,035 patients have died. Authorities reported Friday that 727 cases and 21 fatalities had been identified in the previous 24 hours.

However, numbers are down overall. Data from the Ministry of Health shows that coronavirus cases and fatalities have both dropped 80% since their peaks in June.

What's opening when: Movie theaters, restaurants and businesses in the hospitality industry can open Monday. Tourism activities can restart tomorrow, Umar said.

All outdoor and indoor non-contact activities will also be allowed from Monday.

Umar said all the educational institutions in the country will be opened September 15 pending a final review by the Ministry of Education on September 7.

Marriage halls will be allowed to function from September 15, and train and airline restrictions will be lifted in October, Umar said.

Covid-19 appears to suppress the function of important immune system cells, preventing the body from fighting off the infection, researchers in Hong Kong reported Thursday. 

The team at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) said their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Immunity, indicate that boosting immune response with certain drugs might help patients recover better. It’s an approach already being tested by several groups. 

The researchers looked at the blood of 41 patients treated for coronavirus in Hong Kong early in the pandemic, and compared their immune function to that of healthy volunteers.

Immune system cells known as dendritic cells, along with T-cells and natural killer cells in patients with Covid-19 all appeared to be suppressed. All these cells are part of the body’s response to an infection.

One of the drugs tested was interferon beta-1b. It was initially developed as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, but because it targets the body's immune system, it is also being tested in coronavirus patients.