August 25 coronavirus news

French health authorities reported a “strong rise” in virus transmission on Tuesday, adding that the situation in France “remains preoccupying.”

At least 3,304 new cases were reported on Tuesday, for a total of 248,158 confirmed cases in France. In comparison, last Tuesday saw a rise of 2,238 cases, while the Tuesday before reported 1,397 new cases.

Hospital entries are still decreasing, with 4,600 people currently hospitalized for coronavirus (-90). Intensive care unit numbers, however, continue to steadily increase, with 410 people in ICU (+11).

At least 30,544 people have died from coronavirus in France since the beginning of the epidemic.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization regional director for Africa, speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 1, 2019.

Wild polio may have been eradicated from the African continent, but vaccination will have to continue to keep the virus from coming back – and coronavirus is disrupting that effort, a top World Health Organization official said Tuesday.

Teams fought conflict and struggled to reach displaced people to deliver the vaccines that eradicated the virus, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said during a live event on Tuesday. 

However, the battle is not over. The oral polio vaccine uses a weakened but not completely inactive strain of virus that, if it circulates among incompletely immunized people, can mutate into a pathogenic form. Vaccination must continue to keep this strain from causing outbreaks, Moeti said.

The Covid-19 pandemic means that some immunization campaigns are being postponed in 16 countries that are experiencing this type of polio. 

“The eradication of wild polio virus from the African region reminds us of the importance of investing in universal health coverage, in preparedness and response to outbreaks, and in making our societies more equitable, particularly for the most vulnerable among us,” Moeti said.

A person passes a Covid-19 antibody testing sign at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, on August 24.

As students return to campuses, at least 24 states are reporting positive cases of Covid-19 at colleges and universities.

This represents more than 3,300 cases of Covid-19 among students and staff.

Remember: This is list represents cases that CNN has reported so far. There are likely many others.

Here’s a look at the colleges and universities reporting coronavirus cases:

Watch:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a House Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 31.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said because Covid-19 is such a new disease, we “certainly don’t know the whole story. 

“I think we learned the lesson that I think we should have known from our experience with other outbreaks — is that when you’re dealing with a work in progress, things change,” Fauci said during an interview with the Infectious Diseases Society of America released today.

The interview was recorded last week, before Fauci’s vocal cord surgery. 

We are still “learning things in real time,” Fauci said.

Even today, we’re learning about Covid-19’s transmissibility, asymptomatic transmissibility and the long-range, chronic residual effects, Fauci said.

“As scientists and public health officials, we need to be humbled to realize that any given moment, there may be a lot that we still do not know,” he said.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton speaks during a press conference in Danbury, Connecticut, on August 25.

Danbury, Connecticut’s increase in Covid-19 cases are due in part to recent travel, places of worship and sports gatherings, Mayor Mark Boughton said during a news conference today.

Part of Danbury, Connecticut’s spike in Covid-19 cases is also correlated with areas that had power outages, local and state officials said, prompting people to congregate for air conditioning.

State and local governments have reacted by closing athletic fields, as well as boat launches.

Right now, Danbury’s rolling average is 22 cases per 100,000, according to Danbury’s acting director of public health, Kara Prunty. Almost 1,000 people have been tested in Danbury over the last two days, Boughton added.

The federal agency charged with providing immigration benefits canceled the furlough of more than 13,000 employees Tuesday, a move that had been scheduled for later this month and would’ve brought the immigration system to a halt. 

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in May that it expected to furlough more than half of its workforce amid a budget shortfall. The agency asked for $1.2 billion.

USCIS had initially anticipated furloughs to begin the beginning of August, until deciding to push back the date. But stalled talks in Congress over the next coronavirus relief bill, the anticipated vehicle for funding, diminished the possibility of providing the funding anytime soon. Over the weekend, the House unanimously passed legislation that would’ve temporarily kept the agency afloat. 

 USCIS attributed the decision to cancel the furlough scheduled to begin Aug. 30 to “unprecedented spending cuts and a steady increase in daily incoming revenue and receipts.” The agency said it expects to maintain operations through the end of fiscal year 2020. 

A medical worker collects a swab from a person for a Covid-19 test at the the Santa Maria della Pieta' health center in Rome on August 17.

Italy has seen a steady increase in coronavirus cases in the past week, according to the health ministries press office. Authorities said approximately 50% of new infections have been contracted during summer vacations, around the country and abroad, primarily among young adults who have not been cautious with social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

Italy has reported 519 new, active Covid-19 cases within the last day, bringing the total number of active cases to at least 19,714, according to Italian Ministry of Health data released Monday.

Four people have died in the past 24 hours, bringing Italy’s death toll to at least 35,445, according to the health ministry.

There have been at least 5,750,470 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 177,619 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

So far on Tuesday, Johns Hopkins has reported 10,746 new cases and 367 new deaths. 

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, arrives to the swearing in of the newly appointed Health Minister at the Planalto Palace on April 17 in Brasilia.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro´s eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro tested positive for Covid-19 today, according to his press officer. 

Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro senator, has not reported symptoms and is currently working from his home in Brasilia. 

The president’s son is taking hydroxychloroquine as treatment, according to his press officer. President Bolsonaro has continually advocated the controversial anti-malarial drug with no scientifically proven effectiveness in treating Covid-19.

The President tested positive for the virus on July 7 and on subsequent occasions. On July 25, he announced via Twitter that he had tested negative. 

An American Airlines plane approaches a gate at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on July 10 in Arlington, Virginia.

American Airlines says it will lay off or involuntarily furlough 19,000 employees as of Oct. 1 unless the airline industry gets more help from Congress.

The world’s largest airline, which had 133,700 employees heading into this year, says it will need to reduce headcount by “at least” 40,000 employees. It said that 12,500 had agreed to leave the company with early retirement or buyout packages, and another 11,000 had agreed to voluntary furloughs for October.

Usain Bolt prepares to compete during the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships London 2017 at The London Stadium on August 12, 2017 in London. 

Usain Bolt has tested positive for the coronavirus, and the government in his native Jamaica says the fastest man on the planet won’t be spared punishment if he broke the rules stemming from a party held for his 34th birthday on Friday, according to Jamaica’s Health minister.

“It is now public knowledge that Mr. Bolt has been tested positive,” Dr. Christopher Tufton, the Jamaican Minister of Health and Wellness, said in a virtual press conference on Monday.

“He has been formally notified – I’m told – by the authorities and in keeping with standard protocols once there is a positive case, irrespective of the individual, it triggers an approach to questioning, interrogation if you will, which would then follow through with contact tracing.” Tufton said.

Ricky Simms, Bolt’s agent, confirmed his positive test to CNN.

Bolt, the world-record holder in the 100m and 200m and an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, had posted a video on social media earlier Monday prior to the test results.

He had been given the test on Saturday, he said, and wasn’t showing any symptoms. He intended to quarantine and urged those who had been around him to also isolate.

“I did a test on Saturday because I have work,” Bolt said. “I’m trying to be responsible so I’m going to stay in and stay in for my friends. Also, I’m having no symptoms.”

“I’m going to quarantine myself and wait to see what the protocol is […] Until then […] I’m quarantined by myself and just taking it easy. Be safe out there.”

New York has removed five states from its Covid-19 quarantine travel advisory, and it has added Guam, according to the governor’s office. 

Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Maryland and Montana were removed, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said in a release. 

Remember: We can expect the same measures to be taken in Connecticut and New Jersey as the three states set up the quarantine travel advisory collectively. Dozens of states and territories remain. 

There were two deaths reported in the state yesterday, matching the state’s previous low. No deaths were reported in New York City.

For the 18th straight day, the state remained under a 1% rate of positivity in testing.

Here’s the full list of states and territories on the travel advisory list:

Iowa State University announced it has 130 reported cases of Covid-19 on campus after the school’s first week of class, a statement from the university said.

The university said it tested 957 students, faculty and staff on campus between Aug. 17 and Aug. 23 to arrive at the 130 positive cases, giving the school a positivity rate of 13.6%. These results also include the athletic department, the statement noted.

The positivity rate is a sharp rise from the rest of the month when the school said its testing showed a rate of 8.8%, the statement explained.

“We also have adequate isolation and quarantine housing available,” she added.

Some context: Iowa State has been operating under a hybrid instruction model with 44% of its fall courses having an “in-person component,” while just more than a third of its courses are fully virtual, an earlier statement from the school explained. 

Iowa state, located in Ames, has more than 30,000 students and 6,000 full time faculty and staff, according to its website.

State Emergency Response Team members register drivers to receive a COVID-19 test at the Maingate Complex at Walt Disney World on August 14 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Florida health officials reported 2,673 new Covid-19 cases and 183 additional resident deaths on Monday, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH).    

The state has reported at least 599,176 coronavirus cases among Florida residents and 605,502 total cases across the state, DOH data shows.   

The Florida Department of Health shows the total Covid-19 death toll in the state standing at 10,580 Florida residents.

The three hotspots of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties account for 4,490 deaths, which is 42.4%  of all deaths in the State of Florida. 

Remember: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.  

The president of Spain's Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, speaks during a presentation of the regional government's strategy for the return to the schools on August 25 in Madrid.

The president of Spain’s Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced at a press conference on Tuesday the measures under which the education centers will open in the capital. 

Díaz Ayuso said masks will be mandatory for children from 6 years of age at all times while in the center. “This measure could be changed to 11 years of age if the situation in the region improved,” she added.

She also explained that classes will be reduced to 20 pupils and that 11,000 new teachers will be hired to allow that ratio. All centers will be provided with disinfectant gel, thermometers and masks, and the cleaning procedures will be made more thorough. Díaz Ayuso added that 100.000 tests will be performed to centre’s personnel.

Catalonia’s President, Quim Torra, announced similar measures on Monday. He said children 12 years old and up in Catalonia will have to wear masks at school, and from the age of six in those territories with “higher risk of contagion.” Classes will also be reduced to 20 students and 500,000 tests will be carried out in Catalan schools and high schools.

In Spain, the regional governments retain the responsibility and the decision power on education, as well as health, so each of the 17 regions will have to decide which measures they see fit for the schools and other educational centers to reopen in their territory. 

Children in public schools in Danbury, Connecticut, will start the year with entirely remote learning, superintendent Sal Pascarella told CNN. 

The move comes as the city is facing a “serious outbreak” of Covid-19, according to Gov. Ned Lamont.

The superintendent will revisit the decision on Oct. 1, with full-day childcare available in the meantime, he added.

Some background: There were at least 178 new Covid-19 cases reported in Danbury between Aug. 2 and 20, compared to the 40 new cases recorded in the two weeks before, according to the state department of public health. That represents a 345% increase in new reported cases.

Students walk at the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh on August 7.

North Carolina State Athletics has temporarily paused all athletic-related activities, including football, “due to an identified cluster within its programs,” the school announced Monday in a statement.

NC State said it will continue to follow established protocols in consultation with campus and local health officials.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a House Subcommittee on July 31 in Washington, DC.

In an email interview with The Washington Post, that’s how Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is sometimes referred to as the “skunk at the picnic” at the White House — but added that Vice President Mike Pence, head of the administration’s coronavirus task force, still listens to his counsel. 

Fauci’s emailed comments were published in an article about Pence in The Washington Post on Monday. 

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, praised Pence in an email to The Post as “a truly decent person, and very smart, who is trying to do his best in a very difficult and fluid situation.” 

Fauci wrote that Pence is “an optimist,” but the vice president has never prevented Fauci from sharing grim information with the President.

A health worker cleans the bodybag of a Covid-19 victim in the intensive care uni of a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 18.

Argentina reported its highest number of both new Covid-19 cases and deaths Monday, according to numbers released from the Health Ministry.

On Monday, the ministry reported 382 new deaths from the virus — its highest daily increase since the outbreak started. The previous record — 282 new deaths — was reported on Aug. 19.

Argentina’s death toll from the virus now stands at at least 7,366.

The ministry also reported a record 8,713 new cases Monday, bringing the country’s total number for cases to at least 350,867. Its previous record for new cases was set on Aug. 20, when the ministry reported 8,225 new cases.

Argentina has the 6th highest number of confirmed cases in Latin America behind Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Brazil and the 12th highest death toll worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s latest tally.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the number of new Covid-19 deaths in Argentina. There were 382 new deaths on Monday.

Two European patients, one in Belgium and one in the Netherlands, have been infected twice by the coronavirus, virologists say.

Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst told VRT News that a Belgian woman was infected first in mid-March, then again in June. Her symptoms were mild enough to avoid hospitalization, he said.

“We were able to genetically sequence the virus in the two cases,” Van Ranst said in a television interview on Monday night. “And there is indeed enough difference to be able to say that this is another strain, a second infection.”

“Good news, it is not,” he said. “Because you hope of course that when you’re infected, that you’re then out of the danger zone for a long while. And hopefully that is so in most cases. At the very least, there appear now to be exceptions.”

Meanwhile, a patient was infected twice in the Netherlands, virologist Marion Koopmans told NOS, the Dutch national broadcaster.

Koopmans said it was an “older patient with a compromised immune system,” according to NOS. Koopmans confirmed to NOS that the RNA profiles of the two viruses that infected this patient differed.

The news comes after a 33-year-old man living in Hong Kong was reported to have had Covid-19 twice this year, according to preliminary research.

The pre-print study – which the University of Hong Kong said on Monday has been accepted to publish in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases – found that the man’s second case of Covid-19 occurred 142 days after the first.

The study also noted that in the first case, the man showed symptoms but in the second case he was asymptomatic, in that he did not show any noticeable symptoms. 

The genetic analysis showed that the first infection was from a strain of the coronavirus most closely related to strains from the US or England, which were collected in the spring, and the second was most closely related to strains from Switzerland and England, which were collected in July and August.

“This case illustrates that re-infection can occur even just after a few months of recovery from the first infection. Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may persist in humans as is the case for other common-cold associated human coronaviruses, even if patients have acquired immunity via natural infection or via vaccination,” the researchers wrote in their study.

The researchers called this the “first case” of re-infection of Covid-19 in their paper, but other experts are calling for more research before naming this case truly the world’s first. 

Hong Kong researchers say man got Covid-19 twice:

Bicycle police patrol on the Trocadero esplanade, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on August 24.

As European authorities battle to control further waves of the pandemic, Covid-19 infections are rising across the continent. Here are the latest developments:

France: French health authorities are warning of a strong increase in coronavirus circulation, specifically among young adults. On Monday, its health ministry said 3.6% of tests for Covid-19 came back positive in the week of August 15-21, compared to 1.4% at the start of the summer.

France has recorded 244,854 cases and 30,528 deaths, including 1,955 cases and 15 deaths in the past 24 hours, Monday figures showed.

Meanwhile, nearly one-third (30%) of vacationers tested at a nudist village in southern France’s Cap d’Agde municipality have tested positive, according to local health authorities. Occitanie Regional Health Authorities conducted three days of testing last week in Cap d’Agde, a locality known for nudist beaches and resorts The two first rounds of testing found 95 people positive among 490 people tested, and additional tests are being analyzed. Authorities report 50 additional positive cases among vacationers who went through Cap d’Agde and were tested upon their return home.

Germany: A further 1,278 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Germany since Monday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) revealed Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 234,853. 

According to the RKI, the number of cases in Germany has “risen markedly” in recent weeks and demonstrates a “very concerning” trend in the national infection rate. 

On Monday, Germany issued a travel warning for Paris and the Cote d’Azur region of southeastern France due to high levels of coronavirus infection. Travelers returning from these regions will be required to get a free coronavirus PCR test upon arrival in Germany and could be obligated to quarantine for 14 days, the government said. 

Spain: Spain has recorded 19,382 new coronavirus cases since Friday, according to health ministry data on Monday.

Some of the 17 Spanish regions have decided to tighten safety measures as the number of infections continues to climb. Madrid’s regional government Justice Secretary, Enrique López, asked citizens on Monday to “avoid unnecessary gatherings.” Catalan President, Quim Torra, announced that Catalonia is banning gatherings of over 10 people, given that “70% of the contagions happen during social gatherings,” adding that “the next three weeks are decisive.”

UK: A potential coronavirus vaccine being jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca could be put before regulators by the end of this year, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said Tuesday. “It is just possible that, if the cases accrue rapidly in the clinical trials, we could have that data before regulators this year, and then there would be a process that they go through in order to make a full assessment of the data,” Professor Andrew Pollard said. However, speaking to BBC Radio 4, Pollard cautioned that the process could take longer depending on how much data scientists are able to gather. 

The Scottish government announced on Tuesday that students over the age of 12 will be advised to wear face coverings at school. This comes after an outbreak at a school in Dundee, which saw 22 people test positive for Covid-19.

Italy: Italy registered 953 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Protection on Monday. In the past week the country has seen an increase of over 6,000 cases, the highest since May 11-17. It has had a total of 260,298 cases and 35,441 deaths. 

Belarus: Belarus will become the first country to receive doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed in Russia as part of a new agreement reached by President Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko on Monday.

According to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BeITA), the two leaders agreed that Belarusian citizens will participate in the third stage of Russian vaccine trials, on a voluntary basis.

Empty desks are pictured at Cushman & Wakefield Plc's offices during the first phase of the reoccupation of their headquarters in London, on June 24.

Bustling skyscrapers and office parks packed with workers could be a relic of the pre-pandemic world.

The health crisis has forced millions of Americans to abandon their offices in favor of working from home, for better or worse. Now there are signs this may not be a short-term phenomenon, but more of a permanent shift in favor of remote work even after a Covid-19 vaccine is in place.

More than two-thirds (68%) of large company CEOs plan to downsize their office space, according to a survey released Tuesday by KPMG.

The pandemic is proving employees don’t need to work in cubicles to be successful. And that in turn raises questions about the value of expensive office space, especially in high-priced cities like New York and San Francisco.

The survey, which captured responses mostly from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, suggests that even if a vaccine were to be approved tomorrow, the shift to a more nimble virtual work model is not going away. Corporate America is accelerating its investments in digital transformation.

Read the full story here.

Belarus will become the first country to receive doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed in Russia as part of a new agreement reached by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko on Monday. 

According to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BeITA), the two leaders agreed that Belarusian citizens will participate in the third stage of Russian vaccine trials, on a voluntary basis.

In a press release, the Kremlin added that the telephone call between Putin and Lukashenko focused on “bilateral cooperation” between the two states, as well as the situation in Belarus. 

Mass demonstrations over August’s disputed presidential election are now entering a third week in Belarus.

“Alexander Lukashenko informed [Putin] about the measures being taken to normalize the situation in the country,” the Kremlin statement added.

Spain has launched mass coronavirus testing in a bid to get a snapshot of how infections are spreading as cases in the country continue to rise. Journalist Atika Shubert reports from Madrid.

WATCH:

Some 66 Covid-19 cases in South Korea are linked to a cluster at a Starbucks store in Paju city, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Tuesday.  

Health officials said the cases mainly occurred among customers who did not wear face masks inside the café, adding the location was poorly ventilated.

Among the 66 infections, 25 were visitors to the café, 37 were linked contacts, while four others were related to the initial patient, the KCDC said in a statement.

On August 20, the KCDC said that the patron who authorities identified as the “first identified patient” stayed for two hours, and was sitting and talking without wearing a mask.

More cases linked to church cluster: In its latest update on Tuesday, the KCDC also linked 915 coronavirus cases to the Sarang-jeil church cluster. Among these, 564 are congregation members and visitors, 237 are close contacts and 114 are still being traced. 

Pupils return to St Paul's High School in Glasgow, Scotland, on August 12, for the first time since the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

Students over the age of 12 will be advised to use face coverings at schools in Scotland as part of new guidelines set to be issued by the Scottish government on Tuesday.

Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday that “from August 31 young people over the age of 12 at secondary schools should be habitually wearing face coverings when they are moving around schools and corridors and in communal spaces.”

This comes after an outbreak at a school in Dundee, eastern Scotland, which saw 22 people test positive for Covid-19.

Swinney said that the new guidelines were influenced by World Health Organization (WHO) updated guidance.

On Monday, WHO and UNICEF released new mask guidance divided by age groups, and said children 12 and older should be treated like adults, and follow WHO or national mask guidance as such.

Swinney said analysis from Scotland’s own scientific advisors had also concluded that there “was a place for the use of face coverings at different stages within the education system.”

He said that what the Scottish government had done was “essentially strengthen” WHO guidelines by expanding them to include the use of face coverings in communal areas and on school transport.

The Education Secretary stressed that it “is not a key and single measure that we are taking,” saying a range of mitigations were being put in place to facilitate a safe return to school. Whilst the new measures are not mandatory, Swinney said that when he spoke to Scottish principals last week “they were very clear with me that they felt this would be a beneficial move if this was undertaken.”

There have been more than 23.6 million cases of coronavirus globally, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. More than 813,000 people have died.

Here’s the latest from around the world:

Oxford vaccine could go before regulators by end of 2020: A potential coronavirus vaccine being jointly developed by the University of Oxford and drugmaker AstraZeneca could be put before regulators by the end of this year, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said Tuesday. However, Professor Andrew Pollard cautioned that the process could take longer depending on how much data scientists are able to gather.

Recovery “doesn’t mean you are immunized for life,”: Preliminary research has found that a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong had contracted Covid-19 twice this year, having fallen ill 142 days after being infected the first time. “Even if you have recovered from a natural infection, it doesn’t mean you are immunized for life,” said Ivan Hung, part of the research team at the University of Hong Kong. “This virus is very smart, it keeps on mutating. So that means even though you recovered from a natural infection, you still need vaccination, need a mask, and keep your social distancing.”

US racial inequality may be just as deadly as Covid-19, if not more: Even amid a pandemic, life expectancy among Whites in the US far exceeds what Blacks experience every year, according to a new study. Researcher Elizabeth Wrigley-Field of the University of Minnesota said it was plausible “even in the Covid-19 pandemic, White mortality will remain lower than the lowest recorded Black mortality in the United States.” 

Japan’s daily cases fall below 500 for first time in a month: Japan recorded 495 new infections on Monday – the first time since July 20 that figure has dipped below 500, according to the country’s Health Ministry. But despite the slight decrease, the government announced Monday that restrictions capping gatherings to 5,000 people will be extended through the end of September. 

Hong Kong to loosen some rules: Hong Kong will relax some coronavirus restrictions starting Friday, as daily new cases begin to drop after several weeks of combating a third wave of infection. Current social distancing measures will be extended for two more days. Then dine-in services at restaurants will be extended until 9 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., cinemas, beauty parlors and some outdoor sports premises will reopen, and face masks will also no longer be mandatory when exercising or in country parks.

Schools in South Korea capital stop in-person classes: Schools in the greater Seoul area will suspend in-person classes starting Wednesday due to a surge in coronavirus infections. All kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the area will hold online classes until September 11, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae announced Tuesday.

FDA defends authorization of convalescent plasma: US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn denied again on Monday that his agency had been pressured to authorize the use of plasma from coronavirus survivors as a Covid-19 treatment, but apologized for how he characterized data used in the decision. The White House announced the emergency authorization at a news briefing on Sunday – but President Trump had suggested he pressured the agency ahead of its announcement.

Fauci warns against early authorization of vaccine: Any effort to authorize and distribute a coronavirus vaccine before it has been proven safe and effective in large trials could damage efforts to develop other vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday. 

The University of Alabama has reported 566 cases of coronavirus infections among students and staff since classes began last Wednesday, according to the university’s Covid-19 dashboard. 

Of these cases, 531 are on the university’s main campus in Tuscaloosa. The remaining campuses in Birmingham and Huntsville, along with the University’s clinical enterprise employees, have recorded 35 total cases. 

On Sunday, University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell called on all students, faculty and staff to work together after what he says is an “unacceptable rise” of Covid-19 cases on campus. 

Authorities in Gaza have imposed a 48-hour closure on the coastal enclave after four members of the same family tested positive for coronavirus in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

These are the first cases of community spread in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health.  

All of the other cases have been brought in from outside of Gaza.

The closure comes during a period of heightened tensions between Gaza and Israel. After months of relative calm, groups in Gaza have resumed launching explosive and arson balloons, while militants have fired rockets into southern Israel. The Israeli military has struck Hamas infrastructure and military posts with aircraft and tank fire.

A potential coronavirus vaccine being jointly developed by the University of Oxford and drugmaker AstraZeneca could be put before regulators by the end of this year, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group said Tuesday. 

However, speaking to BBC Radio 4, Pollard cautioned that the process could take longer depending on how much data scientists are able to gather. 

“I think in time, because the virus is going to continue to transmit in our communities, we will, even with a thousand people, eventually have enough information to know whether or not the vaccine works – but that could take years,” Pollard said. 

“Having 20,000 people in our trials already means that that period of time will be shorter, but unfortunately I can’t quite predict the future about how many cases are going to occur in the next few months,” he added. 

Couples sit and enjoy the view of he Victoria harbor as public benches are seen with orange tape to block access to them in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, China, on August 24.

Hong Kong will relax some coronavirus restrictions starting Friday, as daily new cases begin to drop after several weeks of combating a third wave of infection.

Current social distancing measures will be extended for two more days before loosening, Hong Kong Secretary of Food and Health Sophia Chan announced today.

Dine-in services at restaurants will be extended until 9 p.m. instead of the current 6 p.m., while cinemas, beauty parlors and some outdoor sports premises will reopen, Chan said.

Face masks will also no longer be mandatory when exercising or in country parks.

Third wave: Hong Kong recorded nine new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, marking the lowest daily number of cases since July 3.

The past month has seen a third wave of infections sweep the city; daily case counts skyrocketed from single to triple digits.

The third wave saw restrictions, which had been gradually lifting, slam back down. No more than two people are allowed to gather in public, and restaurants can only seat a maximum of two people at one table.

But it’s still too early to relax: Hong Kong Director of Health Constance Chan added that the community infection chain has not been completely cut off, as around 30-40% of cases are from unknown sources.

Even amid a pandemic, life expectancy among Whites in the United States far exceeds what Blacks experience every year, according to a new study.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, uses national life expectancy data and demographic models to estimate how many White deaths from Covid-19 would be needed for the White death rate in 2020 to reach the levels of the year with the lowest Black death rate ever recorded, which was in 2014. 

That year, the rate of Black mortality was about 1,061 per 100,000, said Elizabeth Wrigley-Field of the University of Minnesota, who led this research.

For perspective, the most recent White mortality rate, in 2017, was about 899 deaths per 100,000.

Currently, the White Covid-19 age-adjusted mortality is about 28 deaths per 100,000 – meaning “US white deaths including Covid are still well below the best that Black mortality has ever been,” Wrigley-Field wrote in an email.

“If Black disadvantage operates every year on the scale of Whites’ experience of COVID-19, then so too should the tools we deploy to fight it,” she added.

Yesterday, preliminary research found that a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong had contracted Covid-19 twice this year, having fallen ill 142 days after being infected the first time.

Ivan Hung, part of the research team at the University of Hong Kong, said the study “underscores the importance of having an annual coronavirus vaccine to boost immunity even if you recovered from a natural infection.”

The second or third infection will likely be less severe than the first, unless the patient is elderly or immunocompromised, he added.

Vaccine development: More than 30 vaccine candidates are now in varying stages of clinical development and Phase 1, 2 or 3 clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization.

The race to find an effective vaccine has global implications, not just for the health of billions of people, but potential billions in revenue for the successful developer and manufacturer.

The United States reported 38,949 new cases of Covid-19 and 474 virus-related deaths on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

That brings the country’s total to at least 5,740,628 cases and 177,276 related deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Update: This post was updated to accurately reflect Monday’s figures.

Follow CNN’s live tracker of US cases here:

Schools in the greater Seoul area will suspend in-person classes starting Wednesday due to a surge in coronavirus infections, according to the country’s education ministry.

All kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the greater Seoul area will hold online classes until September 11, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae announced in a news release on Tuesday.

The measure will apply to schools in Seoul City, Incheon City and Gyeonggi Province, except students in their third year of high school.

There are more than 7,500 schools in Seoul and its surrounding areas, according to the latest statistics by the Education Ministry from 2019.

The decision came after the Education Ministry and superintendents of the metropolitan area agreed that more preemptive and intensive measures were necessary to prevent further spread of infection.

Some 150 students and 43 faculty members in the metropolitan area have tested positive since cluster infections in the area began on August 11, the release said.

Students normally go back to school at the beginning of March in South Korea, but the start of the spring semester was delayed this year due to the pandemic. South Korea began its phased return of students to the classroom in May. 

Tourists visit the Lake View Park after the government recently eased Covid-19 restrictions in Islamabad, Pakistan, on August 23.

Pakistan recorded 346 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, according to the country’s Health Ministry – the lowest daily figure since April.

Infections were still surging earlier this summer, reaching more than 6,000 cases a day in June.

The government announced reopening plans two weeks ago as cases began to drop; cinemas, hotels, restaurants and the tourism sector have all since reopened. The Ministry of Education will conduct a final review of the situation in early September, and has scheduled for schools to reopen later that month.

Restrictions on transport and airlines are expected to lift in October, officials said.

Workers and volunteers disinfect as a precaution against the coronavirus on a street in Goyang, South Korea, on August 25.

South Korea confirmed 280 new coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of these cases, 264 were local transmissions. The country also reported one new virus-related death.

Monday’s figures raise the national total to 17,945 cases and 310 deaths. Some 14,286 patients have recovered so far. Among the remaining active cases, 3,349 remain in quarantine and 38 patients are in critical condition.

Crucial time: Senior Health Ministry official Yoon Tae-ho said this week is a critical period to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Social distancing Level 3 requirements will be reviewed depending on this week’s numbers, he said.

This autumn presents a threat; the national holiday Chuseok takes place during the first week of October, and is often referred to as “Korean Thanksgiving” – a time when people travel across the country to spend time celebrating with their families.

The government is now reviewing strategies to minimize the spread of the virus during this period.

Brazil’s federal government agency has approved the humanitarian non-profit Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to enter indigenous communities and assist with the coronavirus surge there.

The approval came Monday for select MSF teams to enter seven Terena people villages of the Aquidauana region, in the midwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, according to the official Brazilian gazette. 

Some context: Last week, the indigenous association reported that the government didn’t give permission for the MSF teams to enter Terena’s villages, where more than 6,000 people live, according to the organization.

The agency said that the plan presented by the organization needed to be evaluated in order to not interfere with their own work.

Covid has devastated Indigenous communities: By early August, more than 22,000 Brazilian indigenous people had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and at least 631 had died from it, according to indigenous group APIB. But due to limited testing, the real toll could be higher.

The deaths included prominent indigenous leader Chief Aritana Yawalapiti of the Upper Xingu territory.

These indigenous communities are often far from hospitals, in areas which often lack basic infrastructure. Those who move to towns or cities can end up in precarious living conditions with few public services, increasing their vulnerability to health issues.

Japan recorded 495 new Covid-19 cases nationwide on Monday – the first time since July 20 that figure has dipped below 500, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Of those cases, 95 were from the Tokyo metropolitan area – the capital’s lowest daily number since July 8.

Japan recorded 15 virus-related deaths on Monday.

The new figures raise the country’s total to 63,833 cases and 1,209 related deaths since the pandemic began, according to the Health Ministry. 

Extended restrictions: Despite the slight decrease, the government announced on Monday that restrictions capping gatherings to 5,000 people will be extended through the end of September. They had previously been scheduled to expire on August 31.  

Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, speaks during a media briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on August 23.

US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn denied again on Monday that his agency had been pressured to authorize the use of plasma from coronavirus survivors as a Covid-19 treatment, but apologized for how he characterized data used in the decision. 

Some context: The White House announced the emergency authorization at a news briefing on Sunday, where President Donald Trump called the decision “historic.”

But Trump also suggested he pressured the agency. “I think there might have been a holdup, but we broke the logjam over the last week, to be honest,” Trump said at the briefing.

FDA’s response: Hahn told CNN Sunday he had not been pressured. In a series of tweets Monday, he repeated that assertion.

“Media coverage of FDA’s decision to issue emergency authorization for convalescent plasma has questioned whether this was a politically motivated decision. The decision was made by FDA career scientists based on data submitted a few weeks ago,” Hahn tweeted.

“They had confidence that convalescent plasma has potential to benefit many sick patients and the safety profile is well defined,” he added. “The decision was based on significant data from the Mayo Clinic and other reliable sources plus a century of experience with convalescent plasma.”

But Hahn apologized for how he presented the data. He had previously said that the Mayo Clinic data showed use of convalescent plasma reduced the risk of death by 35%, and said that meant if 100 people got coronavirus, 35 would survive because of the treatment. 

But this was inaccurate; the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed that 8.7% of patients who were treated within three days of diagnosis died, compared to 11.9% of patients who were treated four days or more after their diagnosis – a difference of about 37%.

Those treated with plasma containing the highest levels of antibodies had a 35% lower risk of dying within a week compared to those treated with less-rich plasma. The study did not show the use of plasma reduced the overall death rate by 35%.  

Colombian Health Minister Fernando Ruiz seen during a news conference in Bogota, Colombia, on March 4.

Colombia announced Monday it is joining a clinical study to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. 

The study will be conducted by multinational pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson across Colombia, the United States, and Belgium, according to Health Minister Fernando Ruiz.

About 60,000 volunteers between 18 and 60 years old in these three countries will take part in the study, which will consist of a single dose of the vaccine candidate. 

Earlier this month, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced the country would not reach out to Russia for a vaccine, opting instead to work with the World Health Organization to secure as many vaccine doses as possible.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, DC on July 31.

Any effort to authorize and distribute a coronavirus vaccine before it has been proven safe and effective in large trials could damage efforts to develop other vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Reuters Monday. 

Two sources have told CNN that White House officials have raised the possibility of an early emergency use authorization of a vaccine – before late-stage trials are finished. Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services, denied that there was any effort to fast-track vaccine development for political purposes. 

Several vaccines are being tested in the US and companies are working to ramp up production while testing is going on, so that if a vaccine is proven safe and effective it could be distributed immediately.

“To me, it’s absolutely paramount that you definitively show that a vaccine is safe and effective, both,” Fauci told Reuters. “We would hope that nothing interferes with the full demonstration that a vaccine is safe and effective.”

Free Covid-19 tests are carried out at this health kiosk near Mexico City, on August 20.

Mexico’s Health Ministry reported 3,541 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total number confirmed in the country to 563,705.

The ministry also reported 320 new fatalities, taking the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the country to 60,800.

The US ambassador to Mexico warned on Monday against nonessential travel on the US-Mexico border. Nonessential travel between the US and its two closest neighbors – Canada and Mexico – has been blocked amid spikes in confirmed coronavirus cases in the US.

Ambassador Christopher Landau said on Twitter there were significant delays at some border crossings at the weekend for those attempting to enter the US from Mexico.

Mexico has reported the seventh-highest number of coronavirus cases and third-highest number of deaths in the world. The US has identified more Covid-19 infections and deaths than any other country.

Stocks rallied Monday after the Trump administration approved a potential Covid-19 treatment. Wall Street finished in the green, and both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite finished at all-time highs.

The S&P ended up 1%, finishing above 3,400 points for the first time. The Nasdaq closed 0.6% higher. Both indexes surpassed the record levels they reached on Friday. 

The Dow closed 1.4%, or 378 points, higher. 

Even though the index performed the best out of the three major benchmarks, it remains more than 4% below the all-time high it hit in February.

A 33-year-old man living in Hong Kong had Covid-19 twice this year, according to preliminary research.

He had symptoms the first time around, but no obvious symptoms the second time, the team at the University of Hong Kong reported Monday.

The pre-print study – which the University of Hong Kong said has been accepted for publication in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases – found that the man’s second case of Covid-19 occurred 142 days after the first.

During his first episode of illness, the patient had a cough, sore throat, fever and headache for three days, according to the study. He tested positive for Covid-19 on March 26.

Then during his second episode, the patient was returning to Hong Kong from traveling in Spain via the United Kingdom, and he tested positive during his entry screening at the Hong Kong airport on August 15, the researchers said. The man was hospitalized again but remained asymptomatic.

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HKUMed: Pseudo-colour scanning electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 grown in culture from a patient isolate. After 24 hours in culture there are large numbers of orange viral particles on the surface of the cell (blue). Image courtesy of LKS Faculty of Medicine, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (K.Tsia, K.Lee and Q.Lai), and Electron Microscopy Unit, The University of Hong Kong

Related article Hong Kong man 'first case' documented of getting coronavirus twice