(Bloomberg) — The board of the Houston Independent School District, the seventh-largest U.S. school system with nearly 200,000 students, voted Thursday to require masks for students and teachers in class and on buses when classes begin Aug. 23. The vote came in defiance of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that governments not require masks.
U.S. regulators cleared giving a third vaccine dose to people with weakened immune systems to improve protection for those with impaired responses to standard shots. The authorization applies to both Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc., with organ transplant recipients or those whose immune systems are similarly compromised. Other fully vaccinated individuals don’t need an additional dose right now.
Austria reported the most daily infections since May as the pandemic expands again, prompting its government to consider mandating masks in all indoor areas. Mask wearing in all indoor spaces, not just public transport and shops, may be reintroduced, Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein told the Oe24 broadcaster on Thursday.
Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases top 205.4 million; deaths pass 4.3 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 4.6 billion doses administered
- NYC region confronts patchwork of virus rules as delta spikes
- Japan confronts lockdown taboo with virus at ‘disaster level’
- School mask rule clash puts heat on state courts to steer policy
- B-School over Zoom got better during the pandemic, students say
- Understanding the debate over booster shots: QuickTake
England R Number Range 0.8 to 1.0 (8:44 a.m. NY)
England’s estimate for its Covid-19 reproduction number is 0.8 to 1.0, according to data from the U.K. government dated Aug. 13. An R value between 0.8 and 1.0 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between eight and 10 other people.
U.K. Curbs Anger South Africa Tourism Industry (7:21 a.m. NY)
South Africa’s main inbound tourism industry body is lobbying U.K. politicians to remove the country from its so-called coronavirus travel Red List, which it says is incompatible with scientific evidence and is wrecking relations between the nations.
South Africa Has Vaccine Demand Headache (7:07 a.m. NY)
South Africa’s biggest challenge to meeting a target of vaccinating two-thirds of the adult population has shifted from a shortage of supply to a lack of demand.
“We are sitting in a situation where we don’t have a vaccine constraint, at least for the next two months,” Nicholas Crisp, a deputy director-general in the Department of Health, said in an online briefing on Friday. “Now we need vaccine demand.”
Indonesia Finds Sinovac Shot Less Effective (7:04 a.m. NY)
Indonesia found that Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine was less effective at protecting against death and severe illness in April to June, compared with the previous three months.
Meanwhile, the government administered 1.3 million first doses of vaccines and 1.5 million of second shots on Friday, the largest number in a single day so far. Indonesia is seeking to boost its mass inoculation program to reach 2.5 million doses given out each day in August and September, more than double its target for July.
Germany Says U.S. Among High-Risk Countries (6:52 a.m. NY)
The German government has elevated Turkey, U.S. and Israel to high-risk status, the Funke media group reports, citing unidentified officials. Germany also raises Montenegro and Vietnam to high-risk.
Portugal is no longer classified as a high-risk area, except for Lisbon and the Algarve. People entering Germany from affected countries must quarantine for 10 days if they can’t show proof of vaccination or recovery from illness
Austria Cases Highest Since May (4:22 p.m. HK)
Austria reported the most daily infections since May as the pandemic expands again, prompting its government to consider mandating masks in all indoor areas. The European nation of almost 9 million added 1,005 cases on Friday, the most in three months, lifting the national 7-day incidence rate to 56.
China Says 777 Million Fully Vaccinated (3:30 p.m. HK)
About 777 million people have been fully vaccinated in the country, National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng says at a briefing in Beijing. China faces challenge in controlling the outbreak stemming from multiple sources in a short period of time, Mi says.
China Opposes WHO’s Next Step in Probe (2:38 p.m. HK)
The World Health Organization’s plan for a further inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus is not based on the findings of earlier joint research between China and the agency, and it is opposed by more than 30 countries, vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu told diplomats in Beijing on Friday morning, China News Service reported.
“We’re are against politicizing the virus origin tracing,” Ma said. “We against virus origin tracing that’s abandoning results of the joint research.”
Tokyo Faces Disaster-Level Crisis on Virus (1:52 p.m.)
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said the spread of the virus is at disaster levels comparable with the heavy rains and flooding hitting western regions of Japan and urged residents to avoid going out and get vaccinated.
Koike spoke to reporters a day after an expert adviser to the Tokyo government said the virus was out of control. Tokyo reported just under 5,000 new cases Thursday, close to a record marked last week; national case numbers also leaped to a new high of almost 19,000.
Indonesia to Focus on ‘Reluctant’ Elderly (1:52 p.m. HK)
Indonesia is intensifying efforts to boost vaccinations for its “reluctant” elderly population as its daily death count remains among the highest in the world.
Eight months into its massive inoculation campaign, full vaccination coverage among people of 60 years and older has only reached 15.8%, the lowest of all three priority groups in Indonesia that include health workers and public officials. Fear of side effects, lack of mobility and support from family members, as well as disinformation are the main reasons for the low ratio, health ministry data showed.
South Korea to Buy 30 Million Pfizer Doses (1:28 p.m. HK)
South Korea signed a deal for 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine with an option to buy another 30 million when needed. The drugs will be delivered from the first quarter, the Korea Disease Control & Prevention Agency said. Separately, 400,000 doses of Janssen vaccines given by the U.S. government will arrive in South Korea on Aug. 15.
FDA Clears Third Shot for Some Patients (11:19 a.m. HK)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorizations for both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow an additional dose for some immunocompromised individuals.
The FDA assessed information on the third dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, it said in a statement, adding that other fully vaccinated individuals do not need an additional vaccine dose right now.
Thailand New Cases at Record as Deaths Mount (9:20 a.m. HK)
New infections stood at 23,418 in the past 24 hours with 184 Covid deaths, the government said, taking the total toll to 7,126.
South Korean PM Asks Citizens Not to Travel (9:16 a.m. HK)
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum urged the public to refrain from traveling during the three-day holiday starting on Saturday, as the number of daily new cases hovers near 2,000 for a third day. Kim also said he strongly recommends those who have traveled to get tested.
Worst Crisis Risks Erasing Australian Gains (8:15 a.m. HK)
More than a year and a half into the pandemic, Australia is facing its worst Covid-19 crisis yet with experts saying a lockdown of its biggest city needs to be ramped up to prevent further deterioration of the successful record in stamping out the virus.
Though Sydney has been in lockdown for nearly two months now, the curbs are generally looser than those that helped Melbourne beat back the pathogen last year; daily infections have surged from 12 on June 26, when the stay-at-home order was first announced, to records of around 350 this week.
U.S. Supreme Court Eases NY Eviction Ban (8:10 a.m. HK)
A divided U.S. Supreme Court eased New York’s temporary ban on evictions of renters who are experiencing financial hardships because of the pandemic.
Over the dissents of three liberal justices, the court on Thursday sided with small landlords who say they have been devastated by what they contend is an unconstitutional law. The justices blocked a provision that protected tenants from eviction if they filed a declaration that they are facing Covid-related financial or health hardship. The order doesn’t affect a separate provision that lets tenants cite hardship as a defense to eviction proceedings. The ban had been set to last through Aug. 31.
Study on U.K.’s Hospital-Acquired Infections (6:30 a.m. HK)
At least 11% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in the U.K. during the first wave of the pandemic last year became infected after admission, according to a study of 314 hospitals in Britain.
Residential care homes and mental health facilities had a greater proportion of patients contract the virus after admission than general-care hospitals, according to the study, conducted by researchers at a group of U.K. universities and published Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet.
Several reasons were cited, including hospitals having limited facilities to isolate cases, limited access to rapid and reliable testing and PPE, as well as lack of understanding of the virus in the early stages of the outbreak.
Mexico Hits Record Second Straight Day (6:10 a.m. HK)
Mexico posted a record rise in cases Thursday for the second day in a row as the pandemic surges anew in the country.
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