Coronavirus global updates, August 8: Nurses, healthcare staff stage fair pay protests in UK

A nurse measures the temperature of a mourner wearing a Mexican hat, and a protective face mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Here are the top global developments:

Nurses, healthcare staff stage fair pay protests in UK

Hundreds of nurses and other healthcare professionals took to the streets in different parts of the UK on Saturday to demand fair pay for the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) staff, who have been hailed as heroes for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Most public sector workers, including doctors, are set to get an above inflation pay rise backdated to April this year after the government announced the pay hike last month. But this would not include more than 1 million NHS staff such as nurses, cleaners and care assistants who are on a different kind of contract.

Protest organisers from the umbrella group NHS Workers Say No To Public Sector Pay Inequality said they refuse to accept government plans to exclude them from the public sector pay increase and want to be heard. “We are feeling undervalued, demoralised, overworked and exhausted. We have lost colleagues to COVID-19 and the fight is not over,” they said in a statement.

France’s Saint-Tropez resort makes masks mandatory outdoors

The glamorous French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez is requiring face masks outdoors starting Saturday, threatening to sober the mood in a place renowned for high-end, free-wheeling summer beach parties.

More cities and towns, especially in tourist areas, are imposing mask requirements as France’s coronavirus infections creep up again, with more than 2,000 new cases reported on Friday – the biggest single-day rise since May.

The uptick corresponds with France’s summer holidays, when vacationers head off in droves, often to seashores, for festive gatherings with family and friends. As of Saturday, wearing a mask outdoors is also compulsory in some crowded parts of Marseille, France’s second-largest city. 

Britain to require masks at most indoor places

People in Britain must wear masks in most indoor settings starting Saturday as the country tries to squash a rise in coronavirus infections that has followed the easing of lockdown measures.

England and Scotland now require face-coverings in most indoor spaces, including places of worship, museums, cinemas, banks and libraries. They were already mandatory in shops and on public transit.

A swath of northern England has been put under tougher restrictions that bar households from mixing, after a surge in infections that authorities blame partly on people meeting up in homes and pubs. Britain’s official coronavirus death toll stands at more than 46,500, the highest in Europe.

Singapore’s cases near 55,000-mark with 132 new patients

Singapore has reported 132 new COVID-19 cases, including six imported ones in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s caseload to 54,929, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The vast majority of the new infections are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

It said that there was no community transmission. The ministry said that 132 new cases in the last 24 hours took the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 54,929.

All the imported cases had been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, the ministry said.

Some travellers to Germany face mandatory testing

Travellers arriving in Germany from most non-European Union countries and some regions within the bloc that have high numbers of coronavirus cases will have to undergo compulsory testing from Saturday.

The tests for people entering from so-called high risk regions are free for the first three days after arrival. Travellers from those countries already have to self-quarantine for 14 days or until they can present a negative test. German authorities are concerned about the rising number of cases in the country.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, the nation’s disease control centre, recorded more than 1,000 new infections nationwide for the third day running Saturday.

Pak’s caseload reaches 283,487

Pakistan’s coronavirus cases have reached 283,487 with 842 new cases in the last 24 hours while the death toll has climbed to 6,068, the health ministry said on Saturday. Fourteen patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 6,068, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

So far, Sindh province reported 123,246 cases, Punjab 94,223, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 34,539, Islamabad 15,214, Balochistan 11,835, Gilgit-Baltistan 2,301 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 2,129 cases.

Pedestrians wearing protective mask walk near the Philippine National Bank (PNB) Center in Makati City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on Monday, July 27, 2020. (Photographer: Geric Cruz/Bloomberg)

Four US deaths tied to methanol-based hand sanitizers

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can help stop the coronavirus from spreading, but drinking the products turned out to be deadly for four people in two states. Health officials reported this week that 15 adults were poisoned in Arizona and New Mexico in May and June after drinking hand sanitizer. Besides the four who died, three had ongoing vision problems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

All had consumed sanitizers containing methanol, or wood alcohol. The active ingredient that kills germs in legitimate sanitizers is ethyl alcohol, which is consumable. But some companies have been replacing it with poisonous methanol, which is used in antifreeze.

US health chief to visit Taiwan, a COVID-19 success story

A pharmaceutical biochemist neutralizes and separates genetic material from a SARS-CoV-2 test at a laboratory at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (UASLP) Research Center in Health Sciences and Biomedicine in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Friday, July 24, 2020. (Photographer: Mauricio Palos/Bloomberg)

US Health Secretary Alex Azar has said he wants to learn about Taiwan’s “incredibly effective” response to the coronavirus even though the island did things that the US has fumbled, such as having a unified strategy and citizens willing to wear masks. Azar leads a U.S. delegation departing this weekend for a three-day visit to Taiwan, where they will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen and health system leaders, and Azar will give a speech to public health graduates. The trip is a geopolitical chess move in the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with China, which considers Taiwan part of its national territory and has already registered its displeasure.

US Postal Service loses $2.2 billion in 3 months

The US Postal Service says it lost $2.2 billion in the three months that ended in June as the beleaguered agency — hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic — piles up financial losses that officials warn could top $20 billion over two years. But the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, disputed reports that his agency is slowing down election mail or any other mail, and said it has “ample capacity to deliver all election mail securely and on time” for the November presidential contest, when a significant increase in mail-in ballots is expected.

“Our financial position is dire, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume, a broken business model and a management strategy that has not adequately addressed these issues,” DeJoy told the postal board of governors at a meeting Friday. “Without dramatic change, there is no end in sight,” DeJoy said.

A police officer inspects motorists at a quarantine checkpoint on the first day of a reimposed lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, on August 4, 2020, in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Pompeo speaks with his counterparts in India, Australia, Brazil, Israel, South Korea

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken with his counterparts from five key partners and allies, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on the collective fight against the pandemic, according to his spokesperson. Pompeo and his counterparts discussed the importance of continued close coordination in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, State Department Spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus said in a readout of the calls with foreign ministers of India, Australia, Brazil, Israel, and South Korea.

Germany’s confirmed cases rise by 1,122

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,122 to 215,336, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The death toll rose by twelve to 9,195.

In this July 10, 2020, file photo, COVID-19 patients are treated with oxygen at the Tshwane District Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Queensland closes southern border for second time

Australia’s Queensland state has closed road access from neighboring New South Wales because of the coronavirus outbreak. Only essential workers and locals living along the boundary are allowed to enter Queensland. Police say nearly 150 people had been turned away in the early hours of the shutdown.

Queensland’s chief health officer has declared New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, which contains the national capital of Canberra, to be coronavirus hot spots. That led to Queensland closing its southern border for the second time since the coronavirus crisis began. The Queensland government will review the border closure at the end of August. The state has had few new COVID-19 cases in the past month.

A health worker wearing a protective suit checks chairs before they open a free COVID19 swab testing at a gymnasium in Navotas city, Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Mexico receives $3 million donation from US

Mexico received a donation of $3 million from the United States to help fight the novel coronavirus, which has claimed more than 50,000 lives, a health official said on Friday. Mexico’s health ministry reported 6,717 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 794 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 469,407 cases and 51,311 deaths. Officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. Mexican Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said the donation would be used for research purposes, supplies, and tests.

MTV’s Video Music Awards drops plans for indoor show

MTV has abandoned the idea of holding its Video Music Awards show at an indoor venue in New York because of the complications of the coronavirus epidemic. The VMA show on August 30, which traditionally features live performances from music’s biggest stars, will instead go ahead with some artists performing at outdoor locations, MTV and the Barclays Center arena said on Friday. The VMA ceremony was to be the first major awards show since the pandemic began to take place in a physical location, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“In close consultation with state and local health officials‎, it became clear at this time that outdoor performances with limited or no audience would be more feasible and safer than an indoor event,” MTV and the Barclays Center said in a joint statement.