Brazil's Skeptical President Contracts Virus, WHO Warns of Airborne Risk
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the new coronavirus Tuesday after consistently downplaying the risks of the disease, as the World Health Organization acknowledged "emerging evidence" of airborne transmission.
Bolsonaro -- who at 65, is in the most vulnerable age group -- said he had only mild symptoms, has ignored containment measures such social distancing despite Brazil becoming the second-worst hit country with 65,000 dead.
Experts are still struggling to understand COVID-19, the disease brought on by the virus, and WHO said it was open to new research after scientists lobbied for it to stress that it can spread through the air far beyond the two meters (six feet) referenced in social distancing guidelines.
An average of some 190,000 new cases have been registered daily globally during the last week, according to an AFP tally.
As nations scramble to stop the pandemic, Australia on Tuesday ordered five million people locked down in Melbourne, its second-biggest city, to combat a surge in cases.
The worst-hit country -- the United States -- was still "knee-deep" in its first, its top expert warned, with cases also surging in India.
Bolsonaro insisted he was feeling "good, calm" and took off his face mask during a TV interview announcing his test results, before repeating his mantra that the "collateral effects" of the virus should not be worse than the illness itself.
Global confirmed infections have topped 11.6 million with more than 538,000 deaths, and the continued threat was illustrated by Australia -- which had largely suppressed its outbreak.
"We can't pretend" the crisis is over, said Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria state, after Melbourne reported 191 new cases in 24 hours.
"These are unsustainably high numbers... There is simply no alternative (to the lockdown) other than thousands and thousands of cases and potentially more."
The restrictions in the Melbourne metropolitan area would begin at midnight Wednesday and last at least six weeks, while Victoria state will effectively be sealed off from the rest of the country.
Melbourne residents are worried the lockdown will create further economic hardship.
"I just started this job last week and the new restrictions mean I'll be out of a job and out of a pay check again," Hotel Lincoln bartender Phoebe Askham told local broadcaster 7News.
- 'Knee-deep' -
The United States is still dealing with its first coronavirus wave, warned Anthony Fauci, its top infectious disease expert.
Officials have said hospitals in some parts of the country are in danger of being overwhelmed, with many states hit particularly hard after they eased virus restrictions.
"We are still knee-deep in the first wave of this," Fauci said Monday, adding that the U.S. never managed to suppress infections to a manageable level before reopening like some European nations.
"We went up, never came down to baseline, and now we're surging back up. So it's a serious situation that we have to address immediately."
The US death toll has hit 130,000, with confirmed infections fast approaching three million.
Some mayors have said their cities exited lockdown too early, as President Donald Trump tried to downplay the severity of the crisis, instead prioritizing economic reopening.
But in the latest example of the cost to people's normal lives, the US government said it would not allow foreign students to remain if all their classes are moved online because of the virus.
Around the world, governments are struggling to balance the need to reopen economies wrecked by weeks of lockdown measures with the risk of new infections.
Italy's health minister ordered a one-week suspension of flights to Rome from Bangladesh on Tuesday, after 21 passengers arriving from Dhaka tested positive, adding to the number of cases with the Bangladeshi community in the Lazio region surrounding Rome.
Lazio's top health official Alessio D'Amato called it a "veritable viral 'bomb' that we've defused."
There have been explosions of infections across the world, including Iran, which announced 200 new deaths on Tuesday.
- Schools in... and out -
In China, nearly 11 million students began taking the grueling annual college entrance exam known as Gaokao on Tuesday following a month-long delay.
Students and invigilators had to track their health during the 14 days prior to the exam. Students from high-risk areas have to wear masks during the tests.
"Though there are enough measures to protect us from contracting the virus, I am still feeling a bit nervous about gathering in a public area, but I have to take the test," said one student Zhao Kexin in Beijing where a new outbreak last month raised fears of a second wave.
But in Kenya, primary and secondary school children were told that their academic year was over and there would be no exams.
Meanwhile, the head of the prestigious Royal Society science journal said Tuesday that people who refuse to wear face masks during the pandemic should be stigmatized in the same manner as drink-drivers.
"If all of us wear one, we protect each other and thereby ourselves, reducing transmission," wrote Venki Ramakrishnan.
Source: Agence France Presse
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