An out of doors cover shields Shawn Grant, left, proprietor of District One Barbers West, as he provides a haircut to Thomas Duncan outdoors his store, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, within the Los Feliz part of Los Angeles. A warmth wave continued to carry triple-digit temperatures to the Los Angeles space.
AP
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 288 new confirmed instances of the coronavirus — its third straight day of over 200 as well being authorities scramble to sluggish an outbreak within the area across the capital.
The figures introduced Thursday by the Korea Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention introduced the nationwide caseload to 16,346, together with 307 deaths.
The company says 230 of the brand new instances are within the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, dwelling to half of the nation’s 51 million folks.
Well being employees there have struggled to trace transmissions tied to numerous locations and teams, together with church buildings, eating places, colleges and employees. Officers have banned massive gatherings and shut down nightspots and church buildings within the capital space amid fears that the outbreak may unfold nationwide.
___
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Florida virus deaths surpass 10,000 as academics, state argue
— Spain’s data three,700 infections in single day, most since mid-June
— Path of bubbles leads scientists to coronavirus clue about lung points
— Iran passes 20,000 coronavirus deaths, the well being ministry says. It is the very best dying toll for any Center East nation within the pandemic.
— Governments world wide are profiting from the coronavirus pandemic to justify crackdowns on press freedom. Some regimes have moved to curb alleged misinformation in regards to the coronavirus that doesn’t align with official proclamations.
__ Ballot: Pandemic shifts how shoppers use gig corporations. It reveals how client attitudes have modified about utilizing ride-hailing and supply companies for groceries.
___
— Observe AP’s pandemic protection at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
___
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s level man on the coronavirus epidemic says three weeks of continuous decline within the variety of new coronavirus instances means the nation is seeing a discount within the pandemic.
Assistant Well being Secretary Hugo López stated Wednesday that “we now see a sustained tendency.”
Nonetheless, he warned that “the danger just isn’t over” as his workplace reported still-high ranges of confirmed infections and deaths. Confirmed instances rose by 5,792 to 537,031, and 707 extra deaths had been confirmed, bringing Mexico’s whole to 58,481.
López Gatell cautions Mexicans that the well being emergency will most likely final till October, when the common flu season begins.
___
LOS ANGELES — The mayor of Los Angeles says he approved shutting off utility companies at a house within the Hollywood Hills that has been the location of raucous events regardless of a ban on massive gatherings through the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Eric Garcetti stated Wednesday that “this home has was a nightclub within the hills, internet hosting massive gatherings in flagrant violation of our public well being orders.”
Town has not recognized the house’s handle or the proprietor.
Garcetti warned earlier that such motion could be taken in opposition to homes and companies for internet hosting events. He says large events may be “superspreaders” of the coronavirus.
His warning got here days after lots of attended a celebration at a mansion with out masks or social distancing. That social gathering resulted in a taking pictures that killed a lady and wounded two different folks.
___
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s coronavirus scorching spot of Victoria state has backed down within the face of a public backlash in opposition to a decree that barred residents of Melbourne from taking a brief drive to get to an train place.
The Victoria authorities stated late Wednesday that residents of Australia’s second-largest metropolis can now drive as much as 5 kilometers (three miles) from their houses to train. Those that have been fined for doing that since lockdown restrictions had been elevated this month can apply to police to have their instances reviewed.
The federal government’s retreat adopted a public argument between a Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews and Melbourne resident indignant that she was restricted to strolling in her personal neighborhood.
___
NEW ORLEANS — Louisianan Noel Alexander helped construct the Pine Hill Baptist Church within the west-central city of Leesville. He had been its music minister, served on quite a few committees and he and his spouse stored the church’s books. After he died from COVID-19 at age 79, his visitation and funeral had been scheduled for the church he cherished.
However his household says that once they arrived, they had been informed they couldn’t maintain both the visitation or the funeral within the spacious constructing at present used for companies due to the coronavirus pandemic. They are saying the funeral director had been informed he could be met with a gun if he tried to carry the physique inside.
Donna Hunt is one among Alexander’s six kids and says “it was scary devastating.”
The church’s pastor, Tri Evans, had permitted the service for Alexander however was not there when it was presupposed to happen. As an alternative, two church officers had been on website and informed the household the funeral couldn’t happen.
In an interview with The Related Press, Evans says the church voted Sunday to apologize to the household and create a memorial fund in Alexander’s honor to supply funeral flowers and meals — one thing Alexander typically helped with.
Evans didn’t wish to go into specifics about what occurred however urged the church officers who made the choice to bar the funeral companies had been scared. In Evans’ phrases: “There was quite a lot of concern. Sadly, on many ranges, that’s the world we stay in now. (Individuals) attempt to navigate it and typically make large errors.”
Members of the family say they don’t blame the church as an entire.
___
ATLANTA — Georgia’s governor is defending his administration’s dealing with of the coronavirus pandemic after a report from the White Home coronavirus process power stated Georgia led the nation final week in new instances per capita.
The White Home report recommends a number of steps to curb the virus that Gov. Brian Kemp has declined to take, together with closing bars and requiring the usage of face masks in counties with 50 or extra lively instances.
Kemp insisted Wednesday that different markers he’s watching paint a distinct image.
Georgia was among the many first states to ease pandemic restrictions this spring, and whereas infections declined for weeks afterwards, they started to rise in June and peaked in late July.
The report from the White Home coronavirus process power says Georgia had 216 new instances per 100,000 residents final week, in comparison with the nationwide common of 112 new instances per 100,000 residents.
___
CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is touting a College of Illinois saliva take a look at as a possible “recreation changer” within the combat in opposition to the brand new coronavirus.
The take a look at includes spitting right into a take a look at tube and might yield leads to hours. College officers say the take a look at has obtained emergency use authorization from the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration.
The college has carried out greater than 50,000 exams since making it out there to college, workers and college students final month. The college expects to check 20,000 folks every day when the autumn semester begins subsequent week.
Pritzker says there’s potential to make use of it statewide, notably for Okay-12 colleges.
The information got here as Illinois reported 2,295 new confirmed coronavirus instances and 25 deaths. General, the state’s tally of confirmed instances is 211,889, together with 7,806 deaths.
___
PHOENIX — Arizona’s former state well being director says the downward pattern of coronavirus instances means elements of the state may meet all three metrics set for at the least a partial reopening of faculties by Labor Day.
Will Humble says bars and nightclubs in at the least some counties may meet the parameters for reopening shortly after that. However he says enforceable guidelines are wanted for that to occur.
State well being officers reported 637 further confirmed coronavirus instances and 105 extra deaths Wednesday. That’s effectively under the height of practically 5,000 new instances a day in early July.
___
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers are plowing forward with a contested emergency plan to run the state’s fall elections through the pandemic regardless of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ intention to jettison the plan if it reaches his desk.
Republicans on the Home and Governmental Affairs Committee voted in a near-bloc Wednesday to advance the emergency plan provided by GOP Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin to the total Home for consideration. It eliminates a lot of the coronavirus-related causes for an individual to request an absentee poll, requiring most individuals to vote in individual regardless of the virus outbreak until they’ve lately examined constructive for COVID-19.
The foundations have little probability of getting used for the Nov. three presidential election or a Dec. 5 state election as a result of Edwards, a Democrat, intends to dam it.
The deadlock doubtless will depart a federal decide to find out how Louisiana runs its fall elections, due to a pending lawsuit filed by voting rights advocates that seeks to widen mail-in voting choices.
___
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — President Donald Trump’s high coronavirus adviser stated Wednesday that different states may adapt West Virginia’s color-coded map for public colleges through the coronavirus pandemic.
The map, which can use 4 colours to categorise the opening standing of every of the 55 county faculty methods, “was very exceptional to me,” Dr. Deborah Birx stated at a information convention. “I’m fearful that West Virginia goes to get a name from one other 49 governors.”
The map relies on the seven-day common of recent every day instances per 100,000 inhabitants and vary in colour from minimal group transmission in inexperienced to substantial transmission in crimson. Crimson counties should droop in-person instruction and activate distant studying plans.
Birx, coordinator of the White Home coronavirus process power, stated the college alert system map on the state’s web site gives “very clear steerage of what to do relying upon what your class is.
___
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — A north Georgia faculty system that refused to supply present numbers of coronavirus instances to the native newspaper now stories that 85 of its college students are being quarantined. The Lumpkin County Faculty System says on its web site that 10 college students and 9 workers have examined constructive for COVID-19.
The dispute between the college system and the native media comes amid heated debate in Georgia over whether or not colleges must be open for in-person studying. One of many state’s largest faculty districts — Cherokee County within the Atlanta suburbs — has briefly closed three massive excessive colleges after the virus led to the quarantines of greater than 2,000 of its college students.
The Dahlonega Nugget stories that the college superintendent wouldn’t give out the numbers so that they might be printed within the newspaper amid a dispute over its information protection. Lumpkin County Superintendent Rob Brown stated in an e mail to high school board members the newspaper had created “pointless concern and panic” with an earlier headline. The college system serves about three,830 college students.
___
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little is asking the part-time Legislature again right into a particular session because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Republican governor in a information launch Wednesday stated the particular session will begin Monday. He stated lawmakers will contemplate election regulation modifications in addition to establishing non permanent civil legal responsibility requirements associated to the pandemic. Lawmakers have been calling for a particular session to handle these two points.
Lawmakers say polling locations for the November election might be restricted attributable to a scarcity of volunteers. Some lawmakers additionally say legal responsibility protect regulation is required to guard authorities, colleges and personal companies from frivolous lawsuits from individuals who get COVID-19.
___
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon residents ready for unemployment advantages can now apply for a $500 reduction verify.
Individuals eligible for the one-time cost should have made lower than $four,000 earlier than taxes monthly earlier than shedding your job, be an Oregon resident, be 18 or older and the employer should have closed or the individual’s revenue “decreased considerably due to government actions by Gov. Kate Brown to sluggish the unfold of COVID-19.”
___
PARIS — France recorded greater than three,700 new instances of coronavirus within the final 24 hours.
Well being authorities say that’s 1,500 greater than the day before today. The quantity hospitalized and in ICUs was barely down. However well being authorities say “the transmission of the virus is accentuating” amongst all age teams, particularly younger adults.
President Emmanuel Macron informed Paris-Match journal that “we will’t carry the nation to a halt.” However he’d contemplate “focused reconfinement … if the state of affairs requires it.”
French officers have confirmed practically 30,500 deaths from COVID-19, seventh highest on the planet.