In the closely-watched development of pandemic developments, New Zealand today dispelled suspicions that surface contamination may have resulted in a new cluster of COVID-19, and Chinese media reported a reinfection in a woman who became ill 6 months ago used to be.
The worldwide total of COVID-19 climbs today to 20,439,274 cases, and 745,229 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
New Zealand looks at freight link, confirms one more case
After detecting his first case in 102 days, a family group of 4 people, New Zealand officials are trying to determine the source of the virus and investigate the possibility that it was imported by freight, Reuters reported. Underground tests are underway at a cold storage facility in Auckland, where a man from the infected family was deployed.
An official from the company that has the cold storage unit said the man was ill for several days and all employees were sent home.
New Zealand’s suspicions about imported cargo come amid a space of recent reports from various locations in China of evidence from SARS-CoV-2 on the packaging of imported seabirds, some from Ecuador, Reuters reported. However, testing linked to a recent detection at a restaurant in the city of Wuhu in Anhui Province was negative among workers, food, environmental samples from restaurants, and wholesalers in the wholesale business and their families.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that there is currently no evidence that humans can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging and that the transmission route is through person-to-person contact and direct contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person. .
In a related development, the New Zealand Ministry of Health said today one new confirmed case is being handled in isolation, in addition to the four cases reported yesterday. It also said the investigation has identified four likely cases linked to the four announced cases, and contact detection is ongoing while health officials are awaiting test results.
New Zealand also reports sporadic cases of incoming travelers in quarantine, such as that of a woman in her 50s who arrived from Islamabad on 7 August vie Dubai and tested positive on day 3 of her stay.
China reports reinfection in patient who was ill months ago
Chinese state media reported today that a 68-year-old woman from Jingzhou in Hubei province was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with COVID-19, about 6 months after she had pneumonia and was diagnosed with the disease in February.
Early studies have indicated that antibodies against COVID-19 may soon disappear, a factor that would make more people vulnerable to the disease and complicate the development of vaccines.
The woman is being treated in isolation, and so far all contacts have tested negative.
Developments in Australia and Vietnam
In other developments, global health officials are working closely with new developments in two countries that have been successful in controlling the virus – Australia and Vietnam – but are now experiencing flare-ups.
Australia today reported 21 new deaths, a daily record high, along with 410 new cases, up from the past 3 days, Reuters reported. The uptick today shattered hopes that the outbreak in the state of Victoria in the Melbourne area had stabilized.
Meanwhile, Vietnam reported 17 new cases, including one in Hanoi that caused additional concern because no link was found after the outbreak in Danang, according to a separate Reuters story.
In other global developments:
- Brussels announced mandatory face masks in all public places, following a slow rise in cases involving Belgium, which now has Europe’s highest COVID-19 cases per capita.
- Norway reports its highest disease levels since April and introduces quarantine measures for travelers from more countries.
- Singapore said yesterday that it had completed testing on all bedrooms for migrant workers linked to a previous spike in COVID-19 activity. About 315,000 foreign workers were tested for the virus.
- UK officials announced today that the country is officially in a recession, the first since 2009, due to the economic downturn linked to COVID-19, the BBC reported.
