Latest on worldwide coronavirus spread

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said all indications were that South Africa had reached the peak of COVID-19 infections, as he announced a sweeping removal of lockdown restrictions on the economy.

EUROPE
* France is to propose that masks be worn in shared workspaces as the country grapples with a rebound in coronavirus cases.

* Germany’s health minister criticised “party holidays” and defended a decision to declare nearly all of Spain, including the tourist island of Mallorca, a coronavirus risk region following a spike in cases there.

* The chairman of Ireland’s tourism authority, former Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Michael Cawley, resigned after going on holiday to Italy, contrary to government advice to avoid non-essential travel abroad.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* South Korea accused the leader of a religious sect of violating self-isolation rules and obstructing investigations into the country’s biggest outbreak in five months.

* An outbreak in New Zealand is still growing, health officials said, with the country that had an early triumph over the pandemic recording 13 new cases and putting the September general election in question.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Students at Saudi Arabia’s public schools will be educated via distance learning as a precaution against coronavirus for the first seven weeks of the new term, which begins on Aug. 30, the minister of education said.

* Turkey’s coronavirus count rose to its highest daily level since June, with total deaths nearing 6,000, according to the government, which rolled out new inspection and enforcement measures earlier this month.

AMERICAS
* Almost half of Brazilians think President Jair Bolsonaro bears “no responsibility at all” for the country’s more than 100,000 dead from the pandemic, the world’s second highest death toll, according to a new Datafolha poll.

* Nebraska school district said it had canceled classes after staff members tested positive for the coronavirus, the latest state to see instruction disrupted after resuming in-person learning.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Yale School of Public Health’s saliva test to detect COVID-19, after a trial on National Basketball Association players and staff.

* The Emirati APEX National Investment company signed a “strategic commercial agreement” with Israel’s Tera Group to cooperate on research and development related to COVID-19, including a testing device, the UAE’s state news agency WAM said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Mexico added back 52,455 jobs in August, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, hailing the news as a sign of recovery after the country lost more than 1 million jobs in the formal economy due to the pandemic. – Reuters