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India leads global rise in new weekly cases
India reported the most new COVID-19 cases of any country in the past week, its nearly half a million fresh infections pushing the global tally up by 1 percent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Overall global new deaths in the past seven days fell by 3% compared to the previous week, the WHO reported, adding that overall new infections around the world rose by 1.8 million.

The respiratory disease is also spreading in the Americas, which continues to account for more than half of reported cases and deaths worldwide, although there have been slight decreases in some areas, WHO said in its latest update.

Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina have seen “increasing trends”, it said.

Text books and face masks
Tens of millions of pupils returned to school across Europe, their rucksacks loaded with exercise books, geometry sets and, for many, face masks to protect them from the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.

Hand cleansing stations, social distancing and staggered play time will become the new normal as countries seek ways to get children back into the classroom safely and their economies functioning once again.

But they do so at a time when infections rates are spiraling upwards across the continent and there are widespread concerns that the return to schools and offices, the autumn flu season and excess mortality in winter could drive a second wave.

Hong Kong begins China-led mass testing
Hong Kong began free coronavirus testing for all residents in the Asian financial hub, as the mainland Chinese-led initiative faced skepticism from the city’s medical community and public, with some activists urging a boycott.

The initiative began with a 60-strong mainland team conducting tests. It is the first direct help from China’s health officials for the semi-autonomous city as it battles the pandemic.

The scheme has emerged as a politically charged issue, with authorities in Hong Kong and China saying critics are trying to smear the central government.

AstraZeneca bolsters vaccine supply
AstraZeneca has expanded its agreement with cell therapy firm Oxford Biomedica to mass-produce its COVID-19 potential vaccine, as it looks to scale-up supply ahead of a possible U.S. fast-track approval.

AZD1222 is among the leading candidates in the global race for a successful vaccine and it has entered late-stage trials in the United States, the British drugmaker said, as it targets 3 billion doses of the vaccine, globally.

Medical waste spills into Indonesian river
For residents along Indonesia’s Cisadane River, the coronavirus has brought not just deadly disease, but also a deluge of medical waste: a constant stream of syringes, masks and hazmat suits floating by.

As the virus has spread, medical waste had been piling up at Tangerang’s Cipeucang landfill. Then in May its walls collapsed, sending tons of garbage straight into the Cisadane’s khaki green waters.

“I still worry to be honest, but I have to wash here,” resident Eka Purwanti, 36, told Reuters, as she did her laundry in the river, and children played on the bank.

Indonesia’s health ministry acknowledged the problem - saying 1,480 tons of COVID-19 medical waste was produced across the country from March through June - and admitted it lacked treatment facilities, but was working on solutions.

Track the spread with our U.S-focused and global live graphics.

Breakingviews - Corona Capital: HNA, M&A, Cineworld, Old Mutual. Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

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U.S.

President Donald Trump on Monday sided with a 17-year old charged with killing two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, saying the accused gunman was trying to get away and would have been killed by demonstrators if he had not opened fire. Trump on Tuesday will visit Kenosha, the site of protests against police brutality and racism since Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot seven times by police on Aug. 23 and left paralyzed.

McDonald’s Corp has been sued by 52 Black former franchise owners who accuse the fast-food giant of racial discrimination by steering them to depressed, crime-ridden neighborhoods and setting them up for failure. In a complaint seeking up to $1 billion of damages, the plaintiffs said McDonald’s has not offered profitable restaurant locations and growth opportunities to Black franchisees on the same terms as white franchisees, belying its public commitment to diversity and Black entrepreneurship.

Massachusetts Democrats will decide whether they want to position a young member of the fabled Kennedy family to join the U.S. Senate or stick with their incumbent, who has been in Congress for decades fighting to tackle climate change and reduce nuclear weapons proliferation. This primary election pits Representative Joe Kennedy III, 39, the grandson of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, against 74-year-old Senator Ed Markey, who has spent over 40 years in the House of Representatives and Senate.

COVID Science

COVID-19 often undiagnosed in frontline hospital workers
A high proportion of COVID-19 infections among U.S. healthcare personnel appear to go undetected, according to a report on Monday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between April and June, among more than 3,000 frontline workers in 12 states, roughly 1 in 20 had antibody evidence of a previous COVID-19 infection, but 69% of those infections had never been diagnosed.

Virus may impair heart’s beating, contracting
Following recent reports that the new coronavirus can invade heart muscle cells comes the discovery that infected cells show impairments in function. In test tube experiments, researchers infected "myocytes," or heart muscle cells, with the new coronavirus and found that before the infected cells die, they progressively lose their "electrophysiological and contractile properties."