World Coronavirus Dispatch: US crosses six mn mark, cases in sun belt ease

WHO warns against opening up without control of Covid, Hong Kong begins mass testing, Sanofi's Kevzara drug fails as possible treatment and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Asia factories continue fragile recovery: Closely watched manufacturing gauges in Asia show a continued gradual improvement for the region’s manufacturing powerhouses like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, even as the picture from the rest of the region is more mixed. “Asia’s purchasing managers’ indexes, on balance, showed the economic recovery extending into August but also revealed that some parts of the region stumbled,” said Chang Shu, chief Asia economist for Bloomberg Economics. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:


Total Confirmed Cases: 25,488,239


Change Over Yesterday: 261,802


Total Deaths: 850,596


Total Recovered: 16,822,093

Nations hit with most cases: US (6,031,013), Brazil (3,908,272), India (3,691,166), Russia (992,402) and Peru (647,166)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

US passes 6 million infections as California and Florida new cases ease: The US has recorded more than 6 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, though outbreaks in the sun belt are subsiding. The milestone was met on Monday. California has become the first US state to record more than 700,000 confirmed cases. Read more here

Opening up without control of Covid-19 is recipe for disaster, says WHO: Countries with significant active spread of coronavirus must prevent amplifying events, as opening up without the virus being under control would be a “recipe for disaster”, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. The agency, he said, supports opening up of economies. Read more here

Hong Kong begins China-led mass coronavirus testing, critics urge boycott: Hong Kong began free coronavirus testing for all residents in the Asian financial hub on Tuesday, as the mainland Chinese-led initiative faced scepticism from the city’s medical community and public, with some activists urging a boycott. The scheme has emerged as a politically charged issue. Read more here

Sanofi says Kevzara drug fails as possible Covid-19 treatment: French drugmaker Sanofi said on Tuesday that its rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara - which it produces with partner Regeneron - had failed as a possible Covid-19 treatment and would be dropped for studies in this field. Previous trials had shown that the drug did not help patients with less severe Covid-19. Read more here

Apple, anticipating high demand, prepares 75 million 5G iPhones, new watches: Apple Inc. has asked suppliers to build at least 75 million 5G iPhones for later this year, roughly in line with last year’s launch, in a sign that demand for the company’s most important product is holding up in the midst of the global pandemic and recession. Global shipment of new iPhones may reach 80 million in 2020. Read more here

Ford to cut 1,000 North American jobs amid overhaul: Ford Motor is preparing to trim about 1,000 salaried jobs in North America, looking to its home market for savings as part of an $11 billion global restructuring begun two years ago as it projects an operating loss this year. The job cuts are not related to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said. Read more here

Specials

Long-reads

Trump’s tariffs? Coronavirus? China’s Exports are surging anyway:
 China is showing its export machine cannot be stopped — not by the coronavirus and not by the Trump administration. Its resilience lies not only in the country’s low-cost, skilled labor and efficient infrastructure but also in a state-controlled banking system that has been offering small and large businesses extra loans to cope with the pandemic. The pandemic has also found China better placed than other exporting nations. It is making what the world’s hospitals and housebound families need right now: personal protection gear, home improvement products and lots of consumer electronics. What happens next? Read here

Still ill with coronavirus six months later

Monique Jackson caught Covid-19 early in the pandemic and nearly six months later she's still unwell. One of thousands in this position, she has been keeping an illustrated diary about her symptoms and her vain attempts to get treatment. Jackson has suspected "long-tail Covid" a distinct reaction to the virus that doctors are just beginning to study. She got sick in March and at first it seemed to be a mild version of the disease but her symptoms have never gone away. Five months later, she is struggling to understand what is happening to her body. Read more here

Guide: How to help someone who lost their job

Since giving money to a friend directly can sometimes feel awkward, a good alternative is a gift card or virtual exchange. If you have contacts in your newly unemployed friend’s industry, and they’ve indicated they’d be interested in your help, then passing along their résumé, sharing contacts or inviting them to virtual happy hours is hugely helpful, and it’s something you can do at any stage of your own career. And lastly, remember to check in on them casually, but not constantly. Read more here