What you need to know about the coronavirus now

(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Children are feared to spread the virus

U.S. students are returning to school in person and online amid a pandemic, and the stakes for educators and families are rising in the face of emerging research that shows children could be at risk of spreading the novel coronavirus.

Several large studies have shown that the vast majority of children who contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have milder illness than adults. And early reports did not find strong evidence that children are the main contributors to the deadly virus that has killed more than 780,000 people worldwide.

But more recent studies are starting to show just how contagious infected children can be, even those who have no symptoms.

Serious situation in a new epidemic in South Korea

New coronavirus infections have spread across the country from a church in the South Korean capital, raising fears that one of the worldwide successes in mitigating the virus may still suffer a disastrous outbreak, said Thursday. a senior health official.

“The reason we are taking the recent situation seriously is that this transmission, which has started to spread around a specific religious establishment, is manifesting itself across the country through some gatherings,” said the deputy minister of Kim Gang-lip Health during a briefing.

Positive cases of the rallies include people from nine different cities and provinces across the country. Kim did not identify those locations, but said 114 facilities, including the workplaces of those infected, were at risk of transmission.

Brazil sees signs spread slow

The spread of the coronavirus in Brazil could be on the verge of slowing down, the health ministry said, amid reports that the transmission rate has fallen below a key level and the first signs of a gradual decline weekly totals of cases and deaths.

The cautious optimism comes despite figures showing once again a steady rise in the number of confirmed cases and the number of deaths over the past 24 hours, bolstering Brazil’s status as the second largest COVID-19 hotspot after the United States.

According to ministry data, Brazil saw a drop in the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 304,684 last week, from a peak of 319,653 in the week ending July 25. The weekly death toll fell to 6,755 from a peak of 7,677 week in July.

Trump touts convalescent plasma as a treatment

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted the use of convalescent plasma as a treatment for COVID-19 and suggested that regulators’ decision to suspend an emergency authorization for its use could be politically motivated. “I’ve heard fantastic things about recovering plasma,” Trump said during a briefing.

Emergency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the use of blood plasma as a treatment for coronavirus has been on hold due to weak supporting data, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The FDA did not respond to a request for comment.

People who survive an infectious disease like COVID-19 end up with blood plasma that contains antibodies that the body’s immune system has created to fight a virus. This can be transfused into newly infected patients in an attempt to facilitate healing.

China supports Wuhan park after pool party

Chinese state newspapers gave their support to an amusement park in the central city of Wuhan on Thursday after images of a poolside party in the park went viral overseas amid concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19.

Videos and photos from an electronic music festival at Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park on July 11 raised eyebrows overseas, but reflected the return to normal in the city where the virus causing COVID-19 was first detected, the official English-language newspaper China Daily said in a front page article.

Another article from the Global Times, a tabloid published by the People’s Daily of the ruling Communist Party, quoted residents of Wuhan as saying that the pool party reflected the city’s success in its virus-fighting efforts. [VnL4N2FM07Y]