Spain enlists army in contact tracing
First local cases found in Hamas-ruled Gaza
MADRID — Under strain from Europe’s fastest-growing wave of coronavirus infections, the Spanish government cleared the way Tuesday for more localized lockdowns and deployed the military to bolster the country’s faltering attempts to trace infections.
With more than 400,000 confirmed cases since the onset of the epidemic and dozens of fresh daily clusters only days before the school year begins, Spain is grappling to slow the uncontrolled transmission of the virus.
At least 28,872 people in the country have died with COVID-19 since February, although the figure doesn’t include many who died without being tested for the virus.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Tuesday following the first Cabinet meeting after the summer recess that Spain’s current infection rate is “preoccupying” but “far from the situation in mid-march,” when his government imposed a state of emergency and a nationwide lockdown.
“There should be no fear that paralyzes us and prevents us from acting,” the Socialist leader said in a televised statement. “What’s needed is a stronger response to the threat.”
Sánchez offered officials running the country’s 17 regions 2,000 soldiers trained in contact tracing, which experts have identified as one of the country’s weakest points in the aftermath of the pandemic’s first wave.
He also pledged to declare regional emergency orders if the virus continues spreading, something that in theory should help regional-level officials issue new stay-at-home orders, restrict mobility or curtail other activities. In other developments:
■ The global tourism industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, with $320 billion lost in exports in the first five months of the year and more than 120 million jobs at risk, the U.N. chief said Tuesday.
■ Following mounting pressure to change tack, the British government decided late Tuesday to ditch advice that high school students and staffers in England don’t need to wear face masks when schools reopen from next week.
In another abrupt change in coronavirus-related policy, the government said children in secondary schools, those above 11 years of age, in areas under local lockdown rules, such as greater Manchester, will have to don face masks when moving around corridors and communal areas.
■ Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers imposed a territorywide curfew Tuesday after authorities detected the first local cases of the novel coronavirus, raising fears of a wider outbreak in the blockaded territory, which is home to some 2 million Palestinians.
■ Guatemala’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that eight minors out of 60 on a deportation flight from the United States tested positive for COVID-19 after their arrival. The ministry said Tuesday that the teenagers had been placed with child welfare authorities for treatment or observation.
■ The eldest son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation with no symptoms. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro is the fourth member of the president’s direct family infected by the novel coronavirus.
The president, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro and Jair Renan Bolsonaro, another son, have tested positive as well.