Friday morning news - July 23, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Summer Olympic Games open in front of empty seats » The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo officially begin today.

But for many fans who were hoping to attend this year’s games, the opening ceremony will be a bittersweet occasion.

AUDIO: And when we first moved to Japan I was so excited for this day. So I’m still excited. I’m trying to be very hopeful, even though we can’t go to any of the events.

Some events have already begun with athletes playing in empty venues, including entire stadiums with no fans.

A spate of athletes and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.

But Tokyo Olympics officer Hidemasa Nakamura said the ratio of positive tests has been “extremely low.” He said officials have conducted about 96,000 tests and have had fewer than a hundred positive results.

But while Olympic Village has not been hard hit, Tokyo hit another six-month high in new cases on Thursday. The 2,000 new cases are the highest total since January.

COVID-19 death rates soar in Southeast Asia » Still, Japan is faring quite well as compared to other parts of Southeast Asia where death rates from COVID-19 are soaring. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: India was the first major nation ravaged by the delta variant. But in the last two weeks three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death.

Indonesia has converted nearly all of its oxygen production to medical use to try and keep up with demand from COVID-19 patients struggling to breathe.

Hospital staff in Malaysia have had to resort to treating patients on the floor.

And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials.

The spread of the delta variant coupled with low vaccination rates is devastating the region.

In Indonesia, at least 1,400 people are now dying from COVID-19 each day. That’s up sevenfold since the middle of June.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Biden administration reportedly mulling change to mask guidance as cases surge » In the United States, the death rate has not increased significantly. But hospitalizations have doubled since late June as new COVID-19 infections continue to spiral upward.

On Wednesday, new daily cases topped 56,000 for the first time since April.

That reportedly has health officials within the Biden administration debating whether to change the federal guidance on mask wearing in public.

At the moment, that guidance still states that vaccinated Americans generally do not need to wear a mask. And White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday…

PSAKI: The head of the CDC, our public health arm, just spoke to this earlier this morning and made clear that there had not been a decision to change our mask guidance.

The American Academy of Pediatrics this week recommended that all students over the age of 2 wear a mask when they return to school in the fall.

China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further COVID-19 origins study » China is once again blocking a full investigation into the origins of COVID-19. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg has that story.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: The Chinese government Thursday rejected the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of the pandemic.

The plan would further probe the possibility that the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. A senior Chinese health minister called that unacceptable.

A team of investigators from the WHO conducted the first phase of the probe earlier this year. Despite only having access to very limited information, the team declared it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus escaped from a lab.

But last week, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus conceded that there had been a “premature push” to rule out the lab leak theory.

The Biden administration reacted, condemning China’s continued stonewalling. In a statement, the White House said “We are deeply disappointed. Their position is irresponsible and, frankly, dangerous.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

U.S. imposes new Cuba sanctions over human rights abuses » The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday against a Cuban official and a government special brigade. That in response to human rights abuses during a government crackdown on protests in Cuba earlier this month.

State Dept. spokesman Ned Price…

PRICE: We will stand with the Cuban people who are exercising their universal rights of peaceful protest, peaceful assembly, freedom of speech.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions will target the Cuban Interior Ministry Special Brigade and military and political leader Alvaro Lopez Miera.

U.S. officials say he “has played an integral role in the repression of ongoing protests in Cuba."

Cuban forces have attacked protesters and arrested or disappeared more than 100 protesters.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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