UK government makes a U-turn on face masks in English schools

The United Kingdom’s Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says secondary school children in regions of England that are under local lockdowns will now be required to wear face masks.

The move is a U-turn on the government's previous guidance.

In other areas of England -- which are not covered by local lockdown restrictions -- it will be at the headteacher’s discretion whether face masks should be worn.

The government has been under pressure to change its advice on face masks in schools after the opposition Labour Party and some headteachers spoke out in favor of their use. As recently as Tuesday, government figures were insisting there was no reason to introduce face mask rules for schools.

The Scottish government has already announced that students over the age of 12 should wear masks in communal areas and while moving around schools.

The Welsh government is considering its advice to students.

Urgent care workers wearing personal protective equipment perform drive-up Covid-19 testing for students and faculty on the first day of school at Woodbury University in Burbank, California on August 24. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its Covid-19 testing guidelines and now no longer recommends testing for most people without symptoms, even if they've been in close contact with someone known to have the virus.

Previously, the CDC said viral testing was appropriate for people with recent or suspected exposure, even if they were asymptomatic.

Here's what the CDC website said previously: "Testing is recommended for all close contacts of persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because of the potential for asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, it is important that contacts of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection be quickly identified and tested."

Those who don't have Covid-19 symptoms and haven't been in close contact with someone with a known infection do not need a test, the updated guidelines say.

"Not everyone needs to be tested," the agency's website says. "If you do get tested, you should self-quarantine/isolate at home pending test results and follow the advice of your health care provider or a public health professional."

The CDC guidelines still say people should get tested if they have symptoms and that someone's health care provider "may advise a COVID-19 test."

"It is important to realize that you can be infected and spread the virus but feel well and have no symptoms," the updated CDC site says, noting that local public health officials might request asymptomatic "healthy people" be tested, depending on cases and spread in an area.

Read more:

A nurse checks on people as they arrive at a Covid-19 community testing center in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 26. Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

New Zealand recorded five new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the country's health officials announced on Wednesday. 

Among the new infections, three were locally transmitted and two were imported cases detected in isolation facilities, Director General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield said at a news conference. 

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said authorities would start testing asymptomatic patients over the next week. He said the step was being taken “to help ensure we have identified the full extent of the current outbreak”. 

From August 30, masks will be mandatory on all public transport, including buses.  

Hipkins said that 3 million masks have been dispatched to communities that are not in a position to buy them. 

New Zealand has registered a total of 1,344 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. Of those, 134 are active cases, according to Bloomfield. 

What's happening in New Zealand? The country is currently experiencing a fresh outbreak after marking more than 100 days without any community transmitted cases.

The new outbreak is centered in Auckland, New Zealand's most populous city. Within 24 hours of announcing the new community transmission cases, Auckland went back under a two-week lockdown. This week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that Auckland's lockdown -- which was due to end on Wednesday -- had been extended and will now lift on Sunday.

New Zealand's fresh outbreak -- which came despite tough border controls banning almost all foreigners from entering the country -- also prompted the island nation to postpone its election.

Read more about New Zealand's pandemic response:

A health worker wearing personal protective equipment collects a swab sample of a woman at a free Covid-19 testing site in Hyderabad, India, on August 25. Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

India has registered more than 1.5 million new coronavirus cases in the month of August so far, according to a CNN tally of data from the Indian Health Ministry. 

The country recorded 67,151 new Covid-19 cases and 1,059 deaths on Tuesday, the Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.

That brings the total number of cases registered since the pandemic began to over 3.2 million, including 59,449 deaths, and means nearly half of India's coronavirus cases have been reported in August alone.

The South Asian nation has reported over 60,000 new daily cases and more than 800 coronavirus-related daily deaths for eight consecutive days. 

India has ramped up its coronavirus testing lately, with over 18 million tests carried out so far in August, according to a CNN tally of data provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research. 

Recovered patients: More than 2.4 million people have recovered from the virus in India, the Health Ministry said. 

In India, not all patients require a test to be considered recovered. Patients with mild and moderate symptoms are considered no longer active after 10 days of symptom onset if they meet certain conditions, and a test to confirm that they no longer have the virus is not required. However, severe cases can only be discharged after one negative coronavirus test.

A gravedigger works during a funeral at the San Isidro cemetery in Azcapotzalco, in Mexico City, on August 6. Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

More than 1,300 healthcare workers have died from coronavirus in Mexico since the start of the pandemic, the country's Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The ministry also reported 4,916 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, bringing the total number confirmed in the country to 568,621. 

A further 650 fatalities were also confirmed, taking the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the country to 61,450, including 1,320 healthcare workers. 

Mexico is braced for an uptick in cases: On Monday, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said the country should expect to see a marked increase in new daily cases after widening the criteria for detecting Covid-19 from suspected cases. 

Starting Tuesday, patients will only have to report one Covid-19 symptom in order to be identified as a suspected case, López-Gatell said. New symptoms added to the criteria include loss of smell, loss of taste and diarrhea. 

CNN is tracking worldwide Covid-19 cases here:

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rajesh Bhushan speaks during the weekly health news conference in New Delhi, India on July 14. Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India and Russia have been in touch over Sputnik-V, the Russian vaccine against coronavirus, a senior Indian Health Ministry official said Tuesday. 

He did not provide any further details. 

Last Thursday, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that is funding the vaccine research, said that India could be one of the countries to participate in post-registration clinical trials for the vaccine. 

Unproven vaccine: Russia raised eyebrows earlier this month when it announced the world's first approved coronavirus vaccine for public use.

Developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, the vaccine was approved by the Russian government before beginning crucial Phase 3 trials, during which it will be administered to thousands of people. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his own daughter has already received it, but testing is yet to be completed and experts are skeptical about how quickly the vaccine has been registered.

Read more about the Sputnik V vaccine:

The United States reported 38,148 new cases of Covid-19 and 1,232 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

That brings the country's total to at least 5,777,684 cases and 178,477 related deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Follow CNN's live tracker of US cases here:

Dr. Stephen Hahn addresses the media during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC on August 23. Pete Marovich/Getty Images

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration says he should have been more careful when explaining the benefits of convalescent plasma.

“I was trying to do what I do with patients, because patients often understand things in absolute terms versus relative terms,” Dr. Stephen Hahn told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday.

In a series of tweets Monday, Hahn admitted he had mischaracterized the benefits of convalescent plasma at a White House event announcing the emergency use authorization (EUA). He had said studies showed plasma could prevent 35 deaths out of 100 -- something that studies did not show.

A titer refers to the concentration of something -- in this case a specific antibody in a dose of convalescent plasma. The plasma is made using the blood of people who have recovered from coronavirus infections.

The misleading comments have caused concerns about how honest the FDA will be about any eventual authorization or approval of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Hahn admitted to Bloomberg he's worried that it could hurt the FDA’s reputation with the American public.

Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Tom Frieden speaks during a hearing on May 6 in Washington. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said he believes the US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization (EUA) for the use of convalescent plasma in coronavirus patients “was politically driven.”

FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn admitted Monday to having mischaracterized the benefits of the plasma when he said plasma treatment had saved the lives of 35 out of 100 coronavirus patients.

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Dr. Thomas Frieden called Hahn’s comments and subsequent apology “a substantial concern.”

Convalescent plasma has promise, said Frieden, who is now president of the global health initiative Resolve to Save Lives.

“It may help some people if given at some dose, at a certain time in infection,” he said. “We don't know the answers to those questions, and just saying ‘use it’ means we may never learn the answers, or it'll take longer to learn the answers to those questions, so that's a big concern.”

Coronavirus vaccines: Frieden called the plasma EUA announcement a “huge concern” because it’s a “dry run” for the FDA and the Trump administration in how they’re going to inform Americans about a coronavirus vaccine.

Public health experts already worry that a significant number of people won't consent to any eventual coronavirus vaccine.

Different vaccines will most likely become available and different vaccines will work differently in different people, Frieden said.

“We will know something about how well they work, how safe they work, how much of them we’ll have, who should get them,” he said.

“Fundamentally, people have to trust them (the FDA) or the best vaccine in the world won't be able to end the pandemic.”

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