Coronavirus latest: University reports 90% jump in cases on campus

Hong Kong will continue to ease coronavirus-related restrictions this week, as the daily number of new infections gets down to the single digits.

The semi-autonomous Chinese city reported just eight new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, its lowest number since five new cases were identified on July 3, down from a peak of more than 100.

Officials began relaxing restrictions last week, allowing beauty salons and movie theaters to reopen with social distancing measures in place. Starting Friday, gyms and massage parlors can operate while dining-in hours at restaurants will be extended. However, gym-goers must wear masks while exercising and classes will be restricted to four people, officials said Wednesday.

Bars, karaoke lounges and swimming pools will remain shuttered.

Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong’s Department of Health has reported at least 4,831 confirmed cases with 93 deaths.

Greece announced Wednesday it is imposing a two-week lockdown on the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos, after a refugee there tested positive for COVID-19.

The 40-year-old Somali man had left the camp on July 17 after being granted refugee status and a residence permit to live in Greece. However, for unknown reasons, he had returned in recent days and had been living in a tent outside the camp fence. He has since tested positive for the virus and remains hospitalized on the island, according to a press release from the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

It’s the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the overcrowded camp, a space designed for 2,200 people but now, according to the United Nations, houses over 18,000.

The ministry said entry and exit would be prohibited at the camp until Sept. 15, while the presence of security forces has been increased around the structure to enforce the 14-day quarantine. Meanwhile, authorities are working to trace the man’s contacts and a new health unit will be put in place at the camp to isolate and monitor suspected cases, according to the ministry.

College students who contract the novel coronavirus while at school should isolate on campus rather than return home, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

During an interview Wednesday on NBC’s Today Show, Fauci was asked if college campuses should shut down and send infected students home amid COVID-19 outbreaks. He replied: "It’s the worst thing you could do."

"Keep them at the university in a place that’s sequestered enough from the other students," he added. "But don’t have them go home because they could be spreading it in their home state."

Fauci’s comments come as colleges and universities across the country grapple with how to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks, as students and employees return to campus for the new academic year.

James Madison University will shift, at least temporarily, to primarily online learning after seeing a "rapid increase" in COVID-19 cases among its students.

"After consultation with the Virginia Department of Health, James Madison University will transition to primarily online learning, with some hybrid instruction for accreditation and licensure requirements, graduate research, and specialized upper-class courses requiring equipment and space, through the month of September," the school’s president, Jonathan Alger, said in a letter posted on its website Tuesday night. "We do not make this decision lightly, especially after all of the efforts on the part of so many people to make the campus environment safe for the return of in-person classes."

University officials will monitor the situation over the next month and will be in touch with the campus community before the end of the month regarding the possibility of returning to in-person instruction on or after Oct. 5, according to Alger.

The announcement comes just a week after some in-person classes resumed at the public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which has about 20,000 undergraduate students.

"In the days since students have been back on campus, we have observed their vibrancy, excitement to engage with their faculty, and large-scale adherence to COVID-19 rules and guidance. However, we have also observed troubling public health trends," Alger said. "As a result of a rapid increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in our student population in a short period of time, the university is concerned about capacity in the number of isolation and quarantine spaces we can provide. Protecting the health of our Harrisonburg and Rockingham County community -- including students, faculty, staff -- is our top priority, and we need to act swiftly to stop the spread as best we can."