Melbourne struggles with second coronavirus spike

Australia recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic with 14 deaths and more than 700 new infections. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today Second coronavirus wave hits Melbourne hard [A resident is taken to an ambulance from an aged care facility experiencing an outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Melbourne, Australia, July 28, 2020.]( Credit: Daniel Pockett/AAP via Reuters Australia recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic Thursday with 14 deaths and [more than 700 new infections](, a 36% jump on the [case record set on Monday](. The spike is driven by an outbreak in the country’s second-most populous state of [Victoria and its capital, Melbourne](, but cases are also being reported in Sydney to the north. Australia was seen as effectively containing the initial COVID-19 outbreak. But a second wave has forced a return to restrictions, including an order that all residents in Victoria wear face coverings outside. Also: [Returning travelers in quarantine hotels may have triggered Melbourne's latest lockdown]( Meanwhile in Vietnam, a country that took aggressive lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and had seen very few cases, has now reported [more than 40 new infections](, with the coronavirus spreading to six cities and provinces in six days. Read: [Is Vietnam the coronavirus-fighting champ of the world?]( Still, the new cases in Australia and Vietnam pale in comparison to the US — the world’s epicenter for the coronavirus — where deaths [have now passed 150,000](. What The World is following Former US Marine Trevor Reed has been [sentenced to nine years in jail]( after a court in Russia found him guilty on charges of assaulting a police officer after a party in Moscow. Reed, a 29-year-old university student in Texas, pleaded not guilty and said he could not remember the events because he was drunk. The harsh sentence has raised speculation that Russia may be [trying to negotiate a prisoner swap](. And, the National Employment Savings Trust, the UK's largest pension fund, [announced it will begin divesting from fossil fuels](. The fund, which includes 9 million members, will no longer invest in companies involved in coal, tar sands or arctic drilling. Environmental activists view the move as a major win. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Farmworkers are getting coronavirus. They face retaliation for demanding safe conditions.]( [A farmworker, considered an essential worker under the current COVID-19 pandemic, harvests beans, May 12, 2020, in Homestead, Florida.]( Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP From the start of the pandemic, warnings were clear that farmworkers — deemed “essential” to the nation’s food supply and thus exempt from lockdown orders — would be at high risk for COVID-19. But as many fall ill and speak out, they must walk a tightrope to protect their health and jobs while avoiding retaliation from their employers. [Israel's hurried school reopenings serve as a cautionary tale]( [Parents wait with their children to enter their elementary school in Sderot as it reopens following the ease of restrictions preventing the spread of the coronavirus in Israel, May 3, 2020.]( Credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters As schools around the world plan for the fall semester, many are looking to Israel — [where COVID-19 outbreaks swept through the educational system]( after a hurried reopening — as an example of what could go wrong. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot Researchers in the UK announced a breakthrough Wednesday, answering a centuries-old question [about the origin of the massive sarsen stones at Stonehenge](. Using geochemical data, [researchers found]( that the origin is most likely West Woods, Wiltshire, about 15 miles north of Stonehenge. Mystery solved. [A screen grab of a tweet from Sue Greaney.]( [Credit: Screen grab from Twitter]( AP and Reuters contributed to this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it on The World - [Zeshan B and ‘Brown Power’]( - [Chinese hip-hop artists grapple with Black Lives Matter]( - [Fighting other diseases beyond COVID-19]( - [On the run from South Sudan’s government]( - [UK-China relations turn chilly]( - [UN climate chief on keeping the climate crisis front and center]( - [The role of a musician]( - [Hotel in Texas detained asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors before expulsion]( - [Bats and the coronavirus]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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