Spain
Hospitals admitting more virus patients
BARCELONA — Not two months after battling back the coronavirus, this country’s hospitals have started seeing patients who are struggling to breathe returning to their wards.
The deployment of a military emergency brigade to set up a field hospital in the northeastern city of Zaragoza this week is a grim reminder that Spain is far from claiming victory over the virus that overwhelmed the European country in March and April.
Authorities described the field hospital as a precaution, but no one has forgotten the earlier scenes of Spanish hospitals filled to capacity and the devastating period when the country’s COVID-19 death toll grew by over 900 a day.
While an enhanced testing program is revealing that a majority of the newly infected are asymptomatic and younger, making them less likely to need medical treatment, concern is increasing as hospitals admit more patients again.
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United Arab Emirates
Iran briefly seized oil tanker, US says
DUBAI — The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday.
The U.S. military’s Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan.
The Iranian navy held the vessel for approximately five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official. The Wila made no distress calls before, during and after the seizure, the official said. The Iranian helicopter involved appeared to be a Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, which only Iran’s navy operates.
Germany
Thousands of arrivals still await test results
BERLIN — Tens of thousands of travelers who were tested for the coronavirus upon entering the country in the last two weeks waited Thursday to learn whether they were infected as Bavaria state officials acknowledged that many recipients had yet to be notified, including hundreds with positive results.
Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder postponed his own vacation to the North Sea coast to deal with the holdup, which came as Germany reported its highest number of new virus cases since May 1.
The state Health Ministry said there had been delays in releasing 44,000 test results to people who were checked on their way into Germany, primarily at highway rest stops, including 908 who had tested positive for COVID-19.
“The breakdown that occurred is very irritating and regrettable,” Soeder told reporters.
Atlantic Ocean
Earliest ‘J’ storm forms in Atlantic
Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning, making it the earliest “J-named” storm in a record-setting hurricane season.
Josephine was 975 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands, according to the 11 a.m. advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.
Josephine was the earliest 10th Atlantic named storm on record, breaking the previous record of Jose, which formed Aug. 22, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Wire reports
