Researchers say they have evidence that a woman caught coronavirus on a flight -- perhaps in the jet's restroom. The 28-year-old woman was among about 300 South Koreans evacuated from Italy at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in Milan last March, the researchers wrote in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. "On the flight from Milan, Italy, to South Korea, she wore an N95 mask, except when she used a toilet," they wrote. "The toilet was shared by passengers sitting nearby, including an asymptomatic patient. She was seated three rows away from the asymptomatic patient," they added. The South Korean officials who organized the flight had put into effect full infection control measures and tested everyone before they boarded. All the passengers and crew were quarantined when they got to South Korea, as well. Six passengers tested positive soon after arrival in South Korea. The 28-year-old woman developed symptoms eight days after she got home and was hospitalized. "Given that she did not go outside and had self-quarantined for three weeks alone at her home in Italy before the flight and did not use public transportation to get to the airport, it is highly likely that her infection was transmitted in the flight via indirect contact with an asymptomatic patient," the researchers at Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine in Seoul wrote.<br/>
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The White House is considering whether it can take action to prevent thousands of job losses in the airline industry a month before the election if it cannot reach a deal with Congress on a broader package of additional pandemic relief. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said Wednesday that “if Congress is not going to work, this president is going to get to work and solve some problems. So hopefully we can help out the airlines and keep some of those employees from being furloughed.” This week, American Airlines said that it will furlough 17,500 union employees, including flight attendants and pilots, and lay off 1,500 management and support staff in October. It said it will make the cuts unless Washington provides another $25b to help passenger airlines cover payroll costs through next March. Delta said it will furlough 1,941 pilots unless their union agrees to cost-cutting measures. The airlines and their unions are putting pressure on Congress and the White House to approve more taxpayer help for their industry. Meadows said Trump has spoken with people at American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said Meadows’ remarks indicate that the lobbying by airline unions is working. She said, however, that “executive orders will not save our jobs,” and that approval by Congress is still needed.<br/>
The number of passengers flying with Russian airlines in July fell 52.4% year on year, the federal aviation authority said on Wednesday, after a 77.5% drop in the previous month as fewer people were travelling amid the coronavirus pandemic. Russian airlines carried 6.77m passengers in July, taking the number of passengers in the first seven months of the year to 34.6m, a 51.9% drop from a year ago, data showed.<br/>
London’s Gatwick airport has announced plans to cut up to a quarter of its workforce as part of a major restructuring following a collapse in passenger numbers. The UK’s second-busiest airport is entering consultations with about 600 staff, and said it was in talks with the government over further support for the aviation industry which is reeling from the impact of the pandemic. Located about 25 miles south of central London, Gatwick has been hit particularly hard by the crisis, and 75% of its staff are on the state-backed furlough scheme. With the airport having already announced 785 job cuts, it will be left with about 1,900 staff following this restructuring, down from 3,300 before the pandemic. “If anyone is in any doubt about the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the aviation and travel industry then today’s news . . . is a stark reminder, said Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s CE. Virgin Atlantic has closed its operations at the airport, while BA has moved all of its short-haul flights to Heathrow as demand for flights dries up. Passenger numbers have been 80% lower in August than last year, typically one of the airport’s busiest months, leaving Gatwick only using its North terminal. The airport is in “ongoing talks” with the government about “sector specific support” and ways of offering more certainty to passengers to help prop up demand, Wingate said. Gatwick has so far been less aggressive in its public lobbying than its larger rival Heathrow, which has built a ready-made facility in the hope of securing regulatory approval for testing on arrival, which could shorten the current two-week quarantine passengers face when returning from some critical tourist destinations including France and Spain. Wingate said the airport “will recover from this pandemic and we will emerge from the restructuring we are proposing a fitter and stronger organisation”.<br/>
Wary of recurring coronavirus waves, Malaysia may keep its borders closed to international tourists until the second quarter of next year, the minister responsible for the travel sector said in a recent interview. Nancy Shukri, the minister of tourism, arts and culture, said the government is now re-drafting a "green" list of countries deemed safe from the virus, as a first step. "We initially had a list of countries to be allowed in, but then we saw the second and third waves of coronavirus in some of these countries," she said. "So we have to restrategize our plan." Nancy said the reopening of Malaysia's border with Singapore for essential travel, which began Aug. 17, was a positive step. At the same time, she suggested the restrictions on crossings show the Malaysian government remains cautious and will do whatever it takes to protect the public from the deadly virus. "Even if we open our borders now, some countries are not prepared to do so, thus travel cannot happen," she said, adding that the ministry is also in discussions with foreign missions in the country. On Tuesday, the DG of Malaysia's health ministry, Noor Hisham Abdullah, called not for a further reopening of the borders but a renewed clampdown. He said the country should not be allowing inbound or outbound travel for the medium term, to safeguard the interests of all Malaysians.<br/>
Singapore and Indonesia will begin discussions over a “green lane” for essential travel between the two countries. Noting the “strong business links” between the neighbours, Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry says the green lane should “allow for essential travel to gradually resume in a manner that would safeguard public health and safety in both countries”. No further details were given, however. The move came after Indonesian foreign affairs minister Retno Marsudi visited the city-state on 25 August, where she met her Singaporean counterpart and the country’s prime minister. Singapore currently has green lane agreements with China and Malaysia, while Indonesia has similar arrangements with China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Both countries also have ongoing travel restrictions in place, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. <br/>