When many international locations closed their borders because the coronavirus exploded early this 12 months, lots of of 1000’s of seafarers on ships around the world suddenly had no way home.

For cargo ships, the method generally known as crew change — through which seamen are changed by new ones when their contracts expire — floor practically to a halt.

A number of months later, there’s no answer in sight. In June, the United Nations known as the state of affairs a “growing humanitarian and safety crisis.” Many within the transport trade worry that the stress and exhaustion will result in accidents, maybe disastrous ones.

Some crew members have begun refusing to work, forcing ships to remain in port.

Particulars: Final month, the Worldwide Transport Employees’ Federation, a seafarers’ union, estimated that 300,000 of the 1.2 million crew members at sea had been basically stranded, working previous the expiration of their unique contracts and combating isolation, uncertainty and fatigue.

Listed below are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In different developments:

  • France’s prime minister, Jean Castex, is self-isolating after the director of the Tour de France, whom he’d been in touch with, examined optimistic.

  • India plans to open school rooms for highschool college students on a voluntary foundation, and solely with their mother and father’ approval, beginning Sept. 21. The overwhelming majority will proceed to check on-line.

  • U.S. schools which have reopened for in-person instruction are struggling to include the unfold of the virus, and consultants say insurance policies have damaged down in ways in which may put students and staff at risk.

  • An early lockdown spared the Italian island of Sardinia in spring, however jet-setters — together with the now-infected former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi — flocked there this summer season, turning nightclubs into petri dishes and the island right into a scorching spot.

Late final 12 months, a brand new safety officer on the port of Beirut peered inside a damaged door and a gap within the wall of a storage hangar and made a daunting discovery.

Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a compound utilized in explosives, was spilling from torn baggage. There have been additionally jugs of oil, kerosene and hydrochloric acid; 5 miles of fuse on wood spools; and 15 tons of fireworks — briefly, each ingredient wanted to assemble a devastating bomb.

He warned his supervisors. However, it turned out, plenty of Lebanese officers already knew.

Months later, an explosion tore by means of Beirut. The blast killed greater than 190 folks, injured 6,000 and prompted billions of {dollars} in harm.

A workforce of reporters tracked what led to the Aug. 4 explosion, conducting dozens of interviews with port, customs and safety officers, transport brokers and different maritime commerce professionals. They obtained beforehand undisclosed paperwork and unique images from contained in the hangar. And so they analyzed high-definition video.

Findings: Bribery and graft had been commonplace on the port. Its operations are guided by a committee linked to Lebanon’s foremost political events, enabling officers to make use of the port as a clearinghouse for illicit items. The dysfunction allowed the harmful supplies to take a seat within the hangar for years.

President Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward that he had knowingly played down the coronavirus earlier this 12 months though he was conscious it was “lethal” and vastly extra severe than the seasonal flu.

“That is lethal stuff,” Mr. Trump stated on Feb. 7 in considered one of a sequence of interviews Mr. Woodward — a Pulitzer Prize-winner who has lined inside tales in Washington because the Seventies — performed with the president for a guide, “Rage,” due out on Sept. 15.

It was a vastly totally different story than Mr. Trump was telling the general public. He claimed early on that the virus would disappear, predicting in February that “when it will get a bit of hotter, it miraculously goes away.”

“I wished to at all times play it down,” Mr. Trump informed Mr. Woodward on March 19. “I nonetheless like taking part in it down, as a result of I don’t need to create a panic.”

Particulars: The Washington Publish and CNN obtained the guide, which is predicated partly on 18 on-the-record interviews between December 2019 and July 2020, earlier than launch. Each publications launched recordings of interviews.

In different administration information: A whistle-blower filed a grievance alleging that prime officers with the Division of Homeland Safety directed company analysts to downplay the threat of violent white supremacy and of Russian election interference.

Whereas the foremost sports activities leagues within the U.S. and Europe are taking part in largely earlier than empty stands or cardboard cutouts, followers in Japan have been attending video games since early July. However they’ve been requested to curb their enthusiasm to maintain the coronavirus in test, and as with different containment measures in that nation, most individuals have been complying.

Our Tokyo bureau chief went to an FC Tokyo soccer sport and found the spectators to be scrupulously quiet — aside from an occasional crinkle of a meals wrapper or a spontaneous burst of applause.

Greece refugee camp fireplace: A quick-moving fireplace destroyed most of Europe’s largest refugee camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos, leaving most of its 12,000 residents homeless simply days after they had been collectively quarantined due to a coronavirus outbreak. No deaths had been initially reported.

Australia shark assault: Regardless of protecting “shark nets” and drumlines offshore, a 46-year-old surfer died in the first fatal shark attack in 62 years on Greenmount Seashore on the Gold Coast.

Boeing: The U.S. aviation big stated Tuesday that it expected deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner to be delayed because it and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration look into quality-control considerations with the wide-body jet. The aircraft’s relative gas effectivity has made it well-liked with All Nippon Airways, United Airways, Japan Airways, American Airways, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Air Canada.

Snapshot: Above, a person in Indonesia mendacity in a coffin final week as punishment for violating masks guidelines. Coronavirus instances within the nation have surged previous 200,000. The novel penalty, inflicted on a number of folks in East Jakarta, was halted after critics identified that onlookers had been violating social distancing guidelines.

What we’re listening to: The ESPN podcast “Bloodlines.” Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a Occasions Journal author, says, “I misplaced the weekend listening to Wright Thompson’s glorious new podcast in regards to the plague of horse deaths — 49 in only one 12 months — at Santa Anita.”

Learn: Study in regards to the historical past of cash in a fast-paced, chatty new book by Jacob Goldstein, the host of the NPR podcast “Planet Cash.”

Hear: Songs by Ava Max, Difficult, Invoice Callahan and SZA are on our pop critics’ playlist this week.

We now have extra concepts on diversions and recipes in our At Home collection.

As visitors picks up once more, on the streets and underground, The Occasions talked to experts for the best strategies to stay safe while commuting and making important journeys. Right here’s a few of their recommendation:

1. Select your technique properly. Take into consideration how lengthy you’ll be ready to your chosen vessel to reach and if the station is inside or outdoors. For those who’re driving the bus, attempt to sit close to a window, and hold it open. Go for the escalator or stairs over the elevator, if you happen to can.

2. Keep away from touching communal surfaces. Wash your palms earlier than you permit the home and once more upon reaching your vacation spot. And use sanitizer incessantly.

Keep away from subway poles and rails to the ferry deck or onto the bus. Don’t contact the turnstile as you progress by means of it; steer clear of contact screens, keypads and elevator buttons. Make contactless funds in the event that they’re provided, and skip paper tickets.

3. Observe any new instructions. Pay attention to the decals on the ground and indicators you might even see shepherding you thru the station, an effort by some operators to scale back the variety of folks crossing paths and reduce crowding. For those who’re boarding the bus, enter from the rear, to keep away from shedding respiratory droplets on the driving force and different passengers. And if you happen to’re driving onto a ferry, stay in your automotive throughout your journey.

4. Don’t eat onboard. Consuming can carry particles from a floor to your face. Moreover, you’d should take off your masks. Keep away from in depth conversations, too; speaking, and singing, sprays aerosolized droplets that may carry virus particles.

5. Be strategic about your timing. Attempt to keep away from peak commuting hours. In case your employer will permit for extra versatile hours, you possibly can circumvent, and never contribute to, the rush-hour crush.

That’s it for this briefing. See you subsequent time.

— Melina

Thanks
To Melissa Clark for the recipe, and to Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the remainder of the break from the information. You may attain the workforce at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our newest episode is the primary a part of a sequence about what occurred to Breonna Taylor, a younger, Black medical employee killed in a police raid in Louisville, Ky.
• Right here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Improvise with different musicians (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Our Nationwide editor Marc Lacey spoke to Katie Couric about protecting a number of crises without delay as a racial reckoning in newsrooms is underway.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR