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Britain’s government will urge people to return to offices and other workplaces where it is safe to do so to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Friday. “Our central message is pretty straightforward: we are saying to people it is now safe to return to work,” he told LBC radio. (8/28)

Starting next week, when schools reopen, the government will begin an ad campaign designed to reassure people that their workplaces have been made safe over the summer and they can return to them with the right health and safety precautions. ... The advertisements, to be placed mainly in local and regional media, come amid mounting concern from some business groups that prolonged working from home is seriously harming the economies of town and city centers that rely on commuters. (Nelson, 8/28)

Japan is making an aggressive move to grab enough coronavirus vaccine to inoculate its population four times over, a push the government hopes will instil confidence that it can host a delayed summer Olympics next year. Like other rich countries, Japan is signing multiple deals because some of the vaccines could fail in clinical trials or require more than one dose, an approach some experts consider prudent. But Japan has something else riding on a successful mass rollout of a vaccine: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s enduring aim to bring thousands of athletes and fans to Tokyo for the Games in 2021, after the event fell through this year due to the pandemic. (Swift, 8/28)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he had decided to resign because of illness, after weeks of speculation about the conservative leader's political future following recent visits to the hospital. In a news conference in Tokyo, Abe told reporters that he had been "struggling" with his health, which had begun to deteriorate in mid-July, and he was ready to call time on his leadership of the world's third-largest economy. (Denyer and Crawshaw, 8/28)

Costa Rica has adopted a less strict method of counting people infected with the new coronavirus, suddenly adding thousands of new cases to the country’s COVID-19 totals. The new “nexus” criteria adopted this month count people who show symptoms of the disease and who had direct contact with someone who tested positive, even if they were not tested themselves. (Cordoba, 8/27)

When Augusto Briceño hugged his mother in her bed in the COVID-19 intensive-care ward, he said he sensed the warmth of her body through his protective gloves, and felt full of peace. “I closed my eyes and tried to forget the gloves were there,″ the 59-year-old pediatrican said. He stroked her hair and soon after, she died. Despite his grief, Briceño said he felt lucky. (Calatrava, 8/27)

The virus is actively circulating in about 20% of France’s regions and masks will now be required for everyone in Paris starting Friday — but the government is determined to reopen schools next week, get workers back on the job and kick off the Tour de France cycling race on Saturday. Showing a map of the country’s new “red zones,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday urged local authorities to impose new restrictions to slow infections and prevent another economically devastating national lockdown. (Charlton, 8/27)