A summary of today's developments
- The UK has recorded 32,058 coronavirus cases a further 104 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a total of 37,583,545 coronavirus cases as of yesterday, a rise of 157,450 new cases.
- Brazil recorded 28,388 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 698 deaths, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday. Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 574,209 , Reuters reports.
- France’s interior ministry said around 175,500 people in total demonstrated on Saturday - down from roughly 215,000 last weekend although numbers could increase as people return from summer holidays. They demonstrated across France for a sixth consecutive weekend on Saturday against a Covid-19 health pass required for daily activities, Reuters reports.
- Vietnam reported record infections for the second day running, with 11,321 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, an increase of almost 700. Vietnam has now had 336,700 cases and at least 7,540 deaths.
- Residents of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have been panic buying, emptying shelves of food and supplies after the city’s authorities announced a lockdown from Monday. It has been the epicentre of the surge in cases Vietnam has suffered after having escaped serious outbreaks earlier in the pandemic.
- British virologist Dr Chris Smith told BBC Breakfast that the UK government should deploy booster vaccines “strategically”. He said the pandemic needed to be ended all over the world but also the UK could not allow the effectiveness of vaccines to wane.
- Russia recorded 797 deaths and 21,000 new cases over the past 24 hours, with Moscow and Saint Petersburg having the most cases.
- Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with riot police in Australia. Police in Melbourne used pepper spray as large crowds surged, while in Sydney they were are able to prevent protesters from forming a mass demonstration.
- Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said tackling Covid-19 infections was the main priority for the new cabinet he presented to parliament, calling his new health minister “a figure who can rally forces in the fight against coronavirus”.
You can follow the latest Covid developments in Australia in our dedicated blog -
Mexico’s health ministry reported 20,307 new cases of Covid-19 and 847 more deaths on Saturday, Reuters reports.
It brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country since the pandemic began to 3,217,415 and the death toll to 252,927.
A conservative radio host from Tennessee who was critical of vaccination efforts and mask mandates died on Saturday after weeks in a Nashville hospital battling Covid-19.
Phil Valentine’s death was reported by his station, SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, on Saturday afternoon.
“We are saddened to report that our host and friend Phil Valentine has passed away,” the station said in a tweet. “Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.”
According to WKRN, an ABC-affiliated Tennessee news outlet: “Several of Valentine’s co-workers and close friends announced they had spoken with Valentine’s brother Mark, who confirmed the 61 year old had passed away earlier in the afternoon.”
The station said hosts would discuss Valentine’s “life and legacy” on air.
Before contracting Covid-19, Valentine’s comments on the pandemic included performing a song called Vaxman, to the tune of Taxman, George Harrison’s Beatles number against government taxation.
Afghanistan is facing an “absolute catastrophe” involving widespread hunger, homelessness and economic collapse unless an urgent humanitarian effort is agreed in the wake of the US withdrawal, world leaders are warned today. Covid rates are also high.
A governor’s efforts to combat Covid-19 in the US state of Kentucky suffered a legal defeat on Saturday as the state’s high court cleared the way for new laws to rein in his emergency powers.
In a landmark separation-of-powers case, the Kentucky Supreme Court said the legislature wields policy-making authority to limit the emergency powers granted to the governor by state law, Associated Press reports. The ruling ordered a lower court to dissolve an injunction that for months had blocked the Republican-backed laws from curbing Democratic governor Andy Beshear’s executive authority. The order could alter the state’s response to the pandemic at a time when virus cases and hospitalisations have surged because of the Delta variant. The Supreme Court order will dissolve Kentucky’s pandemic-related state of emergency, Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said
The next step is to determine whether lawmakers are willing to extend the state of emergency in a potential special session, she said.
Brazil recorded 28,388 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 698 deaths, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday.
Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 574,209 , Reuters reports.
The majority of Australians aged 18 and over are now eligible for a Covid vaccination if they are willing to consider the AstraZeneca vaccine, and provided they do not have a history of some specific health conditions.
In addition to the government’s official eligibility checker, which lists some clinics near your location which might have vaccination appointments available, there are a number of other helpful resources that can help you to find somewhere that has appointments open.
Everyone in Australia’s many locked-down communities wants to know the answer to one question: when will life start returning to normal? For the millions of parents juggling their work commitments with home-schooling their children, a return to normal means a return to the classroom.
Whenever the school gates reopen it’s likely that many students, particularly those in primary school, will walk through them unvaccinated.
At the same time, children account for a significant proportion of infections. In Victoria, 45% of infections are in children and teenagers, while people aged 19 and under make up 30% of those infected in New South Wales.
The combination of continuing infections in children, and a low vaccination rate, means the school experience children return to could be different from the one they left.
A summary of today's developments
- The UK has recorded 32,058 coronavirus cases a further 104 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a total of 37,583,545 coronavirus cases as of yesterday, a rise of 157,450 new cases.
- France’s interior ministry said around 175,500 people in total demonstrated on Saturday - down from roughly 215,000 last weekend although numbers could increase as people return from summer holidays. They demonstrated across France for a sixth consecutive weekend on Saturday against a Covid-19 health pass required for daily activities, Reuters reports.
- Vietnam reported record infections for the second day running, with 11,321 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, an increase of almost 700. Vietnam has now had 336,700 cases and at least 7,540 deaths.
- Residents of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have been panic buying, emptying shelves of food and supplies after the city’s authorities announced a lockdown from Monday. It has been the epicentre of the surge in cases Vietnam has suffered after having escaped serious outbreaks earlier in the pandemic.
- British virologist Dr Chris Smith told BBC Breakfast that the UK government should deploy booster vaccines “strategically”. He said the pandemic needed to be ended all over the world but also the UK could not allow the effectiveness of vaccines to wane.
- Russia recorded 797 deaths and 21,000 new cases over the past 24 hours, with Moscow and Saint Petersburg having the most cases.
- Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with riot police in Australia. Police in Melbourne used pepper spray as large crowds surged, while in Sydney they were are able to prevent protesters from forming a mass demonstration.
- Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said tackling Covid-19 infections was the main priority for the new cabinet he presented to parliament, calling his new health minister “a figure who can rally forces in the fight against coronavirus”.
France’s interior ministry said around 175,500 people in total demonstrated on Saturday - down from roughly 215,000 last weekend although numbers could increase as people return from summer holidays.
They demonstrated across France for a sixth consecutive weekend on Saturday against a Covid-19 health pass required for daily activities, Reuters reports. “This health pass divides French people. I think that is clear. And unfortunately, I believe we should abolish it,” said civil servant Sophie Soulas at the Paris protest.
Here is more on the story that a high-ranking Roman Catholic cardinal and vaccine skeptic hospitalised after contracting Covid-19 was off a ventilator and being moved out of intensive care in the US.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a total of 37,583,545 coronavirus cases as of yesterday, a rise of 157,450 new cases.
A high-ranking Roman Catholic cardinal in the US who was hospitalised after contracting Covid-19 is off a ventilator and is being moved out of intensive care, Associated Press reports.
Cardinal Raymond Burke was to return to a regular hospital room at an undisclosed location, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse in Winconsin said.
Burke, 73, one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken conservatives and a vaccine skeptic, had been sedated and on a ventilator following his tweet on August 10th that he had contracted the coronavirus.
Some economic effects of the coronavirus are obvious. Pre-pandemic, the share of retail sales conducted online had taken around eight years to go from 10% to 20%, but then in nine months shot up to 36% in January 2021.
But perhaps more surprising was a recent dramatic headline from Bloomberg: “UK Wage Growth Hits a Record as Vacancies Pass 1 Million”. This was based on estimates from the Office for National Statistics’ monthly wages and salaries survey that average regular pay had increased by 7.4% over the past year. So why should we be cautious in interpreting this huge rise?
As the virus spread, restrictions arose and economic activity slowed. GDP dipped drastically but by June 2021 had recovered to 2% below pre-pandemic levels and was increasing fast, at 1% per month. The headline change for wages compares April-June 2021 with the dip a year before. This lower starting point inevitably leads to larger relative increases – so-called “base effects”. Similarly, job adverts are currently 30% higher than pre-pandemic, but the change from a year ago is even more startling – they have more than doubled.
Updated
France has reported 22,636 new coronavirus cases, Reuters reports.
The country has recorded more than 6.57 million cases in total.
Updated
The Covid Delta variant has swept across south-east Asia over recent months, prompting lockdowns and overwhelming hospitals – from Malaysia to Thailand and Indonesia. Now the impact is being felt in the Philippines, just as the country’s chronic lack of health workers reaches a crisis point.
“The disease has become very aggressive,” said Michael Bilan, who works on a Covid ward in Manila. This time, patients tend to require a higher amount of oxygen, for longer, he said. The number of Covid patients is also at a record high: last week, 277 were receiving treatment. New wards have been opened to meet demand.
The Philippines is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of nurses, with 17,000 leaving to work overseas, including in the UK and the US, in 2019. But it is increasingly struggling to staff its own wards, where pay is low and conditions poor.
Last week, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines estimated 40% of private hospital nurses quit last year, and more have left followingafter new waves of infections this year.
France has reported a further 68 deaths from coronavirus.
In total the country has had over 113,000 fatalities.
France has 2,106 people in intensive care units with Covid-19, an increase of seven on yesterday, Reuters reports.
Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of France again against the government’s Covid-19 vaccination policies, AFP reports.
Saturday’s protests were called for the sixth weekend in a row to denounce a new “health pass” system announced by President Emmanuel Macron that they see as unfairly restricting the rights of the unvaccinated. Under the system, introduced progressively since mid-July, anyone wishing to enter a restaurant, theatre, cinema, long-distance train, or large shopping centre must show proof of vaccination or a negative test. Around 200,000 people have marched in previous weekends, according to interior ministry figures, while organisers claim the real number is nearly double that. The government insists the pass is necessary to encourage vaccination uptake and avoid a fourth national lockdown, with the unjabbed making up eight or nine out of every 10 Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital.
#COVID19 VACCINE UPDATE: Daily figures on the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses that have been given in the UK.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) August 21, 2021
As of 21 August, 89,070,370 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given in the UK.
Visit the @PHE_uk dashboard for more info:
▶️ https://t.co/cQkuLQglz1 pic.twitter.com/B5YJhJfa0U
As coronavirus cases continued to rise across the US, thousands were expected nonetheless to attend a concert in Central Park on Saturday night, staged to celebrate New York City’s recovery amid the pandemic.
Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli were included in the lineup for We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert. Most tickets distributed by the city were free, with attendees required to show proof of vaccination
Authorities in New York have been keen to push the idea of a comeback, with a focus on promoting civic engagement and tourism. Earlier this week, the city released a commercial featuring celebrities singing Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind at famous locations throughout the five boroughs.
More data from Italy. Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 3,733 Saturday up from 3,692 a day earlier.
There were 40 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 26 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 466 from a previous 455.
Some 255,218 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 220,656, the health ministry said, Reuters reports.
UK death toll rises by 104
The UK has recorded 32,058 coronavirus cases a further 104 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.
Italy reported 45 deaths, taking the total to 128,728, and 7,470 new cases on Saturday.
Yesterday it recorded 49 deaths and 7,224 cases.
Summary
Hi all, I’m handing over to my colleague Nadeem Badshah so here’s a round-up of today’s developments
- Vietnam reported record infections for the second day running, with 11,321 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, an increase of almost 700. Vietnam has now had 336,700 cases and at least 7,540 deaths.
- Residents of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have been panic buying, emptying shelves of food and supplies after the city’s authorities announced a lockdown from Monday. It has been the epicentre of the surge in cases Vietnam has suffered after having escaped serious outbreaks earlier in the pandemic.
- British virologist Dr Chris Smith told BBC Breakfast that the UK government should deploy booster vaccines “strategically”. He said the pandemic needed to be ended all over the world but also the UK could not allow the effectiveness of vaccines to wane.
- Russia recorded 797 deaths and 21,000 new cases over the past 24 hours, with Moscow and Saint Petersburg having the most cases.
- Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clashed with riot police in Australia. Police in Melbourne used pepper spray as large crowds surged, while in Sydney they were are able to prevent protesters from forming a mass demonstration.
- Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said tackling Covid-19 infections was the main priority for the new cabinet he presented to parliament, calling his new health minister “a figure who can rally forces in the fight against coronavirus”.
Donald Trump was due to stage a rally in Alabama on Saturday night, in a city that has declared a Covid emergency and in support of a congressman who both backed Trump’s attempt to overturn the election and this week sympathised with a man who threatened to blow up the US Capitol.
The former president will speak in Cullman, Alabama, in support of Mo Brooks’ bid for a US Senate seat.
Like other southern, Republican-run states, Alabama is struggling with a surge in cases of Covid-19 fueled by the contagious Delta variant. On Thursday, the city of Cullman declared a state of emergency.
“We want to prevent as many non-Covid related things as possible, so our hospital can use its resources to focus on the pandemic and its variants,” said Luke Satterfield, an attorney for the city, according to AL.com. “We don’t want to put any extra strain on them.”
Trump’s rally was set to take the stage at York Farms at 7pm local time. Local media reported that organisers expected about 40,000 to attend.
Dr William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional, told CBS42: “We view this as a potential ‘super-spreader’ event, just like last week’s Rock the South that was [at the same location]. We’ve seen an increase in patients since that event last weekend and we’re concerned we could see the same impact.”
US president Joe Biden’s popularity is taking a hit over the “summer surge” in cases facing the US, according to a new poll.
Two-thirds of Americans approved of his handling of the pandemic last month but that has dropped to 54% now, according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
His overall job approval has also dropped from 59% to 54%.
Updated
Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor of Texas, has refused to apologise for blaming rising Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths on unvaccinated African Americans, comments one Black Houston official called “racist and flat out wrong”.
Doubling down on his remarks to Fox News, Patrick blamed “Democrat social media trolls” and said “Democrats continue to play politics with people’s lives”.
Sylvester Turner, the Democratic mayor of Houston, who is African American, said Patrick’s comments were “offensive and should not be ignored”.
Amid widespread concern over the spread of the Delta variant, Texas is experiencing its highest hospitalisation rates since January. It emerged this week that the state had asked federal authorities for more mortuary trucks.
The overwhelming majority of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths in the US are among those who have not received a vaccine.
Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday night, Patrick said: “The biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated.
“The last time I checked over 90% of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties, so it’s up to the Democrats – just as it’s up to the Republicans – to try to get as many people vaccinated.”
In his statement on Friday, Patrick said federal and state data “clearly indicate that Black vaccination rates are significantly lower than White or Hispanic rates”. But statistics from the Texas health department did not back him up.
These are the images from inside Ho Chi Minh City’s supermarkets, where shoppers have rushed to grab food and supplies before a lockdown is enforced on Monday.
Panic set in despite the government saying it will deliver food to people, calling on the army to help with the lockdown procedures.
During a pre-match press conference, the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, revealed his approach to encouraging players to get vaccinated.
“If all the scientists, the doctors ... say the only solution to eradicate or help to move forward from this pandemic...is to be vaccinated, I think they should consider it.”
Updated
The streets of Colombo have been deserted during the first full day of Sri Lanka’s 10-day lockdown.
Active since late last night, the lockdown was announced by the health minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, on Friday because of surging infections that doubled to a daily average of 3,897, according to the Reuters Global Covid tracker.
Businesses have closed and soldiers have been deployed to man checkpoints. A nightly curfew will become active from Monday.
Updated
Today’s strange coronavirus story comes from Italy, where a student has tattooed the QR code for his vaccination status onto his own arm.
Andrea Colonnetta, 22, explained it like this: “I like to be different.”
His parents, he said, told him to be less impulsive and think more about his decisions.
A video shared by his tattoo artist, Gabriele Pellerone, showed that the QR code works – Colonnetta gained entry to a McDonald’s by lifting his arm and scanning the code to bring up his green pass.
Updated
Vietnam breaks its record for daily Covid cases
Vietnam has reported another 11,321 Covid-19 infections, its highest daily tally during the pandemic.
Most of the new cases on Saturday were detected in Ho Chi Minh City in the south, and its neighbouring province of Binh Duong, the health ministry said. The record is the second time in as many days that it has risen above its previous highest total.
Reports showed 10,654 cases were registered on Friday.
The country has now recorded 336,700 cases and at least 7,540 deaths.
Updated
Vietnam’s impending implementation of a lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City has triggered panic-buying in shops and markets.
State media reported empty shelves and long queues outside markets, raising concerns about the effect on attempts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Vietnam said on Friday it would deploy troops to enforce the lockdown and said it would deliver food to citizens.
The order for residents to “stay where they are” will come into force on Monday.
The city authorities said: “Each residential zone, street, ward, commune, township, organization, and factory must be a ‘fortress’ to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”
Vietnam recorded 380 deaths and 10,654 cases on Friday, according to the World Health Organization.
More supermarket rush, more panic buying before the imminent lockdown. Hundreds of people are queuing for hours to get supplies for the next two weeks 😰#Saigon #Vietnam pic.twitter.com/nUuKLnrkcu
— Nga Pham (@ngahpham) August 21, 2021
Updated
The British virologist Dr Chris Smith has urged the UK government to stay alert to the threat of coronavirus with winter approaching, suggesting the “strategic” use of coronavirus booster jabs.
He told BBC Breakfast the government should not “take its eye off the ball” because any advances could be undone if the effectiveness of vaccines fades.
We all agree that [the pandemic] is not over until it is over in every corner of the world, because otherwise it will just come roaring back,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“While other countries are embarking on booster programmes, people are taking stock, they are looking at the data and maybe making a decision on how to intervene strategically in certain groups.
“They’re going to have to make a decision soon because winter is soon going to be upon us and it takes time for the programme to be rolled out and it takes time for the vaccines to actually have their effects in these people.”
Updated
Russia has recorded 797 deaths and 21,000 new cases over the past 24 hours.
Russia’s two largest cities, Moscow (1,852 ) and St Petersburg (1,665), had the most cases.
The country’s total number of deaths from coronavirus rose to 175,282 and cases to 6,726,523.
Updated
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, said tackling the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections and accelerating vaccinations would be key for his government.
Speaking as parliament began debating his cabinet nominations, he also said they would be focused on improving the economy and securing livelihoods.
“The government’s first priority is controlling the coronavirus, improving the health situation and widespread vaccination,” Raisi said.
Iran has said it has struggled to import vaccines because of US sanctions that make it difficult to transfer money abroad.
Raisi has nominated a 63-year-old optometrist, Bahram Eynollahi, as his health minister, describing him as “a figure who can rally forces in the fight against coronavirus”.
According to local media, Eynollahi had signed an open letter to the former president Hassan Rouhani warning against importing vaccines made by the United States, Britain and France.
Updated
Malaysia’s new prime minister was sworn in on Saturday and how he handles the country’s worst surge in Covid-19 infections will be heavily scrutinised.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s handling of the pandemic as deputy to his predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin, has already been a source of pressure, with 350,000 Malaysians signing a petition opposing his appointment.
The 23,564 cases reported on Friday marked the third consecutive day of record numbers in Malaysia.
Strict lockdowns have put many in a precarious precision and last month many Malaysians began flying white flags from their homes as a signal that they needed help.
Updated
Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters have clashed with Australian riot police in Sydney and Melbourne, where in the latter pepper spray was used to break up crowds, Reuters reports.
Riot police broke up congregations in Sydney, which has been under strict lockdown for two months.
Officials reported 894 cases on Saturday – Australia’s highest daily rise in infections – with most found in Sydney.
Police have not reported arrests but in Victoria said they would hand out fines of A$5,000 (£2,600) to protesters who took part.
Warning people away from the protest, Victoria police’s chief commissioner, Shane Patton, said it was “just ridiculous to think that people would be so selfish and come and do this”.
