We are closing the live blog now, but you can stay up to date on all of the latest coronavirus developments on our new global live blog below.
Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to delay the general election by a month.
- The German Federal Cartel Office is investigating the allegation that Amazon abused a market-dominating position during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Localised coronavirus restrictions in some parts of the North of England could be lifted this week, after around 4.5 million people in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and West Yorkshire were subjected to a new lockdown more than two weeks ago.
- Brazil on Sunday reported 23,101 new coronavirus infections, taking the overall tally to 3,340,197, as well as 620 new deaths.
- France said on Sunday that 236 coronavirus infection clusters were being investigated in the country, as the daily number of new confirmed cases rose by more than 3,000 for the second day in a row.
- Israel will relax some social distancing restrictions from Monday, allowing up to 20 people to gather indoors and up to 30 people in open spaces.
- Jordan will seal off the city of Ramtha near the Syrian border from Monday amid the largest daily rise in four months in coronavirus infections.
- Ireland’s health chiefs will meet on Monday to decide if further restrictions are needed to slow a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus that the government and officials have described as deeply concerning.
- Italy’s decision to shut discos and clubs and make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in some areas at night comes as cases of coronavirus pick up across the country, especially among younger people.
- The governor of the US state of Georgia, who has opposed local mask mandates previously, has signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements.
That’s all from me, my colleagues in Australia will take over now, goodnight.
The United States surpassed 170,000 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials express concerns over Covid-19 complicating the fall flu season.
Deaths rose by 483 on Sunday, with Florida, Texas and Louisiana leading the rise in fatalities.
The US has at least 5.4 million confirmed coronavirus cases in total, the highest in the world and likely an undercount as the country still has not ramped up testing to the recommended levels.
Cases are falling in most states except for Hawaii, South Dakota and Illinois.
Public health officials and authorities are concerned about a possible fall resurgence in cases amid the start of the flu season, which will likely exacerbate efforts to treat the coronavirus.
Centers for Disease Control director Robert Redfield warned the US may be in for its “worst fall” if the public does not follow health guidelines in an interview with Web MD.
Months into the pandemic, the US economic recovery from the recession triggered by the outbreak is still staggered, with some hot spots slowing their reopenings and others shutting down businesses.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is anticipating an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the coming months, resulting in around 300,000 total deaths by December, and a nearly 75% increase in hospitalisations.
Worldwide there are at least 21.5 million coronavirus cases and over 765,000 confirmed deaths.
The United States remains the global epicenter of the virus, with around a quarter of the cases and deaths.
Jacinda Ardern is coming to the end of this news conference.
She says she had never considered moving the election out by a year, as she said some other countries have done.
“We are not proposing to push out for a long period of time,” she says, reiterating that the vote will still happen in the constitutional time allocated for this parliament.
She acknowledges the potential anxiety caused by delaying the election, but says she wants to assure all voters that their voices will be heard on election day.
New Zealand spent 102 days with no new cases of Covid-19, until last week, when four new cases in the city of Auckland were reported.
This city was returned to Level-3 lockdown rules - initially for 3 days, but that was extended on Friday out to 26 August. The rest of the country is alert level 2.
As of Sunday, there were 69 active cases of Covid-19, including 49 cases from the community.
New Zealand will delay its national election due to coronavirus
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has moved the general election to 17 October, a month later than the original date of 19 September.
Ardern says the biggest risk to overcome will be ensuring 25,000 election workers are well-protected as they go about their work.
Ardern said she considered moving the election by just 2 weeks, but the election commission said this wasn’t enough time for them to prepare for the new date.
“I am proposing that parliament reconvene tomorrow,” Ardern said, “Under the circumstances, I consider it important that parliament can consider these issues.”
Parliament will now dissolve on 6 September.
Advance voting will start on Saturday, 3 October.
The governor-general has been advised of the new election date.
“Covid is the world’s new normal,” Ardern said. “I know the uncertainty Covid has caused is incredibly difficult...I do not intend to change the election date again.”
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Israel’s ministerial committee for the coronavirus crisis relaxed some social distancing restrictions on Sunday, allowing up to 20 people to gather in an indoor space regardless of its size, after some backlash from restaurant owners who claim they were particularly hit by them, the Haaretz newspaper reports.
The new regulations, to go into effect on Monday at 7pm, will also allow gatherings of up to 30 people in an open space.
The number of total coronavirus cases in the country rose to 92,680 on Sunday, of which 23,491 are active, while the death toll has risen to 685.
There are 382 patients in serious condition.
A committee leading the coronavirus response in Israel’s Arab society reported a rise of about 1,600 new cases within a week, bringing the total number of cases among Israeli Arabs, not including East Jerusalem and mixed Jewish-Arab cities, to 9,908, with 3,600 of them considered active cases.
Officials say one of the main reasons for the rise in cases are large gatherings in weddings, in spite of restrictions in place limiting crowds.
Localised restrictions in North of England 'could be relaxed within days'
Tight localised coronavirus restrictions in some parts of the North of England could be lifted this week, after around 4.5 million people in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and West Yorkshire were subjected to a new lockdown more than two weeks ago in a bid to contain local infection clusters.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told the Daily Mirror newspaper that he believes rules banning people from mixing with other households in homes or gardens will be relaxed, possibly borough-by-borough, and depending on infection rates.
He said: “Hopefully, we will begin to see some people getting released.
“If things stay as they are I think it is likely that we would see a change.”
Burnham said that while curbs would remain and possibly tighten in the worst-hit areas, they would be eased in parts where cases have dropped.
“Our cases are flattening – with one exception, Oldham – and we are starting to turn the tide in most of our boroughs. The hope is, maybe we will have a better time ahead of us,” he said, adding that numbers could “change quite dramatically in four, five days,” and would be reviewed weekly.
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Brazil on Sunday reported 23,101 new coronavirus infections, taking the overall tally to 3,340,197.
The country recorded a further 620 Covid-19 deaths over a 24 hour period, according to the health ministry.
107,852 people are now confirmed to have died from coronavirus in Brazil.
Brazil has the world’s second-worst Covid-19 outbreak after the United States.
On Friday, the Philippines imposed a temporary ban on poultry meat imports from Brazil, after two cities in China found traces of coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food, including chicken wings from the South American country, Reuters reported.
The governor of the US state of Georgia, who has opposed local mask mandates and even sued over one in Atlanta, has signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As with previous orders, the one issued Saturday says residents and visitors of the state are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings when they are outside of their homes, except when eating, drinking or exercising outside.
But unlike previous orders, this one allows local governments in counties that have reached a threshold requirement to require the wearing of masks on government-owned property, the Associated Press reports.
A county meets that threshold requirement if it has had 100 or more confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days.
Only two of Georgia’s 159 counties were below that threshold, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.
Local mask mandates cannot result in fines, fees or penalties against private businesses or organisations, and penalties against individuals for non-compliance cannot included a fine greater than $50 and cannot include prison time, the order says.
Local mask requirements can’t be enforced on residential property and can only be enforced on private property, including businesses, if the owner or occupant consents to enforcement, the order says.
This order also protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property,” governor Brian Kemp said in a news release accompanying the order, which is in effect through 31 August.
“While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms,” he added.
Jordan will seal off a city near the Syrian border from Monday following the largest daily rise in four months in coronavirus infections, which officials say have come mainly from its northern neighbour.
The health ministry said half of the 39 cases recorded in the last 24 hours were from Ramtha city, near the Syrian border.
Officials say truck drivers and individuals entering the kingdom from the Jaber border crossing with Syria are spreading the virus.
Ramtha will be isolated as of Monday with the authorities re-imposing restrictions on movement in the first such reversal of a provincial area since the authorities eased a nationwide lockdown last June, Reuters reports.
Jordan, with one of the lowest infection cases in the region, has reported 1,378 cases and 11 deaths from Covid-19.
The spread of cases from Syria prompted the kingdom last Wednesday to impose a week-long closure of the Jaber border crossing, a trade artery for Syrian and Lebanese transit goods to the Gulf and Iraq.
Prime minister Omar al Razzaz said on Sunday that tougher measures at the border crossing would be imposed in the next few days given the spike in neighbouring countries and complacency in applying social distancing and health safeguards.
“We don’t want, God forbid, to have a second wave,” Razzaz said.
In addition to measures, such as increased testing, Razzaz said the authorities will increase the number of caravans to house hundreds of truck drivers and Jordanians arriving from Syria who are put under quarantine.
Syria has witnessed an alarming increase in the spread of the coronavirus in the last two weeks, western NGOs and World Health Organization officials say.
The Damascus government has admitted there has been a rise in daily cases, with 84 cases announced on Sunday.
But medical sources and witnesses say there are many more that are not reported in a war-devastated country where testing is limited in a fragile health service.
Amazon investigated by German cartel office over alleged abuse of dominance during pandemic
The German Federal Cartel Office is investigating the allegation that Amazon abused a market-dominating position during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are currently investigating whether and how Amazon influences retailers’ pricing on the marketplace,” cartel office president Andreas Mundt told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
During the first months of the pandemic, there were complaints that Amazon had blocked retailers because of allegedly excessive prices.
“Amazon must not be a price controller. That also applies now,” Mundt said.
Mundt described Amazon as an indispensable platform for many retailers.
“On the other hand, we have so far not formally established market dominance,” he added.
Germany is the second largest market for the US group after the United States.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported a total of 5,340,232 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 54,686 cases on a day earlier, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,150 to 168,696.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Updated
The UK government has said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, there were a further 1,040 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Overall, a total of 318,484 cases have been confirmed in the UK.
As of Sunday, 41,366 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. This was up by five from the day before.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have been 56,800 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, PA reports.
Updated
Ireland’s health chiefs will meet on Monday to decide if further restrictions are needed to slow a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus that the government and officials have described as deeply concerning.
Ireland has reopened its economy at a slower pace than most EU countries but that has not prevented a jump in cases over the last two weeks that led to the first localised reimposition of some restrictions last week.
After reporting the highest number of daily cases since the beginning of May on Saturday, 66 more on Sunday pushed the 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 population to 23, the country’s acting chief medical officer, Ronan Glynn, said.
Ireland’s incidence rate is higher than those of the UK and Germany, having previously been among the lowest in Europe for a number of weeks.
“NPHET [Ireland’s public health team] has been monitoring this very closely and will meet formally tomorrow afternoon to consider if any additional recommendations need to be made to government,” Glynn told the national broadcaster RTÉ.
“We’ve seen cases all across the country in the past 14 days so we will need to consider what needs to be done in that context.”
Glynn, who discussed the situation with the prime minister, Micheál Martin, and senior ministers earlier on Sunday, urged people to avoid crowds and to reduce their social contacts.
He described footage shared widely on social media over the weekend of a bar in Dublin where customers crowding around the counter were shown having drinks poured into their mouths as reckless and said it could not be tolerated.
“This cannot continue. This pandemic isn’t over just because we are tired of living with it,” he said.
Updated
Italy’s decision to shut discos and clubs and make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in some areas at night comes as cases of coronavirus pick up across the country, especially among younger people.
New infections in the past week were more than double those registered three weeks ago, and the median age of people contracting the virus has dropped below 40, Reuters reports.
The new rules will start on Monday, two days after an Italian holiday when many young Italians go out dancing, and will run until early September. Masks will be required between 6pm and 6am in areas close to bars and pubs and where gatherings are more likely.
“We cannot nullify the sacrifices made in past months. Our priority must be that of opening schools in September in full safety,” the health minister, Roberto Speranza, said on Facebook.
Updated
The UN Palestinian refugee agency has confirmed four new Covid-19 deaths in camps in Lebanon, and called for vigilance in observing hygiene measures as infections rise across the country.
“During the past 24 hours, four deaths have been recorded among Palestine refugees” in Lebanon, UNRWA said.
It brings the total number of Palestinian refugees who have died from Covid-19 since Lebanon first recorded an outbreak of the virus in February to eight.
More than 200,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon, the majority living below the poverty line while their right to work and own property is restricted, according to UNRWA.
Lebanon has seen a spike in coronavirus-related cases and deaths, including 397 new infections on Saturday alone. That brought the total number of infections to 8,442, including 97 deaths.
A planned lockdown was abandoned in the wake of the massive explosion that ripped through large parts of the capital, Beirut, on 4 August.
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Mississippi’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, says the fact that residents of his state will have to vote in person during the Covid-19 pandemic is not a problem, my colleague Tom Lutz reports.
“We do not allow mail-in voting in the state of Mississippi. We think that our election process, which has been in place for many, many years, ensures that we have a fair process in which we have the opportunity to limit fraud,” Reeves told CBS on Sunday.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Mississippi has the highest positivity rate in the US, with 19.5% of coronavirus tests coming back positive over the last seven days. Again, Reeves does not see that as a concern.
“Every vote that is legally cast in the state of Mississippi will be counted in the November election and I’m confident that once all of those votes are counted that Donald J Trump is going to win Mississippi and many other states,” Reeves said.
Updated
France reports 3,015 new cases over 24 hours
France said on Sunday that 236 coronavirus infection clusters were being investigated in the country, as the daily number of new confirmed cases rose by 3,015.
It was the second day in a row that new infections surpassed the 3,000 mark. One further death was reported, taking the total official toll in hospitals and nursing homes to 30,410.
There were 4,860 people in hospital with Covid-19, including 376 in intensive care units.
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Michelle Bolsonaro, the wife of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, said on Sunday she had tested negative for coronavirus, roughly two weeks after first contracting the disease, Reuters reports.
Several members of the Bolsonaro family have fallen sick with Covid-19. Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world after the United States.
Michelle’s grandmother died from the disease this week, Jair himself was ill in July, and his fourth son, Jair Renan, has tested positive.
“Thank you for your prayers and for all your acts of love,” Michelle Bolsonaro said in a post on social media announcing her test result.
As of Saturday, Brazil had 107,232 deaths attributed to coronavirus and 3.3 million confirmed cases.
Updated
A deepening rift between the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and his finance minister about coronavirus spending is fuelled by disagreements over the scope and scale of proposed green initiatives, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Trudeau and his finance minister, Bill Morneau, are due to meet on Monday to try to sort out their differences, said a fourth source.
Morneau and his team have pushed back against other cabinet ministers about how much funding was needed, including to what extent the recovery could be helped by investing in environmental projects, the sources added.
Trudeau, who campaigned on a platform to tackle climate change, believes the 2021 budget should have an ambitious environmental element to start weaning the heavily oil-dependent economy off fossil fuels, and has recently hired the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as an informal adviser, aides say.
The appointment, coupled with a Globe and Mail report that Trudeau and Morneau had clashed over the amount of money Ottawa is spending to combat coronavirus, led to speculation about the future of the finance minister. Morneau, 57, has been in the job since the Liberals took power in late 2015.
Trudeau’s spokesman Cameron Ahmad said the prime minister had issued a statement on Tuesday saying he had “full confidence” in Morneau, who confidants say is alarmed by ballooning budget deficits.
Updated
After a meeting on Sunday afternoon with regional authorities, the Italian government has decided to close all discos in the country and to make mandatory wearing masks in outdoor public spaces where it is not possible to practice social distancing.
The decision follows a rapid increase in coronavirus infections: for the first time since May and for three consecutive days, Italy registered more than 500 new coronavirus cases per day, most of which concern holidaymakers returning from Croatia, Spain, Greece and Malta.
The fear of a new lockdown has begun to spread among Italians as the country registered 479 new cases and four deaths on Sunday.
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The British government faces the threat of legal action and criticism from its own MPs after it sparked anger by mishandling English exam grades.
After a nationwide lockdown forced exams to be cancelled, the government used an algorithm to assess grade predictions made by teachers, and lowered grades for almost 40% of students taking their main school-leaving exams. That process led many students to lose places at universities they had previously been offered.
Results show that grades were less likely to be lowered for students who attended fee-paying private schools, while bright students at traditionally poorly performing schools have had results downgraded, often dramatically.
On Saturday night the exam regulator published guidance on an appeals process, only to withdraw it hours later because it needed further review.
The barrister Jo Maugham said his Good Law Project had appointed solicitors to pursue litigation on behalf of students, and urged the government to launch a suitable appeal system in time for students to go to college in September, Reuters reports.
Robert Halfon, the Tory chair of the cross-party education select committee in parliament, described the removal of the appeal guidance as farcical. “It sows confusion among pupils, head teachers and school teachers, and it’s the last thing we need at this time,” he told the BBC.
Updated
Over in Cyprus, more cases of coronavirus have been recorded today, with the health ministry in the island nation’s internationally recognised southern sector announcing seven new infections, bringing the total tally to 1,339.
Three of those who tested positive for the virus were tourists and repatriated Greek Cypriots, according to authorities.
The Mediterranean island has handled the pandemic better than other EU member states, but in recent weeks has seen a flare-up of cases, particularly around the marina of Limassol.
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The head of a US House of Representatives committee has invited the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, to appear on 24 August to testify about postal service changes that some suspect are aimed at holding up postal ballots in the 3 November election.
Democrats have accused Donald Trump of trying to hamstring the cash-strapped postal service to suppress mail-in voting. DeJoy has been donating to Trump’s campaign.
Trump said on Thursday he had held up talks with Congress over a fresh round of coronavirus stimulus funding to block Democrats from providing more funds for postal voting and election infrastructure.
“[DeJoy’s] testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been blocking critical coronavirus funding for the postal service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections,” the House oversight and reform committee chairwoman, Carolyn Maloney, said in a statement.
The pandemic has significantly affected the US election, with campaign rallies and convention speeches unable to go ahead as planned.
So far, the altered landscape appears to be hurting Trump and helping his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Updated
Conservative MPs have told the health secretary, Matt Hancock that businesses will suffer unless the government takes a more sophisticated approach to the blanket restrictions affecting 4.5 million people across northern England, my colleague Josh Halliday reports.
Ministers announced on Friday that people across large swaths of the north and the city of Leicester would remain under tighter restrictions for a third week as the coronavirus infection rate continued to rise in some areas.
The measures, introduced with a few hours’ notice on 31 July, ban people in the affected areas from visiting family and friends and from socialising with other households in pubs or restaurants.
Updated
Island nations have an advantage when it comes to stopping travellers importing disease, be it Covid or other infections.
Seas are usually harder to cross than land, and beaches are easier to police. There are no cross-border towns, and fewer ways to sneak over frontiers.
These advantages, combined with strict quarantine policies, have made island nations some of the most successful at containing Covid. But the ones that did best shut themselves off from the world to varying degrees. And a fresh outbreak of cases in New Zealand last week suggests coronavirus can evade even tight controls.
Experts say the lack of special border measures in the UK before lockdown was a “serious mistake” that significantly increased the pace and scale of the epidemic. Even now, the UK’s quarantine measures – for selected countries and with limited enforcement – appear to be nowhere near as comprehensive or effective as those used by other island nations.
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The Irish government has expressed “deep concern” at a rise in Covid-19 cases in the country. Ireland recorded 200 new cases on Saturday – the highest daily number since the start of May.
A government spokesman said:
The taoiseach, tanaiste, Green party leader, health minister and acting CMO met this morning to discuss the evolving Covid-19 situation and to examine the recent spike in cases.
They expressed deep concern at yesterday’s figures. There will be a further analysis of the situation ahead of the cabinet committee on Covid, which will meet again on Tuesday.
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The German state of Bavaria has said it has tracked down most of the people returning from abroad who tested positive for coronavirus but were not told about it, in a debacle that embarrassed a possible successor to chancellor Angela Merkel, Reuters reports.
Bavaria said it had found 903 of the 949 people who tested positive out of a total of 44,000 travellers returning to the country, but it could not locate personal data for 46 of the positive tests.
The tests were carried out up to two weeks ago at special centres that were opened with great fanfare in the southern state. Problems with data entry meant that the travellers were kept waiting for their test results for days.
The Bavarian state premier, Markus Soeder, apologised for the problems on Thursday, promising to fix the mistakes by adding extra staff. He also said he supported his health minister, who had offered to resign.
Some conservatives see Soeder as the best candidate to run for the chancellorship in next year’s election, succeeding Merkel who has said she will not stand for a fifth term. Soeder has so far said he will stay in Bavaria.
Germany has managed to keep the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths relatively low compared with other European countries but there are concerns about a possible second wave.
On Saturday Germany saw the biggest increase in confirmed coronavirus cases since late April, a rise of 1,415, but on Sunday the increase was just 625, although fewer cases are usually registered at the weekend.
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Firms from the United Arab Emirates and Israel have signed an agreement to jointly develop research and studies on coronavirus, UAE state media reported.
The business deal comes days after a surprise political agreement on Thursday between the UAE and Israel to normalise relations, a historic shift that will make the Gulf state only the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
The UAE’s Apex National Investment and Israel’s TeraGroup signed the “strategic commercial agreement” late on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, AFP reports.
“We are delighted with this cooperation with TeraGroup, which is considered the first business to inaugurate trade, economy and effective partnerships between the Emirati and Israeli business sectors,” said the Apex chairman, Khalifa Yousef Khouri.
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Dozens of students have sat down on the floor at the front door of the Department of Education in London, UK, as hundreds filled the street.
They are protesting against the downgrading of thousands of students’ A-levels by an algorithim that accounted for schools’ historical performance, effectively discriminating against high-achieving children at schools that have had low performance.
Exams were cancelled in the UK due to the pandemic, though they went ahead in some countries such as Germany.
The protesters chanted “vote them out”, “fuck Eton” and “come out Gavin” (in reference to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson), with many demonstrators holding signs referencing the next election.
Maya Szollosy, 18, from London, said:
We’re voting age now, most of us, and we’re young. We’re going to remember this for many years until the general election and I don’t think many students are going to vote for the Conservative party after what they did to us.
A science teacher who did not wish to give her name, said:
I think this is the biggest attack on the working class probably since Thatcher, or at least the most brazen. This is going to be devastating, particularly for the working class, including black and minority ethnic students. I’ve seen that up to 2 million GCSE kids are going to get downgraded potentially, so I’m so scared for them, my heart is breaking for these kids.
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Health officials in the Canadian city of Toronto have warned that as many as 550 people may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a downtown strip club after an employee tested positive for the virus.
The potential exposure took place just days after the Brass Rail Tavern, one of the city’s best-known strip clubs, was allowed to reopen. The employee worked four shifts in early August, the city said in a statement, without detailing the capacity in which the employee worked.
Public health officials said they had reached out to clients who had left their details in the establishment’s contact tracing log, urging them to get tested and self-isolate. However, public health experts questioned how many patrons would have handed over legitimate contact information.
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Another two people who tested positive for coronavirus in Wales have died, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,589.
Public Health Wales said the total number of cases in the country had increased by 18, bringing the revised total of confirmed cases to 17,561.
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Greece will only flatten the curve of a second coronavirus wave now gripping the country if diagnosed cases drop below 200 a day, a leading infectious disease expert has warned.
Gkikas Magiorkinis, an assistant professor of hygiene and epidemiology at Athens University, said it was imperative that infection rates were kept below 200 for the pandemic to remain under control, following a fourth straight day where it passed that threshold.
The prediction is, if it is kept below 200 then the number needing to be intubated is manageable. If not, we will have to impose more measures, especially in larger cities like Athens and Thessaloniki where half the Greek population lives and where we have larger densities of transmission.”
On Saturday the National Organisation of Public Health, EODY, announced that 230 people had tested positive for the novel virus over the preceding 24-hour period, saying 27 of the new cases were imported with international arrivals.
Relative to other European countries, Greece has done relatively well in keeping the pandemic under control, registering 6,858 cases and 226 deaths to date. But authorities have reported a worrying rise in cases in August, with health officials attributing the sharp uptick in part to incoming tourists but also lax observance of health protocols and other compliance measures domestically.
Magiorkinis, one of a number of expert scientists advising the government, acknowledged that increased testing also played a role in increased numbers of diagnoses, but said his chief concern was transmissions spreading to vulnerable sectors of society if the increase was not brought under control.
If we can keep the number below 200, we can flatten the curve. If not, my concern is that eventually transmissions might reach the people who are most vulnerable in care homes and hospitals
He said Greece was seeing the impact of its effective coronavirus reproductive rate, or R number, reaching 1.1 around 15 days ago. On Friday the government announced further containment measures including midnight curfews on bars and restaurants in popular island resorts and large urban centres.
Magiokinis, who formerly taught at Oxford University, said among the additional measures being considered were making mask-wearing mandatory “everywhere” and reducing density rates on public transport and in restaurants and bars.
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Italy hits record daily Covid-19 case since May
Italy has registered more than 500 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to Saturday for a third consecutive day, reaching record daily figures since May.
Most of those who have tested positive have been returning from Croatia, Spain, Greece and Malta. According to the health ministry, Italy registered 629 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.
The health minister, Roberto Speranza, announced he had signed an ordinance requiring holidaymakers returning from Spain, Croatia, Malta and Greece to be tested for the coronavirus. He said:
We need to maintain the utmost caution in order to defend what we have achieved so far. People returning from these countries will now be subject to swabs.
For most of the summer, contact tracing and compliance with safety measures helped Italy maintain a stable, low rate of new Covid-19 infections, but one hot week in August may prove to be enough to undo all of the country’s previous successes.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorisation to Yale School of Public Health for its SalivaDirect Covid-19 diagnostic test, which uses a new method of processing saliva samples when testing for infection.
The assistant secretary for health and Covid-19 testing coordinator, Admiral Brett Giroir, said:
The SalivaDirect test for rapid detection of Sars-CoV-2 is yet another testing innovation game changer that will reduce the demand for scarce testing resources. Our current national expansion of Covid-19 testing is only possible because of FDA’s technical expertise and reduction of regulatory barriers, coupled with the private sector’s ability to innovate and their high motivation to answer complex challenges posed by this pandemic.
FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn said:
Providing this type of flexibility for processing saliva samples to test for Covid-19 infection is groundbreaking in terms of efficiency and avoiding shortages of crucial test components like reagents. Today’s authorisation is another example of the FDA working with test developers to bring the most innovative technology to market in an effort to ensure access to testing for all people in America. The FDA encourages test developers to work with the agency to create innovative, effective products to help address the Covid-19 pandemic and to increase capacity and efficiency in testing.
According to the FDA, SalivaDirect does not require a swab or collection device. A saliva sample can be collected in any sterile container. This test is also said to be unique because it does not require a separate nucleic acid extraction step.
This is the fifth test that the FDA has authorised that uses saliva as a sample for testing, eliminating the need for swabs.
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South Africa eases many lockdown rules
South Africa has eased many of its lockdown restrictions after officials decided that the worst of the pandemic outbreak in the continent’s most developed country appeared to be over.
With more than 580,000 confirmed infections so far, South Africa has been badly hit by the virus, despite one of the strictest and earliest lockdowns in the world. A total of 11,700 people have died, according to official figures, though research by government medical scientists suggests the true figure is several times higher.
The president, Cyril Ramaphosa, gave the latest in a series of televised speeches on Saturday night, saying South Africa had “moved beyond the inflection point of the curve” of Covid-19 infections and announcing a sweeping removal of lockdown restrictions.
Ramaphosa said the government would end a ban on alcohol and tobacco sales, allow restaurants and taverns to return to normal business subject to strict hygiene regulations, and remove a ban on travel between provinces.
The Covid-19 crisis has done immense damage to an economy already in recession, destroying millions of jobs and causing huge hardship to many already disadvantaged South Africans.
Ramaphosa said rates of new infections had fallen to an average of 5,000 a day, from a peak of 12,000 a day, and this, as well as a rise in recoveries, was “significantly reducing the pressure on our health facilities”.
Officials in Gauteng, the most populous and wealthiest province, said last week that the peak of infections had been lower than anticipated but a second wave within three to four months was very probable.
Ramaphosa, who remains broadly popular despite growing anger at reports suggesting systematic corruption within much of the ruling African National Congress party, cautioned that cases could surge if people fail to maintain vigilance and said that an almost total ban on international travel remained in place.
The president’s pledge of decisive action against “some individuals who have sought to profit through corrupt means from this pandemic” received a sceptical reaction. Local media noted that in a 2,500-word speech, fewer than 100 words were devoted to a topic that has caused widespread outrage.
The lifting of restrictions on alcohol will be a relief to the battered hospitality and drinks industries, though will further strain scarce and often poorly managed health resources. Public service and other unions have called for further massive stimulus to the economy.
“The further easing of restrictions presents us with the greatest opportunity since the start of the pandemic to breathe life into our struggling economy,” the president said.
Crime statistics released last week showed a steep decline in violent and other offences since the imposition of restrictions in late March.
Updated
Spanish regions attempt to control virus by shutting bars by 1am as cases rise
Spanish regions have begun implementing a slew of measures aimed at slowing down one of Europe’s highest rates of infection.
Some two months after the country eased out of one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, cases have soared across the country. The 14-day rate of new cases now sits at 116 per 100,000, according to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, compared to 41 in France and 19 in the UK.
Among the regions worst hit is Catalonia, where 1,044 new cases and 13 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the regional health ministry.
The sharp rise in cases prompted a recent announcement of new measures that will be put in place across Spain, including the shuttering of nightclubs and the closure of bars and restaurants by 1am. Smoking in public places will be banned when distancing is not possible.
On Sunday these new measures came into effect in the northern wine-growing region of La Rioja and the southeastern region of Murcia. Other regions are expected to implement the measures in the coming days.
In the Basque Country, where the 14-day rate of infection has climbed to 181 cases per 100,000, officials said they would declare a “health emergency” on Monday, which would allow them to restrict public gatherings and potentially confine areas with a high-risk of transmission.
In hard-hit Madrid, officials announced that, starting Monday, they would carry out random tests on residents in some of the most at-risk areas of the city in hopes of better tracking asymptomatic cases. In the past two weeks, more than 10,800 people have tested positive in the Madrid region.
The rapid spread of the virus in recent weeks has hit the country’s tourism industry, a vital sector that accounts for around 12% of Spain’s GDP. The latest blow came from Germany, whose residents rank among the largest groups of foreign tourists to Spain.
After officials declared Spain, with the exemption of the Canary Islands, a coronavirus risk region – forcing returning travellers to take a test or quarantine on arrival – tour operator TUI said it was cancelling all German package holidays to Spain until Aug 24 and called on travellers already in the country to leave by the end of the week.
Updated
An Australian swimmer, Chloe McCardel, has been assured she will not have to quarantine following her return to the UK after breaking the men’s record of English Channel crossings.
The 35-year-old took 10 hours and 40 minutes to complete her 35th swim, after setting off from Dover, Kent, on Saturday evening. She had been worried arriving in Calais would require her to self-isolate when she returned to the UK, after such rules were introduced on Saturday, leaving returning holidaymakers angry and incredulous.
However, McCardel, 35, says UK and French coastguards clarified the situation as she spent only minutes on shore before swimming back out to her support boat for the return journey.
“I’m in great spirits,” McCardel told the BBC afterwards. “I would like to have a little celebration this evening in England.”
The female record of 43 Channel swims is held by Briton Alison Streeter.
Almost 300,000 people worldwide test positive for virus in 24 hours - BBC
More than 294,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to the World Health Organization’s figures cited by the BBC. This is reportedly the highest daily increase of the pandemic so far.
Cases are continuing to rise steeply in many countries, while some others, notably Spain, are seeing infections rise again.
Updated
France set to announce new measures on masks and office working
France is set to announce new measures within the next two weeks to stem the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace, the employment minister, Elisabeth Borne, said on Sunday after Paris and Marseille were declared “red zones” and the country recorded another new high in post-lockdown infections.
Borne told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that the government would consult with trades union next week on the measures, which are likely to include masks being made compulsory in collective spaces and meeting rooms with no natural ventilation, but not necessarily in individual offices.
The minister also said home working should be the norm whenever possible in areas of the country where the virus is spreading actively, and that she would be consulting the public health authority on its recommendations for open-plan offices, including the installation of plexiglass screens between workers.
The capital and the Bouches-du-Rhone département have both been classed as zones where the the coronavirus was “actively circulating”, an administrative measure that will allow government prefects to impose new restrictions as they deem necessary.
Paris on Saturday expanded the parts of the city where masks are now obligatory in the open air, adding popular tourist areas such as the zone around the Eiffel tower and the Louvre to its list of busy shopping streets, open air markets and nightlife areas announced on Monday.
Marseille, too, added more mandatory mask zones. It is now compulsory to cover your nose and mouth in public in the busiest areas of several French cities where physical distancing is difficult, including Nice, Rennes, Lille, La Rochelle, Lyon and Bordeaux,
The French national health agency Santé publique France on Saturday reported 3,310 new infections in the previous 24 hours, another record since the country emerged from lockdown in mid-May.
It said some, but not all, of the increase was due to massively increased testing, warning that the proportion of positive tests was increasing steadily.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, added Paris and the Bouches-du-Rhone area, Brussels, Madrid and several Spanish regions to its orange advisory list, warning against all but essential travel and demanding that people returning go into quarantine for 14 days.
Britain is also on the list because of the 14-day quarantine it has imposed on travellers from the Netherlands, but those returning from the UK are not required to quarantine when they get home.
More than 650 people tested positive for coronavirus in the Netherlands in the 24 hours to Saturday, bringing the country’s latest weekly total to 4,508, more than 1,000 more than the previous week.
Updated
Guidance urging travellers to avoid using public transport in Wales except for essential journeys is being scrapped from Monday.
The Welsh government is telling people to act responsibly and avoid travelling at busy times where possible, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to fall.
Face coverings on public transport remain compulsory except for people who are unable to wear one for medical reasons.
Under measures announced last week, people in Wales will be able to see more of their families and friends from 22 August.
Up to four households will be able to join together to form a single extended household and up to 30 people will also be able to join a meal indoors after a wedding, civil partnership or funeral if social distancing can be maintained.
Essential travel only guidance was dropped in England on 17 July.
Updated
Meanwhile, in Russia, 4,969 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, bringing the nationwide tally to 922,853 – the fourth highest caseload in the world.
Russia’s coronavirus crisis response centre said that 68 people had died over the past 24 hours, bringing its official death toll to 15,685. It added that 732,968 people have recovered.
Updated
The Philippines has recorded 3,420 new cases of the coronavirus and 65 additional deaths, the health ministry has announced.
The country has so far registered a total of 161,253 infections and the death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 2,665 according to ministry data.
Updated
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
Its Mattha Busby here taking over from my colleague Helen Davidson. If you would like to get in touch you can email me on mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk or DM me on Twitter. I’ll bring you any updates as they happen.
Updated
Summary
That’s it from me. My colleagues in London will be taking over shortly to keep you up to date with the latest. Stay safe and well.
- Australia has recorded 17 new deaths and 284 new cases. 16 deaths and 279 cases were in Victoria. Despite a “positive” trend downwards, Victoria’s state of emergency and its accompanying restrictions have been extended by four weeks to 13 September.
- Australia’s federal health minister Greg Hunt is cautiously optimistic that a vaccine to conquer the coronavirus will be available next year. Hunt says the government is close to striking a deal which would permit the production of a vaccine in Australia.
- New Zealand has reported 13 new cases in Auckland, where authorities are dealing with a renewed outbreak after 102 days without a single case of community transmission. Opposition politicians have joined to call on PM Jacinda Ardern to delay the country’s election, scheduled for next month.
- South Korea reported 279 new cases, the most cases since early March.All but 12 were locally transmitted cases, mostly in Seoul and surrounding areas.
- The outbreak in the Xinjiang region of China appears to be waning, after authorities reported just four locally transmitted cases in the region. The rest of mainland China’s 19 cases were all imported.
- Britain’s health secretary Matt Hancock will announce this week that Public Health England (PHE) will be scrapped and replaced by a new body.
- Algeria started reopening its mosques, cafes, beaches and parks on Saturday for the first time in five months, gradually relaxing one of the world’s longer virus confinement periods.
- South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday that all indications were that South Africa had reached the peak of Covid-19 infections, as he announced a sweeping removal of lockdown restrictions on the economy.
- Students in Saudi Arabian public schools will be educated via distance learning for the first seven weeks of the new school year.
- The French health ministry on Saturday reported 3,310 new coronavirus infections in France over the past 24 hours, setting a new post-lockdown high for the fourth day in a row.
- Ireland reported a “deeply concerning” 200 new Covid-19 cases arising from multiple clusters across the country on Saturday, the highest daily amount since the beginning of May.
- Turkey confirmed 1,256 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily rise in infections since June, while Malta posted its highest ever daily-on-day rise, and Greek authorities have announced 230 new coronavirus cases on Friday, 27 from international arrivals.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s chief scientific adviser has warned of the risks of complacency after Covid-19 cases in the region increased rapidly last week. Professor Ian Young said it was “inevitable” that there would be a significant increase in coronavirus cases if people stopped following social-distancing rules designed to prevent the spread of the disease.
The reproduction rate of the virus is estimated at between 1.2 and 2.0, according to Northern Ireland’s Department of Health. There were 242 cases last week, with 74 positive tests announced on Friday alone – only 237 people tested positive during the whole of July.
“We’ve just had probably two months with very little evidence of the virus,” said Young, who also sits on the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. “No deaths for maybe 18, 20 days in a row; very few patients in hospitals. In that setting, it’s really hard for people to remember the importance of [social-distancing] behaviours. People relax, and they go back to what we still think of as normal. And if that happens, then it’s inevitable that we will see a further surge or significant increase.”
Read the full report from the Guardian’s James Tapper and Henry McDonald here:
Updated
Parts of Malaysia’s Penang island are back under strict movement control orders, after more than 100 days dubbed “Covid-free bliss”, the Straits Times is reporting.
It comes after a 58-year-old woman was diagnosed with the virus on Friday, and two new cases were reported on Saturday.
According to the article, roadside hawkers can only serve takeaways, and while restaurants and coffee shops are allowed to have dine-in patrons they must strictly observe operating procedures.
No form of crowding is allowed.
Ms Nor Fazila Jaafar, 33, who works at a Malay food shop near the walk-up flats where the 58-year-old woman lives, said she was told on Saturday morning that they had to stop allowing dine-in.
“Business was so bad. We cooked less, but we still only sold 30 per cent of the food all morning and afternoon,” she said.
“We discovered that our rice comes from the sundry shop where the Covid-19 patient’s daughter works.”
More on the confusion in US schools, from Reuters in Nebraska, where a school district said on Saturday it had canceled classes after staff members tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest state to see instruction disrupted after resuming in-person learning.
Three staff members have the virus that causes Covid-19 and 24 more are in quarantine for exposure in the Broken Bow School District about 190 miles (300 km) west of Omaha, superintendent Darren Tobey said in a statement.
Preschool and grade 6 to 12 classes are canceled until 24 August.
President Donald Trump has made reopening schools a re-election campaign issue, threatening to pull federal funding if institutions fail to do so, but resumption of classroom teaching ran into trouble in several states this week.
There is no national plan for school reopening, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has urged districts to resume in-person classes when they consider it safe.
That has led to a patchwork of policies, ranging from Republican Governor Pete Ricketts saying it was safe to resume in-person learning in Nebraska to Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham delaying classes until 8 September in New Mexico.
The Australian shadow government services minister, Bill Shorten, has taken aim at the profit-driven focus of the nation’s privatised aged care homes, while blaming the federal government for failing in its duty to oversee the system during the pandemic.
The former Labor leader asked how privatised centres were able to “serve two masters” – profit and care – given the cost of properly caring for elderly people, particularly those with health issues such as dementia, was not insignificant.
“This is the problem,” he told the ABC. “Looking after elderly people with diagnosis of dementia is not cheap. So if we want to make a profit, and you want to look after people, then you create faultlines in the system.
“Covid-19 right across Australian society has revealed things which have been glossed over. And if you’re a worker in the system, and they’re doing the hard and the tough work, they have to work at multiple centres just to make a living.”
Sydney Girls High School will be closed for cleaning on Monday after a student tested positive for Covid-19. Trial HSC exams scheduled for tomorrow will be postponed, the school said in a Facebook post.
“The school will be non-operational tomorrow for the on-site attendance of staff and students to allow time for the school to complete contact tracing and have the school cleaned. All staff and students are asked to self-isolate while contact tracing occurs.”
In the US an Arizona public school district was forced to cancel its plans to reopen on Monday after more than 100 teachers and other staff members called in sick.
“We have received an overwhelming response from staff indicating that they do not feel safe returning to classrooms with students,” Gregory Wyman, district superintendent, said in a statement on Friday.
Now some activists in Arizona, which saw a high-profile teachers’ strike in 2018, said they hope teachers across America will adopt a similar strategy to keep educators safe, as some parents and politicians continue to push for schools in the US to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’d love to see a nationwide sickout,” Kelley Fisher, an Arizona kindergarten teacher who has led protests in the state, told Reuters on Friday.
A Victoria police officer fired his gun this morning in Melbourne during an attempt to stop a driver breaching curfew.
Police said the 64-year-old man pulled into a service station bay at Altona Meadows around 1.40am. The statement said the man ignored a direction to turn off his car, and drove towards police.
“An approaching police officer had to take evasive action and discharged his firearm,” it said.
The car was pursued for a short time before the man was arrested.
The man was not injured, police said.
He is currently under police guard in hospital due to a medical condition.
Have you tried to adopt an iso-pet? You’re not alone.
Dog shelters across Australia have been emptied after a huge surge in demand for a rescued companion during the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing some desperate prospective dog owners to wait months.
Matilda Bosely and Calla Wahlquist report that animals are leaving the shelter in half the time this year; the average stay in the RSPCA Victoria’s adoption shelters is down to less than four days.
“Waiting for pets to be adopted can often be the biggest bottleneck in the system,” said Tegan McPherson, head of operations at RSPCA Victoria. “At the moment that’s certainly not proving to be the case.”
The United States and South Korea will begin a scaled-back annual joint military exercises this week, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. But a spreading coronavirus outbreak has apparently forced the allies to scale back an already low-key training program mainly involving computer-simulated war scenarios.
The two militaries had canceled their springtime drills following a Covid-19 outbreak in the southern city of Daegu and nearby towns that was stabilised by April. But South Korea is now dealing with a virus resurgence in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan region, home to half of the country’s 51 million people.
There have been around 150 infections among US troops stationed in South Korea since February, which prompted Gyeonggi Province near Seoul last month to openly call for the cancellation of the August drills
The 10-day drills from Tuesday could still irk North Korea, which portrays the allies training as invasion rehearsals and has threatened to abandon stalled nuclear talks if Washington persists with what it perceives as hostile policies toward Pyongyang. The North reacted to last years summertime drills by ramping up its short-range missile tests and unleashing verbal vitriol toward South Korea, which had lobbied hard to revive nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
From AAP: Four men were fined after trying to dodge border restrictions by sailing a houseboat from NSW to Cairns.
The four were intercepted aboard the 14-metre catamaran in Gold Coast waters on Friday after leaving Coffs Harbour on Wednesday.
They were allegedly trying to make the more than 2000km journey to return to their homes and are currently undergoing hotel quarantine at their own expense.
New Zealand’s deputy prime minister Winston Peters has sided with the opposition to ask Jacinda Ardern to postpone the country’s election because of the Auckland outbreak.
Ardern is due to announce her decision at 10am tomorrow on whether she will delay the election scheduled for 19 September.
On Sunday afternoon, Peters revealed he wrote to Ardern on Friday, saying he held “real concerns about the state of preparedness of the Electoral Commission”.
“Our health response must come first and politics second. That remains our view as the case numbers rise each day,” Peters said.
He also said that a 19 September election would give candidates only about six days to campaign, and there was no ability to conduct a free and fair election on the short timeline.
“New Zealand First believes we risk undermining the legitimacy of the election result, creating an awful precedent which could be abused by the Prime Minister’s successors.”
Together, the opposition National party and Ms Ardern’s coalition partners New Zealand First, amounts to a parliamentary majority, which could force Ms Ardern’s hand.
AAP: The AFL has apologised to Western Australia’s premier after Sydney player Elijah Taylor was banned for the rest of the season for breaching the state’s quarantine rules.
Taylor’s partner entered the Swans’ Covid-19 hub accommodation in Perth when she was not authorised to do so.
The Swans have been fined $50,000 for the breach, with $25,000 suspended and $25,000 included in their 2021 soft cap.
WA Police are continuing to investigate the breach and Premier Mark McGowan says both Taylor and his partner could face charges.
“it’s very disappointing,” he said on Sunday.
“The AFL gave us every assurance this wouldn’t happen. The Swans have let us down, the AFL has let us down. We’re disappointed in both organisations.
“I received an apology from the AFL this morning. I appreciate that but ... they promised us this wouldn’t happen and they let us down.”
WA Police have notified Sydney that 19-year-old Taylor can continue his quarantine with the team, while his partner will also be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Both the AFL and the Swans have said there are no excuses for the breach.
Mr McGowan said he remained open to the state hosting the grand final if teams complied with quarantine requirements.
But he said he had no intention of WA bidding to host the showcase event, which is increasingly likely to be played in Brisbane.
All but one of New Zealand’s 13 new cases reported in the last 24 hours were from community transmission and appeared to be linked to a cluster in Auckland where the most recent outbreak started, said Ashley Bloomfield, the New Zealand director general of Health, today. The 13th was a traveller who returned from abroad and was in managed quarantine.
New Zealand is battling its second outbreak of infections and a lockdown is in place over Auckland. Eleanor Ainge-Roy has written this feature on Auckland’s lockdown after 102 days of the country being Covid-free.
This is exactly the type of outbreak we were worried about, and in fact it’s exactly what happened,” said Professor Shaun Hendy, who works modelling the progression of the disease for the government.
“We’ve been looking at different ways it [coronavirus] could come back and they’re all low-likelihood ways, but this was very much one of the scenarios we considered. For a while we were hoping it was a drill.”
Australian health minister Greg Hunt believes Victoria is seeing the early signs of flattening the curve.
Hunt said on the best medical advice he had received, Victoria is on a path to progressive reduction.
“There is a long way to go. There will be good days, there will be bad days. There will be days when the numbers are up and days when the numbers are down,” he told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
“But the signs now are that the trend is of progressive reduction.”
He said the most important thing now is contact tracing to make sure each new case in Victoria is followed up.
But Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid believes there are just too many people with the virus for contact tracers to keep up.
“Once you get hundreds and hundreds of cases a day, you’ve then got to find 10 to 20 to 50 to 100 people per case,” Khorshid told the Nine Network’s Weekend Today program.
“It’s just impossible for contact tracers, and it’s why it’s so important that the general lockdowns are in place.”
Updated
South Korea on Sunday reported 279 cases of the new coronavirus, the most cases since early March, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
Out those, 267 were locally transmitted cases, mostly in Seoul and surrounding areas.
The new cases bring the country’s tally to 15,318 infections, and 305 deaths, as of Saturday midnight.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk remains unapologetic regarding the hard border closures with the state’s southern neighbours, crediting the shutdown with allowing Queensland’s economy to reopen.
“Until there is a vaccine, life will not return to normal,” she told reporters on Sunday.
“[But] We are able to have life in a semi-normal fashion, families are out enjoying this long weekend. We’ve got people able to go to work and children able to go to school.”
Queensland’s hospitality and tourism businesses have enjoyed a much-needed revenue boost over the long weekend in the state’s south-east following another day of no coronavirus infections.
The state recorded no new infections on Sunday and just nine active cases, including two crew members on a cargo ship off the Queensland coast who remain in hospital after testing positive to the virus on Friday.
If community transmissions remain low Palaszczuk said some restrictions impacting the tourism sector could be relaxed by September.
Updated
One dead in New South Wales
A man has died of Covid-19 in New South Wales.
The death of the man, who was in his 80s, takes the state’s death toll to 54 and the national toll to 396.
Updated information: Five new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 3,761. NSW Health sadly reports the death of a man in his 80s who had COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/gOPJOACJtj
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 16, 2020
The health department has also provided some more details on the five new cases reported in the state.
- Three are linked to the Tangara School for Girls cluster. They are all close contacts of previous cases.
- One, a man in his 40s from western Sydney, is locally acquired and still under investigation.
- The other is a close contact of this person.
Previous cases have attended the below venues. Anyone who attended these venues at the following dates and times are considered to be casual contacts, and should monitor for symptoms and immediately get tested and isolate if symptoms occur, however mild:
- Crust Pizza, Concord on Thursday 6 August between 4pm and 8pm or Friday 7 August between 5pm and 9pm.
- Den Sushi Rose Bay on Saturday 8 August between 7:15pm and 8:45pm.
- Café Perons Double Bay on Saturday 8 August between 1pm and 2pm.
- Horderns Restaurant at Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa, Bowral on Sunday 2 August between 7:45pm and 9:15pm.
Updated
A quick summary at the end of the Andrews press conference giving an update of the last 24-hour reporting period.
- The state of emergency has been extended until 13 September.
- 16 people have died including one female and two males in their 70s, two females and four males in their 80s, and four females and three males in their 90s.
- There are 279 new cases.
- 7,671 total active cases, including 158 in Geelong, 49 in Bendigo, 27 in Ballarat, 82 in disability accommodation.
- Amid fears of looming virus crisis in disability care, Andrews wants federal involvement in the rapid response.
- The virus reproduction rate has dropped to about 0.86.
- Police have given out an additional 243 fines for breaching restrictions.
“This is a tough year and we’re going to get through this, all of us,” says Andrews. “We’re tough people ... and we’re all this together.”
Updated
New Zealand: 13 new cases
New Zealand on Sunday reported 13 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus for the last 24 hours, as the country’s first outbreak in months continues to grow.
All but one of the new cases were community transmissions and appeared to be linked to a cluster in Auckland where the most recent outbreak started, the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, told a media briefing in Wellington.
The 13th infected person was a traveller returning from abroad and in a managed quarantine.
The new cases bring the number of active cases in New Zealand to 69. Since the start of the year, the country has recorded 1,271 cases, Bloomfield said.
Updated
On improving communication with families of people in aged care, Andrews says he and the prime minister have talked about it, and how staff can balance the work of caring and the extra stuff like helping a resident with an iPad to contact their family on Zoom.
“Anything more we can do we will, I know it’s a deeply distressing [time] for families.”
“Getting information to people quickly, I can appreciate that’s something families need and we’re all committed to getting that done.”
“We are going to see further chains of transmission, but the trend is good,” says Sutton.
He says the reproduction rate is about 0.86 and the last time he looked at it, it was 0.97.
Two key quotes here on managing expectations for the short to mid term:
Sutton: “Spain had kids not able to leave home for six weeks, they had people exercising only within 150 metres of their home..they still had months of ongoing transmission. It doesn’t turn off overnight.”
Andrews: “Even when this second wave is over, we will still see cases...The notion of completely extinguishing it and never seeing it again, I think that would be an unlikely outcome.”
Updated
Victoria police have given out 243 fines in the past 24 hours, including 84 for breaching curfew. About 30 apiece were for not wearing masks or being caught at a vehicle checkpoint, including a Torquay man driving 140km away from his home, allegedly looking for better surf.
Brett Sutton is asked about the effect of Victoria police releasing details every day, and if this is “shaming”.
“I don’t think the police intend to shame anyone,” says Sutton, , but people do need to be “called out” for some breaches.
“I think it’s overwhelmingly the case that people are doing the right thing.”
Updated
Andrews says the Victorian government wants federal involvement in rapid response within disability accommodation. He said the state has set up its own response team, despite the fact many facilities are federally funded and regulated. “No [they are not involved], but I want them to be.”
Feds pointing out NDIA announced additional support to providers, including workforce support, through a panel of four major providers. Aspen Medical also appointed for “clinical first response” pic.twitter.com/J9M6gU9IYC
— Luke Henriques-Gomes (@lukehgomes) August 16, 2020
Updated
Andrews pleads with people in regional Victoria to get tested, as numbers are stabilising.
He said there were 158 active cases in Geelong, 49 in Bendigo, and 27 in Ballarat.
“If there is one ask which is a takeaway from today’s briefing, it’s if people in those regional cities … can come forward and get tested. That is the really important part of us keeping the numbers in regional Victoria low.”
Andrews is noting there are still outbreaks today but far fewer than a few weeks ago when the state was “at a tipping point”. He’s cautiously optimistic that the measures are working and that the state is on track to wind back from stage four restrictions in six weeks.
Victorian state of emergency extended by four weeks
Victorian premier Dan Andrews has been addressing the press.
We earlier posted that 16 people have died and 279 new cases have been reported. Andrews has confirmed that 11 of those cases are in aged care.
Among the disability accommodation population there are 81 active cases (down by eight from yesterday), including 61 staff cases and 20 residents, across 53 sites.
“This is a significant challenge for us, but I want every staff member, resident and family connected to these settings to understand ... we are well aware of the risks and challenges here and we are well and truly committed to doing everything we can to keep you and your loved ones safe.”
Andrews also announces the state of emergency will be extended another four weeks, to 13 September.
“While these numbers are positive ... I don’t want anyone to think we can back off on this,” he says.
Updated
Five new cases in New South Wales
In Australia the state of New South Wales has reported five new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. None are in hotel quarantine.
- This post has been edited to remove case information from Friday 14 August which was incorrectly attributed to Saturday 15 August.
Updated
Mainland China has reported 19 new cases of the virus, including 15 imported, and four locally transmitted cases - all in Xinjiang.
Nearby Hong Kong is working to get a handle on its long-running latest (and worst) outbreak. City health authorities confirmed 46 new cases and two deaths on Saturday. Of the new cases 39 were locally transmitted and 2 of them had no know source.
Since early July Hong Kong has been battling a renewed wave of the virus with a high rate of community transmission.
Strict social measures are in place, and authorities are preparing to launch mass testing.
It’s a better story in Queensland where there are no new cases of the virus to report. The state, which has introduced hard borders with other states, has nine active cases. In total 1,091 people have contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic, six of them fatally.
Sunday, 16 August – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) August 16, 2020
• 0 new confirmed cases
• 9 active cases
• 1,091 total confirmed cases
• 725,394 tests conducted
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,079 patients have recovered.#COVID19Aus pic.twitter.com/sF0LG3Iac2
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has said he will not rule out taking over more coronavirus-ridden private aged care facilities struggling to provide adequate care.
It comes after an alarming report from Guardian Australia yesterday, with disturbing new images showed ants crawling from a wound on the leg of a 95-year-old Kalyna Aged Care resident in Delahey. Staff brought in to run the nursing home reported residents hadn’t received food or water for 18 hours and finding faeces on the floor.
After sending in public hospital nurses to Glenlyn Aged Care in Fitzroy, Florence Aged Care in Altona North and Kalyna Aged Care, the premier on Saturday said the government was ready to take over more sites if needed.
“I can’t rule out that we will add to that list,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“If we are asked to step in then that is exactly what we do.
“That’s all about making sure residents get the best care.”
Andrews made a point of highlighting that of 2041 active cases in Victorian aged care settings, 2036 cases were linked to the private system and just five to the public sector.
This morning on the ABC’s Insiders program, federal Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said he believes the faultlines seen in aged care during the coronavirus pandemic stem from centres trying to make a profit, while caring for older people is not cheap.
“We need to put people before profit,” he said.
.@Raf_Epstein is still hearing disturbing things through talkback about aged care.
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) August 15, 2020
"John called in from Craigieburn. His wife works in aged care... She got an email saying you must come to work. If you don't come to work, you've got to produce a medical certificate." #auspol pic.twitter.com/yrStjGbyji
The total number of Covid-19 deaths associated with the Victorian aged care sector is 184, which is 63 per cent of a total 293 Victorian deaths.
Andrews’s emphasis on the public-private breakdown of cases followed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s refusal on Friday to take ultimate blame for failures in the federally-regulated sector.
Morrison speaking on 2GB radio on Saturday reiterated his view that while there had been failings, aged care outbreaks in Victoria would not exist without rampant community transmission.
Victoria recorded 303 new cases on Saturday - the second-lowest daily figure in August - and four deaths.
Updated
Victoria: 279 new cases, 16 dead
The Australian state of Victoria has reported 279 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours, and another 16 fatalities. The health department has released the figures ahead of a full press conference later this afternoon.
#Covid19VicData for 16 August 2020.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 16, 2020
279 new cases of #coronavirus (#COVID19) detected in Victoria in the last 24 hours. We are sad to report there have been 16 deaths.
More detail will be provided this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/a3AAzEdxhl
Updated
The Australian government has put extreme limits on citizens and residents wanting to leave the country, causing extreme distress for people wanting to reunite with family or rush to be with sick relatives.
According to a report in Nine newspapers this morning, federal MPs are starting to question it.
The Australian Border Force website lists the following reasons someone can give to apply for an exit permit.
- your travel is as part of the response to the Covid-19 outbreak, including the provision of aid
- your travel is essential for the conduct of critical industries and business (including export and import industries)
- you are travelling to receive urgent medical treatment that is not available in Australia
- you are travelling on urgent and unavoidable personal business
- you are travelling on compassionate or humanitarian grounds
- your travel is in the national interest.
The ABF said just 22,640 people had been given permission to leave, between late March and the end of June, out of 91,950 applications.
“It puts us on par with North Korea, in terms of, are we now a prison state, that unless you can justify yourself to the department, you cannot leave the country?” said independent MP Zali Steggall, who added she’d been inundated with calls from constituents.
“This is an extreme measure for extreme times but it cannot be something we contemplate keeping in place for the long term,” Liberal MP Dave Sharma said.
Australia’s border restrictions to control the spread of the virus are among the toughest in the world. Like some other nations it has banned the entry of anyone except citizens and permanent residents, who are struggling to get flights because of caps on international arrivals. Arrivals must also undergo compulsory 14 days quarantine on arrival, and there are also internal state border closures and restrictions.
Updated
From Reuters in Trinidad and Tobago, where the government are about to bring in tougher anti-virus measures after the number of infections increased this month.
The Caribbean nation registered a jump in Covid-19 cases in August after a gradual rise in July, and has now recorded 474 cases and ten fatalities. Two of the deaths were reported on Friday.
“Given how the virus has been behaving in other populations worldwide... we expect that we will be able to control the level of infection in a situation where our parallel (health) system would be able to cope,” Prime Minister Keith Rowley told reporters.
The new measures, which will go into effect on Monday and last 28 days, include the closure of beaches and places of worship, as well as a ban on dining at restaurants and bars.
No more than five people will be able to gather at a time, and schools will no longer re-open in September as planned. As well, the Attorney General will consider legislation to make face masks mandatory.
“The time for persuasion has now passed and we will take such action,” Rowley said
AAP: Australia’s federal health minister Greg Hunt is cautiously optimistic that a vaccine to conquer the coronavirus will be available next year.
Hunt says the government is close to striking a deal which would permit the production of a vaccine in Australia, but was unable to provide the names of the companies involved due to contractual reasons.
“We are in advanced negotiations with a range of different companies with regards to a vaccine,” Hunt told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda.
“I am now on the basis of our best advice genuinely more optimistic, I think the work is moving closer to a vaccine.’
He said very significant progress is being made around the world to produce a vaccine.
“All our advice has been 2021 is the most likely anything that occur,” he said.
“Before then, then that would be an outstanding result, not just for Australia but for the world.”
The world is moving closer to a COVID-19 vaccine which could be in place by 2021, according to Health Minister @GregHuntMP.https://t.co/YWP1QACqT8
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 15, 2020
Updated
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. This is Helen Davidson in Sydney here to take you through the next few hours.
First, a look at the most recent developments:
- Britain’s health secretary Matt Hancock will announce this week that Public Health England (PHE) will be scrapped and replaced by a new body.
- The US Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency use authorisation for Yale School of Public Health’s saliva test to detect Covid-19, after a trial on National Basketball Association players and staff.
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Algeria started reopening its mosques, cafes, beaches and parks on Saturday for the first time in five months, gradually relaxing one of the world’s longer virus confinement periods.
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Greek authorities have announced 230 new coronavirus cases over the past day, 27 from international arrivals.
- South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday that all indications were that South Africa had reached the peak of Covid-19 infections, as he announced a sweeping removal of lockdown restrictions on the economy.
- Students in Saudi Arabian public schools will be educated via distance learning for the first seven weeks of the new school year.
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Malta posted its highest ever daily-on-day rise in coronavirus infections.
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Turkey confirmed 1,256 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily rise in infections since June.
- The French health ministry on Saturday reported 3,310 new coronavirus infections in France over the past 24 hours, setting a new post-lockdown high for the fourth day in a row and taking the country’s cumulative cases to 215,521. France is to propose that masks be worn in shared workspaces.
- Ireland reported a “deeply concerning” 200 new Covid-19 cases arising from multiple clusters across the country on Saturday, the highest daily amount since the beginning of May.
- The chairman of Ireland’s tourism authority has resigned after defying government guidance to avoid all non-essential travel by going on holiday to Italy.
- The United Kingdom has recorded 1,012 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, the fifth day in a row more than 1,000 infections have been reported in daily figures.
