We’ve launched a new global coronavirus blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Boys have fallen further behind girls at reading regularly and enjoying it during the UK lockdown, a study suggests.
The gender gap in the numbers of children who say they take pleasure in reading and who read daily appears to have widened, prompting fears that boys could be at risk of losing out as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Greater access to audiobooks at school and home may help re-engage boys with literacy, the report from the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and Puffin says, as findings suggest these are more popular with boys.
Fiona Evans, the director of schools programmes at the NLT, called for more schools to introduce “audio libraries”, and for fathers and grandfathers to be role models to encourage more reading among boys.
White House seeks to discredit Fauci - reports
NBC news is reporting that the White House is “seeking to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci,” as Trump struggles to gain control over the coronavirus pandemic:
In a remarkable broadside by the Trump administration against one of its own, a White House official said Sunday that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.” The official gave NBC News a list of nearly a dozen past comments by Fauci that the official said had ultimately proven erroneous.
Among them: Fauci’s comments in January that the coronavirus was “not a major threat” and his guidance in March that “people should not be walking around with masks.”
It was a move more characteristic of a political campaign furtively disseminating opposition research about an opponent than of a White House struggling to contain a pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 people, according to an NBC News tally.
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now. I’ll be bringing you the latest pandemic news from around the world for the next few hours.
As always, it would be good to hear from you – send news, tips, suggestions, extravagant gifts on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Sunday, with the total rising by 230,370 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were recorded in the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa.
- A new report by Oxfam warns that the hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic could potentially kill more people each day than the infection itself, which has claimed more than half a million lives so far.
- The US state of Florida has registered 15,300 new infections on Sunday, the biggest daily increase in recorded coronavirus cases in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Current hospitalisations in the US state of Texas rose by 327 to a new high of 10,410, a record high for the 14th day in a row.
- South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has reinstated a ban on the sale of alcohol to reduce the volume of trauma patients so that hospitals have more beds to treat Covid-19 patients.
- The Palestinian Authority on Sunday imposed a night-time and weekend curfew on the occupied West Bank for the coming 14 days to try to rein in rising coronavirus numbers.
- Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is poised to overtake Italy’s and shoot above 35,000 on Sunday.
- The government of Spain’s Catalonia region on Sunday ordered residents in and around the north-eastern city of Lleida to go back into home confinement as cases of coronavirus rose.
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Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Sunday that his country had brought coronavirus under control and that it was time to focus on restarting the economy. Prime minister
Omar al-Razzaz promised on Sunday to deepen a crackdown on the country’s rampant tax evasion. - Nightclubs and discos in Bulgaria will be allowed to reopen, just three days after all indoor bars were ordered to shut and despite a continuing rise in coronavirus cases in the country.
- Lebanon has recorded a new infection high, as the health ministry said a total of 166 new cases had been confirmed in the last 24 hours.
That’s all from me, my colleague Helen Sullivan is going to take over now.
Brazil, the country second-worst affected by coronavirus after the United States, registered 631 new deaths on Sunday, with a new total of 1,864,681 confirmed cases, according to the health ministry.
Brazil now has an official total of 72,100 deaths, the ministry said.
The numbers of deaths and cases are usually lower on the weekend because of patchy or delayed reporting.
Experts say the true totals are likely far higher due to a lack of testing.
A French expert warned on Sunday that there was little chance of a 100-percent effective coronavirus vaccine by 2021, and urged people to take social distancing measures more seriously.
“A vaccine is several years in development,” said epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, a member of the team of scientists advising the French government on the crisis, speaking on BFMTV television.
“Of course, there is an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine, but I would be very surprised if we had that was effective in 2021,” he added.
While we would probably have one that worked partially, we were very far from the end of the crisis, he said.
That being the case, “we have to live with this virus” he said.
“This summer, let’s respect physical distance, at least,” he said, stressing that large gatherings were the main threat.
On Saturday, a DJ’s set on a beach in the Mediterranean resort of Nice in southern France drew thousands of people together, sparking a furious reaction on social media, AFP reports.
Fontanet said the main risks for the appearance of new virus clusters were in confined spaces, such as on cruise ships, warships, sports halls, discos, slaughterhouses, accommodation housing migrant workers and places of worship.
On Wednesday, the French government said it was preparing for a second wave of Covid-19, but rather than imposing another nationwide lockdown, they would use “targeted” measures such as stay-at-home orders or business closures.
Texas Covid-19 hospitalisations reach record high for 14th day in a row
Coronavirus infections in Texas rose by 8,196 to 258,658 in total on Sunday, the state health department said.
The US state recorded a further 80 deaths from Covid-19, bringing the overall death toll in Texas to 3,192.
Current hospitalisations in Texas rose by 327 to a new high of 10,410, a record high for the 14th day in a row.
Texas governor Greg Abbott announced on Sunday that the US Department for Health and Human Services had extended federal support for community based testing sites in the cities of Dallas and Houston until the end of the month.
.@HHSGov has extended federal support of Community Based Testing Sites in Dallas and Houston through July 31, 2020 as the state continues to respond to #COVID19.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) July 12, 2020
For testing location information: https://t.co/E1mndnAf2f pic.twitter.com/ydKKbOm5vs
Hunger crisis could kill more people than coronavirus, Oxfam warns
A new report by Oxfam warns that the hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic could potentially kill more people each day than the infection itself, which has claimed more than half a million lives so far.
An estimated 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to Covid-19 by the end of the year, Oxfam said.
By comparison, data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the pandemic’s deadliest day so far was 17 April, when 8,890 deaths were recorded, CNN reports.
“The pandemic is the final straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers,” Oxfam’s interim executive director Chema Vera said in a release.
Among the issues that have left many unable to put food on the table are lost income caused by unemployment or a reduction in remittance payments, the lack of social support for those who work in the informal economy, and disruptions to the supply chain and hurdles faced by producers.
Also contributing to the crisis are the travel restrictions related to lockdowns, which impact not just workers and farmers, but also the delivery of humanitarian aid.
In its briefing, Oxfam calls out food and beverage industry titans like Coca-Cola, Unilever, General Mills among others.
”Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe ― ten times more than the UN says is needed to stop people going hungry,” the release reads.
Updated
Jordan’s prime minister Omar al-Razzaz promised on Sunday to deepen a crackdown on tax evasion that officials say has deprived the country’s cash-strapped economy of billions of dollars’ revenue in recent years.
The government has gone after senior businessmen and former politicians suspected of tax dodging, money laundering and customs evasion in a weeks-long campaign that has gained greater urgency with the hit to state finances from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Protecting public money and fighting corruption is a national duty,” Razzaz said in his weekly television address to the nation.
Tax authorities have raided around 650 companies so far, according to officials who say this is the biggest campaign to combat tax evasion in decades.
The government said it had frozen the assets of dozens of companies and businessmen on suspected tax evasion charges.
It added that it would track offshore havens where wealthy Jordanians have long parked cash to avoid taxes.
Some critics have accused the government of using the campaign to carry out a witch hunt against its political enemies, including some of Jordan’s leading business figures, including former ministers and senior politicians.
Officials deny that, saying the goal is to ensure justice and that no one is above the law.
The government has been using its wider powers under a state of emergency since March to give prosecutors and the main anti-corruption agency greater powers, and stiffen penalties.
A two-month coronavirus lockdown has crippled Jordanian businesses and slashed state revenues by tens of millions of dollars, leading to the sharpest economic contraction in two decades.
The government expects the economy to shrink by 3.5% this year, a far cry from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate of 2% growth before the pandemic.
A woman who spent three weeks at AS Green and Co farm in Herefordshire, England, the farm where at least 73 workers have tested positive for coronavirus, has spoken about her ordeal.
Here my colleague Matthew Weaver’s story.
A staff member involved in the preparation of the first executions of US federal prisoners in 17 years has tested positive for coronavirus, the Bureau of Prisons said on Sunday.
In a court filing, the bureau said the employee based at the justice department’s execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, attended a meeting with outside law enforcement in preparation for the scheduled executions and another meeting on how to handle any demonstrators. He did not come into contact with members of the execution protocol team, the bureau said.
The news comes two days after a US federal judge blocked the first execution, due to be carried out on Monday, after some of the victims’ relatives sued, saying they feared that attending could expose them to Covid-19.
Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ordered the justice department to delay the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee until it could show it was upholding the right of victims’ relatives to attend without risking their health. The justice department said it would appeal, Reuters reports.
Another prisons employee had previously tested positive for the virus, and has since recovered.
Lee’s scheduled death by lethal injection is one of four executions that had been scheduled for July and August. All four men were convicted of killing children.
Wesley Purkey’s execution was scheduled for Wednesday, but a federal appeals court issued a temporary stay this month and it was not clear whether it would proceed. Dustin Honken’s is set for Friday.
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South Africa reinstates alcohol ban and night curfew amid rising infections
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, says the country will immediately return to a ban on the sale of alcohol to reduce the volume of trauma patients so that hospitals have more beds to treat Covid-19 patients.
Confronted by surging hospitalisations due to the coronavirus, South Africa is also reinstating a night curfew to reduce traffic accidents and made it mandatory for all residents to wear face masks when in public, the Associated Press reports.
Ramaphosa said top health officials had warned of impending shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen as South Africa reaches a peak of Covid-19 cases, expected between the end of July and September.
South Africa’s rapid increase in reported cases has made it one of the world’s centres for Covid-19, and it now ranks as the ninth worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University.
It has reported increases of more than 10,000 confirmed cases for several days, and the latest daily increase was nearly 13,500.
South Africa accounts for 40% of all the confirmed cases in Africa, with 264,184, including 3,971 deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.
Updated
Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry confirmed it will be imposing a fine of 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,666) for violators entering the holy sites in Mecca without a permit during the upcoming Hajj season, which will be held in a limited capacity this year due to the pandemic.
A statement from the kingdom’s interior ministry said the fine would come into effect from 19 July and stay in place until 2 August, al-Arabiya reports.
Saudi Arabia recorded 42 more deaths from Covid-19 and 2,779 new confirmed cases on Sunday.
Of the new cases, 247 were recorded in Riyadh, 191 in Jeddah, 164 in Hufof, 157 in Dammam and 157 in Makkah, Arab News reports.
The total number of recoveries in the kingdom increased to 167,138 after 1,742 more patients recovered from the virus.
A total of 2,223 people have died in the kingdom from Covid-19.
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The Los Angeles Times has published a fascinating report on how California failed at successfully testing and tracing the state’s citizens when the outbreak began.
An investigation found that a lack of automation, human error and limiting eligibility criteria for getting tested slowed efforts down dramatically and contributed to a surge in infections that California is still struggling to get under control.
Read the full story here.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 3,236,130 cases of coronavirus on Sunday, an increase of 62,918 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 906 to 134,572.
The CDC reported its tally as of 4pm ET on 11 July versus its previous report a day earlier.
Updated
The Palestinian Authority on Sunday imposed a night-time and weekend curfew on the occupied West Bank for the coming 14 days to try to rein in rising coronavirus numbers.
“Travel will be prohibited daily from 8pm to 6am in all governorates,” as well as from Thursday evening to Sunday morning, Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem told a news conference, according to Agence France-Presse.
In addition to the general dawn-to-dusk curfew, the cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and Bethlehem will be under total lockdown until Thursday evening, he said, while travel between districts will be banned for two weeks.
Only pharmacies and bakeries will be allowed to open.
“It is strictly forbidden to organise weddings, funerals and parties,” said Melhem, adding that Palestinians were also barred from going to work in Israeli settlements.
The West Bank is home to more than 2.8 million Palestinians and 450,000 Israelis.
In its daily report, the Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that there have so far been over 6,150 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, and 33 deaths.
The Palestinian Authority imposed a full West Bank lockdown after the first coronavirus cases were identified in early March, lifting it at the end of May.
It was reimposed on 3 July and since extended in light of the rising infection data.
In Israel, with a population of about 9 million, the number of confirmed infections was given on Sunday as more than 38,670, and 362 people have died.
Updated
Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is poised to overtake Italy’s and shoot above 35,000 on Sunday, according to Reuters data.
On Saturday Mexico recorded 539 additional fatalities to bring its coronavirus toll to 34,730, with 295,268 confirmed cases. Italy has recorded 34,945 deaths and 242,827 cases.
While Italy appears to have tamed the virus, the pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down in Mexico, where the government has faced accusations of reopening its economy too soon.
Mexican authorities have gradually raised the projections of total fatalities and as recently as June forecast up to 35,000 deaths through October. In early May, the estimate was 6,000.
The coronavirus death toll per million residents in Mexico, whose population numbers about 120 million, is the 16th highest in the world, according to data by research firm Statista. But Mexican officials say the true toll is likely much higher due to limited testing. A Reuters analysis of funeral homes data in May indicated a toll more than double the reported figures.
Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico’s deputy health minister and coronavirus tsar, this week said the virus was “slowing down”. But several former officials have criticised president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration for its handling of the epidemic.
The former health minister Salomon Chertorivski said last week that the government had reopened the economy before globally established criteria for doing so had been met.
“There are three fundamental variables: a reduction in the last 14 days in the numbers of contagions, reduction in recent days in the number of deaths, and reduction in the number of hospitalised people,” Chertorivski told Mexican newspaper Reforma. “None of those three parameters were achieved.”
Updated
Jordan's king says coronavirus 'under control'
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Sunday that his country had brought coronavirus under control and that it was time to focus on restarting the economy.
“We have successfully dealt with the coronavirus, which today is under control in Jordan,” he said during a meeting with prominent Jordanians. “But like every country in the world we have paid an economic price, and the time has come to focus … on the economic situation,” a palace statement quoted him as saying.
The desert kingdom, which has recorded 1,179 cases of the virus including 10 deaths, imposed a tough curfew enforced with drones to curb the spread of Covid-19, before easing policies in early June.
King Abdullah said Jordan would “come out stronger [from the crisis] compared to other countries in the region,” AFP reports.
Health authorities have almost daily been reporting new cases among Jordanians and foreigners entering the country.
They have also maintained social distancing measures, made face masks compulsory in most public places and required newly arrived travellers to wear electronic bracelets to ensure that they observe quarantine.
Before the coronavirus struck, Jordan hosted 5 million tourists a year, including at famous sites like Petra and Wadi Rum, bringing in $5bn last year.
But the vital sector, which employed 100,000 people, has been battered by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown restrictions.
King Abdullah acknowledged the impact of the crisis but said any decision to reopen would need to be “closely examined”.
The kingdom said last month it would start welcoming overseas visitors at its private hospitals, after a months-long pause.
Around quarter of a million people used to visit Jordan annually for medical treatment, bringing in $1.5bn a year, before the pandemic broke out.
Unemployment in Jordan hit 19.3% during the first quarter of 2020.
Updated
Spain's Catalonia imposes local lockdown on Lleida residents
The government of Spain’s Catalonia region on Sunday ordered residents in and around the north-eastern city of Lleida to go back into home confinement as cases of coronavirus rose.
“The people must stay at home,” Alba Verges, a regional health official, told a news conference.
The area, with a population of more than 200,000, had already been ordered isolated from the rest of the region last weekend.
It marks the first time Spaniards have been confined to their homes since the country exited confinement on 21 June.
The move reimposes the strict conditions of the first confinement, which began in mid-March, allowing people in the affected area to leave their homes only to go to work, get medical treatment or purchase food and other necessities.
Gatherings of more than 10 people were also banned in and around Lleida.
Europe, still the most affected continent with 202,399 deaths from 2,828,270 cases, has seen a drastic drop in its daily number of new infections.
However, more than 70 new coronavirus clusters have now been identified in Spain, with the area around Lleida concerning the authorities the most.
The authorities have said the fresh outbreaks are linked to the movement of seasonal agricultural workers, who travelled to northern Spain to work on the fruit harvest.
In Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, one hospital has recorded a jump in cases from 31 to 107 in the last week, according to the town hall.
Other clusters have been identified in the north-west regions of Galicia and the Basque country, were the country’s first regional elections since the onset of the pandemic were held on Sunday.
In Spain, mask-wearing is compulsory in closed public spaces as well as outside when it is not possible to maintain a social distance of one and a half metres.
But Catalonia strengthened its rules on Thursday, ordering masks to be worn even when the safety distance can be respected.
The Balearic archipelago will also strengthen its rules on the wearing of masks from Monday and other regions such as Andalusia and Aragon plan to follow suit.
However, in the tourism hotspots of Catalonia and the Balearic islands, swimmers, sunbathers and people taking part in sport are exempt from wearing a mask, AFP reports.
Updated
A team of researchers from King’s College London has found that people who have recovered from Covid-19 may lose their immunity to the disease within months, according to research suggesting the virus could reinfect people year after year, like common colds.
My colleague Ian Sample reports.
In more night economy news, workers in French nightclubs and discos on Sunday protested in Paris to urge the government to allow their dance floors to get moving again, saying closure as a coronavirus precaution risks putting many out of business.
While much of life in France has now returned to a semblance of normality after the virus lockdown, the government is insisting that nightclubs and discos must stay closed for now.
Some 200 employees of the sector protested outside the health ministry in central Paris brandishing slogans like “all for the night” and “save the world of the night”.
Matthieu Lebrun, a spokesman for disco operators from Normandy, told AFP that half of France’s 1,600 nightclubs and discos risked disappearing if reopening was not allowed before September.
“We need a precise date,” he said, adding that nightclubs were ready to follow strict health conditions including requiring masks and social distancing.
Industry professionals argue it would be far better to let nightclubs reopen under strict regulation than letting people indulge in the unregulated outdoor parties with little social distancing that have been reported across France in recent days.
The government has said, however, that experience in other countries shows that nightclubs may be hubs for the transmission of infection.
Updated
Nightclubs and discos in Bulgaria will be allowed to reopen, the health ministry announced on Sunday, just three days after ordering all inside bars shut and despite a continuing rise in coronavirus cases in the country.
A health ministry order said that starting Monday all discos, piano bars, nightclubs and bars can reopen provided that they let in no more than one person per square metre in their inside and open-air spaces, AFP reports.
The venues were ordered shut on Thursday after a surge in infections with the novel coronavirus, with open-air places allowed to operate at half their usual capacity.
The ministry also lifted on Sunday a limit of 30 attendees at weddings, baptisms and school leavers’ celebrations held both outside and inside, provided that people keep a distance of 1.5 metres and observe strict disinfection rules.
Until recently, Bulgaria had weathered the coronavirus pandemic well, but easing lockdown measures before most other European countries and disregard for distancing measures and the wearing of masks, even if they are still obligatory inside, led to a surge in infections over the past several weeks.
From an average of about 30 new infections a day in early June, the country registered a record of 330 new infections on Friday, followed by 292 on Saturday and 211 on Sunday.
The total number of infections reached 7,175 on Sunday, including 267 deaths and 3,311 recovered.
Health officials meanwhile sounded the alarm over a rising number of patients needing hospital treatment and intensive care, and the risk of the virus spreading faster amid a wave of snowballing anti-government street protests in the capital, Sofia, this week that gathered thousands.
Updated
WHO reports record rise in global infections
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Sunday, with the total rising by 230,370 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 228,102 on 10 July.
Global deaths remain steady at about 5,000 a day.
Global coronavirus cases were approaching 13 million on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally. The disease has killed more than 565,000 people in seven months.
Updated
New infection record in Lebanon
Lebanon has recorded a new infection high, as the health ministry said a total of 166 new cases had been confirmed in the last 24 hours.
A Lebanese waste management company is quarantining 133 Syrian workers who tested positive for the coronavirus, the company manager said on Sunday.
Lebanon has recorded more than 2,000 infections and 36 deaths from the coronavirus since February.
“The number will remain high this week,” health minister Hamad Hassan said.
“To reassure people, the source is known,” he added in comments to broadcaster LBC.
Most of the new cases were at what he described as “a big cleaning company”, an apparent reference to waste management firm Ramco, which collects garbage across Lebanon.
Ramco said it was moving infected workers to quarantine.
“We are separating those who are infected from those who aren’t ... we are waiting for more results,” a Ramco manager, Walid BouSaad, told Reuters.
Hassan said 800 workers from the company in question needed testing, along with another 1,000 workers from two other companies with whom they were connected.
Updated
The United Kingdom’s death toll from confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose to 44,819, up 21 on the previous day, the government said on Sunday.
Bereaved relatives will start giving evidence in the so far only independent UK inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis on Monday, amid growing calls for a full independent investigation.
Families of those who have died will give their submissions in writing, via video call, or will arrange to do so in person to the new all-party parliamentary group for coronavirus, led by a cross-party group of MPs, my colleague Kate Proctor reports.
Coronavirus cases in the US state of Arizona rose by 2,537 to 122,467 in total on Sunday, marking the first increase below 3,000 new cases in over a week.
Covid-19 hospitalisations in Arizona have fallen to 3,432 as of Saturday, down from Friday’s record high of 3,485, according to the state health department.
But 89% of adult intensive care unit (ICU) beds are still in use in the state as of Saturday, unchanged from the previous day.
Governor Doug Ducey urged citizens on Twitter to keep respecting social distancing rules.
“Wear a mask. Stay physically distant. And remember you are safer at home,” he wrote.
The Naval Forces Central in Lapu-Lapu City in the Philippines is currently under lockdown after 77 of its personnel were confirmed to have caught the coronavirus disease, CNN Philippines reports.
The lockdown was implemented on 4 July and will be in effect until 14 July, according to the acting director of the naval public affairs office, Maria Christina Roxas.
Roxas said the 77 were among the 498 personnel who were tested for the virus through swab testing. She also noted that the majority of those infected were frontliners who were deployed in different quarantine checkpoints.
“The Philippine Navy through Naval Forces Central ensures that the camp will strictly implement the safety and health protocol within the camp,” she said.
Lapu-Lapu City, with a population of about half a million people, is in the Central Visayas region, which has the second highest number of Covid-19 cases nationwide, next to Metro Manila.
As of 12 July, the city logged 1,251 confirmed cases of the disease, with 309 recoveries and 31 deaths, based on data from the department of health regional office.
Central Visayas currently has 12,114 confirmed infections, around 22 percent of the national case count, which stands at over 54,000 as of 11 July in the country of more than 100 million people.
President Rodrigo Duterte imposed the world’s longest coronavirus lockdown on 15 March.
Biggest single-day rise in infections in Florida
The US state of Florida has registered another grim record, reporting that new infections have risen by 15,300 in the 24 hours to Sunday to a total of 269,811.
This is the biggest daily increase in recorded coronavirus cases in the state since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the state health department.
If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases a day, behind the rest of the US, Brazil and India.
Its daily increases have already surpassed the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the pandemic there, Reuters reports.
Florida has also broken New York state’s record of 12,847 new cases on 10 April when it was the centre of the US outbreak.
To combat the outbreak, the Republican governor Ron DeSantis has ordered bars to close but he has resisted calls for a statewide mandate to wear masks in public.
As we reported yesterday, DeSantis is pushing for the reopening of schools despite surging infections.
Popular with both American and international tourists, Florida is home to beach resorts and theme parks including Disney World, which reopened on Saturday.
Updated
I’m going to be handing the blog over to my colleague Jedidajah, who’ll be taking over the blog as I try to catch the last of the lovely sun we’re having in London today.
Thank you all for reading alone, especially to those who sent in tips and pointers. I hope you’re all safe and well and enjoy the rest of your day.
The current number of people admitted to hospital while suffering from coronavirus in Florida is currently at 7,524, up by 285 in the past 24 hours.
Florida has been one of the worst-hit parts of the US, which has the highest number of cases and death toll from the virus of any country in the world.
Contrary to hints made by prime minister Boris Johnson on Friday, cabinet minister Michael Gove said this morning that face masks should not be made mandatory in England.
Read the full story from my colleague Kate Proctor here:
US pushes ahead with school reopening despite surge in cases
The US education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has continued the administration’s push to reopen the country’s schools, albeit without outlining how this could be done safely.
“We know that children get the virus at a far lower rate than any other part of the population. There is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them,” DeVos told CNN’s State of the Union.
She did not offer a blueprint for reopening, or share details on how her department would support states and schools to reopen safely. DeVos also downplayed the risk that children might bring home the virus and pass it on to vulnerable family members.
The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was immediately critical of the comments, saying the Trump administration’s approach to schools reopening was dangerous.
“What we heard from the secretary was malfeasance and dereliction of duty,” Pelosi said on CNN. “Going back to school presents the biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus. If there are CDC guidelines, they should be requirements. They should be mandates, not requirements.”
According to Reuters, coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 states. Nationally, the US has broken global records by registering about 60,000 new cases a day for the last four days in a row.
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Canada’s attempts to fast-track foreign-trained doctors to meet the demand created by coronavirus has resulted in just two dozen licenses approved in Ontario and none in British Columbia, according to medical colleges in both provinces.
British Columbia had created a new class of license that would allow overseas-trained doctors to practice while being supervised by a fully licensed doctor, while Ontario established a short-term license program that would allow hospitals to hire internationally trained doctors on short notice.
Immigrant doctors and their advocates say the poor update comes from logistical and communications failings, alleging that the requirements for the new license categories didn’t help more physicians to apply, and were poorly communicated to applicants and hospitals.
Canada’s understaffed healthcare system has long been an electoral talking point. Last year, a report from the Canadian Institute of Health Information found that Canada had 241 physicians per 100,000 people, more than 100 less than the OECD average.
15 further deaths in England
A further 15 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England.
This brings the total number of reported deaths in hospitals in England to 29,066, NHS England said.
Patients were aged between 72 and 96 years old, and one patient, aged 96, had no known underlying health conditions.
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Thanks to all those getting in touch with tips and pointers, and sincere apologies if I haven’t been able to reply. It is much appreciated!
If you spot something you think we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter. Many thanks in advance!
Updated
You can read more on the Herefordshire farm coronavirus outbreak from my colleague Matthew Weaver below.
More than 70 farm workers have tested positive for the virus, and all 200 workers are now in isolation there.
There have also been no new coronavirus deaths registered in Scotland in the last 24 hours, while 19 new cases have been reported, 12 more than the previous day.
Another day y’day with no registered deaths of people who had tested positive for COVID. 19 new cases though - 12 more than yesterday. We can expect to see daily variation - but as on Friday, these are being closely examined. And it’s a reminder that the virus hasn’t gone away. https://t.co/TBTrboxR3g
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 12, 2020
No new coronavirus deaths have been reported in Wales in the last 24 hours, for the third time in a week.
The total number of fatalities in Wales remains 1,541.
According to Public Health Wales (PHW) 25 new cases have been reported, meaning 17,020 people have tested positive for Covid-19.
These include nine new cases reported by non-NHS laboratories.
A total of 215,710 tests have been carried out in PHW labs - some people having been tested more than once.
Over the last seven days there have been 59 Covid-19 cases confirmed by PHW labs. The total of cases from non-NHS laboratories is now 1,058 to add to the 15,962 cases confirmed by PHW.
Lebanon has recorded more than 100 new coronavirus infections since yesterday, its highest daily increase yet.
Around 75% of the cases were among workers of a cleaning company, and were asymptomatic, and non-Lebanese, according to health minister Hamad Hassan.
To reassure people, the source is known,” health minister Hamad Hassan told broadcaster LB. Hassan said 800 workers from the cleaning company needed to be tested, alongside 1,000 workers from two other companies with whom they were connected.
“The number will remain high this week,” he said.
Lebanon has recorded more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus and 36 deaths since February.
Summary of latest updates
Here’s a summary of some key updates from the past few hours to bring you up to speed:
- More than 70 workers have tested positive for coronavirus after an outbreak at a farm in Herefordshire, England.
- Hungary has implemented strict new border controls including banning visitors most of Africa and Asia, and some European countries, and making all returning Hungarians quarantine for two weeks.
- Russia has reported 6,615 new cases, while Tokyo has confirmed a further 206.
- The death toll from coronavirus in Afghanistan has passed 1,000.
- Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has tested positive for coronavirus along with her daughter, following the diagnosis of her father and husband.
- The debate about face masks rages on in England. Following Boris Johnson’s indication that he would be tightening up regulations around the masks, the Labour Party have indicated they would support the measure. However, this morning, cabinet minister Michael Gove said that the masks should not be made mandatory.
- Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised urgent financial support for those whose livelihoods have been devastated by coronavirus after protests about his government’s handling of the pandemic.
- Coronavirus droplets may remain infectious in the air for up to an hour after being disseminated, a leading virologist has said.
- The head of the team developing a coronavirus vaccine at Imperial College London has said it is unlikely that none of the vaccines would work, as there are so many in development that the chance is higher, and because some may offer partial immunity to the virus, if not complete. He said his team’s could be expected early next year, if it is proven to be effective.
Updated
73 test positive after Covid-19 outbreak on farm in England
More than 70 people have contracted coronavirus after an outbreak on a farm in Herefordshire.
Herefordshire Council today confirmed the outbreak amongst workers who were picking and packing vegetables at AS Green and Co, based in Mathon near Malvern. According to the council, 73 of the farm’s 200 workers have tested positive for the virus.
As the workers live in mobile homes on the site during harvest season, they are being treated as one extended bubble, and have been asked to isolate on the farm and stay within household groups, the council said.
The council also said it was arranging food and essential supplies for residents on the site during their self-isolation.
A spokesperson for the farm said: “Our staff are our priority, they are hard-working key workers helping us provide food for the country during these unusual times. We contacted PHE and we are working closely with them and Public Health at Herefordshire Council to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”
Katie Spence, PHE Midlands Health Protection Director, said PHE were working closely with the farm to offer support, and said the body still expected to see localised outbreaks such as this.
Karen Wright, Director of Public Health for Herefordshire said: “While Herefordshire is the first to experience an outbreak of this kind, this is not unexpected. Our priority is to protect the health and wellbeing of all residents in our community.
“Prompt testing on the farm has allowed us to understand transmission and control the spread of infection. We continue to support the farm management, their workers – who form an important part of our local economy, and the local community through this challenging time.”
Updated
Israel PM pledges financial aid to self-employed after protests
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged financial aid for Israelis whose livelihoods have been devastated by coronavirus, after protests against his government’s handling of the pandemic.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday to voice frustration at Netanyahu. While he did not mention the protest, Netanyahu promised that 7,500 shekels (around £1,700) was on the way to support the self-employed.
He also unveiled an aid package for workers and small business owners, which is set to advance through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in coming days.
Last week, Israel recorded a spike in coronavirus cases, registering more than 1,000 new cases in a 24 hour period multiple times. Prior to the economic reopening, this figure tended to stay below 50.
Netanyahu has admitted that he reopened the economy too early, but has expressed hesitation over plunging the country back into lockdown and causing further economic damage. While restaurants remain open, bars, event venues and places of worship are being hit with new regulations.
Israel has recorded more than 38,000 coronavirus cases, including 358 deaths.
Updated
Iran’s supreme leader has described the resurgence of coronavirus in the country “truly tragic”, and urged all citizens to help prevent the spread of the virus, AFP are reporting.
“Let everyone play their part in the best way to break the chain of transmission in the short term and save the country,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a video conference with lawmakers, according to his office.
Updated
Significant crowds gathered at bonfires in loyalist areas across Northern Ireland as the annual July tradition took place despite pleas from politicians to adhere to coronavirus restrictions.
While there were fewer fires than usual, violence broke out at some events and police officers were attacked. North Belfast saw a second night of disorder as police were pelted with petrol bombs in the nationalist New Lodge close to a bonfire in the loyalist Tiger’s Bay area.
First Minister Arlene Foster condemned the violent scenes.
Ahead of the Eleventh Night fires, politicians and community leaders had urged people to avoid mass gatherings and follow Covid-19 regulations that limit outdoor gatherings to no more than 30 people.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said crews responded to 24 bonfire related incidents between 6pm on Saturday and 1am on Sunday - a 29.5% decrease compared to 2019.
Updated
Hungary bans visitors from most of Africa, Asia and some EU countries
Hungary has imposed new border restrictions including banning foreign visitors from certain countries, in an attempt to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Starting Wednesday, Hungarian nationals returning from high risk countries listed as “yellow” and “red” will have to go through health checks at the border and quarantine for two weeks, even if they do not have the virus. The only exception to this is if someone produces two negative test results from the previous 5 days.
Foreigners from “red” countries will not be allowed to enter, but those from “yellow” countries will be subject to the same restrictions as Hungarian nationals.
The same applies to foreigners coming from “yellow” countries, but those from “red” countries will be barred from entry.
Countries in the Balkans such as Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and neighbouring Ukraine are some of those listed the red category, as are all African and Asian countries apart from China and Japan.
Serbia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are among countries listed as “yellow”, while travel from Croatia - a popular holiday destination for Hungarians - is free for the time being. The list will be regularly reviewed.
Transit and cargo travel, as well as business trips are exempt from the restrictions but health checks can be conducted.
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, Hungary has 4,234 confirmed cases, with a death toll which stands currently at 595.
Hungary lifted most of its lockdown restrictions in May and opened its borders to travellers from European Union states and neighbouring non-EU members, but has clamped down again in light of mounting numbers of cases in several countries.
Updated
This interview with leading virologist Wendy Barclay gives some interesting insight into the current understanding of how coronavirus spreads.
Infectious virus droplets can remain suspended in the air for more than an hour says SAGE scientific adviser Professor Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London#Marr #Covid_19 https://t.co/WugwUCnR1A pic.twitter.com/aaqd9eIVDF
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) July 12, 2020
More information has emerged about the £700m being pumped into the UK’s border control.
The funding is only in relation to the post-Brexit GB-EU border - the Government is expected to publish specific guidance and measures for Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.
Here’s a breakdown of where the money will be spent from Press Association:
The 705 million package includes 235 million for staffing and IT systems, and 470 million for port and inland infrastructure, to help ensure compliance with new customs procedures and controls.
Of the 235 million for staffing and IT systems:
- 100 million will be used to develop HMRC systems to reduce the burden on traders.
- 20 million will be spent on new equipment to keep the country safe.
- 15 million will go towards building new data infrastructure to enhance border flow and management.
- 10 million will be used to recruit around 500 more Border Force personnel.
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove said the investment would help to “manage the changes and seize the opportunities” when the transition period ends in December.
“With or without further agreement with the EU, this 705 million will ensure that the necessary infrastructure, tech and border personnel are in place so that our traders and the border industry are able to manage the changes and seize the opportunities as we lay the foundations for the world’s most effective and secure border.”
Updated
Gove: people should return to work rather than stay at home
Michael Gove also told Sky’s Sophy Ridge that people should return to work rather than stay at home to “fire up” the economic engines of the UK.
His comments signal a move away from the government’s “stay home” message and comes after Boris Johnson said something similar in his People’s PMQs on Friday. He said: “I do want people to start to go to work now if you can, but remember to follow the guidance because that is the way to save lives.
“I think everybody has sort of taken the ‘Stay at home if you can’ … I think we should now say, well, ‘Go back to work if you can.’”
On Sunday, Gove said: “We want to see more people back at work, on the shop floor, in the office, wherever they can be.
“Of course in some cases it is appropriate and convenient for people to work from home, but we want to make sure that where people can add value, where the economy can benefit from people being at work, that they are at work.
“We want to make sure that the economic engines of this country are fired up again and that’s why the chancellor made the series of announcements that he made earlier this week in order to make sure that we are in a position to be able to provide people with safety and security at work, to protect their jobs and to guarantee jobs in the future.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said that the UK government’s policy on face masks is “once again behind the rest of the world”.
Responding to cabinet office minister Michael Gove’s statement this morning that face masks should not be made mandatory in shops and other enclosed spaces, Khan said the government needed to “get its act together”.
Friday: PM - we need to be stricter on face masks
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) July 12, 2020
Sunday: Michael Gove - masks won't be made mandatory in shops
This pandemic is far from over, but our response is once again behind the rest of the world.
The Govt need to get their act together. #Marrhttps://t.co/zhvKsoPYJD
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai test positive for coronavirus
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter have today tested positive for coronavirus.
The result comes after her father-in-law, popular Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, and her husband, actor Abhishek, said they had contracted the virus.
Maharastra state health minister Rajesh Tope announced the cases in a tweet, though it was not clear whether they had been admitted to hospital. Amitabh and Abhishek were admitted on Saturday, despite saying they had mild symptoms.
On Sunday, India registered a record increase in the number of coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases in the country to nearly 850,000 and forcing authorities to re-impose partial lockdown in some densely populated areas.
Data from the federal health ministry showed that more than 27,100 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
The total death toll increased to 22,674, after 551 people died from the virus in a day.
You can read more here:
Updated
Afghanistan's death toll passes 1,000
The number of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 has topped 1,000 in Afghanistan, as the closure of education centres is extended until 5 August.
Violence continued to rage across 16 provinces over last week, while covid-19 related deaths rose by 16 from the previous day taking the total to 1,010.
In its latest update, the health ministry said the number of people who had tested positive for the virus had reached 34,451, an increase of 85 on the day before. Health ministry facilities were able to test 378 suspected patients over the last 24 hours. There have been 21,216 recoveries.
The capital, Kabul, which has been the country’s worst affected area, reported 14 new cases and 16 deaths overnight.
The country’s health ministry said that Afghanistan reached the peak of coronavirus, as daily infections have been dropping in recent days.
Ahmad Jawad Osmani, the country’s acting health minister said on Thursday that the number of daily infections has fallen to 30-40% percent from 60-70% percent of two months ago. Osmani warned that although the number of positive Osmani Covid-19 cases have decreased, Afghanistan is still in a state of crisis.
The committee fighting against coronavirus extended the closure of all educational centres until 5 August. Vice president Sarwar Danish who leads the emergency committee, said on Saturday that “the priority is the lives of students.”
The health ministry will start a survey in 360 villages of the country to understand the exact number of infections, the committee said that the next decision on education sectors will be announced as the survey is fulfilled.
Meanwhile, figures by the National Security Council indicate that 16 provinces of the country have seen 284 attacks by the Taliban in the last seven days.
“Taliban continue to take the lives of civilians in Afghanistan. This past week, they killed 23, including women and children, and wounded 45 others in 16 provinces,” said Javid Faisal, spokesman for the National Security Council. “This violent phase of attacks on civilians can only deteriorate the already shaken trust on the will of the Taliban.”
At least six civilians were killed and eight more were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion Saturday in central Ghazni province. The incident occurred after a vehicle carrying civilians in the area struck a roadside bomb and women and children were among the casualties, local officials said.
Three members of one family were also killed when a mortar hit their home in Wardak province Saturday. Local media reports that residents who gathered in front of a military base in Wardak accused the government forces for firing the mortar.
The Presidential Palace said Sunday that the Taliban had disrupted the peace process by increasing the violence.
“The recent escalation of Taliban violence in cities, attacks on the country’s security and defence forces, the bombing of roadside mines by the Taliban, and the targeting of government employees do not give hope to our people and the international community to start dialogue and establish lasting peace,” said Sediq Sediqqi, spokesperson for President Ashraf.
According to a new report by Oxfam the pandemic has pushed millions of people into hunger and poverty, the number of people on the brink of famine has risen from 2.5 million in September 2019 to 3.5 million in May. Afghanistan follows Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo as the world’s worst extreme hunger hotspots where people are facing a crisis.
Over in the US, Donald Trump has finally agreed to follow his own government’s guidance, openly wearing a face mask in public for the first time.
He has previously worn one before, but only when behind the scenes in a Ford plant, as he “give the press the pleasure” of seeing him in face mask.
The president’s decision came as cases of coronavirus surged to record levels in the US.
More here from my colleagues Joanna Walters and Bryan Armen Graham here:
Thanks to all those getting on touch, and my apologies if I haven’t been able to reply - I am trying to read everything and am very grateful for the tips and pointers.
If you spot something you think we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter.
Gove: Face masks should not be mandatory
Cabinet minister Michael Gove explicitly says face masks should not be mandatory in England, giving his first clear answer on this.
When asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr if the wearing of face masks should be mandatory, Gove answered, “not mandatory, no”.
“I trust people’s good sense,” he said. However, he said that the situation was evolving and “tougher measures could be taken”.
It comes after Boris Johnson hinted on Friday that there would be stricter measures on face masks in England. You can read more on that here:
Updated
Laboratory studies show that coronavirus droplets can remain in the air for an hour in their infectious state, British virologist Wendy Barclay said.
Barclay, who is the head of department of Infectious Disease and chair in Influenza Virology at Imperial College London, said the change in narrative from the World Health Organization this week to admit that airborne transmission was possible was important.
Some air conditioning is not helpful to the spread, Barclay said, as it simply pushes the existing particles around, whereas others can be useful in “replenishing” the air.
The use of face masks is about “protecting others from you”, so if you have the virus in your breath, even if you don’t feel unwell, they are likely to prevent some of those droplets.
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that she does not plan to impose quarantine restrictions on English people travelling to Scotland, but is keeping everything on the table.
She has previously said that the infection rate in England is five times higher than in Scotland, and Scotland has recorded no new deaths from coronavirus in recent days.
Because of the decreasing number of cases in Scotland, Sturgeon said that one of our biggest risks is importation into the country, and she would consider any measures necessary to “keep the levels of this virus as low as possible”.
“It’s not political, it’s not constitutional, it’s just taking a similar approach to country around the world,” she said.
Sturgeon also said that the UK’s nations needed to work together on “outbreak management”, particularly on outbreaks which happen on the border.
Sorry, more on face masks...
Shadow cabinet office minister Rachel Reeves has said that face masks are “a sensible way forward”.
“People want to do the right thing but they want to know what the right thing is,” she said.
She wouldn’t say exactly what the Labour Party would commit to regarding their stance on the masks, but suggested that more widespread usage might encourage people to go shops and spend money more readily.
There is a lot of talk about face masks in the UK this morning, so here’s a brief overview of the situation around the world and history of them in the UK during the pandemic.
- In April, they were made mandatory in many European countries including Austria and Germany.
- On June 12 they were made obligatory on public transport in England.
- On Friday, face coverings became compulsory in Scottish shops, but people do not have to wear them in stores in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
- Last week, prime minister Boris Johnson hinted that rules would be toughened up on masks, but today minister Michael Gove said people would simply be “encouraged”.
- Currently, 120 countries have made the masks mandatory.
You can read more on the debate around them in England:
Updated
The UK government is today announcing a investment of more then £700m in Britain’s borders.
Gove said this was taken “to make sure our borders can enable the smooth flow of traffic but keep us safe”.
It is not totally clear how this money will be spent, but on Sky News this morning, he mentioned an investment in more border security.
Updated
UK: Michael Gove falls short of committing to face mask rules
Gove said the government “should do everything we can to encourage and support people to wear facemark in enclosed spaces”, but falls short of committing to rules and regulations around the wearing of masks.
He said the government is “investing in significantly increasing capacity to manufacture face masks”.
Gove said face masks “definitely help you to help others” by reducing the spread of the virus in enclosed spaces.
Updated
British cabinet office minister Michael Gove said that people should go back to workplaces if it was necessary to “add value” and be a part of the “productive economy”, but in some cases it may be “appropriate and convenient” and work from home.
“[We want to] ensure the economic engines of this country are fired up again,” he said.
However, he said that the “pandemic taught us that there are some roles which can be performed effectively form home and we can rethink work in certain ways”, and that the civil service is looking at enabling people to work from across the UK, rather than just the capital of London.
Updated
The General secretary of the Trade Union Congress in the UK has called for an increase in statutory sick pay to ensure that “people can afford to take time off”.
Frances O’Grady said she wanted people to drive up consumer demand and support businesses and services, but that the best way to do this was to increase wages.
She also called for strong health and safety measures as businesses reopen and welcome workers back, saying “the best way to get people back to work is to do it safely”.
O’Grady also said that an effective test and trace mechanism would help increase consumer confidence.
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has suspended debt service repayments for some countries and companies for the rest of 2020.
The fund provides financial assistance to companies in the United Arab Emirates and to developing countries, which has included Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The fund did not say which countries and companies would be eligible, or what the criteria for this would be.
“At a time when the world is reeling under the effect of the pandemic ... it is imperative for us to support particularly those that need it most, especially the low-income countries,” the fund’s director general Mohammed Saif al-Suwaidi said.
Updated
UK Labour party could support making face masks mandatory in shops
The British Labour party could support the mandatory wearing of face coverings in shops, the shadow business minister has said.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Lucy Powell MP said: “We do need to get a lot more confidence back in the system and if the mandatory wearing of face masks in shops will help to do that then we absolutely support it.
“We think the Government - instead of just showing a bit of leg occasionally on these things by briefing newspapers or saying things that are not clear guidance in press conferences as the Prime Minister did on Friday - (should) get some clarity.
“That’s really something that would get confidence back into the system and get people feeling that they can go to the shops, they can go to restaurants and go to bars.”
Updated
In Australia, Queensland has urged any of its residents who have visited Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel, which is the site of a recent outbreak, to get tested and isolate immediately.
The same advice has already been given to residents of NSW after nine cases were linked to the busy hotel, which is popular with freight drivers and other travellers. The state’s deputy Premier and minister for health, Steven Miles, said the outbreak was concerning and he encouraged Queenslanders to respond appropriately.
“Any Queenslanders who have been to the Crossroads Hotel from July 3 to July 10 inclusive should get Covid-19 tested as soon as possible and then immediately self-isolate,” Miles said. “The hotel is a busy stopover for many travellers, so it is very likely that there are a number of Queenslanders who have been there during this period.”
Updated
Russia reports 6,615 new cases
Russia has reported 6,615 new coronavirus cases, taking its total number of confirmed cases to 727,162.
A further 130 people died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said. This brings Russia’s total death toll to 11,335.
Unlikely vaccines won't work at all, researcher says
At Imperial College London, a team working on a coronavirus vaccine have begun testing it on volunteers.
Prof Robin Shattock, who leads the team, said it is hard to predict how successful the vaccine will be. He said that there is a very low risk of the vaccine not working at all, and because so many being developed means some should work.
Shattock also said that success depends on how much immunity people need against the vaccine - if it is less than 50%, many vaccines being developed could be effective.
Is there a chance a coronavirus vaccine might not work at all?
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 12, 2020
"I think that's a low risk" says @robin_shattock due to the number of versions being developed - "but there's still not a certainty" that either of the two UK vaccines in development will work.#Ridge pic.twitter.com/ZOYQcvMZOm
Shattock said that the team should have the answer as to whether it works by early next year, have infrastructure to make enough for the whole of the UK, providing they can pay. He said it will be prioritised for the UK as the country has funded the trial.
He also warned of a gap between producing the vaccine and being able to distribute it widely.
“I think people underestimate the huge effort it will be to go from discovery to billions of doses,” Shattock said.
Shattock also said that having a vaccine by September was “optimistic” and “low probability”, but that all bets were off.
Shattock said he expected the UK would be in a cycle of easing restrictions and locking down again until a vaccine was accessible.
When is the earliest people could get their hands on the Imperial College vaccine - if it works?
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 12, 2020
"If everything goes really well...assuming the funding is there.. .we could have that vaccine rolled out across the UK in the first half of next year" says @robin_shattock #Ridge pic.twitter.com/AyGPf8yHme
Updated
In the UK, Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers Lucy Powell has criticised the Chancellor’s ‘summer statement’ as a “real missed opportunity”.
Speaking on Sophy Ridge, Powell said that the statement was perhaps the last opportunity to save tens of thousands of jobs.
You can watch an extract of the interview here:
"We've gone from a government saying it will do whatever it takes, to Rishi Sunak saying on Wednesday he'll do whatever he can. And in between that rhetoric will fall many businesses, many jobs and some key sectors," says @LucyMPowell
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 12, 2020
Live: https://t.co/h0gbPJfUZi #Ridge pic.twitter.com/yEyXLsNQQv
Updated
Tokyo confirms 206 new cases
Tokyo has confirmed 206 new cases of coronavirus, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The total marks the fourth straight day of more than 200 cases, as the Japanese capital faces a resurgence in the number of coronavirus cases after the government lifted a state of emergency.
Hi everyone, I’m Molly Blackall, taking over the blog for the next few hours. I hope you’re all safe and well, wherever you’re reading from.
If you see something we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter. Tips and pointers are always much appreciated, so thanks in advance!
Summary
- Japanese officials say they weren’t told until after repeated requests that more than 60 US marines based on the island of Okinawa have been diagnosed with Covid-19.
- Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday reported 6,094 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 539 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 295,268 cases and 34,730 deaths.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 248 to 198,804.
-
Hong Kong confirmed another 61 new cases on Saturday, amid a third resurgence for the city which held off a devastating outbreak in the early months. Head of Hong Kong University’s school of medicine, Dr Gabriel Leung, told local media today that the reproductive number of the virus has risen to nearly four, making it “Hong Kong’s first sustained local outbreak”.
- Australia has confirmed 279 new cases, of which 273 are in Victoria, including 145 cases linked to North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers.
- In NSW returning Australians will be charged for the cost of their mandatory hotel quarantine, starting at $3,000 for one person, and in Victoria students in the stage three lockdown areas, from prep to year 10, are going back to remote learning.
- In Australia a vaccine developed by the University of Queensland is ready to be tested on humans.
- The USpresident, Donald Trump, has appeared in public wearing a mask for the first time during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington, after previously refusing to wear one and ridiculing some who did.
- Brazil, the world’s second-worst coronavirus hotspot after the United States, recorded 1,071 new deaths from the outbreak on Saturday, taking the total official death toll to 71,469.
That’s it from me for the day, I’ll hand over the blog to my colleagues in London.
Updated
Reuters: Thai researchers plan to begin human trials of a potential vaccine for the new coronavirus in November and are preparing 10,000 doses, a senior official said on Sunday, aiming for a vaccine that could be ready for use by late next year.
Following favourable results in trials on primates, the next step is to manufacture doses for human trials, said Kiat Ruxrungtham, director of the Bangkok*s Chulalongkorn University vaccine development program.
Thailand’s first facility should complete production in October and send the products to a second facility, which should finish by November, he said. Originally the earliest target was September, but Kiat said not enough vaccine can be ready by then.
Facilities in San Diego and Vancouver will produce 10,000 doses for the trials for 5,000 people. The first group, aged 18 to 60, will receive different doses of the vaccine, he said.
The trials will not accept volunteers “until we receive approval from the Thai Food and Drug Administration and an ethics committee,” Kiat said.
Thai company BioNet-Asia is preparing its facilities for large-scale manufacturing if the trials prove successful, he said.
“If everything goes according to plan, the vaccine will be ready for Thailand in the third or fourth quarter next year,” Kiat said.
In Britain almost 2,500 children have been admitted to hospital with malnutrition in the first six months of the year – double the number over the same period last year – prompting fresh concern that families are struggling to afford to feed themselves and that the pandemic has intensified the problem.
Freedom of information responses from almost 50 trusts in England, representing 150 hospitals, show that more than 11,500 children have been admitted to hospital with malnutrition since 2015.
Almost 1,000 under-16s with malnutrition were admitted as inpatients to Cambridge University hospitals NHS foundation trust alone, suggesting the affluent city has wide disparities in wealth.
More details here on that developing issue in Okinawa.
The governor of Okinawa island in Japan has demanded that a United States military commander take tougher prevention measures and have more transparency after officials were told more than 60 marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.
On Sunday Okinawan officials reported 61 cases, 38 of them at marine corps air station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen since 7 July.
US military officials have told them the two bases have been put into lockdown.
The disclosure of the exact figures came only after repeated requests.
India’s most famous film star Amitabh Bachchan, and his son Abhishek, are in stable condition after testing positive for the coronavirus, a hospital official and government health authorities said on Sunday.
The 77-year-old legendary actor said in a tweet on Saturday night that he had tested positive for the highly infectious virus.
Within minutes, his actor son Abhishek Bachchan, 44, tweeted that he had also tested positive.
Both were moved to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai despite showing only mild symptoms and the father-son duo appealed to their millions of fans to stay calm.
On Sunday, an official at Nanavati and government health officials in Mumbai said both the father and son were in stable condition. Reports were awaited on the condition of Amitabh Bachchan’s wife Jaya and Abhishek’s wife Aishwarya, both also highly regarded actors.
Reuters: The cascading effects of coronavirus restrictions are hampering efforts to cope with seasonal outbreaks of dengue, an incurable, mosquito-borne disease that is also known as breakbone fever” for its severely painful symptoms.
Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Indonesia have dealt with concurrent outbreaks of dengue and coronavirus this year. In Brazil, where there are over 1.6 million Covid-19 infections, at least 1.1 million cases of dengue have been reported, with nearly 400 deaths, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
2019 was the worst year on record for dengue, and cases are likely to rise soon with the start of seasonal rains in Latin American countries like Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica, as well as the South Asian countries of India and Pakistan.
Dengue typically isn’t fatal, but severe cases may require hospitalisation.
Prevention efforts targeted at destroying mosquito-breeding sites, like removing trash or old tires and other objects containing standing water, are still the best ways to curb the spread of the disease. But coronavirus-era lockdowns and other restrictions have meant that these efforts have been reduced or stopped altogether in many countries.
After just over a month of eased restrictions, Melbourne is facing its second round of stage three lockdowns. After the first round, Melburnians are feeling older, more tired and perhaps a bit wiser.
From shaving to survivor to whirlwind romances, these are some of the stay-home behaviours they are planning on changing this time.
Hong Kong enters first sustained local outbreak: health expert
Hong Kong health authorities have confirmed a record high number of locally-transmitted cases, about 50 of which can’t be traced to a previous infection.
Head of Hong Kong University’s school of medicine, Dr Gabriel Leung, told local media today that the reproductive number of the virus has risen to nearly four. This means every infected person could now be expected to pass it on to almost four others.
“Given the high baseline rate and [that] there is no sign of abatement of this trajectory and that real-time reproductive number of three to four, I think that we have now, or we have already entered Hong Kong’s first sustained local outbreak”, Leung said.
279 new cases in Australia
Some of the Australian statistics, shared by Coatsworth just now:
- The number of cases confirmed in the 24 hours to noon is 279, of which 273 are in Victoria.
- There have been five cases diagnosed in New South Wales, two of those individuals were in hotel quarantine and had acquired their infection overseas.
- Three are local cases, who are household contacts of one of the people who contracted Covid-19 in south-west Sydney.
- 7,728 people have recovered from Covid-19 and in terms of current hospitalisation, 67 people are hospitalised and 17 of those are in intensive care units.
- “It is critically important that if you were [at the Crossroads pub in Casula, NSW] during 3 July and 10 July, that you get yourself tested... including freight drivers, because that is a particular venue that is also frequented by people who do transnational freight driving.”
- The New South Wales Health Department has recommended an increase in personal protective equipment for the hospitals in both local health districts around Casula.
“It’s possible the death toll will increase,” says Coatsworth.
But the measures being taken now are precisely to avoid seeing the kind of death tolls currently overseas, and the government has learned a lot since the first round of lockdowns, he says, including new medications, and new understandings of how to care for patients.
Coatsworth is asked about the Australian government Covid-19 app, which seeks to identify close contacts of people diagnosed.
There has been only one case in Victoria identified during contact tracing, who was then found to not be a significant contact. It’s not doing any better than the current extensive contact tracing being done by health workers.
He concedes there’s a significant difference between the 6.5m downloads of the app, and how many people actually have it running, and urges people to be more vigilant with it.
He says the more people who download and run the app the fewer transmissions of Covid-19 there will be. He says if you’re a supporter of mask wearing then you should be supportive of downloading and running the app.
Asked about any changing understandings about children in the virus (in the context of Victorian students in lockdown returning to remote learning) Coatsworth said the “overwhelming evidence around the world is that children are less affected by Covid-19”.
“There seems to be less onward transmission and therefore schools are safer from a Covid-19 perspective when compared to influenza, where children of that age are the main transmitters.”
He said the school closure are “primarily about the reduction of movement”.
Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, is giving an update.
Asked about the Casula outbreak in NSW, he says it would be “a very significant event” for the state to move towards the outbreak of a scale that it is in Victoria.
“We share the concern of the NSW Premier, which is why we are meeting on a daily basis to assist the Chief health officers of both states in developing their strategies and making sure that the small spot fires that have occurred in south-west Sydney are put out as quickly as possible.”
Some more details from NSW, where authorities are working to track and trace cases clusters around a pub in Casula, while also working to ensure cases haven’t been brought in from Victoria (given recent school holiday activity).
We posted earlier that authorities are now calling for anyone who went to the Crossroads hotel between 3 and 10 July to get tested. So far 400 people who were there on 3 July have been tested.
A pop-up clinic at the hotel is open to 5pm, but extended-hours testing is also available at Liverpool, Campbelltown and Fairfield Hospitals (pdf), and at GP clinics.
Additional testing clinics have also been set up in border areas and traveller areas of high demand, expected at Victorian traveller locations (i.e. Byron Bay, Ballina, Merimbula & NSW Ski fields), and Newcastle.
There are 72 Covid-19 cases being treated by NSW Health, with one in intensive care, the NSW government said. This person does not require a ventilator. In NSW, 2,799 people are known to have recovered from Covid-19.
Western Australia has detected one new coronavirus case, bringing the state’s total to 635.
WA now has 22 active Covid-19 cases, and all are returning travellers in mandatory hotel quarantine.
In a grim harking back to March, Australia is once again seeing moody photographs of major cities devoid of people.
Analysts forecast China will be the only major economy to experience positive growth this year - partly because it was first to be hit by Covid-19 and therefore first to recover.
According to a poll of analysts conducted by Agence France Presse, China returned to growth in the second quarter after the coronavirus pandemic handed the world’s second largest economy its first contraction in decades.
The survey of analysts from 11 institutions pegged China’s growth at 1.3% - a far cry from the 6.1% expansion posted last year but in better shape than other countries still grappling with the contagion.
The coronavirus, which first emerged in China’s industrial central province of Hubei late last year, has shut businesses worldwide and destroyed hundreds of millions of jobs.
China is expected to post 1.7% growth for the full year, according to the economists surveyed by AFP, compared with IMF forecasts of a global contraction.
248 new cases in Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 248 to 198,804, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported Covid-19 death toll rose by three to 9,063, the tally showed.
One new case has been reported in New Zealand, a woman in her 20s who flew in from Rome, via Doha and Sydney, last week. The ministry of health said she had been in managed isolation at the Christchurch Commodore Airport Hotel and is now in quarantine.
It has been 72 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source.
New Zealand has had 1,194 confirmed cases, 25 of which remain active (none are receiving hospital level care).
Japan: dozens of US marines test positive at Okinawa base
More than 60 US marines based on Japan’s island of Okinawa have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in recent days, but officials say they were only told on Sunday.
The governor of Okinawa has demanded a top US military commander take tougher prevention measures and more transparency, as the exact figures were disclosed only after repeated requests, the AP has reported.
Okinawan officials on Sunday reported a total of 61 cases since 7 July. 38 of them are at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the centre of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen.
They said that US military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.
Okinawa has had about 150 cases of the coronavirus. In all, Japan has had about 21,000 cases and 1,000 deaths, with Tokyo reporting more than 200 new cases for a third straight day Saturday.
Gov. Denny Tamaki, in telephone talks late Saturday with Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, demanded the U.S military increase disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stop sending personnel from the mainland U.S. to Okinawa and seal the bases, as well as provide more transparency.
“Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the US military),” Tamaki told a news conference Saturday.
“It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among US personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections,” he said.
“We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease prevention measure.”
Adding to their concern is quarantining of an unidentified number of American service members arriving from the mainland US for ongoing staff rotations at an off-base hotel due to shortage of space on base, officials said.
The Marines saidthe troops were taking additional protective measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and were restricting off-base activities, and those who tested positive were in isolation.
Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact, and the residents are sensitive to US base-related problems.
Updated
The state of Queensland saw no new confirmed cases on Saturday. It currently has three active cases, out of a total of 1,070 since the outbreak began. Six were fatal.
Sunday, 12 July – coronavirus cases in Queensland:
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) July 12, 2020
• 0 new confirmed cases
• 3 active cases
• 1,070 total confirmed cases
• 421,738 tests conducted
Sadly, six Queenslanders with COVID-19 have died. 1,058 patients have recovered.#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/sQ4pZVj6sp
The Andrews press conference has finished. AAP has helpfully covered the concurrent NSW press conference with premier Gladys Berejiklian, including the new charges for people returning from overseas and going into mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine.
From Saturday, for all arrivals on tickets bought from midnight Monday, the first adult in each travelling party will be charged $3000. Subsequent adults will be billed $1000, each child $500 while kids under three will continue to be free.
Exemptions will be permitted in some circumstances.
Berejiklian said the state had the opportunity to clamp down on community transmission or go the way of Victoria.
“We are definitely at a crossroads in NSW,” she told reporters. “If you wake up with a scratchy throat, don’t go to work. Get tested.”
NSW reported five new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday, including three household contacts of a patron who went to the Crossroads pub in Casula.
Authorities have now told every person who visited the pub between 3-10 July to self-isolate after a staffer tested positive to coronavirus.
The 18-year-old staffer was confirmed as the sixth case in The Crossroads Hotel cluster, leading to the NSW chief health officer to significantly expand the self-isolation advice, which was previously only people who went there on 3 July.
“We do not think the staff member was the source,” Dr Kerry Chant told reporters on Sunday.
“He worked for a number of days, he did work on the third (and) on subsequent days.”
Some 1,200 people have been tested at the pop-up clinic at the pub since Friday.
All patrons must self-isolate until 14 days after their last visit to the hotel, regardless of any test result.
“Even if you get a negative test, that does not mean you are out of the woods,” Dr Chant said.
“A negative result does not mean you can breach self-isolation.”
Updated
Andrews pre-empts anyone asking him about Scott Morrison going to an NRL game this weekend (it’s been compared to his hugely criticised holiday to Hawaii during the bushfire crisis).
“I’ve got better things to worry about than who went to the footy in NSW.”
Here is the government information sheet on Victorian students returning to remote learning. There has been some confusion from the press conference, but this clarifies that the return to remote learning is for students living in the stage three lockdown areas only. Not regional and remote Victorian students.
Updated
In response to reports that schools want to force students to wear masks, Sutton says:
“I would say that masks are useful, I would make it clear that students who are unwell shouldn’t be in the classroom. We need to empower all the youth in Victoria. That includes the year 11 and 12, year 10 VC students and to follow the stay-at-home directions.”
From chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton:
There are 145 cases linked to North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers, although he thinks the true number is greater, and they’ll have more detailed figures later today.
- 22 cases are linked to public housing in Carlton
- Four cases are linked to Lamann supermarket in Essendon
- Two cases linked to Fox Distribution in Truganina
- Four cases linked to JBS abattoir
- Two linked to Box Hill Hospital
- 11 linked to Brunswick Private Hospital
- 11 to men of Rock aged-care facility
- Eight linked to Alfred Hospital
On the public housing towers, Sutton says:
“I should say it has been a very challenging operation, but having spoken to community members in the last couple of days, and I am seeing them again today, they are the glue that has actually held this whole operation together.
There have been really committed responses by multiple agencies but the communities in these towers have the wisdom and intelligence and they know the needs of their own community members, their families, their extended networks and they have been really critical in identifying the needs more broadly across those towers and there been instrumental in making this work.”
The deputy premier is giving more details on further support:
Early childhood education will remain open, as it was during term two. But in acknowledgement of how tough this is for parents, the government will provide free kinder for eligible sessional kindergartners in term three (a cost of about $460 per child) in Melbourne Metro and Mitchell Shire. For those outside the region, they’ll provide half the cost of the parent subsidy.
Victorian students in lockdown areas to return to remote learning from 20 July
Victorian students in the stage three lockdown areas, from prep to year 10, are going back to remote learning from 20 July until at least 19 August. There was no other choice, says Andrews. His main points:
- From tomorrow, Year 11 and 12 students in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will return to face-to-face learning.
- Year 10 students who are undertaking VCAL subjects, they will be back at school for facer face learning as well.
- Specialist schools are face-to-face learning as well.
- The rest of metropolitan kids in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will return to remote learning.
- There are no changes across regional Victoria. They will return to normal schooling on 20 July.
- There will be special arrangements for the children of people who can’t work from home, and for students with special needs who attend mainstream schools.
“If we simply allow all of our kids to move around, parents doing drop-offs and pick-ups, if we pretend that this isn’t real, then that will put at risk this strategy, put at risk the transmission of the virus and it won’t so much drive numbers down, it will directly contribute to more and more people becoming infected.”
Updated
Andrews is urging Victorians to cooperate with the lockdown currently imposed on Greater Melbourne for the next six weeks, and to stay home if they don’t absolutely need to go out.
These next six weeks are not an ordinary winter. We all have to play our part, we cannot ignore the circumstances we face. Nobody wanted to be in this position, but this is where we find ourselves.
I am deeply, deeply grateful to every Victorian who is doing the right thing. I thank you, but to those who aren’t, there is a very clear message: You need to do the right thing otherwise you face being caught by Victoria Police and a fine, and if that is not enough of a motivation for you, just think about the fact that every family, every community, every person across Melbourne and across Victoria has a stake in this.”
Updated
273 new cases and one death in Victoria
We have dual press conferences.
In Victoria premier Dan Andrews has also started speaking to media.
Andrews reports 273 new cases in Victoria, bringing it to a total of 3,799, 1,484 of which are active cases.
One man in his 70s has died, he says.
Andrews says he’s grateful for the number of people coming forward to get tested, including almost 32,000 yesterday.
“It is critically important. Arguably there is nothing more important than coming forward if you’ve got even mild symptoms, so that we can get your test results, we can work out where the virus is, take those necessary steps to quarantine you, to isolate your lose contacts, and make sure that those who are positive or have a very strong likelihood of being positive are not moving through the community, not circulating, not spreading this virus.”
Updated
NSW mandatory hotel quarantine to cost $3,000 per adult
In Australia, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is addressing media in Sydney.
Australia is cutting in half its cap on daily returning Australians. It’s also moving to a user-pays mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals.
Berejiklian says that each adult will pay $3,000 for 14 days hotel quarantining.
“This we believe is fair. Aussies and residents overseas have had three or four months to decide what they want to do... We’ve even heard anecdotal stories of people making repeat visits.”
Berejiklian said the government wants to put money into testing and tracing, not quarantining.
Updated
Hong Kong confirmed another 61 new cases on Saturday, amid a third resurgence for the city which held off a devastating outbreak in the early months.
Health authorities said the 61 included symptomatic people awaiting confirmation, and 28 confirmed cases. Of those, 16 were local infections, adding to concerns of the growing community transmission.
Despite sharing a border and high levels of travellers with mainland China, Hong Kong kept the virus largely at bay in the early months of the year. A second wave in March was mostly due to people flying in with the virus.
“I think the situation now is quite serious because we have many cases without a definite source of infection and they cannot be linked to any imported cases,” said Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan.
“There are outbreaks affecting restaurants, elderly homes, some students are affected and also certain areas and some housing estates - they have more than one case.
“So it affects the general public. I think it’s worse than the situation in March, when there were a lot of imported cases, and also some cases with definite sources, such as those linked to the bars and restaurants.”
On Friday Australia’s national cabinet decided to more than halve the number of overseas flights, cutting the number of Australians who can return home by at least 4,000 a week.
The decision followed days of senior politicians including Scott Morrison, New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian, and federal finance minister Mathias Cormann, arguing Australians who want to come home now should have come home in March, when the government issued an unprecedented alert to citizens overseas who wished to return to do so “as soon as possible” on 17 March.
The decision has concerned many Australian expats who contacted Guardian Australia explaining they had not returned in March because of their work, including foreign health services and the aid sector, or fear of contracting coronavirus in transit, flight cancellations, and complications ranging from pregnancy to pets.
A leading Australian business group says it’s naive to believe a few adjustments to the economy will help Australia recover from the coronavirus pandemic and get people back into jobs.
From AAP: Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott says the economy needs to be opened up, businesses need to invest and governments will need to stimulate through infrastructure spending, tax cuts and the extension of the JobKeeper and JobSeeker arrangements.
She also believes the extreme measures tackling the Covid-19 through border closures is sapping business confidence and costing jobs.
“We cannot eliminate this (virus) without a vaccine, we are a long way from that, we have to live with it therefore we have to get the systems right to manage these local outbreaks,” she told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
The Australian state of Victoria has been hit by a new outbreak, with more than 200 new daily cases reported in the past few days. Greater Melbourne has gone back into stage three lockdowns, and the interstate borders have been closed in an effort to prevent it spreading beyond Victoria.
Mexico reports 6,094 new cases
Reuters: Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday reported 6,094 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 539 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 295,268 cases and 34,730 deaths.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
The virus has so far infected more than 1.8 million people and killed at least 71,469 in Brazil, which is the world’s second worst outbreak behind the US. Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has continually downplayed the virus and pushed back against calls to lock down.
Bolsonaro is currently being treated for Covid-19, and the Washington Post has analysed footage of his public appearances. It’s worth a look.
The visual evidence shows that Bolsonaro not only met with far more people than his official schedule suggests, but that he routinely flouted public health guidelines. He at times wore a mask and maintained a distance of six feet from others. But just as frequently, he met with people without a mask, shook hands and even hugged supporters.
Eight health workers test positive in Melbourne hospital
In Australia eight healthcare workers at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital have tested positive to Covid-19.
Alfred Health confirmed on Sunday five of the cases are not linked and are believed to have been acquired through the community.
Three colleagues deemed close contacts also tested positive.
Alfred Health chief executive Andrew Way says the hospital is taking “every measure” to keep staff members safe.
“We cannot afford to become complacent,” Professor Way said.
This week, hospital administrators began requiring all visitors and staff in clinical areas to wear surgical masks and increased the frequency of cleaning in its infectious diseases ward, where Covid-19 patients are treated.
They have also placed a concierge at the entrance to the ward to ensure the movements of all staff are logged. The general public and visitors do not have access to the high-risk ward.
It comes after three cancer patients died in March after contracting Covid-19 at the hospital.
Victoria recorded its sixth straight day of triple-digit increases on Saturday with 216 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 1249.
A man in his 90s died on Friday night while 49 people remain in hospital, including 15 in intensive care.
The state’s virus death toll is 23, bringing the national toll to 107.
Australian vaccine read for human trials
In Australia a vaccine developed by the University of Queensland is ready to be tested on humans.
Human testing of the “molecular clamp” vaccine candidate, to start on Monday, follows encouraging results from animal testing conducted in the Netherlands, the Sunday Mail in Brisbane reports.
Professor Robert Booy, head of clinical research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said the animal trials would have “ticked all the boxes”, allowing the human testing to go ahead.
“There is no way the research team would be able to progress from animals to humans without a complete guarantee of safety and they would likely have a confidence in its effectiveness.”
There are more than 130 vaccines in the works around the world but UQ’s work is believed to have shown great success in the pre-clinical stage of development.
“We invested millions into this research because we know a vaccine is crucial to defeating Covid-19,” the Queensland innovation minister, Kate Jones, told the Sunday Mail.
Updated
Good morning, good evening, hello, wherever you might be. This is Helen Davidson taking the reins of the blog for the next few hours. Thanks to my colleagues for their coverage.
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- Infections in the US state of Texas rose by 10,351 on Saturday to 250,462 in total, the highest single-day increase in the state since the pandemic started.
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The US president, Donald Trump, has appeared in public wearing a mask for the first time during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington, after previously refusing to wear one and ridiculing some who did.
- Brazil, the world’s second-worst coronavirus hotspot after the United States, recorded 1,071 new deaths from the outbreak on Saturday, taking the total official death toll to 71,469.
- Michelle Bolsonaro, the wife of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is sick with coronavirus, said she and her two daughters had tested negative.
- Thousands of Israelis have protested in Tel Aviv against the government’s handling of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in violent clashes with police.
- The British government has drawn up a list of 20 councils in England facing the worst coronavirus outbreaks, with Bradford, Sheffield and Kirklees identified as areas in which localised lockdowns could be imposed.
- South Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have doubled in just two weeks to more than 250,000.
- Lebanon’s number of new coronavirus infections increased for a third consecutive day to a record 86.
- Florida’s Walt Disney World opened to the public for the first time in four months, despite a surge of coronavirus cases in the state.
