Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now – we’ve fired up a new blog at the link below, where I’ll be taking you through the latest developments worldwide for the next few hours:
Despite UK furlough scheme 6 million fear losing their job – study
As many as 6 million people in Britain fear losing their job within six months as the coronavirus outbreak causes the biggest economic shock in living memory, a study has warned.
With much of business and social life at a standstill despite gradual steps to reopen the economy, the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) said workers feared the coronavirus recession would be worse than the 2008 financial crash.
As many as one in five people in a survey of 2,000 workers by Survation for the leftwing thinktank said they were worried about losing their jobs, despite government efforts to cushion the blow using its wage subsidy scheme.
Summary
That’s it from me - I’m handing over to my colleague Helen Sullivan in Sydney to guide you through the next bit of the day/night. As always, thanks very much to everyone who wrote in with tips and suggestions.
Here are some of the key points from over the last few hours.
- The global number of coronavirus cases has exceeded 4,700,000, standing at 4,702,603, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus resource center. There have been 314,476 deaths globally.
- France’s death toll has passed 28,000, with the total number of coronavirus deaths recorded in hospitals and nursing homes rising to 28,108 from 27,625 on Saturday. The latest daily toll, of 483, is the largest in several weeks, and was made up mainly of deaths in care homes: 429 deaths, compared to 54 in hospital.
- South Africa has reported its highest daily increase in cases, registering 1,160 new coronavirus infections on Sunday. The health ministry announced that the total number of confirmed cases has reached 15,515, while the numbers of deaths rose by three to 263.
- At least 121 people in Mexico have died from drinking adulterated liquor as a result of alcohol shortages during the coronavirus pandemic. Since factories producing liquor and beer were shut down, gangs specialising in bootleg booze have been taking advantage of the lack of alternative alcohol sources.
- Nigeria has seized a British plane for defying a travel ban imposed as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the aviation minister has announced. Flair Aviation, the airline involved, was authorised to conduct humanitarian flights but was caught operating commercial flights, minister Hadi Sirika said on Twitter.
- Death tolls have fallen in UK, Spain and Italy. The UK’s daily coronavirus death toll was the lowest since lockdown began, with 170 deaths recorded - though due to hospital reporting delays, numbers reported on Sundays and Mondays are typically lower. Italy also recorded its lowest daily toll, 145, since lockdown, while Spain recorded its lowest toll in two months with 87 deaths.
- Qatar has begun enforcing the world’s toughest penalties of up to three years’ in prison for failing to wear masks in public, in a country with one of the highest coronavirus infection rates. Over 32,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the tiny Gulf country - 1.2 percent of the 2.75 million population - although just 15 people have died.
- Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has continued to disregard social distancing measures, posing for photographs with kids at a rally at the presidential palace. Brazil’s confirmed cases of the virus passed Spain and Italy on Saturday, making it the world’s fourth-largest outbreak.
- New York mayor Bill de Blasio has criticised residents who were seen gathering without masks outside city bars at the weekend. “We’re not going to tolerate people starting to congregate. It’s as simple as that,” de Blasio said. “If we have to shut places down, we will.” More than 15,000 people in New York City have died from Covid-19.
- Australia’s death toll has risen to 99, with New South Wales’s chief medical officer reporting the death of a man in his 60s who had underlying health conditions. The man is the 46th person to die with coronavirus in New South Wales.
“The political moment is now” to address the climate risks posed by the aviation industry, analysts, insiders and campaigners say, as governments across the world weigh up bailouts for airlines grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rescue packages need to come with green strings, such as reduced carbon footprints and frequent flyer levies, they warn, or the sector will return to the path that has made it the fastest rising source of climate-wrecking carbon emissions over the past decade.
Old passenger jets also need to be rapidly retired or cheap oil prices will encourage budget airlines to run services almost empty, which could push up emissions even if passenger numbers stay low, they say.
As did banks after the 2008-9 financial crisis, many aviation companies are appealing for government support to escape from a problem they partly caused. The expansion of flight networks, packed seating and a reluctance to accept quarantine measures have contributed to the rapid transmission of the Covid-19 virus across the globe.
Have a read of Jonathan Watts’s piece on the possibility of a greener future for airlines.
More on the breakdown of France’s daily death toll, which at 483, is the highest in several weeks.
The figure was made up chiefly of deaths in care homes - 429, compared to 54 in hospitals. The health directorate was unable to provide more information on the sudden rise in care home deaths, according to AFP.
The figures bring the total number of deaths in France to 28,108.
Meanwhile, health officials meanwhile have been battling to contain two outbreaks of the virus at abattoirs that are so far known to have infected around a hundred people. One abattoir is in the central Val de Loire region near the city of Orleans, and the other is in the northwestern region of Brittany.
Scores of Mexicans are dying from drinking adulterated liquor, a consequence of the shortage of mainstream alcoholic beverages during the coronavirus pandemic, authorities say.
AFP reports that the first of at least 121 deaths in recent weeks occurred at the end of April in the western state of Jalisco, almost exactly a month after the government declared a health emergency over the spread of Covid-19.
As much of Mexico has run out of beer after factories producing liquor and beer were shut down, gangs specialising in bootleg booze are trying to take advantage of the lack of alternative alcohol sources.
Beer stocks were almost depleted within a month, and in some areas the prices of what was left doubled, according to industry sources. Many of the 53 deaths in central Puebla province have been linked to a wake where people drank moonshine containing methanol – a wood alcohol that in non-lethal doses can cause blindness and liver damage.
Twenty-three people died in the hours following the gathering in the town of Chiconcuautla, according to authorities. The town’s mayor said the popular “refino” drink, made from sugarcane, had been adulterated.
German Hernandez said his father died after being poisoned by a drink known locally as “tejon” – a blend of brandy with tejocote fruit (a type of hawthorn) in the Puebla town of Cacaloxuchitl.
“They sell it in the stores, and you can buy it and take it out. My father began trembling and feeling weak. He told us he felt bad, and we took him to the hospital,” Hernandez told AFP. “This has never happened before.”
Deaths have also been recorded in the central state of Morelos and Yucatan and Veracruz in the east.
Updated
South Africa reports highest daily increase in cases
South Africa on Sunday reported 1,160 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily number since the first case was recorded in March, AFP reports.
“As of today, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 15,515, with 1,160 new cases identified in the last 24 hour cycle of testing,” said the health ministry in a statement.
The Western Cape province, popular with tourists, accounted for nearly 60% of the national numbers.
The numbers of deaths rose by three to 263 from Saturday.
Africa’s most industrialised economy has the highest numbers of infections in Africa, followed by Egypt, which has so far recorded 11,719 Covid-19 cases, including 612 deaths.
The country has been under lockdown since March 27 and has embarked on an aggressive mass testing strategy with 460,873 tested so far.
But some health experts are beginning to see the limits of the country’s lauded mass screening strategy, with results taking up to two weeks to come through.
Updated
Now for something a little lighter: socially distant blessings delivered with a water pistol.
The priest in the photo, Father Tim Pelc, told BuzzFeed News that he was a little concerned about how the Vatican might react when the photos of him squirting holy water began circulating widely on the internet, but hasn’t heard anything about it yet.
A Priest giving social distance blessings with a squirt pistol and what, I'm assuming, is Holy water. 2020 folks. pic.twitter.com/iDnYs33hs9
— Jeff Barnaby (@tripgore) May 15, 2020
Updated
Egypt will bring forward the start of its curfew by four hours to 5pm and halt public transport from 24 May for six days during the Eid holiday, reports Reuters.
The prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, said on Sunday that shops, restaurants, parks and beaches will be closed for the extended holiday at the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, and restrictions on citizens’ movements will remain in place for at least two weeks afterwards.
Egypt has so far reported 12,229 confirmed cases, including 630 deaths. The daily tally of cases has been rising after the government slightly eased a night curfew and other measures. The number of cases rose by 510 on Sunday, the health ministry said.
Updated
New York mayor Bill de Blasio has criticised residents who were seen gathering without masks outside bars at the weekend despite the city’s ongoing “stay at home” guidelines, saying they were putting lives in danger.
Almost 90,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19 so far during the pandemic, far more than any other country, according to Johns Hopkins. More than 15,000 of those deaths were in New York City, which is still subject to stay-at-home measures even as many other US cities begin to open up again.
“We’re not going to tolerate people starting to congregate. It’s as simple as that,” De Blasio said on Sunday. “If we have to shut places down, we will.”
Updated
Just a reminder that you can reach me on Twitter @cleaskopeliti, or by email, if you have any tips, comments or suggestions for coverage. Thanks to everyone who has already been in touch!
Nigeria seizes British plane flouting travel ban
Nigeria has seized a British plane for defying a travel ban imposed as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the aviation minister said Sunday.
Flair Aviation, the airline involved, was authorised to conduct humanitarian flights but was caught operating commercial flights, Hadi Sirika said on his Twitter account.
“This is callous!” he wrote. “The craft is impounded, the crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve.”
COVID-19. Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights. This is callous! The craft is impounded, crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve!🇳🇬
— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) May 17, 2020
There was no immediate reaction on Sunday from either the company or the British embassy on the matter.
Nigeria has shut its airports and airspace since March to contain Covid-19, which has so far infected 5,621 people and claimed 176 lives there.
Updated
Wearing a face mask, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro posed for photographs with kids plucked out of a crowd of supporters on Sunday, disregarding public health advice aimed at containing one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, Reuters reports.
Bolsonaro’s latest flouting of social distancing guidelines comes after he lost two health ministers in a month, both of whom resisted his fight against quarantines. Brazil’s confirmed cases of the virus passed Spain and Italy on Saturday, making it the world’s fourth-largest outbreak.
In an online video, Bolsonaro said he welcomed the demonstration at the presidential palace in what has become a nearly biweekly affair, with the president and supporters defying quarantines that have the support of most Brazilians.
“Above all (the people) want freedom, they want democracy, they want respect,” he said, adding that Brazilians want to get the economy back up and running as quickly as possible.
A poll this week showed two-thirds of Brazilians agree with the need for social distancing to contain the outbreak, which governors and health experts recommend, while Bolsonaro tries to open gyms, hair salons and other businesses.
On Friday, former health minister Nelson Teich resigned as he and the president showed themselves increasingly out of step, with Bolsonaro calling for a rollback of state quarantines and widespread use of unproven drugs, such as chloroquine to fight the virus.
“Chlo-ro-quine! Chlo-ro-quine!” chanted Bolsonaro’s supporters outside the presidential palace in Sunday, as well as “We want to work!”
Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official labs by the beginning of the week, according to the Health Ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line.
By contrast, Italy and Spain have each run some 1.9 million official diagnostic tests for the virus.
Death tolls fall in UK, Spain and Italy
In a possible glimmer of hope, Sunday has seen lower death tolls reported in the UK, Spain and Italy.
The UK’s daily coronavirus death toll was the lowest since lockdown began, with 170 deaths recorded. This should be taken with a pinch of salt: due to hospital reporting delays, the numbers reported on Sundays and Mondays tend to be lower than other days.
Meanwhile Spain has recorded its lowest single-day death toll in two months. According to the latest figures from the health ministry, 87 people have died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, down from 102 the day before.
Italy on Sunday recorded its lowest daily toll, 145, since lockdown was declared. There were 153 deaths registered during the previous 24 hour period.
Updated
Doctors have identified a group of blood compounds that may help to reveal which children are most at risk of developing a rare but life-threatening immune reaction to coronavirus.
The new syndrome emerged last month after hospitals in London admitted a number of children to intensive care units with symptoms that resembled toxic shock mixed with an inflammatory disorder known as Kawasaki disease.
Read Ian Sample’s report here.
Qatar makes masks mandatory on pain of prison
Qatar has begun enforcing the world’s toughest penalties of up to three years’ in prison for failing to wear masks in public, in a country with one of the highest coronavirus infection rates.
More than 32,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the tiny Gulf country - 1.2 percent of the 2.75 million population - although just 15 people have died. Only the micro-states of San Marino and the Vatican have had higher per-capita infection rates, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Violators of Qatar’s new rules will face up to three years in jail and fines of as much as $55,000.
Drivers alone in their vehicles are exempt from the requirement, but police erected checkpoints across the capital Doha on Sunday evening to check compliance by motorists.
Wearing a mask is currently mandatory in around 50 countries, although scientists are divided on their effectiveness. Authorities in Chad have made it an offence to be unmasked in public, on pain of 15 days in prison. In Morocco, similar rules can see violators jailed for three months and fined up to 1,300 dirhams ($130).
France’s total number of coronavirus deaths recorded in hospitals and nursing homes has risen to 28,108 from 27,625 on Saturday. Of the total toll, 17,466 have been in hospitals while 10,642 happened in nursing homes.
The number of people in hospitals has fallen to 19,361, compared to 19,432 the previous day. The number of people in ICU is 2,087, compared to 2,132 on Saturday.
Updated
Summary
- Italy’s shops, restaurants and hair salons have been preparing to reopen on Monday, as the government further eases the lockdown. Businesses are being allowed to gradually go back to work as long they can enforce tight sanitary protocols and keep people at least one metre apart. Economic recovery is expected to be difficult, particularly without tourists.
- Lebanon will gradually reopen its economy beginning on Monday following a four-day shutdown imposed after a rise in coronavirus cases threatened a second wave of the outbreak. The country’s plan to ease restrictions on business was paused last week after a rise in new cases. The country of about 6 million people has recorded 911 infections and 26 deaths.
- UK daily coronavirus death toll is the lowest since lockdown began, with 170 deaths recorded. However, due to hospital reporting delays, the numbers reported on Sundays and Mondays tend to be lower than other days.
- India has extended a nearly two-month-old lockdown by another two weeks with Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and other key regions still fighting to control the rising curve of coronavirus infections. The health ministry on Sunday reported a record jump of nearly 5,000 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the number of confirmed cases to 90,927, with 2,872 deaths.
- Benin is staging local elections, minus key opposition parties, with authorities pushing ahead despite the coronavirus. The West African nation of 11 million this week lifted a series of restrictions aimed at halting the spread of the virus, which has caused 339 confirmed infections and two deaths in the country.
- Confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil have surpassed the total in Italy, with the country announcing nearly 15,000 new infections on Saturday. This takes Brazil’s total to more than 230,000, the fourth-largest confirmed caseload after the US, Russia and the UK.
- The city of Wuhan conducted 222,675 nucleic acid tests on 16 May, the local health authority said, nearly doubling from a day earlier. Wuhan kicked off a campaign on 14 May to look for asymptomatic carriers after confirming last weekend its first cluster of Covid-19 infections since its release from lockdown on 8 April.
- Quebec is considering making masks mandatory, after banning the veil. The Canadian province at the centre of the country’s outbreak is is currently “strongly recommending” that citizens wear masks, but has not made the measure mandatory. Quebec’s public health director stressed “You need to have a good argument for infringing on individual rights for the sake of a collective right.”
- The growth of new coronavirus cases in Russia is stabilising, a top health official has said, as the daily tally fell under 10,000 for the third time this week. The country has the world’s second highest number of infections at 281,752, topped only by the United States.
- Madagascar has reported the first death of a patient suffering from the coronavirus, nearly two months after the virus was first detected in the country. The victim was a 57-year-old man with underlying conditions. Madagascar has reported 304 cases.
Updated
Helena Smith with the latest from Greece’s beaches:
In a move seen as vital for the reinvigoration of tourism across southern Europe, Greek authorities opened more than 500 beaches along the Athenian Riviera this weekend.
But in the new normal that is Greece’s gradual emergence into the post -lockdown age, there was little that was recognisable. Along the Athenian Riveriera freedom is now measured in metres - even if Greece has succeeded in keeping Covid-19 infection and mortality rates unusually low.
It was a different story, however, on public transport, with pictures emerging of buses crammed with passengers headed to the beach. Greek authorities, announcing a further 15 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, say the total number of confirmed infections now stands at 2,834. The death toll rose, following an additional fatality, to 162.
The country’s churches also opened today on condition that worshippers adapted to strict social distancing rules. The government, which will lift restrictions on inter-regional travel on Monday, has said that ancient archaeological sites, shopping malls and department stores will open tomorrow as the nation gradually eases out of lockdown.
Read Helena Smith and Angela Giuffrida’s report on the opening of southern European beaches here:
Updated
Egyptian security forces arrested the founder of Egypt’s last independent media outlet in a growing crackdown on freedom of expression connected to Covid-19.
Lina Attalah, the editor-in-chief of the website Mada Masr, was arrested outside Tora prison in the south of Cairo. Attalah was detained in front of the prison while interviewing Laila Soueif, the mother of jailed activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who was attempting to bring medication and hand sanitiser to her son. Abd El Fattah has been on hunger strike since mid April in protest at deteriorating prison conditions, including the risk of the spread of COVID-19 inside Tora prison as well as the suspension of prison visits and trial hearings due to the virus.
Atallah was taken to a police station and held on unknown charges, and will be presented to prosecutors tomorrow according to her colleagues. Mada Masr reportedthat Attalah’s mobile phone was seized and their lawyer was prevented from accessing Atallah while in detention.
The journalist was recognised by Time Magazine as a “New Generation Leader,” in 2017, when she was branded the “muckraker of the Arab World.” Mada Masr is internationally recognised as the last bastion of press freedom in Egypt, a lone award-winning independent outlet in a repressive media environment where the majority of newspapers are state-controlled. The staff at Mada Masr, including Attalah, endured a raid by plainclothes security officials on their offices last November where she was detained and later released following international pressure.
Attalah’s arrest is part of a pattern of repression connected to Covid-19. Egyptian security forces detained journalist Hassan Mahgoub from his home in early May, after he reported a series of stories about the virus. Editor Atef Hasballah was bundled into the back of a police van and accused of joining a terrorist group in April after questioning the government’s official statistics about Covid-19 on his Facebook page.
Egypt is considered one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, ranked 166 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service and the head of the journalists’ syndicate did not respond when contacted for comment.
“Lina’s arrest is yet another example of Egypt’s persistent assault on journalists,” said Timothy E Kaldas of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and a longtime friend of Attalah’s.
“It’s worrisome that the latest round of crackdowns coincides with the Covid pandemic,” he said. “Egyptian authorities may presume this leaves foreign capitals distracted and unprepared to emphasize concerns about political freedoms. A free press that the public can trust for information is all the more vital during a health crisis.”
Zoom has said problems with the video conferencing platform have now been resolved.
Users of the service reported outages on Sunday, with many unable to host or join meetings. The website DownDetector said thousands of people were having issues with the service, with regions in the US, Middle East and Europe appearing to have been particularly affected.
“Zoom users impacted by this issue should now be able to host, join & participate in Zoom Meetings & Zoom Video Webinars if they restart their sessions. We continue to assess & monitor. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused,” the company tweeted.
Zoom users impacted by this issue should now be able to host, join & participate in Zoom Meetings & Zoom Video Webinars if they restart their sessions. We continue to assess & monitor. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.
— Zoom (@zoom_us) May 17, 2020
The video conferencing service’s popularity has exploded since lockdowns began worldwide and people have been using it to host business meetings but also social events, including calls with family and friends and, in the UK, pub quizzes.
However, issues have been raised with the platform’s lax security, highlighted by “Zoombombing” incidents where trolls enter meetings uninvited.
Updated
Italy prepares to further ease lockdown
Shops, restaurants and hair salons prepared to reopen in Italy on Monday as the government further eased one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns, saying it was taking a “calculated risk” to put the country back on its feet.
The euro zone’s third biggest economy is slowly emerging from more than two months of hibernation, with businesses allowed to gradually go back to work as long they can enforce tight sanitary protocols and keep people at least one metre apart.
Department stores are taking measures such as counting customers using an app, quarantining clothes tried on in changing rooms for 24 hours and spilling perfume on tissues rather than having customers handle testers. Restaurants will only allow family members to sit close together.
But there are fears that economic recovery will be difficult, particularly in the absence of tourists.
Business association Confcommercio expects consumer spending for clothing, which stood at 60 billion euros in 2019, to shrink by 20% this year and a quarter of the country’s 115,000 fashion retailers to go bust.
“I know that for several sectors of the economy, reopening does not mean recovery,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said late on Saturday as he announced the lifting of the restrictions.
With its economy facing severe recession and public debt expected to spiral to more than 150% of its annual economic output, the government has been desperate to get the country back to work without triggering a second wave of the epidemic.
Others prefer to wait until European borders reopen on 3 June. Tourism contributes 13% to the country’s economic output.
Updated
Downing Street’s daily briefing is about to start – head over to the UK live blog to follow along.
Updated
Lebanon will gradually reopen its economy beginning on Monday, prime minister Hassan Diab said, following a four-day shutdown imposed after a rise in coronavirus cases threatened a second wave of the outbreak, Reuters reports.
Already in the throes of a deep economic crisis, Lebanon began easing virus-related restrictions on business late last month to try to restore some economic activity. But that plan was paused last week after a rise in new cases.
Lebanon has been relatively successful reining in the outbreak since a mid-March lockdown that set an overnight curfew and shut most business and air travel. The country of about 6 million people has recorded 911 infections and 26 deaths.
In a televised address on Sunday, Diab said the economy would resume its gradual re-opening, but warned Lebanese to adhere strictly to health and safety guidelines that had been flouted during the initial attempt.
“We do not want this stage to turn into a nightmare, and we will not accept that all Lebanese pay the price for some irresponsible and indifferent behaviours,” said Diab.
A five-stage plan for resuming economic activity unveiled last month envisages most economic activity restored after a final period beginning on 8 June. Lebanon has not set a date for the re-opening of its airport for commercial flights.
Updated
Hello, I’ll be taking over the live blog for the next few hours. Please feel free to get in touch with any news tips and suggestions for coverage. You can DM on Twitter @cleaskopeliti or email me at clea.skopeliti.casual@guardian.co.uk. Thanks in advance.
Tobias Altschäffl was at yesterday’s game between Augburg and Wolfsburg, to see elite club football return as Germany’s top division resumed behind closed doors. Here’s his report:
The teams come out one after the other, first home, then away. Pleasantly there are fewer theatrics and arguments: on the pitch – a purer football than before. The atmosphere, on the other hand, is very, very strange. When Augsburg equalise to make it 1-1, the goal jingle is played. But where 25,000 fans would normally sing along, there is now silence.
More here:
Today is Norwegian Constitution Day, which normally sees, in the words of today’s AFP report, “children take to the streets in parades across the country, ice creams and hot dogs are devoured, and the day culminates in a huge parade in ‘bunad’, a traditional heavy woollen costume, outside the royal palace in Oslo.” Today the royal family waved at empty streets for the TV cameras, while parades were banned and gatherings limited to 50 people.
In Bærum, a residential suburb of Oslo, the Evje school marching band played for the hospital and retirement homes, in front of small crowds respecting strict social distancing rules.
“It was a bit strange, but fun,” said Kaja Wang Andreassen who, aged 10, was making her debut on the flute. “We had to be even more careful than usual to stay in line and stay far apart from each other, even when the road got narrower.”
A steadfast tradition since it was introduced by novelist Bjornstjerne Bjornson in 1870, this was the first time in peacetime that the children’s parades were cancelled.
In several coastal towns, the parades were replaced this year by flotillas of hundreds of boats on the water.
“We will remember today as a very special day,” wrote 19-year-old Christine Ronnefeldt in Sunday’s main daily Aftenposten. “We will remember this as the day we stayed so far away from one another, yet closer than ever.”
On a similar theme, here’s Gaia Vince from a little earlier today:
The Guardian’s global environment editor, Jonathan Watts, has written about the possible effect of the coronavirus crisis on the world’s airlines:
“The political moment is now” to address the climate risks posed by the aviation industry, analysts, insiders and campaigners say, as governments across the world weigh up bailouts for airlines grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rescue packages need to come with green strings, such as reduced carbon footprints and frequent flyer levies, they warn, or the sector will return to the path that has made it the fastest rising source of climate-wrecking carbon emissions over the past decade.
More here:
India has extended a nearly two-month-old lockdown by another two weeks with Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and some other key regions still battling to control the rising curve of coronavirus infections, reports the Associated Press.
The government-run National Disaster Management authority said in a statement on Sunday that fresh guidelines will be issued that keep in view the need to open up economic activity.
Indian media reports said that travel by air, rail and metro will remain shut down until the end of May. Schools, hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping malls, cinemas and places of worship will also be closed nationally.
On 4 May the government eased some restrictions, allowing reopening of neighbourhood shops and manufacturing and farming in rural areas. It also resumed running a limited number of trains, mainly to carry workers.
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported a record jump of nearly 5,000 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the number of confirmed cases to 90,927, with 2,872 deaths. India had less than 500 positive cases and nine deaths when the lockdown was first imposed on 25 March.
Benin is staging local elections, minus key opposition parties, today with authorities pushing ahead despite the coronavirus, reports AFP.
The West African nation of 11 million this week lifted a raft of restrictions aimed at halting the spread of the virus. COVID-19 has caused 339 confirmed infections and two deaths in the country. The autonomous national election commission (CENA) made face masks mandatory for voters and enforced social distancing measures at polling stations.
“We have received a lot of hydro-alcohol gels and masks for all voters,” returning officer Mathieu Daki told AFP at N’dali in the north of the country.
In the economic capital Cotonou, where most coronavirus deaths have occurred, election officials ensured voters were more than a metre apart. However, not everyone appeared to have been reassured. In the city’s 5th district election agent Dimitri Assani admitted voters were “few and far between”.
Donatien Sagbo Hounga wore a mask to enter the polling station, but said he was waiting “till there were no other voters in front of the election agents” to move forward to cast his vote. “It may seem excessive but it’s necessary,” Hounga said.
Campaigning has been limited to posters and media appearances as candidates were forced to call off rallies due to a ban on gatherings of over 50 people.
Critics warned the health risks were too high for a vote that opponents of President Patrice Talon insist should not be happening in the first place. Talon sported a mask when he voted early in Cotonou’s Zongo-Ehuzu area.
In the city’s first district Arnold Migan voted early in the morning. “With the threat from COVID-19 it’s best to vote quickly and go home before a lot of people arrive,” he said.
Benin, seen as one of the region’s most stable democracies, has been in political crisis since a disputed parliamentary poll last April sparked protests. Talon, a former business magnate who came to power in 2016, has been accused of a crackdown that drove key rivals into exile.
Parties allied to the president won all the seats at the polls last year after opposition groups were effectively banned from standing, but turnout was only 25%. Now leading opposition parties again find themselves barred from the vote for control of 77 councils across the country.
The exclusion drew a legal challenge from Talon opponent Sebastien Ajavon, a businessman living in exile after he was sentenced to prison on drug charges in Benin. The regional African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled the vote should be suspended as it was not inclusive. But Benin disregarded the ruling and severed some ties with the court in protest at the decision.
Opponents called on voters to boycott the poll over the political situation and the risks from coronavirus. Many among the electorate appeared set to heed the call to stay home given the result looks certain to go in favour of those backing Talon. In Cotonou’s Cadjehoun area only about 30 people had voted by midday out of 400 registered there.
Final results from the election are expected within a week.
Hello, Simon Burnton here, taking back control for a couple of hours. Here’s some football news, with Uefa still absolutely convinced that completing their major club competitions by August is not just a long shot:
BP’s new chief executive said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has deepened his commitment to shrinking the oil giant’s carbon footprint to zero.
Bernard Looney, who took the helm of the oil giant in February, said he is “more convinced than ever” that BP must embrace the energy transition following the collapse of global oil markets.
He told the Guardian that his commitment to steering BP towards its net-zero carbon ambitions, set out earlier this year, is “deeper” due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
I am more convinced than ever that this is the right thing to do, and we need to crack on with it.
The pandemic only adds to the challenge that already exists for oil in the medium to long term.
Some energy economists believe demand for oil may never recover to its levels before the pandemic if changes to business travel and commuting remain after the lockdown ends.
This raises serious questions over the business model of major oil companies which are already under pressure due to tougher climate action and the rise of renewable energy.
“We’re all living and working differently right now. Not all of that will stick, but some of it will stick for sure. The question I have is whether consumers will consume less, and I think there is a possibility that they will,” Looney said.
Cases in Brazil surpass the total in Italy amid fears of a surge in Latin America
Confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil have surpassed the total in Italy and are surging in Mexico and Peru as Latin America struggles to contain its fast-growing coronavirus outbreak.
Brazil announced nearly 15,000 new infections on Saturday, taking its total to more than 230,000, the fourth-largest confirmed caseload after the US, Russia and the UK.
Its true number of infections is feared to be much greater, with the country carrying out fewer than a half a million tests by the start of last week, compared with about 1.9m in Spain and Italy.
The country’s response has been hamstrung by the resignation of two successive federal health ministers in the past month who have complained of inaction and interference by the president, Jair Bolsonaro, a rightwing populist who continues to be critical of the shutdown measures implemented by Brazil’s state governments.
“Unemployment, hunger and misery will be the future of those who support the tyranny of total isolation,” Bolsonaro tweeted, a day after Nelson Teich resigned on Friday after less than a month as health minister.
Brazil is expected to post its biggest annual economic contraction this year since records began over a century ago.
Updated
Egypt will bring forward the start of its curfew by four hours to 5pm and halt public transport during the six-day Eid holiday from 24 May as it seeks to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Shops, restaurants and parks will also be closed for the holiday at the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, and restrictions on citizens’ movements will be extended for a further two weeks afterwards, the prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, said.
The city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak originated in China, conducted 222,675 nucleic acid tests on 16 May, the local health authority said, nearly doubling from a day earlier.
Wuhan kicked off a campaign on 14 May to look for asymptomatic carriers - people who are infected but show no outward sign of illness - after confirming last weekend its first cluster of Covid-19 infections since its release from lockdown on 8 April.
The number of tests carried out on 16 May in the city of 11 million residents was more than the 186,400 tests conducted on 14-15 May, and was also the highest since the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission started publishing the data on 21 February.
Wuhan is conducting the testing on a voluntary basis.
No confirmed cases with symptoms were identified 14-16 May, though 28 new asymptomatic carriers were found, according to daily reports published by the Wuhan health authority.
Updated
Less than a year after passing a secularism law forcing certain members of religious minorities to uncover their heads and faces, Quebec is now debating whether to force everybody to put masks on.
As the province at the centre of Canada’s coronavirus outbreak, Quebec is currently “strongly recommending” that citizens wear masks – but the measure will not be mandatory.
Asked why not, Horacio Arruda, the province’s public health director, told reporters: “You need to have a good argument for infringing on individual rights for the sake of a collective right.”
But such arguments ring hollow to Nour Farhat, a Montreal lawyer whose dreams of being a Crown prosecutor were dashed after the Quebec government passed legislation last year barring certain public sector workers from wearing religious symbols at work.
The law – known as Bill 21 – mainly affects Muslim women working in education, law and other public sectors. Farhat said:
Bill 21 violates the rights of religious minorities without a real or urgent situation. And now that we’re in a real and urgent situation, the premier cares about violating people’s rights.
For them, it was always OK to violate the rights of religious minorities.
Bill 21 has always permitted masks for medical reasons, and government media representatives say their hesitancy on masks is not related to that law.
But head and face coverings carry a certain political weight in Quebec. Recent years have seen multiple instances of people trying to snatch hijabs from women’s heads in the province.
And only last year did Montreal reverse a seven-year ban on people wearing masks at protests.
Russia’s virus spread stabilising, health official says
The growth of new coronavirus cases in Russia is stabilising, a top health official has said, as the daily tally fell under 10,000 for the third time this week.
The country has the world’s second highest number of infections at 281,752, topped only by the United States.
On Sunday, it announced new cases had dropped below 10,000 for the third day this week at 9,709.
The head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Anna Popova, said in an interview on Rossiya-1 television:
We’ve moved towards the level of stability that we’ve all been waiting for.
I would say that of today, we have halted the growth [in the number of cases].
For the last 10 or 11 days now, we haven’t seen additional growth or it’s been very small.
Stabilisation can be seen over the whole country. All the regions have managed to stabilise the situation.
The state watchdog Rospotrebnadzor announces daily virus numbers and is working to develop a viable vaccine at its Vector virus research centre in Siberia.
Popova said it was too early to say if Russians can make plans for summer travel, saying “we need to look at the next two or three weeks”.
Russia on Saturday announced the highest daily death rate at 119. It has confirmed a total of 2,631 deaths, 10 times fewer than Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
Critics have cast doubt on Russia’s low official mortality rate, accusing authorities of under-reporting deaths in order to play down the scale of the crisis.
Russian health officials say one of the reasons the count is lower is that only deaths directly caused by the virus are being included.
The deputy prime minister, Tatiana Golikova, denied any manipulation of numbers on Sunday, saying hospitals had a financial interest in identifying coronavirus cases since they get allocated more money to treat such patients.
“From the economic point of view, any hospital should have an interest in diagnosing more Covid cases,” she said.
Authorities say that since the virus came later to Russia, the country had more time to prepare hospital beds and launch wide-scale testing to slow its spread.
Madagascar has registered its first coronavirus death, of a 57-year-old medical worker who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, the national Covid-19 taskforce said.
Taskforce spokeswoman Hanta Danielle Vololontiana said in a televised statement that the man had died on Saturday night.
“A man died from Covid-19 in Madagascar ... he is 57 years old and a member of the medical staff,” she said.
Ministers and officials from every nation will meet via video link on Monday for the annual world health assembly, which is expected to be dominated by efforts to stop rich countries monopolising drugs and future vaccines against Covid-19.
As some countries buy up drugs thought to be useful against the coronavirus, causing global shortages, and the Trump administration does deals with vaccine companies to supply America first, there is dismay among public health experts and campaigners who believe it is vital to pull together to end the pandemic.
While the US and China face off, the EU has taken the lead. The leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Norway, together with the European commission and council, called earlier this month for any innovative tools, therapeutics or vaccines to be shared equally and fairly.
“If we can develop a vaccine that is produced by the world, for the whole world, this will be a unique global public good of the 21st century,” they said in a statement.
The sole resolution before the assembly this year is an EU proposal for a voluntary patent pool. Drug and vaccine companies would then be under pressure to give up the monopoly that patents allow them on their inventions, which means they can charge high prices, so that all countries can make or buy affordable versions.
In the weeks of negotiations leading up to the meeting, which is scheduled to last for less than a day, there has been a dispute over the language of the resolution.
Countries with major pharmaceutical companies argue they need patents to guarantee sufficiently high prices in wealthy nations to recoup their research and development costs.
Even more fraught have been attempts to reinforce countries’ existing rights to break drug and vaccine company patent monopolies if they need to for the sake of public health.
A hard-fought battle over Aids drugs 20 years ago led to the World Trade Organization’s Doha declaration on trade-related intellectual property (Trips) in favour of access to medicines for all, but the US, which has some of the world’s biggest drug companies, has strongly opposed wording that would encourage the use of Trips.
Campaigners say the resolution expected to be passed by the world health assembly’s 198 member states is along the right lines, but too weakly worded.
Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology International said:
In a global crisis like this, that has such a massive impact on everyone, you would expect the WHO governing body to have the backbone to say no monopolies in this pandemic.
It’s one thing for a country to use its economic clout to buy preferential access to drugs or vaccines. It’s another to prevent others from manufacturing and expanding global supply.
Updated
Scientists in Hong Kong have established that face masks do reduce transmission of coronavirus (at least among hamsters). This just in from AFP:
Tests on hamsters reveal the widespread use of facemasks reduces transmission of the deadly coronavirus, a team of leading experts in Hong Kong said Sunday.
The research by the University of Hong Kong is some of the first to specifically investigate whether masks can stop symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from infecting others.
Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, one of the world’s top coronavirus experts, the team placed hamsters that were artificially infected with the disease next to healthy animals.
Surgical masks were placed between the two cages with air flow travelling from the infected animals to the healthy ones.
The researchers found non-contact transmission of the virus could be reduced by more than 60 percent when the masks were used.
Two thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected within a week if no masks were applied.
The infection rate plunged to just over 15 percent when surgical masks were put on the cage of the infected animals and by about 35 percent when placed on the cage with the healthy hamsters.
Those that did become infected were also found to have less of the virus within their bodies than those infected without a mask.
“It’s very clear that the effect of masking the infected, especially when they are asymptomatic - or symptomatic - it’s much more important than anything else,” Yuen told reporters.
Updated
Madagascar has reported the first death of a patient suffering from the novel coronavirus, nearly two months after the virus was first detected in the country.
The Indian ocean island, which has reported 304 cases, hit the headlines last month over a home-grown herbal concoction, a tonic drink derived from artemisia - a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment - and other indigenous herbs, that President Andry Rajoelina claimeds can cure people infected with the virus. The World Health Organisation has warned against “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”.
Yesterday Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the country’s coronavirus measures would be extended and its borders with Tanzania and Somalia closed. “Among the positive cases that have been registered in the country this week, a total of 43 cases have recently crossed the border from neighbouring Somalia and Tanzania,” Kenyatta said in a televised address. Kenyatta also said the national 7pm-5am curfew would be extended until June 6, as would a ban on entering or exiting the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale and Mandera. “A brutal and unforgiving enemy is at our wall. He is trying to gain entrance using every door and every window,” Kenyatta said. He also announced that truck drivers would be tested before entering Kenya, saying that border tests had identified 78 infected drivers, all turned back.
Today, some nurses have been doing Zumba:
Summary
- Spain has recorded its lowest single-day death toll in two months. According to the latest figures from the health ministry, 87 people have died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, down from 102 the day before. The country has confirmed 231,350 cases of the virus using PCR tests, and reported 27,650 deaths.
- Brazil’s health ministry announced 14,919 new cases, taking the country’s total to 233,142, ahead of Spain and Italy, making theirs the fourth largest outbreak in the world. Mainland China reported five new confirmed Covid-19 cases for May 16, down from eight the previous day, the National Health Commission has said in a statement. Two of the five confirmed cases were so-called imported infections, while three were locally transmitted in northeastern Chinese city of Jilin. Japan also confirmed five new cases.
- The Greek government is poised to announce that restaurants and other eateries can now open on 25 May, one week ahead of schedule. Shopping malls and department stores will also be allowed to open tomorrow, two weeks ahead of schedule. By law staff and customers will be obliged to wear face coverings. Shopping malls have reopened in Thailand for the first time since their lockdown.
- Four out of five merchants at a major fruit market in Peru have tested positive for coronavirus, revealing shocking levels of infection – and prompting fears that Latin America’s traditional trading centres may have helped spread Covid-19 across the region. Seventy-nine per cent of stall-holders in Lima’s wholesale fruit market tested positive for Covid-19, while spot tests at five other large fresh food markets in the city revealed at least half were carrying the virus.
- China has asked trading firms and food processors to boost inventories of grains and oilseeds as a possible second wave of coronavirus cases and worsening infection rates elsewhere raise concerns about global supply lines. Both state-run and private grain traders as well as food producers were urged to procure higher volumes of soybeans, soyoil and corn during calls with China’s Ministry of Commerce in recent days, three trade sources told Reuters.
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Barack Obama attacked the Trump administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic during a speech on Saturday. The comments are a rare rebuke of a sitting president from one of his predecessors, and come in the midst of a pandemic that has had devastating and disproportionate effects on communities of color in the United States.
The Philippine government has called for vigilance against the coronavirus, a day after hordes of people trooped to shopping malls and ignored safety protocols, as authorities began loosening a two-month lockdown.
Photos and videos showing shoppers in some malls in the capital Manila violating physical distancing rules went viral on Saturday, drawing widespread public criticism and alarm, prompting the government to issue fresh health warnings.
“We advise the public not to be complacent and to follow health protocols set by authorities after we received reports of people who trooped to the malls with complete disregard of social/physical distancing measures,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
The government warned malls would be closed again if they do not strictly implement physical distancing and crowd control measures.
My colleague Jessica Glenza has factchecked some of the most commonly repeated claims that are being made about the coronavirus:
Spain records lowest single-day death toll in two months
My colleague Sam Jones has filed this update from Spain:
Spain has recorded its lowest single-day death toll in two months.
According to the latest figures from the health ministry, 87 people have died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, down from 102 the day before. The country has confirmed 231,350 cases of the virus using PCR tests, and reported 27,650 deaths.
On Saturday the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced that his Socialist-led coalition would be seeking a final, month-long extension of the state of emergency that underpins one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe.
“The path that we are taking is the only one possible,” said Sanchez. The government secured the current extension, which expires on 24 May, despite fierce opposition from the conservative People’s party and the far-right Vox party.
Both parties claim the state of emergency is excessive and no longer necessary, but the government says Spain’s hard-won gains against the virus must be safeguarded. Sánchez is likely to face another uphill struggle as he prepares to ask MPs to back the final extension in congress later this week.
Around 70% of the country will be in the second phase of de-escalation by Monday, meaning people can shop in small stores without an appointment, meet in groups of up to 10, and eat or drink in cafe and restaurant terraces, which are operating at 50% capacity.
Despite some loosening of restrictions, the Madrid region and the Barcelona metropolitan area - two of the hardest-hit parts of Spain - remain in the first phase of the de-escalation.
Updated
In Thailand shopping centres have been allowed to open today for the first time since their lockdown, and have had plenty of customers.
If you’re spending the day at home (again), dreaming of summer, sand and sea, this European post-lockdown holiday update might come in handy:
A few updates from around the world:
- Spain has declared 87 new deaths from coronavirus today, down from 102 yesterday (and the first time in two months that fewer than 100 deaths have been reported), and 652 new confirmed cases. They have now had 231,350 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 27,650 deaths.
- Mainland China reported five new confirmed Covid-19 cases for May 16, down from eight the previous day, the National Health Commission has said in a statement. Two of the five confirmed cases were so-called imported infections, while three were locally transmitted in northeastern Chinese city of Jilin. The number of confirmed cases in the mainland now stands at 82,947 and the death toll at 4,634.
- In Indonesia there have been 489 new confirmed cases and 59 deaths. They have had 17,514 confirmed cases and 1,148 deaths overall.
- Malaysia’s health ministry reported 22 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 6,894. The country reported no new deaths, with total fatalities remaining at 113.
Updated
Meanwhile in France a drive-in mass has been held in Chalons-en-Champagne, near Reims:
As reported by Helena Smith earlier, in Greece church services have been permitted today for the first time since their lockdown started. Here’s a photograph from this morning:
Here’s Shaun Walker, the Guardian’s central and eastern Europe correspondent, on the world leaders who are too macho for masks:
“Appearing to play it safe contradicts a core principle of masculinity: show no weakness,” according to Peter Glick, a scientist who has co-authored research on how so-called “masculinity contest culture” poisons work environments. All the leaders have built brands as strongmen offering maverick solutions, and want to be seen as recovery presidents sweeping the illness aside, even if the virus has other ideas.
Trump and his vice-president, Mike Pence, have both refused to take what many scientists agree is the simplest precaution, and wear a mask. Even as cases of coronavirus spread inside the White House, the president has balked at the idea: “I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind,” he has said.
More here:
The Philippines’ department of health has reported 208 new cases of coronavirus, and seven more fatalities. They have now had 12,513 confirmed cases, and 824 deaths.
Japan has confirmed five new cases today.
Robin McKie, the Observer’s science and environment editor, and the Observer’s political editor Toby Helm , have written this report on the potential risks involved in the reopening of schools:
The most striking feature about the impact of Covid-19 on children is how little research has been conducted in the field. Only a handful of studies have been carried out across the world, and scientists are divided over their interpretation.
As a result, politicians are now being asked to decide if they should open schools in order to protect children’s mental health and education without any clear scientific guidance about the risks of triggering a second wave of Covid-19 and infecting school staff in the process.
It is known that children are less likely to become ill if infected with the coronavirus but researchers are still unsure how easily they can infect others. Some research indicates that children are far less likely to become infected compared with adults but other studies suggest that when they do become infected, they carry as much viral load as an adult, and therefore pose a real risk of passing the virus on to others.
The situation was summed up by a senior Labour frontbencher last week: “Either you put the education of children at risk by keeping schools closed, or you take a risk with their safety. There is no easy answer.”
More here:
Here is the latest from Greece, from my colleague Helena Smith.
Greece is continuing to make headway in its return to normality with the government poised to announce that restaurants and other eateries can now open on 25 May, one week ahead of schedule.
The news has seen the owners of various tavernas in Athens, and especially in the iconic district of Plaka beneath the ancient Acropolis, rush to prepare their premises for the summer. Shopping malls and department stores will also be allowed to open tomorrow, two weeks ahead of schedule. By law staff and customers will be obliged to wear face coverings.
With the nation hit by the first heatwave of the year, the committee of experts advising the centre right government also allowed over 500 organised beaches to open this weekend in what is seen as a test run for the tourism industry.
Churches were similarly open to worshippers today for the first time in two months. But social distancing rules for faithful will be strict: guidelines permit one person per 10 sq meters of every house of worship.
Greek authorities applied drastic measures to contain the spread of coronavirus before the country recorded its first fatality, first closing schools in the western Peloponnese on March 4th. At last count, Friday, there had been 2,810 confirmed infections and 160 fatalities.
Updated
Russia has reported 9,709 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus today, a rise from 9,200 new cases reported on Saturday. Russia’s coronavirus taskforce said the overall number of cases nationwide stood at 281,752. It added that 94 people had died over the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll from the virus to 2,631.
Move over Captain Tom, there’s a new lap-completing centenarian in town. In Canada 101-year-old John Hillman, a second world war veteran who, like Moore, served in Burma and wears the Burma Star, yesterday completed 101 laps of the courtyard of his retirement home. “I’m going to have a little rest,” he said after ending his quest. “I’ve just had a scotch, which was quite delightful and I’m on top of the world. I have done it, and I’m very proud of having done it. I could do some more.”
He had hoped to raise $101,000 (£59,000, or $71,600 US) for Save the Children Canada’s Covid-19 relief fund, but has so far managed $154,521. His fundraising page is here.
Updated
The solution to the coronavirus may have been staring us in the face this whole time, lazily chewing on a carrot.
Surely the finest opening sentence of the day/week/month/whatever. Here’s the rest:
An update from Singapore, where 682 new infections of the new coronavirus have been registered, its health ministry said on Sunday, taking the city-state’s total to 28,038 cases. The vast majority of the newly infected people are migrant workers living in dormitories, the ministry said in a statement. Four are permanent residents.
Morning/evening/whatever-it-is-where-you-are everyone. This is Simon Burnton taking on the live blog for the next few hours. If you have seen any stories that deserve our attention, or if you have any tips, comments or suggestions for our coverage then please let me know by sending me a message either to @Simon_Burnton on Twitter or via email. Thanks!
That’s all from me - I’m now handing over to my colleague Simon Burnton, who will keep you updated over the next few hours.
Four out of five merchants at a major fruit market in Peru have tested positive for coronavirus, revealing shocking levels of infection – and prompting fears that Latin America’s traditional trading centres may have helped spread Covid-19 across the region.
Seventy-nine per cent of stall-holders in Lima’s wholesale fruit market tested positive for Covid-19, while spot tests at five other large fresh food markets in the city revealed at least half were carrying the virus.
The results came as local authorities from Mexico City to Rio de Janeiro struggle to enforce social distancing and sanitary measures at wholesale and retail markets, which are mainstays of local economies.
Read the Guardian’s full report from Dan Collyns in Lima, Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá, Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro and David Agren in Mexico City.
Updated
China asks producers to boost food stocks
China has asked trading firms and food processors to boost inventories of grains and oilseeds as a possible second wave of coronavirus cases and worsening infection rates elsewhere raise concerns about global supply lines, Reuters reports.
Both state-run and private grain traders as well as food producers were urged to procure higher volumes of soybeans, soyoil and corn during calls with China’s Ministry of Commerce in recent days, three trade sources told Reuters.
“There is a possibility of a breakdown in supply pipelines due to the coronavirus infections. For example, a port of origin or destination might shut down,” said a senior trader at one of China’s leading food processors, which was on a call last week with authorities to discuss purchases.
“They have advised us to increase stocks, keep supplies higher than we usually have. Things are not looking good in Brazil,” he added, referring to China’s main supplier of soybeans and a key meat exporter where the number of coronavirus cases has surpassed those in Spain and Italy.
A second source in China who was briefed by a person who attended one of the meetings said China’s Ministry of Commerce met with some state companies on Tuesday to discuss how to guarantee supplies during the pandemic. “One of the main concerns is how the epidemic in South America might impact supplies (of beans) to China,” the source said.
China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to a fax seeking comments on plans to increase food stocks.
Around the world countries are loosening lockdown measures, while China has reported its highest level of internal travel since February. Here is our global report on the latest developments:
China’s commercial hub of Shanghai announced the restart of classes for younger students amid falling virus cases, while New Orleans’ famed restaurants have been allowed to reopen with a limited number of diners.
China’s airline regulator also reported numbers of flights had returned to 60% of pre-outbreak levels, exceeding 10,000 per day for the first time since 1 February. No new deaths have been reported in a month in the world’s second-largest economy, where the coronavirus was first detected late last year.
China reported just five new cases on Sunday, while South Korea recorded 13, raising hopes that a new outbreak linked to nightclubs in Seoul may be waning.
Summary
- Brazil’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose past those of Spain and Italy, making the country’s outbreak the fourth largest in the world. Brazil’s health ministry announced 14,919 new cases on Saturday, taking the total to 233,142, behind the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom.
- Barack Obama attacked the Trump administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, stating that many of the country’s leaders “aren’t even pretending to be in charge”.
- Australia warned China’s “unpredictable” trade interventions may force its producers to sell to other markets. After Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19, the Chinese ambassador in Australia, Cheng Jingye, threatened a consumer boycott against Australian goods.
- The number of coronavirus cases in Mexico has risen to 47,144, while the country’s death toll has increased to 5,045. The governments plans to reopen parts of the economy from Monday, despite concerns that the country’s outbreak has not yet peaked.
- Millions of casual labourers and domestic workers remain stranded across India after they abruptly lost their incomes when the country was placed under lockdown.
- The World Health Organization has warned countries ending lockdown that now should be a “time for preparation, not celebration”.
- More countries have begun easing restrictions. This includes Thailand, which has allowed shopping malls to reopen and shortened a nighttime curfew. New Orleans has also allowed malls and retail stores to operate, while New York has allowed horse racing tracks to reopen. Victoria, Australia’s second most-populous state, announced that from 1 June, cafes, restaurants, and the dining areas of pubs and clubs will reopen with up to 20 patrons indoors.
Updated
The British government will invest up to £93m to bring forward construction of a new vaccine manufacturing centre, PA media reports.
The funding will ensure the new centre opens in summer 2021, a year ahead of schedule. The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) is a key component of the UK government’s programme to ensure that once a coronavirus vaccine is available, it can be rolled out quickly in mass quantities, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The not-for-profit facility on the Harwell science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire will have the capacity to produce enough doses for the entire UK population in as little as six months.
In Rio de Janeiro state, which has the second highest number of deaths in Brazil, most hospitals accepting Covid-19 patients have run out of intensive care beds, Associated Press reports.
According to the states health secretary, as of Thursday, 369 people thought to have the virus were waiting to be transferred to an ICU. AP reports from the Sao Jose facility, which was just inaugurated, on May 4, and where already 90% of its 128 beds are occupied.
More than 15,000 Brazilians have died from the disease so far, though many experts say the figure is probably significantly higher, with cases missed because of insufficient testing. In recent days, more than 800 people have been added to the death toll every 24 hours and the crisis peak has yet to hit Latin Americas largest nation, the experts say.
President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the pandemic, calling the coronavirus a little flu and fiercely criticizing state governors and mayors who have closed businesses, introduced lockdowns and recommended stay-at-home measures. Bolsonaro has instead advocated for everyone who doesnt belong to at-risk groups to return to work so the economy doesnt collapse.
Updated
Thailand reported three new coronavirus cases on Sunday and no new deaths. All new infections are among Thai students who have recently been repatriated.
A total of 3,028 cases and 56 fatalities have now been recorded in the country.
Updated
Australian trade minister Simon Birmingham has warned China’s “unpredictable” trade interventions may force Australian producers to sell to other markets, my colleague Paul Karp reports:
The trade minister told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that Australia reserves its right to take China to the World Trade Organisation, and revealed he is still yet to hear back from his Chinese counterpart about the growing trade dispute. He said his call “ought to be returned”.
After Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19, the Chinese ambassador in Australia, Cheng Jingye, threatened a consumer boycott against Australian goods.
Since then, China has raised an 18-month-old dispute relating to Australia’s barley exports and imposed a ban on beef from four abattoirs.
On Sunday Birmingham said that he can understand why – given the ambassador’s “very unhelpful remarks” – links have been drawn and questions asked about whether the issues are related.
But Birmingham said Australia will “take at face value” China’s claims the trade disputes are genuine and respond in good faith.
“Our government has now lodged a comprehensive response in Beijing to the Chinese authorities in relation to their claims of dumping of barley in the Chinese market,” he said.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 583 to 174,355, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 33 to 7,914.
Germany has begun easing restrictions, and on Friday began to allow restaurants to reopen for the first time in two months, so long as they obey physical distancing. People from two separate households can share a table, but have to keep a distance of 1.5m from each other.
Waiting staff are required to wear face coverings, while diners are encouraged to do so. Berlin’s senate has also strongly advised restaurants to record customer details, so that they can be traced if an infection is identified.
Germany has also dropped a two-week quarantine requirement imposed in March for passengers arriving from other EU states. Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are all included in the new arrangement. Quarantine measures will be reimposed if the infection rate rises elsewhere, officials said.
Germans with holiday homes in Mallorca are clamouring to return to the sun-soaked island as the coronavirus lockdowns ease, but Spanish authorities are pushing back, Agence France-Presse reports.
Several hundred Germans have in recent weeks sent pleading, sometimes angry letters to the regional government of the Balearic Islands asking them to allow foreign property owners to return to their second homes. The protesters have warned that keeping them away from their properties could make them think twice about their investments on the island.
Mallorca has long been one of the most popular destinations for Germans abroad, so much so that it is sometimes jokingly referred to as Germany’s “17th state”. Some 4.5 million Germans visited Mallorca last year to enjoy its idyllic beaches and bustling nightlife.
But the Spanish government is refusing to budge, wary of moving too quickly as it cautiously relaxes lockdown measures in one of Europe’s worst-affected countries.
To limit the risk of a second wave of infections, Madrid has limited air and sea arrivals to Spanish nationals and permanent residents only, as well as people in certain professions. All international arrivals also have to self-quarantine for 14 days. The quarantine measure is expected to stay in place for the duration of Spain’s state of emergency, which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez aims to extend until late June.
Victoria, Australia’s second most-populous state, has announced plans to ease restrictions. From 1 June, cafes, restaurants, and the dining areas of pubs and clubs will reopen with up to 20 patrons indoors, premier Dan Andrews said. Three weeks later, on 22 June, that limit will go up to 50 patrons. In mid-July, it will increase again to 100 patrons. Andrews says that citizens will still need to abide by distancing rules if this is to happen.
Restrictions on gyms or outdoor gatherings will remain in place. Andrews added that by mid-July, as hospitality reopens, the government messaging will change from “stay home” to “stay safe”. The policy of “if you can work from home, work from home” will not change, he said.
Updated
Millions of migrant workers remain stranded across India
The Indian Express newspaper has reported on the plight of migrant workers who remain stranded across India. Millions of casual labourers and domestic workers abruptly lost their incomes when the country was placed under lockdown on 24 March. Many live hand to mouth and had no choice but to return home when the quarantine measures were introduced, but were unable to do so because transport had been halted.
Workers have resorted to walking in the searing heat for hundreds of miles to get home. Others have sought refugee in government shelters.
On Saturday, at least 23 laborers died in northern India when a truck they were traveling in smashed into a stationary truck on a highway. Last week, a train crashed into a group of tired workers who fell asleep on the tracks while walking back home in western Maharashtra state, killing 16.
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US states ease restrictions
In the US, where more than more than 88,000 people have died in the coronavirus outbreak, some leaders have begun to ease quarantine measures.
New Orleans took its first steps to loosen restrictions that have been in place for two months, one day after the rest of Louisiana did the same, Associated Press reports.
The city is restricting buildings to 25% of capacity, like the rest of the state, but also requires restaurants, nail salons and other businesses to take customers by reservation. The city has capped the number of people allowed in houses of worship and movie theaters at fewer than 100. Malls and retail stores can reopen, but casinos, video poker, live entertainment and bars are still closed.
Some restaurateurs decided to try reopening. Others planned to stick to takeout or stay closed all together.
Meanwhile, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said horse racing tracks and the Watkins Glen International auto track can reopen with no crowds, no fans. He also said he could envision a return of Major League Baseball in New York, the centre of the US outbreak, also without spectators.
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Obama attacks Trump administration’s handling of coronavirus pandemic
On Saturday, Barack Obama attacked the Trump administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, stating that many of the country’s leaders “aren’t even pretending to be in charge”.
Without naming Trump directly, Obama said during an online commencement address to graduates of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs):
Let’s be honest, a disease like this just spotlights the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black communities have historically had to deal with in this country... We see it in the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities....
More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.
Here is the Guardian’s full report on his comments.
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The number of coronavirus cases in Mexico has risen to 47,144, while the country’s death toll has increased to 5,045, health authorities said.
The governments plans to reopen parts of the economy from Monday, despite concerns that the country’s outbreak has not yet peaked and that official figures underestimate the true scale of the outbreak.
Mainland China recorded five new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday, down from eight the previous day, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
Two of the five confirmed cases are linked to foreign travel, while three are locally transmitted in northeastern Jilin Province. The number of new asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 12 from 13, the NHC said.
The number of confirmed cases in the mainland stands at 82,947 and the death toll at 4,634
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In Thailand, shopping malls will reopen today and a nighttime curfew will be shortened by one hour, to 2300 to 0400, from 2200 to 0400.
The country is beginning to relax restrictions after reporting single-digit increases of infections from the new coronavirus this month. Parks, hair salons, markets and restaurants have also been allowed to reopen over recent weeks, provided that measures such as temperature scanning and social distancing are in place.
On Saturday, the country extended a ban on international passenger flights until the end of June. Thailand has recorded a total of 3,025 cases and 56 deaths.
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Brazil's outbreak now fourth largest in the world
Brazil’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose past those of Spain and Italy on Saturday, making the outbreak the fourth largest in the world, Reuters reports.
Brazil’s health ministry registered 14,919 new confirmed cases in the prior 24 hours, taking the total to 233,142, behind the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. Brazil has done just a fraction of the testing seen in those three countries.
The global distinction is likely to pile pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his second health minister in a month on Friday as he defies public health experts and calls for widespread use of unproven drugs.
Bolsonaro has been fiercely critical of the orders by many of Brazil’s state governors for strict social isolation and quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, including the closure of schools, shops and restaurants. Bolsonaro argues that the toll on the economy is becoming unbearable and businesses must be allowed to reopen as soon as possible. The government now expects Brazil will post its biggest annual economic contraction this year since records began over a century ago.
Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official labs by the beginning of the week, according to the health ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line. By contrast, Italy and Spain have each run some 1.9 million official diagnostic tests for the virus.
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Hello this is Rebecca Ratcliffe, bringing you the latest global coronavirus updates.
There are now 4,629,575 cases of Covid-19 recorded globally and 311,363 deaths according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
In the US where 1,466,682 infections have been reported, Barack Obama has attacked the Trump administration’s response to the crisis, stating that a lot of the federal leadership “aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” He also highlighted the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on communities of colour in the United States.
In other recent developments:
- The World Health Organization has warned countries ending lockdown that now should be a “time for preparation, not celebration”.
- Italy announced the easing of a series of restrictions, including the reopening of all shops, bars, restaurants and hairdressers, from 18 May, and free travel to Italy for people coming from EU countries from 3 June without having to undergo quarantine.
- The Spanish government has said it will seek to extend its state of emergency for the last time until late June, as the country’s daily death toll reached a near eight-week low.
- The Israeli government approved the resumption of school for all grades in areas that are not considered coronavirus hotspots, starting on Sunday. Beaches will officially open on Wednesday.
- Dozens of people were detained in the Polish capital, Warsaw, during a protest by business owners against coronavirus restrictions. Nineteen protesters were arrested in London and police dispersed rallies in several German cities.
- Turkey’s health ministry said 41 more people died from Covid-19 in the 24 hours to Saturday, bringing the death toll to 4,096. The daily death toll was the lowest registered since the end of March.
- Nepal reported its first coronavirus death late on Saturday, a 29-year-old woman who recently gave birth, as the total number of people infected in the country reached 281.
- Ireland recorded 92 more cases, the lowest daily number in nine weeks, with the total at 24,048.
If you think we have missed a story or want to draw our attention to something please do get in touch. My email is rebecca.ratcliffe@theguardian.com and I’m @rebeccarat on Twitter.
