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Brazil has registered 27,750 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 5,028,444, the health ministry said. Reported deaths rose by 729 to 148,957, the second highest death toll in the world.
Madrid must impose travel restrictions or face state of emergency, Spanish government says
Madrid must enforce travel restrictions ordered by the health ministry to limit coronavirus outbreaks or the national government will impose a state of emergency that would force it to comply, the Spanish government said late on Thursday.
The government will hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Friday morning to decree the state of emergency if Madrid does not impose the restrictions or request intervention, the government said.
Following a health ministry order, Madrid authorities reluctantly barred all non-essential travel to and from the city and nine surrounding towns last Friday to curb the spread of Covid-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots.
A Madrid regional court on Thursday annulled the measures ordered by the national health ministry, ruling the government had overstepped its mandate and the restrictions interfered with fundamental human rights.
Declaring a state of emergency - the same legal framework that underpinned Spain’s tough lockdown during the first wave of the virus - would grant the national government the powers to restrict movement.
According to a government statement, the prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso that she must either enforce the restrictions, request a state of emergency or the central government would unilaterally impose one.
The government said:
In any of the three cases the measures would be exactly the same as those already being applied, the only thing that would change would be the legal instrument.
Ayuso said regional officials would discuss alternatives on Friday morning. She said in a statement:
We hope to agree on a solution that benefits citizens and provides clarity.
Updated
Summary
As Australia wakes up, here are the main developments from the last few hours:
- Romania suspends flights to and from high-risk countries to stem a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections. Travellers from 49 high-risk countries will need to self-isolate for 10-14 days upon arrival, except those travelling for less than three days, who must have a negative coronavirus test. On Thursday, the government suspended flights from the countries on the list, except European Union states, the UK, the UAE and Qatar.
- Madrid court strikes down a government order imposing a partial coronavirus lockdown on the Spanish capital. The court ruled in favour of the Madrid region in a standoff with national authorities just before a long holiday weekend. The Madrid regional court called the restrictions an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights without the legal mandate to support it”.
- WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases. The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
- Paris hospitals move into emergency mode amid rise in Covid-19 patients. Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, cancelling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
- Trump says he will not take part in virtual presidential debate. Donald Trump has refused to participate in next week’s debate with Joe Biden after it was announced the event would be held virtually due to the president’s coronavirus diagnosis.
- Medical journal condemns Trump’s handling of pandemic. One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has lambasted the Trump administration’s “dangerously incompetent” handling of the pandemic and called for them to be voted out of office, as US coronavirus cases continue to soar.
- Madrid court rejects partial lockdown as ‘harmful to basic rights’. Madrid’s top regional court has rejected a partial lockdown imposed on the capital and nine nearby towns to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus.A court statement said the measures “impacted on the rights and fundamental freedoms” of the 4.5 million residents affected by the closure.
-
Italy tops 4,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since mid-April. Italy has registered 4,458 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the first time the country has exceeded 4,000 cases in a single day since mid-April.
- Orthodox New Yorkers condemn Cuomo over new Covid shutdowns. New rules putting parts of New York City back into lockdown amid a rise in fresh coronavirus cases have been met with protests as Andrew Cuomo was accused of using “dangerous and divisive” language against Orthodox Jews.
Updated
A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the upper midwest and the Plains emerge as one of the US’s most troubling hot spots, AP reports.
The three states now lead all others in new cases per capita, after months in which many politicians and residents rejected mask requirements while downplaying the risks of the disease that has now killed over 210,000 Americans.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Melissa Resch, a nurse at Wisconsin’s Aspirus Wausau hospital, which is working to add beds and reassign staff to keep up with a rising caseload of virus patients, many gravely ill.
Just yesterday I had a patient say, ‘It’s OK, you guys took good care of me, but it’s OK to let me go’. I’ve cried with the respiratory unit, I’ve cried with managers. I cry at home. I’ve seen nurses crying openly in the hallway.
The efforts to combat the quickening spread of the virus in the midwest and Plains states are starting to recall the scenes that played out in other parts of the country over the past several months.
“What worries me is we haven’t learned our lessons,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He cited data, compiled by the company Premise, showing mask usage at 39% in Wisconsin and 45% in the Dakotas, both below the national average of 50%.
People let down their guard. They said, It’s not us. It’s big cities. But eventually, like any other virus, it’s going to spread. Nobody lives in a bubble in this country.
In North Dakota, which does not require residents to wear masks and whose 770 new cases per 100,000 residents are the highest in the country, 24 more deaths were reported Wednesday, triple the state’s previous single-day record.
“The reported number of deaths today is heartbreaking,” said state health department spokeswoman Nicole Peske, adding:
Unfortunately, the deaths and the increase in cases in long-term care are a direct reflection of what’s happening in the community.
In Wisconsin, health officials plan to open a field hospital next week at the state fairgrounds to prevent health care centres from being overwhelmed by virus cases, even as state Republicans challenge the Democratic governor Tony Evers’ mask mandate in court. Evers said:
We hoped this day wouldn’t come, but unfortunately, Wisconsin is in a much different, more dire place today, and our health care systems are beginning to become overwhelmed.
The state surpassed 3,000 new virus cases for the first time on Thursday, more than 200 above its previous daily record, set earlier this month.
South Dakota set records Thursday for active cases, hospitalisations and new deaths, with 14. A small hospital that serves the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe transferred two virus patients out of state after administrators at 14 other facilities said they were diverting patients.
That contradicted assurances by the governor Kristi Noem, a Republican whose plan for combating the virus has focused on increasing treatment capacity rather than preventing infection. Noem, who has insisted since the spring that the spread of the disease was inevitable, has come under growing criticism.
The state Democratic Party chairman Randy Seiler said:
It is the height of arrogance and ignorance for her to claim her inaction is a badge of honour.
Despite the rising numbers, Kathleen Taylor of Redfield, South Dakota, said she sees a lot of apathy in the community of about 2,300. For months, the town had been largely spared by the pandemic. But now, she said, she knows 14 people who have tested positive.
I watch the governor tell people how marvellously we are doing and how relying on people’s own sense of responsibility has worked. Then I go into town and I see maybe three people wearing masks and nobody distancing.
Iowa on Thursday reported over 1,500 new confirmed cases over the previous 24 hours and a record 449 people hospitalised. A report issued by the White House coronavirus task force said the state has seen high transmission of the virus over the past month, with “many preventable deaths.”
The report came a day after the Republican governor Kim Reynolds urged residents not to let the virus dominate their lives, echoing the words of the president Donald Trump. Reynolds, who has rejected health experts’ repeated recommendations that people be required to wear masks, bristled Wednesday when asked why she hadn’t done more to reduce virus spread.
We are doing a lot, and I’m proud of what we’re doing, but you know what? Any death is one too many, and it’s heart-wrenching to see the numbers, but I have to balance a lot.
Updated
Romanian authorities have said they will suspend flights to and from high-risk countries to stem a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.
The number of infections in Romania rose by a record 3,130 in the past 24 hours, and the government has closed theatres, cinemas, indoor restaurants, bars and gaming halls in the capital Bucharest, with similar measures enforced by other cities.
Travellers from 49 high-risk countries will need to self-isolate for 10-14 days upon arrival, except those travelling for less than three days, who must have a negative coronavirus test.
On Thursday, the government suspended flights from the countries on the list, except European Union states, the UK, the UAE and Qatar.
More than 80% of people who tested positive in a national coronavirus survey in the UK had none of the core symptoms of the disease the day they took the test.
The finding has prompted fears among scientists that future Covid-19 outbreaks will be hard to control without more widespread testing in the community to pick up “silent transmission”, particularly in universities and high-risk workplaces such as meat processing facilities.
Researchers at University College London said 86.1% of infected people picked up by the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 survey between April and June had none of the main symptoms of the illness – a cough, or a fever, or a loss of taste or smell the day they had the test.
Three quarters who tested positive had no notable symptoms at all, the scientists found when they checked whether people reported other ailments such as fatigue and breathlessness on the day of testing.
The Guardian’s science editor Ian Sample reports:
Updated
A Madrid court struck down a government order imposing a partial coronavirus lockdown on the Spanish capital, ruling in favour of the Madrid region in a standoff with national authorities just before a long holiday weekend, Reuters reports.
Under the health ministry’s order, Madrid regional authorities on Friday barred residents from leaving the area, including nine satellite towns, without a valid reason, and imposed other measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots.
Regional government chief Isabel Díaz Ayuso had opposed the order, saying it would ravage the economy, also arguing the ministry had no power to impose such curbs on a region.
The Madrid regional court sided with her in its ruling, calling the restrictions an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights without the legal mandate to support it”.
The restrictions imposed in Madrid, with its usually bustling restaurants and bars, had not yet been fully enforced as no fines could be levied on people violating the restrictions until the court had issued its decision. The government can appeal.
Welcoming the court’s decision, Ayuso nevertheless urged Madrilenos to stay home over the upcoming Hispanic Day weekend that usually sparks mass holiday travel across Spain.
She promised to release a set of “sensible, fair and balanced” rules on Friday, meaning capital residents may still face more restrictions in a country where the government forecasts GDP will fall 11.2% in 2020.
During a televised address, she said:
Madrid’s businesses can’t carry on like this ... Nobody understands the rules, nobody knows what is going on.
Under the law, the Spanish government can limit fundamental rights by imposing a state of emergency, as it did nationwide for three months starting in March, but it is up to the regions, which control health policy, to request such measures on a more local scale outside of an emergency.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who described the situation in Madrid as “concerning”, told reporters in Algeria his government would study the court ruling and decide how to proceed after a meeting with the Madrid authorities.
The region had 741 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the two weeks to 7 October, according to the World Health Organization, making it Europe’s second densest Covid-19 cluster after Andorra.
Spain reported 12,423 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the national tally up to 848,324, the highest in western Europe. Reported deaths rose by 126 to 32,688.
Updated
Good evening from London! I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or any tips to share.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Summary
Here’s a quick run through of the latest coronavirus developments across the glove over the last few hours.
- WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases. The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
- Paris hospitals move into emergency mode amid rise in Covid-19 patients. Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, cancelling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
- Trump says he will not take part in virtual presidential debate. Donald Trump has refused to participate in next week’s debate with Joe Biden after it was announced the event would be held virtually due to the president’s coronavirus diagnosis.
- Medical journal condemns Trump’s handling of pandemic. One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has lambasted the Trump administration’s “dangerously incompetent” handling of the pandemic and called for them to be voted out of office, as US coronavirus cases continue to soar.
- Madrid court rejects partial lockdown as ‘harmful to basic rights’. Madrid’s top regional court has rejected a partial lockdown imposed on the capital and nine nearby towns to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus.A court statement said the measures “impacted on the rights and fundamental freedoms” of the 4.5 million residents affected by the closure.
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Italy tops 4,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since mid-April. Italy has registered 4,458 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the first time the country has exceeded 4,000 cases in a single day since mid-April.
- Orthodox New Yorkers condemn Cuomo over new Covid shutdowns. New rules putting parts of New York City back into lockdown amid a rise in fresh coronavirus cases have been met with protests as Andrew Cuomo was accused of using “dangerous and divisive” language against Orthodox Jews.
That’s it from me Jessica Murray today, I’m now handing over to my colleague Lucy Campbell.
One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has lambasted the Trump administration’s “dangerously incompetent” handling of the pandemic and called for them to be voted out of office, as US coronavirus cases continue to soar.
In an unprecedented move in its more than two centuries-long history, the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial in which it said the current leadership had “recklessly squandered lives” and “largely claimed immunity for their actions”.
The article, published on Wednesday under the headline “Dying in a leadership vacuum”, said protections against the virus have been politicised in the US, stating: “Truth is neither liberal nor conservative.”
It did not endorse a particular candidate in the presidential election that is less than a month away, but said America should not “abet” its current leaders by allowing them to stay in power.
Saudi Arabia’s minister of education, Dr Hamad bin Mohammed Al Shaikh, announced distance learning will continue until the end of the first term of the educational year after evaluating the situation in the past weeks.
In August, the minister said pupils would be educated via distance learning for the first seven weeks of the new term, which started on 30 August, as a precaution against the coronavirus.
French health minister Olivier Véran said there were no plans to impose travel restrictions during school mid-term holidays which start soon, despite record levels of daily new Covid-19 infections seen lately.
“We have not taken the decision to limit the travel from one town to another,” Veran told a news conference during which he put additional cities on Covid-19 maximum alert.
WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases
The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
Deaths rose by 5,514 to a total of 1.05 million.
India reported 78,524 new cases, followed by Brazil at 41,906 and the US with 38,904 new infections.
The previous WHO record for new cases was 330,340 on 2 October. The agency reported a record 12,393 deaths on 17 April.
Top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci said president Donald Trump’s health was likely helped by an experimental therapy made by Regeneron in which he received antibodies to fight the disease.
“There is a reasonably good chance that in fact it made him much better,” Fauci said during an interview on MSNBC.
Fauci also said that the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 people in the US and one million people globally, is far more serious than the seasonal flu.
“There is no doubt about that,” Fauci said when asked about president Trump’s tweet comparing the disease to the seasonal flu. Twitter added a warning to the tweet stating that it violated the site’s rules for spreading “misleading and potentially harmful information”.
More French cities set to close bars as Covid-19 infections rise
France’s third-biggest city Lyon will have to close its bars in the coming days as its coronavirus infection rates are rising and its hospital emergency beds are filling up quickly with Covid-19 patients, the health minister said.
Minister Olivier Véran said Lyon, Lille, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne would go on maximum coronavirus alert level from Saturday.
This means they will have to close their bars for two weeks in the coming days, as Paris did on Tuesday and Marseille, France’s second-biggest city, did earlier this month.
Véran said the situation in Toulouse and Montpellier was also worrying and they could also be moved to maximum Covid-19 alert level from Monday.
Dijon and Clermont-Ferrand would be put on higher alert from Saturday, he said.
“Unfortunately, the health situation in France continues to deteriorate,” Véran said at his weekly Covid-19 briefing.
Cities placed on maximum alert level will also have to apply stricter health protocols in restaurants .
The health ministry on Thursday reported more than 18,000 new confirmed cases for the second day in a row, far above the 7,500 per day level seen during lockdown in spring.
Nationwide, the number of people in intensive care rose by 11 to 1,427. While that is well below the 7,148 high set on 8 April at the height of the crisis, the number of Covid patients is more than 30% of the total in many big-city hospitals.
Updated
While it has been widely accepted that the closure of UK schools in March was bad for the life chances of its children, a research paper from the University of Edinburgh has gone as far as to say that the move could have contributed to a higher Covid-19 death toll.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, suggested lockdown restrictions were the most effective way of reducing peak demand for intensive care unit beds, but argued they were also likely to prolong the epidemic because, once lifted, they left a large population susceptible to the virus.
Some commentators have seized on the study as evidence that the government was too quick to impose a full lockdown, including shutting schools, and should have allowed herd immunity to build up in the younger population instead.
“Major study reveals Covid rules may INCREASE deaths,” said Thursday’s Daily Mail front page. “Herd immunity ‘could have saved more lives than social distancing’,” read the Telegraph’s.
The study’s conclusions are consistent with the strategy proposed in the Great Barrington declaration – a letter signed by an international group of scientists earlier this week – arguing for “focused protection” of the most vulnerable and allowing the rest of society to return to relative normality.
However, assumptions made by the study mean its conclusions would only hold water if all social distancing restrictions were lifted, resulting in a large second wave and others after that, and if an effective vaccine were not forthcoming.
“More realistically, if the case isolation, household quarantine, and social distancing of over-70s strategy is followed, alongside other non-pharmaceutical intervention measures such as non-mandatory social distancing and improved medical outcomes, the second wave will grow more slowly than the first, with more cases but lower mortality,” the authors said.
Singapore has approved Covid-secure cruise holidays to nowhere, in the latest attempt to offer a long-distance travel experience, albeit with no stops.
Australian airline Qantas drew criticism from environmental groups last month after advertising a seven-hour round trip from Sydney including fly-pasts of famous sights including Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.
Now the Singapore government has given approval for cruises to nowhere in a bid to help a tourism sector battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Residents of the city-state will from November be allowed to board the cruises, during which they will be confined to the ships for the entire time.
The Singapore Tourism Board on Thursday announced that Genting Cruise Lines’ World Dream would be the first ship to welcome passengers aboard on 6 November. Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas will begin sailing in December.
The ships launching from Singapore will only be allowed to carry half their full capacity, with extra cleaning schedules and mandatory masks “at all times”.
Updated
US house speaker Nancy Pelosi said there would be no additional federal aid for US airlines without a more comprehensive Covid-19 relief package, adding that she was hopeful for a larger deal “because it has to be done.”
“Ain’t going to be no standalone bill, unless there is a bigger bill,” Pelosi told reporters.
Bosnia has recorded a record 453 daily Covid-19 infections, the Balkan country’s health authorities said.
The previous daily record of 409 was reported on 31 July.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Bosnia has reported 29,528 cases with 913 fatalities. It has 165.9 average active daily cases per 100,000 people and recorded 41.68 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week.
There are 5,676 active cases currently.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will take questions directly from voters next week following president Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a scheduled debate on 15 October since it was moved online.
In addition, the campaign called for rescheduling of the debate.
“Given the president’s refusal to participate on October 15th, we hope the Debate Commission will move the Biden-Trump Town Hall to October 22nd, so that the president is not able to evade accountability,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said.
“The voters should have a chance to ask questions of both candidates, directly.”
French health authorities have reported 18,129 new Covid-19 infections, with the daily tally staying above 18,000 for the second day running after Wednesday’s all-time high of 18,746.
The figures were published shortly before health minister Olivier Véran holds a news conference, scheduled for 4pm (GMT), during which he is likely to announce new restrictions to contain the disease.
Italy tops 4,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since mid-April
Italy has registered 4,458 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the first time the country has exceeded 4,000 cases in a single day since mid-April.
There were also 22 Covid-related deaths on Thursday, against 31 the day before – far fewer than at the height of the pandemic in Italy in March and April.
Italy has the second-highest death toll in the continent, with 36,083 fatalities, according to official figures.
Thanks to one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, the government managed to get the contagion under control by the summer, but new infections have been picking up for the last three months and are now rising strongly.
Italy is still recording significantly fewer daily cases than several other large European countries, such as France, Spain and Britain.
The last time Italy saw more than 4,000 cases in a day was on 12 April, with 4,092 infections reported around a month before the government allowed restaurants, bars and shops to reopen. On that same day, 431 people died.
Updated
US vice president Mike Pence has tested negative for the coronavirus, a senior administration official said.
Pence participated in a debate on Wednesday night with Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and was to attend two campaign events in Nevada and Arizona on Thursday.
Russian authorities have recommended people stay at home this weekend and urged them to take more safety precautions, as the number of new coronavirus cases shot up to nearly the highest it has been since the pandemic began.
Officials reported 11,493 new infections in the last 24 hours, close to a record daily high of 11,656 cases confirmed on 11 May at the height of the initial outbreak when a strict lockdown was in place.
Russia currently has no lockdown and the Kremlin has said there are no plans to impose one for now, although the city of Moscow has recommended people over the age of 65 isolate and told businesses that at least a third of staff must work remotely.
“We recommend people spend the coming weekend at home with their families and co-habitants,” Alexei Kuznetsov, an aide to Russia’s health minister, was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said the rise in cases was a cause for “serious concern” and told people to take proper precautions or else expect further restrictions.
“If we don’t all draw conclusions from this for ourselves - and by that I mean wear masks, and observe all hygiene and sanitary regulations - then the numbers will grow even faster,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“And then regional leaders will have to think about how to correct that”.
Patriarch Kirill, the 73-year-old leader of Russia’s Orthodox Church, said on Thursday he had gone into self-isolation after coming into contact with someone infected with the new coronavirus.
But the patriarch was in good health and was continuing to work, church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said.
Russia, which has a population of around 145 million, has reported 1,260,112 cases of the virus, the fourth largest tally in the world.
Officials said on Thursday that 191 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 22,056.
Updated
Paris hospitals move into emergency mode amid rise in Covid-19 patients
Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, cancelling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
Health authorities on Wednesday reported a record 24-hour rise in new Covid-19 infections, with almost 19,000 additional cases reported as the number of people in ICUs nationwide stood at around 1,400, levels last seen in late May.
“Given the pressure on emergency room beds and regular hospital beds, I have asked medical institutions in the region to activate their emergency plan to mobilise all resources and anticipate the coming days,” Paris region health director, Aurelien Rousseau, said.
Two days ago, Rousseau said the number of Covid-19 patients in ICUs had already risen above 40% and called on citizens to further reduce their interactions in order to reduce infections and lower pressure on the hospital system.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Wednesday that further limits on movement would be necessary to contain the resurgent epidemic, although he reiterated that a general lockdown was not on the cards.
France Inter radio reported on Thursday that Lyon, Lille, Grenoble and Saint-Étienne would be put on maximum Covid-19 alert, paving the way for new restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus in those cities.
Health minister Olivier Véran will announce the decision at a news conference on Thursday evening, it said on its website.
Paris and Marseille are already on maximum alert. This has resulted in bars in the capital having to close for two weeks, and restaurants have had to set up new sanitary protocols to stay open.
France has the ninth-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world, with 32,445 casualties.
Updated
People who were asymptomatic accounted for 86% of the people who tested positive for Covid-19 in a UK sample population during lockdown, a study showed, meaning the current policy of testing people with symptoms might miss many cases.
In England, people are encouraged to get tested for Covid-19 only if they have symptoms of a persistent cough, fever, or loss of taste or smell, with suspected contacts of positive cases told to self-isolate in the first instance.
But epidemiologists at University College London found that such an approach might miss the vast majority of cases, complicating the UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to clamp down on a second wave of the virus.
UCL scientists used the Office for National Statistics Infection Survey, which looks at the prevalence of Covid-19 in the community and not only those who get a test because they have symptoms.
The pilot study sampled 36,061 people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who were tested between 26 April and 27 June.
Of the 115 with a positive result, only 16 reported symptoms, with 99 not reporting any specific symptoms on the day of the test. Moreover, 142 people who reported symptoms on the day of the test did not test positive for Covid-19, vastly outnumbering those who tested positive.
“The fact that so many people who tested positive were asymptomatic on the day of a positive test result calls for a change to future testing strategies,” said Irene Petersen of UCL Epidemiology & Health Care.
“More widespread testing will help to capture ‘silent’ transmission and potentially prevent future outbreaks.”
The authors noted that other studies showed different results, with one in China suggesting just 5% of cases were asymptomatic, and a study in Iceland suggesting 43 cases out of 100 had no symptoms.
They added that the sampling used in any study was likely to be a factor in its findings.
Updated
Enough doses of a coronavirus vaccine could be manufactured by March to April next year for every American who wants one, the US health and human services secretary, Alex Azar, has said.
There could be up to 100m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine by year-end, enough to cover especially vulnerable populations, Azar said at a Goldman Sachs Healthcare virtual conference.
He also added tens to hundreds of thousand doses of Regeneron’s antibody treatment could be ready for use this autumn, pending the US Food and Drug Administration’s authorisation.
Updated
The Czech government will close indoor sports facilities and culture venues for two weeks from Monday to slow down the spread of new coronavirus infections, the health minister, Roman Prymula said.
Restaurants will have to close at 8pm, and pupils in the upper level of elementary schools will alternate in-class and distance learning, government officials said.
Updated
British airline easyJet said it will open a new base in Faro, the main city in Portugal’s popular Algarve tourist region, which has been hammered by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Joao Lopes, easyJet’s executive director in Portugal, told reporters the airline would allocate three aircraft to Faro next year, making it the company’s third base in the country. It already has bases in Lisbon and Porto.
EasyJet hopes to operate 17 international routes to and from Faro between March and October 2021.
Lopes said easyJet wanted to “be able to react as soon as the recovery starts (...) and reinforce tourism in Algarve”, a region well known among British tourists for its beaches and golf courses.
Last year, Portugal received about 2 million Britons, with 64% of them going to the sunny Algarve. So far in 2020, only about 100,000 Britons have arrived in the region.
EasyJet has been badly hit by the pandemic, warning on Thursday its first ever annual loss could be as much as £845m ($1.1bn) as it was flying just 25% of planned capacity.
Lopes said the new base in Faro would create around 100 local jobs.
“We want to avoid 2021 being a year of losses, as 2020 was, and it may be the first year of recovery,” Lopes said.
Economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira said easyJet’s investment in Faro was important, especially “at a time air transport is going through the greatest crisis in history”.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, said talks with Congress have restarted over further Covid-19 relief and that there was a good chance a deal could be reached, but gave no other details about a possible agreement.
“Now they are starting to work out,” he told Fox in a telephone interview, after previous statements via his Twitter account earlier this week that he had cut off negotiations.
Updated
New questions have emerged over the circumstances in which Donald Trump was given an experimental antibody drug cocktail produced by a golfing acquaintance to treat his coronavirus infection.
As Trump wrongly hailed his treatment – which included a drug called REGN-COV2 produced by Regeneron – as a “cure”, it emerged that the company’s chief executive, Leonard Schleifer, is a member of the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, and had met the president in May to talk about drugs his company was developing.
While some ethicists have defended Trump’s privileged access as president to experimental treatments, others have suggested it raises questions of fairness among other concerns, including his history of touting unproven treatments.
Trump’s relationship with Schleifer, whom he reportedly calls “Lenny”, adds to growing questions over the president’s almost exclusive access to experimental treatments unavailable to most other Americans, even as he has continued to downplay the threat of coronavirus based on his own experience.
The price of Regeneron stocks – which Trump has owned in the past – soared after it was revealed the drug had been made available for his treatment and the US president stated it would be made freely available for all, although he didn’t explain how.
“I call that a cure,” Trump said in a video, adding that everyone should have access to the not-yet-approved drug and that he would make sure it was in every hospital as soon as possible.
Updated
Record rise in cases in the Netherlands
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the Netherlands jumped by a record of more than 5,800 in 24 hours, data released by health authorities showed.
The rapid rise is putting pressure on authorities to impose new restrictions in the country, which has one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.
Updated
Portugal has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time since April, with the government warning the country must gear up for the battle ahead.
“We have to prepare for what is coming,” the health secretary, António Lacerda Sales told reporters during a visit to a hospital in Braga, a city in the country’s northern region.
According to national health authority, a total of 1,278 new infections and 10 deaths were reported on Thursday. The last time Portugal posted over 1,000 daily infections was on 10 April during the country’s six-week lockdown.
Updated
Wearing masks outside will be compulsory across the whole of Poland from 10 October, the prime minister said, as the country grapples with a sharp spike in coronavirus cases.
The country is some steps away from having a shortage of hospital beds for Covid patients, Mateusz Morawiecki added at a news conference. However he said the country would still aim to avoid a total lockdown in an effort to shield the economy.
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Sweden will postpone plans to let more people attend sport events and concerts, the government said, citing rising coronavirus infection numbers both within the country and around Europe.
The government said in August it intended to raise the limit for some events to 500 from the current 50. However, with case numbers clearly rising within Sweden, the government said it would have to postpone the move.
“Sweden has left the low levels we saw during the summer,” Lena Hallengren, minister for health and social affairs, told a news conference. “Our assessment is that changes are not appropriate at this point.”
Cases have been rising over the past month, and Sweden registered 752 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday last week, the highest daily rise since June.
In March, Sweden limited public gatherings to 50 people to halt the spread of the virus, effectively preventing theatres, football clubs and concerts from being able to bring in revenues from the public.
Britain’s opposition Labour party will not vote against the government’s 10 pm “curfew” on pubs and restaurants in England next week, its leader, Keir Starmer, said, but it wants to see the scientific evidence that supports the measure.
Starmer said:
There’s growing concern about the 10pm curfew. It needs to be reformed.
The problem with the vote next week is it’s an up-down, take it or leave it vote, and therefore if you vote down the current arrangements, there won’t be any restrictions in place.
That’s not what we want, so we won’t be voting down the restrictions in place.
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Moderna said it would not enforce patents related to its experimental Covid-19 vaccine while the pandemic continues, a move that would allow other drugmakers to develop shots using the company’s technology.
Moderna is not asserting its intellectual property rights for its vaccine technology and is willing to license the technology behind its experimental coronavirus vaccine after the pandemic, the company said in a statement.
The company is one of the furthest along in the US race for a vaccine. Moderna has received over $1bn in government funding to develop and produce its candidate, and another $1.5bn to supply it to the American public.
Trump says he will not take part in virtual debate
The US president, Donald Trump, said he would not participate in a debate with Democrat Joe Biden under a new format announced by the debates commission, in which each candidate would appear at remote locations.
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said the new virtual format announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates was not acceptable to him.
“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” he said.
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Next US presidential debate to be virtual
The second presidential debate next week will be a virtual affair, the commission that oversees the debates said, in the wake of president Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis.
The debate will remain a town hall-style conversation, the Commission on Presidential Debates said. Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will appear from remote locations, while voters and the moderator will ask them questions from the original debate site in Miami.
The news came a day after the sole vice-presidential debate between vice president Mike Pence and Biden’s running mate, senator Kamala Harris, who clashed repeatedly over the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.
Biden and Harris will travel together to the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday, while Pence will also visit the south-western state after starting his day in Nevada. Trump, who revealed a week ago that he had tested positive for coronavirus, remains sidelined from the campaign trail.
Trump’s campaign had vowed that he would participate in the 15 October debate, despite concerns that he could still be infectious.
The first Trump-Biden debate was chaotic, with Trump repeatedly talking over his rival and the moderator, leading some to call for the moderator to have the option of muting participants’ microphones in future matchups.
Pence, in his debate on Wednesday, defended Trump’s record on the pandemic and other issues under sharp attack by Harris, who said Trump’s failures had cost American lives. But the quiet, mostly civil debate was a sharp contrast to the combative encounter between Trump and Biden.
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Hundreds of Moroccan labourers will be airlifted to Corsica this week as the French Mediterranean island races to save its clementine harvest in the face of coronavirus restrictions.
With the EU’s external borders closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, farmers in southern Europe have found themselves bereft of seasonal workers from north Africa, who migrate north annually to pick fruit and vegetables.
Corsican farmers, who feared seeing their citrus fruit rot on the tree, chartered five flights to fly in 902 Moroccan workers after convincing French authorities to grant them special leave to enter the country, immigration authority chief Didier Leschi, told AFP.
“All the Moroccan workers will be tested for Covid-19 on arrival and departure, as well as seven days after their arrival,” Leschi said.
Iran has registered a record high 4,392 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 488,236.
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV there had been 230 new deaths, taking the total to 27,888 in the worst-hit country in the Middle East.
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Prisoners have been spending 23 hours behind their cell doors. A second wave will only prolong their distress, writes an anonymous prison officer in the UK.
Since March, each prisoner has had only 10 minutes to shower and 30 minutes to exercise every day.
At first, when the whole country was in lockdown, most prisoners seemed willing to accept this regime, as they could see what was happening in the world outside through their TVs. But as lockdown restrictions have lifted, the regime in prison has remained largely unchanged. We’ve had men locked up for more than 23 hours a day in hot, poorly ventilated cells.
Living in such restrictive conditions has contributed to higher rates of self-harm and suicides among prisoners. It’s hard for us officers to see this: we’re not heartless. During the worst bits of the lockdown, we were saying; “It’s not fair” and “It doesn’t feel right”. I didn’t like seeing the prisoners suffer.
Inhumanity doesn’t go anywhere near it: my pets get treated better than these men. The stresses of being locked up for so long are showing. Since prisoners were allowed 30 minutes to mingle, we’ve experienced a massive jump in staff assaults and prisoner-on-prisoner violence.
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Thailand is pushing back plans to receive its first batch of foreign tourists due to administrative issues, a senior official said, adding to uncertainty about when it will welcome back visitors vital to its economy.
Processes involved in applying for and issuing special visas is delaying the soft reopening, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters, adding that about 100 tourists were expected to arrive this month.
Foreign arrivals stopped in April after the government banned commercial flights to keep the coronavirus at bay.
In September, the TAT said some 120 tourists on special long-stay visas would fly directly from Guangzhou to the resort island of Phuket this week, but their travel has been delayed.
Chinese media have questioned the identity of those tourists, however, with reports unable to confirm any Thailand travel bookings among agents in Guangzhou. Operators in Phuket are also puzzled.
“We have not been notified about the arrivals,” the Phuket Tourism Association president, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, told Reuters.
“Phuket is ready, but we need clarity, where are they from, how many and where will they stay?” Bhummikitti said, adding that more information would help create confidence among the local community.
Authorities last month announced that a limited number of long-stay visitors would be allowed from countries deemed low risk and their trips must include two weeks of quarantine at their resort.
Thailand has just over 3,600 confirmed cases, among the lowest in Asia, but its economy could contract by a record 7.8%.
The tourism-reliant country could see just 6.7 million foreign visitors this year, the government predicts, after a record 39.8 million in 2019, whose spending made up about 11.4% of GDP, or 1.93tn baht ($61.88bn).
Authorities had earlier shelved a “travel bubble” plan to allow movement of travellers between countries with low infection rates.
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New rules putting parts of New York City back into lockdown amid a rise in fresh coronavirus cases have been met with protests as governor Andrew Cuomo was accused of using “dangerous and divisive” language against Orthodox Jews.
The New York state governor announced on Tuesday that parts of the city would go back into full or partial lockdown as he unveiled a colour-coded “cluster initiative” closing non-essential businesses, schools and limiting capacity of places of worship in the worst affected areas.
The scheme, designed to target Covid-19 hotspots where infection rates have significantly increased, will send some neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the northern suburbs – including some with sizeable Orthodox populations – back into lockdown on Thursday.
According to state figures, there is overall infection rate of 5.1% in the hotspots – five times the rate of the statewide rate of 1.05%.
Announcing the new rules, Cuomo singled out houses of worship as one of the places where the virus is most likely to spread. He then went on to talk about Orthodox Jewish residents, saying: “Many of these communities have a large Orthodox population … I understand the imposition this is going to place on them, and I said to them I need their cooperation.”
Hours after the announcement, protests erupted in Borough Park, one of the Brooklyn neighbourhoods in Brooklyn set to fall under the new restrictions, and demonstrators started fires in the street.
Videos on social media show hundreds of people, many without masks, gathering close together in the street and some burning face masks.
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The number of new coronavirus infections in Switzerland rose by 1,172 in a day, data from the country’s public health agency showed.
The agency reported a total of 58,881 confirmed cases. The death toll rose by two from Wednesday to 1,791.
New daily cases peaked at 1,456 on 23 March and had dwindled to as few as three on 1 June.
The European commission has sealed a supply deal with Johnson & Johnson for the supply of its potential Covid-19 vaccine for up to 400 million people.
This is the third advance purchase contract signed by the EU with makers of Covid-19 vaccines after deals with AstraZeneca and Sanofi.
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Malaysia has reported 375 new coronavirus cases, the second straight day of falling infections as the country moved to impose targeted lockdowns to rein in a fresh surge in cases.
The new cases raise the cumulative tally to 14,368 cases, according to the health ministry. There were five new deaths reported, raising the toll to 146.
Madrid court rejects partial lockdown as 'harmful to basic rights'
Madrid’s top regional court has rejected a partial lockdown imposed at the weekend on the capital and nine nearby towns to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus infections.
A court statement said it “had denied the ratification (of the measures) on grounds they impacted on the rights and fundamental freedoms” of the 4.5 million residents affected by the closure, which went into force late Friday night.
Under the restrictions, residents are not allowed to leave the city limits except for work, school or medical reasons as the region battles a soaring infection rate of well over 700 cases per 100,000 people, compared with just 300 per 100,000 in the rest of Spain - in itself the highest rate in the EU.
Without the measures being ratified by the court, police have no legal grounds on which to issue fines for non-compliance - which they have not done until now, awaiting the court’s decision.
In their ruling, the regional judges said the health ministry, which imposed the restrictions, did not have the right to do so because responsibility for public health matters lies with Spain’s 17 autonomous regions.
Accordingly, the measures outlined in the health ministry’s order “constitute an infringement by the public authorities on the citizens’ fundamental rights without legal authorisation,” the judges found.
The measures were agreed last week at talks between the health ministry and its counterparts in most of the regions.
Although Madrid’s regional leaders agreed to implement the restrictions, they expressed strong opposition and filed their own challenge at Spain’s National Court, which remains pending.
When the pandemic erupted in March, the Spanish government declared a state of emergency which gave it the power to impose and enforce a lockdown across the entire country.
But since that ended on 21 June, it is the regions that have had responsibility for public health and managing the pandemic.
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Britain’s parliament will debate and vote today on a 10pm curfew on pubs, bars and restaurants in England, a measure the government says is necessary to slow the spread of Covid-19, but which critics say is harming the hospitality industry.
The curfew was introduced across England last month, and has swiftly become a focus for anger in prime minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party, with many saying there is no evidence for a measure that could end up forcing local pubs and restaurants out of business.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the House of Commons, said the debate would come on Tuesday, setting the scene for a possible showdown between government and so-called rebels in the governing party.
“The government took the decision to move the debate to the floor of the house in recognition of the level of demand for the debate, so we are being responsive to what is being asked for and ensuring proper scrutiny,” Rees-Mogg told parliament.
Johnson has been criticised for his response to the coronavirus crisis, with cases rising again across much of the country and especially in northern England. He has said September’s restrictions were necessary to slow the spread.
But the main opposition Labour party and some members of his party say those measures have done little to curb the increase in cases, calling on the government to provide parliament with the scientific and medical thinking behind them.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the blog for the next few hours.
As always, please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share.
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
Boris Johnson contacted the Irish prime minister on Sunday night to express concern the republic was about to impose a near lockdown across the country, putting it out of kilter with looser arrangements in Northern Ireland.
The call, reported in the Irish Times, comes amid alarm in the Irish government Northern Ireland has become a hotspot for Covid with the number of cases in the Derry and Strabane area now higher than anywhere in England.
The area is currently experiencing 636 cases per 100,000. In comparison, Liverpool has 552 cases per 100,000.
The high incidence of Covid in Donegal, the Irish county to the west of Derry, has been the cause of concern for some weeks with rates now at over 300 per 100,000 partly put down to cross-border working and shopping.
Cases are also now rising to worrying levels in Monaghan, another border county.
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AP reports that the Israeli government has extended an emergency provision that bars public gatherings, including widespread protests against the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for an additional week.
Government ministers approved the measure until 13 Octoberby a telephone vote, the prime minister’s office said in a statement late Wednesday.
Israel imposed a nationwide lockdown ahead of the Jewish High Holidays last month to rein in the country’s surging coronavirus outbreak. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, passed a law last week allowing the government to declare a special week-long state of emergency to limit participation in assemblies because of the pandemic. The government then declared the state of emergency, limiting all public gatherings to within a kilometre (0.6 miles) of a person’s home.
Netanyahu has said the restrictions are driven by safety concerns as the country battles a runaway pandemic, but critics and protesters accuse him of tightening the lockdown to muzzle their movement and expression of dissent.
Thousands of Israelis have participated in weekly demonstrations outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem for months this summer, calling on the longtime prime minister to resign while on trial for corruption.
On Thursday, an Israeli protester painted the Hebrew word “Go” — an increasingly popular slogan among anti-Netanyahu protesters — in large letters across Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square.
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New record highs have been reported in Austria and Croatia, Reuters reports.
In Croatia, there were 542 new infections, against a previous record of 369. There have been 310 fatalities in the country in total. In Austria, meanwhile, there were 1,209 new cases in the past 24 hours, surpassing a record which has stood since March of 1,050. More than half. of the new cases were in Vienna.
The Associated Press has filed a dispatch from Stebnyk, a town in the west of Ukraine, where nationwide daily cases have just risen above 5,000 a day for the first time (see earlier post).
Dr Natalia Stetsik, chief doctor at the town of 20,000 people’s only hospital, says that the facility - which is only supposed to be able to accommodate 100 patients at a time - now has more than that many Covid-19 patients alone.
“It’s incredibly difficult. We are catastrophically short of doctors,” she says. “It’s very hard for a doctor to even see all the patients.”
The piece continues:
Early in the pandemic, Ukraine’s ailing healthcare system struggled with the outbreak, and authorities introduced a tight lockdown in March to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed.
The number of cases slowed during the summer but began to rise again quickly, prompting the government at the end of August to close Ukraine’s borders for a month.
Despite that, the number of positive tests in the country reached a new peak of 4,661 a day in the first weekend of October.
Overall, Covid-19 infections in the country have nearly doubled in the past month, topping 234,000.
“The number of patients is rising, and an increasing share of them are in grave condition,” Stetsik said. “The virus is becoming more aggressive and more difficult to deal with.”
At a meeting Monday with officials in Kyiv, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, chastised them for failing to do enough to slow the spread and taking too long to provide necessary supplies.
“We spend weeks on doing things that must be done within days,” he said.
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Patriarch Kirill, the leader of Russia’s Orthodox Church, said on Thursday he had gone into isolation after coming into contact with someone with coronavirus.
The 73-year-old said he was unable to join church prayers with his congregation because of medical guidelines requiring him to isolate. He did not mention having any symptoms in a statement on the church’s website.
Russia reported 11,493 new coronavirus cases earlier on Thursday, just short of the most confirmed in a single day during the pandemic, pushing the overall total to 1,260,112.
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Reuters reports that Indonesia’s Covid-19 taskforce has reported a record high 4,850 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 320,564. There were also 108 new deaths reported, taking the total to 11,580, the highest coronavirus death toll in south-east Asia.
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If you want to follow the UK coronavirus news, head over to Andrew Sparrow’s blog, which has just launched. This one will be focused on the global coronavirus latest for the rest of the day.
Daniel Yergin, an economic historian and energy expert, has written for the Guardian about the likely effect of coronavirus on the race for net zero carbon by 2050. He warns that the costs of combating the virus and its recessionary aftermath are likely to come into conflict with the costs of moving away from fossil fuels:
Yet the big question, beyond changes in behaviour, is the question of money. Underlying much of the planning for the energy transition is large spending by governments. Joe Biden’s climate plan comes with a $2tn price tag. Will governments have the money and the flexibility to spend when they are running up staggering amounts of debt to deal with the immediate crisis? World GDP will have fallen by almost 5% this year. Assuming vaccines are widely available by the middle of next year, GDP will not return to the 2019 level until 2022 or 2023…
All of this means that the financial resources that governments can put behind the energy transition will face major constraints. There are likely to be tough choices that can be summed up as “environment ministers, focused on energy transition, versus finance and economic ministers, battling for economic recovery while coping with shortfalls in tax revenues”.
Read Yergin’s piece here:
Germany is not facing a coronavirus situation that is as serious as it was in March and April, its health minister, Jens Spahn, said on Thursday in response to a surge in cases.
“We won’t get to the situation we had in March or April,” Reuters reported Spahn as saying, adding few cases arose from shops, hairdressers, and public transport. Even schools and nurseries were coping relatively well, he said, adding the main problems were social gatherings, big events, weddings and religious gatherings.
At the same time, though, a leading German health official warned that the country could have 10,000 new coronavirus cases per day unless people stick to hygiene and distancing rules.
“The current situation worries me a lot ... I ask you to stick to the rules,” said Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, adding only 8% of cases in Germany were imported from overseas.
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Just a year ago it seemed the people of Kyoto had finally had enough of the hordes of foreign tourists clogging up popular sightseeing spots and harassing maiko and geiko – the ancient capital’s traditional entertainers.
Businesses in the Gion district went as far as putting up signs telling visitors in no uncertain terms to stop pursuing the women and demanding impromptu photo sessions as they walked, decked out in expensive kimono, to evening appointments at tea houses.
The signs, in Japanese, English and Chinese, also warned tourists not to take photographs on private property, threatening shutter-happy visitors with fines of up to ¥10,000 (£72).
But with foreign tourism now at a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic, the local council has had a change of heart, deciding that the warnings were a little too hostile.
Last month the old signs came down, to be replaced by new, gentler versions that simply ask people not to block streets or touch private property as they search for the perfect Kyoto selfie. The threat of a fine has been dropped.
Inbound tourism, an important source of revenue in Japan, has ground to a halt since the government imposed travel bans on overseas visitors in an attempt to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
A report by the Resona Research Institute says the fall in revenue associated with inbound tourism will amount to just over ¥4tn by the end of the year, a fraction of the ¥28tn yen spent on travel in Japan in 2019.
Kyoto has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with major hotels in the city operating at just a fifth of capacity in July, although there has been an uptick in domestic travelers taking advantage of the government’s controversial Go To tourism campaign.
The council, though, has warned that the more forbidding signs could reappear if, post-pandemic, the area is again inundated with tourists who still haven’t discovered their manners.
“I hope the quiet, calm atmosphere typical of Gion will be maintained even after longtime customers return following the coronavirus pandemic,” the council’s head, Mimiko Takayasu, told the Asahi newspaper.
The author of a study which found that short-term lockdowns did a good job of restricting cases initially but could ultimately lead to more people dying with coronavirus has spoken to the BBC. And Graeme Ackland, professor of computer simulation from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy, warns: “Whatever you do in terms of interventions, the final death rate is going to be in the hundreds of thousands.”
He says that he is talking about a two-year timeline, and estimates that with about 60,000 excess deaths so far there are likely to eventually be “about four times that” - or 240,000.
On the study’s reported conclusion that lockdowns may do more harm than good, he offers a nuanced view, saying that if there had been no lockdown in March, “by now we would have had an enormous number of deaths, it would have been absolutely horrendous, and the NHS would not have been able to cope the lockdown”.
He says that he is not advocating a particular approach: “You may take the view that if you allow the virus to run wild by doing nothing and you get all the deaths out of the way in some short and horrendous period that’s a good thing to do - I don’t think it’s a scientist’s job to say whether that’s the right policy.”
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Here’s the latest edition of the Guardian’s map of new coronavirus cases and deaths in the UK.
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Jeremy Hunt, chair of the UK parliament’s health select committee, has been speaking on Sky News about a joint inquiry launched by his committee and the science and technology committee into the coronavirus pandemic. “This is unfortunately unlikely to be the last pandemic we see,” he says.
He says the inquiry will look at “the relationship between scientists and politicians, and we want to ask ourselves whether we got that relationship right - whether perhaps we put too much weight on the shoulders of scientists, who like certainty and take an academic perspective”. He adds that “you need a combination of scientific fact and scientific modelling, and politicians’ judgment about what needs to happen at a very rapid pace during a pandemic”.
“I do very strongly believe that the advice given by the scientific committee Sage should be published,” he says, arguing that it would then be peer-reviewed and errors such as the failure to model the effects of test and trace for months would be picked up.
Asked about comments by the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, that the government had shown “contempt” for the House of Commons by briefing new measures to the media rather than MPs, Hunt said: “If that happened it was the wrong thing to do … you need to carry MPs with you. I don’t know if that’s what happened in this case.”
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France orders new restrictions in Lyon and Lille
In France, the government will put Lyon and Lille on maximum Covid-19 alert, France Inter radio has reported, paving the way for new restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in the two cities.
Reuters reports that the health minister, Olivier Veran, will announce the decision at a news conference on Thursday. Officials at the French health ministry could not immediately be reached for comment, the news agency said.
Paris and Marseille are already on maximum alert. This has resulted in bars in the capital having to close for two weeks and restaurants have had to set up new sanitary protocols to stay open.
Health authorities on Wednesday reported a record 24-hour rise in new Covid-19 infections, with almost 19,000 additional cases reported, and the president, Emmanuel Macron, said new restrictions would be imposed to contain the pandemic.
France has the ninth-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world, with 32,445 casualties.
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On the scope of new restrictions for parts of England expected to come into force on Monday, Jenrick said there is evidence that hospitality plays a role in the spread “but we’ve made a particular decision to prioritise education and employment”.
But he adds: “None of us want to see pubs, restaurants and cafes closed or their hours curtailed for a day longer than is necessary - but it is commonsensical that a virus which transmits through human contact, the longer one spends with individuals in indoor settings in a pub or a restaurant, the more likely it is that we spread the virus.”
He seems to acknowledge that overnight reports that pubs and restaurants in swathes of the north of England are likely to face new restrictions are based in reality. Asked about the suggestion that a wait until Monday for implementation may bring about “one last chance to get to the pub”, he says: “It is right that we take a considered view of this and not rush to judgment … we’re taking a proportionate and regional approach.”
He says that suggestions from the Labour mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, that there has not been adequate consultation are “not fair” and adds: “We want to bring local leaders with us.”
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Robert Jenrick has now been on the Today programme. With funding for covid marshals announced today, he is asked whether there is a danger of the marshals being overzealous or given excessive powers and says: “I hope that won’t be the case. That’s not the kind of country that I want to live in. I expect this money to be used sensitively by councils to educate, to inform, and to engage members of the public, and that’s what we’ve seen so far.”
He also said that guidance to local councils made clear that they did not have enforcement powers but that the evidence so far was that they were a useful part of the effort to suppress the spread of the virus.
On the BBC’s Today programme, the Labour leader of Nottingham city council, David Mellen, has responded to the delay of a new lockdown until next week despite high numbers of cases in the city. “We’re victims of a government change of approach even though we’ve got very high numbers we’ve known about since the beginning of the week,” he said. He suggested he accepted a lockdown on restaurants and pubs would be necessary.
Asked if he was worried that the delay was an “invitation to say one last blowout of a weekend” he said: “Absolutely that is our concern, absolutely … there is a chance this weekend that people will think well this might be the last chance before Christmas, let’s go out and party, and we can’t have that.”
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Ukraine daily cases rise above 5,000 for first time
Ukraine registered a record 5,397 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the country’s national security council said on Thursday, up from a previous record of 4,753 new cases reported on Wednesday.
Reuters reports that the council said a total of 244,734 cases had been registered in Ukraine as of 8 October, with 4,690 deaths, including 93 in the past 24 hours.
The daily tally of coronavirus infections spiked in late September and early October above 4,000, prompting the government to extend lockdown measures until the end of October.
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Jenrick on local lockdowns: 'we haven’t yet seen the impact we would like'
Hi there, this is Archie Bland taking over from Helen for the next few hours and with a commitment to bringing you updates on something other than the fly that landed on Mike Pence’s head. As well as coronavirus news from around the world we’ll be covering developments in the UK.
We’ll begin with Robert Jenrick, the UK government’s housing minister, who has told Sky News that the government would like to be “more consistent” on localised restrictions which he said “must be the right way forward”. Jenrick acknowledged a significant rise in cases in the north-west and north-east of England and said of the 10pm curfew: “We are not an outlier in this … other countries which have got good governments have chosen to take a similar approach.” He said that no decision had yet been taken on whether there would be a parliamentary vote on the curfew.
And he said of evidence that areas facing local lockdowns have often seen cases rise: “The measures objectively work … we haven’t yet seen the impact that we would like to have seen… if we hadn’t chosen to put in place those measures the rate of infection would almost certainly be higher.”
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Summary: White House coronavirus outbreak
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
In case you’re just joining us, a fly landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head during his debate with Kamala Harris on Wednesday. It stayed there for more than two minutes as he pretended not to notice.
Below are more significant developments in the outbreak at the White House:
The key takeaways from the Pence-Harris debate are here.
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White House security office head has been in hospital with coronavirus since late September – report. Bloomberg reported that the head of the White House security office, Crede Bailey, has coronavirus and has been in hospital since late September: “A White House spokesman declined to comment on Bailey. He is in charge of the White House security office, which handles credentialing for access to the White House and works closely with the U.S. Secret Service on security measures throughout the compound,” Bloomberg reported.
- 34 people connected to White House infected – report. The ABC reports that an internal White House memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency lists 34 people connected to the White House are infected with coronavirus.
- Trump considering holding event in Pittsburgh on Monday - report. The New York times reported that Trump is considering holding an event in Pittsburgh on Monday.Trump has not, as far as we know, yet tested negative for coronavirus. Travelling while positive would be expressly against CDC guidelines.
- Trump’s public schedule cleared for sixth day in a row. The White House published Trump’s daily guidance and schedule events for Thursday, which lists no public events, though this isn’t an indication that Trump won’t make an appearance.Sunday’s drive past fans outside Walter Reed and Trump’s departure from Walter Reed on Monday were not listed on his schedules.It is the sixth day in a row that his schedule has been clear since Trump tested positive on Thursday last week. Friday’s schedule last week listed “a phone call on Covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors”.
- Trump described catching coronavirus as ‘a blessing in disguise’. In a video posted from outside the Oval Office, to which Trump returned against the CDC’s isolation guidelines, the US President described having contracted coronavirus, the disease that has in just under ten months killed more than 210,000 Americans and over a 1,052,269 people worldwide, as “a blessing in disguise”. “It was a blessing from God. It was a blessing in disguise that I caught it,” he said.
- In the video Trump also repeatedly describes the treatment he received, Regeneron, as a “cure” for the disease. There is no known cure for coronavirus.“They’re going to say it’s Some people don’t know how to define therapeutic. For me, it’s a cure,” he says, and adds that he wants everyone to receive the same treatment he received – as he laments the FDA taking too long to approve experimental treatments. “I feel great. I feel like, perfect,” says Trump.
- Trump has ties to founder of company that made treatment he touted as ‘cure’. News that the president was treated with Regeneron’s experimental cocktail caused the company’s stock to rise sharply. Donald Trump has ties to Regeneron’s CEO, Dr. Leonard Schleifer, who is a member of the president’s golf club in Westchester. Schleifer’s company received $450m in government funding this summer as part of the president’s program to encourage the development of a vaccine and treatment. Trump owned shares of Regeneron per his 2017 filing with the Office of Government Ethics. Neither holdings were listed on the president’s most recent filing.
- Regeneron then asked FDA for approval. On Wednesday night, the drug maker Regeneron submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for “emergency approval” of the experimental treatment US President Donald Trump touted as a “cure” for coronavirus in a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the New York Times reports.
- The Marine Corps assistant commandant tested positive for coronavirus. The US marines announced that that marine corps assistant commandant Gary L. Thomas – the second-highest ranking officer in the Marine Corps – had tested positive for coronavirus while in quarantine. Thomas had been isolating along with several other high-ranking US military officials. He is the second senior military official to test positive in the last week.
Updated
Summary: coronavirus around the world
Here are the main developments globally in the pandemic from the last few hours:
- Global cases pass 36m as Brazil tops 5m infected. The known number of coronavirus infections worldwide has passed another milestone, with more than 36m cases registered on the Johns Hopkins University tracker.Among these are the now 5m cases in Brazil, which has the third-highest total worldwide after India (6.7m) and the US (7.5m).The global death toll is 1,054,674.Brazil’s toll, the second-highest after the US with more than 211,000 dead, stands at nearly 150,000. The current toll is 148,228.
- Germany’s cases rise by highest total since early April. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by a staggering 4,058 to 310,144, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 16 to 9,578, the tally showed.The case figure is the highest since 9 April this year, when cases increased by 4,885.
- Japan to lift travel bans on 12 countries. In a sign that restrictions are loosening in Asia, Yomiuri newspaper has reported that Japan plans to lift travel bans on people going to China and 11 other countries, including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia, next month. Japan has banned travel to 159 countries and regions.
- Bulgaria reports national one-day case record. Bulgaria reported a daily record of 437 coronavirus cases on Thursday, as the country grapples with a rising number of infections, data from the national information platform on the disease showed. The Balkan country now has 22,743 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 873 deaths. The country’s chief health inspector has said new restrictions, such as closing restaurants may be imposed if the confirmed cases continue to rise, but ruled out a full lockdown.
- Italy confirms swab tests for travellers from four countries, including the UK, following growing concerns about rising cases across Europe, and makes face masks compulsory outdoors. Swab tests for Covid-19 will be compulsory for people travelling from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, the health minister Roberto Speranza said on Wednesday.
-
France Covid-19 hospitalisations at a three-month high and new cases at an all-time high. French health authorities reported 18,746 new confirmed Covid-19 cases over 24 hours on Wednesday, a new all-time daily high, and almost double of Tuesday’s tally of 10,489. More than 7,500 patients are being treated in hospital for Covid-19, marking a three-month high and an increase of more than 65% versus a 29 August low point of 4,530.
- Brussels closes cafes and bars in new virus curbs. All bars, cafes and event halls in Brussels have been told they must shut down for at least a month as of 7am on Thursday as the Belgian capital went beyond recently tightened national restrictions in Belgium.
- Top US immunologist quits health role over Trump Covid response. The ousted director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine has quit his post at the National Institutes of Health, charging that the Trump administration “ignores scientific expertise, overrules public health guidance and disrespects career scientists”.
- Scotland’s pubs banned from serving alcohol inside for 16 days. First minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a nationwide ban on drinking indoors in licensed premises in Scotland for more than two weeks, with a full shutdown of all premises across the central belt where infection rates are accelerating most rapidly
- Berlin nightlife given first curfew in 70 years as Covid cases surge. Berlin’s nightlife is facing a closing time for the first time in 70 yearsas the party-loving German capital seeks to contain spiralling coronavirus infection rates.
- Italy tops 3,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since April. Italy’s coronavirus infections jumped by 1,000 to 3,678 on Wednesday – the highest daily tally since the middle of April. There were 31 new fatalities, bringing the total to 36,061. The country made it mandatory to wear face masks outdoors nationwide.
- Singapore to offer baby bonus as people put plans on hold in Covid crisis. Singapore plans to offer a one-off payment to encourage couples to have a baby during the coronavirus pandemic, fearing that the economic impact of the outbreak is worsening the city state’s already low birth rate.
Placing a tube in a patient’s airway, or removing it, is thought to be one of the highest-risk procedures for medical staff, because of the very close proximity to air being expelled through the mouth of a potentially infected person. But in operating rooms, at least, these procedures might present less of a risk of virus transmission than has been feared.
From Reuters: In operating room experiments with anesthetised patients, intubation and extubation produced far fewer potentially virus-carrying aerosols than expected. Overall, 19 tube insertions generated about one-thousandth of the aerosol generated by a single cough, the researchers reported on Tuesday in the journal Anesthesia.
Fourteen tube removals produced more aerosols, but still less than 25% of that produced by a voluntary cough.
India’s total coronavirus cases rose by 78,524 in the last 24 hours to 6.84 million on Thursday morning, data from the health ministry showed.
Deaths from Covid-19 infections rose by 971 to 105,526, the ministry said.
India’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose past 100,000 on Saturday, only the third country in the world to reach that bleak milestone, after the United States and Brazil, and its epidemic shows no sign of abating.
Last week, India further eased restrictions and permitted states to open schools and movie theatres.
In total, Mike Pence interrupted Kamala Harris roughly twice as many times as she interrupted him during the #VPdebate, according to data from NBC News. https://t.co/2PHRXhFnmJ
— Vox (@voxdotcom) October 8, 2020
A cartoon from Australia’s David Rowe:
Ugly Fly(on a white guy) @FinancialReview #Debates2020 #flygate pic.twitter.com/46nqOVtecl
— david rowe (@roweafr) October 8, 2020
Bulgaria reports national one-day case record
Bulgaria reported a daily record of 437 coronavirus cases on Thursday, as the country grapples with a rising number of infections, data from the national information platform on the disease showed.
The Balkan country now has 22,743 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 873 deaths.
The country’s chief health inspector has said new restrictions, such as closing restaurants may be imposed if the confirmed cases continue to rise, but ruled out a full lockdown.
Updated
The vice-presidential debate was more courteous than last week’s horror show but still showed two contrasting faces of America
It was always going to be about the two faces of America.
One: white, male, midwestern, evangelical Christian. The other: Black, female, coastal, progressive.
What wasn’t so predictable about the face-to-face at Wednesday’s US vice-presidential debate was that Mike Pence would show up with bloodshot eye – never a good look during a pandemic – or that a fly would nestle in his snowy white hair.
Pence-Harris vice-presidential debate: five key takeawaysRead more
Equally striking was Kamala Harris’s ability to weaponise facial expressions. The California senator’s fusillade of raised eyebrows, pursed lips and withering stares at her opponent will live in Democrats’ memory long after the words are forgotten (and probably be viewed by Republicans as sneering elitism).
It was also notable that both candidates did a better job than their bosses in last week’s debate apocalypse. Both were adept at sidestepping questions – such as whether they had discussed “the issue of presidential disability” with their septuagenarian running mates – in favour of talking points. At times, it almost felt like a brief holiday in political normality:
Japan to lift travel bans on 12 countries
In non-Trump, Pence or Harris news:
In a sign that restrictions are loosening in Asia, Yomiuri newspaper has reported that Japan plans to lift travel bans on people going to China and 11 other countries, including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia, next month. Japan has banned travel to 159 countries and regions.
According to Chinese health officials, new Covid-19 cases remain low despite millions of people traveling across the country for an eight-day public holiday that began last week. On Thursday China reported 11 new cases, which were all imported infections.
In Hong Kong where authorities have kept restrictions on gatherings in place, bans that observers say are an excuse to bar protests, local media have reported that leading pandemic specialist, Keji Fukada, has been pushed out of his posting at Hong Kong University. Surprised observers and public health experts have warned that the firing of Fukada, one of a group of leading government advisers, will be harmful to Hong Kong’s Covid response efforts. Hong Kong University said in a statement on Wednesday night that it would not comment on individual cases.
His firing comes as several university professors in disparate fields have been let go, including law professor and prominent pro-democracy activist Benny Tai. Fukada was director of the university’s School of Public Health when Yan Limeng, a former postdoctoral fellow at the university fled to the US and gave interviews to US media claiming that the university failed to act on findings that Chinese authorities were aware of human-to-human transmission of the virus in late December, well before they warned the public about the contagion.
65-yr-old bus driver says he drove 23 hours from Michigan to stand outside the VP debate in Utah & share his message:
— Zohreen Shah (@Zohreen) October 8, 2020
Tom Moran says he hasn’t been able to work or see his grandkids in months because of covid19
“I would crawl over broken glass to replace this President” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/D8ORRXm2at
Anyway:
No one is wearing a mask. No one. https://t.co/XvnyfmXDDn
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 8, 2020
Harris hammers home criticism over coronavirus response
As expected, the first question was about coronavirus in a debate dominated by the pandemic. Pence’s staff had insisted the vice-president has tested negative for Covid-19, but the two Plexiglass barriers placed between Harris and Pence served as a constant reminder of the crisis.
Harris kept her point simple. She focused on the numbers dead, and the millions of people affected.
“Here are the facts: 210,000 dead people in our country in just the last seven months. Over 7 million who have contracted this disease,” Harris said.
“We’re looking at over 30 million people who in the last seven months had to file for unemployment.”
Harris pointed out, more than once, that Trump and Pence had known about the severity of coronavirus in January, and that Trump had sought to downplay the virus:
The vice-presidential debate on Wednesday was less openly hostile than the Donald Trump-Joe Biden debacle last week – but provided a further insight into the state of both campaigns ahead of November.
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence clash over coronavirus response in vice-presidential debateRead more
Kamala Harris and Mike Pence met in Utah for the only vice-presidential debate of the election, separated by Plexiglass barriers as a protection against coronavirus, and seeking to advance their boss’s cases.
As Biden continues to lead Trump in the polls, the pressure was particularly on for Pence to defend the administration’s record, just days after the president tested positive for Covid-19.
From the pandemic to healthcare to the supreme court to a fly, here are the key moments:
CNN reporter Joe Johns was forced to fend off a raccoon on the White House lawn, moments before going to air on Wednesday. “Frickin’ raccoons, man. God, again!” he said.
“This is the second time! Jesus ... It always comes around right around when I’m about to go on TV.”
The incident comes after reports of increasing belligerent raccoons on the property:
And back to CNN’s snap debate polling – that’s quite a difference between what men and women saw happen tonight:
NEW @CNN snap poll of debate watchers: who won the debate?
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 8, 2020
Women
Harris - 69% (+39)
Pence - 30%
Men
Harris - 48% (+2)
Pence - 46%
(Sample is 38% Dem, 33% Ind and 29% GOP) pic.twitter.com/WveNbDXSZ1
Biden is ahead 9 points in YouGov’s national poll:
National Poll:
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) October 8, 2020
Biden 51% (+9)
Trump 42%@YouGovAmerica/@TheEconomist,
(LV, 10/4-6 )
And here is Richard Wolffe’s take:
It’s rare that something unexpected and unrehearsed crosses Mike Pence’s head. The sitting vice-president is a disciplined performer known to prep for his public moments, in stark contrast to his boss.
But as the vice-presidential debate neared its close, with the candidates tackling the challenges of racial justice, a dark object landed on his blanched white scalp.
Pence was expressing his faux sympathy for the family of Breonna Taylor, while also condemning the notion that America is systemically racist, when a large fly found the smell of his words as attractive as the brown debris that decorates a dog run.
It was that kind of night for Mike Pence: a night to polish the turds of the Trump years:
Here is what Jill Filipovic had to say:
There was no real contest in the vice-presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. Harris wiped the floor with him. Pence ignored, patronized, and talked over the two women in the room. Her strategy was cool competence. His was sexist entitlement.
This debate was less high-pitch without Donald Trump ranting and raving on stage. But it was frustrating in its own way – especially for any woman who has ever been in a room with an interjecting, condescending man. Pence repeatedly interrupted Harris, something she rarely did to him; he repeatedly talked over moderator Susan Page of USA Today when she told him his time was up; he repeatedly flouted the rules he had previously agreed to. The disrespect of women was tangible, and it happened over and over:
What did you think of the debate? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
My personal poll shows this take winning best metaphor by 21,000 points. From the Atlantic’s David Frum:
'Through all the scandals and crimes and disasters of the past four years, Mike Pence was the man who pretended not to notice. And now there was a fly on his head, and he pretended not to notice that too': https://t.co/vGV4TZQLKr
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 8, 2020
CNN’s poll shows Harris winning the debate by 21 points:
#NEW @CNN Poll:
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) October 8, 2020
Who Won The Debate
Harris 59% (+21)
Pence 38% pic.twitter.com/uwbPjdYWNL
Here is the full story on tonight’s debate:
Vice-President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris clashed over the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus in the only vice-presidential debate of the 2020 election, at a moment of extraordinary uncertainty for the US in the wake of the president’s hospitalization for Covid-19.
“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said in her opening comments to Pence, who leads the White House’s coronavirus task force. “This administration has forfeited their right to re-election.”
Pence acknowledged that the nation has gone through a “very challenging time this year”,but forcefully defended the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 Americans and infected millions more, including the president of the United States and many top White House officials:
Global cases pass 36m as Brazil tops 5m infected
The known number of coronavirus infections worldwide has passed another milestone, with more than 36m cases registered on the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Among these are the now 5m cases in Brazil, which has the third-highest total worldwide after India (6.7m) and the US (7.5m).
The global death toll is 1,054,674.
Brazil’s toll, the second-highest after the US with more than 211,000 dead, stands at nearly 150,000. The current toll is 148,228.
Japan has reported a sharp rise in suicides among women during the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of men and women who took their own lives in August rose by 251 from the same month last year to 1,854, according to the health ministry. The figure rose by 5% among men, but by 40% among women, the ministry, said, adding that 40 women below the age of 20 had killed themselves. There were also increases among women in their 30s and 40s.
Some experts said the trend could be attributed to the delayed effects of Japan’s state of emergency, during which people were advised - but not ordered - to avoid non-essential trips outside the home.
The measure, introduced in early April and lifted in late May, had left many women feeling isolated, while social distancing made it harder to deal with stress by spending time with friends. Other experts said job losses linked to the pandemic could also be a factor.
Toshihiko Matsumoto of the National Centre of Neurology and Psychiatry, said people were generally reluctant to turn to family members for help.
“[They] cannot share everything with their families because their relationships are so important,” Matsumoto told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “Perhaps, what is needed now is things deemed ‘nonessential’ and communication with people other than their families in the so-called three Cs,” he added, referring to public health advice to avoid confined, crowded and close-contact settings.
Japan’s suicide rate has been in decline in recent years and fell to a record low last year, but the issue has come under the spotlight again in recent months following the suicide deaths of several celebrities, including the popular actor Yuko Takeuchi.
Takeuchi’s death last month prompted the Japanese government to urge people struggling to cope to seek help via suicide-prevention hotlines and other services.
In Japan, Tell Lifeline can be contacted on 03-5774-0992. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.
Germany's cases rise by highest total since early April
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by a staggering 4,058 to 310,144, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by 16 to 9,578, the tally showed.
The case figure is the highest since 9 April this year, when cases increased by 4,885.
Here is the story on the debate fly. It is called “Pretty fly for a white guy”
CNN's Daniel Dale fact-checks Vice President Mike Pence's claim that Trump suspended all travel from China: "Bottom line, Pence claims Trump suspended all travel from China— that is just false" https://t.co/ApfLcItdqD pic.twitter.com/IgS3aClV4I
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 8, 2020
It’s not coronavirus-related but this scary moment from the debate warrants besmirching our coronavirus blog’s good name:
Vice President Mike Pence dodges question on whether President Trump will commit to a peaceful transfer of power https://t.co/bAjThnxa7H pic.twitter.com/9wDtTFTy3Q
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 8, 2020
Wolf Blitzer on CNN says producers calculated the speaking time of both candidates and they were roughly equal at 36:24 for Sen. Harris and 36:27 for VP Pence
— Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) October 8, 2020
Regeneron asks FDA approval after Trump touts experimental treatment as Covid 'cure'
The drug maker Regeneron has submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for “emergency approval” of the experimental treatment US President Donald Trump touted as a “cure” for coronavirus in a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the New York Times reports.
A reminder that Trump was given a mix of several treatments and cannot know which one actually helped him. He also has ties to the Regeneron CEO:
The company said that at first, access to the treatment would be extremely limited, with only enough doses for 50,000 patients, a far cry from the “hundreds of thousands” of doses that Mr. Trump said in a video released Wednesday he would soon be making available to Americans free of charge.
...
Mr. Trump gave the impression that he would push the F.D.A. to approve Regeneron’s treatment, even though the agency’s scientists are supposed to make independent decisions about approvals.
“I have emergency use authorization all set, and we’ve got to get it signed now,” Mr. Trump said.
A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. declined to comment on Wednesday, saying the agency does not confirm or deny product applications.
Here’s the full story on Donald Trump’s video from outside the Oval Office, posted on Wednesday:
Donald Trump has called his Covid-19 infection “a blessing from God” as he returned to the Oval Office on Wednesday despite concerns that he should be self-isolating, as the virus continued to spread among senior White House figures.
In a video message posted to Twitter, Trump said that an experimental drug cocktail from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was key to recovering from his infection. He said it was his suggestion to be treated with the drug, which has rarely been used outside clinical trials.
Now for a palate cleanser.
A world away in New Zealand, which has for a second time eliminated local transmission of the virus – and where the Prime Minister is preparing for a national election next week:
New Zealand’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been the best in the world and is the country that gives business leaders the most confidence for future investment, according to a Bloomberg Media survey.
New Zealand ranked strongly for political stability, the economic recovery, virus control and social resilience in Bloomberg’s market crisis management index, published on Thursday.
The index scores New Zealand at 238, above second-placed Japan at 204 and Taiwan in third on 198. Australia was sixth with 151, while the UK and US – despite their high case numbers and fatalities from Covid-19 – were ninth and 10th.
Updated
The debate has now ended. The candidates were photographed on stage with their partners and Mike Pence’s wife Karen Pence was not wearing a mask:
Karen Pence isn't wearing a mask pic.twitter.com/HdmHmXjPsf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2020
Biden quick off the mark:
Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly. https://t.co/CqHAId0j8t pic.twitter.com/NbkPl0a8HV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 8, 2020
As Pence spoke about police violence, there was a fly on his head:
The fly on Pence's head won the debate pic.twitter.com/jLCeEOH5w3
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 8, 2020
Pence: Stop playing politics with people’s lives
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) October 8, 2020
Trump: You better vote for me if you want a relief bill
In China, viewers of the debate are reportedly not getting to find out what Kamala Harris and Mike Pence are saying about their country.
This was just shared by the Globe and Mail’s Beijing correspondent (and later updated once the China section was over here):
The CNN feed in China the moment debate turned to China. pic.twitter.com/GuhqTDaEda
— Nathan VanderKlippe (@nvanderklippe) October 8, 2020
Are you watching the debate? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
More on Pence’s claim that Trump’s medical team has been “transparent” earlier.
Pence said, “The care the president received at Walter Reed Hospital by the White House doctors was exceptional. And the transparency that they’ve practiced all along the way will continue.”
The New York Times says of this assertion:
False.
President Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, has repeatedly declined to answer several important questions about his illness, including when Mr. Trump had his last negative test for the coronavirus and his first positive one.
Dr. Conley also initially refused to say whether the president had received supplemental oxygen. It was only on Sunday, two nights after Mr. Trump arrived at the hospital, that Dr. Conley acknowledged Mr. Trump had a high fever and that his oxygen level dropped on Friday morning, before he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed.
Dr. Conley has also not revealed anything about the condition of Mr. Trump’s lungs, though the president’s oxygen levels had dropped to a level that can indicate that a patient’s lungs are compromised.
Amazing to see Pence, a moment ago, retweet footage of the – non-socially distanced, virtually mask-free – Rose Garden ceremony at the White House that has been linked to multiple coronavirus cases:
The American people deserve a Justice like Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the American people deserve 9 Justices on the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/tnx8x0Qkz9
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) September 29, 2020
Updated
On Pence’s China comments, from CNN:
Vice President Mike Pence claimed that Joe Biden called President Trump’s travel restrictions on China “xenophobic.”
“Biden opposed that decision. He said it was xenophobic,” Pence said.
Facts First: This needs context. It’s not clear Biden even knew about Trump’s China travel restrictions when he called Trump xenophobic on the day the restrictions were unveiled; Biden has never explicitly linked his accusation of xenophobia to these travel restrictions.
The campaign says Biden’s Jan. 31 accusations – that Trump has a record of “hysterical xenophobia” and “fear mongering” – were not about the travel restrictions at all. The campaign says Biden did not know about the restrictions at the time of his speech, since his campaign event in Iowa started shortly after the Trump administration briefing where the restrictions were revealed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Given the timing of Biden’s remarks, it’s not unreasonable for Pence to infer that the former vice president was talking about the travel restrictions. But Biden never took an explicit position on the restrictions until his April declaration of support.
This was one of Harris’s strongest moments tonight so far, in response to Pence again citing Trump’s decision to stop (some) travel from China.
“[Obama and Biden] created within the WH an office that basically was responsible for monitoring pandemic. They [the Trump administration] got rid of it,” says Harris.
“There was a team of experts that Obama dispatched to China to monitor [outbreaks like this]. They [the Trump administration] pulled them out.”
"There was a team of disease experts that President Obama and
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2020
VP Biden dispatched to China to monitor what is now predictable, and what might happen. They pulled them out. We now are looking at 210,000 Americans who have lost their lives" -- Harris pic.twitter.com/3c0bHG2tfH
Harris just said “I love talking to Joe about a lot of these issues,” referring to foreign policy.
"It's about relationships. The thing that has always been part of the strength of our nation, in addition to our great military, has been that we keep our word. Donald Trump doesn't understand that, because he doesn't know what it means to be honest" -- Harris pic.twitter.com/1v0OtOlsYN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2020
Harris and Biden both make an effort to give off the image that they are good friends which of course highlights that their relationship is very different from that between Pence and Trump.
But tonight, Trump seems to be happy with Pence’s performance:
Mike Pence is doing GREAT! She is a gaffe machine.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2020
Updated
Pence on China: “China is to blame for the coronavirus.”
“Fortunately,” says Pence, “President Trump made that decision before the end of January to suspend all travel from China,” and again cites Biden as having been opposed to the decision.
Pence says Trump will stand up to China and make them answer for what they did to the world with coronavirus.
Again:
Tens of thousands of people kept flying in from China AFTER the travel restrictions were imposed. Also, research has shown the virus was coming into New York from Europe at the time, not from China.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2020
A key Harris message on both coronavirus and climate change:
Kamala Harris: "Joe believes, again, in science."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 8, 2020
By “They” Hayes means the Trump administration:
THEY HAVE LITERALLY LOST MORE JOBS THAN ANY ADMINISTRATION SINCE HOOVER!!!!
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 8, 2020
Pence claimed that he and Trump inherited “the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression” and that in response, Trump cut taxes “across the board”.
Trump’s tax cuts helped billionaires pay less in taxes than the working class for the first time in US history.
In 2018 the richest 400 families in the US paid an average effective tax rate of 23% while the bottom half of American households paid a rate of 24.2%, University of California at Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman calculate in their new book, The Triumph of Injustice.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) October 8, 2020
The economy’s dire state now is as a result of the coronavirus pandemic:
Trump and Pence coming into office in January 2017 did not change the slope of economic growth or job growth from the Obama/Biden administration.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 8, 2020
Their failure on handling Covid-19 did. pic.twitter.com/eHOY5ap8gd
On that metaphor:
The. Head. Of. The. Coronavirus. Task. Force. Is. Debating. Half. A. Year. Later. Through. Two. Layers. Of. Plexiglass.
— Jordan Klepper (@jordanklepper) October 8, 2020
Kamala Harris: "Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been about covering up everything."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 8, 2020
The candidates are currently discussing taxes.
Here meanwhile is a photograph of the plexiglass shields, which scientists have warned are “ineffective.”
Pence has tested negative for coronavirus but has not, defying CDC guidelines, quarantined despite being exposed to people who have tested positive.
He was also reluctant to agree to the use of the shields but eventually relented.
Pence and Harris fighting about which presidential candidate is more transparent through plexiglass shields is a fun metaphor
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 8, 2020
Updated
Over 210,000 Americans have died. Over 7 million have contracted this disease. Nearly 30 million have filed for unemployment. One in five businesses are at risk of closing.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 8, 2020
And this administration still doesn't have a plan. pic.twitter.com/iqcpXHAIya
“Joe has been very transparent over many many years,” says Harris.
The use of the word “transparent” by Pence to refer to the Trump administration (and his medical team) truly is extraordinary. There’s a plexiglass shield metaphor in here somewhere.
“Let me say on behalf of me and the first lady how moved we’ve all been by the outpouring of prayers and support for the president.”
“The transparency [Trump’s medical team] practiced all throughout [Trump’s stay at the hospital] will continue,” says Pence.
Note: they have not even been transparent enough even to say whether Trump has tested negative for coronavirus.
“When you talk about failure in this administration. We actually do know what failure looks like in this administration,” and he cites the the Swine Flu epidemic.
Mike Pence compares COVID to the swine flu. The swine flu is estimated to have killed 12,000 in the U.S., far smaller than the more than 210,000 who have died of Covid-19 to date.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 8, 2020
He also asks Harris to “stop undermining confidence in a vaccine.”
A reminder that the FDA recently launched guidelines that would stop the vaccine coming out before the election and that White House officials tried to intervene to stop this happening. Trump conceded that the vaccine is unlikely to be available in his video this morning.
Updated
Harris’ account has just tweeted:
Trump didn’t share information about the virus because he wanted you to stay calm.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 8, 2020
I want to ask you: how calm were you when you were hunting for toilet paper? How calm were you when your children couldn’t see their grandparents because you were afraid they could kill them?
Susan Page, referencing the Rose Garden superspreader event, asks VP Pence: How can you expect Americans to follow the admin's safety guidelines when you at the White House have not been doing so?
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) October 8, 2020
Pence: "Many of the people" were tested he says.
Note: not all.
Harris is asked whether she would take a vaccine if it were made available today. She would do so if scientists had approved it, she says.
Pence says that the administration’s response was to protect the freedom of the American people.
Harris jumps in: “You respect the American people when you tell the truth. You respect the American people when you are a leader... when you tell them what they need to hear so that they can respect themselves”
People are standing in line for unemployment, people are sick and have died, Harris says, “Because of the ineptitude of an administration that was too afraid to speak the truth to the American people.”
A reminder that Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman in US history to participate in a general election debate.
Pence also did not actually answer the moderator’s question:
Q: Why is the US coronavirus death toll higher than comparable countries?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2020
PENCE: *doesn't answer the question but instead touts Trump's accomplishments*
[get a look at Harris's face while he says this] pic.twitter.com/7J26RIprxa
Biden has meanwhile tweeted his and Harris’ plan to “defeat this virus””
We’re eight months into this pandemic and Donald Trump and Mike Pence still have no plan to deal with COVID-19. He’s still hoping it will just “disappear.”@KamalaHarris and I have a comprehensive, science-backed plan to defeat this virus.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 8, 2020
Take a look: https://t.co/xjxsDn2qCD
A question is now directed to Pence: the US death toll as a percentage of our population is higher than almost any other wealthy country on earth.
“Why is that?” asks Page.
“From the very first day, President Trump has put the health of the American people first.”
Pence then cites Trump banning travel from China. “That decision bought us valuable time,” says Pence.
He says he believes it saved “countless American lives.”
Counterpoint from CNN fact checker Daniel Dale:
Tens of thousands of people kept flying in from China AFTER the travel restrictions were imposed. Also, research has shown the virus was coming into New York from Europe at the time, not from China.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2020
He then says that Biden’s plan for handling coronavirus “looks like plagiarism, which is something Biden knows a little bit about.”
Harris responds: Whatever the vice president is saying the president did, “clearly it didn’t work.”
Updated
Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today, is moderating today’s debate.
The candidates are seated with plexiglass shields in front of them.
Harris has just been asked what a Biden administration might have done differently to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris starts by saying, “The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any administration in our country’s history,” before listing the number of cases and deaths, unemployment figures and other statistics.
These are the first words out of Harris's mouth: "The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country." pic.twitter.com/vci6g5O3DT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 8, 2020
Updated
"We beg you,” Frank J Fahrenkopf of the presidential debate commission urges the audience in Salt Lake City, “Please do not take off your mask."
— Matt Viser (@mviser) October 8, 2020
NBC’s Monica Alba confirming what the New York Times reported earlier:
Confirming @maggieNYT: the president is eager to get back on the trail & his campaign is trying to figure out how to make that work, per a person familiar with the planning. Unclear when physicians will clear him to travel but Trump wants to be on road before/after Miami debate. https://t.co/TK9A9zgMLI
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) October 8, 2020
Not just that, but Trump also dropped a bombshell video that Pence will likely have to answer for shortly. The debate starts in just over five minutes’ time:
Lots of tweets from Trump today.
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 8, 2020
None so far advising anyone to watch his vice president's debate tonight.
During tonight’s debate, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will be positioned 12 feet apart, separated by plexiglass barriers – which scientists say are woefully ineffective.
Pence and his aides had initially protested the plexiglass but eventually acquiesced. Although the barriers would block any spit that the candidates spray as they speak, it wouldn’t stop the virus from being carried in the air. As the CDC acknowledged this week, coronavirus can be carried by aerosols – tiny airborne droplets – that can move over and around a sheet of plexiglass.
Although Pence has cited multiple negative tests – and has been cleared by the White House physician to participate in the debates. But tests for Covid-19 can come up negative up too 14 days after exposure to the virus. Though the CDC has said Pence has not been in close contact with anyone suspected of being infected, Pence himself said he’d met with Donald Trump – who has been infected.
You can watch a stream of the US vice presidential debate here – this is the only time that Pence and Harris will be debating ahead of the election on 3 November.
Trump's public schedule cleared for sixth day in a row
The White House published Trump’s daily guidance and schedule events for Thursday, which lists no public events, though this isn’t an indication that Trump won’t make an appearance.
Sunday’s drive past fans outside Walter Reed and Trump’s departure from Walter Reed on Monday were not listed on his schedules.
It is the sixth day in a row that his schedule has been clear since Trump tested positive on Thursday last week. Friday’s schedule last week listed “a phone call on Covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors”.
Here's Trump's public schedule for tomorrow. (Public schedules don't include all of a president's activities.) pic.twitter.com/5y8f6dROAz
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 8, 2020
On marine corps assistant commandant Gary L. Thomas testing positive for Covid, from Military.com:
A Marine Corps four-star general is the second senior military leader in two days to test positive for COVID-19.
Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Gary Thomas has the virus, officials announced Wednesday night. Thomas was one of at least nine senior leaders who began self-quarantining Tuesday after the Coast Guard’s vice commandant, Adm. Charles Ray, tested positive for the illness this week.
We’ve just launched our debate liveblog at the link below – I’ll be bringing you the latest White House coronavirus news throughout and any coronavirus-related parts of the debate, as well as the main global coronavirus developments:
As far as we understand, that memo means that around 7 more people than are currently known to be infected have contracted the virus.
Per our most recent story:
From that ABC report:
The coronavirus outbreak has infected “34 White House staffers and other contacts” in recent days, according to an internal government memo, an indication that the disease has spread among more people than previous known in the seat of American government.
Dated Wednesday and obtained by ABC News, the memo was distributed among senior leadership at FEMA, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security and the agency responsible for managing the continuing national response to the public health disaster.
The memo also notes that a senior adviser to the president is among those infected. Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller, both senior aides to the president, have tested positive in recent days.
The new figures underscore both the growing crisis in the White House and the lengths to which government officials have sought to block information about the outbreak’s spread. ABC News had previously reported that 24 White House aides and their contacts had contracted the virus.
34 people connected to White House infected – report
The ABC reports that an internal White House memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency lists 34 people connected to the White House are infected with coronavirus.
BREAKING - @ABC - 34 people connected to White House, more than previously known, infected by coronavirus: Internal FEMA memo via @JoshMargolin @lcbruggeman https://t.co/nBmdWetYFs
— John Santucci (@Santucci) October 7, 2020
On Regeneron – the unproven experimental treatment touted by Trump – who has connections to the founder of the company that produces it – as a “cure” for coronavirus, from the New York Times:
The Regeneron antibody cocktail is not the only drug that Mr. Trump was prescribed. He has also been taking the antiviral drug remdesivir, as well as the dexamethasone, a steroid that the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health only recommend for people suffering from severe or critical cases of Covid-19.
Doctors have declined to say what other medications Mr. Trump is taking as he fights off the virus.
It is impossible to know if the treatment has cured the president or even if he has beaten the disease. Most people with Covid-19 eventually recover, and medical experts have also said that Mr. Trump is most likely still battling it. Dexamethasone, which Mr. Trump first received on Saturday, is known to create a sense of well-being and euphoria in many people who take it, as well as bursts of energy.
Outside medical experts have said the next week will be pivotal because many patients who do poorly take a turn for the worse in the second week after symptoms arise.
Trump considering holding event in Pittsburgh on Monday - report
The New York times reports meanwhile that Trump is considering holding an event in Pittsburgh on Monday.
Trump has not, as far as we know, yet tested negative for coronavirus. Travelling while positive would be expressly against CDC guidelines.
TRUMP campaign is exploring having him hold an event (not a rally) in Pittsburgh on Monday, per 3 ppl familiar with the discussions. They're setting up possible travel plans for him all week, with later in the week seeming more solid.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 7, 2020
From Bloomberg:
A top White House security official, Crede Bailey, is gravely ill with Covid-19 and has been hospitalized since September, according to four people familiar with his condition.
The White House has not publicly disclosed Bailey’s illness. He became sick before the Sept. 26 Rose Garden event President Donald Trump held to announce his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett that has been connected to more than a dozen cases of the disease.
A White House spokesman declined to comment on Bailey. He is in charge of the White House security office, which handles credentialing for access to the White House and works closely with the U.S. Secret Service on security measures throughout the compound.
White House security office head has been in hospital with coronavirus since late September – report
Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs – who broke the news last week that Hope Hicks had tested positive – has just tweeted that she is told the head of the White House security office, Crede Bailey, has coronavirus and has been in hospital since late September.
The White House has not publicly disclosed Bailey’s illness:
NEWS: The head of White House security office, Crede Bailey, is gravely ill with coronavirus and has been hospitalized since late September, I'm told. Security office handles credentialing for access to WH; works closely with Secret Service on security measures on the compound.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 7, 2020
Updated
An outbreak of Covid-19 has swept through senior US military leaders, including Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Gen John Hyten, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
Gen Gary Thomas, a senior marine corps leader; Gen Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the national guard; Gen James McConville, the army chief of staff; Adm Michael Gilday, naval operations chief; Gen Charles Brown, air force chief of staff; Gen Paul Nakasone, the cyber command chief; and Gen Jay Raymond, the space force chief, have also been affected.
Updated
Marine corps assistant commandant tests positive for coronavirus
The US marines have announced that that marine corps assistant commandant Gary L. Thomas – the second-highest ranking officer in the Marine Corps – has tested positive for coronavirus while in quarantine.
Today, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Gary L. Thomas, tested positive for #COVID19. The Marine Corps is following established policies for COVID, per @CDCgov guidelines, to include quarantine and contact tracing. https://t.co/ZVnigsXbbq
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) October 7, 2020
In a statement, the Marine Corps communications directorate announced:
He had been in self-quarantine since Tuesday, Oct. 6, out of an abundance of caution following notification of close contact with a person who later tested positive for the virus.
The Marine Corps is following established policies for COVID, per CDC guidelines, to include quarantine and contact tracing. According to CDC guidelines, any Marine Corps personnel who were in close contact with the general will also quarantine.
In accordance with established Marine Corps COVID policies, General Thomas will continue to quarantine at home. He is experiencing mild symptoms, but otherwise is feeling well.
Since April, the Marine Corps has been following CDC and DoD guidelines for temperature testing, social distancing to the greatest extent possible, and the wearing of masks when social distancing is not possible. The Marine Corps remains operationally ready to answer the Nation’s call.
Updated
Senator Elizabeth Warren had this to say ahead of the Pence-Harris debate tonight:
Make no mistake: Mike Pence will lie about coronavirus on the debate stage tonight.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 7, 2020
He’s done it before, saying we made "remarkable progress" while cases spiraled out of control.
Here’s a reminder of what @KamalaHarris will have to deal with tonight: pic.twitter.com/4wlUMskdZT
Another look at Regeneron’s stock after Trump’s video:
Regeneron stock jumped more than 14 points in after hours trading in the minutes after the president posted his video calling its experimental antibodies a cure. https://t.co/RW4YIdoYzK pic.twitter.com/3iVPmoaCeL
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 7, 2020
GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has appeared on Lou Dobbs’ meanwhile, a week after she tested positive for coronavirus.
A reminder that Dobbs is the journalist who tweeted, shortly after the drive Trump took (and by took, I mean that he was driven by one person and had another accompanying him in the car) past fans outside Walter reed, that the president was “A bad patient, but a great leader.”
Dobbs asks McDaniel whether she has “any special treatments” she wanted to credit with feeling well enough to appear on his show.
McDaniel, who suffers from asthma, names steroids as having been particularly helpful.
She outlines what we might be able to expect from Pence in tonight’s debate:
Holding Them Accountable: @GOPChairwoman lays out the issues Vice President Pence should ask Kamala Harris during tonight’s debate. #AmericaFirst #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/kbyZHIdYB7
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 7, 2020
When interviewed a short while ago on Fox news, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would not answer the very simple question of when Trump’s last negative test was, which suggests that Trump has not tested negative since testing positive.
Nonetheless, Trump has returned to the Oval Office.
As CNN’s Jake Tapper points out, the gamble they’re making here is that refusing to answer the question will be less damaging than answering it honestly:
The way this generally works is: politicians don’t answer easy questions — even when the constant refusal to answer becomes a news story in itself — when the answer is more damaging than the obvious stonewalling. https://t.co/78gaoZpMX5
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 7, 2020
Vice president Mike Pence will be debating Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in two hours’ time:
The person this video is not a gift for is Pence. https://t.co/PJUQUt3Cvd
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 7, 2020
Updated
The New York Times reports that Trump’s video was released “a day after aides scrapped a possible live nationwide address by Mr. Trump to show him firmly in command”.
In the video, which was meant to have been released yesterday, Trump refers to himself as having been released from Walter Reed a day ago – when it was, as of his posting it now, two days ago.
WH chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters the video, in which POTUS said he was released from the hospital yesterday, was shot today.
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) October 7, 2020
In the video Trump also promises to make the treatment he received free for everyone in the US, which communications director for the House Appropriations Committee Evan Hollander points out is not possible without new legislation:
This is all a lie. Without new legislation, the Trump administration cannot make Covid-19 treatment available for free.
— Evan Hollander (@evandhollander) October 7, 2020
If Trump & the GOP want Americans to get the care they need without bankrupting their families, they need to pass the #HeroesAct. https://t.co/kFQ0hS9qrB
Trump has ties to founder of company that made treatment he touted as 'cure'
News that the president has been treated with Regeneron’s experimental cocktail – which Trump called a “cure” for the virus in the video just posted – caused the company’s stock to rise sharply.
Donald Trump has ties to Regeneron’s CEO, Dr. Leonard Schleifer, who is a member of the president’s golf club in Westchester.
Schleifer’s company received $450m in government funding this summer as part of the president’s program to encourage the development of a vaccine and treatment. Trump owned shares of Regeneron and Gilead Sciences – maker of the antiviral remdesivir, which the president is also said to be taking – per his 2017 filing with the Office of Government Ethics. Neither holdings were listed on the president’s most recent filing.
Updated
Trump describes catching coronavirus as 'a blessing in disguise'
In a video posted from outside the Oval Office, to which Trump has returned against the CDC’s isolation guidelines, the US President describes having contracted coronavirus, the disease that has in just under ten months killed more than 210,000 Americans and over a 1,052,269 people worldwide, as “a blessing in disguise”.
“It was a blessing from God. It was a blessing in disguise that I caught it,” Trump says.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
In the video he also repeatedly describes the treatment he received, Regeneron, as a “cure” for the disease. There is no known cure for coronavirus.
“They’re going to say it’s Some people don’t know how to define therapeutic. For me, it’s a cure,” he says, and adds that he wants everyone to receive the same treatment he received – as he laments the FDA taking too long to approve experimental treatments.
“I feel great. I feel like, perfect,” says Trump.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you key Covid-related Trump developments as well as global news.
As always, it would be great to hear from you on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
As Trump describes coronavirus as “a blessing in disguise” in a video celebrating his return to the White House, Brazil is nearing 150,000 deaths. The country has passed five million cases, according to the health ministry, after another 31,553 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in the last 24 hours.
The country’s total stands at 5,000,694, with 148,228 deaths confirmed.
- Italy confirms swab tests for travellers from four countries, including the UK, following growing concerns about rising cases across Europe, and makes face masks compulsory outdoors. Swab tests for Covid-19 will be compulsory for people travelling from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, the health minister Roberto Speranza said on Wednesday.
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France Covid-19 hospitalisations at a three-month high and new cases at an all-time high. French health authorities reported 18,746 new confirmed Covid-19 cases over 24 hours on Wednesday, a new all-time daily high, and almost double of Tuesday’s tally of 10,489. More than 7,500 patients are being treated in hospital for Covid-19, marking a three-month high and an increase of more than 65% versus a 29 August low point of 4,530.
- Brussels closes cafes and bars in new virus curbs. All bars, cafes and event halls in Brussels have been told they must shut down for at least a month as of 7am on Thursday as the Belgian capital went beyond recently tightened national restrictions in Belgium.
- Top US immunologist quits health role over Trump Covid response. The ousted director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine has quit his post at the National Institutes of Health, charging that the Trump administration “ignores scientific expertise, overrules public health guidance and disrespects career scientists”.
- Scotland’s pubs banned from serving alcohol inside for 16 days. First minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a nationwide ban on drinking indoors in licensed premises in Scotland for more than two weeks, with a full shutdown of all premises across the central belt where infection rates are accelerating most rapidly
- Berlin nightlife given first curfew in 70 years as Covid cases surge. Berlin’s nightlife is facing a closing time for the first time in 70 years as the party-loving German capital seeks to contain spiralling coronavirus infection rates.
- Italy tops 3,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since April. Italy’s coronavirus infections jumped by 1,000 to 3,678 on Wednesday – the highest daily tally since the middle of April. There were 31 new fatalities, bringing the total to 36,061. The country made it mandatory to wear face masks outdoors nationwide.
- Singapore to offer baby bonus as people put plans on hold in Covid crisis. Singapore plans to offer a one-off payment to encourage couples to have a baby during the coronavirus pandemic, fearing that the economic impact of the outbreak is worsening the city state’s already low birth rate.
