We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
An estimated 6m small businesses in the UK supporting 16.6m jobs are in a financially precarious position as a result of the pandemic, a London business school has warned.
Nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs felt their business might not survive the pressures of Covid-19, while more than half predicted they would run out of money within the next 12 months, according to the new study from King’s Business School:
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The World Health Organization’s coronavirus dashboard showed a third consecutive daily record high in the number of new confirmed cases. Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
- The WHO chief warned against “vaccine nationalism”, calling for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine, as the number of cases soared across the world. In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,“It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first but if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively. And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries.”
- Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June, a day after the state delayed the easing of restrictions because of a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
- France registered 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, following a record 45,422 on Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It also said that 116 people had died from coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, compared to from 137 on Saturday, taking the total confirmed death toll to 34,761.
- An official from China’s Xinjiang health commission said that 137 new asymptomatic cases have been detected in the region. All of the new cases were linked to a garment factory.
- The United States saw 83,718 new cases reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the record 83,757 infections reported on Friday.
- The prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte announced a raft of new restrictions and warned that the country’s escalating coronavirus infection rate was already having a worrying impact on hospitals. Italy reported a new daily record of 21,273 coronavirus cases with 128 deaths, health ministry figures showed on Sunday, up from the 19,644 new infections reported on Saturday.
- Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has declared a new nationwide state of emergency in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections. He said: “The reality is that Europe and Spain are immersed in a second wave of the pandemic.”
- The number of new coronavirus cases in the Netherlands has risen by more than 10,000 in 24 hours, according to newly released official data.
- The US’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told the BBC that he expected news on whether a vaccine is safe and effective by December, but noted that a wide rollout was unlikely “until the second or third quarter of [next] year”. He also acknowledged that Donald Trump’s public statements on several key issues had not “followed the science”.
- In Indonesia, the health ministry reported 3,732 new coronavirus infections, and 94 deaths, bringing the totals to 389,712 cases and 13,299 deaths – the highest totals in south-east Asia.
- In Hungary, there were 3,149 new cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday, the highest single-day tally and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
- The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas in the United States said it was “extremely disappointed” after the Trump administration pulled out of a deal offering the Christmas legends early access to a Covid-19 vaccine in exchange for promoting it.
Slovakia’s pilot testing in coronavirus hotspots attracted tens of thousands people over the weekend, showing an infection rate of 3.87%, government data showed on Sunday.
The government plans to widen the scope to the whole country next weekend and hopes the antigen tests, along with a partial lockdown, can help curbing a sharp rise in infections, Reuters reports.
Slovakia’s testing campaign to cover most of its population and its results will likely draw the attention of other countries, including the neighbouring Czech Republic, which has been struggling with Europe’s fastest surge of the epidemic.
As of 5pm local time on Sunday, health workers had done 136,904 tests with 5,298 positive results, the government’s website showed.
The tests were administered between Friday and Sunday at around 235 sites in four northern regions that are home to about 180,000 people.
In some locations, many people even showed up who live outside the designated regions, local media reported.
“Thanks to the effort of all the involved staff and the responsibility of people who participated, the pilot phase of the country-wide testing has proven successful,” prime minister Igor Matovic’s party OLANO said.
The government offered an incentive to take part in the tests, offering less stringent rules to those with negative results, while those not participating face a stricter lockdown regime including a ban on commuting to work.
President Zuzana Caputova has questioned the idea of sanctions slapped on those not participating in tests declared as voluntary.
In the regular tests done since the pandemic started, Slovakia reported a record 3,042 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections to 43,843.
Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of the new coronavirus for the first time since June, a day after the state delayed the easing of restrictions because of a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
The 5 million residents of Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital, have been placed under a hard lockdown since July to contain the spread of the virus, shutting down businesses and restricting people’s movements.
The city was just emerging from a second wave after the lockdown helped bring down daily cases to single digits in recent days from a peak of 700 in early August.
But clusters in five suburbs had sparked fears of a new outbreak.
Australia has so far recorded just over 27,500 coronavirus infections, far fewer than many other developed countries.
Victoria, which accounts for more than 90% of the 905 deaths nationally, did not record any new deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours.
Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov said on Sunday he had a “general malaise” after testing positive for coronavirus and would stay at home for now for any treatment, as recommended by his doctors.
The government press office said Borissov was able to carry out his duties and was in constant contact with his ministers as the Balkan country grapples with a spike in new coronavirus infections and daily anti-government protests since July, Reuters reports.
Borissov had self-isolated late on Friday after he was informed that a deputy minister who he had been in contact with five days ago had tested positive.
Health authorities lifted Borissov’s quarantine late on Saturday after two negative results from coronavirus tests, but then he tested positive on Sunday.
“After two PCR tests, as of today I am positive with Covid-19,” the 61-year-old said on Facebook.
“I have a general malaise. For the moment, on the doctors’ discretion, I remain on home treatment.”
It was not immediately clear if he was already receiving a specific treatment. He said he had postponed all meetings and planned public appearances for the coming days.
In a response to wishes for a speedy recovery from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Twitter, Borissov wrote back: “Thank you. I hope to recover soon. And in the meantime I will strictly follow the orders of the health authorities.”
Updated
A further 76 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 31,819, NHS England said on Sunday.
Patients were aged between 43 and 100.
All except three, aged between 71 and 83, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths occurred between 28 August 28 and 24 October, with the majority being on or after 21 October, NHS England said.
One other death was reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
WHO chief warns against "vaccine nationalism"
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday called for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine, as the number of cases soared across the world.
In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the only way to recover from the pandemic was together and by making sure poorer countries had fair access to a vaccine.
“It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first but if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively. And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries,” he said.
“Let me be clear: vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.”
Scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, which has killed over 1.1 million people globally.
Several dozen vaccine candidates are currently being tested in clinical trials, ten of which are in the most advanced “phase 3” stage involving tens of thousands of volunteers, AFP reports.
The European Union, the US, Britain, Japan and a slew of other nations have already placed large orders with the companies involved in developing the most promising vaccines.
But concerns are growing that countries with smaller wallets could be left at the back of the queue.
The WHO has launched an international scheme known as Covax to help ensure equitable access to jabs, but it has struggled to raise the funds needed.
France sees new record as daily infections climb over 50,000 mark
France registered 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, following a record 45,422 on Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It also said that 116 people had died from coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, compared to from 137 on Saturday, taking the total confirmed death toll to 34,761.
The new cases brought the total to 1,138,507, putting France now ahead of Argentina and Spain to become the country with the world’s fifth highest number of cases, after the US, India, Brazil and Russia.
Updated
Turkish Airlines will be putting foreign national pilots on unpaid leave to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its finances, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Turkey’s national carrier informed some of its foreign crew staff by email that they are to go on leave from 1 November, and that the decision would be reviewed after six months.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many pilots will be affected, and whether Turkish nationals would escape the cost saving measure.
A spokesman for Turk Hava Yollari AO, as the airline is officially known, declined to comment.
The company reported a loss of 2.23bn liras ($280m) in the second quarter, with passenger numbers down by almost two thirds this year.
Israel will begin human trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by a research institute overseen by the Defence Ministry on 1 November after receiving regulatory approval.
The Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) began animal trials for its “BriLife” vaccine in March.
The health ministry and an oversight committee have now given the green light to take it to the next stage.
Eighty volunteers aged between 18 and 55 will be monitored for three weeks to see if virus antibodies develop, the ministry said in a statement.
A second phase, expected to begin in December, will involve 960 people over the age of 18, Reuters reports.
Should those succeed, a third, large-scale phase with 30,000 volunteers is scheduled for April or May 2021.
If successful, the vaccine may then be approved for mass use.
The vaccine, the ministry said, has already tested well on a number of animal models and the IIBR has produced more than 25,000 doses for the first and second phases of the clinical trials.
“Our final goal is 15 million rations for the residents of the State of Israel and for our close neighbours,” said IIBR director Shmuel Shapira.
There are no internationally approved vaccines yet, but several are in advanced trials, including from Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna.
Israel, with a population of 9 million, has begun easing a second nationwide coronavirus lockdown after a steady decline in the rate of daily infections.
The country saw 692 new cases on Saturday - down from a peak of more than 9,000 several weeks ago.
It has reported 2,372 deaths from the pandemic.
The US saw its highest ever number of new coronavirus cases in the past two days, keeping the pandemic a top election issue as Vice president Mike Pence travels the country to campaign despite close aides testing positive.
The US reported 79,852 new infections on Saturday, close to the previous day’s record of 84,244 new cases, as we reported earlier.
Hospitalisations are also rising and have hit a two-month high and deaths are trending upwards, according to a Reuters tally.
So far in October, 29 states have set records for increases in new cases, including five considered key in the 3 November presidential election: Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Hospitals are strained in several states including North Dakota, which is the hardest hit based on recent new cases per capita, according to Reuters.
The city of El Paso in Texas is asking residents to stay at home for the next two weeks and the wider El Paso County closed its parks and recreational facilities for 14 days.
Over the last three weeks, the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients in the El Paso area has tripled to a record 786, according to state data.
“If we continue on this trend, we risk detrimental effects to our entire healthcare system,” the city’s public health director, Angela Mora, said in a statement.
“For the sake of those hospitalised and the frontline healthcare workers working tirelessly each day to care for them, we ask you to please stay home for two weeks and eliminate your interactions with those outside your household until we can flatten the curve.”
The Czech government will almost certainly have to tighten its anti-coronavirus measures again as current curbs have not halted a surge in infections, prime minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday.
Cases are up across Europe, but the Czech Republic has recorded the sharpest rises in infections on the continent in recent weeks, Reuters reports.
The government on Wednesday ordered most shops and services to close and sought to limit movement to essential trips only.
“The measures which we have taken, aren’t working yet,” Babis said in a video message on his Facebook page.
“The next week will be the key one, and unless a miracle happens, we won’t have any other choice than to tighten our measures further,” he said.
Babis said that he wanted Christmas to be celebrated as normal, but that he could not promise anything for now.
“I don’t know what will happen with the virus. I don’t know,” he said.
The total number of coronavirus-related deaths doubled to more than 2,000 over the last two weeks.
The Philippines’ coronavirus tally surpassed 370,000 on Sunday with 2,223 new confirmed infections, while the death toll edged nearer to the 7,000-mark.
The department of health said confirmed cases now stand at 370,028 in total, of which 35,015 or nine percent are active cases.
Of these currently ill patients, 82% experience mild symptoms, 11.3% have no symptoms, 2.4% are severe cases, while 4.2% are in critical condition, the latest report detailed.
The department clarified, however, that 16 laboratories were not able to submit their case reports on time and were not yet included in the latest count.
The Philippines is now joining countries such as the United States, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Finland in starting to train specialist sniffer dogs to identify Covid-19 carriers, CNN Philippines reports.
“Based on the study from other countries, the accuracy rate of Covid-19 detection dogs is 95 to 97%,” said Ryia Tabares, a representative of Universal K-9 Training and Services Inc, the company working to replicate the same efforts in the country.
His colleage Gerry Tabares said the company is currently training at least 12 dogs to detect the virus by sniffing.
Gerry said while such a task isn’t limited to certain kinds of dogs, their students are of the Belgian Malinois, Labrador, and German Shepherd breeds.
“Those are the current breeds that we are training right now. So far, we are successful,” Gerry said.
“As you can see in the demonstration, they can really detect the face masks of Covid-19 infected patients.”
Updated
The UK recorded 19,790 new coronavirus infections and 151 deaths on Sunday, official data showed.
New cases dipped from Saturday’s 23,012, and the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test was also down slightly from 174 the previous day.
The Welsh government will review the “understanding, clarity and policy” of a ban on supermarkets selling non-essential items during the firebreak lockdown.
Health minister Vaughan Gething told The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the restriction, which has seen aisles cordoned off and plastic sheeting placed over products, had been applied differently in stores across Wales.
Guidance previously published by the Welsh government said certain sections of supermarkets selling electrical goods, clothes, toys and games, garden products and dedicated sections for homewares, among others products, must be “cordoned off or emptied, and closed to the public” during the lockdown.
More than 50,000 people have signed a petition submitted to the Welsh Parliament calling for the ban to be immediately reversed.
Supermarkets have been told they must only sell essential items to discourage people from spending more time than necessary in shops and be fair to retailers selling non-essential items only who had to shut shop.
Photograph: Matthew Horwood
The ban on selling non-essential items was announced in the Senedd on Thursday after Conservative MS Russell George said it was “unfair” to force independent clothing and hardware retailers to shut while similar goods were on sale in major supermarkets.
Gething told the BBC the Welsh government had worked with supermarkets on the ban and discussed which items were affected by it.
“It’s also about reducing the opportunity for contacts. That’s what we’re really trying to do – we’re asking people to stay at home to stay lives, that really is right back where we are,” he said.
The Welsh Retail Consortium called for the ban to be “dropped quickly” and warned it could result in the “safe flow of customers” being undermined due to changes in store layouts, the PA reports.
Updated
Italy reported a new daily record of 21,273 coronavirus cases with 128 deaths, health ministry figures showed on Sunday, up from the 19,644 new infections reported on Saturday.
Earlier, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, announced a package of new restrictions to combat the pandemic.
Updated
Hello everyone, I’ll be bringing you the latest key developments in all things Covid-19 for the next few hours. As ever, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have relevant updates or comments to share, either via Twitter @JedySays or via email.
I won’t always be able to respond, but I read everything.
Summary of key events
That’s it from me this Sunday - my colleague Jedidajah Otte will take over shortly. Here’s a summary of events so far today:
•The World Health Organization’s coronavirus dashboard showed a third consecutive daily record high in the number of new confirmed cases. Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
•An official from China’s Xinjiang health commission said that 137 new asymptomatic cases have been detected in the region. All of the new cases were linked to a garment factory.
•The United States saw 83,718 new cases reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the reord 83,757 infections reported on Friday.
•The prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte announced a raft of new restrictions and warned that the country’s escalating coronavirus infection rate was already having a worrying impact on hospitals.
•Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has declared a new nationwide state of emergency in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections. He said: “The reality is that Europe and Spain are immersed in a second wave of the pandemic.”
•The number of new coronavirus cases in the Netherlands has risen by more than 10,000 in 24 hours, according to newly released official data.
•The US’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told the BBC that he expected news on whether a vaccine is safe and effective by December, but noted that a wide rollout was unlikely “until the second or third quarter of [next] year”. He also acknowledged that Donald Trump’s public statements on several key issues had not “followed the science”.
•In Indonesia, the health ministry reported 3,732 new coronavirus infections, and 94 deaths, bringing the totals to 389,712 cases and 13,299 deaths – the highest totals in south-east Asia.
•In Hungary, there were 3,149 new cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday, the highest single-day tally and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
•The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas in the United States said it was “extremely disappointed” after the Trump administration pulled out of a deal offering the Christmas legends early access to a Covid-19 vaccine in exchange for promoting it.
137 new asymptomatic cases in Xinjiang, China
Earlier reports from Kashgar in the Chinese province of Xinjiang described flights being cancelled in and out of the region, with 15 new cases across the country and 405 asymptomatic patients under observation.
Now an official from Xinjiang health commission has said that 137 new asymptomatic cases have been detected in the region.
All of the new cases were linked to a garment factory. The parents of a 17-year-old girl who was found on Saturday to have the virus but showed no symptoms worked there, an official from Xinjiang health commission told a press briefing.
Kashgar launched a testing programme on Saturday night covering the region’s 4.75 million people. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 2.84 million people had been tested and the rest would be covered by Tuesday, the city government said in a statement.
Four towns in the Kashgar region were identified as “high-risk” areas, according to a statement from Kashgar city authority on Sunday night, and stringent controls such as travel restrictions are expected.
1,104 new cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 42,681.
Public Health Wales said five further deaths had been reported, with the total rising to 1,777.
The Welsh government has imposed a 17-day “firebreak” lockdown which started on Friday in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
Updated
Bulgaria’s prime minister, Boiko Borisov, has become the latest political figure to test positive for the new coronavirus.
“After two PCR tests from today I am positive for Covid-19,” he said on his Facebook page, adding that he had mild symptoms and would quarantine at home.
Borisov, 61, self-isolated on Friday evening when a deputy minister of regional development he had been in contact with five days before tested positive for the virus.
Bulgaria, a country of under 7 million people, weathered the first wave of the coronavirus relatively well, but the number of cases and hospitalisations surged over the past weeks, reaching a total of over 37,500 cases and 1,084 deaths on Sunday.
On Thursday, the government made masks mandatory in crowded outdoor spaces, in addition to all inside public areas and transport in a bid to curb the number of infections that threaten to break the country’s severely understaffed medical system.
Updated
Global cases reach new record for third day in a row
The World Health Organization’s coronavirus dashboard on Sunday showed a third consecutive daily record high in the number of new confirmed cases.
AFP reports that the WHO’s complete figures for Saturday showed that 465,319 cases were confirmed to the UN health agency during the day, topping the 449,720 recorded on Friday and the 437,247 logged on Thursday.
The WHO has warned that some countries are on a “dangerous track”, with too many witnessing an exponential increase in cases.
According to the WHO’s figures, there have been more than 42.3 million confirmed cases of the respiratory disease, while nearly 1.15 million people have lost their lives, including 6,570 on Saturday.
Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
In total, more than 9m cases have now been registered in the region.
“We are at a critical juncture in this pandemic, particularly in the northern hemisphere,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. “The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track.”
Qatar has signed an agreement with drugmaker Moderna Inc to buy its potential Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it is approved and released for global use, state news agency QNA reported on Sunday.
There are no internationally approved vaccines yet, but several are in advanced trials, including from Pfizer Inc , Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
“Negotiating early and securing a number of agreements enhances our chances of getting sufficient quantities of the vaccine early,” Reuters quoted Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of a national Covid-19 health group, as saying.
He did not say how many doses Doha was requesting. Earlier this month, al-Khal said Qatar signed an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to supply Qatar with their vaccines.
Moderna said last month it was on track to produce 20m doses of its vaccine by the end of the year, while maintaining its goal of readying 500 million to 1 billion doses in 2021.
Updated
One of the more surprising headlines of the day comes from the Wall Street Journal in the United States: Health Agency Halts Coronavirus Ad Campaign, Leaving Santa Claus in the Cold.
The WSJ reports that the Trump administration offered Santa Claus performers a deal: if they agreed to promote a Covid-19 vaccine, they would get early access to it. The story says that performers playing Mrs Claus or elves would also have been included. But the plan has now been called off.
The article continues:
Ric Erwin, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, called the news “extremely disappointing”, adding: “this was our greatest hope for Christmas 2020, and now it looks like it won’t happen.”
You can read more of this belter at the Wall Street Journal (although it’s behind a paywall).
Updated
Hospitals in the Swiss city of Geneva on Sunday issued a call for medically trained volunteers and recently retired staff to help tackle a record number of Coronavirus patients anticipated in the coming days.
AFP reported that Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) said the number of coronavirus patients was expected to be “far higher” than at the peak of the pandemic’s first wave in March.
According to the latest figures released Friday by the Swiss health ministry, 5,057 new cases of the respiratory disease were registered in Geneva over the previous 14 days - an incidence of 1,012.5 per 100,000 people.
Cases, hospitalisations and deaths in Switzerland have doubled from one week to the next throughout October.
The government is expected to decide Wednesday on new measures to control the spread of the virus.
“It is highly likely that the peak of 550 hospitalised Covid-positive patients that we recorded during the first wave will be greatly exceeded in the coming days,” said HUG director-general Bertrand Levrat.
“We anticipate that the number of beds and professionals needed to treat Covid and non-Covid patients will be far higher than what we experienced this spring.”
•This post was corrected at 3:25pm. A previous version said that Geneva is Switzerland’s capital.
Updated
Still in the UK, NHS chiefs have denied claims that thousands of frail, elderly people were denied potentially life-saving care at the peak of the pandemic, Denis Campbell reports:
NHS England took the unusual step on Sunday of issuing a 12-page rebuttal to allegations in the Sunday Times that patients deemed unlikely to survive were “written off” by being refused intensive care.
Prof Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said: “These untrue claims will be deeply offensive to NHS doctors, nurses, therapists and paramedics, who have together cared for more than 110,000 severely ill hospitalised Covid-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic, as they continue to do today. The Sunday Times’ assertions are simply not borne out by the facts.”
The newspaper claimed that the high coronavirus infection rate in the UK before lockdown began on 23 March and the NHS’s limited supply of mechanical ventilators going into the pandemic meant that “the government, the NHS and many doctors were forced into taking controversial decisions – choosing which lives to save, which patients to treat and who to prioritise – in order to protect hospitals”.
You can read the story in full here:
In the UK, the Royal Mail has announced that around 33,000 temporary jobs will be available this year over the Christmas period - over 10,000 more than its usual seasonal average.
The postal service typically employs between 15,000 and 23,000 extra staff between October and January to help sort the additional Christmas volumes of parcels, cards and letters.
Royal Mail says that such a high number of workers is needed this year because of elevated parcel volumes due to an increase in online shopping caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The United States came close to setting a single-day record of coronavirus cases in the latest figures, having already done so 24 hours earlier.
Data published by Johns Hopkins University showed that 83,718 new cases were reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the 83,757 infections reported on Friday. Before that, the most cases reported in the US on a single day had been 77,362 on 16 July.
Read more on that story here:
Updated
In Italy, Conte also said that taking strict measures now would allow for a relaxation before Christmas. “We think that we will suffer a bit this month but by gritting our teeth with these restrictions, we’ll be able to breathe again in December,” he said.
Updated
Italian PM announces new restrictions
Italy’s prime minister has now given his press conference (see earlier post) announcing new restrictive measures and warning that the country’s escalating coronavirus infection rate was already having a worrying impact on hospitals.
Giuseppe Conte’s government has ordered the closure of gyms and swimming pools, and while bars and restaurants can offer takeaway services they must stop in-house dining from 6pm. Cinemas and theatres will also close but museums will stay open.
There will be no ban on inter-regional travel, although people have been strongly advised not to leave their homes unless for work, health or education purposes. Up to 75% of high school teaching should be done online to limit the number of pupils in schools, according to the new decree.
“The latest epidemiological data cannot leave us indifferent,” Conte said. “The analysis indicates a rapid growth, with the stress on the national health system at worrying levels.”
Italy’s daily infection tally has increased five-fold since 8 October, rising by 19,644 on Saturday. There were 151 more fatalities on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 37,210, the highest on mainland Europe.
Conte said the new measures were intended to avert the kind of tough lockdown the country experienced in the spring. “We need to do as much as possible to protect health and the economy … we know this is generating anger and inequality,” he said.
Updated
Still in Spain, Sánchez said that his government will use the state of emergency to impose an 11pm-6am nationwide curfew, except in the Canary Islands.
The prime minister says that Spain’s 19 regional leaders will have authority to set different hours for the curfew as long as they are stricter, close regional borders to travel and limit gatherings to six people who don’t live together.
“The reality is that Europe and Spain are immersed in a second wave of the pandemic,” Sánchez said after meeting with his Cabinet.
The leader added that he will seek the endorsement of the Parliament this week to extend the state of emergency for six months, until May.
Updated
Spain declares new state of emergency
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has declared a new nationwide state of emergency (see earlier post) in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections.
The Socialist leader told the nation in a televised address that the extraordinary measure will go into effect on Sunday, AP reported.
Sánchez had called a cabinet meeting to prepare the measure, a move that could impose curfews and other restrictions across the country.
The state of emergency gives the national government extraordinary powers, including the ability to temporarily restrict basic freedoms guaranteed in Spain’s constitution such as the right to free movement.
Spain this week became the first European country to surpass 1m officially recorded Covid-19 cases. But Sánchez admitted on Friday in a nationally televised address that the true figure could be more than 3m, due to gaps in testing and other factors.
Updated
Coronavirus cases in Netherlands rise by more than 10,000
The number of new coronavirus cases in the Netherlands has risen by more than 10,000 in 24 hours, according to newly released official data.
The National Institute for Public Health reported 10,203 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The daily case count in the country has risen steeply since the beginning of September. This is the first time the figure has been above 10,000.
The Dutch government imposed partial lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus on 14 October, including the closure of all bars and restaurants in the country.
Updated
Here’s a clip of Anthony Fauci’s interview with Andrew Marr which we reported on earlier.
Summary of latest events
Here’s a summary of the key developments of the last few hours.
•The US’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told the BBC that he expected news on whether a vaccine is safe and effective by December, but noted that a wide rollout was unlikely “until the second or third quarter of [next] year”. He also acknowledged that Donald Trump’s public statements on several key issues had not “followed the science”.
•In Indonesia, the health ministry reported 3,732 new coronavirus infections, and 94 deaths, bringing the totals to 389,712 cases and 13,299 deaths – the highest totals in south-east Asia.
•In Hungary, there were 3,149 new cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday, the highest single-day tally and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
•The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, called a cabinet meeting on Sunday to prepare a new state of emergency to stem surging coronavirus infections.
•In Italy, the government was reported to have agreed a raft of new measures to combat the spread of the virus, with prime minister Giuseppe Conte due to make a statement at 1.30pm local time.
•In Poland’s capital, Warsaw, police detained 278 people on Saturday after thousands protested against new curbs aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.
•In the UK, Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has rejected calls for Dido Harding, who runs the government’s much-criticised test and trace programme, to resign. He also said the government was reviewing the length of the 14-day isolation period for travellers coming to the UK from abroad.
Updated
A second firebreak lockdown could be required in Wales by January or February next year, Wales’ deputy minister for economy and transport has said.
Lee Waters said the Welsh government was trying to “flatten the curve” of the second wave of Covid-19 but could not stop the virus from spreading entirely.
Waters told BBC Wales’ Sunday Supplement: “This is not the last lockdown we’re likely to see. I think the projections in the papers we’ve published on our worst-case scenarios shows it’s likely we’re going to need to have another firebreak in January or February.
“It’s important that we can show that we are being rational, we’re being evidence-based and we are being transparent. We are trying our best to do that.”
Earlier, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that the Cardiff government will review the “understanding, clarity and policy” of a ban on supermarkets selling non-essential items.
“We’re reviewing with supermarkets the understanding and the clarity and the policy because there’s been different application in different parts,” he said.
Waters echoed those remarks, saying: “We’re going to sit down with the supermarkets to review how this has gone over the weekend.
“We’re not reviewing the requirement for supermarkets not to sell non-essential, we’re going to review how it’s working in practice because clearly there are some bumps.”
Updated
The government in Italy has now agreed on measures (see 10:01am) to limit the spread of coronavirus, reports in Italy suggested.
Prime minister Giuseppe Conte is due to make a statement at 1:30pm local time.
Reuters said that measures agreed between Conte’s government and regional authorities ordered bars and restaurants to close by 6pm and shut public gyms, cinemas and swimming pools.
The decree encourages people not to go out and to limit contacts at home with anyone outside their immediate family, but does not impose a mandatory nationwide curfew or lockdown and allows shops and most businesses to remain open.
However, service in bars and restaurants will be subject to a series of controls to limit contagion, and cinemas, theatres, gaming halls and discotheques will be closed.
The decree also directs that up to three-quarters of high school teaching should be done online to limit the number of pupils in school buildings.
Updated
Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah rejected on Sunday a proposal by prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin for him to declare a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis, saying that he did not see the need.
Critics say Muhyiddin’s request for emergency rule, which would include suspending parliament, is an attempt by the premier to stay in power amid a leadership challenge.
Malaysia is experiencing a resurgence in virus infections and on Saturday saw its biggest daily jump in cases with 1,228 new cases, Reuters reported.
The palace said Muhyiddin made the request for emergency rule to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, but that the government has been handling the crisis well.
“Al-Sultan Abdullah is of the opinion that there is no need at the moment for His Majesty to declare an emergency in the country or in any part of the country of Malaysia,” the palace said in a statement.
“His Majesty is confident in the ability of the government under the leadership of the prime minister to continue to implement policies and enforcement efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The constitution gives the king the right to decide if an emergency should be declared, based on threats to security, economy or public order.
Muhyiddin has been in a precarious position since he took office in March with a two-seat majority. Uncertainties deepened after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said last month he had the parliamentary majority to form a new government.
Updated
In Poland’s capital Warsaw, police detained 278 people on Saturday after thousands protested against new curbs aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, a police spokesman said.
Police said demonstrators had attacked policemen, throwing stones, glass bottles and fire crackers during the demonstrations. Police used tear gas on several occasions during the protests in Warsaw in which people demanded that new restrictions be repealed.
“We have 278 detainees … We were dealing with a clear manifestation of aggression, these people came to fight us,” Warsaw police spokesman Sylwester Marczak told reporters on Sunday, according to Reuters.
The demonstrations also broke a ban on gatherings of more than five people, which came into effect on Saturday as part of new measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite the ban on gatherings, Poland also separately continued to see demonstrations on Saturday against a ruling on Thursday by the Constitutional Tribunal that imposes a near-total ban on abortion in the Catholic country.
Poland is seeing a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, with new infections on Friday hitting a daily record of 13,632.
New curbs imposed on Saturday include a two-week shutdown of restaurants and bars. Schools will remain open for children up to third grade, with older students moving to distance learning. Older people can leave their homes only in special cases.
The health ministry reported 87 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, taking the total death toll from Covid-19 to 4,438. The country recorded 11,742 new cases on Sunday, with total infections approaching 253,700.
Updated
France’s new Covid-19 contact-tracing app needs to be downloaded by at least 20% of the population to be effective but is far from reaching that level for now, the minister for digital affairs said on Sunday.
On 22 October, France relaunched its “StopCovid” tracing app and renamed it “Tous Anti-Covid” (all against Covid), which has since seen an additional 1.2m downloads for a total number of about 4m.
“For the application to be efficient, about 20% of the population, or 15 to 20 million people, need to download it,” digital affairs minister Cedric O said on FranceInfo radio, according to Reuters.
He said similar apps were working well in Britain, Germany and Canada but gave no examples of successful contact tracing in France with the app.
Many in France have been reluctant to download the app over privacy concerns, despite the government’s reassurances that the data will not be used for any other purpose than stopping the pandemic.
Updated
Spain prepares for third state of emergency
The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called a cabinet meeting on Sunday to prepare a new state of emergency to stem surging coronavirus infections, a move that could impose curfews and other restrictions across the country.
AP reported that Sánchez’s government said on Saturday night that a majority of Spain’s regional leaders have agreed to a new state of emergency and the meeting on Sunday was to study its terms.
The state of emergency gives the national government extraordinary powers, including the ability to temporarily restrict basic freedoms guaranteed in Spain’s constitution such as the right to free movement.
Spain’s government has already declared two state of emergencies during the pandemic. Health minister Salvador Illa has said his agency and regional health officials are studying how to apply nightly curfewssimilar to the curfews already in place in France’s major cities.
Spain this week became the first European country to surpass 1m officially recorded Covid-19 cases. But Sánchez admitted on Friday in a nationally televised address that the true figure could be more than 3m, due to gaps in testing and other factors.
Spain on Friday reported almost 20,000 new daily cases and a further 231 deaths, taking the country’s death toll in the pandemic to 34,752.
Updated
In Hungary, there were 3,149 new cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday, the highest single-day tally and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
The total number of cases rose to 59,247 in the country of 10 million, with 35 new deaths taking the total to 1,425, Reuters reports.
Although coronavirus cases have been rising sharply since late August, Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking to avoid a repeat of the spring lockdown that sent the economy crashing by 13.6% in the second quarter.
Hungarian schools are operating as normal, and apart from closing borders to foreigners, the government has not imposed significant limitations on events.
Orban’s cabinet chief Gergely Gulyas said on Thursday that the government planned no new restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
In Italy, the government has been accused of “playing with fire” ahead of the announcement of new Covid-19 restrictions that will heavily penalise the hospitality industry.
Hospitality workers will protest outside parliament on Sunday as ministers debate measures that could include the closure of bars and restaurants from 6pm.
Prime minister Giuseppe Conte is expected to announce the restrictions, which might also include the closure of gyms and swimming pools, on Sunday afternoon. People will be “strongly advised” not to travel beyond their home towns unless strictly necessary, according to a draft of the decree.
The plan to close restaurants and bars from 6pm has been hotly contested by regional administrations.
“We ask that they close us down completely and give us the famous financial support that Conte keeps talking about,” said Paolo Bianchini, a restaurant owner in the Lazio town of Viterbo and spokesperson for MIO, the hospitality movement organising the protest.
“It’s useless staying open at all, and being left to have an agonising death – our companies are dying. There will be civil war as people no longer have money – [the government] is playing with fire.”
There were clashes between protesters and police in the southern city of Naples on Friday night after a curfew was imposed across the whole Campania region. Dozens of militants belonging to the extreme right group, Forza Nuova, also clashed with police on Saturday night in central Rome in response to a Lazio-wide curfew also in place since Friday.
Italy registered 19,644 new coronavirus infections and 151 more fatalities on Saturday. The virus is rapidly spreading in Lombardy, Campania and Lazio. There are 1,128 people currently in intensive care with Covid-19 across the country, more than double the figure of two weeks ago.
Updated
Fauci: Trump is not following the science on coronavirus
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US, has given an interview to the BBC’s Andrew Marr. He tempers Donald Trump’s claims that there will be a vaccine by the end of the year, calling the statement correct but noting that a wide rollout will take “several months into 2021” and early use will focus on vulnerable populations and healthcare workers.
“We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December,” Fauci said. “When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population, so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak, that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year.”
He also says it’s “very important” for politicians and public figures to follow the science. “You can positively or negatively influence behaviour,” he says. “It would really be a shame if we have a safe and effective vaccine but a substantial portion of the people don’t want to take the vaccine because they don’t trust authority.”
He also says it’s “obvious” that the idea of injecting bleach, notoriously raised by Trump earlier this year, is not following the science. When asked whether Trump’s suggestion that he is now immune and could “come down and start kissing everybody” is following the science, he says “you know the answer to that, no it isn’t.”
He says that Trump is also not right that listening to scientists would lead to a massive depression, adding that he believes that “if we did things in a prudent way… you could follow the science and public health measures without shutting down the economy.” And he denies saying, as Trump recently suggested, that the virus “is going to go away soon”, explaining that remarks he made in January before person-to-person transmission began have been taken out of context.
When asked about Joe Biden’s claim that wearing masks could save 100,000 lives by January he says “I’m not sure about the number” but that it is true that wearing masks can save a lot of lives.
Updated
In Ireland, the Irish Independent reports that any move towards a third national lockdown would be heavily resisted by ministers with the government coalition.
The newspaper reports that “senior Fine Gael ministers have insisted everything must be done to avoid the need to impose the highest level of Covid-19 restrictions for a third time”. It quotes one minister as saying that Taoiseach Micheál Martin “needs to be careful with this rush for a third lockdown, the people might not buy it”.
You can read the full story here.
Here’s the latest edition of the Guardian’s tracker of coronavirus cases and deaths around the world. The US continues to have the highest number of total cases and deaths, and cases and deaths in the last fortnight.
In the UK, Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has rejected calls for Dido Harding, who runs the government’s much-criticised test and trace programme, to resign. Speaking in response to an article by Tory MP Bernard Jenkin and an interview in which he said the programme should be led by “a very senior military person”, he says she has done a “very good job” and that the programme has “come on so much”. Another of Ridge’s interviewees, shadow mental health minister Rosena Allin-Khan, says that Harding’s position is “untenable”.
Test and Trace head Dido Harding is facing calls to quit, including from a senior Conservative.
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) October 25, 2020
"No, I don't agree" she should go, says @BrandonLewis
He says the test and trace team has "come on so much" and "done a very good job to get to where we are".#Ridge pic.twitter.com/aA81se8XYN
Lewis also says that reports that the government is looking at cutting the 14-day isolation period for travellers returning to the UK from abroad are accurate. But he says that “we’re not ready to make a final decision or announcement on that yet” and the decision will be “scientifically led”.
He denies an accompanying claim that business leaders will be exempt and says that any changes “will apply to everybody”.
Updated
In Indonesia, the health ministry has reported 3,732 new coronavirus infections, and 94 deaths. The total number of infections now stands at 389,712, with 13,299 – on both counts, the highest totals in south-east Asia.
The government of Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta said in a statement earlier on Sunday that it will extend mass social restriction measures introduced to curb the spread of the virus until 8 November.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post reported that more than 100 inmates at a prison on the island of Bali had tested positive. There have been 11,000 cases in total in Bali, which has seen its economy devastated by the sharp decline in tourism.
• This post was amended at 8.37am to correct the total infection count.
Updated
Good morning from London, where I’m picking up from Helen Davidson. You can reach me on Twitter or email with any comments, tips or suggestions.
If you’re looking for some Sunday morning reading, you could start with Robin McKie’s report for the Observer on fears in the scientific community that the early adoption of an only moderately effective coronavirus vaccine could hinder attempts to find a better one:
Or take a look this piece, also by colleagues at the Observer, about the danger that a sense of arbitrary restrictions could contribute to ‘Covid fatigue’ in the UK:
Summary
I’ll be handing over to my colleagues in London shortly. Here is a quick round up of the most recent developments:
- Malaysia recorded its highest ever daily total on Saturday, with 1,228 new cases in the preceding 24 hours.
- An investigation is underway in the Chinese region of Xinjiang after an asymptomatic coronavirus case was identified in the city of Kashgar on Saturday, the health commission said. It is the first local case in the region since 15 August.
- The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is preparing to provide vaccinations for frontline staff to start before Christmas, the Mail on Sunday has reported.
- US vice-president Mike Pence’s chief of staff has tested positive for the coronavirus. Pence and his wife tested negative, his office said.
- More than 100 inmates have tested positive for Covid-19 at Indonesia’s Kerobokan prison, on the island of Bali.
- In Australia, the Victoria Racing Club has announced there will be no spectators allowed at this year’s Melbourne Cup horse race.
- Italy reported a new daily record of 19,644 new coronavirus infections on Saturday as police clashed with far-right protesters in Rome.
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Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has entered self-isolation after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement.
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Austria has reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 3,614 infections in the last 24 hours. It is a significant increase from the 2,571 announced on Friday.
- Russia reported 16,710 new coronavirus cases and 229 deaths on Sunday, including 4,455 in Moscow, bringing the national tally to 1,513,877 cases since the pandemic began.
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Brazil has registered 26,979 new cases and 432 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours.
- Coronavirus cases have risen by the record figure of 862 in Luxembourg, while a further three deaths being reported.
- The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London.
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Greece announced a record 935 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,992.
- France reported 45,422 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared with 42,032 on Friday. The country has registered a total of 1,086,497 cases.
- The number of coronavirus deaths in the Czech Republic has doubled to 2,047 in two weeks, data from the health ministry showed on Saturday.
- Angolan protesters defied coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Luanda on Saturday, taking to the streets to demonstrate against the government. Police fired teargas and beat up demonstrators, some of whom had set up barricades and set fires.
Updated
Russia reported 16,710 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including 4,455 in Moscow, bringing the national tally to 1,513,877 cases since the pandemic began.
Authorities said 229 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 26,050.
Updated
AP: Just weeks after India fully opened up from a harsh lockdown and began to modestly turn a corner by cutting new coronavirus infections by near half, a Hindu festival season is raising fears that a fresh surge could spoil the hard-won gains.
Nearly 1 billion Indians will soon celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, and the country’s biggest. Socializing is key part of the most highly anticipated event of the year, with malls and markets buzzing with shoppers. It also traditionally brings in a massive increase in consumer spending across India.
Even though the government is expecting the festival to help resuscitate the ailing economy, it is also worried about people packing together, foregoing social distancing and masks.
Such concerns prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the nation in a televised speech earlier this week, warning people of “any laxity” during the festive season that “could strain India’s health system.”
India is second to the United States with the largest coronavirus outbreak. Last month, the country hit a peak of nearly 100,000 cases in a single day, but since then daily infections have fallen by about half and deaths by about a third.
Some experts say the decline in cases suggests the virus may have finally reached a plateau but others question the testing methods. India’s testing rate has remained constant but it is relying heavily on antigen tests, which are faster but less accurate than traditional RT-PCR tests.
Even as the reasons behind the decline are not fully clear, India is still clocking more than 50,000 cases a day, making any new surge all the more important.
These fears stem largely from India’s initial success story — until it wasn’t.
In June, the southern coastal state of Kerala was cheered for flattening the curve, generating worldwide appreciation, even from the United Nations. But in a stunning reversal, it now fares as the second-worst state in active coronavirus cases in the country.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan blamed “gross negligence” during the 10-day Onam festival celebrations in late August for Kerala’s virus surge. Since then, reported infections there have jumped by five times, far outpacing the nationwide trend.
Kerala’s story has alarmed health experts who fear similar problems in the runup to Diwali that could reverse the gains.
“If we don’t avoid socializing during the upcoming festival season, I fear we will be back to where we started,” said Dr. T. Jacob John, a retired virologist. “There is a significant risk ahead of us.”
More than 1,000 test results have come back from the northern suburbs of Melbourne, finding no new cases of the virus. It’s significant because the area is the site of a current outbreak which prompted premier Dan Andrews to delay announcing reopening dates for the city’s retail and hospitality sector.
About 3,500 people in the northern suburbs got a Covid-19 test on Saturday, including 250 identified as close contacts of two schools at the centre of the outbreak: the East Preston Islamic College and Croxton specialist school in Northcote.
Those 250 are understood to be included in the 1,135 tests returned today.
1400 tests conducted taken today are in the labs and testing will proceed throughout the evening, the health department said.
“This testing enables us to get a very clear picture of how many cases there are and ensure there is a plan in place for everyone who tests positive along with the close contacts,” said Jeroen Weimar, the state’s head of testing and community engagement.
“There will at times no doubt be delays as more people come forward, but we are so appreciative of everyone making the effort, particularly during these colder spring days.”
Good news - no more cases from the over 1,000 test results from northern Melbourne back today. pic.twitter.com/rXoJ8Ct4h7
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) October 25, 2020
Tasmania will on Monday reopen to much of mainland Australia, with the island state’s government insisting it is well prepared to handle any coronavirus cases.
The state was the first Australian jurisdiction to close its borders in March and hasn’t recorded a case in more than 70 days.
It will open to low-risk regions Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and ACT, plus New Zealand. It remains closed to Victoria and is slated to open to NSW on 2 November, with a firm call on that date to be made this week.
All arrivals at airports and sea ports will be health screened and anyone with virus symptoms will be tested and ordered into quarantine until their result is known.
“While it’s exiting to be able to see restrictions ease and life getting to a Covid-normal, we also need to remember there is always a risk of coronavirus in our community,” health minister Sarah Courtney said.
She said “extensive work” had been put into the state’s contact tracing systems and aged care preparedness.
Ms Courtney said social distancing and personal hygiene were critical in the weeks ahead.
“It’s important that we continue this vigilance so our healthcare workers remain safe and we have capacity in our hospitals,” she said.
Tasmania has more than 200 ventilators and is planning to acquire another 100.
A rush for results could lead to inferior Covid vaccines, scientists have said.
Scientists have warned that early adoption of a Covid vaccine with only moderate effectiveness could disrupt efforts to test and create improved versions. Immunising against the disease is not going to be a simple business of turning off the virus once the first vaccine appears, they say. In fact, there could be considerable confusion as researchers struggle to pinpoint the best versions for different vulnerable groups, such as the elderly.
“The vaccines coming through fastest are the most experimental. It is possible they won’t be all that great and that others – created using more tried-and-tested but slower methods – might be better,” said Professor Adam Finn of Bristol University. “But to prove that point will become very difficult if lots of individuals have already been given the first vaccine. It will need vast numbers of people to demonstrate which is best or if a different vaccine is more suitable for particular groups, like the elderly.”
Read more here:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 11,176 to 429,181, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 29 to 10,032, the tally showed.
No spectators at the Melbourne Cup
In Australia, the Victoria Racing Club has announced there will be no spectators allowed at this year’s Melbourne Cup “in light of the ongoing situation around government restrictions”.
“While we are very disappointed not to be able to welcome our members and racegoers to Cup Week, we understand the government’s commitment to keeping our community safe. We also recognise the need for certainty and clarity for our patrons, being only six days out from Derby Day,” said VRC chair Amanda Elliott.
“We are still in discussions regarding the potential return to the track for a small number of owners, as is currently permitted in regional Victoria,” Mrs Elliott said.
“We will play our part in supporting Victoria’s emergence from this pandemic as Melbourne moves closer to a normal environment over summer.”
The VRC will run an interactive Cup website for people still wanting to enjoy the festivities of Australia’s famous race day.
The testing of entire cities whenever there is a new outbreak in China is overkill, the country’s chief epidemiologist has said.
About 11 million people were recently tested in just five days in Qingdao, after 12 new cases were linked to a hospital. But the testing regime found no new cases, and Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told China Newsweek the transmission would have been confined to the hospital.
“Qingdao has the determination to [test everyone], but it’s overkill,” Wu said.
Mainland China has avoided seeing more massive outbreaks since it got control of the original Wuhan epidemic, even as new clusters have emerged in cities and provinces as populous as Beijing, Qingdao, and Jilin. As well as swift lockdowns, strict contact tracing, and travel restrictions, authorities in each case also embarked on ambitious drives to test every single resident.
Wu said while citywide testing may be reassuring to officials and residents, “the social cost was too big and unnecessary”.
A harrowing report from CNN on the rise of child trafficking in India during the pandemic.
In recent years, India has strengthened its lawson child labor, but in the past six months - with Covid-19 taking a toll on the economy - that work has started to unravel.
“Children have never faced such crisis,” said 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, whose organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) works to protect vulnerable children.
“This is not simply the health crisis or economic crisis. This is the crisis of justice, of humanity, of childhood, of the future of an entire generation.”
When India went into a strict lockdown in March, schools and workplaces closed. Millions of children were deprived of the midday meal they used to receive at school and many people lost their jobs.Traffickers have exploited the situation by targeting desperate families, activists said.
Australia's PM lashes Victorian premier over continuation of coronavirus restrictions
Still in Australia, the country’s prime minister, treasurer and health minister have again criticised the Labor government in Victoria for the continuation of lockdown measures in Victoria.
In a joint statement they said the decision to keep some businesses closed was a “profound disappointment”, and called on the Victorian government to utilise mirror tracing and restriction measures used by the neighbouring state of New South Wales.
At some point, you have to move forward and put your public health systems to work in a bid to reclaim the jobs that have been lost, and rescue the livelihoods and peace of mind of so many Victorians who have been affected by the inability to contain the outbreak that led to the second Victorian wave.
Victoria’s public health systems are either up to the task of dealing with future outbreaks or they are not. The decision to keep businesses closed suggests that there is still not sufficient confidence within the government that their systems can support reopening.
This is a profound disappointment. Of course, Victorians do not want to face another lockdown and of course they don’t want all of this to have been for nothing. That is why ensuring the state government’s capability to deal with outbreaks through their public health response is so essential. This is what you need for Victoria to open up safely and stay safely open.
Borders and closures are not indicators of public health success. They are the opposite.
Lengthy statement from Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt on VIC lockdown news today:
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) October 25, 2020
“At some point, you have to move forward and put your public health systems to work”
“we strongly encourage the Victorian Government to rapidly take the next steps” #auspol pic.twitter.com/A7t30sTCuh
Updated
Western Australia reports three new cases of Covid
The Australian state of Western Australia has reported three new cases recorded on Saturday.
The one male and two females all aged in their 20s had all returned to Perth from overseas.
WA is monitoring 57 active cases remaining from its total of 760.
Updated
Brazil has registered 432 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 26,979 new cases, the health ministry said on Saturday. The South American nation has now registered 156,903 total coronavirus deaths and 4,817,898 total confirmed cases.
Mike Pence's chief of staff's tests positive for coronavirus
The diagnosis of Pence’s chief of staff has been confirmed by their office.
“Vice-president Pence and Mrs Pence both tested negative for Covid-19 today, and remain in good health,” said Devin O’Malley, a Pence spokesman, on Saturday, adding that Donald Trump’s running mate would maintain his schedule “in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel”.
Updated
Mike Pence’s chief of staff has tested positive for the coronavirus, Bloomberg is reporting. The diagnosis of Marc Short, the closest advisor to the US vice president, follows that of another senior staffer Marty Obst earlier on Saturday.
Pence delivered a campaign speech in Florida on Saturday evening. Bloomberg reported he was aware of Obst’s positive test result prior to departing, and that Obst was not seen on the plane with him.
Despite being a close contact of Short, Pence is not quarantining and is maintaining he schedule as an “essential employee”.
More than 100 inmates at Bali's Kerobokan prison test positive
More than 100 inmates have tested positive for covid-19 at Indonesia’s Kerobokan prison, on the island of Bali.
The Jakarta Post reports today on a growing cluster inside the notorious prison, detected after complaints of symptoms by some inmates prompted mass testing earlier this week.
Of 106 positive test results so far, 84 are men, the Post reported. They have been moved to an isolated block of the prison, it said.
“[The number of confirmed cases] might still be increasing because we are still waiting for more test results,” said I Putu Surya Dharma, spokesman for the law and human rights ministry’s Bali office.
The prison is under lockdown and receiving no visitors or new prisoners.
Bali has recorded more than 11,000 cases of Covid-19 during the pandemic, which has also devastated the island’s economy which depends almost entirely on tourism.
Indonesia has recorded more than 380,000 cases.
Updated
Here is our full report on the latest from Victoria, Australia, where the country’s largest outbreak and which sparked one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, is being brought under control. From Calla Wahlquist:
Daniel Andrews has delayed an announcement about easing coronavirus restrictions in Melbourne pending the outcome of tests connected to an outbreak in the northern suburbs, prompting criticism from the business community, the state opposition, the federal government and his own former health minister.
In a heated press conference, the Victorian premier said he had “hoped” to be able to announce significant steps about opening up the retail and hospitality industries from the middle of the week.
Read more:
From the wire services in Europe: Italy saw a second night of street protests against curfews as it reported another daily record on Saturday.
After clashes in the southern city of Naples on Friday night, police again faced off against dozens of masked protestors in the centre of Rome after the far-right Forza Nuova group called for a protest against the curfews.
Some 200 masked militants belonging to the neo-fascist group hurled projectiles at police and set rubbish bins alight in the second night of street protests.
Police arrested seven protesters and reported two officers injured, according to the Repubblica daily.
The government is planning further restrictions to contain a resurgence of the pandemic, and prime minister Giuseppe Conte has said he wants to avoid a repeat of the blanket lockdown earlier in the year. But a number of regions - including Campania, the area around Naples, Lazio around Rome, and Lombardy - have imposed overnight curfews.
The northern region of Piedmont and Sicily in the south will follow next week and other regions are expected to match them. The central government is expected to announce more measures soon.
Earlier, health ministry data showed 19,644 new Covid cases and 151 dead as the disease surged in areas like Lombardy, Milan, Campania and Lazio.
Conte pledged to speed up help for businesses suffering in the crisis but said the weeks ahead would be very difficult. “We cannot lower our guard,” he added.
According to a draft decree circulated on Saturday, public gyms and swimming pools may be closed and bars and restaurants told to shut from 6 p.m., while people will be encouraged not to travel outside their home districts.
Like many authorities across Europe, the Italian government is desperate not to close down the economy completely but is facing growing public anger at renewed restrictions being imposed to limit public gatherings.
With public health services coming under strain, authorities have reopened temporary intensive care facilities built during the first phase.
Despite this, Italy’s top public health body warned on Friday services were approaching crisis point.
Updated
China reports 15 new cases
Mainland China reported 15 new cases on Saturday, all imported from other countries. There are 405 asymptomatic patients currently under observation, including a teenage girl in Kashgar.
The city has imposed travel restrictions while health authorities test the population. The South China Morning Post cited an unnamed official, saying residents are allowed to leave the city if they have a negative test result.
Overnight there was a bit of confusion among Kashgar residents and visitors, as flights in and out of the Xinjiang region city were suddenly cancelled, and police authorities posted and then deleted a social media message reminding people to wear masks.
“Everyone wear your masks properly and pay attention to personal safety. Don’t believe or spread rumours to avoid unnecessary panic. All is subject to official notification,” the Weibo post said. Videos shared online also appeared to show traffic banking up at checkpoints.
Xinjiang health authorities announced on Saturday night that an asymptomatic case had been found during a routine screening in Shufu county, and the patient - a 17-year-old woman - had been transferred to hospital.
The case would be the first inside Xinjiang since mid-August, when an outbreak sparked a “wartime state” of lockdown in the capital Urumqi.
Updated
Mexico’s health ministry reported on Saturday 6,025 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 431 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 886,800 and the death toll to 88,743.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Malaysia records 1,228 new cases
Malaysia recorded its highest ever daily total on Saturday, with 1,228 new cases in the preceding 24 hours, surpassing last Sunday’s record of 871 cases. The country has recorded at least 700 daily cases for eight consecutive days.
The health ministry said more than 72% of the new cases were in the state of Sabah, the centre of the current spike in cases. Much of the blame for the current surge has been focused on the East Malaysian state, after people spent two weeks campaigning for an upcoming election before returning to other parts of the country, the Straits Times reported. At around the same time there were outbreaks in Sabah’s detention centres for illegal migrants.
COVID-19, 24 Okt 2020
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) October 24, 2020
Jumlah discaj baru: 671
Jumlah kumulatif: 16555 (64.3%)
Jumlah kes baru: 1228
Jumlah kumulatif: 25742
Jumlah kes aktif: 8966
Kes tempatan:1217
Kes import: 11 kes (3 WN, 8 BWN)
Jumlah kematian:7
Jumlah kumulatif:221 (0.86%)
kes di ICU:92
intubated: 31 pic.twitter.com/ibc8EYd9aY
Updated
UK plans to vaccinate NHS staff by Christmas – report
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is preparing to provide vaccinations for frontline staff to start before Christmas, the Mail on Sunday has reported.
Citing an email from a NHS Trust chief to his staff, the report said a national vaccination program rollout was being accelerated, with healthcare workers prioritised.
Writing to staff earlier this month, the head of a hospital NHS Trust in Warwickshire said they and other NHS organisations nationally had been told “to be prepared to start a Covid-19 vaccine program in early December”.
“The latest intelligence states a coronavirus vaccine should be available this year with NHS staff priorities prior to Christmas,” the email said, adding that the vaccine was expected to be given in two doses 28 days apart.
The Mail also reported that the UK hopes to fast track production if a vaccine is ready before the end of December.
•This post was edited at 10:31am to remove an extraneous reference to European medical approvals.
Updated
Hello, this is Helen Davidson here to take you through the next few hours of global updates. Thanks to Calla for everything so far. First, a quick look around the world for the latest top line developments, with more to follow:
- Italy reported a new daily record of 19,644 new coronavirus infections on Saturday as the government considered further measures to limit the surge in cases.
-
Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has entered self-isolation after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement.
-
Austria has reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 3,614 infections in the last 24 hours. It is a significant increase from the 2,571 announced on Friday.
-
Brazil has registered 26,979 new cases and 432 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours.
- Coronavirus cases have risen by the record figure of 862 in Luxembourg, while a further three deaths being reported.
- The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London.
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Greece announced a record 935 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,992.
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France reported 45,422 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared to 42,032 on Friday. The country has registered a total of 1,086,497 cases.
- An investigation is underway in the Chinese region of Xinjiang after an asymptomatic coronavirus case was identified in the city of Kashgar on Saturday, the health commission said. It is the first local case in the region since 15 August.
- The number of coronavirus deaths in the Czech Republic has doubled to 2,047 in two weeks, data from the health ministry showed on Saturday.
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Angolan protesters defied coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Luanda on Saturday, taking to the streets to demonstrate against the government. Police fired tear gas and beat up demonstrators, some of whom had set up barricades and set fires.
- The Australian state of Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours.
With that, I’ll hand over to Helen Davidson who will take you through the day.
The press conference in Victoria has become a series of reporters putting agree/disagree statements to the premier, and Daniel Andrews rejecting the premise of the question and saying, on repeat: “That is not a question, that’s a statement.”
I won’t repeat them here, because there isn’t a lot of information to be gleaned.
The gist: reporters are attempting to get Andrews to comment on the frustration felt by business owners, and the broader community, that the roadmap is not being followed and that the end of the lockdown has not been announced on the day the announcement was promised. Andrews is getting frustrated, challenging the premise of questions, and then repeating the line of the day: we have to wait until the test results come back.
However the date of opening up has shifted forward. Andrews said he will have “more to say tomorrow and Tuesday” and “we will be opening up before the weekend”.
And, after 80 minutes, the press conference is over.
Updated
Victoria still on track to ease restrictions by 1 November, says premier
A clarification from the premier:
Just going back to a question James asked. I wouldn’t want anyone watching here to be in any doubt. November 1, absolutely, still well and truly on track to be able to have opening, have opening up before then, by on that day, in fact, earlier than then.
We had intended to be able to make announcements today, but it’s just not appropriate while we wait for these test results, to be assuming we know what the results are. We don’t know how many positive cases, we don’t know whether they are going to be linked, but we’re still well on track to announcements and begin the process of opening up before the first.
Reporter: Why didn’t you say that an hour ago, as directly as that?
Andrews, with a deep sigh:
Well ... James, I’m sorry if I have not been as clear as I tried to be, it was a very long night and a very early morning and I have been trying to find an opportunity to come back to the podium, as your question indicated to me I perhaps have not been as clear as I should have been.
Updated
The Victorian chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, was asked if it was awkward that his advice was that Victoria could not yet announce details of a reopening, when the former Victorian health minister, the Australian health minister, the NSW premier and the WHO were suggesting it could be reopened.
Sutton said:
Amongst that list of individuals and organisations, none of them are in the tent. All of the data we have come up with all the understanding we have of each and every case, who the close contacts are, how they are linked, the specific complexities of each household, they are of a united view that as frustrating as this is, this is an appropriate 24-hour period to go through.
Updated
Reporter:
Did you mislead Victorians?
Andrews:
I did not.
A reporter asked Andrews: “You said in your opening remarks that this is not a setback. People when they woke up this morning believed it would be at worst on November one but you are not committing to that so we have gone backwards today.”
Andrews:
I don’t believe we have. In any event, we have no choice but to wait for these results and they will be here well before November 1. Some results will come through later today and some will come through on Monday, well into the evening. On that basis we will be able to call it and be confident that these are linked cases, not a large number of mystery cases which would speak to the fact that it was much more widespread than we believe it is. Again, we have asked these people to come forward and be tested for a very good reason. They have done that and the lab does take time. It is not a matter of workflow, the test just takes time. We’ll get those tests done as quickly as we can and then analyse the results and update you.
Is it fair to call it a “cautious pause” when thousands of [businesses] have been closed for months?
But they were not to open today. They were opening Tuesday night at the earliest and we still may be able to make that deadline. It is not appropriate for me to pretend I have a test result I do not have. It is not responsible ... I cannot announce things and I cannot speak to the scope of the opening until we get these test results back and we know exactly the enemy we are facing and the challenge we are facing.
Updated
Andrews said it was not his strategy that every outbreak should result in a new lockdown, but said Victoria has “an opportunity to essentially get ahead of this virus”.
Asked if Melbourne was “just lucky” to already be under lockdown when this outbreak occurred, Andrews said:
I don’t think that is right at all. What we would have to do for a long period of time is manage and live with this, but it will be easier, it will be much easier the lower the numbers are at the point you open up. And, as well, the more you know about those cases the more confident you are that you have a public health response around all those people. As it stands now we do not have the complete picture because the labs are processing test. Other tests will be taken through today which will come to us tomorrow.
This is nothing more than simply waiting to get the results before ... Put it another way, waiting to get results instead of pretending we know what the results are. We do not and that would not be responsible nor a safe thing to do. And if we are criticised for that, so be it.
Updated
Daniel Andrews: 'We only get one chance to do this properly'
A reporter said that NSW had been open for months with daily average cases hovering around 10. “If our contact tracing is as good as they are and we have as much faith in the Victorian community as the New SouthWales government has, why can’t we reopen?”
Andrews:
I don’t accept the conclusions you are drawing at all ... This is a pause, nothing more than that and it is appropriate that we wait to get those results. The reason we have literally hundreds of people locked in homes at the moment is because of the work that contact traces are doing, so I do not accept that criticism at all.
Another reporter asked Andrews to acknowledge that “the way the public is feeling must be a rollercoaster. You have mentioned that you understand that people are frustrated, do not think it has gone past frustration today? Today is a different level for the community in terms of what they thought would happen and what has happened.”
Andrews said he knew that it was frustrating.
Of course people are frustrated and of course everyone would like these rules to come off as quickly as possible but we only get one chance to do this properly and we intend to wait for those results to come back from the laboratory. Once they have we will be able to make further judgment and then we will be able to update people tomorrow and hopefully make some announcements if not tomorrow then Tuesday and then push on from there.
Updated
Back to Victoria, where this press conference is still going on. Premier Daniel Andrews was asked to respond to his former health minister Jenny Mikakos’ comment that not going ahead with a planned easing of restrictions today was an example of “paralysis in decision making”. Andrews said:
I have nothing to say about those comments.
Reporter: “She has been a respected member of your government.”
Andrews:
I have nothing to say about those comments because I have nothing to say about them. That is a choice I make and it does not make any sense to be interrogated on why I do not say anything.
Another reporter asked if it would not have been “less unsettling for Melbournians” if Andrews had stuck to the initial roadmap dates, set out in September, rather than announcing they would be brought forward, then pushing them back again. The reporter called it a “rollercoaster effect”.
Andrews:
There has not been a rollercoaster. Numbers have come down steadily and we are all about making sure we get them to the lowest level before we open up safely. But what I say to every Victorian is that people have given and done too much for us to ignore the fact that there are thousands of results that have been processed in laboratories as we speak and we need to wait and see those results, we will get them today and tomorrow and hopefully we are able to make, not only announcements but to take the big steps safely around the middle of this week ...
We cannot make decisions appropriate to the challenge if we do not have the results and we have not seen them. We don’t know what stories they will tell. Until we get that, which is today, tomorrow and potentially into Tuesday, it is just not safe and responsible for us to say we think we know better. We think that these will all be negative. And if there are some positives they will be linked to known cases. We cannot be certain.
What does Andrews think about federal health minister Greg Hunt’s comments, that the only reason you would hold off reopening if you didn’t have faith in the contact tracing system.
Andrews says that “is completely wrong”.
Updated
NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 and seven in hotel quarantine
New South Wales has recorded no new locally-acquired cases for the third consecutive day.
It recorded seven cases in hotel quarantine. Some 12,465 tests were conducted in the past 24-hours.
Andrews was asked what he would do if this outbreak had occurred after pubs and retail stores were reopened. Would Melbourne be locked down again? Isn’t dealing with outbreaks just the way it’s going to be?
Andrews initially didn’t respond, saying he was doing “exactly what we intend to do”. Then he said he would “not necessarily” put the state back into lockdown if an outbreak like this occurred after the state had opened up.
But you only get one chance to get it to the lowest point possible and then it will be a management and containment task every day, every week, every month until we get a vaccine.
Reporter: So what is the lowest point possible?
Andrews:
Lowest point possible is difficult to know but the lowest point possible in the northern suburbs will be waiting to see these tests and make sure that they are all linked cases and that there is not some wildfire burning out there that is not visible to us. It is the absolute key.
Former Victorian health minister says easing of restrictions should go ahead
While the Victorian government has been holding its press conference, the former health minister Jenny Mikakos, who resigned last month following the premier’s appearance before the hotel quarantine inquiry and later hit back at premier Daniel Andrews and suggested she had been made a scapegoat, has tweeted that she thinks the easing of restrictions should go ahead.
Mikakos said that with the target of less than five cases per day met, and six of the seven new cases connected to known outbreaks, “the set reopening is gradual & safe so any delay is unnecessary”.
It’s paralysis in decision-making.
Rolling average under 5 achieved one day ahead of Roadmap timetable. 👏👏 I’m so proud of Victorians and what they’ve achieved. It’s been really tough but it’s time for some safe easing up of restrictions. https://t.co/Fdr8UaarRN
— Jenny Mikakos #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) October 24, 2020
Vic has met the under 5 threshold which some thought was unachievable. This was a very cautious target. 6/7 of new cases are related to a known outbreak so the risk is manageable. The set reopening is gradual & safe so any delay is unnecessary. It’s paralysis in decision-making.
— Jenny Mikakos #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) October 24, 2020
The chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, said Mikakos was “entitled to that opinion”.
Andrews refused to comment on it, becoming short with reporters. He said:
We will not open up today, there has never been a suggestion that we would. We were to make announcements today that would come over the following days. I’d don’t quite know the point you are making.
One reporter said Andrews had promised that he would announce an easing of restrictions today every day for the past week, except for yesterday. “You dangled a carrot at Victorians and today it feels like you have produced a stick,” one reporter said.
Andrews said he rejected that characterisation.
What I would say to you is that I think in this room and across the state there has been a perfectly legitimate request to have targets and dates, and all the way along I have tried to be as clear as I can be that nothing can be guaranteed. Nothing can be guaranteed, except the fact that we will be guided by the data and the science.
We have come a long way, we all have in the last thing any of us need to do now is to ignore the fact that there are cases in the northern suburbs, there are results that are pending and we do not have those processed tests. As soon they are and as soon as we can establish that they are cases linked to each other, rather than some much bigger problem, potentially across the northern suburbs, then we will be able to not only announce the next steps, we can confidently take them and rather than that being midnight Tuesday, it may be midnight Wednesday. As soon as we can confirm that we absolutely will.
Updated
Ducking to the UK for a moment, PA has this report: Officials on the UK government’s Covid-19 taskforce are understood to be examining the case for reducing the current fortnight period of isolation to between 10 days and a week.
There were said to be concerns that the prospect of a lengthy period indoors if they are contacted by Test and Trace is deterring people from co-operating.
The Telegraph quoted a No 10 source as saying: “Compliance is not as high as we would like and self-isolation is key if we are going to beat the virus.”
Last week Test and Trace hit a record low with just 59.6% of the contacts of people who tested positive for the disease being successfully contacted and told to self-isolate.
Senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin launched a scathing attack on the performance of the system, saying public consent and co-operation was “breaking down”.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he said there was a “vacuum of leadership” at the top of the organisation and called for a change that was “visible and decisive” with a senior military figure being put in charge like they did with the foot and mouth crisis.
In response, the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged there were areas where the service needed to improve, but said people should be “talking it up, not down”, and the leadership had built “the largest diagnostic industry the UK has ever seen”.
Weimar rejected the suggestion, made by Australian federal health minister Greg Hunt this morning, that the decision to delay the easing of restrictions was a sign of no confidence in the testing and tracing system, which he manages.
Weimar said:
I refute that. If you look at the swiftness and comprehensive nature of what we are dealing with, and I think it is right that when we are about to make a momentous decision to ease restrictions, that we have to have confidence that we do not have any active unknown cases in our community.
Asked if he recommended the delay to government, Weimar said:
When I was asked a question, is there value in seeing more evidence and do you understand every dynamic of the outbreak, my advice was we need at least one more day to make sure we have tracked down so we have another big day ahead of us today and I want to see the results from today. They will come out through the day tomorrow and that is what I have asked for.
Updated
Weimar said there were five public health teams targeting the close contacts of known cases and of the East Preston Islamic College and Croxton specialist school communities. Those teams are knocking on the doors of known contacts and encouraging them to get a test. People who refuse to get a test have been ordered to quarantine for longer.
We’ll be asking to test them and the people they were with because they are most directly associated with the cases we know about. And that is how we identified three or four of the cases we saw yesterday through the close contact group.
Weimar said public health teams contacted 250 close contacts yesterday to get those door-to-door tests, and have a list of 60 people to contact today.
We are very interested in the close contacts because we want to establish if there are any positive cases in that group because they are the ones most likely to, if we’re going to find any more cases, that is the area where we are most likely to find them. The purpose of the wider community testing approach ... [is] we want to understand if there are any other index cases out there or any other links that have not been established. And that is why the wider test program is so important.
There are now 20 households that are quarantined in alternative accomodation, the rest are quarantined at home.
Updated
Weimar said he needed several thousand people in the northern suburbs of Melbourne to get a Covid-19 test today.
We saw a fantastic response yesterday with 3,500 people getting tested. I need to see a similar number coming out today that we have got enough depth of understanding about any cases that might be out there. We want to be confident that we understand these chains of transmission and that it doesn’t jeopardise any other activity we want to do in the state.
Victoria’s commander of testing and community engagement, Jeroen Weimar, says almost 2,500 tests were conducted in the northern suburbs of Melbourne yesterday. He said there had been a “strong community response”.
Testing numbers are up 60% on last week, and he urged anyone in the northern suburbs with any symptoms, and anyone connected with the two schools even without symptoms, to get tested.
We are now also really following up the close contacts. We tested, again, four close contacts yesterday who were associated, potentially, with three schools. I am pleased to say this, close contacts of all tested negative twice. And that means we are no longer regarding Dallas Brooks Primary School, Ilium College and Sirius College as part of this outbreak. They are part of no chain of transmission that we have identified between households we are focusing on these three schools, and these three schools are now disassociated ... That means many hundreds of families, many hundreds of people now associated with those three schools are now free to continue on as before.
We also tested 250 close contacts, primary and secondary contacts of this cluster yesterday by visiting them at home. A lot of underground activity over the last two days to reach those people at home, to test them and their household members, all those results are coming in overnight. We have some of those results in already and more results are coming in during the course of this morning. So far we have identified one positive contact out of that come out of those close contacts.
He added:
We have also identified a link to the Regis MacLeod aged care facility with two staff members there testing positive. They are associated with this cluster in the northern metro area that we have been working on. We tested all staff and residents of that facility yesterday, all 108 and all of those results have come back negative. We will continue to watch that facility very closely of the coming days and we will speak about that later if necessary.
This continues to be a very complex and rapidly developing case. We now have 11 households [and] chains of transmission between those households. There has been significant progress in the last 24hours as we have identified two new households as part of that 11, and some of the linkages that sit between them. We also have five children at East Preston Islamic College were tested positive. They are well and have all been a part of the initial close contact circle. So this has not spread out, the case any further.
Weimar said they had set up a special testing station at Croxton Specialist school, in partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital specialist paediatric team, to help test its 120 students.
We now have 17 [testing] sites across the northern suburbs that are ready to go. They will be open for business and will be ready for you and open today. It’s very important that we establish if there are any remaining positive cases in the community so we can ensure that you are safely isolated and get the treatment you need and protect your family and friends from any further transmission. We are confident that we understand how this work but there is more work to do.
Updated
Restrictions eased for regional Victoria from Tuesday
Andrews did announce some changes for regional Victoria, which is already several steps ahead of Melbourne in terms of easing of restrictions.
From 11.59pm on Tuesday:
- Gyms in regional Victoria will be open to a maximum of 20 people, with space rules applying.
- A maximum of 20 people, again with spacing rules, will be allowed to attend a religious service with one faith leader.
- Outdoor funerals will be allowed to have 50 attendees.
- Indoor non-contact community sport for people under the age of 18 will be allowed.
- Indoor swimming pools will be open for all ages, to a maximum of 20 people.
- Greater Shepparton, which had a coronavirus outbreak earlier this month, will be brought back in line with the rest of regional Victoria from midnight tonight.
Daniel Andrews said they had found “linkages” and “chains of transmission” between new cases in the northern suburbs.
He also said hundreds who were under self-isolation orders have now been allowed to leave their home after testing negative.
The system is working, the processes are working, we just have to wait until we get the results. It is no good doing targeted testing if you then don’t wait to see what the results of those tests are. I do hope to make definitive announcements about opening up metropolitan Melbourne in a couple of days’ time. We will keep people updated today, tomorrow, and those test results will come back and hopefully what they will show us is not just some additional cases and there are bound to be a few in that mix, but that those cases are linked, and that we know that there is a chain of transmission and we have our arms around those people and they are not spreading it to anybody else.
He added:
If they are random, if they are not linked to each other, if they are mysteries, that will be a real cause for concern. We are hopeful, more than that in fact, we are confident that we have found many linkages. There may be others, there may be other cases that come forward as a result of those tests that are in the labs right now.
Updated
Daniel Andrews says he will not announce eased restrictions today due to Melbourne outbreak
Andrews said he was not in a position to announce an easing of restrictions today, as promised for several weeks, because they are awaiting at least 1,000 Covid-19 test results from contacts of the outbreak in northern Melbourne.
He said:
We had hoped today to be able to announce that metropolitan Melbourne would take significant steps, not from today but from mid-week, round retail, hospitality and a whole range of other, important next steps. We are not in a position to do that today because we have at least 1,000 test results from that northern metropolitan outbreak that are in the labs. We will get those today, probably the balance of them tomorrow, and they will be additional testing conducted throughout the day.
This is not anything other than a cautious pause, to wait to get that important information, to get the results of those tests. Just to rule out whether there are, whether there is more virus there than we think.
Ultimately, if we can link these cases together, if we can link different outbreaks, then we have confidence that we have contained it and we can move forward. This is not a setback. It is simply waiting and being led by the data, being led by the science, and following public health advice. That is what has seen these numbers go from thousands of active cases to now, 100 active cases. That is the approach that has seen us go from 700 plus cases per day to seven cases.
He said he hoped to be in a position to make an announcement in “a couple of days” and said he knew the delay would be frustrating.
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is speaking now
Andrews says there are now 100 active cases in Victoria, that’s seven new cases since yesterday.
Eight of those active cases are in healthcare workers, four are in aged care.
There are seven people in hospital, none in ICU.
12,894 tests were conducted yesterday.
Back on the UK’s test and trace system quickly. PA reports:
Contacts of people infected with coronavirus may have to self-isolate for as little as seven days amid concerns in Whitehall about the levels of public compliance with the Test and Trace system.
Officials on the Government’s Covid-19 taskforce are understood to be examining the case for reducing the current fortnight period of isolation to between 10 days and a week.
The move — which would not apply to those who test positive for the disease - comes amid growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the system from ministers and MPs.
Boris Johnson was said to have become “disillusioned” with statistics provided by the service after they proved to be wrong, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
At the same time, there were said to be concerns that the prospect of a lengthy period indoors if they are contacted by Test and Trace is deterring people from co-operating.
The Telegraph quoted a No 10 source as saying: “Compliance is not as high as we would like and self-isolation is key if we are going to beat the virus.”
It comes after Test and Trace - headed by the Conservative peer Baroness Harding - last week hit a record low with just 59.6% of the contacts of people who tested positive for the disease being successfully contacted and told to self-isolate.
The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, says the only reason the Victorian government would hold off opening up would be if the state did not have confidence in its contact tracing system.
He made the comments just before the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is due to announce (or not announce) a change in restrictions. Andrews is due to begin speaking in a few minutes.
After months of increasing tension between the two levels of government – and with the state premier due to front the media shortly – Hunt said the case levels in Victoria were low enough to justify an easing of restrictions.
At a press conference in Canberra this morning, Hunt was asked what his reaction would be if the Victorian state government did not announce a significant easing of restrictions today. He said:
I think many people would be deeply disappointed given the mental health impacts, given the health impacts, given the profound consequences for people who have invested their life savings.
We’ve reached the time when Victoria said that they were looking to move forwards, their own timeframe, their own timetable. We always said that there’s a commonwealth definition of 10 cases, according to the chief medical officer, a rolling average. It’s below five cases, on the rolling average, which is the Victorian government’s own definition.
The only reason they wouldn’t open up is if they didn’t have confidence in their own contact tracing system. We have confidence that the Victorian contact tracing system has improved significantly.
Updated
It could take up to a year for Australian biotech company CSL to develop the capability to make a Covid-19 vaccine depending on the type required, the country’s industry minister has said.
Karen Andrews, the minister for industry and science, said CSL would be able to immediately start making a vaccine if a protein-based candidate proved to be safe and effective.
However, she said “significant work” would be required if it was another type known as an mRNA vaccine. Pressed during an interview with the ABC’s Insiders program to give a timeframe to get production up and running if it was an mRNA vaccine, Andrews said:
I would hope that we would be able to do it in about the nine-month to 12-month timeframe. But I think we need to be really conscious that with a vaccine, there are a lot of variables in there. So we don’t have the vaccine proven at this point in time, we don’t know what the base for that vaccine is going to be, so we are trying to prepare across a wide range.
Andrews said the government would give support to CSL to help it ramp up its capability and roll out technical upgrades.
In the United Kingdom, a senior conservative MP has called for Baroness Harding, the Tory peer who leads the UK government’s test and trace program, to be removed and replaced.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, MP for Harwich and chair of the powerful parliamentary liaison committee, called for her to be given a “well-earned rest” and moved on to focus on “lessons learned”.
Jenkin, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative party, is the most senior Tory to call into question the government’s running of test and trace, as concerns over its operations mount. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said:
Announcing fresh targets (now 500,000 tests a day by the end of October) does not instil confidence because people lack faith that there is a coherent plan. Instead ministers should see this as an opportunity to make changes; to show that we are all learning from experience.
The change must be visible and decisive … the immediate priority is to fill the vacuum of leadership in test and trace.
You can read more on this story here.
Australian health minister Greg Hunt urges Victoria to lift restrictions 'in line with NSW'
The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, has urged the Victorian government to ease restrictions to bring the state in line with neighbouring New South Wales.
Hunt, whose electorate is in Victoria, was speaking in Canberra ahead of Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’s announcement. He urged the state:
... to take the next step to opening up safely, and we hope and commend to Victoria that the commonwealth will support them in moving to those next levels of reduced restrictions, in line with New South Wales. We have seen how a strong testing, tracing and isolation system can allow a state to manage through the challenges of this.
[There have been] over 400,000 cases a day for the last four days, consecutively, globally. In Australia, seven states and territories, zero community cases, yesterday. One state, with seven. And that means we are in a strong position, and there should be no barrier to Victoria taking those steps in line with New South Wales. And they have improved their systems and we want to commend and acknowledge that improvement. Obviously there is more to go, but they have significantly improved to a level where, in our view, they are capable of managing small case numbers, because if we do not do that, then we see the risks to mental health and health which have been so sadly evident in the numbers. But all up, it is a day of great hope.
Updated
Moreland City Council, which covers an area of Melbourne’s northern suburbs, this morning sent an alert to residents warning that coronavirus cases had been identified in the suburbs of Fawkner, Preston, West Heidelberg, Dallas, Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows.
Anyone who lives or works in that area is urged to gets tested if they experience even mild symptoms.
The council alert also urged anyone connected to the East Preston Islamic College and the Corxton school in Northcote to get a test even if they had no symptoms. Fifteen testing sites have been set up in the area.
It added that Sirius College (Meadow Fair campus), Ilim College, and Dallas Brooks primary school “have also been identified as potential risk sites. Anyone from these school communities who is a close contact or who is experiencing symptoms needs to get tested and stay home”.
Updated
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, and health minister Martin Foley, will give a press conference at 10.30am Melbourne time (so in 30 minutes).
A reminder that according to the roadmap released back in September – which has since been significantly re-written – Melbourne was due to get the following freedoms from tomorrow if the rolling 14-day average had fallen below five and there were no more than three “mystery cases” in that period. As of today, the rolling 14-day average in metropolitan Melbourne is 4.6, and there were nine cases with an unknown source in the 14 days to 22 October.
So, according to that roadmap, there would from tomorrow be no restrictions on reasons to leave your home, no travel limit (Melbournians are currently not allowed more than 25km from their home without a permit), up to five visitors from another nominated household allowed in your home, and a reopening of retail stores and hospitality for outdoor seated service.
Let’s wait to see what’s actually announced.
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Good morning,
Welcome to our ongoing live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. France reported a record 45,422 cases in one day on Sunday and 138 new deaths. The country has now recorded 1.08 million cases. Italy has also set a new daily record, with 19,644 cases, and Luxembourg has also recorded a record rise, with 862 new cases.
The United Kingdom recorded 23,012 new cases and 174 deaths, as anti-lockdown protests were held in London.
In Australia, the focus is on Melbourne where the premier, Daniel Andrews, is scheduled to make an announcement on the easing of restriction. On Friday, he said there would be “significant” changes. On Saturday, he backtracked and said “I just want to caution people from banking that tomorrow I’ll be making a whole series of detailed announcements about opening up.” The Victorian government has reportedly been briefing that changes will be delayed.
The reason for the change is an outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, including a number of cases connected to the East Preston Islamic College. Victoria recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday and seven on Saturday, up from one on Friday. Almost 10,000 tests have been conducted in the area and hundreds are under self-isolation orders. Andrews has said that they will need to see those tests results, and see whether new cases can be connected to known outbreaks, before the changes are finalised. Importantly for Victorians the rolling 14-day average has now dropped below five cases per day – the milestone set back in September for easing restrictions – but that might not be enough. Andrews has said decisions will be made on where the cases are and whether they are linked, not on numbers alone.
Let’s crack on. You can follow me on Twitter at @callapilla or email me at Calla.Wahlquist@theguardian.com
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