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The front page of the UK edition of The Guardian
GUARDIAN: Russia tried to steal virus research and interfere in election, says UK #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mSSCrLY6rA
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 16, 2020
Foreign students from Europe, some au pairs and family members of visa holders in the US are exempt from President Trump’s coronavirus travel bans, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The newspaper is citing a memo the State Department sent to Congress on Thursday.
Ministry of Health has reported 8,037 new cases and 215 deaths from coronavirus in Colombia. In total, there are 173,206 infections (90,648 active).
#LoÚltimo | Ministerio de Salud reporta 8.037 nuevos casos y 215 fallecidos por coronavirus en Colombia.
— Noticias Caracol Bogotá (@NCBogota) July 16, 2020
En total, hay 173.206 contagios (90.648 activos). Hoy se procesaron 25.359 pruebas - https://t.co/7TBT12hNGn pic.twitter.com/7NFIEsbsii
It comes as doctors in Bogota are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in Colombia’s capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing.
“We’re in a critical situation,” the president of the Bogota College of Medicine, Herman Bayona, told Reuters. “We are close to collapse.”
Colombian President Ivan Duque declared an ongoing quarantine to slow the spread of the coronavirus in late March. The quarantine is due to be lifted on August 1st, with certain sectors of the economy and parts of the country already starting to reopen.
This week the capital began strict, rolling two-week quarantines by neighborhood, something Bayona said was ineffective.
“We don’t think zonal quarantines have the power to slow the speed of infections.”
The spread of the coronavirus has spurred Mexican authorities to impose local restrictions on mobility, commerce, and leisure, particularly in popular tourist destinations, even as the government seeks to revive the battered economy.
On Wednesday, authorities in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum threatened to fine or arrest people for disobeying rules on wearing face masks, the latest in a series of local and state-level curbs against the spread of the virus.
Eager to lift an economy that is forecast to shrink as much as 10% this year, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has encouraged people to get out, and has resisted reimposing more stringent nationwide restrictions.
But some local authorities worry if they do not take precautions, the hit to their livelihoods will be worse.
“We can’t play with the health of the citizens,” Tulum’s mayor, Victor Mas Tah, said in comments reported by local media.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late Thursday, argued that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law.
The suit comes a day after Kemp clarified his executive orders to expressly block Atlanta and at least 14 other local governments across the state from requiring people to wear face coverings.
Kemp’s order was met with defiance by Bottoms and some other mayors, who said they would continue enforcing the order and were prepared to go to court.
The lawsuit will force that showdown, resolving what had been an ambiguous situation with Kemp denying local governments could order masks, but local governments arguing it was within their power.
Bottoms last week issued what initially appeared to be orders that people had to return to sheltering at home and forcing restaurants to return to only offering takeout and delivery.
Kemp swatted that down in public statements, and Bottoms on Thursday described them as guidelines. But Kemp’s lawsuit says the court should set Bottoms straight on those orders as well.
Oliver Holmes, The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, is reporting it is unlikely the Israeli government will announce new lockdown measures tonight.
Late on Thursday, and without giving details of what steps he was suggesting, prime minister Netanyahu’s office said on Twitter that he had told the cabinet he was “making every effort to avoid a general lockdown”.
It was not clear if or when the government might announce changes, although Netanyahu added he would give ministers a week to come up with suggestions “for the safe opening up of the economy”.
Updated
Puerto Rico’s governor has announced major rollbacks including the closure of bars, gyms, marinas, theaters and casinos and restricted the use of beaches as the U.S. territory is hit by a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.
Governor Wanda Vázquez said the changes and an ongoing curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. will remain in place until July 31.
Weve reached a level where we need to take more restrictive measures, she said. Other changes include the prohibition of alcohol sales after 7 p.m., limiting the capacity of restaurants to 50%, and barring travel to the popular nearby islands of Vieques and Culebra to everyone except residents.
Only those who are exercising will be allowed on beaches, including joggers, swimmers and surfers.
Vázquez said she also has asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily suspend flights from Texas and Florida, noting theyre struggling with their own spike in cases.
More from Sam Cowie reporting from São Paulo –
Brazil has passed yet another grim pandemic milestone with the total number of Covid-19 cases passing 2 million, 45,403 in the last 24 hours, with 76,688 deaths, 1,322 in the last 24 hours, according to latest data from the country’s National Council of Health Secretaries.
South America’s most populous nation continues to be the worst hit in the region in terms of total cases and deaths and the second worst in the world after the United States.
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right populist president, who has repeatedly sought to downplay the pandemic and its dangers, describing it as a “little flu”, repeatedly meeting with crowds of supporters and refusing to wear face masks, tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time Wednesday.
In a live video transmitted over social media yesterday, the president once again mentioned that he was treating the disease using the drug Hydroxychloroquine.
“The future will say whether this remedy is effective or not,” the president said, despite numerous scientific studies attesting that it’s not effective in treating Covid-19 and can even be dangerous.
Bolsonaro said he intended to take a third test in the next days and said he hoped “God willing, everything to be right for us to get back to work soon.”
The president’s cavalier attitude towards the disease has been widely decried for exacerbating the pandemic by experts across Brazil’s political spectrum, as well as by international observers.
One health minister was sacked in mid-April and another forced out less than a month later over disagreements with the firebrand president while a general with no previous medical experience has held the post since.
“2 million confirmed cases! 60 days without a health minister! 60 days of military occupation in the health ministry!” Tweeted Alexandre Padilha, a doctor and congressman with the leftist Worker’s Party.
2 MILHÕES DE CASOS CONFIRMADOS! 60 DIAS SEM MINISTRO DA SAÚDE! 60 DIAS DE OCUPAÇÃO MILITAR NO MINISTÉRIO DA SAÚDE!
— Alexandre Padilha (@padilhando) July 16, 2020
While the number of new cases recorded has stablisied or fallen in city metropolises São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, they have risen elsewhere, especially in the country’s southern and Midwestern states.
Updated
The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn provides some context on the coronavirus surge in the US:
Covid-19 infections are rising in 41 US states, with some southern hotspots taking crisis measures on Thursday, including calling in military medics and parking mobile morgue trucks outside hospitals, echoing scenes in New York City when it became the center of the world outbreak in the spring.
The spread of the virus has resulted in almost 56,000 hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the US currently. A month ago hospitalizations were rising in 11 states; now they are rising in 33 states.
Several states have been breaking records on many days in the last week as numbers rise. Florida set a record of almost 14,000 new cases on Wednesday as it became the focus of attention of the southern surge in Covid-19.
In other developments, Georgia governor Brian Kemp suspended local mask mandates on Wednesday, and early on Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced plans to scale back its national convention next month in Jacksonville, Florida, which it had moved from North Carolina before the surge of cases in Florida, hoping for fewer restrictions on crowds.
The RNC chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, confirmed the update in a letter to convention delegates, noting they will comply with local and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health guidelines while adapting the events.
“We still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,” she wrote. “We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term – while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.”
Coronavirus support to poor countries has been so far “grossly inadequate and that’s dangerously shortsighted,” U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said as he asked wealthy countries for billions more dollars in assistance.
The United Nations increased its humanitarian appeal by more than a third to $10.3 billion to help 63 states, mainly in Africa and Latin America, tackle the spread and destabilising effects of the coronavirus. This is up from the world body’s initial $2 billion request in March, then $6.7 billion in May.
So far, Lowcock said, the United Nations has only received $1.7 billion.
As finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies prepare to meet virtually on Saturday, Lowcock told reporters: “The message to the G20 is step up now or pay the price later.”
The United Nations has warned that if action is not taken, the pandemic and associated global recession will trigger an increase in global poverty for the first time since 1990 and push 265 million people to the brink of starvation.
“The response so far of wealthy nations, who’ve rightly thrown out the fiscal and monetary rule books to protect their own people and economies, the response that they’ve made to the situations in other countries has been grossly inadequate and that’s dangerously shortsighted,” Lowcock said.
A report from Sam Cowie in São Paulo.
Brazil has passed yet another grim pandemic milestone with the total number of Covid-19 cases passing 2 million, with more than 76,000 deaths, according to data from national state health secretaries.
South America’s most populous country continues to be the worst hit in the region in terms of total cases and deaths and the second worst in the world after the United States.
Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s far-right populist president who has repeatedly sought to downplay the pandemic and its dangers, describing it as a “little flu”, repeatedly meeting with crowds of supporters and refusing to wear face masks, tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time Wednesday.
The president’s cavalier attitude towards the disease has been widely decried for exacerbating the pandemic by experts across Brazil’s political spectrum, as well as by international observers.
One health minister was sacked in mid-April and another forced out less than a month later over disagreements with the firebrand president while a general with no previous medical experience has held the post since.
While the number of new cases recorded has fallen in city metropolises São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, they have risen elsewhere, especially in the country’s southern and Midwestern states.
Brazil surpasses two million mark for coronavirus cases
Brazil has passed two million coronavirus cases, the country’s health ministry said.
The figure has reached 2,012,151, up from 1,966,748 yesterday.
The US is the only country which has recorded more cases with around 3.54 million.
Updated
Brazil’s death toll passes 76,000
Brazil’s death toll has reached 76,688, up from 75,366 yesterday, the country’s health ministry said.
The NHS will get an extra £3 billion in funding to prepare for a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson is set to announce.
In the wake of a dire warning of the consequences of Covid-19 rebounding, Downing Street said the funding will allow extra hospital capacity while allowing routine treatments and procedures to continue.
The Prime Minister will also use a Downing Street press conference on Friday to commit to a new target of reaching the capacity for 500,000 coronavirus tests a day by November.
The funding for the health service in England will allow private hospital capacity to be used and for Nightingale hospitals to be maintained until the end of March.
It comes after a report commissioned by the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned there could be 120,000 hospital deaths in a “reasonable worst-case scenario”.
Winter always places a great strain on the health service, but there are concerns a resurgence of the virus during the annual flu season could be crippling.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “Thanks to the hard work and sacrifices of the British people, the virus is under control and we have eased restrictions in a cautious, phased way.
“But the Prime Minister is clear that now is not the time for complacency, and we must make sure our NHS is battle ready for winter.
“Tomorrow, he will set out a broad package of measures to protect against both a possible second wave, and to ease winter pressures and keep the public safe.”
France’s Lourdes Roman Catholic shrine organised its first ever e-pilgrimage following the coronavirus crisis, drawing a virtual audience of 80 million from around the world.
Lourdes is usually thronged in summer with pilgrims who travel, sometimes across the world, to light a candle in the sanctuary where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared.
But with flights grounded, many international borders still closed and social distancing rules in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lourdes had to find another way.
The sanctuary in southwest France broadcast mass and prayers all day in five different languages on television and social media for the e-pilgrimage, dubbed “Lourdes United”.
Western governments accused hackers believed to be part of Russian intelligence of trying to steal valuable private information about a coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, calling out the Kremlin in a public warning to scientists and medical companies.
Agencies in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada alleged that the hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear and blamed for American election interference four years ago, is attacking academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in Covid-19 vaccine development.
It was unclear whether any useful information was stolen. But British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “It is completely unacceptable that the Russian Intelligence Services are targeting those working to combat the coronavirus pandemic.”
He accused Moscow of pursuing selfish interests with reckless behaviour.
Sticking to more general language, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said: “We worked very closely with our allies to ensure that we would take measures to keep that information safe and we continue do so.”
Canada’s federal government will give the 13 provinces and territories more than C$19 billion ($14 billion) to help pay for the costs of restarting the economy after several months of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, the prime minister said.
The federal government first announced it wanted to reach a “safe restart agreement” with the provinces and territories last month, when it pledged C$14 billion, and negotiations have been ongoing ever since.
The cash is meant to cover extraordinary costs over the coming six to eight months, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference, and will take care of “the kinds of things that actually really matter to Canadians,” including preparing for a possible “second wave” of contagion.
Those things include contact tracing, providing protective equipment to workers, helping struggling municipalities pay operating costs, aiding local transit operators, “safe spaces” for daycare, and improving long-term care for the elderly.
The money will also allow the government to provide up to 10 days of sick leave for those who do not already have it, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the same news conference.
“Covid-19 isn’t just a health crisis, it’s an economic crisis, too,” Trudeau said. “Because until we find a vaccine, the daily threat of Covid-19 will not disappear.”
Canadian provinces and territories have been gradually reopening. On Wednesday, Canada reported 343 new cases from a day earlier and 12 more deaths.
But there is growing concern about the spread of the virus from the United States, where numbers are skyrocketing in several states.
The US, Canada and Mexico have agreed to keep their shared borders closed to non-essential traffic until at least late August because of Covid-19.
Acting US Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said Thursday in announcing the extension that restrictions on cross-border traffic that have been in place since March have helped slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Officials had said in recent days that another 30-day extension was likely before the expiration of the previous 30-day extension.
The partial closure restricts crossing to commercial traffic, people returning to their home country and other travel deemed essential. It prohibits people from traveling between the countries for tourism or shopping, which is economically important to border communities.
The extension agreed to by the three countries would keep the border closed until August 21.
“Canada and the United States have agreed to extend the current border measures by one month until August 21, and we’re going to keep working closely with our American neighbors to keep people safe on both sides of the border,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference.
White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
“And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
“The science should not stand in the way of this,” McEnany said, adding moments later, “The science is on our side here.”
However, a number of school officials have expressed concern about students and staff members potentially contracting the virus once in-person instruction resumes. In response to those concerns, many school districts have announced plans to hold virtual classes this fall.
Trump and some of his allies have pointed to evidence that children are very unlikely to become severely ill from coronavirus to justify their push to reopen schools.
However, many public health experts have said there has not yet been enough research conducted on how children react to the virus.
A summary of today's developments
- The global death toll from coronavirus has passed the 586,000 mark. The figure has reached 586,369, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. The US has had the highest fatalities of any country with 137,897 followed by Brazil with 75,366.
- A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says President Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report said.
- Spain has reported its steepest daily rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months, with 580 new cases, after a rise of 390 cases on Wednesday. The regions of Aragon and Catalonia lead the increase, Reuters reports.Authorities have reimposed restrictions in some areas of Catalonia, including home confinement in the Lleida area affecting about 160,000 people, and health officials there said measures would have to be taken in the capital, Barcelona, but gave no further details.
- Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, according to British security officials. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
- In the US, Florida has again broken its single-day record of coronavirus deaths, as the state struggles to get the virus under control. Florida health officials announced 156 residents died of coronavirus yesterday, breaking the record of 132 deaths reported on Tuesday morning. The new figure brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in the state to 4,677, with more than 315,000 cases confirmed.
- The Israeli government is reported to be considering a full national lockdown during weekends and plans to shut all kindergartens. The expectation of a move comes as the cabinet is holding an emergency meeting following a surge in infections.
- The team behind the development of a Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University in the UK hope to begin tests on volunteers who will be intentionally exposed to the virus in a “challenge trial”, a move seen as controversial since there is no proven cure for the illness. Although challenge trials, in which healthy volunteers are given a pathogen, are routine in vaccine development, taking the approach for Covid-19, where there is no fail-safe treatment if a volunteer becomes severely ill, has been questioned.
- Coronavirus has been the direct cause of death of nine out of 10 Italian victims, a study released on Thursday said, shedding new light on the pandemic which mainly struck the country’s northern regions. Since discovering its first infections in February, Italy has reported about 35,000 Covid-19 fatalities. However, health authorities said many of those who died were also affected by other ailments and this provoked a fierce debate on whether the virus was the actual cause of death.
A tweet from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization:
I had the great honour to meet with King Felipe VI, @CasaReal, and discuss Spain’s tireless campaign against #COVID19 and the importance of following a science-based approach, backed by global solidarity, to bring the virus under control around the world. Together, for health! pic.twitter.com/B2GPGTPGxu
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 16, 2020
For weeks, Michelle Zymet pleaded with her stepson to avoid going out with friends and to always wear a mask.
“It’s just not the time,” the Florida woman says she told him, begging him to think about his dad, who is at a higher risk of Covid-19 because he is overweight and diabetic.
One evening in early June, the young man went out against her wishes, gathered with friends and removed his mask while eating and drinking.
Days later, he felt cold symptoms and a friend at the get-together told him she had tested positive for the new coronavirus. By then, it already had taken hold in the young man’s household.
The man’s father, John Place, 42, is now fighting the virus at a hospital’s intensive care unit.
The illness’s spread among members of the Plantation, Florida, family highlights the outcome dreaded by authorities who feared the recent surge of cases hitting younger Floridians would spread to older, more vulnerable people.
“They don’t necessarily listen. It could be peer pressure,” said Zymet, 42. “Maybe they think, None of us are sick. We are fine. They don’t understand many of us are asymptomatic and are positive carriers of the virus.”
The young man had told his father and stepmother that he initially thought he had a common cold and took over-the-counter medication. When he heard about his friend testing positive for the new coronavirus, he still didn’t think he had it.
But members of the family started to fall ill starting with his 14-year-old brother, who is also overweight and was wheezing, coughing and lethargic.
The six-year-old sister had only a runny nose. The stepmother was achy, with a fever and chills. They all tested positive, but only Place, the father, required hospitalisation after four days of fever and nonstop coughing. He has now been in the hospital for nearly three weeks.
With Place unable to work at his photo booth business, Zymet’s friends are raising funds for the family as they brace to handle hefty medical bills.
Zymet said she has been called an “awful mother” and an “evil witch” for placing the blame on the stepson, but she said she thought it was important to share her family’s story amid a surge of infections first detected among young people.
She and her family have been isolating at home, and Place was on a ventilator for more than two weeks. She says her stepson has been helping taking care of the younger children and researching the disease while she juggles work in between calls to the hospital, nurses and doctors.
The mother said the younger generation “won’t know until it hits home”.
“This has definitely brought us together”, she added. “We could have eventually gotten this disease somewhere else. But it is the unfortunate truth that he did bring it home.”
Global death toll passes 586,000 mark
The worldwide death toll from coronavirus has reached 586,174, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
The US has had the highest fatalities of any country with 137,897 followed by Brazil with 75,366.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says President Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents.
“Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report says.
Trump introduced severe restrictions on travel from China in early February in the hope of preventing travelers from spreading coronavirus in the US.
However, the president did not unveil similar restrictions on European travel until mid-March, when the CDC says the virus had already made its way to New York.
New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has previously sought to deflect criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic by arguing he was not adequately warned about how the virus was spreading from European travel.
“We closed the front door with the China travel ban, which was right,” Cuomo said in late April. “But we left the back door open because the virus had left China by the time we did the China travel ban.”
One of Cuomo’s top advisers quickly shared the report on Twitter, encouraging “those who wonder why NYC was hit so hard” to read the findings.
One of India’s most impoverished states went into lockdown on Thursday, but near-normal traffic on Bihar’s streets showed the difficulty of corralling over 125 million people.
The lockdown in the northern state bordering Nepal started as India reported more than 600 deaths in the previous 24 hours, and the Red Cross warned the virus was spreading at “an alarming rate” across South Asia.
With India’s caseload fast approaching one million - and fatalities nearing 25,000 - local authorities across the country are reimposing restrictions that have only recently been lifted.
Bihar, a largely rural state with feeble health infrastructure, went into a 15-day lockdown at midnight, a day after IT hub Bangalore - home to 13 million people - shut down for a week.
All schools, clubs, temples and non-essential businesses were ordered to close in Bihar, but construction and agricultural activity are allowed to continue.
And while public transport was shut down, private vehicles are still permitted to operate, and the streets of the state capital Patna thronged with cars, lorries, bikes and auto-rickshaws.
“The lockdown is not being fully enforced,” businessman Ranjeet Singh said.
Many people were still shopping for food with little regard for social distancing advice.
A lack of coronavirus discipline forced Goa to announced a three-day shutdown from Thursday evening and a night curfew until August 10.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said too many people were “stepping out to meet people at parties” and that there was a low level of “awareness and sensitivity”.
Health officials in South Africa has decided to reduce the capacity of a Covid-19 field hospital in Cape Town, a sign that the situation may be improving in the city that was Africa’s first coronavirus epicentre.
Declining numbers of patients prompted the decision to reduce the size of Khayelitsha field hospital from 60 to 30 beds, indicating cautious optimism among health workers.
The field hospital will send 30 of its life-saving oxygen concentrating machines to other parts of the country where they are desperately needed, an aid worker, Sean Christie, said.
“There have been calls for the machines from all over South Africa,” he said.
The field hospital will be reduced to 50% of its capacity as soon as possible, MSF spokesman Christie told The Associated Press.
South Africa has more than 324,221 cases, according to the country’s health ministry and data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, making it the country with the sixth-biggest caseload in the world, above Mexico, Chile, Britain, Spain and Italy.
The nation has had relatively fewer deaths, at 4,669.
Security officials in Bangladesh have arrested the owner of two hospitals that issued thousands of fake coronavirus test reports, officials said.
Mohammed Shahed, a member of the governing party who regularly appeared on TV talk shows, was arrested on Wednesday by the Rapid Action Battalion near the Indian border after a nine-day hunt for him.
Shahed is chairman of the Regent Group and owner of two Regent hospitals in the capital, Dhaka.
Abdul Baten, a commissioner of the Detective Branch in Dhaka, said Shahed admitted after his arrest that his hospitals did not have proper equipment to conduct coronavirus tests.
A court in Dhaka on Thursday allowed investigators to keep Shahed in custody for 10 days for questioning.
Shahed belongs to the governing Awami League party headed by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and is a member of its foreign affairs subcommittee. He has more than 50 legal cases pending against him across the country on various charges, including forgery and cheating.
Another doctor and her husband were arrested recently on similar charges of falsifying test results.
Officials said the hospitals had issued more than 10,000 results and about 60% were fake, even though patients were charged for them. The hospitals allegedly arranged for the remaining tests to be conducted by another hospital.
The two hospitals had not renewed their medical licences for years, but the Ministry of Health nevertheless signed a deal with Shahed to dedicate the hospitals to coronavirus testing and treatment as the number of cases rose.
Bangladesh is nearing 200,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 2,496 deaths. Public health experts say the actual number is much higher because only about 70 testing facilities are available in the country of 160 million people.
Updated
Updated
The death toll in France has risen by 18 today to bring the total to 30,138, the country’s health ministry said, hours after ministers urged people to start wearing masks in enclosed public places to prevent a new flare-up of the pandemic.
And the number of confirmed cases rose to a total of 173,838 on Thursday, from 173, 304 the previous day.
Updated
Study finds malaria drug touted by Trump as Covid-19 treatment was ineffective for patients with mild case of disease
About 24% of the patients given hydroxychloroquine in the study had persisting symptoms over a 14-day period, while roughly 30% of the group given a placebo were determined to have persistent symptoms over the same period.
The difference was not statistically significant, researchers at the University of Minnesota said.
“Hydroxychloroquine did not substantially reduce symptom severity or prevalence over time in non-hospitalised persons with early Covid-19,” the researchers wrote in an article to be published by the Annals of Internal Medicine on Thursday.
The randomised, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 491 non-hospitalised patients. Owing to test shortages in the United States, only 58% of participants were tested for the disease.
The study “provides strong evidence that hydroxychloroquine offers no benefit in patients with mild illness”, Dr Neil Schluger, of New York Medical College, said in an editorial on the study.
Updated
Iraq will reopen its airports for scheduled international traffic on July 23, the Higher Committee for Health and Public Safety said on Thursday, after suspending regular commercial flights in March because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The country will lift a nationwide night-time curfew after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, and reopen restaurants and malls as long as they implement preventative health and social distancing measures, the committee added.
It did not provide further details on flights. Some international flights have left Baghdad in recent weeks with passengers needing prior approval to travel.
Updated
Natalia, 34, had a good job in a Paris bakery, but when the coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut, she was furloughed.
With loans to pay and a family of four to support, she found herself where she thought she’d never wind up: the food bank.
Even though France has made it through the worst of the coronavirus lockdown, charities say workers hurt by the economic crisis are still in dire need of help. And if a second wave should hit in the autumn, they are warning of serious hardship to come.
“I’m not embarrassed, but it’s too bad we can’t get by on our own,” Natalia told Reuters outside a food bank run by the Secours Populaire charity in Houilles, a suburb of Paris.
Though she was able to go back to work two weeks ago, business at the bakery is still dire and Natalia is worried she could lose her job for good at any moment. For now, she still relies on groceries from the charity to keep food on the table.
“What scares me is how are we going to get by if there is a second wave?”
Hamza, a student from Morocco, earned his livelihood giving maths lessons to high school pupils. Lockdown in March left him with no income.
“I don’t have any more resources available. So I come here, at least I get something to eat,” he said at the food bank. “I would have never thought I’d have to come here.”
The charity Restos du Coeur says it is feeding 20%-30% more people than normal since the crisis hit in March. Staff say stories like those of Hamza and Natalia are now typical, whereas once they rarely would see students or working people.
Government officials have said that as many as 8 million people might need food aid by the end of the year, a number food banks say they are not prepared to cope with.
“If the pandemic comes back in autumn on top of all the unemployment, it’ll be an explosive mix,” said the head of Restos du Coeur, Patrice Blanc.
Updated
Updated
Summary
• Spain has reported its steepest daily rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months, with 580 new cases, after a rise of 390 cases on Wednesday. The regions of Aragon and Catalonia lead the increase, Reuters reports.
Authorities have reimposed restrictions in some areas of Catalonia, including home confinement in the Lleida area affecting about 160,000 people, and health officials there said measures would have to be taken in the capital, Barcelona, but gave no further details.
• Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, according to British security officials.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
• In the US, Florida has again broken its single-day record of coronavirus deaths, as the state struggles to get the virus under control.
Florida health officials announced 156 residents died of coronavirus yesterday, breaking the record of 132 deaths reported on Tuesday morning. The new figure brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in the state to 4,677, with more than 315,000 cases confirmed.
• The Israeli government is reported to be considering a full national lockdown during weekends and plans to shut all kindergartens. The expectation of a move comes as the cabinet is holding an emergency meeting following a surge in infections.
• The team behind the development of a Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University in the UK hope to begin tests on volunteers who will be intentionally exposed to the virus in a “challenge trial”, a move seen as controversial since there is no proven cure for the illness.
Although challenge trials, in which healthy volunteers are given a pathogen, are routine in vaccine development, taking the approach for Covid-19, where there is no fail-safe treatment if a volunteer becomes severely ill, has been questioned.
• Coronavirus has been the direct cause of death of nine out of 10 Italian victims, a study released on Thursday said, shedding new light on the pandemic which mainly struck the country’s northern regions.
Since discovering its first infections in February, Italy has reported about 35,000 Covid-19 fatalities. However, health authorities said many of those who died were also affected by other ailments and this provoked a fierce debate on whether the virus was the actual cause of death.
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Opposition from the Netherlands and the threat of a Hungarian veto are weighing on the chances of reaching an EU deal on a mass stimulus scheme to kickstart economies hit by the coronavirus.
The 27 national EU heads will meet face-to-face in Brussels on Friday and Saturday for the first time since Covid-19 pushed the bloc into a sweeping lockdown, as well as its deepest recession, forecast at 8.7% this year for eurozone members.
They will haggle over their 2021-27 budget, proposed at just above €1tn, and a linked recovery fund of €750bn in grants and loans designed to help rebuild southern states, such as Italy, where the virus took the biggest toll.
“Does €1,750bn euros seem like a lot of money to you? Believe me, it does to the European heads ... But it is worth it,” the chairman of the meeting, Charles Michel, said on Thursday, stressing that the EU’s economic answer to the pandemic would top that of the United States or China.
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New York City won’t open malls and museums on Monday even if the city is allowed to move into the next phase of reopening, as the New York governor promises more crackdowns on bars and restaurants.
Andrew Cuomo said the city is on track to move to the fourth phase of his gradual reopening plan, but that his administration will review the latest infection data and decide by 4pm on Friday.
The rest of the state is in phase four, which typically permits the opening of malls and certain arts and entertainment centres, and the restarting of professional sports games without fans.
But Cuomo said no additional indoor activity will open in New York in the fourth phase because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus indoors. Cuomo has not allowed New York City to open up indoor dining, unlike the rest of the state.
“You see the inside, interior spaces, air conditioned spaces, where the virus is tending to spread,” Cuomo said in a Thursday conference call with reporters.
“So were going to take that precaution in New York City.”
Today's update on the numbers:
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 16, 2020
72,685 tests were performed yesterday. 769 tests came back positive (1.06% of total).
Total hospitalizations fell to 813.
Sadly, there were 14 COVID fatalities yesterday. pic.twitter.com/rg5UUJYl0L
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The team behind the development of a Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute hopes to begin tests on volunteers by intentionally exposing them to the virus in a “challenge trial”, a move seen as controversial since there is no proven cure for the illness.
Although challenge trials, in which healthy volunteers are given a pathogen, are routine in vaccine development, taking the approach for Covid-19, where there is no fail-safe treatment if a volunteer becomes severely ill, has been questioned.
Volunteers are intentionally exposed in a controlled laboratory setting, meaning the trial can be completed in weeks and requires far fewer people.
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Ireland’s death toll from coronavirus has increased by one to 1,749, as officials confirmed the R-rate could be as high as 1.8. Plans to ease the lockdown in Ireland have been put on pause (see earlier).
As of midnight Wednesday 15th July, the @hpscireland has been notified of 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 25,698* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
— MerrionStreet.ie #StaySafe #HoldFirm (@merrionstreet) July 16, 2020
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said; “Our best estimate of the R-number currently stands at 1.4 but it could be as high as 1.8. We have an opportunity now to maintain suppression of the virus.”@roinnslainte @hpscireland
— MerrionStreet.ie #StaySafe #HoldFirm (@merrionstreet) July 16, 2020
Spain: steepest rise in infections in two months
Spain has reported its steepest daily rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months with 580 new cases, after a rise of 390 cases on Wednesday. The regions of Aragon and Catalonia lead the increase, Reuters reports.
Authorities have reimposed restrictions in some areas of Catalonia, including home confinement in the Lleida area, affecting about 160,000 people, and health officials there said measures would have to be taken in the capital, Barcelona, but gave no further details.
More than 170 localised outbreaks have emerged across Spain since it lifted its nationwide lockdown – one of the strictest in Europe – on 21 June, with Catalonia at the centre of new outbreaks.
Spain’s health ministry put the number of cases confirmed in the region over the past 24 hours at 142, up from 91 the previous day. In Aragon in the east, the number of infections jumped to 266 from 160, according to the health ministry.
The Catalan health authority, which counts both confirmed and suspected cases, said the number soared to 1,293 overnight, the highest since at least 18 May, when the counting methodology changed.
Barcelona, home to 1.6 million people and one of Europe’s most visited cities, tripled its number of coronavirus cases from last week.
Authorities have also imposed some restrictions in three neighbourhoods of a Barcelona suburb that houses about 260,000 people.
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Wearing black face masks and roses, Spanish dignitaries paid tribute in Madrid to the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, as the virus continued to ravage countries around the world.
King Felipe VI led Spain’s commemoration at an esplanade in Madrid’s Royal Palace, accompanied by the relatives of 100 people who died during the pandemic, medical personnel, police and other essential workers, government members and officials from the EU and the World Health Organization.
The memorial took place as Spain continued to battle scores of localised outbreaks, many centred on Catalonia in the north, which has been forced to reintroduce lockdowns in the most affected areas.
The solemn ceremony for around 400 guests took place as Russia announced it had recorded 750,000 infections during its outbreak and France accelerated plans to make it compulsory to wear protective face masks in enclosed public spaces because of concerns about Covid-19.
USA Today has said that a column the newspaper solicited and published from the US presidential trade adviser Peter Navarro criticising Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases expert, was misleading and did not meet fact-checking standards.
The newspaper explained the decision in a note by Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor, attached to the column online, which you can read here.
Navarro’s column was published online late on Tuesday and was published in Wednesday’s newspaper. Navarro wrote that Fauci “has been wrong about everything I interacted with him on”.
Fauci has pushed back at a concerted campaign by Donald Trump and his allies to discredit his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials and advisers have publicly sought to undermine Fauci in at least five separate instances over the past four days, even as coronavirus surges across the US, with the death toll now above 135,000.
“I believe for the most part you can trust respected medical authorities,” Fauci told a virtual forum at Georgetown University in Washington on Tuesday.
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Thirteen of 35 new cases of coronavirus in Greece over the past 24 hours involved tourists who were tested on arrival.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country – which is regarded as being one of the more successful European states in terms of containing the pandemic - is now 3,939, with 193 dead.
The news portal ekathimerini reports that a government minister will resume weekly briefings on the pandemic in Greece, amid fears on the part of authorities that public compliance has waned.
The first tourist flights in four months landed on the Greek island of Crete earlier this month.
A charter plane carrying 172 passengers from Hamburg landed at Heraklion airport at 8am, minutes after another aircraft had arrived from the Czech Republic, re-establishing the island’s air links with the outside world.
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Zimbabwe’s economy is expected to shrink by 4.5% this year, the countrys finance minister said today, although others say it will contract even more, as the effects of the coronavirus and a drought take a toll on the struggling southern African nation.
The projection by Mthuli Ncube (below) is much less than the more than 10% decline forecast by the International Monetary Fund.
Tourism, one of Zimbabwe’s biggest foreign currency earners, was worst affected by the pandemic, which has stopped the arrival of almost all visitors from Asia, Europe and North America, Ncube said to parliament.
Meanwhile, senior doctors at Zimbabwe’s state hospitals have issued a two-week strike notice, asking that their salaries be paid in US dollars and that they be equipped with supplies of personal protective equipment.
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Johnson & Johnson is in talks with the government of Japan and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about putting aside allocations of its potential Covid-19 vaccine in advance of it producing any of the medicines, the company’s chief financial officer has told Reuters.
Joseph Wolk said the foundation would focus on allocating any vaccine it acquired to developing countries.
It has previously been reported that J&J is also in talks with the European Union.
“Nothing has been finalised yet. We continue to have those discussions,” Wolk said.
“People from the countries and the organisations we mentioned want to lock in a certain minimum level of capacity that they would get.”
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There’s a political impact too from the situation in Florida, where the US Republican party’s ruling national committee is planning to sharply limit attendance for an upcoming convention to celebrate President Donald Trump’s renomination.
The party’s chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, has written to committee members saying that attendance for the first three nights of the four-night event will be limited to delegates, Politico reports.
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Florida sets another single-day record of coronavirus deaths
In the US, Florida has once again broken its single-day record of coronavirus deaths, as the state struggles to get the virus under control.
Florida health officials announced 156 residents died of coronavirus yesterday, breaking the record of 132 deaths reported on Tuesday morning.
The new figure brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in Florida to 4,677. The state has confirmed more than 315,000 cases.
You can read more about those developments on our US blog:
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Israeli government considering full lockdown at weekend – reports
Israeli media has reported the government is considering a full national lockdown during weekends and plans to shut all kindergartens.
These are unconfirmed reports but they come as the cabinet is holding an emergency meeting following a surge in infections.
The reports add that restaurants will only be allowed to serve takeaways and deliveries while indoor gatherings will be limited to 10 people or fewer.
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About 1.3 million more Americans filed for unemployment in the US last week as the economy continues to reel from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of new claims has dropped over the last 16 weeks, decreasing by 10,000 last week compared with the week before, though the number has hovered above 1 million over the last month.
Those who have just started to receive unemployment benefits may only get a few weeks of the additional $600 the federal government gives to those claiming unemployment insurance.
The extra money, given on top of what states give through their own programs, is set to expire at the end of the month. Without the additional cash, the average unemployment payment is about $350 a week.
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Expect waves of Covid-19 in coming years – UK government adviser
The coronavirus will likely return several times in the coming years, triggering new waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, the British government’s chief scientific adviser has also said in the committee hearing we have just referred to. Follow it in more detail here on our UK blog.
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The outcome of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK “has not been good”, the British government’s chief scientific adviser has told members of parliament.
Sir Patrick Vallance told the science and technology committee there would be “many factors” that determine how well countries respond to the outbreak.
He said: “As (the chief medical officer for England) Chris Whitty has said before, it’s very difficult to know where we stand at the moment. It’s clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK, I think you can be absolutely clear about that.
“It is clear you can see a band of countries that have done less well in the temperate zone. Countries that are very well connected internationally, countries that have got population structures of a certain type.”
You can follow his appearance in front of a parliamentary committee in more detail here on our UK blog
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The news that there may be a delay in reopening pubs in Ireland has been described as a “hammer blow” by the Licensed Vintners Association, which represents pub owners, who said the future of 7,000 pubs and 50,000 jobs hung in the balance.
Ireland has paused its phased easing of lockdown and extended rules on face coverings amid a surge in Covid-19 cases. Leo Varadkar, the tánaiste (deputy prime minister), told parliament today that pubs, nightclubs and other venues will open no sooner than 10 August, and possibly later.
They were due to reopen on 20 July as part of the fourth phase of the lifting of lockdown but on Wednesday the government announced a pause, citing a sharp rise in the R number to between 1.2 and 1.8. Northern Ireland has recorded a slight rise to between 0.5 and 1.
But Danny Healy-Rae, an independent TD (MP) with a constituency in County Kerry, challenged the logic of differentiating between pubs that served food. “Tis fairly foolish to think that the virus can know whether you’re eating with your pint or not.”
His brother Michael, also an independent TD for Kerry, said publicans were being treated unfairly and were extremely angry at the “crazy decision” to delay reopening.
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Coronavirus direct cause of 89% of pandemic deaths in Italy – study
Covid-19 was found to be the direct cause of death among 89% of the pandemic’s victims in Italy, according to a report on Thursday by the country’s higher health institute and national statistics agency.
The study was based on the death certificates of 4,942 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 and carried out until 25 May, by which time 31,573 people were officially reported to have died of the disease.
The main causes of death in the remaining 11% of positive cases were cardiovascular diseases (4.6%), tumours (2.4%), respiratory illnesses (1%), diabetes (0.6%), dementia (0.6%) and illnesses of the digestive system (0.5%).
In 28.2% of the cases analysed the virus was fatal in those who had no co-existing illnesses, while 71.8% had at least one other condition.
Almost 35,000 people have died of coronavirus in Italy. The health minister, Roberto Speranza, banned air, road and rail travel from Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo on Thursday as the country tries to limit new outbreaks, which have mostly been triggered by imported infections.
The move follows last week’s ban on travel from 13 countries considered high-risk, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Kuwait and Bahrain. Italy reported 162 new infections on Wednesday, up 48 from the previous day.
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The air will be freshly piped, the rooms deep cleaned and handshakes banned. As European Union leaders gather for their first physical meeting in Brussels on Friday to thrash out a coronavirus recovery plan, no effort has been spared to avoid a local outbreak of the disease.
The two-day meeting, thought to be the largest gathering of world leaders since the start of the pandemic, will be the first featuring all 27 heads of state and government since February, when an attempt to agree the EU’s €1tn seven-year budget collapsed in acrimony.
On Friday and Saturday they will return to the same task, as well as seeking to hammer out a €750bn (£689bn) recovery plan to help cope with the biggest economic shock forecast in EU history.
But any pre-summit bonhomie smoothing the way to a deal will be limited by social distancing. Leaders are being asked to wear masks on arrival and avoid shaking hands – advice that appears to preclude the air kissing and backslapping that usually accompany the opening of summit talks.
Gathering in the Europa headquarters of the European council, nicknamed the “Space Egg”, leaders will meet in a fifth floor room designed to seat 330 people. This will ensure social distancing for 30 leaders (27 national ones plus three from the EU institutions), plus three or four top EU officials.
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Health authorities have ordered the culling of all 93,000 mink at a farm in eastern Spain to prevent human contagion after discovering most of the animals there had been infected with the coronavirus.
The farm in the village of La Puebla de Valverde in the region of Aragon, 200km (125 miles) east of Madrid, came to the attention of the authorities after the wife of one of its workers tested positive in May.
Joaquín Olona, the head of the Aragon agriculture department, said on Thursday that seven farm workers had subsequently tested positive, including the woman’s husband.
Authorities initially ordered that the animals should be isolated. But a few weeks later, after several rounds of testing, they decided to cull the mink, which are farmed for their fur. As many as 80% of a sample of the animals tested positive.
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Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of attempting to deflect public anger over his handling of Israel’s pandemic and an ongoing corruption trial, by proposing a cash handout to all Israelis regardless of their income.
The Israeli prime minister presented the 6bn shekel (£1.4bn) package on Wednesday night, with payments of up to £175 for individuals. This payments will rise to nearly £700 for families, arguing it would boost spending and “get the economy moving faster”.
The plan, which needs cabinet approval, was swiftly rejected on Thursday by senior officials, including government ministers, who said the money should instead be targeted at the poorest citizens.
The Bank of Israel governor, Amir Yaron, told a local radio station there were “more effective ways” to encourage consumer spending. The foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, from the former opposition Blue and White party, said the money should instead go “to those who are hurting and not to those who don’t need it”. Read on.
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That’s all from me Caroline Davies for now. Thank you for your time.
More than 125 million people in India were put under a new lockdown after the country registered more than 600 deaths in a single day.
The lockdown was imposed on impoverished Bihar state, neighbouring Nepal.
“We have not faced such a situation in my life before. It is really a horrible experience,” housewife Radhika Singh, told AFP in Bihar, where all schools, clubs, temples and non-essential businesses were ordered closed.
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Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine development, according to British security officials.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which it said was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
British officials would not say if any of the attacks had been successful in their goal of stealing medical secrets. They stressed, however, that none of the vaccine research had been compromised as a result.
It is rare for the UK to explicitly state it believes another country is behind a coordinated campaign of cyber-attacks but British officials indicated it shared its assessment with the United States and Canada, both of whom are expected to release their own updates shortly.
Read the full story
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With their low infection rate, the Canary Islands are being used as a laboratory for safe tourism. Joining a trial flight with the UN’s World Tourism Organisation, Matthew Hirtes writes in the Guardian that he found Fuerteventura organised, welcoming and very clean. You can read his report here.
One of the Catholic Church’s holiest sites, Lourdes, is holding its first online pilgrimage today to mark the anniversary of claims by the girl Bernadette Soubirous in the 19th century that the Virgin Mary appeared to her, Associated Press reports.
Today marks the anniversary of Bernadette’s visions and the discovery of allegedly healing spring waters. It led the church to build a cathedral at the site near the Pyrenees in southern France. The shrine was closed on 17 March for the first time in its history due to the pandemic.
Today’s celebrations include masses, processions and prayers, in addition to priests and guests speaking about how Lourdes has affected their lives. It’s being called Lourdes United, and is being broadcast all day until 10pm.
Lourdes attracts around 3 million pilgrims a year, the second most popular place in France after Paris, and the region’s tourism has badly suffered during the coronavirus crisis.
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Hi. This is Caroline Davies taking over the blog for a short while.
The German abattoir hit by a coronavirus outbreak that led to a second lockdown for the surrounding region reopened its slaughterhouse on Thursday, though the impact of new hygiene measures on the plant’s capacity is unclear.
Authorities on Wednesday said the Toennies slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck could resume operations after it bolstered health and safety procedures.
The meat processing and packing plant remains closed but is due to be inspected on Thursday.
The site, which is particularly important for the German pig farming sector, closed in mid-June after about 1,500 workers tested positive for Covid-19.
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The first phase of human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by researchers at the University of Oxford suggests it triggers two types of immune response, unnamed sources working on the vaccine have reportedly said.
The jab triggers the production of antibodies – proteins that can bind to the virus, preventing it from entering cells and flagging it to immune cells – and causes the production of “killer” T cells – immune cells that attack infected human cells.
The Guardian’s Nicola Davis has been examining what we have learned from phase one of the trial.
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A partnership to help Unicef secure vital Covid-19 medical products for low- and middle-income countries has been announced by MedAccess, a UK-based social finance company.
The guarantee of up to $50m is aimed at enabling the United Nations body to engage in high-volume purchasing orders with manufacturers, and respond to demand for medical supplies and diagnostic tests at affordable prices.
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In Ireland, the deputy prime minister has been defending the government’s decision to delay the opening of pubs that do not serve food.
Leo Varadkar, who holds the role of Tanaiste, told member’s of Ireland’s parliament that pubs could open with strict social distancing but that prospect becomes increasingly difficult when alcohol is solely involved.
“Even when it is in restaurants, when people are consuming alcohol it’s very hard to maintain social distancing,” he said.
Varadkar added that, at present, there was no guarantee that pubs would be able to open on August 10 and that the government would be watching very closely to see if infection rates increased.
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Covid-19 continues to impact on the world of sport. The cricketer Jofra Archer has been dropped from England’s second Test against the West Indies and severely reprimanded after breaching biosecure protocols by stopping off at his flat during the journey.
England’s players travelled on Monday in separate cars following their four-wicket defeat at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl and were told there must be no breaks in the 230-mile journey bar the use of a designated biosecure county ground for lunch, and pre-approved petrol stations.
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Germany plans to allow for tougher lockdown measures to contain local outbreaks and ward off the threat of a second coronavirus wave, according to a draft agreement between the federal and regional governments.
The new rules would include a ban on travel “in and out of the affected areas” to limit the spread of the virus, the document seen by AFP news agency said.
The plan is set to be finalised later today and comes as countries across the world are reimposing curbs on public life in response to a surge in new infections.
An open letter calling for volunteers to be deliberately exposed to coronavirus after getting a vaccine has been signed by a range of scientists, including 15 Nobel laureates.
The open letter to the head of the US National Institutes of Health says the “challenge trials” could accelerate vaccine development.
It says:
If done properly, live coronavirus human challenge trials can be an important way to accelerate vaccine development and, ideally, to save the lives of millions around the world as well as help rescue global economies.
We strongly recommend that production of the unattenuated virus begin immediately consistent with good manufacturing practices for potential use in trials that balance risks and benefits and respect the safety and autonomy of volunteers.
It is also vitally important that there is both full transparency on the vaccine development and trial process and a diverse group of trial participants necessary to provide a broadly effective and universally available vaccine.
The organisation, 1 Day Sooner, which speaks for some volunteers taking part in trials tweeted a link to the letter:
15 Nobel Laureates, 100+ prominent figures, and 2000+ 1Day challenge volunteers signed our open letter to Dr. Francis Collins in support of COVID-19 human challenge trials: https://t.co/2mheDn5lRw
— 1Day Sooner (@1daysooner) July 15, 2020
Below are just some of the signatories:
Among those whose names appear on the letter is Prof Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford, where a massive effort has been under way to develop a UK vaccine for coronavirus within months and make it available to save lives before the end of the year.
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Ukrainians are fed up with the coronavirus lockdown and the government should be cautious about extending it beyond August, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
“Everyone is tired of this quarantine,” the presidential press service quoted him as telling government officials.
Ukraine imposed strict restrictions in March but partially eased them in May to allow economic recovery.
It has been extending the lockdown monthly, with current rules in place until the end of July requiring people to wear masks and adhere to strict norms in restaurants and public places.
“We need a clear framework for how we will continue it [lockdown], so that people have the opportunity to live safely, so that business can function, so that the economy does not stand at a pause,” Zelenskiy added.
“Therefore ... we will extend it for a month, but not longer.”
That scenario would mean the lifting of lockdown restrictions at the end of August. Ukraine has recorded 56,455 coronavirus cases and 1,445 deaths – relatively low numbers compared with countries in western Europe but there have been worryingly high levels of new infections in recent weeks.
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Spain honours its 28,400 virus victims at state memorial
Spain has paused to honour its tens of thousands of victims at a state ceremony joined by top EU and World Health Organization figures.
The memorial took place barely three weeks after Spain ended its months-long state of emergency, but since then there has been a growing number of new infections, with health chiefs monitoring more than 120 active outbreaks.
So far, the virus has officially killed 28,413 people in Spain, making it the seventh worst-hit country in the world.
“Today, we are symbolically saying goodbye to mothers, fathers, children, siblings, friends: we take their hands, caress their cheek, kiss their forehead and remember their glance in our hearts,” Hernando Calleja, who lost his brother in April, said in an address at the ceremony.
Hemos contraído una obligación moral y un deber cívico:La obligación moral de reconocer, respetar y recordar siempre la dignidad de los fallecidos y el espíritu de esa generación admirable de españoles; y el deber cívico de impulsar los valores que fundamentan nuestra convivencia pic.twitter.com/Ice9jMhSeK
— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) July 16, 2020
Presided over by Spain’s King Felipe VI, the memorial took place in a square outside the royal palace in Madrid in the presence of bereaved families and a host of top EU and WHO officials, with an orchestra playing Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
“This act cannot heal the pain felt by so many families at not being at the side of their loved ones in their final hours ... but what it can do is pay tribute to their lives, to their contribution to our society, to their memories,” the king said.
Among those present was the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who tweeted that he was honoured to be there.
Estoy profundamente honrado de acompañar a SM el Rey Felipe VI, @CasaReal y el Presidente del Gobierno @sanchezcastejon rindiendo tributo a los ciudadanos españoles que perdieron su vida por el #COVID19 y a los sanitarios que lucharon contra el virus. Juntos, en solidaridad. pic.twitter.com/xrrp93fGT7
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 16, 2020
He added: “From its highest levels, the Spanish state has shown exemplary leadership to reverse the spread of the country’s #COVID19 outbreak, led by testing, contact tracing, treatment & isolation. Has shown that no matter where in the outbreak a country is the virus can be contained.”
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Nissan is planning a 30% year-on-year cut in global vehicle production through December as falling demand due to the coronavirus complicates its efforts to recover profitability, Reuters reports.
Japan’s second largest automaker plans to produce about 2.6m vehicles between April and December, down from 3.7m during the same period last year, sources at the company said.
Global carmakers are struggling after factories were shuttered earlier this year to stem the spread of coronavirus.
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As the coronavirus pandemic advances across Mexico, Madeleine Wattenbarger has filed this piece from the town of Tepango de Rodríguez - which has so far managed to remain untouched.
The town of about 4,000 people sits high in the mountains of the Sierra Norte in Puebla state, and was quick to apply strict preventive measures, closing its food market and installing health checkpoints.
In May, Tepango de Rodríguez was included on a list of 324 towns that the Mexican government decided were eligible to reopen early, as part of a programme called “Municipalities of Hope”.
The plan allowed places with no Covid-19 cases – and with no cases in surrounding areas – to start lifting restrictions in an attempt to mitigate the shutdown’s devastating economic impact.
But less than two months later, Mexico has become one of the worst-affected countries in the world, with at least 311,000 cases and 36,000 deaths. And the list of Municipalities of Hope has dwindled to a few dozen.
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Israel faces prospect of new lockdown
Israel faces the prospect of a fresh lockdown as a new daily record of confirmed coronavirus cases was reached.
The country’s health ministry on Thursday reported 1,898 new cases of the virus, as it registered more than 44,500 total cases.
At least 380 Israelis have died of Covid-19. It comes as a new economic plan announced by the embattled prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, came under fire as the economy continues to struggle.
Netanyahu had announced a plan on Wednesday to give out hundreds of dollars in economic aid to every Israeli citizen.
Whereas the initial virus outbreak was concentrated predominantly in ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities, whose populations often live in poorer, crowded conditions, the health ministry has now warned the disease is spreading more widely.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog in London from Alexandra Topping. You can reach me on Twitter at @BenQuinn75 or email me if you’d like to flag up any developments today that we are missing.
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Scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus – and many believe at least one could be released early next year. According to the World Health Organization, about 23 vaccines are in clinical evaluation, and more than 130 are in development.
The biotech firm Moderna and the National Institutes of Health in the US said their vaccine provoked a desired immune response in 45 individuals; it will move on to larger-scale testing at the end of the month. The University of Oxford, which has paired with drugmaker AstraZeneca to create another vaccine, said it was anticipating “positive news” on early trials of its drug.
Danielle Renwick has interviewed experts Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and associate research scientist at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Anna Durbin, physician and professor, international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Read their thoughts here:
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The World Bank has estimated that Afghanistan’s economy will contract by between 5.5% and 7.4% in 2020 due to Covid-19, exacerbating poverty and leading to a sharp decline in government revenues.
The number of confirmed cases has passed 35,000 in Afghanistan, while the number of deaths has surged.
The poverty rate in Afghanistan could jump to 72% in 2020, from 55% in 2017, due to the impact of reduced incomes and higher prices.
Poverty will mainly impact households whose work or activities are vulnerable to lockdowns, such as small retail and daily labor in construction, agriculture, or personal services, according to a report by the World Bank which was released Wednesday.
The report finds that economic activity plummeted in the first half of 2020 as lockdowns and social distancing measures to curb Covid-19 negatively impacted the industry and service sectors.
The report states:
Despite continued robust growth in agriculture following the recovery from the 2018 drought, lower outputs in industry and services, as well as declining revenues due to trade disruptions and weaker tax compliance have put government finances under pressure.
Henry Kerali, the World Bank’s country director for Afghanistan, said:
The Covid-19 crisis is having a devastating impact on the livelihoods of Afghans while undermining the government’s revenue collection and its capacity to finance comprehensive programmes to save lives, protect the poor, and jumpstart the economy.
Short-term measures are needed to support households through the current crisis, while improvements in the business regulatory environment and maintaining the core functions of government will pave the way for longer-term recovery. Ongoing support from development partners will help finance critical government operations and restore private sector confidence. The World Bank is working closely with the government of Afghanistan both to implement the short-term response and lay the foundations for longer-term recovery.
The number of deaths from Covid-19 rose by 21 from the previous day to stand at 1,115 on Thursday. In its latest update, the health ministry said the number of people who had tested positive for the virus had reached 35,070, an increase of 76 on the day before. There have been 22,881 recoveries. Kabul reported 19 deaths today. The capital has been the country’s worst-affected area with 409 deaths.
The western province of Herat, which borders Iran, reported 16 new infections on Thursday. Local officials there have warned of a second wave of the virus in the province. Officials said the flow of Afghan refugees from Iran and the failure to follow health guidelines have increased the possibility of a new wave of the virus. Fresh outbreaks have already started in some areas and the virus is threatening the lives of thousands of people, according to officials.
Meanwhile, fighting intensified across the country in several provinces over the past 24 hours. A total of 2,957 civilians were killed and wounded in the first six months of 2020, with the Taliban responsible for the majority of incidents, according to a report by Afghanistan’s human rights body. The report shows 1,213 civilians including 225 children were killed and 1,744 injured in 880 security incidents, with the Taliban responsible for 48.5% of the attacks.
Updated
In France, Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced that masks will be compulsory in all indoor public spaces from next week.
Somewhat related, but mainly because I admire the stylish coordination, here are all the deputies from the Communist party wearing matching red face masks.
As French Prime Minister Jean Castex gives a policy statement for his new government, Communist deputies in the National Assembly are all wearing red facemasks. pic.twitter.com/Kr9DxCA9i6
— Pól Ó Grádaigh (@PolOGradaigh) July 15, 2020
Updated
Indonesia reported 1,574 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections to 81,668, its health ministry said.
The country also reported 76 new coronavirus deaths, taking the overall death toll to 3,873, the ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing.
Updated
Unemployment skyrockets in Britain
The number of employees on company payrolls in Britain has fallen by almost 650,000 since the onset of the coronavirus crisis in March, official figures show.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of hours worked in Britain plummeted between March and May at a record pace, as lockdown controls forced businesses across the country to temporarily close. It was the steepest fall since records began in 1971.
Read the full report here:
For everything you could possibly want to know about the status of the race to find a vaccine, I can highly recommend the New York Times’ Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker.
It’s a beautiful piece of digital design, as well as being incredibly informative.
Updated
Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has begun phase 3 clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi government media office said on Thursday.
Reuters reports:
The human trial taking place in Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates, is a partnership between Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG), Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company Group 42 and the Abu Dhabi department of health.
Updated
King Felipe VI of Spain has laid flowers at a state ceremony at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honour Spain’s 28,400 victims of the coronavirus crisis as well as those who have been fighting on the front line during the pandemic.
King Felipe VI leads in the laying of flowers at a state ceremony at the Royal Palace in Madrid to honour Spain's 28,400 victims of the #coronavirus crisis as well as those who have been fighting on the front line during the pandemic
— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 16, 2020
📸 Pierre-Philippe Marcou pic.twitter.com/P6L7qQwfxq
Beijing Winter Games could be cancelled if Tokyo Games don't happen in 2021
If the postponed Tokyo Olympics do not go ahead next year due to Covid-19 then the 2022 Beijing Winter Games is also likely to be cancelled, according to long-time International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound. Reuters reports:
The Beijing Winter Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 4 to 20, 2022, just six months after the Tokyo Summer Games, which are now set to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021 after being pushed back a year.
Pound, a Canadian lawyer who has served as both an IOC vice-president and head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), also speculated on a range of scenarios, including one where a threat to the Beijing Games is not so much a U.S. boycott, but one where China might consider barring the U.S. from taking part if the country cannot gain control over the virus. He said
That is an extreme supposition. There are all kinds of crazy things that could happen.
Updated
These pictures of a doctor in full PPE leading patients in a yoga class in India are incredible - full credit to the clinician for harnessing the ancient practice’s restorative properties!
#India - A doctor instructs patients as they perform yoga inside a ward at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Village sports complex, temporarily converted into a COVID-19 coronavirus care centre, in New Delhi. #AFP@Money_Sharma pic.twitter.com/8VSMdEZ4ga
— AFP Photo (@AFPphoto) July 16, 2020
Small reminder that we welcome story tips from our readers all over the world. If you think we have missed something please do get in touch! I’m on alexandra.topping@theguardian.com and @lexytopping on Twitter. My DMs are open.
Kevin Stitt, the governor of Oklahoma in the US has become the first governor to test positive for coronavirus.
Stitt, a Republican who has actively pushed to reopen his state and appeared to flout experts’ health recommendations, said on Wednesday that he had tested positive and felt “fine” apart from feeling a “little bit achy”.
Stitt said he was “pretty shocked” to become the first governor to get the virus, adding that he would be quarantining away from his family and working from home.
He said:
I want to use my story to remind Oklahomans that if you aren’t feeling well, we want you to get tested.
That is it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along – and stay tuned for more global pandemic news with my esteemed colleague Alexandra Topping.
Updated
Rents have continued to climb across England, but they are sliding in London as Airbnb owners abandon hopes of attracting holidaymakers and put their properties on the long-term rental market.
Property website Rightmove said asking rents outside London hit a record of £845 a month in early July, up 3.4% on the same time last year.
But in the capital, rents fell by 0.6% over the year, with stock levels up 41%. It said the rise in flats and houses available for rent was “fuelled by landlords with holiday lets now competing for long-term rentals”.
These are strange times for this year’s cohort of UK A-level students. Schools and colleges closed in March; exams were cancelled. Sectors young people would normally seek casual employment in, such as retail or hospitality, have been shedding staff at an alarming rate.
Many universities, including Cambridge, are moving to online tuition. Apprenticeship opportunities have largely evaporated. For school leavers, this is a crucial time: deciding whether to travel, work or go to university. The pace of change at the age of 17 or 18 is the equivalent to years as an adult. But now, with plans shattered, these young people are facing a year in limbo.
More than three-quarters of the world’s richest people have reported an increase in their already vast family fortunes, despite the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Research into the family offices of the super-rich found that the vast majority were able to “ride out 2020’s storm in financial markets”, while many less wealthy people have lost their jobs and seen the value of their savings and pensions collapse.
The report by the Swiss bank UBS found that 77% of the richest families – who had average fortunes of $1.6bn (£1.25bn) – had seen their investment portfolios “perform in line with, or above, targets during one of the most volatile moments in the history of financial markets”.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- China’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter, rebounding more strongly than expected from a historic contraction caused by the coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Thursday. Gross domestic product expanded a surprise 3.2% in April-June, the National Bureau of Statistics said. However, retail sales - a key indication of consumer sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy - fell short of expectations, shrinking 1.8% on-year last month.
- Tokyo is likely to see coronavirus cases exceed 280 on Thursday – a daily record for the Japanese capital – according to the governor, Yuriko Koike. “It’s still incomplete, but I’m hearing that the number will be above 280,” Koike told reporters.
-
In the United States, Dr Anthony Fauci predicted on Wednesday the country would meet its goal of a vaccine by year’s end, he told Reuters in an interview, saying, “I feel good about the projected timetable.” Fauci’s comments came as US cases increased by a world daily record of more than 67,400, taking the total to nearly 3.5 million confirmed infections.
- California reported a record 11,000 daily cases. California recorded its largest number of coronavirus infections in a single day on Tuesday, amid efforts to halt reopening statewide.The state tallied 11,126 cases, the highest number since the pandemic began. The number of positive cases has increased 3.3% in the past seven days and 47.2% in the past 14 days, according to state data.
- In Australia, the state of Victoria reported two more deaths and 317 cases on Thursday, the largest daily increase in cases for an Australian state since the start of the pandemic. Two men in their 80s died, bringing the total coronavirus deaths in the state to 29 and upping the national toll to 113. There are 109 people in hospital with 29 in intensive care, with total of 4750 cases since the pandemic began, state premier Daniel Andrews said.
- Canada’s efforts to flatten the curve have put the country on the brink of zero deaths for the first time since March, but officials see worrying signs of a new spike as provinces lift restrictions.
- Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has again tested positive for Covid-19, he told reporters on Wednesday in Brasilia, suggesting he has yet to recover from an infection first diagnosed last week, Reuters reports.
- Ireland’s prime minister, Micheal Martin, said on Wednesday night the government continues to advise against non-essential overseas travel, as he announced that a planned move to “phase 4 reopening” had been postponed to 10 August because the country’s reproduction rate – the number of people infected by a virus carrier – had increased to more than 1.
- South Africa surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases late on Wednesday. The country’s 311,049 cases make up close to half of Africa’s total.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 534 to 200,260, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by seven to 9,078, the tally showed.
As always, it would be great to hear from you. Send tips, suggestions, questions and Bitcoin to me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Angela Merkel set for central role in talks on EU recovery plan
A year ago Angela Merkel was seen as tired and drifting, having announced her intention to stand down as chancellor in 2021 after disastrous election results. Now credited for her calm leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, with personal approval ratings close to 80%, she is once again seen as the indispensable broker as EU leaders seek a recovery plan.
“Merkel was strengthened by coronavirus and by not being challenged inside her party,” said a senior EU diplomat. “I think that she is ready [to get a deal], she understands every small thing about the proposals.”
When EU leaders sit down together on Friday and Saturday, it will be their first face-to-face meeting since the pandemic struck. On the table is a €750bn (£680bn) draft recovery plan, as well as a proposed €1.074tn EU budget for the next seven years. Getting a deal on the budget will be fiendishly difficult as the EU attempts to square the circle of more spending on the environment, security and health and the €75bn shortfall caused by Brexit.
A Bangladesh hospital owner has been arrested over allegations he issued thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results.
Regent hospital owner Mohammad Shahed was arrested trying to fleeing to India in a burqa after a nine-day hunt, police said. He is one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities in recent days over allegations that clinics in Uttara and Mirpur issued fake certificates to patients saying they were virus-free without testing them.
Experts say false documents have worsened the already dire virus situation in the country of 168 million people by casting doubt on the veracity of certificates issued by clinics.
Bangladesh has reported just over 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far but the real figures are likely much higher because little testing has been carried out.
Tokyo’s record number of daily infections comes a day after the city raised its alert to the highest level in response to the recent rise in infections. The metropolitan government called for “maximum vigilance” following seven straight days of triple-digit increases. The alert confirms that infections are spreading in the city, but does not mean businesses will be asked to restrict their opening hours or close.
Koike called for residents to avoid nonessential travel outside Tokyo and to avoid restaurants, bars and nightclubs that have not taken sufficient measures to protect customers from becoming infected.
She has also been critical of the central government’s plan to offer subsidies of up to 50% to travelers to boost domestic tourism from 22 July, fearing that the Go To travel campaign could help spread the virus to regions where the number of cases is comparatively low. “I want the central government to have a rethink about when to run the campaign,” she said, according to the Kyodo news agency.
With more than 8,300 cases of Covid-19, Tokyo accounts for almost a third of Japan’s total of more than 22,500.
Tokyo expected to report record cases for the city
Tokyo is likely to see coronavirus cases exceed 280 on Thursday – a daily record for the Japanese capital – according to the governor, Yuriko Koike. “It’s still incomplete, but I’m hearing that the number will be above 280,” Koike told reporters.
She noted that the city, home to almost 14 million people, was due to conduct more than 4,000 tests on Thursday, as the city steps up testing amid a surge in cases since the nationwide state of emergency was lifted in late May.
Officials have traced several clusters to nighttime entertainment districts, with testing now focusing on employees and customers at host and hostess clubs, where social distancing is difficult.
There was anger this week after reports that 37 cases had been traced to a theatre that hosted a stage production by boy bands, whose members later greeted fans. Some reports said the theatre had not properly followed industry rules on social distancing and mask wearing. More than 850 people who attended the event over six days have been urged to get tested.
Clusters have also been identified at nurseries and welfare facilities.
California reports record 11,000 daily cases
California recorded its largest number of coronavirus infections in a single day on Tuesday, amid efforts to halt reopening statewide.
The state tallied 11,126 cases, the highest number since the pandemic began. The number of positive cases has increased 3.3% in the past seven days and 47.2% in the past 14 days, according to state data.
With testing throughout the state more readily available, an uptick in cases would be expected, but the positivity rate among test results has increased steadily to 7.3% over the last seven days. Hospitalizations have also hit a record high, according to state data.
In total, the state has reported 347,634 cases since the pandemic started and seen 7,227 deaths. In the past 24 hours, there have been 140 new coronavirus-related deaths.
Tokyo is likely to see coronavirus cases top 280 on Thursday, Governor Yuriko Koike said, in what would mark a record daily high for the Japanese capital.
“It’s still incomplete, but I’m hearing that the number will be above 280,” Koike told reporters, noting that the metropolis was conducting more than 4,000 tests on Thursday.
We’ll have more on this shortly.
China's economy returns to growth in second quarter
China’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter, rebounding more strongly than expected from a historic contraction caused by the coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Thursday.
Gross domestic product expanded a surprise 3.2% in April-June, the National Bureau of Statistics said, as workers, factories and firms cautiously returned to normality after harsh lockdowns brought the virus under control.
However, retail sales - a key indication of consumer sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy - fell short of expectations, shrinking 1.8% on-year last month.
The coronavirus, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan late last year, has since shut businesses and destroyed hundreds and millions of jobs globally, and likely tipping the world economy into recession.
China’s official figure was markedly better than the 1.3 percent on-year growth tipped by an AFP poll of analysts, although still among the lowest rates on record.
The economy contracted 1.6% on-year in the first six months, the NBS said, while the urban unemployment rate dipped to 5.7% in June, from 5.9% a month earlier.
The employment figure remains closely watched, with nearly nine million graduates expected to enter an uncertain labour market this year and analysts pointing out that actual unemployment is likely higher.
In Australia, the Victorian government has refused to answer questions about hospital surge capacity or the number of healthcare workers and medical institutions coping with outbreaks of Covid-19, despite a concerning number of infections in critical health staff.
On Thursday, the state’s health minister, Jenny Mikakos, told reporters: “We have created more ICU capacity, more beds in our hospital system, and we have undertaken extensive training of our staff.” She said all metropolitan public hospitals would operate at 50% of elective surgery capacity, while private hospitals would remain at 75% capacity, to free up beds:
A 15-year-old boy has died in western Mongolia of bubonic plague after eating an infected marmot, the country’s health ministry announced.
Two other teenagers who also ate the marmot were being treated with antibiotics, ministry spokesperson Narangerel Dorj said.
The government imposed a quarantine on a portion of Gobi-Altai province, where the cases occurred. The health ministry said 15 people who had contact with the boy who died were quarantined and are receiving antibiotics.
Plague is found in marmots, large rodents that live in burrows in the sprawling North Asian grassland, and some other wild animals in parts of Mongolia, northwestern China and eastern Russia, AP reports.
In an unrelated case, a patient who was infected with plague in China’s northern region of Inner Mongolia is improving, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Xinhua said 15 people who had close contact with the patient were released from quarantine on Sunday. The agency said the government ended its top-level emergency response.
An official announcement earlier said a warning for the public in the Bayannur region of Inner Mongolia to avoid eating marmot and to report dead animals would last through the end of 2020.
Here is our full story on the latest from Australia:
Australia’s unemployment rate now stands at 7.4%, up from 7.1%.
The number of unemployed people increased by 69,300 over the month, but the participation rate increased as the economy started to reopen. Employment increased by 210,800 people between May and June. But compared to a year ago, there were 306,800 less people employed full time and 215,500 people employed part time.
Global cases pass 13.5m
There are now over 13.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and 582,743 deaths.
The current infection total stands at 13,504,553.
Cases passed the 12 million park just a week ago, which shows that they are increasing by more than 200,000 per day. Over a quarter of these daily cases are accounted for by the US, which has posted between 55,000 and 67,000 cases per day for the last ten days, according to analysis by AFP relying on Johns Hopkins University figures.
#UPDATE US posts new daily record of 67,632 new #coronavirus cases in 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University tally shows.
— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 16, 2020
For the past 10 days, the number of new cases being reported has been between 55,000 and 65,000 every 24 hours
📸 Queues for testing in Los Angles pic.twitter.com/KglmaSh0Pf
Here are the ten worst-affected countries in terms of number of cases:
- US: 3,495,537
- Brazil: 1,966,748
- India: 936,181
- Russia: 745,197
- Peru: 337,751
- Chile: 321,205
- Mexico: 311,486
- South Africa: 311,049
- United Kingdom: 293,469
- Iran: 264,561
Irish PM continues to advise against international travel
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday night that the government continues to advise against non-essential overseas travel, as he announced a planned move to Ireland’s “phase 4 reopening” had been postponed to 10 August because the country’s reproduction rate – the number of people infected by a virus carrier – had increased to more than 1, Xinhua reports:
‘The priority now must be to get that R number back below 1,’ he said, adding that by doing so the country will have the best chance possible to fully reopen schools in late August.
To achieve the target, the government has decided to take five additional measures with immediate effect on Wednesday, he said.
The five measures include compulsory wearing of face coverings by all customers in shops and shopping centres, demanding pubs, bars, hotel bars, casinos and nightclubs to remain closed until Aug. 10, limiting the number of visitors to people’s homes to a maximum of 10, extending restrictions on indoor gathering of no more than 50 people and outdoor gathering of no more than 200 people until Aug. 10, and continuing to advise against all non-essential overseas travel.
The Australian state of Victoria will suspend elective surgery while the hospital system deals with the second coronavirus outbreak, state Health Minister Jenny Mikakos says.
Non-urgent elective surgery was paused nationally in March, for the same reason.
Mikakos said Victoria will pause category 3 elective surgery across the hospital system, and “our hospitals that were reaching close to 90% of normal activity will now pause at 75%”. Category one and two elective surgery will continue “as normal”.
Hospitals in Victoria were due to ramp up to 100% of normal activity by the end of July.
Updated
Australian state of Victoria reports Australian state record one-day case increase
The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 317 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours.
This is the highest daily total since 10 July, when Victoria recorded 288 cases in one day, and sets a new record for the highest daily total recorded by Victoria territory since the pandemic began.
Victoria has reported 317 new cases overnight, and two Victorians have passed away. @GuardianAus
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) July 16, 2020
In the peak of the first wave, on 28 March, the Australia-wide total was 469 cases reported in a single day.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says two men in their 80s died of the coronavirus overnight. It brings the total number of deaths in the state to 29.
Currently, there are 109 patients in hospital, 29 in intensive care.
Updated
New Zealand has reported 1 new coronavirus case, in a person staying at a managed isolation facility, Newshub reports:
The new case is the child of two people previously reported as having Covid-19 who arrived in New Zealand from Italy on 4 July. The family is in quarantine at the Commodore Hotel in Christchurch.
There is still no evidence of community transmission, with the last case of Covid-19 acquired locally from an unknown source detected 76 days ago.
#BREAKING: One new case of coronavirus at New Zealand's managed isolation facility https://t.co/qXFHyKMhwh pic.twitter.com/34cjZ8txOt
— Newshub Breaking (@NewshubBreaking) July 16, 2020
The news about the vaccine being developed by Moderna affected markets, which rallied in response to the rising hopes for a Covid-19 vaccine Wednesday, and the S&P 500 climbed back to where it was a few days after it set its record early this year, AP reports.
Investors see a vaccine as the best way for the economy and human life to get back to normal, and researchers said late Tuesday that one developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna revved up people’s immune systems in early testing, as hoped. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% to pull within 4.7% of its all-time high set in February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 227.51 points, or 0.9%, to 26,870.10, and the Nasdaq composite gained 61.91, or 0.6%, to 10,550.49. During the morning, the S&P 500 touched its highest level since 25 February, and it ended the day at 3,226.56, up 29.04.
Several things helped lift the market, including stronger-than-expected reports on the economy and on corporate profits from Goldman Sachs and others. But the vaccine hopes were at the centre of the rise, which meant the market’s leaderboard was dominated by companies that would benefit most from a return to normal life. They included cruise-ship operators, airlines, retailers and hotel chains.
Dr Fauci predicts US will meet end-of-year vaccine target
Leading US infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, predicted on Wednesday the country will meet its goal of a coronavirus vaccine by year’s end, Reuters reports.
While there are no guarantees, “I feel good about the projected timetable,” Fauci told Reuters in an interview.
His comments follow promising early stage data for the Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) coronavirus vaccine, released on Tuesday, that was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci directs.
Many experts see a safe and effective vaccine as the only way out of the pandemic that has infected millions and killed more than 575,000 people worldwide.
Fauci said Moderna’s results were especially promising because the vaccine appeared to offer the type of protection seen in a natural infection.
Almost a third of companies plan to make job cuts in the next three months as the government prepares to wind down its furlough scheme, one of Britain’s leading business lobby groups has warned.
Sounding the alarm amid warnings of a steep rise in unemployment, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said 29% of businesses in a survey of 7,400 firms planned to cut the size of their workforce in the next three months.
The business lobby group said this was the highest percentage of companies planning to make redundancies since it began tracking employment intentions in 1989. It said big companies with more than 250 staff were more likely to be planning job cuts than smaller firms:
Bolsonaro has played down the country’s mounting death toll, now over 74,000, out of nearly 2 million confirmed cases, and said his good physical condition would prevent him from developing serious symptoms if he got ill.
He has also sidelined medical experts in Brazil’s handling of the pandemic, pushed back against state and city lockdowns and circulated often in public without a mask, drawing criticism from public health specialists.
He has also said he was taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven Covid-19 treatment that he and U.S. President Donald Trump have touted as a remedy for the coronavirus.
Bolsonaro’s pressure to use the drug alienated two health ministers who resigned in the middle of the pandemic. The ministry is being led on an interim basis by an active duty army general.
Bolsonaro tests positive again
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has again tested positive for coronavirus, he told reporters on Wednesday in Brasilia, suggesting he has yet to recover from an infection first diagnosed last week, Reuters reports.
Since catching the virus, the president has said he remains in good health and he would resume his normal work schedule if he tested negative this week. On Wednesday he said he would get tested again in a few days.
Bolsonaro first announced his diagnosis on 7 July after dismissing the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling it a “little flu” even as Brazil’s outbreak became the worst in the world outside the United States.
Updated
Canada nears zero daily deaths
Canada’s efforts to flatten the curve of coronavirus cases have put the country on the cusp of zero deaths from Covid-19 for the first time since March, but officials see worrying signs of a new spike as provinces lift restrictions, Reuters reports.
For months, Canadians followed strict public health rules on social movement as the 10 provinces quickly shut down large parts of the economy, ramped up testing and boosted space in intensive care units.
Some provinces curbed internal journeys while Ottawa barred international visitors, closed the land border to non-essential travel with the United States, which has become a global pandemic epicenter, and deployed military staff to hard-hit nursing homes.
Canadian deaths edged up eight to 8,798 according to government data late Tuesday, while the total number of cases grew by 331, to 108,486. By contrast, the United States recently set a one-day record in new cases with 60,500 as the national death toll rose to more than 135,000.
But health experts and politicians fret the sacrifices Canadians made could be imperilled as the economy moves to a full reopening including schools, especially in heavily populated central Canada, and as US authorities struggle to contain the spread south of the border.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, said:
Everyone is preparing for a potential spike in cases ... I think that’s inevitable.”
Updated
Trump rebukes Navarro for op-ed criticizing Fauci
US president Donald Trump issued a rare rebuke of his senior adviser Peter Navarro on Wednesday, saying he should not have written the scathing USA Today opinion piece about Dr Fauci. Navarro, a trade adviser who at times has expanded his reach within the Trump White House, wrote:
Dr Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.
The initial lack of a pushback from the White House for the article fed a belief that Navarro’s article was supported at the top levels of the White House. But, departing for a trip to Atlanta, Trump was asked whether Navarro had gone rogue.
Well, he made a statement representing himself. He shouldn’t be doing that. No, I have a very good relationship with Anthony.
A White House official told Reuters that Trump did not endorse Navarro’s article and that Navarro was told “explicitly in recent days to de-escalate the situation”. The official said that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows felt Navarro’s article was “unacceptable”.
South Africa cases pass 300,000
South Africa has surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as the first wave of the pandemic crashes into the African continent.
South Africa’s 311,049 cases make up close to half of those across the 54-nation continent.
Already shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds are being reported.
While more than 4,400 deaths in South Africa have been attributed to the virus, a report by the South African Medical Research Council says the country had nearly 11,000 excess deaths between 6 May and 7 July.
The government this week tightened some restrictions, making face masks mandatory in public places and re-imposing a ban on alcohol sales.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest from around the world – and, as always, it would be great to hear from you. Send tips, suggestions, questions and embarrassingly large gifts to me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the senior public health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, says that the US needs to focus from the federal level on getting the virus now surging in the south and west under control “rather than these games people are playing.”
“We’ve got to almost reset this and say, ‘Okay, let’s stop this nonsense,’” he said in an interview with the Atlantic when he was asked to describe “the truth about the federal response to the pandemic”.
Fauci’s comments came as US cases increased by a world daily case record of 67,000, taking the total to 3.4 million confirmed infections.
Meanwhile in South Africa, cases have passed 300,000, the highest in Africa and in among the 10-highest in the world.
- In Majorca, Spain, the town of Magaluf is closing its party strip of Punta Ballena, after footage of drunken British tourists flouting regulations about wearing masks and social distancing while dancing on cars prompted an outcry. The Balearic Islands’ tourism minister also announced the closure of two other notorious party strips.
- Ireland delayed the easing of lockdown measures and introduced a requirement that face coverings be worn in shops. The taoiseach Micheál Martin said the pause was disappointing, but necessary.
- A war of words between Trump allies and the White House’s top infectious disease expert continued. Dr Anthony Fauci said he could not understand efforts by some to discredit him, though the US president himself rebuked his own aide over the criticism.
-
Spain has recorded 390 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours - the highest single-day figure since 22 May. Most of the new cases are in the northeastern regions of Aragón and Catalonia.
- The US has seen 67,000 cases in a single day – the highest number in 24 hours so far, according to John Hopkins University. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the figure at 60,971.
- Iran said today that 140 of its health workers had died of coronavirus and 5,000 have been infected. Amnesty International has estimated that more than 3,000 health workers have died globally, although it says the figure is likely to be a significant underestimate.
- Levels of childhood immunisations against dangerous diseases such as measles, tetanus and diphtheria have dropped alarmingly during the Covid-19 pandemic, putting millions of children at risk, United Nations agencies have warned.
- The European commission said today that European Union states should bring forward vaccinations against flu to the summer to reduce the risk of simultaneous influenza and Covid-19 outbreaks in the autumn. It also urged states to increase the number of people vaccinated.
- Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is making face coverings mandatory for shoppers in all its stores from Monday. It said that about 65% of its more than 5,000 stores and clubs are located in areas where there is already some form of government mandate on face coverings and by making it compulsory in all outlets it will bring consistency.
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