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Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- The US hit a two-month high in new infections on Friday with over 58,000 new cases reported and ten of the 50 states reporting record day-on-day rises.
- US president Donald Trump made his first public appearance since returning to the White House on Monday after a three-day hospital stay, an appearance seen as a first step toward a return to the election campaign trail next week.
- The number of new infections in France jumped to over 26,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
- The UK recorded 15,166 new daily cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a rise on the 13,864 cases reported the day before, bringing the total official death toll to 42,760.
- The Australian state of Victoria has reported 12 new cases and one death over the past 24 hours, while the 14 day rolling average has slightly dropped.
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Brazil surpassed the grim milestone of 150,000 coronavirus deaths on Saturday.
- Iran made mask-wearing mandatory in public in Tehran on Saturday with violations punishable by fines, after the daily death toll from Covid-19 peaked at 239 this week.
- Ireland reported 1,012 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily figure since April and up from an average of 523 over the previous seven days.
- As the number of people in New York hospitalised with the coronavirus continues to rise, the state has closed schools and nonessential businesses in those areas and limited gatherings.
- More than 250 prisoners are self-isolating at Scotland’s largest prison after an outbreak of coronavirus.
That’s all from me, I’m now handing over to my colleagues in Australia.
Updated
Australia’s treasurer Josh Frydenberg has conceded that some businesses will inevitably fail due to the Covid-19 recession and the end of wage subsidies in March 2021.
Australia is shifting from a $70bn subsidy to keep people employed in their current roles (jobkeeper) to a $4bn hiring credit for businesses to hire workers aged under 35 (the jobmaker hiring credit).
Frydenberg told ABC’s Insiders:
Some business will not survive and obviously some jobs will be lost ... But what we are focused on is giving every business and every job the best possible chance of getting to the other side, and there will be a restructure across the economy.
Interestingly, when treasury did their review of the jobkeeper program, they did say it had some adverse incentives which became more pronounced as the recovery picked up, namely it prevented the reallocation of workers to more productive roles across the economy. So we want to ensure there is enough dynamism in the labour market.
Lithuanians will be encouraged to bring their own pens to minimise infection risk at Sunday’s parliamentary election seen as a vote of confidence on prime minister Saulius Skvernelis’ handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Lithuania has reported 8,714 infections - including a record 205 new cases on Saturday - and 103 deaths.
Mindful of contagion, election officials have asked voters to mark ballots with their own pens.
For early voting this week, they also set up a drive-through centre and booths in public squares.
Teams in protective costumes have been visiting the 32,000 voters self-isolating at home to collect their ballot.
The centrist Farmers and Greens party, an agrarian grouping that leads Skvernelis’ ruling coalition, is neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the centre-right Homeland Union, which has roots in the 1980s anti-Soviet independence movement, Reuters reports.
With support roughly 15% for both, and 15 other parties on the ballot, another coalition is inevitable but its makeup uncertain.
Many in the Baltic Sea state of less than 3 million are aggrieved at income inequality despite brisk economic growth since Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004.
A fifth of people were at risk of poverty in 2019, mostly the elderly, which was the same figure as a decade ago, according to the state statistics authority.
However, Lithuania’s relative resistance to the economic impact of coronavirus curbs has helped compensate a previous slump in support for the government over corruption allegations.
The economy decreased 4% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, the second best result in the EU.
The central bank attributed that to a prompt and short lockdown, generous state support and relatively unaffected trading partners.
Australian state of Victoria reports 12 new cases and one death
The Australian state of Victoria has reported 12 new cases and one death over the past 24 hours, according to a government update for Sunday.
The state, and especially its capital, Melbourne, are hanging off these updates waiting for a further easing of one of the strictest, longest coronavirus lockdowns in the world.
Yesterday there were 12 new cases & the loss of one life reported. The 14 day rolling average is down slightly and cases with unknown source remain stable in Metro Melbourne. More data will be available later today. Info: https://t.co/eTputEZdhs#COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/64CTaju3WX
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) October 10, 2020
Updated
Brazil surpasses 150,000 coronavirus deaths
Brazil registered 559 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 26,749 new cases, the nation’s health ministry said on Saturday.
The South American country has now registered 5,082,637 confirmed coronavirus cases in total, and 150,198 deaths since the pandemic began.
Updated
New cases of coronavirus in the US hit a two-month high on Friday with over 58,000 new infections reported and hospitalisations in the Midwest at record levels for a fifth day in a row, according to a Reuters analysis.
Ten of the 50 states reported record one-day rises in cases on Friday, including the Midwestern states of Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio. Wisconsin and Illinois recorded over 3,000 new cases for a second day in a row - a two-day trend not seen even during the height of the previous outbreak in the spring.
The Western states of Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming also reported their biggest one-day jumps in cases, as did Oklahoma and West Virginia.
Nineteen states have seen record increases in new cases so far in October.
The pandemic has so far claimed over 213,000 lives in the country, and although deaths nationally continue to trend downward, on average 700 people a day lose their lives in the US because of the epidemic.
Three states reported a record one-day increase in fatalities on Friday: Arkansas, Missouri and Montana.
Health experts caution that deaths are a lagging indicator and usually rise weeks after cases climb.
The country’s daily death rate is projected to more than triple by mid-January to 2,250, with an overall 395,000 fatalities by 1 February 2021, according to a new update of the University of Washington’s widely-cited model.
But if Americans increase their wearing of masks to the level seen in Singapore, the 1 February death toll would drop to 316,000, saving 79,000 lives, according to the University’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, whose model has been cited by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Currently, there is no federal mandate to wear a mask, and 17 states do not require them.
In addition to rising cases, hospitals in several states are straining to handle an influx of patients.
Seven states on Friday reported record numbers of hospitalised Covid-19 patients: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
In the Midwest, hospitalisations rose to nearly 9,000, continuing a streak of records that began on Monday.
Updated
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign demonstrated across the country Saturday evening, saying he is unfit to rule while on trial for corruption charges and accusing him of mismanaging the nation’s coronavirus crisis.
Protesters gathered at hundreds of locations across the country due to a nationwide lockdown that has barred them from protesting at the usual site outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem.
The current lockdown regulations allow people only to gather within one kilometre (less than a mile) of their home.
The largest gathering at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv drew thousands of protesters, who blew horns and pounded on drums and tambourines.
Some of the banners, using Netanyahu’s nickname, said: “Bibi, you are destroying my future,” the Associated Press reports.
Police reported clashes with the protesters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes for his role in a series of scandals, and the demonstrators have staged weekly gatherings for the past four months demanding that he step down.
Netanyahu denies the charges and accuses the protesters of being “leftists” and “anarchists.”
The marches have also been fuelled by the government’s response to the pandemic.
After appearing to contain the outbreak last spring through a tight lockdown, it reopened the economy quickly and the infection rate soared.
The country of 9 million people has one of the highest infection rates in the developed world and the death toll is approaching 2,000.
With infections at record levels, Israel imposed another lockdown last month, further hurting business owners and entrepreneurs who have been a key component of the protests.
The economy has been devastated by the closures, and many of the protesters are young Israelis who have lost their jobs.
Updated
The UK recorded 15,166 new daily cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a rise on the 13,864 cases reported the day before, government data showed.
The government also said a further 81 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday.
This brings the UK total to 42,760.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 58,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Updated
Iran made mask-wearing mandatory in public in Tehran on Saturday with violations punishable by fines, president Hassan Rouhani said, as a third wave of coronavirus infections sweeps across the country.
The daily death toll from Covid-19 peaked at 239 this week in Iran, the worst-hit country in the Middle East.
On Saturday, the health ministry reported 195 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 28,293.
There were 3,875 new cases, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV.
Masks have been compulsory in indoor public spaces since July.
Rouhani said in televised remarks that anyone caught outdoors without a mask in the capital would henceforth be fined 500,000 rials and those infected with the coronavirus who do not self-quarantine or inform friends and colleagues of their illness would be fined 2m rials (about £36).
Schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran closed for a week on 3 October in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, according to Reuters.
The city’s governor extended the closure on Friday for another week.
The Iranian rial fell to a new low against the dollar on Saturday as the country reels from the pandemic and US sanctions.
The dollar was selling for as much as 304,300 rials on the unofficial market, up from 295,949 on Friday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com.
The United States slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector on Thursday.
Tehran has accused Washington of undermining its ability to pay for basic necessities during the pandemic.
Updated
France reports record 26,000 new cases in one day
The number of new coronavirus infections in France jumped over 26,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, health ministry data showed on Saturday.
The ministry reported 26,896 new infections, taking the cumulative total to 718,873 since the start of the year.
The number of deaths from the virus increased by 54 to 32,684.
Updated
Mexico’s government announced on Saturday that it paid the World Health Organization $159.88m to secure access to Covid-19 vaccines through the agency’s COVAX plan as countries across the globe race to secure supplies, Reuters reports.
The global health agency’s COVAX Facility is a multilateral initiative running trials on several potential vaccines.
The latest payment will allow Mexico to acquire enough doses of a vaccine to immunise up to a fifth of the country’s population of around 125 million people, the foreign ministry said.
The foreign ministry statement added that the government had presented the “risk guarantee” paperwork for another $20.6m, which it described as part of the contractually required commitments to access the eventual vaccine supply.
The statement did not provide additional details on the second payment.
According to the health ministry, Mexico has confirmed nearly 810,000 cases of the highly-contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, along with more than 83,000 recorded deaths, though both likely represent only a fraction of the true number of infections and fatalities due to little testing.
The government signed its COVAX contract late last month.
US president Donald Trump made his first public appearance since returning to the White House on Monday.
Standing alone and not wearing a mask, Trump spoke from the White House balcony at an event attended by a few hundred people standing on the lawn below.
His appearance is seen as a first step toward resuming full campaigning next week.
Speaking without hesitation, Trump appeared to be back to his usual rallying form, boasting about his record and hurling unsubstantiated allegations against his opponents as a packed crowd of supporters chanted, “We love you.”
US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 on Saturday before a campaign trip to Pennsylvania, his aides said in a statement.
Ireland reported 1,012 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily figure since April and up from an average of 523 over the previous seven days, health department data showed.
On Tuesday, the Irish government ratcheted up nationwide coronavirus restrictions as the Republic is gripped in a second surge of infections.
From midnight on Tuesday residents were asked to stay in their county of residence and organised indoor events were cancelled.
Restaurants and pubs have been barred from serving customers indoors, employees encouraged to attend workplaces “only if absolutely necessary” and religious services have been moved online, but the government rejected a recommendation from public health officials on the National Public Health Emergency Team to impose a much stricter lockdown.
Chief medical officer Tony Holohan said in a statement that he was “very worried about the numbers we are seeing and how quickly they are deteriorating.”
Ireland reported more cases on 15 April, but 411 of the 1,068 cases reported that day had been confirmed earlier by German laboratories and were belatedly added to the total.
Updated
The number of New Yorkers hospitalised with the coronavirus continues to rise, state governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday, as authorities heightened their focus on banning mass gatherings in Covid-19 hotspots.
Cuomo announced that 826 people were hospitalised with the virus — the highest number since 15 July.
Eight further coronavirus deaths were recorded in New York on Friday.
Still, the governor insisted the “numbers remain good news,” noting that public health officials traced 18% of positive tests this week to a so-called “Red Zone” that’s home to 2.8% of the state population.
Today's update on the numbers:
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 10, 2020
Of the 134,579 tests reported yesterday, 1,447 were positive (1.07% of total)
Total hospitalizations are at 826.
Sadly, there were 8 COVID fatalities yesterday. pic.twitter.com/oHwu73Utpj
Six coronavirus clusters have cropped up in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rockland counties, the Associated Press reports.
The state has closed schools and nonessential businesses in those areas and limited gatherings.
“It’s going to take the work of all of us now to make sure we don’t go backwards on our hard-fought progress,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“We must all continue to wear our masks, wash our hands, remain socially distant, and above all, stay New York Tough.”
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn said Saturday that church officials “are left with no choice” but to abide by new restrictions that temporarily limit the size of religious gatherings in the Covid-19 hotspots.
The restrictions limit attendance at all houses of worship to 25% capacity, or a maximum of 10 people.
The diocese had sued the state in federal court this week, saying Cuomo’s plan would effectively force over two dozen of its churches to close their doors even though they “have been reopened for months in strict adherence to all medical and governmental guidance without any Covid-related incidents whatsoever.”
US district judge Eric Komitee called the case a “difficult decision” but sided with Cuomo in denying the church’s request for a temporary restraining order.
The government, he ruled late Friday, “is afforded wide latitude in managing the spread of deadly diseases under the Supreme Court’s precedent.”
“There is no reason for this latest interference with our First Amendment right to celebrate Mass together,” DiMarzio said in a statement responding to the ruling.
“So we will continue to press the courts and our elected officials to end it as soon as possible.”
The ruling followed a similar decision Friday by another judge in the Eastern District of New York who refused to block Cuomo’s plan.
That ruling followed an emergency hearing in a lawsuit brought by rabbis and synagogues who said the restrictions were unconstitutional and sought to have enforcement delayed until after the Jewish holy days.
Updated
US president Donald Trump will on Saturday hold his first public event since being diagnosed with Covid-19 more than a week ago, aiming to show he has beaten the virus and is ready to resume campaigning, although questions remain about his health.
Trump is expected to make remarks from a White House balcony to a crowd of hundreds on the lawn below, an event the White House described as “a peaceful protest for law & order.”
The president revealed his positive coronavirus test on 2 October and spent three nights in hospital before returning to the White House on Monday.
He has not said whether he is still contagious, only that he is no longer showing symptoms of the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
A White House spokeswoman said on Friday that Trump will be tested for coronavirus and will not go out in public if it is determined he can still spread the virus.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 7,641,502 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 58,302 cases from its previous count a day earlier, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 926 to 213,037.
Updated
The US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday that a new $1.8tn economic stimulus proposal from the Trump administration amounted “one step forward, two steps back” and would need changes to get support from congressional Democrats.
In a weekly letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the Trump administration’s proposal lacked a “strategic plan to crush the virus” and gave president Donald Trump too much discretion to decide how funds were allocated.
“At this point, we still have disagreement on many priorities, and Democrats are awaiting language from the administration on several provisions as the negotiations on the overall funding amount continue,” Pelosi’s letter said.
Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin floated the $1.8tn proposal in a Friday afternoon phone conversation, according to the White House.
The new White House package was higher than an earlier $1.6tn offer Mnuchin had made and closer to the $2.2tn that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed last week.
Reuters reports that White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said the administration wanted to keep spending below $2tn but was eager to enact a fresh round of direct payments to individuals as well as aid small businesses and airlines.
Friday marked the third straight day of talks between Pelosi and Mnuchin.
Updated
More than 250 prisoners are self-isolating at Scotland’s largest prison after an outbreak of coronavirus.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said two prisoners and four members of staff at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow have tested positive for the virus.
All 256 prisoners in A Hall are now having to self isolate, and visitors are banned for these inmates until 20 October.
Visits recommenced at jails across Scotland on 28 September, subject to a series of restrictions.
An SPS spokesman said the rest of the prison is not affected by the outbreak or visiting ban, according to PA.
He said contact tracing is being carried out for staff members.
More than 36.93 million people have been reported to be infected with coronavirus globally and at least 1,067,766 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Spain’s Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez appealed for unity on Saturday after the far-right Vox party said it would take legal action against a partial lockdown imposed on Madrid to contain one of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.
Vox, which is echoing the conservative-led Madrid regional authority’s opposition to the new restrictions implemented via a state of emergency, has also called for protests.
The measures affecting 3.8 million people in the Spanish capital and eight satellite towns include a ban on non-essential travel except for work, school or medical reasons.
Around 7,000 police are deployed to ensure compliance.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal said his party, Spain’s third largest, would appeal in the constitutional court against the “illegal” state of emergency.
Opponents say the measures in Madrid are excessive and will crush the economy, Reuters reports.
But Sanchez told a news conference that health should come before politics. “We have to be united. This is an epidemiological battle, not ideological,” he said.
Spaniards are bemused and angry over the political bickering, as their nation suffers the highest Covid-19 caseload in Western Europe and its worst recession since the civil war.
“I feel frustrated, deceived, I feel afraid because I see that we are in the middle of political disputes that lead nowhere,” said Miguel Angel, 63, a Madrid resident.
The Madrid region had 723 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the two weeks to 8 October, according to the World Health Organization, making it Europe’s second densest cluster after Andorra.
Spain said on Friday it had recorded 861,112 coronavirus cases and 32,929 deaths.
Spain and Portugal announced a series of measures on Saturday to strengthen cross-border cooperation, including better access to health and social services for citizens living along their shared 1,200km (750-mile) border.
Following an annual summit in Guarda, Portugal, the prime ministers of both countries said a new identity card would allow people working on the other side of the border to access health services there.
The measures are aimed at helping 1.6 million Portuguese and 3.4 million Spanish inhabitants along the border, which comprises some of the poorest districts in both countries.
A further 60 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 30,439, NHS England said on Saturday.
Patients were aged between 41 and 93 years old. All but five patients, aged 72 to 86, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between 30 March and 9 October, but most were on or after 7 October.
Seven other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Summary
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Myanmar’s health ministry reported 2,158 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a record daily rise. There was another 32 new death, Reuters reports. The south-east Asian nation has locked down its biggest city, Yangon, and air and overland travel in the country has been halted
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Wearing face masks in all offices and working environments should be mandatory unless you are working alone, the British Medical Association (BMA) has urged. Publishing recommendations to safeguard public health amid the pandemic, the UK doctors’ trade union body said the public was in danger of losing faith in coronavirus measures due to the government’s “inconsistent” messaging.
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Portugal reports 1,646 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily figure since start of pandemic. The country of 10 million people surpassed 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since April on Thursday.
- Spain’s far-right Vox party said it would lodge a court appeal against a partial lockdown imposed on Madrid. Thousands of police on Saturday enforced curbs intended to contain one of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.
- Leaders across northern England are urging the government to provide more cash to support areas which face going into further lockdowns or risk “levelling down” the region. The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, has called on MPs “to reject government’s financial package.”
- Liverpool to go into tier 3 lockdown on Wednesday. Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool metro region, said the government would announce on Monday that the city will go into tier 3 lockdown on Wednesday.
Updated
Martin Greenhow, who owns the five Mojo bars in the UK based in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Harrogate, has described the words of northern leaders as a “breath of fresh air”.
The managing director, who is on the brink of having four of his five bars in local lockdown areas, told the PA:
We’re looking like we’re going to be hit from all angles - I’m beginning to feel like we’re being stalked.
To hear the the northern leaders in that press conference say those things, that was a breath of fresh air and it’s refreshing to hear people are listening.
A large portion of that is, I think, it is now coming home to people - we are looking at a total collapse of a whole sector.
Greenhow described local lockdowns as the “metaphorical final nail” - saying the 10pm curfew is “killing us already”.
Updated
Myanmar’s health ministry reported 2,158 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday in a record daily rise, along with 32 new deaths, Reuters reports.
The south-east Asian nation has locked down its biggest city, Yangon, and air and overland travel in the country has been halted
A total of 26,064 cases and 598 deaths have been reported in Myanmar, the vast majority since a second wave began in mid-August.
Updated
NHS doctors sometimes talk of the first wave of the pandemic as a tsunami: the sea recedes, everything goes quiet, then it hits.
“I think we’re starting to see that again,” said Dr Matthew Tuck, who works in Newcastle as an anaesthetic registrar and is deputy chair of the BMA’s junior doctors committee. “Where we are now is very similar to how we all felt in the middle of March.”
Hospitals across the north of England are preparing for the worst. Last week saw an influx of Covid-19 patients that has rattled medics and ministers.
On Thursday, MPs were told that the number of patients in intensive care in the north of England in three weeks’ time would be higher than at the height of the first wave of the pandemic in April.
Liverpool’s director of public health, Matt Ashton, believes that might happen sooner in his city – within a week. Liverpool’s hospitals have a capacity of about 400 beds for Covid-19 patients and by last Thursday 241 were occupied, double the previous week’s total.
Doctors in Liverpool have been told by NHS bosses not to talk publicly about the situation, but many are worried that they are starting to see more elderly patients and that there are not enough staff to cope.
“We are on the crest of a wave,” said one staff member. “The next few months may be tricky.”
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Wearing face masks in all offices and working environments should be mandatory unless you are working alone, the British Medical Association (BMA) has urged.
Publishing recommendations to safeguard public health amid the pandemic, the UK doctors’ trade union body said the public was in danger of losing faith in coronavirus measures due to the government’s “inconsistent” messaging.
It added that clearer, stronger measures were needed to control the spread of the Covid-19, as the government prepares to unveil a three-tiered system of coronavirus restrictions on Monday.
The BMA’s chairman, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, criticised the government’s messaging after the lifting of the initial lockdown and said it had played a part in the resurgence of the virus.
He said:
The infection has risen following rapid relaxation of measures and with the Westminster government letting down its guard – as recently as August, the government was encouraging people to travel, go to work and mix in restaurants and pubs.
The government has a duty to regain the public’s confidence and faith in measures being taken to get the spread of the virus back under control. It must also provide the financial support businesses need to enable them to make premises and settings Covid secure while providing clear rules on what ‘Covid secure’ means.
Updated
People caught flouting coronavirus rules in Indonesia are being made to dig graves as part of community service to deter others from transgressing.
The punishments in East Java and Jakarta, to those who choose not to pay a fine of 150.000 IDR (£7.90), come amid rising infections in the archipelago with the highest coronavirus death rate in south-east Asia.
If they choose to do community service rather than pay the fine, people receive a high-viz jacket with “violator” written on the back. They are then driven on a truck with others who have broken Covid rules to a cemetery, where they are reportedly asked to dig graves and tidy, as loudspeakers on the vehicle inform those in the vicinity that those onboard have broken the regulations.
“When I wear a motorbike helmet, it’s difficult to wear a mask. It was hurting my ears,” a man named Elkat told Sky News. “This is my fault and cleaning the grave is ok.”
Updated
There have been a further 627 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 29,654.
PA Media reports:
Public Health Wales said on Saturday a further 21 deaths had been reported, taking the total number of related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,667.
But it added that the large increase was the result of a delay in incorporating 17 deaths that occurred in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area between 3 and 7 October.
Updated
Portugal reports 1,646 new cases of coronavirus, highest daily figure since start of pandemic
Portugal reported 1,646 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports citing the health authority.
The country of 10 million people surpassed 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since April on Thursday.
Hospitality workers in Scotland dumped ice on the streets of Glasgow yesterday evening in protest against the temporary restrictions announced by the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
Protests also took place outside the City Chambers in Glasgow after pubs in Scotland’s central belt were told to close for 16 days.
Updated
Spain’s far-right Vox party said it would lodge a court appeal against a partial lockdown imposed on Madrid, as thousands of police on Saturday enforced curbs intended to contain one of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.
Reuters reports:
Vox leader Santiago Abascal also called for demonstrations against the restrictions, implemented on Friday by the government via a state of emergency.
“I have given instructions to appeal to the constitutional court (against) the illegal state of emergency,” he tweeted late on Friday.
Abascal’s move escalates a standoff between the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the conservative-led Madrid regional government, on which Vox holds 12 of 132 seats, and which argues the government’s curbs are illegal and excessive and will spell disaster for the local economy.
The restrictions include a ban on leaving locked-down areas other than for work, school or medical reasons. Around 7,000 police were deployed on roads, rail stations and at airports to make sure 3.8 million people affected in the capital city and eight satellite towns abided by them, the interior ministry said.
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All three mayors, Driscoll, Burnham, and Jarvis, say they support Keir Starmer’s comment at the Co-operative party conference this afternoon, that the prime minister, Boris Johnson, has presided over “serial incompetence” during the coronavirus crisis.
Burnham said “at times it feels like they’re running a PR campaign rather than a public health campaign”.
I’ve been at pains throughout this to say I’ve been in government dealing with the pandemic. There’s no perfect response and I don’t envy the government.
But things being briefed to newspapers or issued late at night without explanation or detail, and those things really affect people in a fundamental way. That is incompetence in my view, and it’s serial because it keeps happening.
Updated
Earlier, Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, said the government should be offering to pay 80% of peoples wages if their employment is locked down, and that it cannot “do lockdown on the cheap”.
“If 80% was the right benchmark in March, nothing has changed. If it’s right then, it’s right now.”
Andy Burnham says he would consider a legal challenge to the package if the political challenge fails.
We do not agree nor do we accept the financial package.... [We are] Asking our MPs across the north to bring about situation next week where parliament can express its view on whether this package ... is fair. If this fails, I wouldn’t rule out a legal challenge. It’s that serious.
Why do we accept hospitality workers are somehow second-class citizens? I don’t accept it. This goes to the heart of everything we care about. The north of England is staring the most dangerous winter for years right in the face.
Addressing constituents, he adds: “We will do whatever is in our power ... to fight your corner.”
Updated
The metro mayor of the North of Tyne combined authority, Jamie Driscoll, says: “You have to make obeying the restrictions financially viable for people ... The financial support is part of keeping people safe.”
Dan Jarvis adds this will be the hardest NHS winter on record, and he urged the government to decentralise its policy and focus on local responses, as in other countries. “Rather than partners [with the govt], feels like we’re passengers,” he says.
On the 10pm curfew, Burnham says it is “potentially contradictory” because it can effectively create social gatherings in the home.
“Let’s be clear about what we’re asking public to do and give them the evidence to do this,” he adds, saying much stronger enforcement powers are actually what’s required, such as closure powers for premises that are not Covid-secure.
If you present evidence, “public buy-in will follow”, he says. “If government get this right in the next few days, local and national government could be brought together.”
Updated
Burnham said he was told the financial package is “non-negotiable” and that it angered him
“I’m sorry but I’m not accepting a statement of that kind. If they’re in discussion with us, they’re in discussion about everything,” he said.
“We will not surrender our constituents to hardship nor our businesses to failure.”
Updated
Burnham jumps in and says for people working in hospitality, the case has to made for 100% income coverage, because any less takes them under minimum wage. How is that legal, he asks? The absolute minimum has to be 80%
Updated
When asked what the timescale was to get support packages to the 80% level seen in March, Jarvis said: “As others have referred to, negotiations continue over weekend.”
He anticipates a statement in parliament from the prime minister on Monday, but it was not clear precisely what the timeframe would be thereafter, but talks would continue to secure the “best possible deal wecan”.
Updated
Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP and Sheffield mayor, described the government response as a “top-down overly centralised approach that has not been as effective as it has been”.
He said “frustrations bubbled over this week” when the government briefed journalists but did not consult local political leaders. “We are part of the solution and need to be involved at an early point in the government decision-making process.”
He said he agrees with others that economic packages “won’t go nearly far enough” and said large portions of business community would be “struggling to survive”.
He added:
“Of course the government is under a huge amount of pressure ... but what I think is very important is they don’t lose sight of is the medium and long-term commitment they’ve made.
[There is a] very serious risk that instead of levelling up, Covid will cause levelling down.
Updated
Liverpool to go into tier 3 lockdown on Wednesday.
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool metro region, said the government would announce on Monday that the city will go into tier 3 lockdown on Wednesday.
He said:
Most journalists will understand our incredulity and dismay at having to have a press conference.
Our priority has ... we will support measures no matter how politically difficult they might be to support our residents.
He added the government is “refusing the scientific rationale” behind the decisions and people in their areas are “very confused”.
Rotheram said he learnt about the city is going into a higher tier from national newspapers.
The government intends to lay measures out on Monday that Liverpool will go into Tter 3 on Wednesday, Rotheram said. “They’re trying to work out what this is, they’ll meet with government today.”
Updated
'We hope MPs reject government's financial package,' says Burnham
Burnham is writing to all MPs in the north of England about how the government has handled rising coronavirus cases.
He said:
What we’re asking our MP colleagues to do is to support what we’re saying and their constituents who will be plunged into hardship by these measures...
We are calling on MPs to ask for a separate vote and debate on this financial package [so they can be] fully understood.
We would hope they would reject this package and force government to return with a package which addresses all of the points we’ve just made.
Updated
Burnham estimates there are 100,000 people in Greater Manchester still on the furlough scheme.
He said:
We think it would be to do long-term damage of Greater Manchester and the north of England and weaken recovery because organisations we depend upon for recovery, like Manchester airport, won’t be in a position to recover.
That amounts to the precise opposite of what this government was elected to do, will level down and worsen the north-south divide.
Updated
Burnham warned that current support for businesses does not go far enough.
He said:
We are being told the government will double current payment from £1,500 to £3,000 a month for businesses locked down a month but I’m pretty certain that will not be enough to save businesses in Greater Manchester who are on a knife edge.
He also condemned the lack of support for self employed and said the government is asking them “to accept the measures” would be to “render our businesses to failure and collapse” and lead to a rise in redundancy.
Updated
I’ll be liveblogging the press conference from the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.
Burnham has described the two thirds wages package from the chancellor is “insufficient”.
He said:
If you work in a bar or kitchen in a pub, on possibly living wage more likely, how is it possible to live on two-third wages when government forced your place of work to close.
You can’t chose to pay two thirds of rent or bills, it would put them into severe hardship.
Updated
Are UK coronavirus cases rising in your local area and nationally? Check week-on-week changes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the latest figures from public health authorities
The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, has said the UK government’s job support scheme shows a “sink or swim” mentality and needs to be changed, PA Media reports.
She told the Co-operative party virtual conference:
Government has got to junk its insinuation right now that businesses that are struggling right now are necessarily unviable.
From the arts to manufacturing, those businesses need a temporary helping hand but they’re being left to sink or swim.
Yesterday we saw a partial acknowledgement of this... but we really need broader changes to the job support scheme.
She added other countries with wage support schemes had incentivised businesses to “keep staff on part-time rather than just keeping some on and making the rest redundant”.
The shadow chancellor called for re-training schemes for workers to be implemented right away, saying the “vast majority of what the government has announced on training does not kick in until next April”.
She said:
Overall all of the government measures taken together to support those people who’ve become unemployed will just be helping one in five of those the government itself expects will be out of work by the end of this year.
Updated
Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope. Find out where the virus has spread, and where it has been most deadly.
Brazil’s hard-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, dismissed Covid-19 as a “little flu”, and said it should be faced “like a man, not a boy”.
He sneered that self-isolating was “for the weak” and raged against lockdown measures. He clashed with state governors, and his own former health minister savaged his handling of the pandemic.
But as Brazil counts nearly 5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 147,000 dead, Bolsonaro is more popular than ever.
Like his idol Donald Trump, the populist Brazilian leader caught the virus and emerged apparently unscathed. But while the US president trails Joe Biden in the polls, Bolsonaro’s government has hit a record 40% approval rating.
Much of that popularity is down to monthly emergency aid payments of £83 ($108) – or £166 ($217) for single mothers – that about 67 million Brazilians began receiving in April.
Giselly Andrade, 34, worked as a cashier until her second child, Gabriel, five, was born with microcephaly. She lives in Recife, in the state of Pernambuco – the poor north-east region that has traditionally been the electoral heartland of the leftwing Workers’ party, which ruled Brazil from 2003-2016. Now, however, support for Bolsonaro is growing in the region, where 65% have received emergency aid.
Andrade is one of them – and the payments helped change her view of the president.
She said:
I didn’t expect this of him.
People said he only thought about himself [but] he’s shown the opposite.” Andrade spoiled her vote in 2018 but said she would now vote for Bolsonaro when he runs for re-election in 2022.
He’s been working, thinking of the people.
Malaysia reported 374 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a slight increase from the previous day, Reuters reports, as health officials ramp up contact tracing in Sabah state, where a large number of cases have been detected over the past few weeks.
The new cases raise the cumulative tally to 15,096 cases, according to the health ministry. There were three new deaths reported, raising the toll to 155.
Updated
Mayors and council leaders in the north of England have criticised the government for failing to consult them on local lockdown measures, as they brace for further restrictions expected to be announced next week.
The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, accused the government of treating the city with disdain, saying new lockdown measures were being “imposed”.
Anderson said he expected Liverpool to be placed under tier-three measures, the highest of the government’s proposed tiered lockdown system. Tier-three measures are expected to include preventing all social contact between different households, restricting overnight stays away from home, and banning organised non-professional sports and communal hobby groups.
The mayor said he expected further discussion with the government on Saturday afternoon, but that he had not been consulted over the decisions.
Anderson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Now we are engaged in a conversation that’s telling us that these decisions have been made, so that’s … a conversation, not a consultation
But the main point of the imposition of the measures are clearly that: imposition. We have not been consulted.
Andy Burnham will be hosting a Zoom press conference with and other northern leaders from 12.30pm
Updated
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, has accused the government of serial incompetence, pointing to recent failures in testing and the number of U-turns.
Speaking at the Co-operative party virtual party conference, Starmer said:
Test, trace and isolate is critical.
The prime minister said we would have a world-beating system - we didn’t need that, we just need an effective one that works.
‘World beating’ is just Johnson rhetoric.
Getting a test quickly, getting the result quickly and then reaching the contacts so that self-isolation works - that’s not working properly, which means that thousands and thousands of people are walking around today who should be in self-isolation.
So, that bit needs to be fixed.
On U-turns, he said:
I think it is 13 or 14 U-turns now.
If it was one or two, I think many people across the country, if the government made a mistake and then U-turned, would say ‘well, fair enough, we are dealing with a pandemic’.
But when you have 12, 13, or 14 U-turns the only thing that can be read into that is serial incompetence.
Updated
New cases of coronavirus in the United States hit a two-month high on Friday, with over 58,000 infections of the new coronavirus reported and numbers of people in hospital in the Midwest at record levels for a fifth day in a row, according to Reuters analysis.
Reuters reports:
Ten of the 50 states reported record one-day rises in cases on Friday, including the Midwestern states of Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio. Wisconsin and Illinois recorded over 3,000 new cases for a second day in a row - a two-day trend not seen even during the height of the previous outbreak in the spring, according to Reuters data.
The western states of Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming also reported their biggest one-day jumps in cases, as did Oklahoma and West Virginia.
Nineteen states have seen record increases in new cases so far in October.
Updated
China is holding its first classical music festival since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The festival will feature musicians from Wuhan in an attempt to aid in the psychological and emotional healing process.
AP reports:
Zou Ye, a composer from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus was first detected late last year, said that Saturday night’s concert is part of an effort to work through frustration and helplessness on the way toward love and tolerance and, hopefully, some meaning to what he calls “nature’s tremendous revenge”.
Musicians from the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra will present a choral symphony “To 2020” dedicated to the victims of Covid-19, co-written by Zou and two partners.
More than 11 million people in Wuhan and its surrounding area underwent a draconian 76-day lockdown at the start of the pandemic. The city accounts for 3,869 of China’s 4,634 deaths from the virus and the bulk of its more than 85,000 cases.
The end of the lockdown on 8 April was seen as a key turning point in China’s battle against the virus, which has now been contained, with no cases of local transmission reported in more than two months.
The emotional trauma still lingers for many survivors, victims’ families and front-line health workers, and music can offer another medium for exploring such feelings, Zou said.
Updated
Leaders in northern England have described the government’s extension of the furlough scheme as “an insult” and a “kick in the teeth” that will not stave off the threat of economic disaster under new lockdown restrictions.
Firms whose premises are legally required to shut over winter as part of local or national restrictions will be entitled to grants to pay up to 67% of employees’ salaries up to £2,100 a month. This is less generous than the original furlough, which paid 80% of employees’ wages up to £2,500 a month, but is a higher level of taxpayer support than in Rishi Sunak’s winter economy plan announced two weeks ago.
Jim McMahon, the shadow transport secretary and MP for Oldham West and Royton, described the package as an insult.
He said:
A lockdown is a lockdown – just because it’s a local lockdown doesn’t stop the operating costs being what they were under the national lockdown, so why is this support so much less?
This is a northern intervention and they think they can get away with doing it on the cheap. That’s the beginning and end of it.
Updated
Jason Leitch, national clinical director for the Scottish government, released this video thanking young people and children for doing their bit to stop the spread of the coronavirus and congratulating them for making it through the first term of the academic year.
Scotland’s children & young people, take a bow! We know it’s not always been easy, but you’ve made it through the first term of a challenging academic year. This is a personal thank you for helping to stop the spread of the virus.@girfec
— Jason Leitch (@jasonleitch) October 9, 2020
#girfec #bestplacetogrowup @YoungScot pic.twitter.com/fssllKwIx4
Updated
Poland reported a record 5,300 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, according to health ministry data published on Twitter, as new restrictions including wearing masks outside at all times go into effect, Reuters reports.
Poland has now recorded 121,638 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,972 deaths.
Indonesia reported 4,294 new coronavirus infections on Saturday to bring the total tally of 328,952, data from the country’s Covid-19 task force showed, Reuters reports.
The south-east Asia country also reported 88 more people have died from the virus, the lowest daily number in a week. Indonesia’s total number of coronavirus deaths now stands at 11,765.
Updated
Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 12,846 on Saturday, a new daily record since the start of the outbreak early this year, pushing the overal total number of infections to 1,285,084, Reuters reports.
The previous record of 12,126 new cases was registered on Friday.
Russia’s coronavirus crisis center said 197 more deaths were confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 22,454.
The Philippines’ health ministry on Saturday recorded 2,249 new coronavirus infections and 87 additional deaths, Reuters reports.
The ministry said total confirmed cases in the Philippines had increased to 336,926, the highest in south-east Asia, while deaths have reached 6,238.
Updated
The public is in danger of losing faith in coronavirus measures due to the UK government’s “inconsistent” messaging, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.
PA Media reports:
The body added clearer, stronger measures are needed to halt the spread of the Covid-19.
As the government prepares to unveil a new three-tiered system of coronavirus restrictions on Monday, the doctors’ trade union body has published a list of recommendations it says could reduce the nation’s level of infection while providing people with the confidence they need to go out safely and boost the economy.
The BMA’s council chairman, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said the inconsistency of the government’s messaging once the first lockdown was lifted had played a part in the resurgence of the virus.
He said: “The infection has risen following rapid relaxation of measures and with the Westminster government letting down its guard - as recently as August, the government was encouraging people to travel, go to work and mix in restaurants and pubs.”
Updated
There is growing anger from local leaders in the northern England, where some of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases have been recorded, at the way the UK government has been handling the response.
A leaked document released earlier this week revealed plans for three tiers of local lockdown measures in England to curb the spread of coronavirus and reduce confusion caused by a patchwork of regional restrictions.
Alert level 3 – the most serious – contains tougher measures than any seen so far in local lockdowns since the start of the pandemic, including preventing household mixing and closing businesses and venues. The plans are expected to be formally announced on Monday.
On Thursday, the Guardian revealed some hospitals in the north of England are set to run out of beds for Covid patients within a week.
The Guardian understands that the majority of northern England, from Barrow in Cumbria to Merseyside, Greater Manchester, much of Lancashire and Yorkshire and most of the north-east, as well as Nottinghamshire in the Midlands, expects to be under Covid restrictions as part of the new three-tier alert system.
The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, had criticised the government for not consulting local leaders about new restrictions. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday:
Now we are engaged in a conversation that’s telling us that these decisions have been made, so that’s ... a conversation, not a consultation.
But the main point of the imposition of the measures are clearly that: imposition. We have not be consulted.
Anderson also said:
We had some conversations with Downing Street yesterday, we have got further conversations, discussions with them this afternoon.
And I expect that Liverpool will be one of those announced. We will be in the local lockdown, new local lockdown, which is announced, which will probably be, well, will be tier three, and that that will be enacted in parliament on Tuesday.
We are continuing the discussions and conversations today.
On Friday, Rishi Sunak announced a new furlough scheme that will pay two-thirds of workers’ wages in hospitality firms ordered to close their doors, in a bid to head off mounting anger over plans for imminent new Covid restrictions.
But some local leaders still oppose new restrictions. The Labour leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, said he is opposed to a lockdown of hospitality venues across the north-east region.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday:
I think new measures would be counter-productive.
We had three different sets of regulations in 10 days which caused huge resistance and confusion.
Even the prime minister at one stage didn’t have the foggiest idea what actual restrictions he had imposed on the north-east of England.
Updated
Hello, I’m Aamna Mohdin taking over the blog from Luke. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or message me on Twitter (@aamnamohdin)
I’m going to hand over to my colleague in London Aamna Mohdin.
Thanks for reading.
India reports 73,000 new cases, nearly 1,000 deaths
The ministry of health in India has said there were 73,272 new infections in the country over the past 24 hours.
There were also 926 new deaths, taking the death toll to 107,416. It is the seventh straight day where deaths have been below 1,000.
The country is averaging about 70,000 cases daily, down from a peak of 97,894 new cases mid-September.
Germany records 4,721 new cases
Germany recorded 4,721 new cases over the past 24 hours, and another 15 deaths, according to the country’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The new infections are an increase on the approximately 4,500 cases reported on Friday.
Updated
In the United Kingdom, the mayor of Liverpool has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he expects the city will be put in a tier three lockdown within days.
Joe Anderson said:
We had some conversations with Downing Street yesterday, we have got further conversations, discussions with them this afternoon.
And I expect that Liverpool will be one of those announced. We will be in the local lockdown, new local lockdown, which is announced, which will probably be, well, will be tier three, and that that will be enacted in parliament on Tuesday.
We are continuing the discussions and conversations today.
Updated
Ukraine records 108 new deaths from Covid
The number of daily coronavirus deaths in Ukraine has exceeded 100 for the first time since the epidemic began, jumping to 108, the national security council said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The previous record of 93 deaths was registered on 8 October. The council said a total of 256,266 cases had been registered in Ukraine as of 10 October, with 4,887 deaths and 112,570 people recovered.
The government said on Friday it would open more hospitals to accept coronavirus patients amid a recent spike in cases.
It is also mulling ways to toughen lockdown measures, which have been gradually eased since June to help the economy, which plunged 11.4% in the second quarter.
Updated
Police in the Australian state of Victoria have issued fines after detecting an unauthorised party in locked-down Melbourne.
Officers were called to the birthday party of 20 people in the suburb of Bentleigh, where they found loud music and no one wearing masks or social distancing.
AAP reports that several guests climbed onto the roofs of neighbouring buildings and fled, police said.
But they caught four people hiding on a roof and fined them when they came down.
Thirteen partygoers were fined $1,652 each.
Updated
For those in the state of New South Wales, in Australia, authorities have issued an alert about several locations linked to Covid cases.
NSW Health said people who attended the following venues should monitor for symptoms and get tested if they develop:
- Squeeze & Grind, 180 Argyle Street, Camden – 7 October, 11.45am-1.15pm
- Narellan Town Centre, Camden Valley Way, Narellan – 8 October, 12.30pm-2.00pm
The same guidance applies to those who travelled on the following trains:
- Train from Eastwood at 8.15am arriving Parramatta 8.49 on 6 October
- Train from Parramatta at 4.50pm arriving Eastwood 5.21pm on 6 October
- Train from Eastwood at 8.14am arriving Parramatta 8.49am on 7 October
- Train from Eastwood at 12.18pm arriving Kings Cross 1.07pm on 7 October
- Train from Parramatta at 4.31pm arriving Central 5.02pm on 7 October
- Train from Central at 6.05pm arriving Eastwood 6.36pm on 7 October
- Train from Kings Cross at 9.35pm arriving Eastwood 10.34pm on 7 October
Updated
Peru reports 2,151 new cases and 238 deaths
The ministry of health in Peru has said the country recorded 2,151 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.
Over the same period, there were 238 deaths linked to Covid-19.
Overall, the Andean country has recorded 843,355 cases and 33,158 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Currently, 6,544 people are hospitalised due to the virus, according to Informa Europa Press.
Updated
What we've learned so far today
I might start with a summary of today’s events.
- In Australia, the state of Victoria recorded 14 new cases, dashing hopes of a planned reopening on 19 October.
- There were two local cases in the neighbouring state of New South Wales, as leaders there clashed with Queensland over its closed border.
- The United States president, Donald Trump, said he felt “very strong” in his first on-camera interview since he caught Covid.
- But the second United States presidential debate was officially cancelled after Trump declined to take part if the event was held virtually.
- France is struggling to subdue a vicious second wave. The country recorded more than 20,000 new infections in the past 24 hours. Across Europe, there were 100,000 new cases recorded for the first time.
- In a similarly grim milestone, the WHO reported more than 350,000 new cases on Friday.
Updated
Hi everyone, and thanks to Graham. Luke Henriques-Gomes here, I’ll be with you for the next few hours.
Updated
I’m going to hand over now to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes who will guide you through the next few hours as Europe starts to wake up.
Stay safe folks. Wash your hands and don’t touch your face.
My colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes has this story giving you a summary of the main Covid-19 news from Australia.
A main point of the day has been Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, putting the brakes on prospects for easing Melbourne’s restrictions on 19 October.
Updated
In Victoria, the premier, Daniel Andrews, said earlier today there would be some changes to the lockdown rules in Melbourne on 19 October, but he just didn’t know yet what they would be.
The 14-day rolling average needs to drop below five for there to be significant changes to movement and gathering restrictions, but today that number sits stubbornly at 9.5.
But there will be one major change for people in Melbourne that comes into force tomorrow night.
From midnight, anyone leaving their house will no longer be able to just have any old face covering, like a bandana or face shield.
They will instead have to wear a “fitted face mask that covers the nose and mouth”. There’s more detail here.
From Oct 12 all Victorians must wear a fitted face mask that covers nose & mouth when you leave home. Face shields, bandanas, or scarves on their own are no longer sufficient. As restrictions ease + movement increases, the effectiveness of a face mask is even more important [1/2] pic.twitter.com/YmYkxRoD5z
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) October 9, 2020
Updated
As we touched on a bit earlier, wastewater Covid-19 testing in Queensland has turned up a surprise in Townsville that’s causing the state’s chief health officer, Jeanette Young, some concern.
Young says there hasn’t been a known case in that region for months, and anyone there who feels unwell should get tested.
Queensland is using the tests as a way of identifying early the possibility of undetected cases in major centres.
In comments reported by AAP, Young offers some theories of how and why the virus could be detected in sewage there:
Someone who has travelled through Townsville, a freight worker. It could even be someone who has been in quarantine.
But my first theory, which I hope is incorrect, is it is someone who has active Covid-19 in Townsville.
That’s why I would like anyone in Townsville today who has any symptoms to come forward and get tested.
Queensland reported one new case on Saturday – a man in his 20s who was a returned traveller. He had been in the Philippines and had tested positive on his 10th day in hotel quarantine.
Updated
Mexico reports another 5,263 cases and 411 deaths
Mexico added another 5,263 cases and 411 deaths over the past 24 hours.
It takes the country’s total to 809,751 infections and 83,507 deaths throughout the pandemic.
Updated
A China update from Reuters.
Mainland China reported 15 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on 9 October, down from 21 a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Saturday.
All the new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas, the National Health Commission said in a statement.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, rose to 39 from 15 a day earlier. All of them were imported.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 85,536, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.
Updated
Australian PM takes jab at Queensland border closure
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, is on Queensland’s Gold Coast joining the state’s election campaign and he’s giving a media conference.
He’s of course wearing the election campaign uniform of choice – a hi-vis vest.
Morrison spent the past 14 days in Canberra, which meant he could fly straight to Queensland without the need for quarantine.
Morrison had another gentle jab at Queensland’s ongoing border closure to Victoria and most of New South Wales and the implications it has for tourism in the sunshine state.
He says you would want border closures only “for as long as you absolutely have to have them”.
I know that from my own experience before I went into parliament, and Queensland’s domestic tourism industry has always relied heavily on the New South Wales and Victorian markets coming up for what is always a great holiday in Queensland.
They are not something, I suppose, to boast of, they are things that are necessary but are regrettably necessary in many occasions, and so when you have to have them, well, let’s have them based on medical advice and for only as long as you absolutely have to because the longer they are there, the more they do stop jobs.
Updated
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has clashed with a journalist who suggested he should hand over his phone records voluntarily to the state’s hotel quarantine inquiry.
On Friday Andrews said he would hand over his phone records to the inquiry if he was asked.
There are questions about a six-minute gap in the former police commissioner Graham Ashton’s evidence to the inquiry and some say the period could be crucial to finding out who decided to use private guards in the program.
So far, the inquiry has been told it was a “creeping assumption”.
“Why wouldn’t you and your office just release those phone records of your own volition?” Andrews was asked a few minutes ago.
Andrews replied: “I’m not running the inquiry and, with the greatest of respect, neither is your network.”
He was then asked what he or the government “had to hide”.
Andrews said: “All of these issues are being considered, have been considered, are being considered. And the inquiry has not finished its work. We really are going around in circles here. It is an independent inquiry. I am not going to interfere in that inquiry.”
Andrews faced combative questions on the same topic from Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, on Friday.
Credlin is now a commentator on Sky News.
The Guardian revealed on Friday evening that Victoria police had not formally requested Ashton’s records from Telstra, contradicting earlier claims made by the force.
Updated
More from that interview that US president Donald Trump gave to Fox news contributor Marc Siegel, a doctor who has downplayed the severity of coronavirus.
Trump was asked if he’d been tested again for the coronavirus, and his answer was less than clear.
Trump said he had been retested and he had “not even found out the numbers” but then said “I’m either at the bottom of the scale or free”.
“It’s really at a level that ... it’s been great to see it disappear.”
So in summary, the president doesn’t know the precise results from his test, but the numbers are either low or he’s free of the virus.
Happy to clear that up for you all.
Updated
Trump says he feels 'very strong' in first on-camera interview since catching Covid-19
United States president Donald Trump has given an interview on-camera to Fox News and it’s just been broadcast on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Fox News had to rely on a White House camera crew. Trump is back to calling it “the China virus”.
Trump says he feels “very strong” after catching the disease. He’s asked about the most prominent systems that he had and how he felt in hospital.
I know a lot of people that had the Covid, or the China virus as I call it, because it came from China. But I feel really really strong and a lot of people don’t feel that way.
He said when he went into hospital he didn’t feel “as the president of the United States should feel” and “didn’t feel very vital” but he said he had no problems breathing.
I would say more weakness than anything else ... you were just tired and you didn’t have that same energy level. It could have led to bad things from that point I didn’t know.
He again said a transfusion of Regeneron had given him “miraculous” effect and repeated his offer to give it to everyone in the US who needed it “for free”.
He says he’s no longer taking any medications.
That makes me feel good. I don’t like medication.
Updated
NSW reports three new coronavirus cases, two of which were locally acquired
NSW Health says it is investigating two new cases of Covid-19 contracted locally and outside of hotel quarantine.
One of the cases is a nurse who worked a single shift at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney, with a second case linked to that nurse.
A third case reported overnight was a crew member from a ship that docked in Newcastle and was now being treated in hospital. The rest of the crew will stay onboard the ship.
#COVID19 cases recorded in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm last night:
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 10, 2020
- 1 case was diagnosed in a returned traveller in hotel quarantine
- 2 cases were locally acquired and under investigation pic.twitter.com/J241npZWgJ
Updated
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews: 'We will beat this second wave'
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, is giving details of the state’s 14 new cases reported today and says the state “will beat this second wave”.
Six of the cases are in a known cluster, eight are being investigated and four are under investigation. Two of the new cases are due to a reclassification.
But he’s now getting to the part all Melbourne people want to hear. Will restrictions be lifted next Sunday and by how much?
The tail of this second wave was always going to be stubborn and that is exactly the way it is panning out.
I think it unlikely that we will be able to move as fast as we would like to have done next Sunday. I think it is unlikely that we will be able to take as eager steps as we would have hoped to take next Sunday – big steps.
But he says there will be some steps taken next Sunday “but they have to be safe” and he will be talking with his health advisors this weekend to work out what they could be.
We will beat this second wave but we have got to do it properly. There is no shortcuts here otherwise we will have literally five minutes of sunshine and will be pin bowling back and forth in and out of restrictions all summer and all 2021.
Updated
Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews is about to stand up for a press conference – his 100th consecutive day fronting up to reporters.
Updated
France struggles to contain virus spread as Europe spikes
France is now experiencing a sharp rise in cases and is one of several countries in Europe struggling to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Reuters reports new infections in France jumped more than 20,000 in one day for the first time. This from the news agency.
The country’s ministry reported 20,330 new infections, taking the cumulative total to 691,977 since the start of the year.
In the past two days the ministry had reported more than 18,000 daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases.
On Thursday, France’s health minister said that Lyon - the country’s third-biggest city - and three other cities will have to close their bars in coming days, as Paris and Marseille have done, in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
The number of deaths from the virus increased by 109 to 32,630, the most in a week but below highs of around 150 seen earlier this month.
The death toll figures can be skewed as the ministry often reports several days of senior citizen residence data in one batch.
The number of people in hospital jumped by another 240 to 7,864 nationwide and the number of people in intensive care units - the best measure of a health system’s ability to deal with the epidemic -rose by 21 to 1,448.
At the height of the crisis in early April, more than 7,000 people were in intensive care with COVID.
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Good morning, evening or afternoon. Graham Readfearn here in Brisbane, Australia with our continued live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the coming hours (and they never stop coming) we’ll be giving you the latest news from Australia and keeping you up-to-date with developments from around the globe.
Where are we at? A quick summary of global developments from the last 12 hours or so first, which has delivered some sobering numbers.
- The number of new coronavirus infections in France jumped more than 20,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the epidemic, health ministry data showed on Friday.
- In the US, the next presidential debate on Thursday has been cancelled, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed. It comes after a public disagreement between the two candidates over the debate’s format. Trump is planning to hold two in-person events over the next few days, his first since his Covid-19 diagnosis last week. The president will address the crowd from a White House balcony on Saturday about “law and order” and will attend a rally in Florida on Monday. He’s also expected to make an appearance on Fox News in the next hour or so.
- Europe reported more than 100,000 new cases for the first time. UK, Russia, Spain, France and Italy are among the countries with rising case numbers.
- The WHO reported more than 350,000 new Covid-19 infections on Friday – a new record high for daily case numbers. The UN agency reported there had been 36,361,054 cases and 1,056,186 deaths from the disease around the world.
- In the UK, the Press Association says prime minister Boris Johnson will announce new restrictions there on Monday that could see pubs and restaurants close across the north of England.
- Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau says the country is at a “tipping point” as new government modelling suggests cumulative deaths could be as high as 9,800 by 17 October.
Now for Australia.
- Victoria announced a further 14 cases but no deaths on Saturday morning, raising its 14-day rolling average from 9.4 yesterday to 9.5. Melbourne needs it to drop below five for the current hard lockdown rules to be eased.
- Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is expected to stand up for a media conference for the 100th consecutive day.
- NSW health authorities issued health alerts late Friday after a casual nurse who had worked a single-shift delivering care to a single patient at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney tested positive.
- People who had visited specific locations in Palm Beach, Eastwood and Parramatta at certain times should monitor for symptoms, health authorities in NSW said.
- In NSW, that state recorded five new local cases on Friday but these were all linked to a known cluster.
- Queensland reported one new case of a man in his 20s who was in day 10 of hotel quarantine.
- In Townsville, tests on wastewater have delivered a positive result, but there have been no reported cases of the virus there “in months”, the state’s chief health officer Jeanette Young said on Saturday morning.
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