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Pacific Islanders in US hospitalised with Covid-19 at up to 10 times the rate of other groups
Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson reports for the Guardian:
Pacific islanders living in the US are being hospitalised with Covid-19 at up to 10 times the rate of some other racial groups.
The US is the most infected country on earth, with more than 4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and nearly 150,000 deaths, and the 1.5 million Pacific islanders living there are massively overrepresented in infection and hospitalisation rates.
In Washington state, rates of confirmed cases for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander people are nine times higher than those of white people, while hospitalisation rates are 10 times that of white people, according to department of health figures.
The numbers are most dramatic in that state’s Spokane county. People from the Marshall Islands make up less than 1% of the county’s population but represent around 30% of confirmed Covid-19 cases:
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.
I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours – a reminder that you can get in touch with suggestions, questions, news from your part of the world and high praise and on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Global death toll surpasses 647,000
The global death toll from coronavirus has reached 647,098, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
The US has the highest number of fatalities with around 146,000 followed by Brazil with around 87,000.
Monday’s UK edition of The Guardian.
GUARDIAN: Tourists may face more ‘handbrake restrictions’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mwSTIGNpbi
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 26, 2020
Tomorrow’s Financial Times splash
FT UK: Europe’s banks braces for more loan losses from Covid 19 crisis #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/HZJytgY4oy
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 26, 2020
A selection of some of tomorrow’s front pages of the UK newspapers now, starting with the Telegraph.
TELEGRAPH: Lose 5lbs and save the NHS £100m #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/fmdlt316El
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 26, 2020
Coronavirus has dealt a “shattering blow” to Westminster Abbey’s finances, the church’s dean has said.
The abbey in London is set to lose £12 million in revenue this year and possibly next year and could make some of its staff redundant as a result of the lockdown.
It closed on March 20, causing a loss of entrance fees which make up more than 90% of its income, according to Dr David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster Abbey.
Dr Hoyle told the BBC: “I’ve been hearing pretty routinely from volunteers, from members of staff, just about a savage sense of loss, there’s been a church here for over a thousand years and we’re not used to being shut.
“So that’s been dislocating and then, of course, a few weeks into this we began to measure out just what was going to happen to us financially and that’s been a pretty shattering blow.”
Brazil death toll surpasses 87,000
The death toll from coronavirus in Brazil has reached 87,004, up from 86,449 yesterday, according to the country’s health ministry.
The number of cases registered is at 2,419,091, compared to 2,394,513 yesterday.
Twenty-one new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed at a caravan park in England.
The local county council fears the number of cases at the site in Shropshire , which is in the town of Craven Arms, will continue to rise before infection control measures start to take effect.
All residents who have come into contact with one of the positive cases have been asked to self-isolate with their households for 14 days.
The 21 people who tested positive for coronavirus were asked to self-isolate for at least seven days from the time they started showing symptoms or from when they received their positive test result.
A testing centre has now been set up on a nearby business park, and everyone living on the site has been offered a test.
President Donald Trump has announced his itinerary for next month amid the pandemic.
Because of my strong focus on the China Virus, including scheduled meetings on Vaccines, our economy and much else, I won’t be able to be in New York to throw out the opening pitch for the @Yankees on August 15th. We will make it later in the season!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2020
Updated
Morocco announces new lockdown
Morocco will stop people entering and leaving some of its biggest cities from midnight to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the interior and health ministries said on Sunday.
The cities to be locked down include Casablanca as well as Tangier, Marrakech, Fez and Meknes.
The country eased a nationwide lockdown a month ago, though international flights are still suspended except special flights by national airlines carrying Moroccans or foreign residents.
On Sunday, the health ministry said 633 new Covid-19 cases were recorded, one of the biggest daily rises so far, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 20,278, with 313 deaths and 16,438 recoveries.
Morocco has carried out 1.1 million tests and has made mask-wearing mandatory.
It has extended an emergency decree, until August 10, giving authorities leeway in restoring restrictive measures on a region-by-region basis depending on developments in the epidemic.
The government expects Morocco to record a budget deficit of 7.5% of gross domestic product this year, and the economy to shrink by 5%.
A summary of today's developments
- The health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Dr. Jesus Grajeda, has died nearly two weeks after being hospitalised with Covid-19. “I have no words to express all my feelings in this moment, except for profound sadness,” Chihuahua governor Javier Corral wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning, adding that Grajeda had died of heart failure.
- Some 500 workers are in quarantine on a large Bavarian farm to contain a mass coronavirus outbreak, German officials said, as they announced free Covid-19 tests for local residents. A total of 174 seasonal workers have tested positive for the virus since Friday.
- The number of confirmed infections to Covid-19 has passed 36,000 in Afghanistan as death toll in Kabul topped 500, amid raising concerns about a second wave of the pandemic over the upcoming Eid celebration. Coronavirus related deaths rose by 12 from the previous day to stand at 1,259 on Sunday.
- Spain’s Covid-19 death toll could be 60% higher than the official figure. An investigation by Spanish newspaper El País, in which reporters counted regional statistics of suspected, as well as confirmed fatalities, reached a total of 44,868 deaths.
- Spain are in talks with the UK about exempting the Canary and Balearic islands from strict quarantine rules. From midnight on Sunday, travellers returning from Spain to the UK have been forced to quarantine for 14 days, following a surge of cases in the country. The Spanish foreign minister said conversations between the countries were focussed on excluding the islands, which have seen far fewer Covid-19 infections and deaths, from the measures.
- Vietnam has reintroduced social distancing measures in the city of Danang. The rules, reimposed by the government, follow the detection of four new locally-transmitted coronavirus cases in the country, after three months of no new infections.
- North Korea has declared a state of emergency in a border town over a suspected coronavirus case. State news agency KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un also imposed a lockdown in Kaesong after a person who illegally crossed the border from South Korea displayed symptoms of the virus.
- India’s prime minister has warned citizens to be “extra vigilant” towards the ongoing threat of Covid-19. Narendra Modi’s comments come after the country recorded more than 48,000 cases in 24 hours. India’s total coronavirus caseload now stands at 1.4 million, while more than 30,000 people have died after contracting the disease.
Akhtar Mohammad Makoii, a journalist based in Afghanistan, has written about the latest number of cases in the country.
The number of confirmed infections to Covid-19 has passed 36,000 in Afghanistan as death toll in Kabul topped 500, amid raising concerns about a second wave of the pandemic over the upcoming Eid celebration.
Coronavirus related deaths rose by 12 from the previous day to stand at 1,259 on Sunday. In its latest update, health ministry said the number of people who had tested positive for the virus had reached 36,157, an increase of 121 on the day before. There have been 25,180 recoveries, including 387 over the past 24 hours.
The death toll in capital Kabul, which has been the country’s worst affected area, reached 507. Kabul has so far recorded 14,529 confirmed cases.
Most of new cases (40) were reported in the remote province of Khost. Four of the new death were confirmed in the western province of Herat which borders Iran and local officials have already warned of a second wave.
“Based on the statistics that arrived from the labs, more than 50% of the cases are positive,” said Mohammad Rafiq Sherzai, the head of health department in Herat.
The war-torn country, which has admitted it has a lack of testing capacity, has tested 86,907 suspected patients since the outbreak began. Health ministry has said that the number of patients with coronavirus have decreased in recent weeks.
But concerns about the second wave of the pandemic are high in Afghanistan as the Eid celebration is scheduled for next week.
The health ministry said that the days of the previous Eid in May were the worst as around one thousand daily cases were reported in a period of one week.
Ahmad Jawad Osmani, acting health minister has warned that Afghanistan is still in the midst of the outbreak and urged the people to not repeat “the same mistake again” over Eid.
Meanwhile, violence raged on across 23 provinces over the past week. The Office of National Security Council said Saturday that 46 civilians were killed and 93 others were wounded in over 401 Taliban attacks.
The council has not reported that how many civilians were killed and wounded as a result of government forces operations.
“Violence has not decreased,” said Javid Faisal, the council’s spokesman.
“Peace requires commitment and will, which aren’t visible in the actions of the Taliban.”
The UN mission in Afghanistan has called for a ceasefire for the upcoming Eid celebration and urged warring sides to “lower levels of violence.”
Updated
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House in the US, has tweeted this video on Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
At every turn, President Trump has made matters worse for our country as we seek to fight the coronavirus. Instead of denying facts and trying to rush our children back to school before it is safe, he should be supporting the policies found in the #HeroesAct. @FaceTheNation pic.twitter.com/sXSqCpFjje
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 26, 2020
Updated
A look at the impact the pandemic is having on the economy in Australia.
Texas governor Greg Abbott on the battle to contain the virus.
Great job Galveston to slow the spread of COVID.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 26, 2020
You did it by wearing masks, reducing the size of gatherings, staying home when possible & good distancing practices.
COVID can’t spread if you don’t give it a chance to transmit.
Don’t let it return.
Keep crushing it. pic.twitter.com/ybZMgEXlxC
The Guardian’s technology writers around the world discuss the impact of the pandemic on the industry.
Lang Holland, the chief of police in tiny Marshall, Arkansas, believes the threat of the coronavirus has been overstated and only wears a face mask if he is inside a business that requires them.
He does not make his officers wear them either. So the day after Republican governor Asa Hutchinson signed an order requiring masks to be worn in public throughout Arkansas, Holland made it clear his department was not going to enforce the mandate in the Ozarks town of about 1,300, calling it an unconstitutional overreach.
“All I’m saying is if you want to wear a mask, you have the freedom to choose that,” said Holland. “It should not be dictated by the nanny state.”
Holland is among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas and elsewhere who say they will not enforce state-wide mask requirements even within their departments.
The pushback is concerning to health officials, who say a lack of enforcement could undermine what they say is a much-needed and simple step that can be taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“If people undermine that mandate, they undermine the public health benefits of masking in the setting of this pandemic, and that just doesnt make any sense to me,” said Dr Cam Patterson, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who had called for a statewide requirement.
More than half the states have issued orders to wear masks in most public settings, with virus cases and hospitalisations on the rise. Polling shows overwhelming public support for such requirements, and even President Donald Trump, who had long been dismissive of wearing masks, last week said it was patriotic to wear one.
Some reaction from British holidaymakers who have been in Spain.
One man from Liverpool who flew back to the UK today said a region-specific approach should have been adopted with the Spanish quarantine measures.
James Sloan, 34, said his family-of-five had been on holiday in Mojacar, more than 400 miles from the nearest Covid-19 outbreak in Barcelona.
He told the PA news agency: “When we flew out to Spain 10 days ago from Manchester there was an outbreak in Leicester, 100 miles away, but that wasn’t seen to be a problem.
“So why is it a problem when our nearest outbreak was 400 miles away from us in Spain?”
His wife works as a self-employed doctor and he said she will lose two weeks’ work while they quarantine. He is hoping to be able to work from home.
He said: “We knew the risk and we aren’t asking for sympathy, but if they are going to keep doing this, they need to think about a different approach because it is going to have a massive effect on people.”
Liz Samandi, 52, a business owner from Leicestershire is due to return from a family break in Majorca on Thursday.
She said it was “frustrating” that people already abroad had been given “no choice” in relation to the new rules.
“I just feel a bit angry as well actually that they’ve done this and not considered the people that are already here,” she added.
The health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Dr. Jesus Grajeda, has died nearly two weeks after being hospitalised with Covid-19.
“I have no words to express all my feelings in this moment, except for profound sadness,” Chihuahua governor Javier Corral wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning, adding that Grajeda had died of heart failure.
With more than 385,000 confirmed cases and nearly 43,500 deaths as of Saturday, Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest death toll from coronavirus.
Latin America is the region most impacted by the pandemic.
The UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps, who is currently in Spain, will have to self-isolate for 14 days upon his return.
Following the unexpectedly rapid rise in Spain's #coronavirus cases, I held a video call with UK airlines + our Ambassador @HughElliottUK today in order to ensure close coordination to help UK nationals return from Spain. We will all need to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) July 26, 2020
Some 500 workers are in quarantine on a large Bavarian farm to contain a mass coronavirus outbreak, German officials said, as they announced free Covid-19 tests for local residents.
A total of 174 seasonal workers have tested positive for the virus since Friday, Werner Bumeder, the district administrator of Dingolfing-Landau, told a press conference.
Most of the seasonal employees come from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, he said, and had been working in close proximity harvesting cucumbers at the farm in the municipality of Mamming.
He stressed the cluster appeared to be limited to “a closed group of people” and had not yet spread to the wider population.
The farm’s 480 employees and managers are all in lockdown on-site, with those who have tested negative staying in separate accommodation from those known to be infected.
The farm itself has been closed off from the outside world with a security team monitoring the quarantine.
Bumeder said the outbreak showed that the farm “did not consistently implement” hygiene regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly virus.
One of the infected employees had to be hospitalised.
Bavarian Health Minister Melanie Huml said authorities were taking the outbreak “very seriously” and were racing to track down anyone who came into contact with the workers.
She said health officials would soon begin mass testing at other agricultural businesses in the region.
The UK has removed Spain from its list of safe countries to travel to after fears were raised that the European country was experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections.
It means those returning from the country will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return to the UK.
- When will holidaymakers have to self-isolate?
The measure came into effect from midnight on Saturday, meaning that from Sunday all returning travellers will have to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
It applies to people returning to any of the four nations of the UK - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Why is it being brought in now?
The Government said the move follows a “significant change” over the last week in both the level and pace of change in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Spain. The country has reported more than 900 new daily infections for the past two days.
- What should people do if they are already in Spain?
People currently on holiday in Spain have been encouraged to follow the local rules, return home as normal and check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) travel advice pages on gov.uk for further information. The FCO is not advising those already travelling in Spain to leave. Abta - the UK’s travel trade association - has advised customers in the country to continue their holidays and return as normal.
- What should holidaymakers do if they have a trip to Spain booked?
The FCO is advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain. Holiday operator Tui has said it will cancel all planned holidays to Spain in response to the announcement and customers will be contacted to discuss options. Abta has advised customers due to travel to the country imminently to contact their travel provider. Meanwhile, airline easyJet said it planned to operate its full schedule in the coming days.
- Does the quarantine apply if the holidaymaker has been to a Spanish island?
Quarantine measures will apply to those returning from mainland Spain, the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa) and the Balearic Islands, such as Majorca and Ibiza, the Department for Transport confirmed.
- What will happen with travel insurance?
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said it is “likely” that travel insurance will remain in place for holidaymakers already in Spain until they return home. However, those attempting to travel to countries against FCO advice would invalidate their travel insurance.
- What about employers whose employees have to go into quarantine?
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said no worker following quarantine guidance should be penalised by employers, including by being put onto sick pay. He said that if someone is following the law in relation to quarantine and self-isolating, “they can’t have penalties taken against them”.
Moderna Inc, an American biotechnology company, said on Sunday it has received an additional $472 million from the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support development of a coronavirus vaccine.
The firm said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 study of Moderna’s vaccine candidate.
Afternoon summary
- Spain’s Covid-19 death toll could be 60% higher than the official figure. An investigation by Spanish newspaper El País, in which reporters counted regional statistics of suspected, as well as confirmed fatalities, reached a total of 44,868 deaths.
- Spain are in talks with the UK about exempting the Canary and Balearic islands from strict quarantine rules. From midnight on Sunday, travellers returning from Spain to the UK have been forced to quarantine for 14 days, following a surge of cases in the country. The Spanish foreign minister said conversations between the countries were focussed on excluding the islands, which have seen far fewer Covid-19 infections and deaths, from the measures.
- Vietnam has reintroduced social distancing measures in the city of Danang. The rules, reimposed by the government, follow the detection of four new locally-transmitted coronavirus cases in the country, after three months of no new infections.
- North Korea has declared a state of emergency in a border town over a suspected coronavirus case. State news agency KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un also imposed a lockdown in Kaesong after a person who illegally crossed the border from South Korea displayed symptoms of the virus.
- India’s prime minister has warned citizens to be “extra vigilant” towards the ongoing threat of Covid-19. Narendra Modi’s comments come after the country recorded more than 48,000 cases in 24 hours. India’s total coronavirus caseload now stands at 1.4 million, while more than 30,000 people have died after contracting the disease.
The UK’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has doubled down on the government’s sudden decision to reimpose strict quarantine rules at short notice on travellers returning from Spain, calling the measures “absolutely necessary”.
But Spain said it was in conversation with the UK about exempting the Canary and Balearic islands, which includes Ibiza and Mallorca, from the requirement to self-isolate for two weeks.
Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya argued the country had coronavirus outbreaks “perfectly controlled” after it recorded more than 900 fresh daily Covid-19 cases for two days running.
On Saturday, the UK announced that holidaymakers who had not returned from Spain and its islands by midnight would be forced to quarantine for 14 days after Covid-19 second wave fears saw the popular holiday destination struck off the safe list.
The Foreign Office guidance advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain does not include the islands but ministers opted to apply blanket quarantine arrangements across the Spanish territories.
Gonzalez Laya told reporters:
Spain is a safe country for tourists and Spaniards.
“Like in any other European country we are seeing outbreaks - the outbreaks in Spain are perfectly controlled.
“At the moment our dialogue efforts are focused on excluding from the quarantine measures the Balearic and the Canary Islands.”
Updated
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has warned citizens to be “extra vigilant” towards the persisting threat of Covid-19.
Infections have risen rapidly across the world’s second most populous country, with more than 48,000 cases recorded in the last 24 hours.
So far, India’s total coronavirus caseload is 1.4 million, while more than 30,000 people have died after contracting the disease.
On Sunday, the government said 36,145 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, marking a record number of single-day recoveries. However, at the same time a record number of tests in a single day – more than 440,000 – were conducted.
During his monthly radio broadcast to the nation, Modi told citizens it was important to practice social distancing and wear face coverings to curb the spread of the virus. He said:
The danger of corona is far from being over. At many places, it is spreading fast. We need to be extra vigilant.”
In recent weeks, coronavirus infections have spread further into India’s countryside and smaller towns.
Spain's Covid-19 death toll could be 60% higher than official figure
Spain’s coronavirus death toll could be nearly 60% than the official total of 28,342, an investigation by Spanish daily newspaper El País has found.
The country’s official death toll includes people who were formally diagnosed with coronavirus, not suspected cases who were never tested.
A lack of widespread testing, particularly in the early stages of the outbreak, means the official count could underestimate the virus’ toll, like in many other countries.
By counting regional statistics of all suspected and confirmed fatalities from the virus, El Pais reached a total of 44,868 deaths. If accurate, that would make Spain’s outbreak the second deadliest in Europe after the UK.
Spain’s health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The El País figure is roughly in line with figures from the National Epidemiology Centre and National Statistics Centre (INE), which register excess mortality by comparing deaths across the country with historical averages.
In June, the INE reported 43,945 more deaths in the first 21 weeks of 2020 than in the same period of 2019, though it could not say how many could be attributed to the pandemic.
Updated
The Spanish government is focused on convincing Britain to exclude the Balearic and Canary islands from a 14-day quarantine it abruptly imposed on all travellers returning from Spain, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Sunday.
“Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists,” Gonzalez Laya told reporters.
She added that her government would take measures regarding other countries if needed, based on epidemilogic data, but that there would be no tit-for-tat retaliation taking place.
Spain insists epidemic is under control
Spain’s foreign ministry has insisted the coronavirus epidemic is under control, after the British government imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travellers returning from the country in response to a surge in new cases there.
Hospitals are coping well with the increase in infections and more than half of new cases are asymptomatic, the ministry said, adding that outbreaks in Catalonia and Aragon should soon be brought under control.
Updated
Vietnam has reported two more locally-transmitted cases of Covid-19, bringing the number of infections in the country to 420.
The country has not reported any coronavirus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
The new cases, reported on Sunday, were in the central province of Quang Ngai and in Danang city, the government said in the city.
Social distancing measures were reimposed in Danang on Sunday following the detection of two other locally-transmitted coronavirus cases in the city.
The social distancing measures would come into force until further notice, the government said on its website.
Danang will stop receiving inbound tourists for 14 days and all religious, sports and cultural events will be suspended.
Updated
In Latin America, a tsunami of fake news – including quack cures and conspiracies – on social media networks is harming efforts to fight Covid-19.
Although the virus has claimed more than 160,000 lives in the region, a new battle against online disinformation designed to bamboozle and deceive has emerged.
The misinformation streaming through millions of Latin American mobile phones and computers ranges from the bizarre to the ridiculous.
In recent weeks, there have been claims that Brazilian coffins were being filled with rocks to inflate the country’s Covid-19 death toll; that drones were being used to deliberately contaminate indigenous communities in Mexico; that the CIA was helping spread the coronavirus in Argentina; that seafood in northern Peru was not safe to eat because the corpses of Covid-19 victims were being dumped in the Pacific Ocean; and even that the World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had been spotted boogying and boozing at a bar on the São Paulo coast.
You can read the full, fact-based report from my colleagues in Latin America here:
The British government’s decision to pull Spain from the list of safe countries and require returning holidaymakers to self-isolate for a fortnight will come as a heavy blow to Spain’s lucrative and vital tourist sector.
The country, which relies on tourism for 12% of its GDP, was already expecting a bleak post-Covid summer, report Sam Jones and Stephen Burgen.
But the UK decision – combined with the French government’s advice against travelling to Catalonia, and Norway’s reimposition of a 10-day quarantine requirement for people arriving from Spain – is likely to torpedo Spain’s faltering tourist recovery.
Belgium has also banned non-essential travel to the north-eastern areas of Huesca and Lleida, and recommended against travel to a number of other Spanish areas.
You can read the full report here:
Hurricane Hanna battered the south Texas coast into the early hours of Sunday, leaving a large area already badly hit by the coronavirus crisis bracing for torrential downpours and potential flash floods.
The category 1 hurricane came ashore on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon, and later made a second landfall in Eastern Kennedy County, Texas.
Weakening as it headed west over land, Hanna was a tropical storm by Sunday morning, with its centre about 40 miles (65 km) from Mcallen, Texas and about 65 miles (105 km) from Monterrey, Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The hurricane’s top sustained winds were around 60 miles per hour. Although the NHC cancelled the storm surge warning it had issued for the Texas coast, it said said Hanna could dump upward of 18 inches of rain in the area through Monday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said during a Saturday briefing that the storm was especially challenging as it was sweeping through an area of the state that has been the worst hit by the coronavirus.
He issued a disaster declaration for 32 counties in Texas that were in the storm’s path.
The Texas area struck by Hanna has struggled to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Cases along the state’s coast have soared into the tens of thousands.
More than 400 people in Corpus Christi were hospitalised with the illness on Friday, according to city data.
TUI, Europe’s biggest holiday company, has said it will cancel all holidays to mainland Spain up to and including Sunday 9 August following Britain’s decision to impose a quarantine on those returning from the country.
In a statement published on Sunday, it said:
TUI UK have taken the decision to cancel all holidays to mainland Spain up to and including Sunday 9th August 2020.”
“We know how much our customers look forward to their holiday abroad and some will be able to accommodate the new quarantine restrictions. Therefore all those that wish to travel to the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands will be able to travel as planned from Monday 27th July.”
Updated
Indonesia reported 1,492 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the country’s total caseload to 98,778, data from the Health Ministry website showed.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths in Indonesia rose by 67, bringing the total to 4,781.
Anger from British tourists returning from Spain to new two-week quarantine
British tourists flying home on Sunday from holidays in Spain reacted angrily to the UK government’s abrupt decision to impose a two-week coronavirus quarantine on everyone travelling from there.
The move to take Spain off a safe-travel list was announced late on Saturday and took effect from midnight (2300 GMT on Saturday), leaving travellers with no time to dodge it or plan ahead.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was slammed for its handling of the measure, taken as Spain sees a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“I can understand why the government have made this decision ... but of course the way in which this decision has been made in the last 24 hours is frankly shambolic,” said the Labour Party’s health policy chief, Jonathan Ashworth, speaking to Sky News.
At Madrid’s Barajas airport Emily Harrison, from Essex, was taking a flight to London and faced the prospect of having to self-isolate for two weeks.
“We had a wedding to go to and we had plans to visit friends and family who we haven’t seen in a very long time and now we are going to have to cancel all those plans, so it’s really quiet upsetting,” she told Reuters.
Spain has seen cases rise in the last few weeks, prompting most regions to impose rules for masks to be worn everywhere and, in several areas including Barcelona, calls for people to stay at home.
“We’re quite frustrated by it to be honest, because it actually feels safer in Spain,” said British tourist Carolyne Lansell, who was flying to Ibiza from Madrid for a 10-day holiday before going home.
A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Saturday evening that Spain “respects decisions of the United Kingdom” and was in touch with the authorities there.
Updated
New South Wales’ Ministry of Health has put out an alert to the public following new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia.
On Sunday, the country recorded 10 new deaths from the virus, its highest ever daily tally. They occurred in the state of Victoria, which also recorded 459 new Covid-19 cases.
New South Wales reported 14 new cases, bringing its total cases to 3,279.
In the public warning, NSW Health directed anyone who attended the Thai Rock Restaurant at Potts Point for two hours or more between Wednesday 15 July and Saturday 25 July to be immediately tested for coronavirus and to self-isolate for 14 days since they were last there, regardless of symptoms. It added:
This new advice follows investigation into a case announced last week who had reported attending Thai Rock Potts Point on Friday, 17 July.
“A staff member at the restaurant has now tested positive, and the venue has been closed for cleaning. Investigations into the source of the infection and contact tracing are under way.
“The Thai Rock Potts Point has the same owners as Thai Rock Wetherill Park, which has now been linked to 67 cases of COVID, but investigations to date have not identified links between cases at the two sites.”
Additionally, people who attended AN Restaurant in Bankstown on 23 July, and Tan Viet Noodle House in Cabramatta on 22 July, were asked to monitor for symptoms after a couple tested positive for the virus after visiting the venues.
Russia reported 5,765 new coronavirus cases and 77 more related deaths on Sunday, a steep decline from the 146 deaths reported a day earlier.
The nationwide tally of infections has risen to 812,485, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said.
The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 13,269 and 600,250 people have recovered.
Following the UK’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain, newspaper El País has noted that the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Britain are “much higher” than in Spain.
In an article published on Saturday night, Spain’s second most read daily said: “The British numbers of contagions and deaths from coronavirus continue to be much higher than the Spanish ones, but the harsh attacks received by [prime minister Boris] Johnson for his handling of the crisis have led the government to tighten controls and delay part of the de-escalation in the country.
“Downing Street has not vowed to cover the expense of all those unable to return to work when they return to the UK, and has limited itself to asking companies to be sympathetic to their employees in the new situation.”
The UK government’s decision means those coming back from Spain will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return. The move, a blow to the government’s travel corridor scheme, followed a dramatic increase in the virus in Spain where nearly 1,000 infections have been reported in the past two days.
In a twist, Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport secretary who has been instrumental in drawing up the air corridor plans, was understood to be already holidaying in Spain, or to be in the process of travelling there.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UK has reported 300,270 cases of Covid-19 and 45,823 deaths, while Spain has reported 272,421 cases and 28,432 deaths according to John Hopkins University.
On Friday, Spanish deputy emergency health director, Maria Jose Sierra, said the increase in cases in the country “could be a second wave”.
Vietnam reintroduces social distancing measures in Danang
Vietnam has reintroduced social distancing measures in the city of Danang after a second locally-transmitted Covid-19 case was detected there, more than three months after any infections were reported in the country.
Vietnam is back on high alert after the government confirmed its first community infection since April on Saturday, and another case on Sunday, both in tourist hotspot Danang.
Authorities are yet to announce details on how the infections were contracted and if they are believed to be linked.
In a statement on its website the government said social distancing measures would come into force in the city until further notice.
Danang will stop receiving inbound tourists for 14 days, while all religious, sports and cultural events have been suspended.
Wearing masks in public places in the city is now compulsory and gatherings of more than 30 people at public places were banned, the government said.
The total of cases in the country so far is 418, with no deaths. The impressively low figures are believed to be because of its strict quarantine measures and widespread testing programme.
Updated
More than 550 elderly care residents and staff have been infected with coronavirus in the Australian state of Victoria, as authorities dismiss calls for all those who test positive to be transferred to hospital.
Victoria recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic on Sunday, with seven of its 10 deaths linked to outbreaks at aged care facilities. The deaths take the state’s toll from the virus to 71 and the national figure to 155.
There are currently 560 active COVID-19 cases linked to residents and staff of at least 40 homes across the state, including 82 cases at Estia Health in Ardeer and 78 at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner.
The crisis prompted the federal and state governments to set up a response centre to coordinate efforts to curb the virus spread on Saturday.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said all agencies needed to work together to bring things under control as quickly as possible.
“This is a challenge that we all need to work together to meet quickly for the safety of those who are vulnerable and dependent on care within aged care facilities in Victoria,” he told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.
Dr Coatsworth dismissed calls by community groups and aged care providers to transfer all COVID-19-positive residents to hospital.
He said decisions needed to be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the resident’s medical needs and clinical advice.
“Every single outbreak is different in regards to COVID-19. It affects different facilities in different sorts of ways when we’re talking about aged care,” he said.
Updated
North Korea declares emergency in town over suspected Covid-19 case
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared an emergency and a lockdown in a border town after a person suspected of having Covid-19 illegally crossed the border from South Korea.
State media confirmed it would be the first case to be officially acknowledged by North Korean authorities.
An emergency politburo meeting was convened in response to what Kim called a “critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country”, the North’s KCNA state news reported.
A person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border that divides the two Koreas to the town of Kaesong this month with coronavirus symptoms, the disease caused by the virus, according to KCNA.
“An emergency event happened in Kaesong City where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line,” KCNA said.
KCNA did not say if the person had been tested, but said an “uncertain result was made from several medical check-ups of the secretion of that person’s upper respiratory organ and blood”, prompting officials to quarantine the person and investigate anyone he may have been in contact with.
I’m Amy Walker, taking over the global coronavirus blog for the next few hours.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, on a particularly troubling day. There are now 16 million known coronavirus cases worldwide, after infections increased by over 280,000 every 24 hours for three days in a row:
Over 280k cases per day for three days in a row, according to Johns Hopkins. A quarter of those in the US alone. We're headed for two million new cases being added each week. pic.twitter.com/x53XvosnLY
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) July 26, 2020
Roughly one in four of these daily new cases (and of the global total) is in the US, where a Texas hospital has been forced to establish a “death panel” – to decide which patients it can save and which ones will be sent home to die:
It has been a startling week for those following Britain’s response to the pandemic. Roundly derided for the lateness of its lockdown and its bungled testing programmes, the UK was the unexpected recipient of a sudden bout of lavish praise for its scientists’ efforts to combat the disease.
“The Brits are on course to save the world,” wrote leading US economist Tyler Cowen in Bloomberg Opinion, while the journal Science quoted leading international scientists who have heaped praise on British researchers’ anti-Covid work.
And the prime target for these plaudits has been the UK’s Recovery trial, a drug-testing programme that has involved input from more than 3,000 doctors and nurses working with 12,000 Covid-19 patients in 176 hospitals across the nation – from the Western Isles to Truro and from Derry to King’s Lynn.
These trials were carried out in intensive care units crammed with the seriously ill, patients whose numbers were boosted to high levels because of the UK’s late pandemic lockdown. The results have nevertheless changed Covid-19 clinical practice across the planet:
Updated
‘It’s a ghost town’: tourism crisis hits British cities from Edinburgh to Bath
Like other British cities which usually attract high numbers of international tourists throughout the summer, Edinburgh is quiet, and businesses are suffering. August’s festival had already been cancelled when news came last week that December’s Hogmanay party will not go ahead as usual.
The city attracted 2.2 million overnight visits by overseas tourists in 2019, making it second only to London as a destination for travellers to the UK. But coronavirus has created an unprecedented tourism crisis:
Texas hospital forced to set up 'death panel' as Covid-19 cases surge
A surge in coronavirus cases in rural Texas has forced one hospital to set up “death panels” to decide which patients it can save and which ones will be sent home to die.
Doctors at Starr County Memorial Hospital, the only hospital in Starr County, have been issued with critical care guidelines to decide which Covid-19 patients it will treat and which ones will be sent home because they are likely to die. The committee is being formed to alleviate the hospital’s limited medical resources so doctors can focus on patients with higher survival rates:
21 workers at ArcelorMittal steel plant in Mexico die from Covid-19
Twenty-one workers at a steel plant owned by ArcelorMittal in the Mexican port city of Lazaro Cardenas have died from Covid-19, the steelworkers’ trade union said Saturday.
Reuters reports that the dead include employees, contractors and suppliers to the plant, said Carlos Solorio, secretary general of the local branch of the national mining and metallurgical workers’ union.
“Everyone was working for the company,” Solorio told Reuters. Nine of the deceased were union members, he added.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, was not immediately available for comment on the report of the deaths, which were initially made public in a video posted on social media by the union’s president, Senator Napoleon Gomez.
Solorio said the 21 deaths had occurred since April, and that the workers likely contracted the virus outside the plant, given the strict sanitary protocols adopted by the firm. The plant employs more than 7,000 people, according to the union.
ArcelorMittal has said it has made substantial donations to help tackle the virus in Lazaro Cardenas, a major port on the Pacific coast.
With over 385,000 confirmed cases and nearly 43,500 deaths as of Saturday, Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest death toll from coronavirus. Lazaro Cardenas has registered 2,651 cases and 139 deaths to date, official data showed.
Australia’s not-for-profit early childcare education sector is struggling to pay up to $9,000 for deep cleaning each time a Covid-19 case is identified, while federal government transition payments may not be enough to keep the sector afloat as parents pull their children out of the system:
Summary
Here are the key global developments from the last few hours:
- Global coronavirus cases passed 16m. There are now more than 16 million known coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and 644,528 recorded deaths.There are currently 16,046,986 confirmed cases. On Saturday the World Health Organisation warned that cases have been growing at around 1m per week for the last few weeks. Looking at the Johns Hopkins tracker, this looks set to change, as the last three days have seen more than 280,000 cases confirmed worldwide per day – if Covid-19 continues to grow at this rate, cases will increase by 2 million per week.
- Costa Rica reported a record cases and deaths. Costa Rica’s Health Ministry reported a record 931 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths on Saturday, both single-day highs for the small Central American nation where 72% of all its confirmed cases have been registered since the beginning of this month.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday after a person suspected of having Covid-19 returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border.
- The UK government has advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, and confirmed that all people arriving from Spain from Sunday will have to self-isolate for two weeks.
- Florida became the US state with second-highest number of infections on Saturday, leaving it second to only California, the state with the highest population.
- Brazil registered an additional 1,211 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, as well as a further 51,147 confirmed infections.
- The number of people in Israel who have tested positive for coronavirus topped 60,000 on Saturday, as thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday in Jerusalem and other cities demanding prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation.
- South Africa’s trade minister Ebrahim Patel on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19, the cabinet said, the fourth minister to contract the virus in Africa’s hardest-hit country.
- The governor of Lombardy, Italy’s hardest-hit region in the pandemic, acknowledged that he is being investigated by Milan prosecutors over a lucrative contract to obtain protective medical gowns from his brother-in-law’s company, but denied any wrongdoing.
- In Yemen, the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating what was already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a charity has warned. An already weak health system has been destroyed by five years of conflict and 80% of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance.
- Covid-19 hospitalisations in New York are at the lowest level since the pandemic began, as the state reported 10 further coronavirus deaths during the past 24 hours.
In Australia:
- Victoria recorded 459 new coronavirus cases and a national one-day record of 10 deaths. There have were 459 new cases in Victoria, bringing the total to 8181 cases. 10 people died overnight, a national record number of deaths , bringing the Victorian total to 71.
-
New South Wales reported 14 new cases, bringing the total cases to 3279. There are 99 cases being treated currently, with four in intensive care. Six of the new cases are linked to the Thai Rock restaurant cluster, two of these are also linked Our Lady of Lebanon church; three are returned travellers; and one is under investigation. Four of the new cases attended a funeral and related church services.
- The New South Wales supreme court has ruled in favour of police, effectively banning a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Tuesday in Sydney – but activists say the rally will go ahead.The court on Sunday sided with police and dubbed the event a prohibited public assembly, opening up demonstrators to arrest and fines for breaching coronavirus restrictions on mass gatherings.But seconds after Justice Mark Ierace announced his orders, a lawyer for the rally organiser Paddy Gibson asked they be temporarily suspended to allow for an appeal to be lodged with the court of appeal.
- The Australian treasurer is ‘favourably disposed’ to extending payment for jobseekers. Josh Frydenberg has defended the phased withdrawal of wage subsidies and lower rates of jobkeeper for part-time workers after Treasury cautioned against the move and the Greens released an analysis showing it will hit women hardest.
- Western Australia has committed AU$5.5bn to economic recovery plan, including $2.7bn in new spending. A further $2.7bn will be spent by the McGowan government on rescuing jobs and repairing damage to the West Australian economy from the coronavirus pandemic.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has labelled Clive Palmer a menace after he suggested the coronavirus pandemic was a media “beat-up”, AAP reports.
The billionaire mining magnate will front the Federal Court on Monday to challenge WA’s interstate border restrictions. Evidence on whether the closures are constitutional is also being given by the Commonwealth, which argues WA should reopen.
A three-day trial will be heard in the Federal Court ahead of the matter returning to the High Court. Mr Palmer has told the Sunday Times the crisis is a “beat-up” and the risk to most people is negligible, attributing most of the deaths to co-morbidities.
The premier on Sunday hit back at Mr Palmer, labelling him selfish and irresponsible and urging the federal government to withdraw its involvement in the court matter.
“He’s a menace to Australia,” Mr McGowan said.
“And I’d just say to the Liberal Party, don’t support him in the High Court - it’s wrong.
“It’s irresponsible and it’s playing with people’s lives. Mr Palmer and the Liberal Party should back off from the High Court action.”
Mr McGowan said he was confident the state’s legal position was strong, adding that reopening the borders could have a dire health impact.
Updated
Do you have questions, suggestions or news from your part of the world (that we haven’t mentioned in the blog)? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Trump can’t shift public attention from cornavirus to the streets of America
Donald Trump has said he has “no responsibility” for the coronavirus pandemic, fobbing it off on governors and mayors whose repeated requests for federal help he’s denied. Yet he’s now sending federal troops into cities he says are controlled by the “radical left”, whose mayors and governors don’t want them there.
New testing shortages hit California’s vulnerable hardest amid record Covid-19 infectionsRead more
The president wants to shift public attention from the virus, which he can’t “dominate”, to the streets of America, which he and his secret police can.
It’s an especially cynical re-election strategy because coronavirus deaths are rising again. More Americans are on track to be hospitalized with the virus than at any other point. Rates of new infections repeatedly shatter single-day records. As a result, the US economy is backsliding:
Global coronavirus cases pass 16m
There are now more than 16 million known coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and 644,528 recorded deaths.
There are currently 16,046,986 confirmed cases.
Here are the ten countries with the highest numbers of cases:
- US: 4,178,021
- Brazil: 2,394,513
- India: 1,385,635
- Russia: 805,332
- South Africa: 434,200
- Mexico: 385,036
- Peru: 375,961
- Chile: 343,592
- United Kingdom: 300,270
- Iran: 288,839
On Saturday the World Health Organisation warned that cases have been growing at around 1m per week for the last few weeks.
Looking at the Johns Hopkins tracker, this looks set to change, as the last three days have seen more than 280,000 cases confirmed worldwide per day – if Covid-19 continues to grow at this rate, cases will increase by 2 million per week:
In Australia, National party MP Barnaby Joyce has declined to criticise the University of New England over its handling of job cuts in his electorate and sided with education minister, Dan Tehan, over regional universities’ concerns with aspects of higher education reforms.
The member for New England told Guardian Australia regional universities stand to gain a “much better funding stream” under the proposed changes and backed UNE vice-chancellor, Brigid Heywood, to “do her job” by identifying savings, and promised not to tell her what to do.
On Wednesday UNE announced a plan to cut annual costs by $20m, with staff costs to be cut by about 12% and possibly as high as 15% – prompting concerns that up to 210 of the university’s 1,400 staff could lose their jobs.
Universities including Monash and the University of New South Wales have already announced job cuts triggered by a total projected $16bn loss of revenue in the university sector due to Covid-19:
Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan says the plan will further stimulate job creation following the removal of most Covid-19 restrictions within the state. About 120,000 jobs are estimated to have been lost in WA since March, AAP reports.
“We estimate that from the reopening of the economy within Western Australia, there’s around 60,000 jobs contained within that,” the premier told reporters.
“We expect this plan will deliver many thousands of jobs on top of that.
“We’re rushing as fast as we can to get as many projects out the door, as much activity underway as soon as possible.”
An AU$66m renewable energy package will fund regional solar power systems, battery energy storage packs and infrastructure upgrades in remote Aboriginal communities. The government has also earmarked $60m for “shovel-ready” maintenance work at police and fire stations.
Treasurer Ben Wyatt last December forecast a $2.6bn budget surplus for the 2019-20 financial year. But while the iron ore price has tracked above expectations, other revenue sources have been significantly eroded. The state budget will be handed down the same week as the federal budget in October.
“Our focus is jobs activity and confidence,” Mr McGowan said. “Debt and deficits and surpluses come second.
“People do talk about the iron ore price and obviously that’s a help. But clearly our GST revenue, our payroll tax revenue, land tax and stamp duty have all gone through the floor.”
Updated
Western Australia commits AU$5.5bn to economic recovery plan
Back in Australia, the state of Western Australia has committed a total of AU$5.5bn (US$3.9bn) to its coronavirus economic recovery plan, including $2.7bn in new spending, AAP reports.
A further $2.7bn will be spent by the McGowan government on rescuing jobs and repairing damage to the West Australian economy from the coronavirus pandemic.
The recovery plan, unveiled on Sunday, identifies 21 priority areas but outlines only two new initiatives, with others to be rolled out in coming weeks. It adds to almost $2.8bn in stimulus measures already announced since the start of the pandemic.
WA recorded two new coronavirus cases on Sunday. Both are returned overseas travellers who are in hotel quarantine.
Costa Rica reports record cases and deaths
Costa Rica’s Health Ministry reported a record 931 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths on Saturday, both single-day highs for the small Central American nation where 72% of all its confirmed cases have been registered since the beginning of this month, Reuters reports.
In total, Costa Rican authorities have reported 14,600 cases and 98 deaths in the country of 5 million people.
Despite the increase in cases, hotels are operational and the government has announced European, British, and Canadian tourists will be allowed to enter the country beginning 1 August, Costa Rica reports.
A bit more on the UK requiring travellers from Spain – including the UK transport minister – to self-isolate:
Passengers arriving from Spain will have to self-isolate for two weeks, the UK government has said, in a move that has reportedly caught out its transport minister who is holidaying in the country, AFP reports.
From Sunday, Britons returning from the popular destination must self-isolate, following a surge in coronavirus cases there, a UK government spokesman said Saturday.
The snap move is a blow to Britons seeking some Mediterranean sun after months of lockdown at home - including Transport Minister Grant Shapps, according to the Sunday Times and other media reports.
Shapps had to phone in from Spain to the “crisis meeting” of ministers that removed it from the list of countries exempted from self-quarantine, the newspaper said, sparking ridicule online and further criticism of the government’s response to Covid-19.
“Various government ministers would have known in advance there was a possibility of imposing a quarantine on holidaymakers returning from Spain,” tweeted Labour MP Diane Abbot. “But apparently no-one bothered to tell @grantshapps.”
Various government ministers would have known in advance there was a possibility of imposing a quarantine on holidaymakers returning from Spain. But apparently no-one bothered to tell @grantshapps #coronavirus https://t.co/s9hv4tq4RZ
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) July 25, 2020
Spain, one of the most popular summer destinations for Britons, has reported a rise in new infections barely a month after it ended its months-long state of emergency. Health officials are increasingly pointing to nightlife as fertile ground for the spread of the virus.
The UK move comes as Spain’s tourism industry desperately seeks a rebound after the virus and lockdown pushed around 13 percent of bars, hotels and restaurants to permanently close.
Britain is advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, but that does not apply to the Canary Islands or the Balearic Islands.
Spain has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic which has so far claimed more than 28,000 lives there and infected more than 272,000 people.
Here is the full story on the New South Wales Supreme court ruling in favour of police, effectively banning a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Tuesday in Sydney. Activists say the rally will go ahead.
The court on Sunday sided with police and dubbed the event a prohibited public assembly, opening up demonstrators to arrest and fines for breaching coronavirus restrictions on mass gatherings.
But seconds after Justice Mark Ierace announced his orders, a lawyer for the rally organiser Paddy Gibson asked they be temporarily suspended to allow for an appeal to be lodged with the court of appeal.
The court was told on Friday Gibson had threatened to take the matter all the way to the high court:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 305 to 205,269, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll was unchanged with 9,118, the tally showed.
Australia’s shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, reckons Treasurer Josh Frydenberg admitting he draws his inspiration from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan will send a “shudder down the spine” of every Australian worker, AAP reports.
“Thatcher and Reagan are figures of hate for the left because they were so successful,” Frydenberg told ABC television’s Insiders program on Sunday.
“Josh Frydenberg thinks the solution to this job crisis is to double down on trickle-down economics and even more job insecurity,” Chalmers, the shadow treasurer told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday in response to the statement.
Josh Frydenberg drawing inspiration on industrial relations from Margaret Thatcher should send a shudder down the spine of every Australian worker #auspol pic.twitter.com/26pZSBLsKz
— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) July 26, 2020
Former Republican US President Ronald Reagan is renowned for supporting “trickle-down economics” or “Reaganomics”, where large tax cuts, for example, trickle down through the economy.
Former Conservative UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher also took a tough stance on trade unions, reducing the number of days lost to industrial disputes from 30 million down to two million, according to Mr Frydenberg.
He believes they both dealt successfully with the challenges of the 1970s and 1980s.
.@JoshFrydenberg on taking inspiration from Thatcher and Reagan:
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) July 26, 2020
"Thatcher and Reagan are figures of hate for the left because they were so successful. One got two terms, which was the maximum that you can get in the US. Margaret Thatcher got 11.5 years." #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/BNBTRd9Cid
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese was unimpressed.
“Josh Frydenberg confirms his inspiration for the economic recovery is Thatcher and Reagan which resulted in a massive increase in inequality and reduction in public services #GoodGrief,” he tweeted.
On @InsidersABC Josh Frydenberg confirms his inspiration for the economic recovery is Thatcher and Reagan which resulted in a massive increase in inequality and reduction in public services #GoodGrief
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 25, 2020
Updated
Here is the full story Australia’s deadliest day in the pandemic so far.
A national record of 10 Covid-19 deaths was reported in Victoria on Sunday, including a man aged in his 40s, with seven of those deaths linked to aged care.
The premier, Daniel Andrews, also announced that 459 more cases of the virus had been identified since Saturday, and acknowledged the toll the virus was having among healthcare workers who were being infected or furloughed after being exposed.
There are now 381 healthcare workers with active cases of the virus, the premier said:
David Dungay Jr’s nephew Paul Silva told Guardian Australia the rally will go ahead, regardless of today’s decision.
“Our family is going to take to the streets to demand justice,” Silva said.
“The only way that’s going to stop this protest is if the Premier calls SAfe Work New South Wales and calls the department of public prosecutions to undertake an investigation. Otherwise, we’ll continue to take to the streets, whether it be with 40 people, or 40,000 people.
“Our family is determined to get justice for David Dungay Jr. and demand systematic change for the First Nations people here in Australia.
“The Australian Government, New South Wales courts and New South Wales police should be very grateful that we’re not looting and rioting, like what’s happening in the US.”
Silva said they are committed to peaceful protests.
“We just know that violence isn’t going solve this.
“These are peaceful protests and we’re going to demand justice in a peaceful way until someone in government hears our voices and steps up to the table and says enough’s enough. We’re going to make systemic changes for this and it’s got to happen sooner or later.”
New South Wales Supreme Court rules to prohibit #BlackLivesMatter rally
A Sydney #BlackLivesMatter rally has lost its status as an authorised assembly, opening up demonstrators to arrest and fines for breaching coronavirus restrictions on mass gatherings, AAP reports.
The NSW Supreme Court on Sunday sided with police and dubbed the event a prohibited public assembly.
But seconds after Justice Mark Ierace announced his orders, a lawyer for rally organiser Paddy Gibson asked they be temporarily suspended to allow for an appeal to be lodged with the Court of Appeal. The court was told on Friday Mr Gibson had threatened to take the matter all the way to the High Court.
In the matter of the Commissioner of Police v Gibson
— NSW Supreme Court (@NSWSupCt) July 26, 2020
The Supreme Court has made an order prohibiting the Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday 28 July 2020. By consent of the parties, the order has been stayed until 10am on Monday 27 July. Judgment will be published later today.
NSW Health’s Jeremy McAnulty rated the risk of transmission at the rally as “medium” and told the court he was concerned about whether social distancing could be maintained.
Organisers have nevertheless promised to risk arrest and gather outside Town Hall at noon on Tuesday as planned. Protesters will then walk to Parliament House where a petition will be delivered calling for justice for Indigenous man David Dungay Jr, who died in a Sydney jail in 2015.
Mr Gibson’s lawyer had argued yelling “Black Lives Matter” in a protest was more important to a democratic society than going to a football match, and thus should also be accommodated in times of pandemic.
“Going to the aquarium, going to sex-on-premises venues, going to football matches - these aren’t essential to our democracy,” Felicity Graham said, “Protest is.”
Mr Gibson produced a Covid safety plan like those businesses require to operate, in which he said people should wear masks, practice hand hygiene and leave contact details with organisers so they could be notified in the event a demonstrator tests positive to coronavirus.
Updated
The Sydney Morning Herald has more on that supreme court ruling:
A Black Lives Matter rally planned for inner Sydney on Tuesday is a prohibited public assembly, a NSW Supreme Court judge has ruled, but protest organisers are expected to lodge an immediate appeal against the decision.
Police took court action seeking a prohibition order for the rally organised by the family of David Dungay jnr, a Dunghutti man who died in custody in 2015 after he was held down by Corrective Services officers while gasping “I can’t breathe”.
A plan submitted to police by organiser Paddy Gibson said an estimated 500 people would walk from Town Hall to Parliament House to present a petition calling for criminal charges against the prison guards who restrained Mr Dungay.
Inquest findings last year did not recommend criminal charges, which Mr Dungay’s family had sought. The rally is planned for Tuesday to coincide with the first sitting day of the NSW lower house.
In a judgment on Sunday, Justice Mark Ierace granted the prohibition order, but police agreed to a stay stopping the order taking effect until 10am on Monday pending the lodging of any appeal.
A prohibition order does not ban the rally outright, but leaves participants exposed to potential criminal sanction including for blocking traffic or breaching public health orders.
In the Australian state of New South Wales, the ABC reports that the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the NSW police to prohibit a #BlackLivesMatter rally from taking place in Sydney on Tuesday:
#BREAKING: The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the NSW Police, prohibiting a #BlackLivesMatter rally from going ahead in Sydney on Tuesday. The organisers of the event are expected to appeal the decision. @abcnews
— Chelsea Hetherington (@chelsea_hetho) July 26, 2020
Updated
In the Australian state of New South Wales, here are the public health order breaches that have occurred over night, from a NSW police press release:
Police have taken legal action against several people and venues – including those involved in a Jindabyne dance party – for alleged breaches of the state’s Public Health Orders. Further action is anticipated for other alleged breaches detected in the past 24 hours.
Details of these alleged breaches are further outlined below:
- Police have issued 12 people with $1,000 Penalty Infringement Notices (PINS) following a large outdoor event in bushland near Lake Jindabyne on Friday 24 July 2020. About 11.30pm, police were called to the area, and observed a large, organised dance party attended by between 150 to 200 people.
- About 3.50pm yesterday (Saturday 25 July 2020), officers attached to Wollongong Police District ... visited a venue on the Princes Highway in Figtree [and] observed a large number of patrons standing together, drinking in groups. The manager will be issued a $5,000 PIN.
- Officers attached to the Monaro Police District attended a venue in Thredbo, just before 4.30pm yesterday and observed a number of alleged breaches to the Public Health Act. Police spoke to the licensee about the issues; however, when they returned an hour later, observed further breaches occurring and people running away. The licensee was issued with two $5,000 PINS, and a travel company owner who had organised for a large number of patrons to attend the venue was issued a $5000 PIN.
- About 5.30pm yesterday, police spoke to a 63-year-old Victorian resident who drove into NSW via the Cobb Highway Bridge ... The man allegedly refused to provide police with identification or a permit to enter the state, stating he was a ‘sovereign citizen’. After refusing a direction to leave under the current Public Health Order, he was arrested and taken to Moama Police Station. He was charged with not comply with noticed direction re section 7/8/9 - COVID-19 and granted conditional bail.
- A 60-year-old man will be issued with a $1,000 PIN for allegedly failing to self-isolate as per his obligations under the Public Health Act (COVID19 Border Control).
- At 8.45pm, the licensee of a venue on Rollands Plains Road, Telegraph Point, will be issued a $1,000 PIN after patrons were seen standing and consuming alcohol and not physical distancing.
- Two food restaurants, one on Clarence Street and one on William Street in Port Macquarie will each be issued a $1,000 PIN after they were also caught allegedly not complying with a noticed direction.
- Officers from Lake Illawarra Police District also conducted an operation to inspect hospitality venues yesterday, with PINS to be issued to four of the seven venues visited.
Just a quick correction – I misheard the Victorian total fatalities earlier, the total, including the ten deaths reported overnight, is 71 not 79.
Victorian Premier reminds people that 30-40% of cases are between the ages of 18 and 29, when he is asked about a Facebook post he published last night, asking young people to be careful.
30% or 40% of cases between the ages of 18-29 [...] When you’ve got this much community transmission, and again, it was carefully because it’s not about – I’m not their father. I’m not their boss, I’m not their teacher. I’m just putting a really clear message to them, and every single Victorian. And it’s not about blame, it’s just about being as frank as you can. And all of us, regardless of our age, our gender, our post code, our income level, whether we pray or we don’t pray, none of those things matter. We’re all in this together.
Australian treasurer ‘favourably disposed’ to extending payment for jobseekers
Meanwhile Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has defended the phased withdrawal of wage subsidies and lower rates of jobkeeper for part-time workers after Treasury cautioned against the move and the Greens released an analysis showing it will hit women hardest.
Frydenberg told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday the lower tier of jobkeeper will pay part-time workers closer to their pre-Covid income and also confirmed the government is “very favourably disposed” to extending the coronavirus supplement for jobseekers beyond December:
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly spoken about insecure work during this press conference:
I think we’ve been far more focused on the pandemic than a much bigger issue, which is a structural weakness in our economy that has been very graphically exposed. Insecure work is no good for public health in terms of dealing with a global pandemic, and there are many other attendant challenges and I’ve said a few times now, now is not the time for us to be having a debate or discussion about that, but out of this pandemic there are many, many learnings. One of them is insecure work. The notion of not having that connectivity, the basic entitlements that all of us in this room enjoy – that is a real challenge, not just for public health, but a challenge for providing for your family, for stability – that is something we have to return to, not just as Victorians, but perhaps at a national level once this is over.
Andrews on health care workers testing positive
We know that, as each and every day goes by, we will see more and more health workers that test positive, others who will be close contacts. To give you an example, we had the Northam Hospital at a fraction of its overall capacity. Now more than 100 staff came back last weekend or early this week, so it will come in waves, but that’s why we trained up additional staff months ago, that’s why we are working closely with the private sector, that’s why we’ve sadly had to cancel some elective surgery in the higher categories, the less urgent or less time-critical categories, and that’s why we’re doing some really innovative things.
We’ve never had ambulance paramedics that weren’t part of the Ambulance Victoria family. That’s using common-sense. If you can work together, you can free up other resources or you can deal with the sort of absences that we might see. We are not seeing a massive problem there now, but that may well be a feature of this second wave.
Victoria premier Daniel Andrews on wearing masks:
There are 10 families that are going to be burying someone in the next few days. Wear a mask! It’s not too much to ask. What’s more, the nurse who will be treating you or a loved one, they will be wearing a mask, so you wear one to prevent that nurse from having to treat more patients. It can’t get any more serious than that. 10 families are currently planning funerals. And the youngest among them [is] someone in their 40s. Please wear a mask. Everyone! And if you don’t, you will get fined. And that’s exactly as it should be.
More from Andrews’ response when asked about whether lockdown will end on time (in just over 3 weeks):
These numbers are far too high. While I stress there is relative, and I stress the term ‘relative’ we are not seeing doubling and doubling again which with what the model being tells us we would have had to deal with. Look, what I will say is these things change rapidly, but wow have to say these numbers are far too high. Whilst there is some relative, and I stress the term “relative”stability, and I mean we are not seeing the doubles and doubling again which is what the modelling told us we would have be dealing with, we’ve got to drive these numbers down.
Andrews is asked whether Melbourne and Mitchell Shire’s six-week lockdown, which is approaching its halfway mark, is on track to end in just over three weeks’ time, or whether it might be extended.
I can’t tell you where we will be in another 3.5 weeks, but what I can confirm ... the data will drive the decisions. The advice from the Chief Health Officer and indeed the Chief Medical Officer at a federal health, so public health experts will provide us with on what the next steps will be and we will be led by that advice. We have to be led by the data, the science and we’ve got to get this right.”
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Victorian state premier Daniel Andrews on the healthcare workers stepping up to join the state’s response:
More broadly, there are 16,000 dedicated members of our health workforce who have expressed their interest in working on our public health response and our clinical response in-hospital settings.There are about 4,000 current and retired nurses and midwives, for instance, who wouldn’t have normally been involved in many of the tasks that are made necessary by this but they’ve put their hand up to be part of that.
Through Working Victoria, there are around 800 health professionals who are indicated that they are prepared- they have already been deployed, sorry. Those 800 are out there doing all sorts of different tasks as part of our public health response to this pandemic. The point to make there is that we’ve got people right across the health system putting their hand up, putting themselves in harm’s way, many of them, running the risk of becoming infected.
Daniel Andrews on the cases in aged care facilities - as well as an astounding 381 cases among health-care workers:
There are some 560 active cases in aged care. The exact number of settings will be finalised in that release later today, and we have some 381 active cases among health-care workers. That is a significant challenge, given, whilst we have overall capacity and we’ve worked very hard throughout the year to grow the number of people that can be available for our fight against this virus in a clinical sense, whenever we have clinical staff and other critical health workers away, furloughed because they are a close contact or in fact as an active case, that does put some additional pressure on our system.
381 active Covid-19 cases among health-care workers in Victoria - that's about 81 more than on Friday. That's huge. The premier is now saying this is a critical challenge- he's acknowledging now the additional pressure on the system.
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) July 26, 2020
That’s why we are looking at a whole range of innovative ways to grow the total capacity of our health system. It is not just about ordering the equipment that we need - so gowns, gloves, masks, machines to help you breathe, patient monitors, actual beds, mattresses, all of those things - that’s a feature of the orders we’ve done over a long period of time, but also looking to be as creative as possibly.
So... we have some 200 off-roster paramedics and third-year students helping us with contact tracing, their skills ind ealing with dynamic circumstances means they are perfectly suited to that.
In case you missed it, here is our story on the Victorian aged care response:
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Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says of the deaths:
Of those 10 fatalities, 7 are linked to aged-care outbreaks and 3 are not linked to an outbreak. We will provide further details to the extent appropriate later in the day. We, of course, send our condolences and best wishes to those families.
Australia reports record one-day coronavirus deaths
My colleague Melissa Davies has just confirmed that the 10 deaths overnight in Victoria is on its own a national record – the highest one-day total reported for Australia as a whole since the pandemic began.
Victoria records 459 new coronavirus cases, 10 deaths
In Australia, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is holding a press conference now.
There have been 459 new cases in Victoria, bringing the total to 8181 cases.
10 people have died overnight, a record number of deaths for the state, bringing the Victorian total to 71.
Updated
New South Wales, Australia reports 14 new cases
Here is the update for the Australian state of New South Wales:
14 new cases of #COVID19 have been diagnosed in NSW between 8pm on 24 July and 8pm on 25 July.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 26, 2020
For the latest list of COVID-19 locations, visit: https://t.co/pqkRdfh3cR pic.twitter.com/wHGZ8eESei
14 new cases have been reported overnight, bringing the total cases to 3279. There are 99 cases being treated currently, with four in intensive care.
6 of the new cases are linked to the Thai Rock restaurant cluster, two of these are also linked Our Lady of Lebanon church; three are returned travellers; and one is under investigation. Four of the new cases attended a funeral and related church services, says NSW deputy chief medical officer Dr Jeremy McAnulty:
Dr Jeremy McAnulty provides a #COVID19 update for Sunday 26 July 2020. https://t.co/7e9x4R9eRt #COVID19au
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 26, 2020
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In Australia, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is set to hold a press conference with state health minister Jenny Mikakos at 11.15am AEST (in 15 minutes’ time). We’ll be blogging that live, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, the sending of news tips, questions, feedback and blank cheques is strongly encouraged:
Twitter: @helenrsullivan
Email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com
Time to check in on Johns Hopkins University’s graph showing the new cases added globally every 24 hours.
What’s that? Oh, just three days in a row with more than 280,000 cases added each day:
There are currently 15,980,425 known coronavirus infections – that is, people who have tested positive for the virus over the course of the pandemic so far – an increase of more than 65,000 since I launched this blog less than two hours ago.
Updated
Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday reported 6,751 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 729 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 385,036 cases and 43,374 total deaths, Reuters reports.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
In other Florida news, the NBA is investigating the whereabouts of LA Clippers guard Lou Williams during an excused absence from the league’s Walt Disney World bubble in Orlando so it can determine the length of his re-quarantining process, the Associated Press reported on Saturday citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
Williams, who was permitted to leave the NBA’s isolated campus setup at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex to attend a family member’s funeral, was photographed at a gentleman’s club in Atlanta on Thursday night by rapper Jack Harlow, who subsequently deleted the shot from his Instagram story.
On Friday, Harlow insisted the photo was taken before this week, tweeting: “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”
Williams, 33, is wearing an NBA-issued mask in the photo, the sort that is believed to have only been available inside the Disney bubble and would debunk any argument that the photo had been taken previously:
Florida becomes US state with second-highest number of infections
Florida overtook New York on Saturday to become the US state with the second-highest number of coronavirus infections, the Financial Times reports. An additional 12,199 confirmed cases, the state’s sixth-biggest one-day jump, took Florida’s overall tally to 414,511.
That is about 3,300 more than New York and leaves it second only to California in terms of total infections.
California, the Unites States’ most populous state, reported that a further 10,066 people tested positive over the past day, taking its total since the beginning of the pandemic to 445,400.
WHO says 1m cases reported per week for last five weeks
The World Health Organization said more than a million cases had been recorded in each of the last five weeks, “with over 280,000 being reported on July 24 alone”.
“While no country is unaffected, this rise is driven by high transmission in large and populous countries in the Americas and South Asia,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
Brazil and India had recently reported their highest daily increases, it added, while the figures remained worryingly high in the United States and South Africa - where Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel tested positive for the virus Saturday.
The US, still the hardest-hit nation, on Friday reported its second straight day of more than 70,000 new cases and over 1,000 deaths as the virus surges in the south and west.
Hard to find: what the shortages in household items say about how we live now
In early April, fearing his hard-won shoulders would shrink into nothing over lockdown, my husband attempted to buy some weights. He spent hours searching, online and in stores, and found no heavy things to lift. Even on Gumtree, where you’d expect an enterprising soul or two to be selling home gym equipment at jacked up prices, there was nothing. In the end, he improvised, filling a gym bag with 40kg of sand.
Weights are not the only thing to have mysteriously vanished from shop shelves over the past few months. There’s been a national shortage of seeds, Nintendo Switch consoles are still hard to come by worldwide, and the scarcity of toilet paper is now so embedded in Covid-19 history, it has become part of museum collections.
This week, when face mask wearing became mandated in Melbourne, retailers struggled to keep up with the demand – not just for masks, but for sewing machines to make them:
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Australia’s deputy chief medical officer has thrown his support behind an aged care response centre in Victoria in the face of a growing crisis in the sector from the deadly pandemic, AAP reports.
“This is about ensuring that there is appropriate emergency management structure, so there is excellent coordination of things like workforce distribution,” Dr Nick Coatsworth told ABC’s Weekend Breakfast program
He said it had become a very challenging environment where many aged care staff who had contracted Covid-19 were forced to isolate at home but the facility still needed to be run.
The centre is a joint venture between the federal and Victorian governments and comes as more than 500 coronavirus cases in the state are linked to home care facilities and evenly between staff and residents.
In the past two days, 12 older Victorians have died from the virus, taking the nation’s death total 145. There were an additional 357 coronavirus cases recorded on Saturday.
Here is our story on Victoria’s specialist aged care response centre:
Updated
North Korea declares state of emergency in Kaesong after suspected Covid-19 case
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting after a person suspected of having Covid-19 returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border this month, state media said on Sunday.
Kim declared a state of emergency and imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong, calling it a “critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country,” state news agency KCNA reported.If confirmed, it would be the first case officially acknowledged by North Korean authorities, who have so far said the country has no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
According to KCNA, a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border that divides the two Koreas with symptoms that suggested Covid-19.
“An emergency event happened in Kaesong City where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus returned on 19 July after illegally crossing the demarcation line,” KCNA said.
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Here is one of the coronavirus ads launched in the Australian state of Victoria:
"It was like drowning" – one of Victoria's new coronavirus ads: pic.twitter.com/R1zmOYWA2r
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) July 25, 2020
Victoria launches Covid-19 ad blitz
Some of Australia’s most successful - and memorable - public health campaigns have been graphic in nature, such as for warning of the harms of tobacco smoking, or the importance of seatbelts.
The Victorian government has decided to take this approach for advertising around Covid-19, and it follows warnings from the premier, Daniel Andrews, over the past fortnight that if people do not do the right thing and stay at home they are putting themselves, their loved ones and those around them at risk. Andrews has repeatedly been reminding the public that this is not an ‘old person’s disease.
The ads have been rolled out across radio, television and social media and features Covid-19 survivors who describe having the virus as being “like drowning”. “I had coughing fits that went for one to two minutes. I was put in an induced coma, the doctors thought that I was going to die,” a man in his middle age says in one of the videos.
“It is very real.”
Victoria recorded 357 new coronavirus cases and five five more deaths on Saturday. It recorded its highest death toll on Friday, with seven deaths. The state continues to grapple with cases of the virus as other Australian jurisdictions have reported days in a row of no new cases.
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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 news from around the world for the next few hours.
As always, it would be great to hear from you. Send news tips, questions, feedback and your Netflix login details to me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
The known number of coronavirus cases worldwide is nearing 16m, with infections currently at 15,914,581 on the Johns Hopkins University tracker, as the WHO warns that cases have continued to rise by around 1m per week for the last five weeks. On 24 June, cases rose by a record 280,000 in a single day.
Meanwhile in the Australian state of Victoria, my colleague Melissa Davey reports, Covid-19 ads have been rolled out across radio, television and social media and features Covid-19 survivors who describe having the virus as being “like drowning”. “I had coughing fits that went for one to two minutes. I was put in an induced coma, the doctors thought that I was going to die,” a man in his middle age says in one of the videos.
Victoria recorded 357 new coronavirus cases and five five more deaths on Saturday. It recorded its highest death toll on Friday, with seven deaths. The state continues to grapple with cases of the virus as other Australian jurisdictions have reported days in a row of no new cases.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday after a person suspected of having Covid-19 returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border.
- The UK government has advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, and confirmed that all people arriving from Spain from Sunday will have to self-isolate for two weeks.
- Florida became the US state with second-highest number of infections on Saturday, leaving it second to only California, the state with the highest population.
- Brazil registered an additional 1,211 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, as well as a further 51,147 confirmed infections.
- The number of people in Israel who have tested positive for coronavirus topped 60,000 on Saturday, as thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday in Jerusalem and other cities demanding prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation.
- South Africa’s trade minister Ebrahim Patel on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19, the cabinet said, the fourth minister to contract the virus in Africa’s hardest-hit country.
- The governor of Lombardy, Italy’s hardest-hit region in the pandemic, acknowledged that he is being investigated by Milan prosecutors over a lucrative contract to obtain protective medical gowns from his brother-in-law’s company, but denied any wrongdoing.
- In Yemen, the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating what was already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, a charity has warned. An already weak health system has been destroyed by five years of conflict and 80% of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance.
- Covid-19 hospitalisations in New York are at the lowest level since the pandemic began, as the state reported 10 further coronavirus deaths during the past 24 hours.
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