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Britain’s testing crisis could take weeks to resolve, the health secretary has admitted as it emerged that Covid tests from hospitals are being deployed for use in the community to plug holes in the system.
People with Covid symptoms in Rochdale, one of the worst-hit parts of the country, have been turning up at A&E hospital departments and calling 111 desperately seeking tests, the council’s chief executive said:
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now from a beautiful spring day in Sydney.
I’ll be bringing you coronavirus developments from around the world for the next few hours. We’re setting up a brand new pandemic blog. In the meantime, get in touch: @helenrsullivan.
Summary
As Australia wakes up, here are some of the main developments from the last few hours.
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Irish government ministers dropped plans to restrict their movements on Tuesday evening after health minister Stephen Donnelly tested negative for Covid-19. The lower house of Ireland’s parliament had been suspended earlier on Tuesday when the speaker heard the cabinet was self-isolating after Donnelly was advised by his doctor to take a test. The Taoiseach Micheál Martin later intervened to reopen the Dáil.
- The world is still at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, a World Health Organization special envoy warned. Addressing UK MPs at a foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Dr David Nabarro also described the situation as “horrible, grotesque, really embarrassing”.
- Half the world’s schoolchildren are still unable to attend classrooms due to the pandemic, according to Unicef. Around 872 million – more than half of whom have not been able to study remotely – are not allowed to attend school in person, Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said.
- Nearly a fifth of South Africans may have contracted coronavirus, the country’s health minister said. South Africa has recorded 650,749 cases, but the actual number of infections could be “about 12 million”, Zweli Mkhize said.
- Sweden recorded its lowest number of daily Covid-19 cases since March. The country’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stood at 108 on Tuesday, its lowest level since 13 March.
- The Netherlands hit a daily record of new coronavirus cases. A total of 1,379 new infections – the majority reported in Amsterdam and The Hague – were recorded in the country on Tuesday.
China has blocked imports from an OK Foods poultry plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas, because of coronavirus cases among workers, the president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council said on Tuesday.
The plant is the second US poultry facility to be blocked because of an outbreak, after Beijing suspended imports from a Tyson Foods Inc plant in June.
Dáil reconvenes after Irish minister tests negative for Covid-19
Ireland’s minister for health Stephen Donnelly has told RTE that his Covid-19 test has come back negative.
Earlier today, Irish cabinet ministers were told to restrict their movements as a precaution after Donnelly contacted his GP to request a test after feeling unwell.
However, ministers no longer need to do this following the negative test result and were back in the chamber by 8pm.
Meanwhile, the minister of state for European affairs Thomas Byrne has gone into self-isolation. He was tested for Covid-19 today after waking with a “mild cough” yesterday.
After an earlier adjournment of the Dáil for one week, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that the Dáil would reconvene this evening.
The full RTE story is here.
Updated
Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume, Helen Davidson reports.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.
But researchers say that with the pandemic drastically reducing water traffic, including the suspension of ferries, dolphin numbers in the area have risen by 30% since March.
At least seven people have died in connection with a coronavirus outbreak that continues to afflict people in the US state of Maine following a wedding reception held over the summer that violated state virus guidelines, the Associated Press reports.
The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Maine authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. An employee of the York County Jail attended the wedding, Maine CDC officials have said. The officials have also said a staff member from a Madison rehabilitation centre, which is the site of six of the seven deaths, attended the event.
The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.
But the growing number of cases linked to the wedding, which exceeded the state’s guidelines of 50 people or less at indoor gatherings, could undo some of that progress if it continues to swell. Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding.
The six people from the Madison rehabilitation facility who died were all residents of that facility and none of them attended the wedding reception, said Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.
Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and I’m asking everyone else to share in that concern. Covid-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards. The gains that Maine has made against Covid-19 are ones that could, and unfortunately can, be washed away.
The wedding was also officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford. The Maine CDC is currently investigating to determine if an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding outbreak. That outbreak has caused 10 people to fall ill, Shah said.
Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday that said a number of Calvary Baptist Church members attended the wedding reception. The statement said the church was taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus, and will defend its right to continue holding services.
The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time- honoured part of our nation’s history since its inception, the statement said. These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution.
Bell has been critical of government attempts to control coronavirus, and videos show he has held services without the use of social distancing. He hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches. Neither Bell nor Gibbs personally responded to a request on Tuesday for comment.
Maine CDC was unaware of the church’s statement and couldn’t comment on it, Shah said.
Shah said the state’s positivity rate has ticked up to 0.63% for the previous seven days. At one point, the rate was less than half a percentage point. The rate remains well below the national average of about 5%, Shah said.
Updated
Researchers have said that governments’ failure to recognise the land rights of indigenous communities and their role in protecting biodiversity could lead to more coronavirus-like pandemics, PA Media reports.
A study of more than 40 countries found many local people’s land claims were being ignored, amid increasing deforestation and wildlife exploitation, which may be contributing to a rise in diseases, like Covid-19, that pass from animals to humans.
Andy White of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the study’s co-author, said in a statement:
Despite compelling evidence that indigenous peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendants protect most of the world’s remaining biodiversity, they are under siege from all sides.
Our work suggests the answer is to invest in the countries and communities that are ready to scale up land rights. Failure to do so puts at risk the health of the planet and all of its people.
The study by the RRI - an alliance of more than 150 organisations advocating for community land rights - comes ahead of a United Nations pledge expected to be agreed in 2021 to set aside 30% of the planet’s land and sea for conservation by 2030.
Despite local people managing and protecting 50% of the area studied - which included Brazil, India, China, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia - governments recognised only half of community land claims, RRI said.
This needs to be addressed urgently, said researchers, as a growing number of zoonotic diseases including Ebola, MERS, West Nile fever, Zika, SARS and Rift Valley fever have recently jumped from animal hosts into the human population.
The most dramatic example is coronavirus, which is believed to have emerged in a market in China last year after jumping the species barrier from the animal kingdom to infect humans. It has killed more than 930,000 people across the globe so far.
Anthony Waldron, a conservation finance researcher based at Cambridge University, told a virtual briefing that securing indigenous peoples’ land rights was key to stemming the spread of such diseases.
If there is chaotic development in a forest where people and wildlife are coming more into contact with one another, then it’s only a matter of time before a virus jumps into the human population.
If you don’t have defined land rights, you don’t know who owns what part and anyone can happily invade. If you have clearly defined land rights ... which indigenous groups can manage ... there is smaller risk those viruses can jump.
About 60% of known infectious diseases in humans and 75% of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, largely due to the increased interaction between humans, animals and the environment, according to the United Nations.
Most efforts to control zoonotic diseases have been reactive rather than proactive, said environmental experts, calling on governments to invest in public health, farm sustainability, end over-exploitation of wildlife and reduce climate change.
Footballer Kingsley Coman is self-isolating at home after coming into contact with someone infected with coronavirus, Bayern Munich has announced.
In a statement, Bayern said that France attacker Coman, who scored the only goal in last season’s Champions League final victory over his boyhood club Paris Saint-Germain, tested negative for Covid-19 on Sunday.
AFP reports that the six-time European champions did not say how long the 24-year-old would be in isolation, nor when he would undergo a new test for the virus.
Bayern also did not disclose whether he would miss the opening fixture of their Bundesliga title defence, against Schalke on Friday evening.
Updated
Here is the UK health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, telling MPs the UK government is working around the clock to fix what he describes as “operational challenges” in the coronavirus testing system caused by a surge in demand.
Speaking in parliament, Hancock said there had been a sharp rise in people coming forward for tests, including those who were not eligible.
Hello from London! I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global coronavirus developments for the next few hours. If you would like to get in touch to share a story that we should be covering here, I would love to hear from you:
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Summary
Here’s a summary of the key global coronavirus developments over the past few hours:
- The world is still at the beginning of the pandemic, a World Health Organization special envoy has warned. Addressing UK MPs at a foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Dr David Nabarro also described the situation as “grotesque”.
- Half the world’s schoolchildren are still unable to attend classrooms due to the pandemic. Around 872 million – more than half of whom have not been able to study remotely – are not allowed to attend school in person, Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said.
- Nearly a fifth of South Africans may have contracted coronavirus, the country’s health minister has said. South Africa has recorded 650,749 cases, but the actual number of infections could be “about 12 million”, Zweli Mkhize said.
- Sweden has recorded its fewest daily Covid-19 cases since March. The country’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stood at 108 on Tuesday, its lowest level since 13 March.
- The Netherlands has hit a daily record of new coronavirus cases. A total of 1,379 new infections – the majority reported in Amsterdam and The Hague – were recorded in the country on Tuesday.
Updated
Following on from a since-corrected post on the blog earlier, members of the Irish cabinet have been told to restrict their movements after the country’s health minister reported feeling unwell.
Stephen Donnelly has contacted his GP for a Covid-19 test, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ.
It was initially understood the cabinet would have to self-isolate and the Irish parliament – Dáil – would be adjourned indefinitely.
However, it has since been reported that it would resume business on Tuesday night or Wednesday.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told RTÉ the decision to ask cabinet to restrict their movements came from “an abundance of caution”.
World still at the beginning of the pandemic, WHO expert warns
The world is still at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a World Health Organization special envoy on Covid-19 has said.
Dr David Nabarro described the situation as “grotesque” during a sitting of the UK’s foreign affairs committee.
He told MPs:
It’s much worse than any of the science fiction about pandemics. This is really serious - we’re not even in the middle of it yet. We’re still at the beginning of it.
“And we’re beginning to see what damage it’s going to cause the world. And it’s getting nastier as we go into this particular phase in Europe of watching the thing come back again.”
He added: “None of us find the present situation anything other than horrible, grotesque, really embarrassing.
“It’s a terrible situation, a health issue has got so out of control it’s knocking the world into, not just a recession, but a huge economic contraction which would probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished, lead to hundreds of millions of small businesses going bankrupt.”
Updated
Health authorities in France have recorded 7,852 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, rising from 6,158 new cases on Monday.
The French health ministry also reported the number of arrivals in hospitals for Covid-19 over the last seven days had risen to 2,713 compared with 2,561 recorded on Monday.
These included 479 admissions to intensive care units over the past seven days, up from 448 in Monday’s count, it said.
The number of people in France who have died from Covid-19 infections rose by 37 to 30,999.
The cumulative number of cases now totals 395,104.
Ireland has reported 357 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure since mid-May and up from an average of 203 cases per day over the previous seven days, health department data showed.
New restrictive measures to contain the spread of coronavirus have been announced in Greece where alarm bells are ringing over the rise in infection rates in the greater Athens area, home to more than 5 million people.
Addressing reporters, the epidemiologist Gkikas Magiorkinis, who sits on the 29-strong committee advising the government, described the urban centre as “the Achilles heel” of a surge that was spreading among people with no known link to one another. Of the 310 cases announced Tuesday, 197 were in the Greek capital.
The sharp increase has begun to place worrying pressure on the country’s health system, with the number of intubated patients also rising. The measures, which include mask wearing in all enclosed spaces, had been made more imperative by the government’s decision to re-open schools, the deputy civil protection minister Nikos Hardalias also said in Tuesday’s press briefing.
For the next 14 days nightclubs will remain closed while cinemas and theatres will only be able to work at 60% capacity – and only if audiences agree to wear masks.
Street markets, similarly, will only be able to operate at 50% capacity and again with stall owners and patrons wearing masks. No more than six people will be able to dine at any one time at a restaurant while social gatherings will be capped at 50 people at any one time.
Greece has recorded a total of 13,730 cases and 313 deaths. Infections almost doubled in August, with scientists describing the situation in increasingly alarmist terms.
Updated
Irish cabinet to self-isolate and parliament to close for a week
Ireland’s cabinet ministers have been told to self-isolate after its health minister requested a Covid-19 test after feeling unwell.
The Irish parliament in Dublin has also been suspended for a week.
According to national broadcaster RTÉ, Stephen Donnelly contacted his doctor for a Covid-19 test this afternoon after feeling unwell.
“Arising out of events today, the cabinet must now self-isolate, therefore the possibility of proceeding with business does not arise and the house stands adjourned until Tuesday next or until I am directed [by the prime minister]”, the speaker of the lower house, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, told parliament.
Updated
According to a recent Unicef survey of 158 countries’ school reopening plans, one in four has not set a date for allowing children back to the classroom.
“We know that closing schools for prolonged periods of time leave devastating consequences for children,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore.
“They become more exposed to physical and emotional violence, their mental health is affected. They are more vulnerable to child labour, sexual abuse, and are less likely to break out of the cycle of poverty.”
She added that in some countries, the longer children remained out of school the less likely they were to return.
“At least 24 million children are projected to drop out of school due to Covid-19,” said Fore.
Updated
Half the world's schoolchildren still unable to attend classrooms
Around 872 million – or half of the world’s student population – are still unable to attend schools in person because of the pandemic.
Henrietta Fore, executive director of Unicef, said schools had closed their doors in 192 countries at the height of the pandemic, sending 1.6 billion students home.
“Millions of these children were fortunate enough to learn remotely online through radio, television broadcasts, or through the internet. However, Unicef data shows that for at least 463 million children whose schools closed during Covid-19, there was no such thing as remote learning,” Fore told a WHO briefing on the impact of Covid-19 on children.
She added:
The sheer number of children whose education was completely disrupted for months on end is nothing short of a global education emergency.”
Updated
Closing schools should be 'last resort' in handling pandemic, says WHO
Government decisions to close schools across the world in response to the pandemic should be a “last resort” because of the devastating effect on children, the World Health Organization director general has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that temporary closures should only take place in localised areas where there is “intense transmission” of Covid-19.
“During school closures, continuity of education should be guaranteed through distance learning,” he added during a WHO press briefing.
“The time during which schools are closed should be used to put in place measures to prevent and respond to transmission when schools reopen.”
Ghebreyesus continued that while there was “no zero risk” to children who contracted the virus, health and education were “two of the most precious commodities in life”.
Updated
A World Health Organization press conference on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children is about to begin at its headquarters Geneva. You can watch it on the live feed at the top of this blog.
Updated
Canada will not rule out another full lockdown if needed amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases, although its health minister has insisted the government is significantly more prepared to manage the virus than during the first wave.
Patty Hajdu’s comments on Tuesday followed a pledge she made on Monday to take a “surgical approach” to tackling outbreaks.
Canada reported 1,351 new cases on 14 September, the highest single daily addition since 1 May, amid school reopenings and flare-ups tied to group gatherings.
“We see those numbers rising, but a full economic shutdown would be very difficult for this country. Not to rule it out, because ... listen we will protect the health of Canadians and we will do what it takes,” Hajdu told reporters on Tuesday.
Hajdu added that Canada has made “significant improvements” in the healthcare system, and is better prepared with equipment and supplies than it was during the first wave in the spring.
“That will allow us to manage this next stage,” she said.
Some volunteers have quit Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine trial in Spain after news of side-effects in a participant in AstraZeneca’s trial, the Spanish programme’s lead investigator has told Reuters.
Alberto Borobia said there were enough reserve volunteers for the trial to continue as normal, however.
“Many have called to ask us some more detail about the risk of the vaccine, whether what happened with that vaccine had anything to do with the one we are studying, these types of questions,” Borobia said, without confirming how many people had dropped out.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine trials were placed on hold worldwide on 6 September after a serious side-effect was reported in one volunteer in Britain.
Trials resumed in Britain and Brazil on Monday following the green light from British regulators but remain on hold in the US.
Johnson & Johnson’s Belgian Janssen unit began phase 2 trials of its Covid-19 vaccine on 190 people in Spain on Monday with those tests due to conclude on 22 September.
Trials are also being carried out in the Netherlands and Germany, taking the total number of participants in all three countries to 550.
Updated
Virus may have infected nearly a fifth of South Africans
An estimated 12 million people – nearly a fifth of the population – may have contracted coronavirus in South Africa, the health minister says, as the country records significant declines in new infections.
South Africa has so far registered 650,749 cases or 47.8% of the total numbers recorded in Africa. At least 15,499 of those infected have died. But the actual numbers of people infected could be much higher, possibly 18-fold more, based on estimates extrapolated from sample antibodies studies.
Revised models “predict that there are probably about 12 million” South Africans with detected or undetected coronavirus, health minister Zweli Mkhize said. “This translates to about 20% of the population.”
South Africa is conducting a national study aimed at providing accurate figures about the prevalence of coronavirus antibodies – a sign of infection – among its population of 58 million.
Mkhize said the drop in numbers of daily detected infections “raises the question of the level of immunity that may already be existing in society”.
Leading vaccinologist Shabir Madhi, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, suggested infections rates could be as high as 40% in densely populated parts of the country.
“What we have seen in South Africa – at least based on early data ... is that in densely populated areas of the country … between 35-40% of people have been infected with this virus,” Madhi, who is also in charge of the South African leg of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial, said on Sunday.
Case numbers in South Africa have fallen from 10,000-15,000 a day in July to just under 2,000 in recent days. On Monday, the number of daily new infections plunged to 956, the second time in under a week that numbers have dropped below 1,000.
Updated
Opposition parties in Myanmar are calling for November’s election to be postponed as the country scrambles to control a coronavirus surge.
The number of new infections are doubling every week – albeit from a relatively low base – and hospitals in the biggest city, Yangon, are overwhelmed in a nation with one of the world’s poorest healthcare systems.
The sharp rise comes as Myanmar prepares to hold national elections on 8 November, with leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) widely expected to be returned to power.
Calls are growing for the polls to be delayed.
The head of the military-aligned opposition Union Solidarity and Development party (USDP), Than Htay, told AFP he was “very concerned” about holding the vote during the pandemic.
“The government should not sacrifice the people … If it’s not suitable to hold the election, postpone it!” he said.
In a Facebook post, the People’s Pioneer party also urged a delay to allow the vote to be held “fairly and without chaos”. Local media say at least three other parties are echoing the call.
So far, Yangon, the commercial hub, Naypyidaw, the capital, and conflict-stricken Rakhine state are all under lockdown, while domestic flights and long-distance bus routes have ceased.
Neighbours China and Thailand are boosting security on shared borders to try to stymie any spread of the outbreak.
Updated
Sweden records its fewest daily Covid-19 cases since March
While many European countries are seeing their infection rates surge to levels not seen since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden – whose light-touch approach has made it an international outlier – has recorded the fewest daily cases since the virus emerged.
The Scandinavian country’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stood at 108 on Tuesday, its lowest level since 13 March. Data from the Swedish national health agency showed only 1.2% of its 120,000 tests last week came back positive.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Sweden’s 14-day cumulative total of new cases is currently 22.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, against 279 in Spain, 158.5 in France, 118 in the Czech Republic, 77 in Belgium and 59 in the UK, all of which imposed lockdowns this spring.
News of serious side effects in one participant of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine trial led some volunteers in Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine trial in Spain to drop out, its lead investigator told Reuters.
Still, the trial had sufficient reserve volunteers to carry on as normal, lead investigator Alberto Borobia said.
“Many have called to ask us some more detail about the risk of the vaccine, whether what happened with that vaccine had anything to do with the one we are studying, these types of questions,” Borobia said in the interview. He did not say how many people had dropped out.
This highlights the challenge for drugmakers in trialling potential vaccines to control the pandemic in enormous public scrutiny. Drugmakers often pause trials while testing drugs but they do not typically disclose that.
AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine trial was placed on hold globally on 6 September after a serious side effect was reported in a trial participant in the UK.
Trials restarted in Britain and Brazil on Monday with the go-ahead from British regulators, but remain on hold in the US.
Johnson & Johnson’s Belgian Janssen unit began Phase II trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in Spain on Monday, to be carried out on 190 people and concluded on 22 September.
Trials are also being carried out in the Netherlands and Germany, coming to 550 participants in total.
The Irish government has delayed the planned reopening of all pubs in Dublin following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the capital, but bars across the rest of the country will be allowed to open next Monday.
Ireland is moving to wind down some of the most cautious Covid-19 restrictions in Europe, but a seven-fold increase in infections since the start of August has prompted the government to delay some measures.
Bars that serve food have been allowed to open since the end of June, but so-called “wet bars” that just serve drinks remain closed.
“Wet bars will open on the 21st (of September) for the rest of the country but the very strong advice we got from the public health doctors was, given what is happening in Dublin, just don’t do that for now,” health minister Stephen Donnelly said.
Ireland has registered 48.5 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days, the 17th highest of 31 countries monitored by the EU’s independent European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, but the rate in Dublin is double that.
Pub lobby group the Licensed Vintners Association said it was “devastated and disappointed” by the move.
The government unveiled a new five-level system of Covid restrictions on Tuesday and said the whole country was currently on the second lowest level.
The image of the US and Donald Trump around the world has plunged from poor to the abysmal over the administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a global survey.
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center of more than 13,000 adults in 13 advanced economies between 10 June and 3 August shows international confidence in the US and its president sharply down across the board, reaching historical lows in several countries.
In the UK, 41% of those polled expressed a favourable opinion of the US, the lowest proportion registered by the Pew survey to date. In France, less than a third viewed the US positively, and just over a quarter of Germans surveyed, similar to the dim ratings both countries gave the US at the time of the Iraq invasion in March 2003.
The survey found Trump was the least trusted major world leader. A median of 16% of those polled in the 13 countries had confidence Trump would “do the right thing in world affairs”, putting him below Vladimir Putin (23%) and Xi Jinping (19%).
You can read more on this from my colleague Julian Borger in Washington here:
As cases continue to rise in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has said it will maintain heavy public spending in an effort to counter the losses from the pandemic despite its finances worsening.
In his annual speech outlining the government’s new budget on Tuesday, King Willem-Alexander said:
In these insecure times, the government chooses not to cut spending, but to invest, in job security, social safety nets and a stronger economy.”
The government’s deficit is set to balloon to 7% of gross domestic product this year and 4% in 2021, while national debt is expected to hit 60% of GDP next year, as support for workers and companies struck by the pandemic is extended well into 2021.
After years of austerity, the Dutch government had realised a surplus of almost 2% last year and had brought down its debt to 49% of GDP.
But confidence in the economy has eroded quickly in recent months, and a national poll published on Thursday showed more than half the respondents expected the economic downturn to worsen in the coming year.
A third of workers in the Netherlands said coronavirus had already negatively impacted their job.
Updated
Netherlands hits daily record of coronavirus cases
New coronavirus cases in the Netherlands have hit a daily record of 1,379 in the past 24 hours, according to Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant.
On Monday, health authorities in the country recorded 1,300 new infections, it said. The rise means Covid-19 cases have increased by 9,194 in a week – 85% more than in the first week of September when 4,917 new cases were recorded.
Most new infections recorded on Tuesday were reported in Amsterdam and The Hague.
Updated
Ireland has set out new rules for its quarantine-free travel “green list”, allowing visitors from countries with a Covid-19 infection rate of under 25 cases per 100,000 over the past fortnight to skip the 14-day isolation.
Previously the green list was made up of countries with lower infection rates than Ireland, but the government stopped updating the list when the number of cases there surged to 45 per 100,000 people during the past two weeks.
Prime minister Micheál Martin said the government would soon publish a new list and would then adopt a coordinated EU system of travel restrictions he said would be approved at an EU general affairs council meeting on 13 October.
Updated
Concern is mounting in the UK about a backlog in its coronavirus testing system that has caused people in areas with the highest infection rates to be unable to get a test.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the House of Commons Speaker, has joined MPs speaking out about the unavailability of coronavirus tests. He says he is receiving “numerous complaints” and that the situation is “completely unacceptable”.
I am receiving numerous complaints from residents unable to book a test after displaying Covid symptoms. This is completely unacceptable and totally undermines track and trace so I have raised my concerns with Ministers to push for action to be taken as a matter of urgency.
— Lindsay Hoyle (@LindsayHoyle_MP) September 15, 2020
Meanwhile, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I do have a concern about the capacity constraints right now in the UK-wide system,” Sturgeon said, adding that the issue in Scotland was not about access to testing slots, but of sufficient laboratory processing.
You can follow updates on the issue – understood to have been caused by a backlog at laboratories which process the tests – over on our UK blog:
Updated
Millions of school students in Pakistan have returned to classes after schools and colleges were closed for six months due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Educational institutes were closed in March but the government announced a staggered reopening last week as daily infection numbers are falling.
“May God make us successful in this test, and may the loss suffered by the students be compensated,” education minister Shafqat Mahmood told reporters in Islamabad.
Senior schools were the first to restart, with middle school set to go back next week and primary school the week after.
The long closure led to the cancellations of exams and left academic calendars in disarray.
Mahmood warned that schools that did not following precautionary measures, including the wearing of masks and social distancing, would be closed.
Pakistan has recorded 302,424 cases of the coronavirus and more than 6,300 deaths but daily infections have been slowing from a peak of nearly 7,000, and 118 deaths, in one day in June.
On Monday, authorities reported 404 new cases and six deaths.
Denmark's coronavirus reproduction rate at 1.5
Hospitality venues in Copenhagen have been ordered to limit their opening hours following a rise in Covid-19 cases in Denmark.
Restaurants, bars and cafes will have to close at 10pm in the capital, after health minister Magnus Heunicke said the country’s reproduction rate – which indicates the average number of people an infected person transmits the virus to – is at 1.5.
A total of 334 new coronavirus infections had been registered in the last 24 hours, he told a press conference.
Updated
Germany will not take shortcuts in the race to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, its research minister has said,
“Even when the world is waiting for a vaccine – we won’t take risky short-cuts here,” Anja Karliczek told a news conference in Berlin. “We will not deviate from this line in Germany or in Europe. And I also believe that all countries should proceed in this way globally.”
She also repeated her assertion from July that she does not expect that a vaccine will be broadly available until the middle of 2021.
Updated
A trolley that uses artificial intelligence (AI) is delivering food to restaurant customers in Seoul to minimise human contact amid the pandemic.
After customers order through a touch-screen on the table, the 1.25-metre-tall robot, developed by South Korean telecoms company KT corp, brings the food and uses its visual SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping) capabilities to avoid obstacles and navigate around customers.
The robot is also equipped with food trays – which can carry up to four tables or 30 kilograms-worth of food – as well as an LCD screen and speaker that communicate in both Korean and English.
“Customers found the robot serving quite unique and interesting, and also felt safe from the coronavirus,” said Lee Young-ho, a manager at the Mad for Garlic restaurant in Seoul, which has tested the robot.
From Monday, restaurants and cafes in the densely populated capital are allowed to open after 9pm, but must leave 2 metres between tables and record patrons’ names and contact details.
Updated
Foreigners working in France on the frontline of the battle against the coronavirus are to be fast-tracked for nationality.
The French government has sent a directive to local officials to “recognise the work of foreign workers during the lockdown” by speeding up their naturalisation. Among those cited for fast-tracking are care workers, refuse collectors, security guards and childminders.
The citizenship minister, , said France wanted to show its gratitude to those who had “shown their attachment to our nation”.
“Our country was able to count on their solidarity and generosity faced with that immense challenge,” Schiappa said.
The directive states: “Certain foreigners mobilised and were particularly exposed in order to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. They actively participated in the national effort with dedication and courage … The state wishes to recognise their commitment.”
You can read the full report from our Paris correspondent, Kim Willsher, here:
Updated
Organised crime targeting European Recovery Fund, warns Europol director
Europol director Catherine De Bolle has urged vigilance to ensure money from the European Recovery Fund does not fall into the hands of the mafia.
Opening a meeting in Rome about coronavirus-related crime threats, she said:
The reconstruction funds are already being targeted by criminal organisations and will be even more. With the financing for the recovery, we have to be careful and vigilante in order to avoid the risk of infiltration by the mafia: it is important that, at the highest levels of the European Union, we are aware of the risks [involved] in administering subsidies linked to the pandemic.”
Italy is set to be a top beneficiary of the €750bn recovery fund after EU leaders agreed to the stimulus plan following a lengthy debate in July. At the time, prime minister Giuseppe Conte said the funding was an opportunity for his government to “change the face” of the country.
Federico Fornaro, a parliamentarian with the leftwing party Free and Equal, said the government must take heed of De Bolle’s warning. “It will be fundamental to keep guard at the highest level in order to stem the attempts by organised crime groups to get their hands on public money.”
Updated
A growing number of companies are betting on a rise in demand for plant-based meat alternatives in China as consumers take their health more seriously in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last week, US-based Beyond Meat Inc said it had signed a deal to open a production facility near Shanghai. Earlier this year it launched a partnership with Starbucks Corp for its vegan products to be sold by the cafe giant in China.
Meanwhile, Beijing-based startup Zhenmeat – whose products include vegan meatballs, steaks, crayfish and dumplings – is one of many small Chinese countries entering the market. Its “meatballs” are available on a trial basis at a Beijing branch of hot-pot chain Hope Tree.
“After Covid-19, consumers are more concerned about health and restaurant brands are responding to this,” Zhenmeat founder and CEO Vince Lu told Reuters, adding that sales were “up considerably” since June.
Updated
The World Health Organization has praised the decision by Oxford University and AstraZeneca to pause global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after an unexplained illness in a trial patient.
“This is what we want to see with trials, it is a well-run trial. Safety is always critical, it is crucial and they have looked at that in an appropriate manner,” official Margaret Harris told journalists in Geneva.
Asked to react to experimental Covid-19 vaccine use in China and Russia, she said: “The WHO would like to see vaccines go head to head so we can have clear information and to see these results against each other.”
Updated
And that’s goodbye from me. Here’s Amy Walker to take you through the rest of the day.
Updated
A senior health official in China said she expected a vaccine to be publicly available as early as November, Lily Kuo reports.
Wu Guizhen, the head of biosafety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said she expected Chinese vaccines for Covid-19 would be available to the public as soon as November or December.
Speaking to state broadcaster CCTV, Wu said: “It will be very soon. The progress is currently very smooth.”
Reuters is also reporting the same line.
China has four Covid-19 vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. At least three of those have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use programme launched in July.
Wu, who said she has experienced no abnormal symptoms in recent months after taking an experimental vaccine herself in April, did not specify which vaccines she was referring to.
A unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and US-listed Sinovac Biotech are developing the three vaccines under the state’s emergency use programme. A fourth Covid-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.
Sinopharm said in July its vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of this year after the conclusion of phase 3 trials.
Updated
Momčilo Krajišnik, a former top wartime Bosnian Serb official who was convicted of war crimes by a UN court, has died after contracting coronavirus, AP is reporting. He was 75.
A hospital in the northern Bosnian town of Banja Luka said Krajišnik died early Tuesday “from consequences of infection with the new coronavirus”.
Krajišnik was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the UN. Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, for persecuting and forcibly expelling non-Serbs during the 1992-95 war.
He was released from a British prison in 2013 after serving two-thirds of the sentence.
Krajišnik served as the Bosnian Serb parliament speaker during the conflict that erupted after the breakup of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s.
He was among the top Bosnian Serb leadership that led the effort to create a Serb self-styled state in parts of Bosnia and unite it with neighbouring Serbia. He was a close aide to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić, who was convicted by the Hague tribunal for genocide.
Updated
Cases in Dublin increase twentyfold in a month
The Irish government is to delay the reopening of Dublin’s drink-only pubs because coronavirus cases in the capital have increased twentyfold in the past month.
Leo Varadkar, the deputy prime minister, said the surge would require additional restrictions in Dublin, which has a 14-day incidence rate of 89.1 per 100,000, almost double the national rate of 46.8.
Prof Samuel McConkey, an infectious disease expert at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin, urged residents to restrict social gatherings, saying: “Where we are at now is not a stable place.”
The government is to publish on Tuesday a risk-ranking system, with a score of one the lowest and five the highest, requiring a full lockdown. It considers Ireland to be at level two. Despite the continued closure of so-called “wet” pubs it is not yet clear if Dublin will be given a higher rating.
Updated
The wealthy in America are expected to splurge online for gifts and home decorations this holiday season, even as the Covid-19 pandemic erodes sales growth to the slowest in at least a decade, according to a forecast from Deloitte.
US retail sales are expected to inch up 1% to 1.5% to as much as $1.15tn between November and January, led by a 25% to 35% rise in e-commerce sales, the consultancy firm said, Reuters is reporting.
While the overall rise in sales would be slower than previous years, Deloitte’s US retail and distribution leader, Rod Sides, said a surprise increase in back-to-school spending and higher savings rates than last year showed demand could be strong between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“We don’t see many of the higher and upper middle income folks being impacted by job losses, so we think for that group holiday sales go up as much as 2% to 3%,” Sides said.
Purchasing among lower income households will probably be flat to up just 1%, as the coronavirus lingers and the health crisis related government spending dries up.
Brick-and-mortar sales could fall as much as 3.4%.
Updated
Australia’s virus hot spot Victoria state says it will relax pandemic restrictions in most areas from Wednesday night.
Premier Daniel Andrews said Tuesday that people who live outside the state capital, Melbourne, would have no restrictions on leaving their homes and all shops will be able to reopen, AP is reporting.
Andrews also urged Melbourne residents not to get discouraged about staying in lockdown as the rest of the state opens up.
People are not allowed to leave Australia’s second-largest city without approved reasons and police would tighten checkpoints on routes from Melbourne as the rest of the state opens up.
Australia recorded its first day without a single reported Covid-19 death since 13 July on Tuesday.
Updated
The New Zealand government has agreed to relax quarantine requirements to allow the All Blacks to play two Bledisloe Cup rugby tests at home against Australia next month.
The decision follows the move by southern hemisphere rugby body SANZAAR to move the four-nation Rugby Championship from New Zealand to Australia because of Australia’s more lenient rules around mandatory isolation, AP is reporting.
All international rugby was pushed back from the southern hemisphere’s traditional mid-year window because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Super Rugby, the southern hemisphere’s premier provincial tournament involving teams from five nations, was shuttered in March when countries went into lock down.
New Zealand’s regulations would have forced visiting national teams from Argentina, Australia and South Africa to train in smaller groups until late in the quarantine period, whereas Australia will permit each squad to practice in full throughout the isolation.
The New Zealand rules also threatened to jeopardise the two-test Bledisloe Cup series because Australia likely would refuse to play a test if its preparation had been affected by the quarantine restrictions.
New Zealand Rugby confirmed on Tuesday the first test will be played at Wellington on Sunday, 11 October and the second will be played in Auckland on 18 October.
Updated
The coronavirus pandemic will cause economic output in “developing Asia” to shrink for the first time in nearly six decades in 2020 before it bounces back next year, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.
Reuters is reporting that “developing Asia”, which groups 45 countries in Asia-Pacific, is expected to contract 0.7% this year, the ADB said, forecasting the first negative quarterly figure since 1962. The ADB’s previous forecast in June had reckoned on 0.1% growth.
For 2021, the region is forecast to recover and grow 6.8%, still below pre-Covid-19 predictions, the ADB said in an update of its Asian Development Outlook report.
The updated forecasts show the damage brought by the pandemic was greater than previously thought, with about three-quarters of the region’s economies forecast to slump this year.
“Most economies in the Asia and Pacific region can expect difficult growth path for the rest of 2020,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said in a statement.
Updated
South Korea will secure an early supply of the novel coronavirus vaccines for 30 million people, or 60% of its population, prime minister Chung Sye-kyun told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, reports the Reuters news agency.
While authorities would like to inoculate the country’s entire population of 52 million, uncertainty around the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and development was limiting South Korea’s investment, Chung said.
Chung said the government will negotiate with the relevant international organisations and vaccine makers to secure the early supply of the Covid-19 vaccines and would buy more as the development proceeds.
In August, South Korea said it planned to join the Covax facility, a global Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to help buy and fairly distribute the shots.
South Korea will purchase 20 million doses of vaccines from the Covax scheme, available for 10 million people, and 40m doses from private drug makers, the health authorities said in a statement.
South Korea’s SK Bioscience in July agreed to manufacture AstraZeneca’s AZN.L experimental vaccine, that has shown promise against the coronavirus, to help the British company build global supplies.
Updated
Thailand’s Hotel Association has underlined the devastating impact of Covid-19 on tourism in the country, warning that 1 million employees have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic, and that half of hotels nationwide are closed.
Across south-east Asia, countries have mostly kept their borders shut to foreign tourists. Bali recently postponed plans to reopen indefinitely, while Malaysia’s minister for tourism, arts and culture has said the country could maintain a ban on foreign travellers until the second quarter of 2021. Cambodia will allow international visitors to enter, but only if they pay a $3,000 (£2,330) coronavirus deposit to cover any medical treatment – and the cost of a possible funeral.
Thailand, which is also closed to foreign tourists, has discussed plans for travel bubbles, but these have not been implemented. Despite being the first country outside China to record a case of Covid-19, it has managed to avoid a major outbreak, and many worry that relaxing border restrictions will bring a second wave.
The government has encouraged Thais to book breaks at local resorts by subsidising domestic holidays, but such schemes are not enough to sustain the industry, which accounts for almost 20% of GDP. The Thai Hotels Association (THA) has warned demand for labour has fallen by 75%, and that more job losses are likely if the situation doesn’t improve.
The country’s economy is expected to contract 8.5% this year, according to the finance ministry.
Updated
South Korea’s new virus cases stayed below 200 for the 13th consecutive day on Tuesday as the country’s tougher social distancing scheme has taken effect, reports the Yonhap News Agency, but untraceable cases reached a new high.
The country added 106 more Covid-19 cases, including 91 local infections, raising the total caseload to 22,391, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
It marked a slight drop from 109 cases reported on Monday. The number of additional patients reached 121 on Sunday and 136 on Saturday.
The number of local infections remained in double digits for the third consecutive day but health authorities are still struggling to regain control over the spread of the virus due to increased cases with unknown transmission routes and sporadic clusters.
Over the past two weeks, 25% of the additional cases had unidentified infection routes, marking the highest level since the country started to compile such data in April.
Among the new cases, 28% were also linked to cluster infections.
Updated
Victoria was directly offered Australian defence force assistance for hotel quarantine in early April, emails released to the hotel quarantine inquiry have revealed.
The federal government has long-criticised the Victorian government for not initially taking up offers of ADF support for hotel quarantine during the first wave, and deciding instead to use private security guards. Infection control breaches at hotel quarantine have resulted in 99% of the thousands of Covid infections in Victoria since late May.
At least 34 security guards across two quarantine hotels tested positive for Covid-19.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has repeatedly denied that ADF support was on offer. Last month, he told a state parliament inquiry no support was offered.
Updated
Regional Victoria ‘step 3’ roadmap restrictions and lockdown rules explained.
The state government has announced that regional Victoria will now move to step three of the state’s roadmap out of lockdown from midnight on Wednesday 16 September.
Stage 3 restrictions were previously in effect across all of regional Victoria from Thursday 6 August. Metropolitan Melbourne entered stage 4 restrictions from Sunday 2 August and you can find out all about stage 4 restrictions here.
A statewide mandatory mask policy has also been in effect since Monday 3 August.
The Victorian government has released a roadmap for easing coronavirus restrictions, with the government expecting to move into the final step from 23 November if the entire state has recorded zero new cases for 14 days. .
Until then, here are some of the main things you need to know about the step three restrictions in regional Victoria:
Updated
And it’s good morning from me, Amelia Hill. I’lll be with you for the next few hours, keeping you company as the news rolls across the world.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
My colleague Amelia Hill will take it from here.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
-
There are nearly 30m coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, with 29,136,553 confirmed so far. The number of deaths has passed 925,000.
- China expects a vaccine to be ready as soon as November. Wu Guizhen, head of biosafety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said she expected Chinese vaccines for Covid-19 would soon be available to the public as soon as November or December. China, the world’s largest producer of vaccines, accounts for nine of the 30 vaccines undergoing human trials. Last week, the University of Hong Kong, working with mainland Chinese researchers, said a nasal spray vaccine was entering clinical trials.
- India’s death toll crossed 80,000 on Tuesday, after 1,054 people died in 24 hours. India also reported 83,809 new coronavirus infections for its lowest daily jump in a week, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
- South Korea will secure early supply of the novel coronavirus vaccines for 30 million people, or 60% of its population, prime minister Chung Sye-kyun told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
- A new national lockdown could be imposed in Wales within weeks unless people follow the updated rules on social gatherings, the country’s health minister has said.
- At least 14 refugees have tested positive for Covid-19, according to officials on Lesbos where efforts are under way to move thousands of people left homeless by devastating fires, in what had once been Europe’s biggest migrant camp in Moria, into a new facility.
- Jordan will suspend schools for two weeks from Thursday and close places of worship, restaurants and public markets as part of renewed restrictions after a record rise in coronavirus cases in the last few days, Reuters reports.
Updated
Road traffic congestion in outer London is now far higher than it was last year as people have gone back into their cars after lockdown, according to new data.
Congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August, and has increased to nearly a fifth on average above last year, in roads outside the capital’s central congestion charging zone, even while it has dropped sharply in the centre of the city.
The most congested day so far was Monday 7 September, when congestion stood at 153% of 2019 levels. That coincided with many schools returning to the classroom, and followed government messages pressing people to return to the office rather than continue to work from home, as millions of office workers have been doing:
India death toll passes 80,000
India reported 83,809 new coronavirus infections for its lowest daily jump in a week, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
The world’s second-most populous nation appeared to be on course to cross the milestone of 5 million cases on Wednesday, as its tally of 4.93 million is just 70,000 short.
India, where cases have been rising faster than any other nation, lags only the United States in terms of its number of total infections.
The death toll crossed 80,000 on Tuesday, swelled by 1, 054 in the last 24 hours, the ministry added.
The world’s poorest countries risk a lost decade of development unless leaders move quickly to help them recover from the fallout of Covid-19, Melinda Gates told the Guardian.
The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has committed $350m (£270m) to support the global response to the pandemic, said it was in the hands of the global community to decide the long-term impact:
China expects vaccine to be ready as soon as November
Wu Guizhen, head of biosafety at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said she expected Chinese vaccines for Covid-19 would soon be available to the public as soon as November or December.
Speaking to state broadcaster CCTV, Wu said: “It will be very soon. The progress is currently very smooth.”
China, the world’s largest producer of vaccines, accounts for nine of the 30 vaccines currently undergoing human trials. Last week, the University of Hong Kong, working with mainland Chinese researchers, said a nasal spray vaccine was entering clinical trials.
Thousands of Chinese residents have been given experimental vaccines made by Chinese companies, including China National Biotec Group, a subsidiary of the state-owned Sinopharm, and Sinovac Biotech. In June, authorities approved using an experimental vaccine on those in the military and in July, medical workers and others in “high risk jobs” have been given vaccines.
As the global vaccine race heats up, China has promised to give its partners access to its treatment, prompting worries over vaccines being used as a diplomatic or political tool.
At home, health experts have said that not everyone will need to be vaccinated. Over the weekend, Gao Fu, director of China’s CDC said medical workers, Chinese nationals in overseas virus hotspots, and others would be prioritised.
Gao, along with Wu have both been given experimental vaccines. Wu, speaking on CCTV, said she took one in April. “In the past few months I have felt very good. There’s been no change. And when I received the vaccine there was no local pain,” she said.
Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to redirect the Israeli public’s attention from a recently announced three-week lockdown to a White House ceremony formalising recent diplomatic breakthroughs with two Arab states.
Hosted by his close ally Donald Trump, Netanyahu will on Tuesday sign agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that, while falling short of full peace deals, allow the countries to establish open business, direct flights and diplomatic relations.
“We now have two historic peace agreements, with two Arab countries, which were established in one month,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday before departing for the United States. “We are at the threshold of a new era”:
Podcast: Covid-19 ethics: Should we deliberately infect volunteers in the name of science?
Would you be willing to have a dose of Sars-CoV-2 sprayed up your nose for medical research? For thousands around the world, the answer is yes. Eager volunteers have already signed up to take part in human challenge trials, where participants would be deliberately infected with the virus in order to better understand the disease, and rapidly develop a treatment or vaccine. But should such studies go ahead with a dangerous and relatively new virus?
The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out progress on lofty goals such as ending world poverty and hunger in the next decade, but the economic damage of Covid-19 shows how badly such global development is needed, philanthropist Bill Gates said in remarks accompanying Monday’s release of a global development report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The report outlines ways in which Covid-19 has wreaked economic damage and derailed progress on many of the global development goals adopted by the United Nations five years ago.
“The Covid-19 pandemic not only stopped progress, it kicked it backward,” said Gates, who co-founded Microsoft Corp, in a conference call with reporters. He and his wife Melinda set up the philanthropic foundation in 2000.
UN members unanimously passed 17 Sustainable Development Goals, known as SDGs, in 2015, that read like a blueprint of ambitious tasks from ending hunger and gender inequality to expanding access to education and health care.
The goals had a deadline of 2030.
The number of people living in extreme poverty had been dropping for two decades, but the coronavirus crisis has pushed nearly 37 million more into the category, the report said.
It said the pandemic has widened inequality between men and women in terms of unpaid work, with women handling more child care and housework than ever before.
South Korea will secure an early supply of coronavirus vaccines for 60% of population
South Korea will secure early supply of the novel coronavirus vaccines for 30 million people, or 60% of its population, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
While authorities would like to inoculate the country’s entire population of 52 million, uncertainty around the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and development was limiting South Korea’s investment, Chung said.
Chung said the government will negotiate with the relevant international organisations and vaccine makers to secure the early supply of the Covid-19 vaccines and would buy more as the development proceeds.
In August, South Korea said it planned to join the COVAX facility, a global Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to help buy and fairly distribute the shots.
South Korea will purchase 20 million doses of vaccines from the COVAX scheme, available for 10 million people, and 40 million doses from private drug makers, the health authorities said in a statement.
South Korea’s SK Bioscience in July agreed to manufacture AstraZeneca*s experimental vaccine, that has shown promise against the coronavirus, to help the British company build global supplies.
Novavax Inc last month separately said SK Bioscience, a unit of SK Chemicals, would manufacture a component of the U.S. drug developer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine in a bid to boost its supply.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 106 new coronavirus cases as of Monday midnight, which brought the total number of infections to 22,391, and the total Covid-19 death tally to 367.
Updated
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 1,407 to 261,762, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.
The death toll rose by 12 to 9,362, the tally showed.
In Sydney, Australia someone is putting up posters featuring Pope Francis’s warning that gossip is worse than coronavirus, my Naaman Zhou reports:
you’ll be pleased to hear that someone has been posting these up around my suburb pic.twitter.com/ab3K5P1xDD
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) September 15, 2020
The New York Times reports that coronavirus cases in the midwestern United States have reached an all-time high for the region:
Case numbers surged in the Northeast this spring. They spiked early this summer in the South and the West. And now, even as parts of the country experience rapid improvement, reports of new infections have soared in the Midwest.
Updated
Podcast: Why blaming young people for the Covid-19 spike could backfire
Before introducing new rules banning private gatherings of more than six people, the health secretary pointed the finger at young people for increasing rates of coronavirus. But could a blame game be counterproductive?
“Put on the mask!”
Maske aufsetzen! 😷 pic.twitter.com/EvfuldzArm
— Jörn F. (@joerninberlin) September 13, 2020
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
New Zealand reported no new cases of Covid-19 spread in the community on Tuesday.
The three new cases diagnosed in the country were all in travelers returning to New Zealand, all of whom are in quarantine at managed isolation facilities.
The news of no reported domestic cases comes a day after Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, announced current coronavirus restrictions on social gatherings would remain for a further week – at which point, her government will begin to ease them if community spread of the virus appears to have come under control.
New Zealand already vanquished the virus once, in June – at one point there were no active cases of Covid-19 in the country – but a resurgence in the largest city, Auckland, led to a second lockdown, which is now being eased.
Health officials said Tuesday that there are 83 cases of Covid-19 in the country, with 55 of them in the community and 28 imported cases in quarantine facilities. Four people are in hospital, two of them in intensive care.
A total of 1,450 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in New Zealand, with 24 deaths.
Mainland China reported eight new Covid-19 cases on 14 September, down from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said in a statement on Tuesday.
The National Health Commission said all new reported cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas. The commission also reported nine new asymptomatic cases, down from 39 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases now stands at 85,202. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Why are more than 25,000 Australians still stranded overseas, six months into the pandemic?
When international borders shut at the beginning of the pandemic in March, tens of thousands of Australians living and travelling overseas upended their plans and began to return home, as the government told them to.
Australia’s first wave of Covid-19 was largely attributed to the hordes of international arrivals, who were testing positive during their stays in mandatory hotel quarantine.
Six months after Australian prime minister Scott Morrison called on citizens to return home, more than 25,000 Australians who want to fly home are still stuck in countries around the world.
So, why can’t Australians overseas get home?
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Peugeot Citroen (PSA) announced on Monday they’d modified the terms of their mega-merger in light of business disruptions caused by Covid-19, AFP reports.
FCA agreed to lower the exceptional dividend to be distributed to its shareholders to €2.9bn ($3.4bn), compared to €5.5bn ($6.5bn) previously, while PSA will distribute its 46 percent stake in French automotive equipment maker Faurecia to all shareholder of the new company, rather than to its shareholders alone as agreed to previously.
The decision was made to “take into account the impact on liquidity the Covid-19 health crisis has had on the automotive industry,” the companies said in a joint press release, while “preserving the original balance of the merger” which should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
They were approved “unanimously” by the boards of directors of both companies “with the strong support of their reference shareholders,” FCA and PSA said.
The tie-up, which was announced at the end of October, will create Stellantis, set to be the world’s fourth-largest automaker in terms of volume, and number three in terms of sales.
The combined company unites brands such as Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Maserati into a global giant, each of which will continue under its own marque.
An outbreak of African Swine Fever threatens to keep German pork locked in the European Union with China, South Korea and Japan all banning shipments, a major setback in an already challenging year for meat producers following Covid-19 outbreaks at plants, Reuters reports.
German wholesale pig prices fell 14% on Friday after a case of ASF was found in a wild boar in the east of the country and major buyers on the international market quickly responded by banning shipments from the EU’s top producer in what was due to be a big sales year.
In China, the world’s biggest pork producer, the disease caused hundreds of millions of pigs to be culled and raised imports of protein from other sources.
German pork exports to China are worth around €1bn ($1.2bn) annually, and volumes had doubled in the first four months of this year on soaring demand after Chinese output shrank around 20%.
“The Chinese export stop is a hard blow for farmers and for industry in Germany,” said André Vielstaedte, spokesman for Germany’s largest meatpacker and exporter Toennies.
African swine fever spreads through contact with infected animals and can also be spread by people and trucks. It is almost always fatal in pigs but does not harm people.
Germany has sought a limited, regional ban on exports as the outbreak near the Polish border is hundreds of kilometres from the major producing region in north-west Germany. Whereas the concept of a regional ban exists in intra-EU trade, China has so far stuck to a national ban.
In the US, a House subcommittee is launching an investigation into whether political appointees have meddled with routine government scientific data to better align with President Donald Trumps public statements about the coronavirus pandemic, following a report that one such appointee claimed scientists were trying to undermine Trump, The AP reports.
The Democrat-led subcommittee said Monday that it is requesting transcribed interviews with seven officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services, including communications aide Michael Caputo. Caputo has often publicly pushed back on CDC statements about the coronavirus and said falsely in a Facebook video on Sunday that the CDC has a resistance unit against Trump, according to The New York Times. His page has since been made private.
According to a report in Politico, Caputo, along with scientific adviser Paul Alexander, pressured officials to alter the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, a long-running weekly journal that features the latest science-based research and data on infectious diseases. Known as MMWR, the report has long been a sacred government information resource for doctors, scientists and researchers tracking outbreaks.
The officials pressured CDC to change the reports, at times retroactively, to better align them with Trumps often rosier public statements about the coronavirus, Politico reported.
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield, the Democratic members of the subcommittee said they are gravely concerned about the reports of political meddling in a journal that has long been free of political interference.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours. You can send me news and anything that sparks joy on Twitter @helenrsullivan and via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
The World Health Organization has warned that Europe will face rising deaths from the coronavirus during autumn. The WHO Regional Office for Europe told Deutche Welle, “We expect an increase of COVID-19 cases, which sadly means more cases of death.”
There are nearly 30m coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, with 29,136,553 confirmed so far. The number of deaths has passed 925,000.
- There are nearly 30m coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, with 29,136,553 confirmed so far. The number of deaths has passed 925,000.
- A new national lockdown could be imposed in Wales within weeks unless people follow the updated rules on social gatherings, the country’s health minister has said.
- At least 14 refugees have tested positive for Covid-19, according to officials on Lesbos where efforts are underway to move thousands of people left homeless by devastating fires, in what had once been Europe’s biggest migrant camp in Moria, into a new facility.
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Jordan will suspend schools for two weeks from Thursday and close places of worship, restaurants and public markets as part of renewed restrictions after a record rise in coronavirus cases in the last few days, Reuters reports.
- US president Donald Trump held a Nevada campaign rally at an indoor venue on Sunday despite public health professionals’ warnings against large indoor gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. People in the crowd were seated close together and many did not wear masks.
- The World Health Organization reported a record single-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Sunday, as the tally surged by a further 307,930 infections in just 24 hours.
- Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi left hospital on Monday 11 days after being admitted with coronavirus, describing it as “perhaps the most difficult ordeal of my life.”
- The imposition of a second lockdown in Israel has left the country staggering, with fears that three weeks of shuttered businesses and restricting people to their homes could devastate livelihoods.
- Queues formed outside schools across Italy on Monday as 5.6 million pupils returned to classrooms for the first time in over six months. Schools in 12 Italian regions reopened in what prime minister Giuseppe Conte said was a “big test for the state”.
- The French prime minister, Jean Castex, has instructed the authorities in Marseille, Bordeaux and the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to detail extra measures to halt the spread of Covid-19 by the end of Monday.
- The World Health Organization expects Europe to see a rise in the daily number of Covid-19 deaths in October and November, the head of the body’s European branch has told AFP.
- Public Health England said that as of 9am on Monday, there had been a further 2,621 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. Overall, 371,125 cases have been confirmed.PHE also said a further nine people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday. This brings the UK total to 41,637.
- Russia has reported 5,509 new coronavirus cases today, pushing its national tally to 1,068,320, the fourth largest in the world. Authorities said 57 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 18,635.
- An American woman has been accused of spreading coronavirusaround a Bavarian town by allegedly drinking in pubs and bars despite being told to quarantine after showing coronavirus symptoms.
- Authorities in the Indonesian capital Jakarta reimposed a partial lockdown on Monday and vowed to strictly isolate anyone testing positive for Covid-19 as infections soared in the metropolis.
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Spain has logged another huge leap in Covid cases, reporting 27,4o4 new infections since last Friday and bringing its total to 593,730.
According to the latest figures from the health ministry, 116,464 cases have been diagnosed over the past two weeks and there have been 207 deaths over the past seven days.
Updated
