We are closing this live blog now, but you can stay up to date on all our coverage with our new global blog which you can find below.
Summary
Here the latest developments at a glance:
- Latin America has reported more new coronavirus cases than either the United States or Europe for three days in a row, driven by high numbers in Brazil, Peru and Mexico, CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University and World Health Organization data shows. The region reported at least 32,854 new cases on Wednesday, more than half of which were in Brazil.
- Italy’s coronavirus death toll in March and April could be nearly 19,000 higher than the official figure of 32,000, the national social security agency said Thursday. As of Friday, the pandemic has claimed 32,486 deaths in Italy, of which 26,715 have been in Lombardy alone, Europe’s worst affected region.
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Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro said he will sign off a 60 billion-real ($10.72 bn) federal aid programme for states and cities hit by coronavirus, but asked governors for support by freezing public sector pay increases. Brazil has just passed another grim coronavirus milestone, with more than 20,000 deaths now officially confirmed.
- A scientific adviser to the British government, Ian Boyd, has said that, had ministers acted “a week or two weeks earlier” in the virus pandemic, it would have made “quite a big difference” to the death rate.
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Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov is possibly ill with Covid-19 and in a Moscow hospital suffering from suspected coronavirus, Russian news agencies reported, adding the ally of Vladimir Putin was “under medical supervision” and in a “stable” condition.
- Russia’s industrial output fell by 6.6 percent in April compared to the previous year, with its economy predicted to shrink by up to six percent in 2020. Russia imposed a “non-working” period across the country at the end of April, and Russia’s Audit Chamber predicts that the number of unemployed will grow from 2.5 million to eight million this year.
- Half of Facebook’s workforce could shift to permanent home working by the end of the decade, founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed, saying it was “quite possible” that over the next five to 10 years about 50% of staff at the company could be working from hom
- More than 1,200 California pastors say they will resume in-person services this month in defiance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus. California has more than 85,700 coronavirus cases and more than 3,400 deaths.
- Puerto Rico will cautiously reopen beaches, restaurants, churches, malls and hair salons next week under strict new rules as the US territory emerges from a two-month lockdown that stifled business activity on an island that now has a 40% unemployment rate.
That’s all from me, I’m now handing over to my colleague Alison Rourke.
Updated
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil has just passed another grim coronavirus milestone, with more than 20,000 deaths from Covid-19 now officially confirmed here.
On Thursday evening Brazil’s health ministry announced a daily record of 1,188 deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of officially recorded deaths to 20,047.
Brazil also confirmed another 18,508 infections, taking the total number to 310,087. That is the third highest number in the world, after the US and Russia.
Despite Brazil’s rising death toll the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, continues to downplay the dangers of the coronavirus, which he has repeatedly dismissed as “a bit of a cold” and “a little flu”.
On Thursday, just hours before the new death toll was announced, Bolsonaro claimed the pandemic’s threat had been exaggerated with “a great deal of propaganda”.
“This has brought dread to the heart of the Brazilian family,” Bolsonaro complained.
Sub-notification and low rates of testing mean the real number of infections and deaths are likely to be substantially higher. Some experts fear Brazil’s death toll could rise to at least 100,000 in the coming months.
Updated
A scientific adviser to the British government has said that he would have liked ministers to have acted “a week or two weeks earlier” in the virus pandemic, the BBC reports.
Ian Boyd, who sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises ministers on Covid-19, said “it would have made “quite a big difference” to the death rate.
Ministers have always insisted they have been guided by the scientific advice during the pandemic.
The official death toll in the UK currently stands at 36,042.
Boyd started attending Sage meetings a month ago.
“Acting very early was really important and I would have loved to have seen us acting a week or two weeks earlier and it would have made quite a big difference to the steepness of the curve of infection and therefore the death rate,” he said.
“And I think that’s really the number one issue - could we have acted earlier? Were the signs there earlier on?”
Boyd suggested that the government based its initial assessment on the transmissibility of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus, which is less infectious than this coronavirus.
Updated
Here a picture of US president Donald Trump holding up but not wearing a face shield during a tour of Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan on Thursday. The wearing of masks is mandatory at the plant.
The plant is manufacturing ventilators, masks and other medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.
and holds up a protective face shield during a tour of the plant on May 21, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters
Updated
Austria’s hotels will reopen as planned on 29 May, chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Thursday.
Infection rates were low enough to allow a reopening of the tourism sector, he said, according to Der Standard newspaper.
Up to 65,000 tourism industry workers will be tested regularly for coronavirus until early July, under a programme that is financed by the government.
Austria has so far recorded 633 Covid-19 deaths.
Updated
Puerto Rico will cautiously reopen beaches, restaurants, churches, malls and hair salons next week under strict new rules as the US territory emerges from a two-month lockdown that stifled business activity on an island already beset with economic woes.
Governor Wanda Vázquez announced Thursday that most businesses will reopen on Tuesday, but a 7pm to 5am curfew will remain in place until June 15, the Associated Press reports.
All people will be required to wear a mask when outside or inside a business, regardless of what they are doing.
Restaurants will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity. Hair salons and barber shops will welcome clients by appointment only. People doing exercise, such as surfing, jogging, swimming or kayaking, will be allowed at the beach from 5am to 7pm. Stores and malls will be allowed to reopen but under limited capacity, and people will be prohibited from trying on clothes, among other restrictions.
Many Puerto Ricans, including business owners, cheered the highly anticipated announcement. Health experts warned that the government has not tested enough people or conducted enough contact tracing and is not prepared for a possible spike in new infections.
Puerto Ricos Health Department has reported more than 2,900 confirmed Covid-19 cases and at least 126 deaths, and dozens of additional infections still emerge every day.
Officials do not regularly update statistics, including how many people have been tested or how many have recovered. Until recently, the island had a lower per-capita testing rate than any US state.
Puerto Rico’s lockdown caused the unemployment rate to spike to an estimated 40% on an island of 3.2 million people with a poverty rate of more than 40%, higher than any U.S. state.
US president Donald Trump is eager to get back on the campaign trail and said on Thursday he may have to stage rallies at outdoor sites until the coronavirus pandemic settles down enough for traditional events, Reuters reports.
“We got to get back to the rallies,” Trump told reporters during a tour of a Ford auto plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan. “I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”
With little more than five months left until the election, Trump is behind Democratic rival Joe Biden in national polls and in some battleground states, such as Michigan, which he won in 2016.
A senior campaign official said the campaign was aiming for as early as mid-June to hold a rally, with preferred locations in battleground states like Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
A Trump adviser said a mid-June timetable might be too optimistic, that it might have to wait until after the July 4 holiday.
The president has been told by his advisers that he is facing a race in 2020 tougher than his improbable victory in 2016, the adviser said.
Trump said rallies could be held first in his adopted home state of Florida or Georgia, “whoever opens first.”
“We might do some outdoor big ones and we also may just wait until some of the stadiums can open up,” he said. “The demand has been incredible to get going with the rallies.”
Half of Facebook’s workforce could shift to permanent home working by the end of the decade, founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed, according to the Press Association.
The social network’s chief set out his vision to employees on Thursday, prompted by the coronavirus crisis which has forced companies across the globe to embrace remote working in recent months.
Zuckerberg said it is “quite possible” that over the next five to 10 years about 50% of staff at the company could be working from home, though he warned that those interested could see salaries cut if they decide to be located away from big cities where living expenses tend to be higher.
The tech giant also plans to “aggressively open up” remote hiring, though the process will be staggered, starting with experienced engineers living in the US and Canada.
“This is fundamentally about changing our culture, in the way that we all are going to work long-term, so I think I’m optimistic about this direction, but I want to make sure that we move forward in a measured way,” Zuckerberg said.
“At the same time, I also want to emphasise that I just think Covid is going to be with us for a while to come.”
The 36-year-old hopes that the move will help retain workers that want to live in areas further away from offices, while attracting new talent from further afield.
More than 95% of Facebook’s staff are currently working from home due to Covid-19.
The success of permanent remote working would “rely on the honour code”, Zuckerberg said, adding it was vital for tax and accounting purposes for people to declare their locations.
Updated
Italy's death toll could be 60% higher than assumed
Italy’s coronavirus death toll in March and April could be nearly 19,000 higher than the official figure of 32,000, the national social security agency said Thursday.
The Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS), the largest social security and welfare institute in Italy, said in a new study that the official death figures were not “reliable”, according to AFP.
Its study showed that 156,42 total deaths were recorded in Italy in March and April, which is 46,909 higher than the average number of fatalities in those months recorded between 2015 and 2019.
But only 27,938 deaths linked to coronavirus were reported during that period by the Civil Protection Agency, whose toll forms the basis of national statistics, the INPS said.
That meant there were 18,971 excess deaths during this period, with the vast majority of 18,412 recorded in the coronavirus-ravaged north of the country.
“Given the fact that the number of deaths is quite stable in these times, we can - with necessary caution - attribute a large portion of these deaths during these past two months to the epidemic,” the INPS said.
It added that the increase in deaths was likely not only due to the disease, but from people suffering from other illnesses unable to get healthcare due to hospitals being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Friday, the pandemic has claimed 32,486 deaths in Italy, of which 26,715 have been in Lombardy alone, Europe’s worst affected region.
A two-day-old baby has died because of a coronavirus-related condition in South Africa, the government said Thursday.
The baby was born preterm with lung difficulties and had to be put on a ventilator, according to a statement from the health ministry, CNN reports.
“The mother had tested positive for Covid-19, and the child subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 as well. It is important to appreciate the complexities of the underlying condition of prematurity,” the statement read.
The baby is among the 27 coronavirus deaths announced Wednesday, bringing the total number to 339, according to the ministry.
With more than 18,000 cases, South Africa has the highest number of coronavirus patients on the continent.
Updated
Our US live blog is reporting that once again Donald Trump has carried out an official visit without wearing a face mask. The US president, who was touring a Ford factory in Michigan that has been adapted to making medical equipment, said that he did not require a mask all the time as he is tested frequently for coronavirus.
Read more on our US blog.
Updated
Data on coronavirus infections that was a key driver in Governor Brian Kemps’ aggressive push to reopen the US state of Georgia was flawed and may have distorted perceptions of progress against the virus, the Associated Press reports.
Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in a statement on Thursday that the department included antibody tests when calculating the total number of tests conducted since early April.
She said about 57,000 of the 407,000 total tests reported to the state had been antibody tests, about 14%.
Conflating tests looking for antibodies and tests aimed at detecting the virus can create confusion about the current impact of the virus, said Richard Rothenberg, an infectious disease expert at Georgia State University, adding that the mistake would have made a substantial impact on the perception of the outbreak.
Kemp relied on the state seeing a downward trajectory of the percentage of positive tests when making his decision to be one of the first states in the nation to allow business to reopen. Salons, restaurants, gyms and other businesses in Georgia were given the green light to reopen in April.
Kemp’s spokeswoman Candice Broce declined to comment.
Updated
More than 1,200 California pastors to defy stay-at-home order
Speaking of churches: More than 1,200 California pastors say they will resume in-person services this month in defiance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus.
California has more than 85,700 coronavirus cases and more than 3,400 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The number of people infected is probably higher because of a lack of testing.
More here:
Churches in the Iranian capital Tehran were given a deep-clean on Thursday, according to Living in Tehran.
So far, 7,249 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in Iran, and new infections have risen sharply since the country relaxed its restrictions on movement on 11 April.
Churches across the north-central parts of Tehran got intensive disinfection by the city authorities on May 21.@LivinginTehran, your guide to the city. pic.twitter.com/2HMB4ZYsiV
— Living in Tehran (@LivinginTehran) May 21, 2020
Russian economy battered by Covid-19
Russia’s industrial output fell by 6.6 percent in April compared to the previous year, dampened by the country’s coronavirus lockdown, according to the state statistics agency Rosstat.
Russia imposed a “non-working” period across the country at the end of April which “served as the decisive factor in lowering industrial output,” Rosstat said in a statement, AFP reports.
Industries were delivered a double blow as president Vladimir Putin ordered companies to stop work activities but continue paying salaries.
At the same time, “consumer demand fell for a range of goods and services,” the agency said.
Russia’s commodities sector only decreased by 3.2 percent year on year, and oil production actually grew by 0.2 percent, the agency said, noting that for many of those companies ceasing activity was not possible.
The automotive sector was the worst-hit, plummeting by 79.2 percent, while the pharmaceutical industries showed growth of 13.5 percent year on year.
Each month in lockdown could cost Russia between 20 and 30 percent of monthly growth, according to calculations by the ING.
The Central Bank last month predicted that Russian economy would shrink by up to six percent in 2020.
Russia’s Audit Chamber predicts that the number of unemployed will grow from 2.5 million to eight million this year.
Updated
Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov was on Thursday in hospital in Moscow suffering from suspected coronavirus, Russian news agencies reported, according to AFP.
“Ramzan Kadyrov was taken by plane to Moscow with a suspected case of coronavirus. Now (he) is under medical supervision,” state news agency TASS reported, citing a medical source who also said Kadyrov was in a “stable” condition.
News agency RIA Novosti also quoted a medical source as saying Kadyrov, 43, was in hospital in Moscow, while Interfax quoted a Moscow medical source saying he was being treated and “suspected of having coronavirus”.
If confirmed, Kadyrov would be the latest senior official to contract the virus after prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and several ministers.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Chechnya or Moscow.
Updated
Brazil's PM to sign off federal aid programme
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro said he will sign off a 60 billion-real ($10.72 billion) federal aid programme for states and cities hit by coronavirus, but asked governors for support freezing public sector pay increases.
The bill to distribute federal money to states and municipalities was approved by Congress earlier this month. However, Bolsonaro has not signed off on it due to pressure from economy minister Paulo Guedes, who is pushing for more fiscal austerity, Reuters reports.
Bolsonaro is under growing pressure for his handling of the outbreak, which looks set to cripple the Brazilian economy and threatens his re-election hopes. In the coming days, Brazil is likely to become the world’s second-worst affected country, behind only to the United States.
Nearly 19,000 have died so far from the virus in Brazil, with 291,579 confirmed cases. The true number of infections and deaths is likely to be higher as Brazil has not been carrying out widespread testing.
Bolsonaro’s relationship with governors and mayors has grown increasingly bitter. The president is angry over shutdowns they have implemented to stop the virus’ spread and argues that keeping the economy running is more important.
In return for signing off on the aid package, Bolsonaro asked governors for their backing in specific measures freezing public sector pay increases for two years.
Updated
Guatemala’s president has criticised the US for continuing to send deportees infected with coronavirus to the country which is struggling to manage the crisis, reports Associated Press.
On Thursday, Alejandro Giammattei said: “Guatemala is an ally of the United States, but the United States is not Guatemala’s ally. They don’t treat us like an ally.”
Giammattei is the first of central America’s leaders to speak out against the US policy that has sent thousands of deportees back to their countries since the pandemic began.
Guatemala has confirmed 119 deportees arrived with Covid-19 from the United States. The country has suspended the deportation flights on several occasions after infected passengers were detected, but resumed them after assurances from US authorities.
The last flight with deportees who tested positive in Guatemala arrived on 13 May from Louisiana. Officials have said 16 of them have tested positive.
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed this week that all 65 of those aboard that flight had been tested prior to departure. Fifteen more Guatemalans scheduled to be on that flight tested positive and were returned to detention facilities where they were isolated from other detainees.
Updated
Strict coronavirus lockdowns in Guatemala and El Salvador have battered local economies to the extent that hundreds of families are flying white flags outside their homes or waving them in the street: not in surrender, but to seek food and assistance, Reuters reports.
After 50 days of lockdown, many people in El Salvador have lost their livelihoods.
In March, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, issued a $300 voucher to 1.5 million poor families, about three-quarters of the population.
Food protests have broken out in countries including Venezuela and Chile.
Updated
Latin America has reported more new coronavirus cases than either the United States or Europe for three days in a row, driven by high numbers in Brazil, Peru and Mexico, CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University and World Health Organization data shows.
The region reported at least 32,854 new cases on Wednesday, more than half of which were in Brazil.
The United States reported 22,534 new cases that day, according to Johns Hopkins University, while Europe, including Russia, reported about 17,900, according to the WHO. Both agencies rely on national governments for their data.
Updated
Here is a nice little clip from ABC’s James Longman on a walk through the deserted streets of Santorini, one of Greece’s most popular tourist resorts.
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has said that the country’s tourism season will begin on 15 June. “Let us make this summer the epilogue of the [Covid-19] crisis,” he said in a televised address on Wednesday.
Alone on Santorini pic.twitter.com/EtEMauNAJ6
— James Longman (@JamesAALongman) May 21, 2020
Updated
The growth rate of new confirmed coronavirus cases in France slowed slightly on Thursday, with health authorities reporting an additional 318 known infections, an increase of 0.2% over 24 hours.
The rate of increases in reported deaths also slowed a little, with 83 Covid-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 28,215, Reuters reports.
The number of new cases and deaths increased by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively on Wednesday.
Thursday is a public holiday in France, and nursing homes in particular can be slower to report fatalities and cases on weekends and national holidays.
In the last two weeks of the lockdown, the daily rise in the number of confirmed cases was on average 0.8%.
Genevieve Chene, head of health authority Sante Publique France (SPF), said this week there were no signs the pandemic was picking up, despite some new infection clusters, after France began emerging cautiously from lockdown on 11 May.
Hello everyone, I’m taking over from my colleague Damien Gayle. If you want to share updates or tips, please feel free to email me or message me on Twitter.
Summary
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
- The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide in 24 hours – the most in a single day. The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the virus was spreading in poorer countries, just as wealthier nations were emerging from lockdown.
- Spain’s daily death toll from the novel coronavirus was 48, its health ministry said on Thursday, marking the first time it has dipped below 50 since 16 March. However, its figures did not include those for Catalonia, where officials were still double checking their report.
- Apple has launched a Covid-19 exposure notification feature in the latest update of its iPhone operating system. The software will offer health authorities a way to build apps that can alert people about corona-positive users they have come into contact with, while preserving their anonymity.
- The total number of initial unemployment benefit claims filed in the US since mid-March is now over 38 million, or over a fifth of the US workforce. It is the ninth week in a row in which millions of US citizens signed on for welfare benefits, having lost their jobs in the lockdown.
- East Africa is facing “triple menace” of floods, locusts and Covid-19, the Red Cross warned. The region was in the grip of mutually exacerbating disasters, as ongoing heavy rain hampers attempts to deal with swarms of locusts in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the agency.
- Bangladesh has reported its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases, as it begins cleaning up after the fiercest cyclone to hit the country since 1999 - 1,773 more people tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 28,511.
- Afghanistan’s health ministry said it has run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in most parts of the war-torn country, as the capital Kabul recorded its second worst day of the crisis.
- The official coronavirus death toll in Russia passed 3,000 on Thursday, as a US transport plane made its way to deliver ventilators to help treat Russian patients severely ill with Covid-19.
- Eating wild animals is now officially banned in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first coronavirus cases were recorded. According to the Wuhan municipal government it is now prohibited to eat, hunt or breed wild animals.
That’s it from me, Damien Gayle, for another day. I will be back tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Donald Trump, the president, has announced that he has tested positively negative for the coronavirus.
Trump on his latest coronavirus test: "I tested very positively in another sense, so, this morning, yeah. I tested positively toward negative, right? So, no. I tested perfectly this morning, meaning I tested negative. But that's a way of saying it. Positively toward the negative" pic.twitter.com/El53NhCqOL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 21, 2020
Had the US begun social distancing just one week earlier, the country would have prevented 36,000 deaths through early May, according to researchers at Columbia University, writes Kenya Evelyn in Washington for the Guardian US.
Had action been taken two weeks earlier, by 1 March, 54,000 fewer Americans would have died of the virus, the researchers determined.
“It’s a big, big difference,” Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia and the leader of the research team, told the New York Times. “That small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths.”
Using infectious-disease modeling to examine the spread of the virus from mid-March, the epidemiologists were able to track how reduced contact between people slowed the virus’s transmission.
The country remained social and open for business for much of March, including for sports , political rallies and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Only 500 coronavirus infections had been reported nationwide at the time.
By April, large clusters were evident, including in major cities like New York.
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said antibody tests suggest that 17% of people in London and 5% in the rest of the country may have had coronavirus.
If true, the figure constitutes a remarkable spread of the virus despite the government-imposed lockdown to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. It would be more than twice the spread of the virus in Stockholm, Sweden, where no official lockdown was imposed, yet just 7% of people have been found to be carrying antibodies.
In the UK government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Hancock also said the government has signed a deal with pharmaceutical companies Roche and Abbott that will lead to 10m antibody tests being available in the UK.
The UK reported 338 more deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, taking its total official death toll to 36,042 - about 3,500 more than Italy the next worst off country in Europe by death toll. The latest update also reported that 2,615 more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the UK’s total number of confirmed cases to 250,908.
Air travellers in Europe will have to wear face masks throughout all stages of their journey, they could be assessed in interview booths if they show signs of Covid-19, and will need to say goodbye to loved ones outside the airport, according to guidelines issued by the EU’s air safety body, writes Rob Davies for the Guardian’s business desk.
Instructions issued to airports and airlines also include: restrictions on hand luggage, reserving an on-board toilet for cabin crew and no onboard duty free or food trolleys.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published 28-pages of guidelines that will radically alter the experience of flying, including physical distancing measures that Heathrow’s chief executive has previously said would be impossible to implement. The UK has had no role in shaping EASA policy since the official Brexit date of 31 January but remains a member until the end of the year.
Airlines and airports are likely to adopt many of the guidelines, which cover every stage of the air travel process.
(Click below for many, many more details.)
Twenty-nine cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the past three days in the Gaza strip, a senior Palestinian official said on Thursday.
Yousef Abu al-Reesh, director general of the ministry of health in the Hamas-run territory, said the number of cases in Gaza had now reached 49 since the first was detected on 5 March, China’s official news agency Xinhua reports.
All the new cases had been detected in Palestinians who had returned to Gaza through the Rafah crossing point with Egypt and the Erez crossing with Israel. They have been placed in quarantine in 16 medical centres across Gaza, Reesh said, adding that medical officials would monitor those they had been in contact with, according to the Daily Sabah.
Beijing will retaliate if the US congress passes legislation seeking sanctions against China over the coronavirus pandemic, the spokesman for the country’s parliament said Thursday, AFP reports.
Republican senators proposed legislation last week that would empower Trump to impose sanctions on China if Beijing does not give a “full accounting” for the outbreak.
At a news conference on the eve of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the parliamentary spokesman, Zhang Yesui, said:
We firmly oppose these bills, and will make a firm response and take countermeasures based on the deliberation of these bills ... It is neither responsible nor moral to cover up one’s own problems by blaming others. We will never accept any unwarranted lawsuits and demands for compensation.
In Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, where many have not earned money for months because of a strict coronavirus lockdown, three women were trampled to death in a stampede for an $8 Ramadan handout.
Some 1,000 people queued outside a businessman’s warehouse for his annual handout during the Muslim fasting month, a local member of parliament, Mujibur Rahman, told AFP.
There was a rush for the 1,500-rupee gift - about the same amount as a labourer’s daily wage - when the gates opened, he said. “Some people tried to break the queue and enter,” Rahman said. “That is when the women at the top of the queue fell and were trampled to death.”
Nine others were seriously hurt and taken to hospital, he said, adding that there was a larger-than-usual crowd during this year’s event, which has been taking place for decades.
“People have not earned any money for two months because of the virus lockdown (imposed on 20 March),” Rahman said.
“People are desperate. When they heard about today’s donation, over a thousand turned up.”
The businessman, who has not been named by authorities, and five of his assistants were arrested for violating the lockdown, Colombo’s police chief, Deshabandu Tennakoon, told reporters.
Deaths from coronavirus in Italy rose by 156 on Wednesday, against 161 on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 32,486, writes Angela Giuffrida, the Guardian’s Rome correspondent.
New infections increased by 642, compared to 665 on Wednesday, according to the civil protection authority.
There are 60,960 people who are currently infected with the virus, down by over 2,000 within the last 24 hours, and of that number 640 are in intensive care.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, told parliament on Thursday: “If the worst is behind us, we owe it to citizens, who have changed their lifestyles.” He also encouraged the public to take their holidays in Italy.
Italy is expected to allow travel between regions from early June, but possibly only to regions that are deemed to be low risk. Meanwhile, all airports are expected to reopen from 3 June.
The country has 228,006 confirmed coronavirus cases to date, including the deaths and 134,560 survivors.
Regarding the serological study that found just 1% of Danes are carrying antibodies for the coronavirus, a reader has written in to urge caution on the results.
The percentage of “immune” persons is very likely wrong as the sample size is minuscule (1,000) and the number of positives just 12. The test itself is not 100% reliable so the error bounds on your 1% number must be quite huge. Those bounds should also be reported.
Indeed, not included in my earlier blog post was the commentary from SSI, the Danish health agency, which pointed out that the tests were preliminary, and that they had only been able to carry out tests at five locations, meaning they had been limited to people living in those, or neighbouring, districts.
Furthermore, Steen Ethelberg, an SSI official, said in a statement:
Whether the figures can be applied to the entire Danish population can also be affected by whether groups with different patterns of infection choose or not choose to accept the offer to be tested.
Egypt’s minister of higher information has said the true number of coronavirus infections in the country could be over 71,000, compared to the 14,229 cases officially reported so far, writes Ruth Michaelson.
Khaled Abdel Ghaffar outlined the potential number of cases in a presentation witnessed by the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, adding that the number of confirmed cases in Egypt will break 20,000 cases next week.
“Assuming [the number of infections] is five times the figure we are counting every day … this means we do not have [around] 14,000 cases today, we have 71,145 or more,” he said. He added that this means Egypt could reach 100,000 cases by the end of this month. “This is a hypothetical model that we say could be a reality, and [the figure] can be even higher,” he said.
Egypt has recently witnessed an uptick in cases, with each day this week breaking a new record for the number of confirmed positive coronavirus test results.
But the question of just how many cases the country is dealing with has proved controversial since the beginning of the outbreak in mid-February. The Egyptian authorities pushed back hard against a study from scientists at the University of Toronto who modelled the outbreak at the beginning of March. At a time when Egypt officially had three cases, they said, the true number was more likely higher, anywhere between 6,270–45,070, with a median of 19,310.
Egyptian health ministry officials published a response in the Lancet which estimated a far smaller range as of the end of March, between 710–5,241 cases.
When the Guardian cited the University of Toronto modelling in a story, the Ministry of Health called the reporting “a disgrace to health,” and the State Information Service withdrew our permission to operate in Egypt.
The Egyptian government is currently engaged in a protracted battle with doctors over how to manage the rapidly increasing case numbers, after a health ministry official told a government health committee at the beginning of this month that the country’s quarantine hospitals are full.
Museums, zoos, theatres, cinemas and similar cultural institutions began reopening in Denmark on Thursday, after the country decided to accelerate its exit from its coronavirus lockdown.
The original plan was to closed until 8 June, but after a deal was struck in the country’s parliament late Wednesday they were instead allowed to open immediately.
“It was pure cheer. Finally, we can get started,” Peter Kjargaard, director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, told broadcaster DR.
Kjargaard added that he was excited to show off the museum’s new dinosaur exhibit, even if it wouldn’t be ready for another month.
Under the deal agreed in parliament, the Danish border remains temporarily closed, but starting next week the list of exceptions allowing travel to Denmark will be expanded to include permanent residents of all the Nordic countries and Germany wanting to visit relatives, loved ones, or homes they own in Denmark.
High school students will also begin returning to classrooms shortly.
Travellers will not need coronavirus tests or periods in quarantine to enter Serbia from 22 May, the transport minister said on Thursday after a ceremony to reopen flights after a two-month suspension.
As Air Serbia became one of the the first European airlines to resume commercial passenger flights, Serbia’s minister for construction, transport and infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlovic, was quoted as saying by Russia’s Tass news agency:
Today there will be a government session where the decision will be taken at the suggestion of the anti-coronavirus crisis centre, that starting tomorrow, the citizens of Serbia and other nations crossing into the country will not have to be tested or isolated. We rely only on personal responsibility.
Air Serbia was planning 12 international flights on Thursday, to destinations including Zurich, Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi. But the first passengers will have to comply with strict hygiene measures, including compulsory gloves and face masks, and arrive three hours prior to their flights for enhanced screening measures.
As of Thursday, Serbia had recorded 10,919 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 237 deaths, including two in the past 24 hours.
Bangladesh has reported its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases, as it begins cleaning up after the fiercest cyclone to hit the country since 1999.
The institute of epidemiology, disease control and research said 1,773 more people had tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 28,511. Of those, 5,602 have so far recovered, while 408 have died - 22 of them in the past 24 hours.
The latest figures came as Bangladesh and India began a clean-up operation after Cyclone Amphan, which killed 88 people across both countries as it flattened houses, uprooted trees, blew off roofs and toppled electricity pylons, and cause a storm surge that inundated coastal villages, AFP reports.
The UN office in Bangladesh estimates 10 million people were affected, and some 500,000 people may have lost their homes. The death toll was far lower than the many thousands killed in previous cyclones, thanks in part to improved weather forecasting and better response plans. But it has raised fears that overcrowding in storm shelters may exacerbate the spread of coronavirus.
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Spain reports lowest Covid-19 toll in over two months
Spain’s daily death toll from the novel coronavirus was 48, its health ministry said on Thursday, marking the first time it has dipped below 50 since 16 March, Reuters reports.
The cumulative death toll was 27,940, while the number of confirmed cases rose by 482 to 233,037, the ministry said.
Nearly 70 Yemenis have died from coronavirus in the only medical centre in the southern port of Aden in the 18 days to 17 May, suggesting an epidemic is under way that could engulf the country, writes Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic correspondent.
Yemen is ravaged by civil war, and protected only by minimal health services.
Médecins Sans Frontières, the agency that runs the Aden centre, said 173 patients had been admitted, suggesting around four in 10 had died.
The NGO, along with many humanitarian workers, is concerned that the absence of reliable information on the spread of the virus across Yemen could be masking a disastrous situation.
Caroline Seguin, MSF’s operations manager for Yemen, said:
What we are seeing in our treatment centre is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of people infected and dying in the city. People are coming to us too late to save, and we know that many more people are not coming at all: they are just dying at home. It is a heartbreaking situation.
MSF says as many as 80 people a day have been dying in the city during the past week, up from a pre-outbreak normal of 10. Another indication of just how widespread the outbreak has become is the number of healthcare professionals MSF is treating in the centre. Many members of MSF’s own staff are sick.
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One more person has died of Covid-19 in Singapore, taking the city state’s total death toll from the epidemic to 23, out of 29,812 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection.
The latest death was reported by the health ministry on Thursday, as it announced another 448 coronavirus cases, mostly among migrant workers who live in dormitories.
It is not clear why Singapore’s death toll from coronavirus is so low. The official figures give it a Covid-19 death rate so far of about 0.08%.
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More bad news for Sweden, as Finland’s state epidemiologist says it would be a risk for his country to accept Swedish tourists, according to a report in Swedish newspaper SVT Nyheter.
Mika Salminen, health safety manager at Finland’s institute for health and welfare, and part of his country’s epidemic response team, called the situation “unfortunate”, continuing:
It is a political decision, but the actual difference in the spread of infection is a fact, and I suppose the government, of course, takes that into account.
Sweden, SVT Nyheter’s report points out, has more cases of coronavirus than all its Nordic neighbours combined.
If Sweden was disappointed with the results of its seroprevalence studies for Covid-19 antibodies, its close neighbour Denmark, which did institute a strict lockdown, is even worse off.
A study reported on Wednesday shows that only about 1% of Danes had contracted the coronavirus, raising concerns that the country is vulnerable to a second wave.
The report was released by the Danish health agency SSI, which operates under the health ministry and is responsible for the surveillance of infectious diseases, AFP reported.
Out of 2,600 randomly selected Danes, 1,071 had so far agreed to be tested for antibodies. Only 12 of those tested positive, corresponding to a rate of about 1.1%.
Denmark, which quickly imposed a lockdown and strict new laws to contain the spread of Covid-19 has so far reported a total of 11,182 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 561 deaths.
On Wednesday evening, the Danish parliament agreed on the next phase of opening up the country after an initial lockdown period.
The country started reopening pre-schools and resuming classes for the youngest primary school children – under strict social distancing and hygiene guidelines – on 15 April. Danish middle schools followed suit this week and, with the deal struck on Wednesday, museums, movie theatres and zoos among other things would also soon reopen.
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In Italy, the prime minister has told off his compatriots for taking to the streets and having fun now that the country is easing its coronavirus lockdown.
Giuseppe Conte said in the Italian parliament on Thursday:
It’s not the time for parties, nightlife or gatherings. During this phase, more than ever it’s fundamental to respect security distances and wear masks, where necessary.
From Palermo to Turin, images of partygoers gathering in piazzas and outside bars have caused panic among regional leaders and mayors, according to the French news agency AFP.
They worry that crowds of people celebrating their freedom from quarantine may bring about another rise in infections of a disease that has already killed more than 32,000.
Luca Zaia, the regional president of Veneto, was enraged after photos showed dozens of young people packed together without masks outside a bar in Padua.
In 10 days, I’ll see the infection rates. If they rise, we’ll close bars, restaurants, beaches and we’ll lock ourselves back up again. No one wants to ban spritzes but I’m asking that we avoid gatherings and we wear masks until 2 June.
Zaia said his Veneto region planned to make a short film showing “what it means to go for a spritz without a mask”.
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Notwithstanding its disappointing seroprevalence study results (see previous post), Sweden announced 40 more deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, the lowest announced on a weekday since mid-April.
The total death toll now in the country, which eschewed the kinds of compulsory lockdowns imposed across Europe in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is now 3,871, according to its public health authority’s latest update.
New figures also showed that 649 more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, bring the total number of cases in Sweden to 32,172.
While the daily death toll in Sweden now appears to be falling, daily numbers of new infections appear to have dropped less sharply.
Updated
Jon Henley, the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, has written a full story on the results of Sweden’s Covid-19 seroprevalence studies, which I first reported on the world blog yesterday.
Just 7.3% of Stockholm’s inhabitants had developed Covid-19 antibodies by the end of April, according to a study, raising concerns that the country’s light-touch approach to the coronavirus may not be building up broad immunity, Henley writes.
The research by Sweden’s public health agency comes as figures suggest the country’s death rate per capita has been the highest in Europe for the past seven days.
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, said the antibodies figure was “a bit lower than we’d thought”, but added that it reflected the situation three weeks ago and by now “a little more than 20%” of Stockholm’s population had probably contracted the virus.
The public health agency had previously said it expected about 25% to have been infected by 1 May and Tom Britton, a maths professor who helped develop its forecasting model, said the figure from the study was surprising.
“It means either the calculations made by the agency and myself are quite wrong, which is possible, but if that’s the case it’s surprising they are so wrong,” he told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. “Or more people have been infected than developed antibodies.”
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Dublin is famous for its pubs but many would soon rather be known as restaurants, writes Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Dublin correspondent.
Some 44% of the pubs in Ireland’s capital plan to reopen as restaurants on 29 June under the third phase of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions – otherwise they need to wait until 10 August, the fifth and final phase, when pubs can reopen.
That was the finding of a survey by the Licensed Vintners Association which represents publicans in Dublin. Four out of 10 members said they held restaurant certificates and hoped to hopscotch to the earlier phase. That would represent 330 of 750 pubs.
Donall O’Keeffe, the organisation’s chief executive, said:
These venues have restaurant certificates and are just as capable of following the public health guidelines as restaurants and cafes. Food is a major aspect of their business so why should they be treated differently to other venues serving food and alcohol?
Pubs – as well as cafes and restaurants – will have to impose physical distancing and other measures, including a ban on standing or drinking at the bar.
Updated
Damien Gayle back at the controls now, with thanks to Jess for covering my break. Remember, you can contact me with your tips, comments and suggestions for coverage either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter DM to @damiengayle.
The United Nations has called on the EU to reach a deal to take in 160 migrants who have been stranded in the Mediterranean for two weeks.
The UNHCR refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged “Malta and the other European states to speed efforts to bring some 160 rescued refugees and migrants... on to dry land and to safety”.
The migrants are onboard two commercial vessels outside Malta’s territorial waters.
Malta and Italy have officially closed their ports to migrants during the coronavirus pandemic, a decision heavily criticised by aid groups.
The agencies said in a statement that the migrants, a large number of whom have fled conflict-torn Libya, must be brought ashore in Malta, but other EU countries must show solidarity by accepting some of them.
A clearly agreed system for post-disembarkation relocation is urgently needed if we are to finally move away from a perpetual cycle of negotiations and ad-hoc arrangements that put the lives and health of people at further risk.
The statement noted that the 160 migrants had been at sea for two weeks, “the standard quarantine period for Covid-19” – without any clarity on disembarkation.
“It is unacceptable to leave people at sea longer than necessary, especially under difficult and unsuitable conditions.”
The agencies hailed the relocation of 17 people on Wednesday from Malta to France, which “shows that solidarity at the time of Covid-19 is possible, with all necessary precautions and measures to ensure preventing further spreading of the virus in place”.
Malta, which is facing a wave of migrant arrivals, has threatened to block funding to Operation Irini, the EU’s naval mission to enforce an arms embargo on Libya, if its European partners do not agree to accept some of them.
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Doctors and activists in Dagestan have described the death toll in the Russian region as “tragically high”, after officials said more than 600 people had died from pneumonia since April – far more than the official Covid-19 death toll for the region of 36.
“In some towns, five to seven people were dying a day … some have seen 20 or 40 people die,” said Ziyatdin Uvaisov, the head of Patient Monitor, a Dagestani NGO that advocates for the rights of patients and medics and has canvassed for information about coronavirus deaths.
At least six doctors have died at a single hospital in the closed-off city of Khasavyurt. Patimat, a doctor in the cardiology department there, told the Guardian that a majority of the doctors had contracted coronavirus, including herself, and a “considerable number” had died or at one point been too sick to work. Another doctor said seven health workers had died at the hospital.
Patimat said her first wave of patients fell ill after attending a funeral for another person who had died from coronavirus. “People went in crowds to their funerals,” she said. “My main wave of patients early in the epidemic told me they had been there.”
At the height of the crisis, Patimat said, her department ran out of oxygen to treat all the patients and could not get test results to confirm coronavirus diagnoses. She said most of the samples sent for analysis were either returned or scrapped.
“There was a colossal shortage of medicines and equipment,” she said. “We never expected waves [of patients] like this.”
Scotland will begin “a careful easing” of coronavirus lockdown restrictions next week with the reopening of some outdoor activities after a “significant and sustained” reduction in cases, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said.
“The time is right to move towards a careful easing of the lockdown restrictions,” Sturgeon said as she announced that sports such as golf, tennis and fishing would be allowed from 28 May, while people would be permitted to meet one other person from outside their household.
Travel restrictions will be eased for people to visit locations near their homes for recreation purposes.
Outdoor businesses such as garden centres and construction sites will also reopen, although non-essential indoor shops, cafes and bars will remain closed.
Here's the full five phases for lifting lockdown restrictions around seeing family and friends in Scotland. Phase one will come into force on May 28. pic.twitter.com/WZvS6pm7M5
— Mike Farrell (@mikef_journo) May 21, 2020
The changes bring Scotland closer in line with the rest of Britain, which implemented a similar easing of restrictions last week.
Sturgeon, who leads the devolved administration in Edinburgh, described prime minister Boris Johnson’s decision to begin a partial lifting of lockdown measures in England last week as “catastrophic”.
But she said on Thursday Scotland was now ready to take a “proportionate and cautious first step” due to the country’s falling infection and death rate.
Official data suggested that Scotland had now experienced three weeks of falling deaths and experts have “some confidence” that the R rate, which estimates the number of people each carrier of the virus infects, is now below 1.0.
The overall number of coronavirus deaths in Scotland currently stands at 2,221, up 37 from Wednesday.
The first phase of Sturgeon’s plan will be implemented from 28 May and kept under review every three weeks, subject to “rigorous, ongoing” review of the scientific evidence about the spread of the virus.
Schools in Scotland, which has a separate education system, are scheduled to reopen from 11 August, although there will be a “blended model” involving all pupils partly going into school and working from home, she told reporters.
Johnson is currently facing opposition on safety grounds from teaching unions and local authorities in England about plans to reopen schools to some pupils from 1 June.
Several local authorities across the country have already said they would not be able to reopen on that date.
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Thousands of people are expected to gather in cities across Germany at the weekend to demonstrate against the government’s coronavirus policies.
Germany’s foreign minister has warned people to distance themselves from the growing movement, which includes radical extremists, conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and antisemites, after domestic intelligence agents warned that extremist groups were exploiting fears around the virus in order to gain support.
Heiko Maas said in an interview on Thursday:
If radical extremists and antisemites use demonstrations in order to stoke hatred and to divide, then everyone should keep a lot more than just a 1.5-metre distance from them.
Those who spread conspiracy theories throughout the world, without a mask, without keeping the minimum distance, without any concern for others, are confusing courage with blind anger, and freedom with pure egotism.
Hello everyone, this is Jessica Murray, taking over the blog briefly while Damien takes a short break.
Researchers in the Netherlands have signed up 1,500 people who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate blood for research into a potential treatment based on their plasma, Reuters reports.
Recovered patients are generally left with blood containing antibodies or proteins made by the body’s immune system to fight off the virus. The blood component that carries the antibodies can be collected and given to newly infected patients.
However, blood supplies are limited because relatively few people have had the new virus and gone on to donate blood.
“The whole goal is to pull the resources, put the brightest minds together, to make sure that at the earliest possibility this therapy becomes available,” said Merlijn van Hasselt of blood donation firm Sanquin.
“If the clinical trials go well... this might be one of the earliest treatment possibilities for patients,” Van Hasselt said.
Medical researchers in the Netherlands have signed up 1,500 people who have recovered from the new coronavirus to donate blood as part of an international push to develop a treatment for the virus from their plasma https://t.co/QghW0RoGFO pic.twitter.com/oaHL8ZF49E
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 21, 2020
On Thursday, the Dutch national institute for public health and the environment reported 27 more deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total death toll in the country to 5,775. So far the country has reported 44,470 confirmed cases, with another 253 announced in RIVM’s daily update.
2.4m more Americans sign on as unemployed in a week
Another 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week even as states across the US began opening up for business again, betting that the coronavirus pandemic is now under control, writes Dominic Rushe in New York.
The latest figures from the Department of Labor mean close to 39 million Americans have lost their jobs in just nine weeks. The rate of weekly losses has slowed sharply from its peak of 6.6m at the start of April but remains at levels unseen since the 1930s Great Depression.
This week the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he expects unemployment to continue to rise as the pandemic takes its toll but warned of “permanent damage” to the economy if the lockdowns continue too long.
The weekly jobless claims are seen as a proxy for layoffs but they do not necessarily give the most accurate picture of the unemployment situation. A claim is an application for unemployment benefits and not every person who is laid off immediately applies for benefits. The weekly unemployment claims are also still being impacted by a backlog collapse of claims that overwhelmed many state systems.
AstraZeneca has said it has the capacity to manufacture 1bn doses of the University of Oxford’s potential Covid-19 vaccine and will begin supply in September if clinical trials are successful.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it had signed the first agreements to supply at least 400m doses of the potential vaccine, yet to be proven effective, which it is developing with the university. AstraZeneca said it recognised the vaccine might not work but if results from the early stage tests were positive, they would lead to late-stage trials in several countries.
Only a handful of the vaccines in development have advanced to human trials, an indicator of safety and efficacy, and the stage at which most fail. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19, which are being tested by pharmaceutical firms across the world. Governments, drugmakers and researchers are working on about 100 programmes, with experts predicting that a safe and effective means of preventing the disease could take 12 to 18 months to develop.
On Monday, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said that if Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate proved successful, then up to 30m doses for the UK could be available by September. AstraZeneca said it has now finalised its licence agreement with Oxford University for the “recombinant adenovirus vaccine”, which will be known as AZD1222.
East Africa facing "triple menace" of floods, locusts and Covid-19
East Africa is facing a “triple menace” of mutually exacerbating disasters, as ongoing heavy rain hampers attempts to deal with swarms of locusts in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, the Red Cross says.
Flooding has killed nearly 300 people, and displaced about 5o0,000 more who are now crammed into temporary shelters where it is difficult or impossible to stay apart to avoid catching the virus, according to the NGO. Meanwhile, the worst locust crisis in decades is ravaging crops.
Simon Missiri, the Africa regional director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said:
The ongoing flooding crisis is exacerbating other threats caused by COVID-19 and the invasion of locusts. Travel and movement restrictions meant to slow down the spread of COVID-19 are hampering efforts to combat swarms of locusts that are ravaging crops. Flooding is also a ‘threat amplifier’ with regards to the spread of COVID-19 as it makes it hard to implement preventive measures.
We are facing an unusually complex humanitarian situation. We are worried that the number of people who are hungry and sick will increase in the coming weeks as flooding and COVID-19 continue to severely affect the coping capacity of many families in the region.
Harsh weather conditions are having a multiplier effect on an already difficult situation and this could potentially lead to worrying levels of food insecurity in the region.
Updated
More than 95,000 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in Africa - about 5,000 more than yesterday – according to a summary of statistics collated by the World Health Organization’s regional office for the continent.
However, for some reason, the WHO is reporting fewer recoveries today than yesterday. In its latest update, embedded below, the UN health agency says there have been “more than 34,000 recoveries”, while in yesterday’s it said there had been more than 35,000.
The reason for the discrepancy is not clear.
Comparing the two tweets shows there have been 110 deaths from Covid-19 recorded across Africa since yesterday.
Over 95,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 34,000 recoveries & 2,995 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/BG2mUEIubd
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) May 21, 2020
Updated
Sixty-six more people died from Covid-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, as a deputy health minister revealed that about 10,000 Iranian health workers have been infected with the coronavirus.
In his latest update, the health ministry’s spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour said Iran’s total death toll from its coronavirus outbreak had now reached 7,249, while 100,564 people had recovered. In total, the country has recorded 129,341 confirmed cases, with 2,392 more people testing positive since yesterday, he was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency.
In 12 provinces, the death toll had been zero, Jahanpour added.
Meanwhile, the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted a deputy health minister as saying on Thursday that some 10,000 Iranian medics had been infected, according to Reuters.
Health services are stretched thin in Iran, the Middle East country hardest hit by the respiratory pandemic, with 7,249 deaths and a total of 129,341 infections. The health ministry said in April that more than 100 health workers had died of Covid-19.
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Madrid’s city mayor has said it will reopen some of its biggest and most famous parks if the region is allowed to enter the second phase of lockdown de-escalation next week, writes Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent.
At the moment, the capital and the surrounding area remain in phase 0, while 70% of the country has been permitted to enter the next phase.
Nineteen of the capital’s most popular green spaces have been closed for more than two months in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus. The closure of parks including el Retiro, el Capricho and la Casa del Campo has frustrated many people since the ban on exercising outdoors was lifted at the beginning of May.
“Once the new rules for phase 1 [of the lockdown lifting] have been introduced, we will proceed to the opening of these parks,” the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Catholic charity Cáritas said the pandemic had seen a threefold rise in the number of people seeking its help for the first time in Madrid. According to the charity, 68% of the people it helps are seeking food items, while 22% need help with living costs.
The city council is providing food and economic help to some 82,000 people in the capital, while neighbourhood groups are tending to the need of another 20,000 people.
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A man from Tunisia drowned on Wednesday after jumping into the water from a Covid-19 quarantine ship in Sicily, writes Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo.
The 28-year-old threw himself from the Moby Zaza ship, in Porto Empedocle, in the province of Agrigento, where dozens of migrants have been placed under quarantine before disembarking.
The sea was rough on Wednesday and waves were 2 metres high.
According to witnesses, the man jumped from a deck of the ship, from a height of around 15 metres.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation and ordered an autopsy, Italy’s news agency Ansa reported.
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Apple launches Covid-19 contact tracing in latest iOS update
Apple has launched a contact-tracing feature in the latest update of its iPhone operating system, ZDNet reports.
The Covid exposure notification feature has been included in iOS 13.5 as part of Apple’s partnership with Google, the other major mobile phone operating system developer, to build contact-tracing infrastructure into their software.
According to ZDNet, the software will offer health authorities a way to build apps that can alert people users have come into contact with should they test positive for the coronavirus, while preserving their anonymity.
An option to toggle the feature on and off can be found in the settings of the new OS, but it will not work until users install an approved app developed by a public health authority.
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Italian finance police arrested 10 people in Sicily, including the regional co-ordinator for the coronavirus emergency, over an alleged corruption scheme in health service tenders, Lorenzo Tondo reports from Palermo.
The investigation dates back to 2016 and allegedly uncovered bribes from equipment and services contracts totalling nearly €600m (£540m).
Prosecutors in Palermo seized the assets of seven companies, based in Sicily and Lombardy.
According to investigators, bribes promised to public officials are thought to total €1.8m.
Arrests include the head of Sicily’s coronavirus response commission, Antonio Candela, 55, who has been placed under house arrest. Ironically, Candela has lived for years under police escort after, a few years ago, he publicly condemned corruption and bribes in the health system.
“Remember, the health system is a condominium,” Candela was allegedly caught saying on wiretap. “And I’m the block chairman.”
Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (finance police) said they had uncovered a scheme where ‘’dishonest public officials, unscrupulous businessmen and entrepreneurs were willing to do anything to obtain contracts worth millions”.
The mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, described the news as “an extremely serious corruption system” which allegedly involved creaming off 5% commissions on public contracts.
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Summary
Global cases pass 5 million
After the biggest single-day increase in cases worldwide so far in the pandemic, the number of confirmed infections has passed 5 million, with the Johns Hopkins University data currently listing 5,016,171. The true number is likely to be significantly higher, due to differing testing rates, delays and underreporting. This is true for deaths, too. At least 328,471 people have lost their lives in the pandemic so far.
World sees largest daily rise in cases.
The World Health Organization gave a stark warning on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide over the past 24 hours – the most in a single day so far. Speaking in Geneva, the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the virus was spreading in poorer countries, just as wealthier nations were emerging from lockdown.
Wuhan city bans eating wild animals
In China, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak has officially banned eating wild animals. A notice on the Wuhan municipal government’s website on Wednesday said that it is now prohibited to eat, hunt or breed wild animals, including terrestrial animals deemed as protected, as well as those that exist in the wild or are bred.
IOC warns Tokyo Olympics will have to be scrapped if delayed beyond 2021
The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, has warned that the Tokyo Games in Japan would have to be scrapped if the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for them to take place next year. But Bach added that the IOC was committed to holding the Games, even though the outbreak could force organisers to take precautions, including quarantining athletes.
Russia’s Covid-19 death toll passes 3,000
The official coronavirus death toll in Russia passed 3,000 on Thursday, as a US transport plane made its way to deliver ventilators to help treat Russian patients with severe Covid-19. Officials said 127 people had died of the respiratory disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 3,099. The country’s nationwide tally of confirmed cases of coronavirus, the world’s second highest, reached 317,554, after 8,849 more people tested positive for the virus.
EasyJet to resume some flights in France and UK
EasyJet is to resume a small number of flights in the UK and France on 15 June, with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks, as it returns to the skies after grounding its entire fleet on 30 March.
Afghanistan runs out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients
Afghanistan’s health ministry has said it has run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in most parts of the war-torn country. Officials warned of a human catastrophe on the eve of Eid with the potential for streets “full of dead bodies” amid a continued surge of transmission across the nation, as Kabul recorded its worst day of the crisis for the second day running.
Europe warned about second wave of coronavirus infections
Europe should brace itself for a second wave of coronavirus infections, according to the director of the EU agency responsible for advising governments on disease control. “The question is when and how big. That is the question in my view,” said Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Trump considers an in-person G7 meeting despite coronavirus pandemic.
Donald Trump has said he may seek to revive a face-to-face meeting of Group of Seven leaders near Washington, after earlier cancelling the gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, DC, at the legendary Camp David,” the US president tweeted on Wednesday. “The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all – normalization!”
Updated
Afghanistan runs out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients
Afghanistan’s health ministry has said it has run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in most parts of the war-torn country, Akhtar Mohammad Makoii reports from Herat.
Officials warned of a human catastrophe on the eve of Eid with the potential for streets “full of dead bodies” amid continued surge of transmission across the nation, as Kabul recorded its second worst day of the crisis straight.
Wahid Majroh, the deputy health minister, said that according to latest figures, “most of Covid-19 hospitals across the country and especially in Kabul are packed with patients” and there is an immediate need to launch new hospitals.
“The hospitals which had empty beds until 10 days ago and we were sending patients to, are packed, with no more beds. We should launch more hospitals immediately,” Majroh said in a press conference in Kabul.
He said that most of ICU beds are also have patients: “I visited two hospitals last night, there was no empty ICU bed”. According to the ministry’s numbers, 19 patients are in critical condition.
Majroh warned the nation on the eve of Eid, which is scheduled for the end of this week, to stay at home and avoid gatherings. Traditionally, Afghans go to their relatives and friend homes to celebrate the Eid Al-fitr, the celebration marking the end of Ramadan.
Despite a government mandated lockdown in several provinces, streets are still crowded. Majroh said if people continue to break the rules, “we will reach to our biggest concern: streets full of dead bodies”. He said the ministry is concerned about the breaking of the lockdown rules and that he had mentioned it in the Thursday morning session of the cabinet.
“Do stay at home during Eid and don’t make the happiness of Eid into grief” Majroh told the nation. “If you have doubt about the virus, just go and stay an hour in front a coronavirus hospital and look at the number of patients entering the hospital and dead bodies coming out”.
Meanwhile, more than half of the tests done in a 24-hour period come back positive across the country and Kabul recorded its second worst day of the crisis straight.
The health ministry tested 1,007 suspected patients, of which 531 came back positive. Six deaths of Covid-19 were also recorded, pushing the total number of confirmed infections to 8,676 and the death toll to 193. Only eight recoveries were recorded in the same period. There have so far been 938 recoveries.
The capital, Kabul, recorded 274 new cases out of 568 tests. The total number of confirmed cases in Afghanistan’s worst affected area stands at 2,767 with 25 deaths. The northern province of Balkh reported two new deaths and 55 infections.
The western province of Herat and the eastern province of Nangarhar, which are seeing surge in number of infections, recorded 104 new cases combined. Parwan province, north of Kabul, recorded 34 new cases. Gunmen who stormed a mosque in the province on Tuesday as people gathered to break the Ramadan fast killed at least 11.
Updated
The UN’s refugee agency and the World Health Organization on Thursday announced a new initiative to protect the health of the tens of millions of forcibly displaced people around the world.
In a release, the UN bodies said that there were about 70 million forcibly displaced people across the world. About 26 million of them are refugees, 80% of whom are living in low- to middle-income countries with weak healthcare systems.
To keep some 70 million refugees, displaced & stateless people worldwide safe from #COVID19 & other health challenges, WHO & @Refugees join forces to strengthen & advance public health services for forcibly displaced people. https://t.co/vux58nrrSE pic.twitter.com/8zVkXEF77w
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 21, 2020
Announcing the new agreement, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said:
UNHCR’s long-term partnership with WHO is critical to curb the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies – day in, day out, it is improving and saving lives of millions of people forced to flee their homes
Our strengthened partnership will directly benefit refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and those who are stateless. It leads to better emergency response and will make the best use of the resources of both our two organisations for public health solutions across all our operations globally.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHo, said:
The principle of solidarity and the goal of serving vulnerable people underpin the work of both our organisations.
We stand side by side in our commitment to protect the health of all people who have been forced to leave their homes and to ensure that they can obtain health services when and where they need them. The ongoing pandemic only highlights the vital importance of working together so we can achieve more.
Updated
Most of the new coronavirus infections reported by Malaysia on Thursday were detected at an immigration detention centre where authorities are holding undocumented migrants rounded up in areas under lockdown this month, according to Reuters.
Of the 50 people who tested positive, 35 were being detained at the Bukit Jalil immigration detention centre, located in the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The UN has called on Malaysia to end the crackdown, which it said has spread fear among migrant communities in Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, which has so far reported 7,059 cases, with 114 deaths.
The director general of Malaysia’s health ministry, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the 35 positive cases include 17 people from Myanmar, 15 from India and one each from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Egypt.
“The source of infection is still under investigation ... we need to investigate in detail before making any comments,” he said.
Felipe Gonzalez Morales, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants said on Wednesday that Malaysia’s approach was not helping to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
“The current crackdown and hate campaign are severely undermining the effort to fight the pandemic in the country.”
Russia's Covid-19 death toll passes 3,000
Th official coronavirus death toll in Russia passed 3,000 on Thursday, as a US transport plane made its way to deliver ventilators to help treat Russian patients with severe Covid-19, according to Reuters.
Officials said 127 people had died of the respiratory disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 3,099. The country’s nationwide tally of confirmed cases of coronavirus, the world’s second highest, reached 317,554, after 8,849 more people tested positive for the virus.
Only the US has more confirmed cases. Russia’s comparatively low death toll has sparked debate about how it counts Covid-19 deaths.
Although Russian officials have said there are signs the country’s outbreak is stabilising, the US has said it will send 200 ventilators to Russia, making good an offer of assistance by Donald Trump.
Moscow sent medical supplies to the US last month.
Hi, this is Damien Gayle signing on for live blogging duties now, and with you for the next eight or so hours.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions for coverage please drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Seriously, if you can read this story (and watch the video) about Baldomera the donkey by my esteemed colleague Sam Jones in Madrid without tearing up ...YOU ARE MADE OF STONE.
Few reunions in the time of the coronavirus have been as moving, as unlikely, or quite as braying as that of Ismael Fernández and Baldomera, the beloved family donkey.
📹 Esto es lo más bonito que vas a ver hoy: el emotivo reencuentro entre una burra y su dueño tras el confinamientohttps://t.co/Mn74S5BVrV Lo cuenta @JesusSanchez__ en @SER_Malaga pic.twitter.com/mQrKkiFC5L
— Cadena SER (@La_SER) May 19, 2020
Video footage of the pair finding each other after being separated for two months by Spain’s strict Covid-19 lockdown has been shared across social media and by newspapers and TV stations.
On Monday, Fernández, who lives in Málaga, took advantage of a loosening of lockdown restrictions in Andalucía to travel to his hometown of El Borge to see Baldomera.
Fears that Baldo - as the animal is affectionately known - wouldn’t remember him after their eight-week separation proved unfounded.
She trotted over to be stroked when he called her name, prompting sweet words and tears from Fernández and honks of joy from her (although, to be fair, it’s tricky to decipher donkey song).
In his absence, the five-year-old donkey had been looked after by his brother. Baldo was originally bought as a present for their father, Antonio, when he retired.
“It was his dream,” the family told Sur newspaper. “He grew up in the country and had a donkey when he was little. But then he had to move to Torremolinos for work.”
Updated
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan has removed from its website an image combining the coronavirus pandemic and the official logo of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, after the Games’ organising committee complained that it was “insensitive” and infringed copyright laws, writes Justin McCurry in Tokyo/
The FCCJ’s president, Khaldon Azhari, said at an online news conference on Thursday that the FCCJ board had decided to remove the image from the cover of April’s digital edition of the organisation’s in-house magazine, the Number 1 Shimbun, and voiced “sincere regret to anyone who may have been offended on all sides of this issue”.
But the decision sparked anger among many journalist members. The board did not consult regular members before agreeing to pull the image, while some accused Azhari, who is listed as a member of the Tokyo 2020 media committee, of failing to defend freedom of expression.
The image, which also appeared on the cover of the print version, was a visual reference to the connection between the virus and the decision to postpone the Gamesfor a year while the world battled to contain the virus.
The design combines the distinctive, spiky image of the coronavirus cellwith the blue-and-white Tokyo 2020 logo. The word “COVID-19” appears beneath the image in place of the original “TOKYO 2020”.
Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya said it was “insensitive to many people being affected” by the virus, adding:
It is very disappointing to see the Games emblem being distorted and associated with the novel coronavirus, which affects human life, people’s lives, the economy, and our society.
The design is clearly using the design of the Olympic emblem. We therefore consider it an infringement on our legally secured copyright to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic emblem.
Azhari said the FCCJ board had consulted lawyers and concluded that the image likely broke Japan’s strict copyright laws.
We made clear from the beginning this wasn’t about freedom of expression - we were most concerned about copyright. In the FCCJ’s 75-year history, it has always stood as a beacon for the freedom of the press in Japan, and continues to stand for those values. And for the right of journalists to hold authorities to account. This is beyond any question.
Updated
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said today that it is possible that a state of emergency in Tokyo and its surrounding regions could end as early as next week if the number of coronavirus infections continues to decrease. He said:
The state of emergency will continue in Tokyo, Hokkaido and other regions. We will meet with experts (on Monday) to update the situation on infections.
Abe told reporters after ending the state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures.
If the current situation continues, it is possible that the state of emergency could be lifted in those areas.
Really interesting story about Rio’s trans sex workers, by Dom Phillips and Ian Cheibub.
Social distancing is keeping people off the streets of central Rio de Janeiro. And that has created serious challenges for its trans sex workers, who have seen their clientele, and their income, melt away.
“You can see what it’s like: empty streets, shops closed, the fallen economy,” says Elba Tavares, 44, from Paraíba state in north-east Brazil. “I am no longer in that rush of prostitution but yes, I sell my body.” But, she says: “There are very few customers.”
Updated
The boss of Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow in the UK, has told the BBC that a new thermal screening trial for arriving passengers “could be part of a future common international standard to get people flying again.”
John Holland-Kaye, who heads up Europe’s busiest airport, said the “mismatch of measures” currently in place across different countries was confusing.
He also backed the idea of “air bridges” allowing travel between countries with lower infection levels to help stimulate the tourism industry. He said:
There is no perfect way to make sure only healthy people fly at this stage, so we have to take a risk-based approach.
As the level of transmission comes down in the UK and in other countries, we need to find a way that the vast majority of people who don’t have a disease can still fly.
Malaysian health authorities on Thursday reported 50 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 7,059 cases.
The health ministry also reported no new deaths, keeping total fatalities at 114.
A sweet story from Australia, where one cafe where clients can feed dolphins reckons the creatures are missing human contact because they keep leaving presents.
Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay in Queensland, Australia says dolphins have been leaving gifts because they miss humans (and their free lunch). https://t.co/HEq2RejtPA
— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping) May 21, 2020
The humpback dolphins usually mingle with visitors at Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay, north of the Sunshine Coast, reports 7 News.
But it’s been weeks since visitors lined up to feed the animals due to coronavirus restrictions.
Among the treasures the marine creatures have provided are sea sponges, barnacle-encrusted bottles and pieces of coral.
On its Facebook page, the owners wrote:
The pod has been bringing us regular gifts, showing us how much they’re missing the public interaction and attention. They are definitely missing you all.
Barry McGovern, an expert in dolphin behaviour, had a slightly different take. While they miiiiiiight be leaving gifts because they missed humans, it was more likely they were missing a free lunch, he said.
Nothing surprises me with dolphins and their behaviour anymore. They do everything - they use tools, they have culture, they have something similar to names in signature whistles. In all likelihood, they probably don’t miss humans per se. They probably miss a free meal and the routine.
Updated
IOC warns Tokyo Olympics will have to be scrapped if delayed beyond 2021
The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, has warned that the Tokyo Games would have to be scrapped if the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for them to take place next year, writes Justin McCurry in Tokyo.
But Bach added that the IOC was committed to holding the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital next year, even though the outbreak could force organisers to take precautions, including quarantining athletes.
The IOC and the Tokyo Olympic organising committee announced in March that the Games, which were due to open this July, would have to be postponed by a year due to the global spread of the virus.
Bach told the BBC on Thursday he agreed with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who said last month that holding the Games would be “difficult” unless the pandemic was contained before they are due to begin on 23 July next year.
Bach said Abe had made it clear to him that, as far as Japan was concerned, next year was “the last option”. He said:
Quite frankly, I have some understanding for this, because you can’t forever employ 3,000 or 5,000 people in an organising committee. You can’t every year change the entire sports schedule worldwide of all the major federations. You can’t have the athletes being in uncertainty.
Updated
EasyJet is to resume a small number of flights in the UK and France on 15 June, with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks, as it returns to the skies after grounding its entire fleet on 30 March.
The airline initially will restart domestic routes in the UK and France where it says there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe.
Read the full story here:
Singapore’s health ministry has confirmed another 448 coronavirus cases, taking the city-state’s tally of infections to 29,812.
Tokyo’s most senior prosecutor and an ally of the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is to resign after a weekly magazine revealed he had gambled illegally and ignored official advice on containing the spread of coronavirus, writes Justin McCurry in Tokyo.
Hiromu Kurokawa, head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, drew widespread criticism after the Shukan Bunshun claimed he had played mahjong for money with newspaper reporters on 1 May and 13 May, while the capital was in the midst of an ongoing coronavirus state of emergency.
The games reportedly took place at the Tokyo home of an employee of the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper. The Kyodo news agency said on Thursday that Kurokawa “intends to step down” over the incident.
Japanese officials have urged people to remain at home, work remotely and socially distance themselves on trips to buy food and medicine or when taking exercise, but to avoid unnecessary outings during the state of emergency.
Kurokawa, 63, could face criminal charges for allegedly wagering money on mahjong. Japan’s criminal code bans most forms of gambling, with publicly organised horse racing, and races involving bicycles, boats and motorbikes the only exceptions in the sports world.
He was recently at the centre of a row over an attempt by Abe’s government to raise the retirement age for prosecutors to 65 – a move critics saw as an attempt to keep Kurokawa on and promote him to the post of prosecutor general when the incumbent retires in July.
The government abandoned the idea following a wave of criticism, including rare interventions from outraged Japanese celebrities.
Updated
A meat processing plant in the Netherlands was closed on Wednesday, after 45 of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Vion slaughterhouse and meat processor in Groenlo, Gelderland was ordered to close, the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA announced. Less than half of the slaughterhouse’s employees have been tested so far.
Here’s a report from the NL Times.
It comes after more than 100 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in western France, according to regional health authorities (see 03.53).
My thanks to Guardian reader Maurice in the Netherlands for drawing my attention to this.
Here’s a consumer snippet from the UK, which gives a little insight into how the coronavirus lockdown has affected us.
Multinational retailer Marks & Spencer has said that sales of suits and ties are down to “a dribble”, while the top sellers right now are sportswear, sleepwear, jogging pants, hoodies and leggings – at last the working wardrobe we’ve all been longing for.
What customers are buying is “completely different from what it would have been a year ago”, M&S chairman Archie Norman told reporters, after the 136-year-old group published annual results and its response to the pandemic.
One top-selling item has baffled me though: there has been an uptick in the sale of bras. Surely the anti-lockdown purchase? I am yet to pitch my opinion piece about how lockdown achieved the goal bra-burning feminists in the 70s failed to ... but we’ve got time yet. (UPDATE: My thanks to reader Prof Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, who points out that feminists didn’t actually burn bras, this BBC piece tells the story behind that myth.)
Anyway, despite these small boosts, things are looking very difficult for the retailer, which has taken a £145m hit on the unsold clothing piled up in its warehouses and said the huge financial toll of coronavirus would result in a “lost year”.
Read the full story here:
Updated
India is set to resume domestic flights two months after the government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, the BBC reports.
The flights will start from Monday “in a calibrated manner”, according to the civil aviation minister.
Hardeep Puri said all airports and airlines were being “informed to be ready for operations”.
The “Standard Operations Procedures for movement of passengers will be announced on Thursday”, he said.
Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 20, 2020
All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May.
SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by @MoCA_GoI.
This is Lexy Topping with you on the global coronavirus live blog from London. I always love hearing from our readers around the world, so please do get in touch with any vignettes or news stories from your part of the globe. I’m on alexandra.topping@theguardian.com and @lexytopping on Twitter. My DMs are open.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today. Thank you all for following along.
I’m handing over to my colleague Alexandra Topping, who will take you through the next few hours of live news, as the number of confirmed cases worldwide passes 5 million – that’s in a period of roughly five months.
William Haseltine, the groundbreaking cancer, HIV/AIDS and human genome projects researcher, has said the best approach to the pandemic is to manage the disease through careful tracing of infections and strict isolation measures whenever it starts spreading.
He said that while a vaccine could be developed, “I wouldn’t count on it”, and urged people to wear masks, wash hands, clean surfaces and keep a distance.
The United States and other countries has not done enough to “forcibly isolate” people exposed to the virus, Haseltine said, but praised China, South Korea and Taiwan’s efforts to curb infections. Haseltine said the US, Russia and Brazil – which rank first, second and third for infections – have done the worst.
Confirmed cases worldwide pass 5 million
The total number of confirmed cases worldwide has passed 5 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The current total is 5,000,038.
Differing testing rates and definitions (for example excluding cases in aged care homes from national totals), underreporting, and time lags mean that that the true number of infections is certainly higher.
Cases first emerged in Wuhan, China in late December 2019.
The sombre milestone comes after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide over the past 24 hours – the most in a single day so far. The increase prompted the World Health Organization to issue a stark warning on Wednesday: the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.
The US has the highest number of confirmed cases worldwide, with 1,551,853.
Updated
A 10-minute home saliva test for coronavirus is under development in a deal struck between the billionaire co-founder of online fashion brand BooHoo and a Cambridge-based firm.
The antigen test, which would be available to buy, will look similar to a pregnancy test but will use a saliva sample rather than urine, and is designed to give a result within 10 minutes:
UK front pages, Thursday 21 May
Thursday’s GUARDIAN: “NHS and care staff to be offered virus antibody test within days” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/WzO7YAhb9X
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Thursday’s INDEPENDENT Digital: “NHS app won’t be ready for start of next month” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/c0wG22uSV9
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Thursday’s TIMES: “Hospital admissions fall to lowest level of crisis” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/ohNcxzpOxg
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Thursday’s Daily TELEGRAPH: “PM promises tracing by June to help open schools” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/kmtysMDkwj
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Thursday’s i - “Summer holiday plan for Britain” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/rWbELVLO9Z
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Thursday’s FINANCIAL TIMES: “BoE ponders using negative rates for the first time to spur recovery” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/W2eyxXPm4Z
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 20, 2020
Wuhan city bans eating wild animals
The city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak has officially banned eating wild animals. A notice on the Wuhan municipal government’s website on Wednesday said that it is now prohibited to eat, hunt or breed wild animals, including terrestrial animals deemed as protected, as well as those that exist in the wild or are bred.
The new rules, to be in effect for five years, also bar the consumption of rare and endangered aquatic animals.
The new rules in Wuhan come days before the opening of China’s legislature this week as local governments signal they are on board with nationally announced policies.
China’s wildlife industry - where animals are used for food and traditional Chinese medicine - has come under scrutiny after researchers said the virus may have come from the Huanan Seafood market in Wuhan, where a small number of vendors sold wild animals.
In January, a temporary ban on the wildlife trade was put in place and in February, China’s top legislature promised to fast-track a permanent ban on the trade.
Updated
Organisers of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil have urged people to “be water” and find their own ways to hold commemorations after coronavirus bans on gatherings were extended.
The annual event marking the 1989 brutal crackdown by the Chinese army on protesters is traditionally the largest and only authorised commemoration of the massacre anywhere in China.
However on Tuesday Hong Kong authorities extended until 4 June physical distancing laws limiting public gatherings to eight people, while relaxing other restrictions.
Hong Kong police have cited the extension in refusing permission for a march on 4 June, and organisers expect refusal for the evening vigil.
Lee Cheuk-Yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said the decision to extend the limits was “clearly a political one”, telling the Guardian: “When you allow schools to reopen on May 27, when you allow religious gatherings to resume, when you allow even swimming pools to open and business activity will soon all reopen, but then you just ban gatherings?
Thailand on Thursday reported three new coronavirus infections and no new deaths, bringing the total to 3,037 confirmed cases and 56 fatalities since the outbreak started in January.
The new cases included two domestic transmissions and one infection found in quarantine in an individual returning to Thailand from the Philippines, said spokesman for the government’s coronavirus task force, Taweesin Wisanuyothin.
Summary
-
Global cases near 5 million. After the biggest single-day increase in cases worldwide so far in the pandemic, the number of confirmed infections is close to 5 million, with the Johns Hopkins University data currently listing 4,996,634. The true number is likely to be significantly higher, due to differing testing rates, delays and underreporting. This is true for deaths, too. At least 328,120 people have lost their lives in the pandemic so far.
- Japan to lift state of emergency in Osaka and two other prefectures. Japan’s economy minister says experts have approved a government plan to remove a coronavirus state of emergency in Osaka and two neighbouring prefectures in the west where the infection is deemed slowing, while keeping the measure in place in the Tokyo region and Hokkaido.
- Migrant boat crossings to UK surge during virus lockdown. The number of unaccompanied young migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain has spiked during the coronavirus outbreak, as travel restrictions force them onto boats rather than trucks. Kent County Council in southeast England, which includes the major port of Dover, was dealing with “230 to 250” young migrants a year ago, its chief executive, Roger Gough, said.
- Mexico suffers record one-day death toll. Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday registered 2,248 new coronavirus infections and an additional 424 fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic. The new infections brought confirmed coronavirus cases to 56,594 and 6,090 deaths in total, according to the official tally. Mexico registered its biggest daily increase yet in infections on Tuesday, when it reported 2,713 new cases. Mexico’s highest daily death toll was on 12 May, when health authorities reported 353 fatalities.
- World sees largest daily rise in cases. The World Health Organization gave a stark warning on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide over the past 24 hours – the most in a single day so far. Speaking in Geneva, the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the virus was spreading in poorer countries, just as wealthier nations were emerging from lockdown.
- Europe should brace itself for a second wave of coronavirus infections, according to the director of the EU agency responsible for advising governments on disease control. “The question is when and how big. That is the question in my view,” said Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
- Trump considers an in-person G7 meeting despite coronavirus pandemic. Donald Trump has said he may seek to revive a face-to-face meeting of Group of Seven leaders near Washington, after earlier canceling the gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, DC, at the legendary Camp David,” the US president tweeted on Wednesday. “The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all – normalization!”
- International imports and exports have fallen to their lowest level for at least four years, according to World Trade Organization figures. Warning that there was little prospect of the downturn ending soon, the global authority on trade said it believed import and export activity would fall precipitously in the first half of 2020.
- Tourists will be welcomed back to Greece from 15 June, the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has announced. “The tourism period begins June 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen, and direct international flights to our tourist destinations will gradually begin 1 July,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address.
- South Africa records its first neonatal coronavirus death. South Africa has recorded its first neonatal coronavirus death, the country’s health ministry has said.The two-day old baby was born prematurely and had lung difficulties that required ventilation support immediately after birth, the health minister Zweli Mkhize said.
- More than 100 virus infections in French slaughterhouse. More than 100 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in western France, the regional health authorities said Wednesday. The cases follow coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants not only in France but also in Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States and Brazil - where people tend to work in close proximity.
Migrant boat crossings to UK surge during virus lockdown
The number of unaccompanied young migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain has spiked during the coronavirus outbreak, as travel restrictions force them onto boats rather than trucks.
Kent County Council in southeast England, which includes the major port of Dover, was dealing with “230 to 250” young migrants a year ago, its chief executive, Roger Gough, said.
“But that number has pretty much doubled. It’s now nearly 470 and new arrivals are coming in all the time,” he told AFP.
At least 1,000 migrants have arrived in Britain by small boats since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced virus lockdown measures on March 23, according to a count by the domestic Press Association news agency.
At least 145 arrived on May 8, it added. Of those, 17 were unaccompanied minors. Another three arrived the same weekend, said Gough. Most were Iranians, Iraqis and Afghans.
‘It’s a disaster’: Egypt’s doctors plead for more PPE and testing
Ruth Michaelson reports for the Guardian:
Egyptian doctors are increasingly at odds with their own government on the country’s coronavirus outbreak, pleading for protections and a full lockdown even as the authorities urge people to learn to “coexist” with Covid-19.
A wave of government propaganda has hailed healthcare workers as the “white army”, a reference to their white coats. But some of them told the Guardian they lacked protective equipment and were struggling to get vital tests for themselves and patients.
“The situation is deteriorating. The nurses and doctors are very scared because we are not protected,” said a nurse at a hospital in Imbaba, Giza. “We are treated the same way patients are treated. If we complain of symptoms, we are asked to go home and quarantine, but we are not allowed to be tested.”
South Korea’s professional football league has imposed a record fine on one of its clubs for placing sex dolls in empty seats during a recent match played without spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, the K-League fined FC Seoul 100m won ($81,000), saying the club had “deeply humiliated” female football fans and damaged the 38-year-old league’s reputation.
League officials accepted FC Seoul’s claim that it did not know the mannequins were sex toys, but said it “could have easily recognised their use using common sense and experience”.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 745 to 176,752, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by 57 to 8,147, the tally showed.
Japan to lift state of emergency in Osaka and two other prefectures
Japan’s economy minister says experts have approved a government plan to remove a coronavirus state of emergency in Osaka and two neighboring prefectures in the west where the infection is deemed slowing, while keeping the measure in place in the Tokyo region and Hokkaido, AP reports.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters that experts at the meeting approved the plan to lift the measure in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo. The measure will be kept in place in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, as well as Hokkaido, where the infections have slowed but need further improvement.
The three are among the eight prefectures still under the emergency status after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted the measure last week in all but eight of the 47 Japanese prefectures. Abe declared the state of emergency on 7 April in parts of Japan including Tokyo and later expanded it to nationwide.
Abe will formally announce the plan later Thursday after approval by parliamentary committees.
Japan has about 16,424 confirmed cases and 777 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the health ministry.
Baghdad, Iraq, a city of nearly ten million residents, is running on an unusual rhythm this Ramadan since Iraq imposed an overnight curfew to curb the spreading coronavirus, AFP reports.
A few hours before dawn, the wailing voice of Sayyed Mozahem rings out across a small neighbourhood in old Baghdad, amplified by his portable microphone.
Mozahem is the neighbourhood “musaharati”, responsible during Ramadan for reminding Muslims to have their final meal before a new day of fasting begins with the sunrise.
“Fasters, wake up,” he chants, marching through the streets to the beat of his traditional drum as his older brother and father did before him.
But his refrains have a special twist: “May Ramadan keep the coronavirus away,” and “God, spare Iraq from Covid-19”.
Iraqis are adapting their Ramadan routines to fit a curfew from 5pm until 5am - the hours Baghdad usually comes alive with huge fast-breaking feasts, late-night runs for sweets and midnight mosque visits.
Instead, Iraqis are rushing through checkpoints before the lockdown starts, praying alone at home and baking traditional sweets usually bought in stores.
A sombre and isolating mood has settled over the capital, where the response to the novel coronavirus has left its mark from dawn until dusk.
‘Could be a bit strange’: New Zealand bars to reopen but fun is kept at arm’s length
Dancing, hook-ups and bar banter will be off the menu as New Zealand’s pubs and bars re-open on Thursday night, with some saying the social distancing requirements will make for a “sad and strange” atmosphere in the nation’s party hotspots.
Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern moved the country from coronavirus lockdown Level 3 to Level 2, meaning most shops and restaurants could reopen, as well as schools, workplaces and public amenities.
However, on advice from the Ministry of Health, bars and nightclubs remained closed for an additional week, because people’s close proximity meant they were deemed particularly high risk. One of the country’s largest outbreaks was spread at a St Patrick’s Day gathering at a Matamata pub in the North Island.
On Thursday night, pubs may finally open their doors but for some capacity will be more than halved because customers must remain seated at socially distanced tables and be waited on by a dedicated server: the social “bar” of a bar is off-limits and no one is allowed to mingle with other tables – though shouting across the room will be permitted, some bar managers said.
A study shows that only about one percent of Danes had contracted the coronavirus, Danish officials said Wednesday, raising concerns Denmark is vulnerable to a new wave.
The report was released by the Danish health agency SSI, which operates under the health ministry and is responsible for the surveillance of infectious diseases.
Out of 2,600 randomly selected Danes, 1,071 had so far agreed to be tested for antibodies. Only 12 of those tested positive, corresponding to a rate of about 1.1%.
SSI cautioned that the results were preliminary and there were several factors that made it difficult to say whether the results were indicative of the entire Danish population.
Experts interviewed by broadcaster DR said the results were concerning and showed that the country was vulnerable to the spread of the virus picking up speed again.
Denmark on Wednesday reported a total of 11,117 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 554 deaths.
Meanwhile, the parties of the country’s parliament agreed on the next phase of opening up the country after an initial lockdown period.
Updated
More than 100 virus infections in French slaughterhouse
More than 100 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in western France, the regional health authorities said Wednesday.
The cases follow coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants not only in France but also in Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States and Brazil - where people tend to work in close proximity.
A total of 109 personnel have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, at a slaughterhouse in Cotes d’Armor following a second wave of testing, the ARS regional health authority said in a statement.
Some 818 people have been tested at the plant, it added.
Those diagnosed as having the disease are being contacted by employee insurance firms that have identified all their contacts at risk of catching the illness, requiring them to respect two-week quarantines, take tests and wear masks, the ARS said.
Plant operator Kermene, according to its website, said it supplies E.Leclerc supermarkets with meat and meat products.
Lufthansa airlines on Thursday confirmed it was in talks with the German government over a €9bn (US$10bn) rescue that will see Berlin take a massive stake in the coronavirus-stricken airline.
“The concept, which has not yet been finalised, provides for stabilisation measures in the amount of up to nine billion euros, of which €3bn is in the form of a loan” from public investment bank KfW, the German aviation giant said in a statement.
If agreed, the solution would close weeks of wrangling over Lufthansa between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU conservatives and their centre-left junior partners the SPD.
If plans go ahead, it would be the first time the government has held a stake in the former flag carrier since 1997.
But around 700 of Lufthansa’s 760 aircraft are currently parked at airports and more than 80,000 of its 130,000 staff are on part-time work schemes.
In April, the group was carrying fewer than 3,000 passengers daily compared with a pre-pandemic average of around 350,000 a day.
Chief executive Carsten Spohr has said Lufthansa - which also includes subsidiaries Austrian and Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss - is bleeding “about a million euros in liquidity reserves per hour. Day and night. Week by week.”
Michael Cohen to be released from prison and serve sentence at home
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer, will be released from federal prison Thursday and is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
Cohen has been serving a federal prison sentence at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress.
Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the justice department for weeks to release at-risk inmates ahead of a potential outbreak, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6ft away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars.
Cohen was told last month he would be released to serve the rest of his three-year sentence at home in response to concerns about coronavirus. He had told associates he was expecting to be released earlier this month.
A federal judge had denied Cohen’s attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a ruling earlier this month that it “appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle”. But the Bureau of Prisons can take action to move him to home confinement without a judicial order.
The Bureau of Prisons said last week that more than 2,400 inmates had been moved to home confinement since Barr first issued his memo on home confinement in late March, and 1,200 others had been approved and were expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Other high-profile inmates have also been released as the number of coronavirus cases soars in the federal prison system. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was released on home confinement last week. Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Trump, was temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City and is staying at a friend’s house in Los Angeles.
You can (and please do!) get in touch with me directly on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email on helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com – tips, news, comments, questions, jokes all welcome.
Updated
After nearly two months sidelined in Guam with a coronavirus outbreak, the USS Theodore Roosevelt has gone out to sea for training, in preparation to return to duty in the Pacific.
The ship has been docked in Guam since 27 March, as the 4,800 crew members went through rotations of quarantine, and more than 1,000 of them have tested positive for the virus over that time.
“It feels great to be back at sea,” Rear Admiral Stu Baker, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, said in a statement. “Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew.”
In an Associated Press interview from the aircraft carrier earlier this week, Navy Captain Carlos Sardiello said the ship will sail with a scaled-back crew of about 3,000, leaving about 1,800 sailors on shore who are still in quarantine or working with those who are.
The sailors in quarantine include up to 14 who recently tested positive again for the virus, just days after getting cleared to return to the carrier.
Here is a video of US president Donald Trump saying China’s coronavirus numbers “weren’t correct”, before adding it has “been easily shown and easily proven”. He did not provide any evidence.
The president made the comments during a meeting with the governors of Arkansas and Kansas, after explaining case numbers in the US were favourable if outbreaks in New York and New Jersey were not included.
When asked by a journalist leaving the room at the end of the meeting, Trump added his hydroxychloroquine regimen finishes in “about two days”:
Eight soccer players at Mexico’s Santos Laguna club have tested positive for coronavirus but none of them are displaying any symptoms, the Mexican governing body, Liga MX, said on Wednesday.
The Mexican league was suspended on 15 March due to the coronavirus outbreak and officials have not indicated when it would restart.
The players at Santos Laguna had all been tested since Monday, the league said. Neither Liga MX nor the club released the names of the footballers who tested positive.
“These players will be observed and the health of all the Liga MX players will be constantly monitored,” Liga MX said in a statement.
Mexico has registered 56,594 coronavirus infections and 6,090 deaths in total. Earlier on Wednesday, health officials reported 424 new fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic.
‘Bring our boys back home’: rugby team from Tonga trapped in New Zealand due to Covid-19
Leni Maiai reports for the Guardian from Auckland:
For the past six weeks, the days have followed a particular pattern for the players and coaching staff of the Tu’uakitau rugby team from Tonga.
They get up from their beds – mattresses on the floor of a church in Auckland where they are locked down – pray, sing hymns, eat a breakfast made of donated food, and then train.
The 29-strong squad is stuck 2,000km from their home in Tonga, stranded in New Zealand after their Pacific home shut its borders to all travellers, including citizens.
The team from Ha’apai, a remote cluster of islands in central Tonga, arrived in New Zealand on 3 March, intending to spend a month playing club rugby teams around the North Island, before heading home.
Team Tu’uakitau had spent months preparing for the trip, training, and fundraising. Players were hoping to be scouted for contracts on New Zealand teams; a potential pathway to residency for them and their families.
A week and a half into the tour, opposition coaches began calling to cancel their upcoming games and they realised the gravity of the Covid-19 situation:
Updated
China recorded two new coronavirus cases for 20 May, down from five a day earlier, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Thursday.
One of the new cases was a local transmission, in Shanghai, and one was a so-called imported case involving a traveller from overseas, the commission said in a statement. China also reported one imported case the previous day.
The NHC reported 31 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, up from 16 a day earlier.
The total number of Covid-19 infections in China to date now stands at 82,967. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Tokyo’s top prosecutor was set to resign after a report that he gambled illegally during Japan’s coronavirus state of emergency, media said on Thursday, in a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose support has been hit over his handling of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
Hiromu Kurokawa, the chief of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, was due to resign, public broadcaster NHK said, citing a source. Other media had similar reports.
Kurokawa was hit with a social media backlash over a media report that he allegedly played mahjong for money during Japan’s state of emergency, potentially flouting social distancing guidelines. Gambling is illegal in Japan, with some exceptions.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report or reach anyone at the prosecutors office for comment. No one was immediately available at the justice ministry outside of normal business hours.
Kurokawa, who is seen as close to Abe, has been at the centre of a furore over the government’s efforts to raise the retirement age for prosecutors after he was allowed to stay in his post beyond retirement age of 63.
Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, allowed some businesses to reopen on Wednesday following a fall in daily deaths from the coronavirus pandemic that had for weeks required the city to remain in quarantine, Reuters reports.
Guayaquil in March and April faced a brutal outbreak of the virus that left hospitals overwhelmed and authorities struggling to collect the bodies of presumed Covid-19 victims.
Public transportation and private vehicles were again circulating in the coastal city on Wednesday and open air markets and shopping malls began opening their doors. Bars, restaurants and movie theaters remain closed.
Guayaquil’s municipal government said in a social media video that daily death rates linked to Covid-19 in Guayaquil had dropped to around 10 per day in May from a peak of 460 in April.
“In the home there is hunger, outside there is the coronavirus,” Mayor Cynthia Viteri told reporters. “We have to find a balance so that people can work and take care of themselves.”
Municipal offices opened to the public with limited hours. The city is maintaining a curfew and some restrictions on vehicle traffic. Domestic and international flights remain halted.
Ecuador officially has 34,854 infections and 2,888 deaths from the virus. But the government recognizes that the figures are probably much higher because of limited testing.
Updated
Mexico suffers record one-day death toll
Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday registered 2,248 new coronavirus infections and an additional 424 fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic.
The new infections brought confirmed coronavirus cases to 56,594 and 6,090 deaths in total, according to the official tally.
Mexico registered its biggest daily increase yet in infections on Tuesday, when it reported 2,713 new cases. Mexico’s highest daily death toll was on 12 May, when health authorities reported 353 fatalities.
Updated
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has told the Washington Post – in an interview about US President Donald Trump’s promise to deliver a vaccine by the end of the year, in what the White House has called “Operation Warp Speed,” – that he is concerned this name will make people worry that their safety could be at risk.
Fauci said in the interview, “People don’t understand that, because when they hear ‘Operation Warp Speed,’ they think, ‘Oh, my God, they’re jumping over all these steps and they’re going to put us at risk.”
The Washington Post writes:
No steps would be eliminated, [Dr Fauci] vowed. Rather, multiple steps — from collecting data to preparing to scale up the number of potential doses — would be pursued at once, creating “risk for the investment” but not for the patient or the “integrity of the study.”
Colombia’s capital Bogota is using police drones to detect people with high temperatures or those violating the country’s coronavirus quarantine, Reuters reports.
If a drone detects someone with a potential fever it sends the location to a medical team that seeks out the person to determine if they have coronavirus symptoms, officials said on Wednesday.
“It facilitates the location of groups of people day or night,” said Captain Jorge Humberto Caceres, head of the police drone unit, as he monitored an area of northern Bogota with a thermal camera-equipped drone.
“It gives us an approximate body temperature and directs the case to a national system so it can be attended to.”
The drones only detect temperatures or groupings of people who are out on the street, the police said, and do not penetrate into houses or apartments. The country has been in a coronavirus lockdown for nearly two months.
Bogota - home to some 8 million people - has more than a third of Colombia’s nearly 17,000 coronavirus cases.
Europe should brace for second wave, says EU coronavirus chief
In case you missed this Guardian exclusive:
The prospect of a second wave of coronavirus infection across Europe is no longer a distant theory, according to the director of the EU agency responsible for advising governments – including the UK – on disease control.
“The question is when and how big, that is the question in my view,” said Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Ammon, a former adviser to the German government, speaks frankly in her first interview with a UK newspaper since the crisis began.
Earlier this month the former hospital doctor, who worked through the various levels of healthcare bureaucracy to be become ECDC director in 2017, announced that, as of 2 May, Europe as a whole had passed the peak of infections. Only Poland was technically not yet there, she said.
European governments have started easing their lockdown restrictions, some to the extent that bars and restaurants will soon reopen, others rather more tentatively. Boris Johnson has tweaked his message to Britons from “stay at home” to “stay alert” and is seeking to send pupils back into schools in a fortnight.
Global cases near 5 million
After the biggest single-day increase in cases worldwide so far in the pandemic, the number of confirmed infections is close to 5 million, with the Johns Hopkins University data currently listing 4,968,133.
The true number is likely to be significantly higher, due to differing testing rates, delays and underreporting. This is true for deaths, too. At least 326,464 people have lost their lives in the pandemic so far.
Here are the 15 worst-affected countries by total cases:
- US: 1,548,646 (Deaths: 93,214)
- Russia: 308,705 (Deaths: 2,972)
- Brazil: 271,628 (Deaths: 17,971)
- United Kingdom: 249,616 (Deaths: 35,785)
- Spain: 232,555 (Deaths: 27,888)
- Italy: 227,364 (Deaths: 32,330)
- France: 181,700 (Deaths: 28,135)
- Germany: 178,473 (Deaths: 8,144)
- Turkey: 152,587 (Deaths: 4,222)
- Iran: 126,949 (Deaths: 7,183)
- India: 112,028 (Deaths: 3,434)
- Peru: 104,020 (Deaths: 3,024)
- China: 84,063 (Deaths: 4,638)
- Canada: 81,530 (Deaths: 6,147)
- Saudi Arabia: 62,545 (Deaths: 339)
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the world sees the highest daily increase in confirmed cases so far – with 106,000 cases in 24 hours – the World Health Organization has warned that the pandemic is far from over. “We still have a long way to go in this pandemic. We are very concerned about rising cases in low- and middle-income countries,” he said.
Meanwhile Europe’s director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the agency responsible for advising governments, including the UK, on disease control, has said that Europe should brace for a second wave of infections – “The question is when and how big. That is the question in my view,” said Dr Andrea Ammon.
“Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity – which isn’t all that exciting, between 2% and 14%, that leaves still 85% to 90% of the population susceptible – the virus is around us, circulating much more than January and February … I don’t want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic. That it’s not the time now to completely relax,” she said.
Here are the top developments from the last few hours:
- World sees largest daily rise in cases. The World Health Organization gave a stark warning on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide over the past 24 hours – the most in a single day so far. Speaking in Geneva, the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the virus was spreading in poorer countries, just as wealthier nations were emerging from lockdown.
- Europe should brace itself for a second wave of coronavirus infections, according to the director of the EU agency responsible for advising governments on disease control. “The question is when and how big. That is the question in my view,” said Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
- Trump considers an in-person G7 meeting despite coronavirus pandemic. Donald Trump has said he may seek to revive a face-to-face meeting of Group of Seven leaders near Washington, after earlier canceling the gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, DC, at the legendary Camp David,” the US president tweeted on Wednesday. “The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all – normalization!”
- International imports and exports have fallen to their lowest level for at least four years, according to World Trade Organization figures. Warning that there was little prospect of the downturn ending soon, the global authority on trade said it believed import and export activity would fall precipitously in the first half of 2020.
- Tourists will be welcomed back to Greece from 15 June, the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has announced. “The tourism period begins June 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen, and direct international flights to our tourist destinations will gradually begin 1 July,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address.
- South Africa records its first neonatal coronavirus death. South Africa has recorded its first neonatal coronavirus death, the country’s health ministry has said.The two-day old baby was born prematurely and had lung difficulties that required ventilation support immediately after birth, the health minister Zweli Mkhize said.
- France is to launch a complete shake-up of its health system, widely considered to be one of the best in the world, yet exposed by the pandemic. President Macron had already promised to overhaul the “salaries, careers, speciality training and professional situation” of staff, and to invest and reform financing of the health system.
- The arrival in Bangladesh of possibly the most powerful cyclone in more than a decade complicated coronavirus containment measures. Authorities were attempting to move 2.2 million people to safety as Cyclone Amphan made landfall on Wednesday morning, after days brewing in the Bay of Bengal.
- Amnesty International has urged governments to conduct urgent search operations to find as many as 1,000 Rohingya refugees who are stranded at sea and at risk of being hit by the cyclone. Rights groups said governments were using the pandemic as an excuse to turn away boats carrying stranded refugees, who may have been at sea for months.
- The Trump administration called on the UN to remove references to sexual health from its Covid-19 humanitarian response plan. In a letter to the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, the acting administrator for the US agency for international development, John Barsa, urged the UN to “stay focused on life-saving interventions”.
- The US president, Donald Trump, lashed out at Beijing, blaming it for “mass worldwide killing”. Trump referred to an unidentified “wacko in China”, in the latest in a series of attacks aimed at the country that he appears to be trying to frame as the centrepiece of his reelection bid.
- Oxfam International is to lay off almost 1,500 staff and close operations in 18 countries – including Afghanistan where it has worked for 50 years – after it emerged that the global aid organisation had been bleeding cash during the coronavirus crisis. The NGO has seen its funding model hit by an accumulation of crises.
