We’ve launched a new global coronavirus blog (with key Trump updates) at the link below – head there for the latest:
Trump gave a second thumbs up to the crowd before climbing onto Marine One:
He didn't speak to media (or respond to the question of whether he thinks he's a super spreader) but he gave a thumbs up before climbing into the car and another before climbing onto Marine One: pic.twitter.com/yt87HKBTGq
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Trump leaves Walter Reed hospital
The president is leaving the building, wearing a mask. He walked straight to the car, then paused briefly to give a thumbs up before climbing into the vehicle.
As Trump leaves Walter Reed someone shouts "Do you think you're a super spreader, Mr President?" pic.twitter.com/uGytSElomi
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Updated
Trump still has the coronavirus, is still contagious, and according to CDC guidelines, should remain in isolation until at least 10 days after his diagnosis, which came in the early hours of Friday.
And a reminder that, according to Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman, Trump chose to leave the White House for Walter Reed because it was important that he be seen walking to Marine Force One:
Per source, Trump was told on Friday he could go to Walter Reed voluntarily, but he would be taken no matter what when his condition worsened. Doctors told Trump if he waited he could lose ability to walk to Marine One (optics of a wheelchair or stretcher obvs would be terrible)
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) October 3, 2020
Here’s an idea of what to expect of Trump’s leaving display from Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs, who broke the news last week that Hope Hicks had tested positive for coronavirus:
NEWS: Trump wants to make a dramatic exit from Walter Reed. He plans to walk out the golden front doors on camera, sources tell @SalehaMohsin and me. He's shooting a video inside the hospital first, and then will walk to car and then to Marine One. No plan to speak to press. pic.twitter.com/DqLY6MvyXZ
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) October 5, 2020
Trump says he will be “back on the campaign trail soon”
Trump has just tweeted that he will be “back on the campaign trail soon”:
Will be back on the Campaign Trail soon!!! The Fake News only shows the Fake Polls.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
Trump still has coronavirus, but his doctor, Sean Conley, said the president has been cleared to return to the White House.
“Over the past 24 hours the president has continued to improve,” Conley said earlier. He said Trump will receive another dose of remdesivir and “then we plan to get him home.”
Conley said it had been more than 72 hours since his last fever and that his oxygen levels are normal.
“Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet,” Conley said, his condition “support[s] the presidents safe return home.”
There is a livestream of the entrance to Walter Reed here – Trump is due to leave any minute now.
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.
I’ll be bringing you key Trump coronavirus updates here as well as global pandemic news.
Say Hi on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Summary
As Australia wakes up, here’s a quick recap of the main coronavirus developments over the last few hours:
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The US president Donald Trump says he will leave hospital on Monday evening. Trump tweeted that he will leave Walter Reed hospital at 6.30pm, adding that he felt “really good”. He urged people not to be afraid of the disease, which has killed more than a million people worldwide (among them more than 200,000 Americans) and wreaked economic and social havoc. Follow along on our US politics live blog.
- French patients in ICUs for Covid-19 above 1,400 for first time since 28 May. French health authorities reported that the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) for Covid-19 has gone beyond the 1,400 threshold for the first time since 28 May.
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White House press secretary tests positive for Covid-19. Kayleigh McEnany said she has tested positive for Covid-19, adding that she would begin quarantining and that the White House medical unit does not list any members of the press as close contacts.
- England Covid cases error means 50,000 contacts may not have been traced. More than 50,000 potentially infectious people may have been missed by contact tracers and not told to self-isolate because of the data blunder that meant nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England.
- One in 10 may have caught Covid, as world heads into “difficult period” - WHO. Roughly one in 10 people may have been infected with the coronavirus, leaving the vast majority of the world’s population vulnerable, the World Health Organization said.
- New York governor closes schools in coronavirus hot spots. Andrew Cuomo ordered schools to close from Tuesday onwards in several coronavirus “hot spots” around the state, including parts of the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
- Spain tops 800,000 coronavirus cases after weekend jump. Spain became the first western European nation to surpass 800,000 total coronavirus cases after registering 23,480 new infections over the weekend.
- Ireland’s government ‘to reject new lockdown’. Ireland’s government has rejected a surprise recommendation by its health chiefs to go into lockdown and will instead tighten current Covid-19 restrictions, government sources said.
- Paris bars to close as Covid infections rise among young people. Bars in the Paris region have been ordered to close from Tuesday after health authorities reported a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 infections among the 20-30 age group.
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Iran hits record high 235 virus deaths in 24 hours. Iran has announced 235 new fatalities from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, a figure equalling the record high set nearly 10 weeks ago.
- Malaysia PM quarantines after contact with minister who has Covid-19. Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will self quarantine for 14 days after a minister who attended a high-level government meeting to discuss coronavirus developments on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19.
The US president Donald Trump has no basis for claiming success battling the country’s coronavirus crisis, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Monday, saying his policies had endangered Americans.
He should not be dealing with it politically to make it look like he overcame the virus because he had such good policies, because in fact he has been very destructive and dangerous to the country.
Pelosi said she hoped Monday’s decision to release Trump from his hospital stay for the virus came from his doctors. A bit later, the doctors said he would have good medical care at the White House.
Pelosi told MSNBC that Trump could be a “long hauler,” someone who experiences longer-term consequences. She said the testing protocol at the White House, where several of Trump’s aides have also fallen ill, “apparently ... doesn’t work.”
Before he was due to leave the hospital on Monday, Trump urged people not to be afraid of the disease, which has killed more than a million people worldwide and wreaked economic and social havoc.
“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don*t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!” he tweeted.
Trump was eager to get out, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier on Monday. His doctor said the president “may not entirely be out of the woods yet.”
Pelosi said she tested negative on Friday. Her spokesman said her test on Monday also was negative.
“We will do what we need to do to protect the members of Congress,” Pelosi told MSNBC, but she did not announce any new testing protocols.
Most of the people in our world who have come into contact and have been, tested positive, did not get the virus at the Capitol. It was in other encounters, including at the White House.
Southwest Airlines plans to avoid furloughs and layoffs through 2021, chief executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday.
The message was a shift from last week, when Kelly said the airline could be forced to follow rivals and lay off thousands of employees due to the coronavirus crisis in the absence of an extension of federal payroll aid, which US lawmakers continue to negotiate in Washington.
A plan to introduce Covid-19 testing for international arrivals in an effort to cut the 14-day quarantine period is due to be unveiled, the UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has indicated.
The beleaguered aviation industry had been lobbying for a two-test system, whereby travellers are tested at an airport on arrival from at-risk countries and again five or eight days later – with negative results allowing them to leave isolation earlier.
However, the Guardian understands that the UK government is considering overlooking tests at airports, instead opting for a single test for travellers after a period of isolation shorter than the current two-week requirement.
Another option on the table is a different type of two-test approach that would see international passengers tested prior to departure in the country they are travelling from and again several days after arriving.
Speaking at the Conservative party conference on Monday, Shapps stressed that a period of quarantine would still be required for travellers arriving from countries outside of the travel corridor but that it could be limited with testing.
Read my colleague Simon Murphy’s full report here.
Argentina has the world’s highest rate of positive Covid-19 tests, according to Oxford-linked tracker Our World In Data, with nearly six out of 10 yielding an infection, a reflection of low testing levels and loose enforcement of lockdown rules.
Argentina was set to hit 800,000 confirmed cases on Monday, with a seven-day rolling average of around 12,500 new daily infections. The country, which started strongly against the virus, passed 20,000 fatalities last week.
Medical professionals said low-levels of testing and lax restrictions had propelled the high positive rate, that climbed from around 40% in August to just shy of 60% in the last week, a Reuters calculation using health ministry data shows.
“Is there isolation? There is none. Are there (enough) tests? No there aren’t,” Carlos Kambourian, a paediatrician in Buenos Aires, told Reuters.
By comparison, New York state has a population of 20 million, less than half of Argentina’s 45 million, yet carries out 100,000 tests a day, four times the number in Argentina. In New York state, the positive rate is a bit over 1%.
Argentina’s government won plaudits for a tough early lockdown that began 20 March, but since then has been forced to loosen restrictions to help revive an economy already in recession for two years and as poverty levels and unemployment have risen.
Kambourian added that there had been little in way of strengthening health services: “Certainly the strategies to stop a this type of pandemic aren’t being applied.”
A source from Argentina’s health ministry said the large number of positive tests was a result of its “DetectAr” program, where testing focuses on contacts of those known to be infected. The government had pledged to raise testing levels.
Argentina has the eighth most Covid-19 cases in the world, and is currently in the top five for rolling 7-day average new cases and fatalities. Latin America has been the hardest hit region of the world in terms of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Updated
Donald Trump says he will leave hospital on Monday evening
The US president Donald Trump has tweeted that he will leave Walter Reed hospital on Monday at 6.30pm, adding that he felt “really good”. He was hospitalised on Friday.
I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
For more updates from across the pond, you can head to our US politics live blog. It’s here.
Updated
The US CDC has reported 7,396,730 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 36,778 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 378 to 209,199.
The CDC reported its tally of Covid-19 as of 4pm ET on 4 October versus its previous report a day earlier. The figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Good evening from London! I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. If you have a story or tips to share, please feel free to get in touch with me - your comments are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Summary
Here’s a quick recap of the main coronavirus developments over the last few hours:
- French patients in ICUs for Covid-19 above 1,400 for first time since 28 May. French health authorities reported that the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) for Covid-19 has gone beyond the 1,400 threshold for the first time since 28 May.
-
White House press secretary tests positive for Covid-19. Kayleigh McEnany said she has tested positive for Covid-19, adding that she would begin quarantining and that the White House medical unit does not list any members of the press as close contacts.
- England Covid cases error means 50,000 contacts may not have been traced. More than 50,000 potentially infectious people may have been missed by contact tracers and not told to self-isolate because of the data blunder that meant nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England.
- One in 10 may have caught Covid, as world heads into “difficult period” - WHO. Roughly one in 10 people may have been infected with the coronavirus, leaving the vast majority of the world’s population vulnerable, the World Health Organization said.
- New York governor closes schools in coronavirus hot spots. Andrew Cuomo ordered schools to close from Tuesday onwards in several coronavirus “hot spots” around the state, including parts of the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
- Spain tops 800,000 coronavirus cases after weekend jump. Spain became the first western European nation to surpass 800,000 total coronavirus cases after registering 23,480 new infections over the weekend.
- Ireland’s government ‘to reject new lockdown’. Ireland’s government has rejected a surprise recommendation by its health chiefs to go into lockdown and will instead tighten current Covid-19 restrictions, government sources said.
- Paris bars to close as Covid infections rise among young people. Bars in the Paris region have been ordered to close from Tuesday after health authorities reported a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 infections among the 20-30 age group.
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Iran hits record high 235 virus deaths in 24 hours. Iran has announced 235 new fatalities from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, a figure equalling the record high set nearly 10 weeks ago.
- Malaysia PM quarantines after contact with minister who has Covid-19. Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will self quarantine for 14 days after a minister who attended a high-level government meeting to discuss coronavirus developments on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19.
And that’s it from me Jessica Murray today, I’m now handing over to my colleague Lucy Campbell.
French patients in ICUs for Covid-19 above 1,400 for first time since 28 May
French health authorities have reported that the number of patients being treated in intensive care units (ICUs) for Covid-19 has gone beyond the 1,400 threshold for the first time since 28 May.
The latest figure comes the day before Paris is to be placed on maximum Covid-19 alert, meaning bars will be forced to close for two weeks, partly because of the sharp rise of the number of people in ICUs.
Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona has been tested for the coronavirus, his lawyer said on Twitter on Monday.
The results of the former striker’s test are expected within 24 hours, his lawyer Matias Morla said. Morla shared a photo of a medical worker swabbing Maradona at his home.
Cumpliendo con los protocolos y para tranquilidad de Diego y de su familia, Maradona fue hisopado este mediodia en su domicilio. Los resultados estarán en las próximas 24 horas. pic.twitter.com/BTCLVgyc0c
— MATIAS MORLA (@MatiasMorlaAb) October 5, 2020
New York governor closes schools in coronavirus hot spots
New York governor Andrew Cuomo ordered schools to close from Tuesday onwards in several coronavirus “hot spots” around the state, including parts of the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
The announcement brings forward a plan by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio to close schools in eleven ZIP codes beginning on Wednesday after coronavirus test positivity rates rose above 3% in those areas for seven days in a row.
“I am not going to recommend or allow any New York City family to send their child to a school that I wouldn’t send my child,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Monday.
He said the state would take over enforcement of social distancing rules from local authorities in the hot spots.
Cuomo said he was also concerned about similar rising coronavirus rates in Rockland and Orange counties north of New York City.
New York faced one of the earliest and most devastating outbreaks of coronavirus in the spring, but has since managed to largely curtail its spread. On Monday, 1.22% of coronavirus tests statewide were reported to be positive, Cuomo said.
Updated
EU rules that set limits on government borrowing will remain suspended in 2021 as the 27-nation bloc strives to support a recovery from the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, economic commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said.
The European Commission, which is in charge of enforcing the fiscal rules, earlier this year suspended EU requirements to keep government deficits below 3% of GDP and to reduce public debt every year as the EU economy entered a record recession.
“In terms of fiscal policy, we sent a letter last week to EU finance ministers to provide guidance as they are preparing their national budgets for 2021,” Gentiloni told a news conference after a meeting of euro zone finance ministers.
“The General Escape Clause will remain active in the year 2021 and fiscal policies should continue to support the recovery next year, both at the level of the euro area and in individual member states,” he said.
Euro zone countries must send their draft budget assumptions for 2021 to the European Commission by 15 October for checks to ensure they are in line with EU rules.
Gentiloni said that governments should carefully choose the fiscal measures they want to use to sustain the recovery because they would have to be well-targeted and temporary.
“There is, of course, a difference between a fiscal policy aimed at tackling the emergency and one that is focusing on achieving a durable recovery,” he said.
“Agility and flexibility will be key in designing and implementing fiscal policies for and during 2021.”
The International Monetary Fund has told its member governments they can create millions of jobs and boost recovery prospects if they use higher public investment to respond to the severe economic challenge posed by Covid-19.
Ahead of its annual meeting this month, the Washington-based fund said historically low interest rates meant it was a good time to borrow for long-term infrastructure projects and said the spending would help tackle rising unemployment.
The IMF said the boost to jobs would be especially strong if governments planned for a green recovery.
Its analysis – contained in a chapter from its forthcoming fiscal monitor – showed that increasing public investment by 1% of national output would create seven million jobs directly and between 20m and 33m jobs via the knock-on effects on the rest of the economy.
British health secretary, Matt Hancock, said he is working on proposals to simplify England’s patchwork of local Covid-19 restrictions and would present them to parliament.
Asked if he had considered simplifying the framework for local restrictions, Hancock said: “The short answer is yes. I think that the proposals that we are working through and that I’ll bring to this House ... (are) to have a more simplified approach to the local actions needed.”
Updated
Spain tops 800,000 coronavirus cases after weekend jump
Spain became the first western European nation to surpass 800,000 total coronavirus cases after registering 23,480 new infections over the weekend, health ministry data showed.
The cumulative tally hit 813,412, while the death toll reached 32,225, up 139 on Friday.
Daily deaths are now at their highest level since early May but are well below the late March record of nearly 900.
Updated
Democratic presidential contender, Joe Biden, said he is willing to participate in next week’s scheduled debate with the president, Donald Trump, if health experts say it would be safe.
Trump’s medical team is weighing whether the president can leave hospital later on Monday after being admitted last week with Covid-19.
“If the scientists say that it’s safe and the distances are safe, then I think that’s fine. I’ll do whatever the experts say is the appropriate thing to do,” Biden, who tested negative for Covid-19 over the weekend, told reporters in Delaware before heading to Florida on a campaign trip.
Updated
White House press secretary tests positive for Covid-19
White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said she has tested positive for Covid-19, adding that she would begin quarantining and that the White House medical unit does not list any members of the press as close contacts.
“Moreover, I definitively had no knowledge of Hope Hicks’ diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday,” McEnany said in a statement, referring to president Donald Trump’s adviser whose positive test results were revealed last Thursday, hours before Trump announced he and his wife also had contracted coronavirus.
Updated
An initiative from Germany’s Social Democrat labour minister to give people the right to work from home is facing opposition from chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and business groups, though a survey shows most workers like the idea.
The coronavirus pandemic has interrupted work flows in many companies in Europe’s largest economy, accelerating a trend to work partly from home and speeding up the digitisation of business organisation and communication.
But it has also created new problems such as working longer hours and pushing up stress levels, especially among parents juggling childcare and working from home.
Hubertus Heil from the co-governing, centre-left SPD told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday that his draft law would give employees the right to work from home or somewhere else at least 24 days per year if the profession and work flows allow.
With the draft law, Heil wants to increase job satisfaction among employees and avoid home working automatically leading to longer working hours.
Employers must ensure that employees record their entire working time at home, or else face a fine of up to €30,000.
In addition, accidents that happen while working from home should be regarded as work accidents which means the employer’s insurance must fully cover the costs.
A survey conducted by several economic institutes showed that roughly two thirds of German employees welcome the proposal for such a legal right.
But a spokeswoman of economy minister Peter Altmaier from Merkel’s conservatives said during a regular news conference that there were many unanswered questions and that Altmaier remained sceptical of the idea.
“Above all, we need less bureaucracy and not new state guarantees for everything,” the spokeswoman cited Altmaier as saying.
Merkel’s spokesman said the draft law would now be discussed between the labour ministry and the chancellery, adding that there were still a lot of issues to be resolved.
The VDMA engineering association said there was no need for a legal right to work from home.
“It only raises hopes that cannot be fulfilled in every case,” VDMA managing director Thilo Brodtmann said.
It’s difficult for strongman politicians to project confidence in the face of the virus when they themselves succumb to it, writes Guardian columnist Zoe Williams.
What happens to the appeal of the strongman politician when he ends up in hospital? If his offer is that he is somehow above the certainties of science, and that he can overcome regular human weakness by power of mind, how does that weather contact with reality?
There is certainly a Trump-supporting hardcore – anti-vaxxers, evangelicals, creationists, bleach-drinkers – who are implacably hostile to experts, and who do take him at face value. They will find some way to square their views with the new reality, that a leader who despises fallibility is himself fallible, probably by way of a conspiracy theory or a cunning plan.
But there are also supporters, both of Trump and of Johnson, who enjoyed the spectacle of their confidence more as an atmosphere than a fact: who didn’t think either man was superhuman, but simply liked the cut of their jib, and who were (in the UK) and probably will be (in the US) inclined towards sympathy.
Ireland: government 'to reject new lockdown'
Ireland’s government has rejected a surprise recommendation by its health chiefs to go into lockdown and will instead tighten current Covid-19 restrictions, local media has reported.
The National Public Health Emergency Team called for a leap to the highest level of Covid-19 restrictions, Level 5, late on Sunday from Level 2 controls that are in place in 24 of Ireland’s 26 counties.
The government will instead propose moving the whole country to Level 3, local media including state broadcaster RTE reported, after a meeting between senior ministers and health chiefs.
Ireland’s cabinet is due to meet later on Monday.
Updated
An unregulated internet was always likely to breed confusion, denial and conspiracy theories. Trump’s coronavirus infection is its apogee, writes Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins.
We have been taken back to the time of the Salem witches, when an anonymous lie pinned to a church door was known to a whole village in minutes.
True, the management of information became the privilege of ecclesiastical, political and commercial power. The profession of journalism evolved into one of mediating, editing, checking, censoring that dissemination. It sought, and to a degree succeeded, in creating trust in news.
That trust has all but collapsed under the barrage of unregulated “platforms”. Their capacity for good has failed to match their evil. Even now they are undermining trust in any Covid vaccine. No politician dares curb them.
It would be paradoxical if it took the illness of a president to finally subject internet “news” to the same regulation as has long disciplined the mainstream media. This must happen. The great editor in the sky must prevail. But how many witches will die first?
Updated
Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has cancelled all his appointments for the day and is being tested for coronavirus after an unidentified close colleague tested positive, a spokesman for Kurz has said.
Vice-chancellor, Werner Kogler, of the Greens has taken the same precautions, and Kurz’s staff are also being tested, the spokesman said, adding that Kurz was not in quarantine.
Kurz and Kogler were last in contact with the colleague on Wednesday, Austrian news agency APA said.
Updated
British finance minister Rishi Sunak has denied he was eyeing up the job of his beleaguered boss, Boris Johnson, and vowed to uphold his “sacred responsibility” of rebalancing the books after a splurge of coronavirus spending.
The chancellor of the exchequer is being portrayed as a leader-in-waiting by some Conservative lawmakers and rightwing commentators, after resisting stricter curbs on public life to counter the Covid-19 crisis.
Speaking at the Conservatives’ annual conference, Sunak downplayed any rift with the prime minister, acknowledging the “difficult trade-offs and decisions” forced upon Johnson’s government as Britain endures the worst pandemic toll in Europe.
Asked if he was looking to move next door from the chancellor’s residence at 11 Downing Street, Sunak told a fringe event: “Definitely not, seeing what the prime minister has to deal with. It’s a job hard enough for me to do.”
The 40-year-old minister moved his young family into the residence over the summer, and said Johnson’s dog Dilyn was “my two daughters’ favourite thing in the world … That has at least staved off me having to get a dog for a little while.”
In an earlier speech to the ruling party’s virtual conference, Sunak paid credit to Johnson’s “special and rare quality” of connecting with people.
“But what the commentators don’t see, the thing I see, is the concern and care he feels for people every day, for the wellbeing of every person in our country,” he said.
“Yes, it’s been difficult, challenges are part of the job, but on the big calls, in the big moments, Boris Johnson has got it right and that is the leadership that we need.”
Sunak has won plaudits for a series of big-spending schemes designed to protect jobs, but his popularity will be tested when it comes to bringing down the sky-high borrowing they have incurred.
Updated
US president Donald Trump has begun a fourth day at the military hospital where he is being treated for Covid-19, as his condition remained unclear and outside experts warned his case may be severe.
The president’s team is treating 74-year-old Trump with a steroid, dexmethasone, normally used only in the most severe cases.
His medical team told reporters on Sunday that Trump could return to the White House as early as Monday. Even if he does, he will need to continue treatment as the Republican president is still undergoing a five-day course of an intravenous antiviral drug, remdesivir.
The normal quarantine period for anyone testing positive for the coronavirus is 14 days.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Monday reiterated the hope that Trump would be released shortly from the hospital.
“He will meet with his doctors and nurses this morning to make further assessments of his progress,” Meadows told Fox News. “We are still optimistic that he will be able to return to the White House later today.”
Sequestered at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington since Friday, Trump has released a series of videos in an effort to reassure the public that he is recovering.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2020
On Sunday, he left his hospital room to ride in a White House motorcade that drove him past supporters gathered outside the hospital.
Critics and medical experts criticised Trump for the move, which potentially exposed the staff in his car to infection.
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” James Phillips, who is also an assistant professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University’s medical school said on Twitter.
“They might get sick. They may die. For political theater.”
Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential “drive-by” just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
On Monday, his Twitter account released a stream of more than a dozen messages including “LAW & ORDER. VOTE!” and “RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. VOTE!”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday showed Trump trailing Biden by 10 percentage points. About 65% of Americans said Trump would not have been infected had he taken the virus more seriously.
Trump has consistently downplayed the risks of the pandemic since it first emerged this year, and he has repeatedly flouted social distancing guidelines meant to curb its spread.
CNN quoted a White House official as saying that his wife, Melania, who also tested positive for Covid-19, is not considering leaving the White House.
“Melania Trump is aware of the dangers of Covid-19. Potentially exposing others is not a risk she would take,” the official said.
A return to the White House might help Trump project a sense of normalcy in his difficult battle to win re-election on 3 November.
Dr Sean P Conley, the White House physician, on Sunday acknowledged that Trump’s condition had been worse than previously admitted.
Conley said Trump had run a high fever on Friday morning and he had been given supplemental oxygen after his blood oxygen levels had dropped.
Biden, 77, has tested negative for the disease several times since sharing a debate stage with Trump last Tuesday. He is due to resume in-person campaigning on Monday in Florida, where opinion polls show a tight race in a crucial battleground for the election.
Updated
Russia has called for an evaluation of the legal and financial repercussions of the Trump administration announcing the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization next July.
Russia’s delegation, addressing a two-day meeting of WHO’s Executive Board, said: “We need to analyse legal procedures and administrative and financial procedures regarding steps taken by the United States against the WHO.”
The US will not pay some $80m it owes the WHO and will instead redirect the money to help pay its United Nations bill in New York, a US official said on 2 September.
Britain’s government has launched an investigation into why a technical issue with its test and trace programme had not been identified sooner.
The country reported a jump in Covid-19 cases after a technical issue meant that more than 15,000 test results had not been transferred into computer systems on time, including for contact tracers, a response that is seen as key to control the virus.
“There was a technical issue in the process that transfers positive test results into the reporting dashboards … that was resolved and all of the cases have been fed into the contact-tracing system,” a spokesman for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said, adding that additional contact tracers were being used.
“An investigation is under way to determine why the issue was not identified sooner.”
Updated
The Brazilian military has wrapped up a three-week operation that provided medical care to the Amazon’s Guajajara tribe hit by Covid-19, in response to criticism that Brazil was not protecting vulnerable indigenous people from the pandemic.
Guajajara leaders praised the armed forces for air lifting doctors and nurses to do rapid Covid-19 tests and examine for other diseases, but criticised the government’s indigenous health service SESAI for not protecting them against the coronavirus.
The defence ministry said its doctors did 37,000 checkups since 24 September and supplied 39 tonnes of medicine, food and protective equipment to the Guajajara, a tribe that lives on several reservations in the rainforest of Maranhão state.
The Guajajara are best known for warrior teams dubbed the “guardians of the forest” set up to stop illegal loggers from invading their lands in growing numbers since environmental controls were relaxed by far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
Indigenous and human rights groups such as the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) and Human Rights Watch have criticised the government for reducing the SESAI’s scope and ignoring the plight of indigenous people in the face of the pandemic.
There have been 447 deaths from Covid19 so far among Brazil’s 800,000 indigenous people, according to SESAI, which only provides healthcare to those living on reservations. Another 388 have died off reservation in urban areas, according to the main indigenous umbrella organisation APIB.
SESAI director Robson Santos told reporters the lethality rate for Covid-19 cases among Brazil’s indigenous people had turned out to be much lower than expected, at 1.5%.
The country’s total death toll reached 146,352 on Sunday and it had 4,915,289 confirmed cases.
On Sunday, military helicopters flew in general practice doctors as well as gynaecologists and even veterinarians to Morro Branco village, where three people have died from Covid-19, including a man who was buried on Saturday.
Ythai Guajajara, a tribal spokeswoman, thanked the military for helping at such a critical time but said her people needed more access to healthcare than they were getting.
Carlos Travassos, a former head of isolated tribes at the government’s indigenous affairs agency Funai, said the medical outreach was a media operation to show that the government was fighting Covid-19 among indigenous communities.
“This was just for Englishmen to see,” he said, using a Brazilian expression for doing things for the sake of appearances.
Updated
Donald Trump said in March he “didn’t have a lot of time” to meet the top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci for a briefing about the coronavirus outbreak that was then gathering pace, according to a new recording released by the reporter Bob Woodward.
Trump spoke to Woodward on the record 19 times for the reporter’s book Rage.
In one conversation, on 19 March, the president infamously said he “wanted to always play [the virus] down” and said “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic”.
In the same call, CNN reported on Monday, the president called Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, a “sharp guy” who has “done it before”.
Fauci has emerged as a trusted voice on the pandemic, his every interaction or disagreement with Trump frenziedly parsed in the media.
Asked if he had sat down with Fauci, Trump said: “Yes, I guess, but honestly there’s not a lot of time for that, Bob.
“This is a busy White House. We’ve got a lot of things happening. And then this came up.”
Lebanon’s caretaker health minister has warned coronavirus cases are increasing, urging more private hospitals to help prepare for any further deterioration.
The country had kept its numbers relatively low since its first case in February, but the easing up of measures this summer has set infection rates back on the rise.
Covid-19 infections have shot up to 44,482 including 406 deaths since February, and Lebanon on Sunday put 111 villages and towns on lockdown in a bid to stem the pandemic.
“The rate of infections in Lebanon has reached 120 per 100,000 people per week, which is considered to be a peak and brings us closer to the European scenarios,” said Hamad Hassan.
As a comparison, official French figures show new coronavirus cases stand above 250 per 100,000 people in Paris per week.
Hassan, who has been caretaker minister since the government resigned in the wake of the 4 August explosion in Beirut, said Lebanon’s death rate stood at 1.2 per 100,000 cases of infection.
He called the localised lockdowns across the country a “last chance”.
Residents in concerned districts should remain at home and public institutions in those areas will be closed for eight days until early Monday next week, the interior ministry has said.
Cases have spiked in the aftermath of the massive Beirut port explosion that killed more than 190 people, and overwhelmed the capital’s health services with thousands of wounded.
Authorities fear the continuous rise of cases could further overwhelm the fragile healthcare sector.
Hassan said the authorities were working on securing an extra 300 intensive care beds for coronavirus patients.
He urged more private hospitals to pitch in with help, saying only 15 were receiving Covid patients so far out of 130 hospitals in total nationwide.
“We don’t have the luxury of time; there is a need for responsible participation from all hospitals to save the Lebanese,” he said.
Lebanon on Saturday notched up a new record of 1,321 new cases in 24 hours.
“Many hospitals have reached full capacity,” Firass Abiad, head of a major public hospital battling Covid, warned on Sunday.
“Some patients have had to stay in the emergency departments, or to be transported long distances to reach an intensive care bed.”
The US, in apparent criticism of China, said it could not tolerate the “failure” of a member state of the World Health Organization to provide accurate, complete and timely information about disease outbreaks.
US assistant health secretary Brett Giroir, speaking to the WHO executive board, also called for acting on proposed WHO reforms by countries including the US, Germany, France and Chile.
Giroir, as well as the EU and Australia, called for launching an international WHO-led mission to China to investigate the origin of the virus which emerged late last year. Earlier, WHO emergency chief Mike Ryan said that a list of experts had been submitted to China for consideration.
Updated
One in 10 may have caught Covid, as world heads into "difficult period" - WHO
Roughly one in 10 people may have been infected with the coronavirus, leaving the vast majority of the world’s population vulnerable, the World Health Organization has said.
Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert, told the agency’s executive board that outbreaks were surging in parts of south-east Asia and that cases and deaths were on the rise in parts of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region. He said:
Our current best estimates tell us about 10% of the global population may have been infected by this virus. It varies depending on country, it varies from urban to rural, it varies depending on groups. But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk.
We are now heading into a difficult period. The disease continues to spread.
The WHO has submitted a list of experts to take part in an international mission to China to investigate the origin of coronavirus, for consideration by Chinese authorities, he said.
Updated
US president Donald Trump’s condition continued to improve overnight, and the White House is optimistic he will leave the hospital later on Monday, Fox News reported, citing a statement from White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Meadows said he had spoken with Trump earlier on Monday morning, and that the president would meet with his medical team later on Monday morning to assess his condition, Fox reported.
Updated
England Covid cases error means 50,000 contacts may not have been traced
More than 50,000 potentially infectious people may have been missed by contact tracers and not told to self-isolate because of the data blunder that meant nearly 16,000 coronavirus cases went unreported in England.
Public Health England (PHE) admitted it was to blame for the IT error that meant 15,841 positive test results were left off the official daily figures between 25 September and 2 October.
It is thought that the majority of the 15,841 patients were non-complex cases, meaning they were tested in community settings rather than in hospitals, care homes or other institutions.
In the most recent week for which figures are available, each non-complex case reported an average of three close contacts. This equates to at least 47,000 people.
However, a minority of the 15,841 missing positive cases were complex cases – those that include hospitals, care homes, prisons and homeless shelters – who on average had seven close contacts each in the most recent week. That takes the likely number of close contacts missed to more than 50,000.
Boris Johnson said health officials were on Monday trying to contact their close contacts amid concerns that they may have been unknowingly spreading the disease for days.
New York mayor bids to shut schools and businesses in Covid hotspots
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on non-essential businesses in several neighborhoods because of a resurgence of the coronavirus.
The action, if approved, would mark a disheartening retreat for a city that enjoyed a summer with less spread of the virus than most other parts of the US, and recently celebrated the return of students citywide to in-person learning in classrooms.
Shutdowns would happen starting on Wednesday in nine zip codes in the city, de Blasio said on Sunday.
About 100 public schools and 200 private schools would have to close. Indoor dining, which just resumed a few days ago, would be suspended. Outdoor restaurant dining would shut down in the affected neighborhoods as well, and gyms would close. Houses of worship would be allowed to remain open with existing restrictions in place, de Blasio said.
He said he was taking the action in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading deeper into the city and becoming a “second wave”, like the one that killed more than 24,000 New Yorkers in the spring.
“We’ve learned over and over from this disease that it is important to act aggressively, and when the data tells us it’s time for even the toughest and most rigorous actions we follow the data, we follow the science,” de Blasio said.
Authorities in the northwestern Spanish region of Castilla y León have announced that the cities of Palencia and León will be placed in partial lockdown for a fortnight from Tuesday following a surge in cases.
The restrictions, which will affect around 200,000 people, are similar to those that have been in place in Madrid and nine nearby municipalities since Friday night.
Under the new rules, people can only enter or exit the confined towns or cities for work or on medical grounds.
The limited lockdown in and around the capital has led to a clash between the regional government and the central government.
Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government imposed the confinement after the conservative-led regional government of Madrid voted against the measures, claiming it had the situation under control.
Although the administration of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has said it will obey the lockdown, it is appealing the central government’s decision in court.
To date, Spain had logged 789,932 cases of Covid-19 - 240,959 of them in the Madrid region, which also accounts for almost a third of the country’s 32,086 deaths.
Iran hits record high 235 virus deaths in 24 hours
Iran has announced 235 new fatalities from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, a figure equalling the record high set nearly 10 weeks ago.
The Islamic republic also announced a new record for the number of Covid-19 infections in a single day, for the second time in less than a week.
Tehran has been struggling to contain what is the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreak since it reported its first cases in February.
Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the 235 deaths - equal to the high announced on 28 July - had brought the total number of fatalities to 27,192.
Lari added that 3,902 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, raising the country’s overall caseload to 475,674.
After declining for weeks, Covid deaths and infections have been on the rise in Iran since the beginning of September.
The worsening situation caused authorities to reimpose restrictive measures in Tehran province for a week from Saturday.
The measures include the closure of public spaces such as centres of learning and leisure, as well as the cancellation of the main weekly Friday prayers and other events.
The restrictions are largely the same as those taken early on in the pandemic by Iran, which has so far stopped short of imposing a full lockdown.
They had been progressively eased from April to avoid deepening an economic crisis precipitated by the reimposition of heavy sanctions by the US in 2018.
Updated
Some rare good news – in spite of the pandemic – out of Greece this morning where the announcement of a $1bn investment by Microsoft is being seen as a badly needed shot in the arm for an economy pummelled by Covid-19.
In a ceremony held in the Acropolis Museum within view of the fifth century BC site, the US tech giant announced plans to create three data centres in the greater Athens region.
“It’s not something we do often and it’s not something that we do lightly,” said the Microsoft president, Brad Smith.
Like almost every European state, Greece has been hard hit by the epidemic. Unlike other countries, however, it was also only just emerging from a disastrous decade-long debt crisis when the pandemic struck.
With Greek national output dropping by over 15 % in the second quarter and unemployment jumping from 16.4 % to 18.3 %, the coronavirus has, as rarely before, highlighted the economy’s over-dependence on tourism following a precipitous fall in the number of visitors this year.
The investment is the first of its kind in south-east Europe. The data centres will lay the foundation stone for a generation of digital savvy Greek start-ups.
Athens’ centre right government hopes through digital skills programmes for some 100,000 public and private sector workers, it will also not only help rejuvenate the economy but post-pandemic play a pivotal role in remodelling it.
By reducing reliance on tourism and developing the energy, tech and defence sectors, it is hoped the brain drain can be reversed with hundreds of thousands who left during the crisis being lured back.
“We are starting to create the conditions for their return,” prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told his socially-distanced audience at the event. “The creation of a data centre upgrades a country as an investment destination … Greece has the sun and now it is getting a cloud.”
Updated
The Kremlin said it was not aware of any government plans to impose a strict lockdown in Russia to curb the sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
Russia’s daily tally of new coronavirus cases rose to its highest since 12 May on Monday as authorities reported 10,888 new infections nationwide, including 3,537 in Moscow.
Updated
Bars in the Paris region have been ordered to close from tomorrow after the health authorities reported a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 infections among the 20-30 age group.
Restaurants in and around the French capital have been given a reprieve and told they can stay open on condition that they enforce stricter health safety regulations.
This will involve taking the name and telephone number of diners, allowing a maximum of six people per group and providing hand gel on each table.
The city’s police chief said this applied only to establishments whose main activity is serving food.
Cinemas, theatres and museums will continue to open but sports and fitness clubs will remain closed. Swimming pools and sports halls will be closed to adults but not to minors.
Paris police prefect Didier Lallement told a press conference:
This morning we enter a new phase. We are adapting all the time to the development of the virus. These measures are aimed at slowing the spread of the virus because it is spreading too quickly.
Lallement said the measures he had decided were a fine “balance between the preservation of the health of our compatriots and the continuation of economic and social life”.
The measures came hours after the government announced the Paris region was being declared an area of “maximum alert” after worsening Covid-19 infection rates.
Aurélien Rousseau, director of the regional health service, said the number of cases of coronavirus in the Île-de-France area had risen to 270 per 100,000 population, but the most worrying element was a rise to more than 500 per 100,000 population among the 20-30 age group.
Rousseau said 35% of intensive care hospital beds in the Paris region were being occupied by coronavirus patients and this was expected to rise to 50%.
The following restrictions are on place for 15 days from Tuesday.
- A ban on events of more than 1,000 people not including staff and security.
- A ban on gatherings of more than 10 people in exterior public places.
- A ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol after 10pm.
- A ban on music in public places after 10pm.
- No student parties or family gatherings allowed in public halls and reception areas.
- University lecture halls, theatres, refectories, and libraries to reduce the number of students at any one time by 50%.
- No visits to care/nursing/retirement homes without appointment, two people maximum.
- Major shopping and commercial centres to limit the number of people to 1 customer for each 4 sq metres.
Markets remain open and demonstrations, funerals and marriages at town halls and churches will be allowed. Public transport will continue as now.
Updated
British prime minister Boris Johnson has sought to play down a failure in England’s Covid-19 testing data system that delayed 15,841 results, saying the much higher updated figures were more in line with forecasts of the outbreak’s spread.
The glitch is likely to cast further doubt over Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sunday, authorities reported a 22,96 jump in daily Covid-19 cases, after saying a technical issue had meant that thousands of test results had not been transferred into computer systems on time, including for contact tracers.
Johnson said:
The incidence that we’re seeing in the cases really sort of corresponds to pretty much where we thought we were.
To be frank, I think that the slightly lower numbers that we’d seen didn’t really reflect where we thought that the disease was likely to go, so I think these numbers are realistic.
Health secretary Matt Hancock will update parliament on the mishap later on Monday, he said.
The technical glitch, which was identified on Friday and has now been resolved, led to 15,841 cases not being uploaded into reporting dashboards used by the National Health Service (NHS) contact-tracing system.
“We fully understand the concern this may cause and further robust measures have been put in place as a result,” said Michael Brodie, the interim chief executive of Public Health England, the government-funded body in charge of public health management in England.
PHE said that all the people concerned had been given their test results in a timely fashion, and that those who had tested positive had been told to self-isolate.
Asked about a vaccine, Johnson said he felt the AstraZeneca project “must be on the verge of it” but warned “we’re not there yet”.
We are working very very hard to get one. We are not there yet.
I went to see the scientists at Oxford at the Jenner Institute, the AstraZeneca team - incredible what they’re doing. You know you really feel they must be on the verge of it, but it has got to be properly tested.
Updated
Services for mentally ill and substance abuse patients have been disrupted worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the disease is expected to cause further distress for many, the World Health Organization has said.
Only 7% of the 130 countries responding to the WHO’s survey reported that all mental health services were fully open, with 93% reporting curtailed services for various disorders, it said.
“We think that this is a forgotten aspect of Covid-19, in a sense part of the challenges that we face is that this is an under-funded area historically,” Dévora Kestel, director of WHO’s department of mental health and substance use, told a news briefing.
Only 17% of countries have ensured additional funding to implement activities supporting growing mental health needs during the pandemic, she said.
“We estimate, and preliminary information is telling us, that there may be an increase in people with mental, neurological and substance abuse related conditions that will need attention,” Kestel said.
But WHO had no data on life-threatening consequences including any higher suicide rates, epileptic seizures or unmanaged opioid dependence that could lead to overdose, she said.
Outpatient and community-based services, often in middle and high-income countries, were more affected, the WHO said. But many wealthier countries made use of telemedicine and technologies to follow up on mental patients, it said.
“We see better coverage of alternative services in high-income countries and we need to make sure everybody has access to some kind of alternative,” Kestel said.
Updated
Malaysia PM quarantines after contact with minister who has Covid-19
Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will self quarantine for 14 days after a minister who attended a high-level government meeting to discuss coronavirus developments on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19.
The Southeast Asian country has seen a steady climb in cases in the past week in the aftermath of an election in the state of Sabah in Borneo on 26 September.
Authorities in Malaysia have warned that coronavirus restrictions may have to be reimposed if the trend continues, amid popular anger towards politicians who have been blamed for the rise.
In a statement, Muhyiddin confirmed that religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri had tested positive, and that those identified as close contacts at Saturday’s National Security Council meeting to discuss Covid-19 had been issued a 14-day home surveillance order starting 3 October.
“Pursuant to that, I will undergo self-quarantine at my home for 14 days as advised by the health ministry,” Muhyiddin said.
“However, this will not interrupt government business. I will continue to work from home and use video conferencing to conduct meetings as necessary.” In a statement, Muhyiddin said all his recent tests for Covid-19 were negative.
In an earlier statement, the health ministry said contact tracing had been carried out, including symptom screening and collection of swabs to detect Covid-19 infections.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Zulkifli confirmed that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was now undergoing treatment.
In a separate statement, Malaysia’s health ministry reported 432 new daily cases on Monday, setting a new record since the country started tracking the pandemic.
Updated
The renewed effort in the US Congress to reach a fresh deal to pump coronavirus relief funds into the pandemic-hit economy has been further complicated by the news that president Donald Trump and three Senate Republicans have tested positive.
Word about the three senators’ results prompted Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to announce over the weekend that the chamber would be out until 19 October, suggesting he did not see an imminent deal on the bill following a week of talks between Democratic house speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Pelosi and Mnuchin talked daily last week and met in person on Wednesday in an effort to negotiate a new bipartisan aid package to respond to the economic fallout from the pandemic.
“We’re making progress,” Pelosi said on Sunday.
“OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!” Trump tweeted on Saturday from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been hospitalised since Friday night.
OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020
Congress and the White House approved more than $3tn worth of coronavirus relief measures earlier this year, but no new relief has been passed since March. Mnuchin, as well as members of Congress from both parties, have said more stimulus is needed, a point bolstered by an unexpectedly weak September jobs report on Friday.
Democrats have proposed spending $2.2tn. The Trump administration has called that “unserious,” but raised its offer to close to $1.6tn last week, including a $400 weekly pandemic jobless benefit. Democrats want $600 a week.
Although Trump has urged a deal publicly, it is unclear how involved he will be behind the scenes while he is ill. There have long been varying degrees of enthusiasm for more coronavirus spending within his own administration, and it is uncertain which faction may dominate while he is hospitalised.
Familiar hurdles to agreement remain. In a letter to her fellow Democrats on Friday, Pelosi outlined disputed areas with Mnuchin, including aid to state and local governments, unemployment insurance, provisions on testing and tracing, and Democratic demands for a child tax credit.
Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives, but Pelosi faces pressure from moderate Democrats running for re-election in swing districts to bring a bipartisan deal to the floor before Election Day. That was evident when 18 Democrats voted against the Democratic $2.2tn proposal in the House last week.
In the Senate, Republicans have a 53-47 majority, but some Republicans are not keen on another big-spending coronavirus package, meaning any plan will need bipartisan support to pass.
Poland’s incoming education minister has tested positive for coronavirus, as new cases in Poland have continued to reach records over the past week.
Przemysław Czarnek, 43, announced he had been infected ahead of an event at the presidential palace, where president Andrzej Duda was expected to confirm new ministers after a government reshuffle announced last week.
“I was tested this morning due to a headache so as not to expose the President, the cabinet and other participants in today’s events. I feel good. Don’t underestimate the symptoms,” Czarnek, said in a tweet posted on Monday.
Poland on Saturday reached a record of new daily coronavirus infections. As of Monday, Poland had a total of 102,080 confirmed cases and 2,659 deaths.
“We do not expect the situation to change drastically in the coming days. We will likely be observing results at the level of 2,000 cases and above ...,” a health ministry spokesman said on Monday at a news conference.
“Coronavirus doesn’t pick, everyone goes through the same procedure,” the spokesman added, commenting Czarnek’s announcement.
Czarnek, a vocal critic of the spread of “LGBT ideology”, took part in an event last week during which Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the government reshuffle, with many of the new ministers present.
Government spokesman Piotr Müller on Monday said the number of wedding guests allowed in Poland’s so-called green zones, where coronavirus cases are the lowest, could be reduced, but health minister Adam Niedzielski said in a newspaper interview that a nationwide lockdown was not being planned.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, I’ll be steering the live blog for the next few hours.
Please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share.
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
Lithuanian foreign affairs minister Linas Linkevičius will self-isolate for a week after contact with members of visiting French president Emmanuel Macron’s delegation, who later tested positive for coronavirus.
The minister was present at several events during the 28-29 September visit, spokeswoman Rasa Jakilaitienė said. Lithuania’s BNS news agency reported that two members of staff at the French embassy in Vilnius, who were part of the delegation, had tested positive for coronavirus last week. The embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.
It was not immediately clear if Linkevičius, who had met Macron during the visit, had been tested. President Gitanas Nausėda, his wife and several members of his office took coronavirus tests on Sunday. All the results were negative, the president’s office said in a statement.
Updated
Russia on Monday recorded a rise in coronavirus cases close to the maximum level in May but it has stopped short of reimposing strict lockdown measures.
With the fourth-highest number of cases in the global pandemic, Russia introduced harsh measures during the first outbreak of the virus including the closure of borders from March while Muscovites had to apply for electronic passes to travel around the city.
On Monday, the government confirmed 10,888 new cases, approaching the 11 May highest recorded level of 11,656.
Of these, 3,537 were in the capital, the worst-hit city by far, where mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Sunday there is “many seriously ill”.
Deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova said on Friday that a sharp upturn in cases since late September was serious but added that “we expected this”, the Tass state news agency reported.
She cited people returning to workplaces and the rise in flu and pneumonia cases generally expected in autumn and winter.
In Moscow, the mayor has introduced measures to slow the infection rate, telling those over 65 to stay at home and requiring companies to have at least 30% of staff working from home from Monday.
These measures fall far short of the tight lockdown that reached its height in Moscow in March. The capital had its highest daily level of new cases in May, at 6,703, much higher than the current figure.
Updated
Ireland was on the cusp of a nationwide lockdown on Monday after government experts recommended strengthening coronavirus restrictions to curb a surge in cases.
The national public health emergency team (NPHET) recommended on Sunday evening that all of Ireland move to the highest level of Covid-19 restrictions, mirroring those issued during the original lockdown in March.
Coalition government leaders were to meet the chief medical officer to discuss the matter later on Monday.
But the recommendation leaves the government – already faltering since coming to power in June – in a difficult position. In the past it has largely followed official health guidance over the infection, enacting some of the strictest international travel restrictions in the EU.
Updated
Indonesia confirmed 3,622 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the total number of infections in the Southeast Asian country to 307,120, official data showed.
It also reported 102 new deaths, according to its Covid-19 task force, with total fatalities in Indonesia reaching 11,253.
Updated
Markets rallied on Monday following reports suggesting Donald Trump’s health is improving after he tested positive for the coronavirus, with traders also cheered by signs that US lawmakers were edging towards agreement on a new stimulus package.
World equities went into reverse Friday after the White House announced the president’s diagnosis, which fanned fresh uncertainty just a month before the 3 November election, with some commentators questioning whether the vote would actually take place.
But after spending the weekend in hospital – with conflicting reports about the severity of his condition – Trump’s medical team said he had “continued to improve” and could return home as early as Monday.
Analysts said the episode could help jolt congressional leaders to up their efforts for a second economic rescue package, with House speaker Nancy Pelosi saying: “This kind of changes the dynamic.”
Updated
Health authorities in Uganda say the supply of blood has sharply declined since the start of the coronavirus pandemic as fewer people donate and schools remain closed. The consequences are sometimes deadly.
Students, especially those in secondary school, are the largest group of blood donors in the East African country but schools have been closed since March amid efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
This means the government agency charged with collecting blood is failing to meet its targets.
Dr Emmanuel Batiibwe, the director of a hospital that looks after many of the poorest residents of the capital, Kampala, cited multiple deaths there in recent months related to blood shortages.
Updated
Japanese fashion-lovers, politicians and friends of Kenzo Takada paid tribute to the designer on Monday after he died in Paris aged 81 having contracted coronavirus.
Junko Koshino, who went to fashion school with Takada in Tokyo, told local media she could not believe the news of his death.
“I won’t be able to see him even if I go to Paris. I miss him,” said Koshino, who last visited her friend in February in the French capital.
“I called him afterwards and said, ‘Please take care. Don’t go out.’ And he said, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll be careful (about the virus).’”
Updated
Russia’s daily tally of new coronavirus cases rose to its highest since 12 May on Monday as authorities reported 10,888 new infections nationwide, including 3,537 in Moscow.
Authorities said 117 people had died overnight, pushing the official death toll to 21,475. The total number of cases registered since the beginning of the outbreak stands at 1,225,889, they said.
Updated
Moscow considering tougher lockdown to curb spread
Moscow authorities are considering imposing a strict lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus and are looking at several possible scenarios, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources.
“It’s particularly important to understand how to take steps that don’t finish off businesses,” one Vedomosti source said.
Russia reported 10,499 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest number of daily infections since 15 May, when the outbreak was at its peak and lockdowns were in place.
Updated
Singapore said on Monday it would extend relief programmes on mortgages and loans for individuals and small firms into next year because of the prolonged impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The programmes, which include deferrals on mortgage payments and lower interest rates on loans, were introduced in April and were set to expire on 31 December.
“Many individuals and businesses will continue to experience cashflow pressures into early 2021,” the monetary authority of Singapore and associations representing the city-state’s financial industry said in a statement. The extended measures will expire in phases over 2021, they added.
Updated
New York City’s mayor said on Sunday he has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on nonessential businesses in several neighbourhoods because of a resurgence of coronavirus.
The action, if approved, would mark a retreat for a city that enjoyed a summer with less spread of the virus than most other parts of the US, and had only recently celebrated the return of students citywide to in-person learning in classrooms.
Shutdowns would happen to start Wednesday in nine zipcodes in the city, mayor Bill de Blasio said. About 100 public schools and 200 private schools would have to close. Indoor dining, which resumed a few days ago, would be suspended. Outdoor restaurant dining would shut down in the affected neighbourhoods as well, and gyms would close.
Houses of worship would be allowed to remain open with existing restrictions in place, De Blasio said.
Updated
Cineworld said on Monday it would temporarily shut its movie theatres in the US and the UK, a move that would impact 45,000 jobs, as it deals with a significant downturn in the industry brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
The world’s second-biggest cinema chain, which has already said it was looking at different ways of raising additional funds, confirmed it will suspend operations at all of its 536 Regal theatres in the US and its 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK from 8 October.
“Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status,” the UK-listed company said.
Updated
Hello everyone. I am taking over the global live feed from London, bringing you the latest news and updates on coronavirus from around the world. Please do get in touch with me to share any comments, thoughts or news tips.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Trump and Covid: What we know so far
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today. Thanks for following along – and, as always, a special thank you to those who got in touch on Twitter. I’m sorry that I can’t respond to every tweet, but I do try to read them all.
Today I leave you with a story about what Trump’s niece had to say about the US president’s attitude to illness:
Mary Trump says the president sees illness as “a display of unforgivable weakness” – as did his father.
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Donald Trump's grandfather died of Spanish flu: https://t.co/vbOTcQSVS8
Here is what we know so far about Trump and coronavirus:
Summary: coronavirus around the world
Here is a recap of non-US coronavirus news.
For the latest Trump and US coronavirus updates, head here.
- The UK reported 22,961 new cases on Sunday – a staggering figure that Public Health England has said is ‘artificially high’ due to case reporting backlogs. This has meant the 15,841 cases that went unreported between 25 September and 2 October were added onto Saturday and Sunday’s figures, with worrying implications for the country’s contact tracing system.
- A new three-tier lockdown system is being planned for England, with leaked government documents paving the way for potential harsher restrictions including the closure of pubs and a ban on all social contact outside of household groups.
- Nine New York neighbourhoods headed for lockdown. New York City’s mayor said Sunday that he has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on nonessential businesses in several neighbourhoods because of a resurgence of the coronavirus. As many as 500,000 people live in the neighbourhoods affected by the proposed shutdown, Bill de Blasio said. He said the lockdown could be lifted in 14 days or 28 days if the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 declines.
- Auckland coronavirus restrictions to be lifted from Wednesday night. Coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand’s largest city will be lifted this week, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said, as she expressed confidence a second wave of Covid-19 infections in Auckland has been almost eliminated.
- India recorded more than 74,000 cases. India’s coronavirus case tally rose by 74,442 in the last 24 hours to 6.63 million on Monday morning, data from the health ministry showed. Deaths from coronavirus infections rose by 903 to 102,685, the ministry said. India’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose past 100,000 on Saturday, only the third country in the world to reach that bleak milestone, after the United States and Brazil, and its epidemic shows no sign of abating. Last week, India further eased restrictions and permitted states to open schools and movie theatres.
- Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended the entire country transitions to the highest level of restrictions, Level 5. It follows 364 new coronavirus cases being reported on Sunday.
- All bars in Paris will close from Tuesday after the capital was put on maximum alert level, Reuters reported. It comes as France’s caseload rose by 12,565 to 619,190.
-
Brazil has reported 8,456 more cases, taking the total to 4,915,289. Deaths rose by 365, bringing the toll to 146,352, the health ministry said.
- South Africa’s health minister said a further 1,573 coronavirus cases were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total up to 681,289. Deaths rose by 38 to 16,976.
Updated
Taiwan hopes that US President Donald Trump can get better from the coronavirus soon so that he can continue to lead the free world in resisting China’s “outrages”, the speaker of the island’s parliament said on Monday, Reuters reports.
Democratic Taiwan has come under increasingly severe military pressure from China, which claims the island as its sovereign territory, with China’s air force sending frequent sorties to buzz Taiwan in recent weeks.
Speaking ahead of Taiwan’s National Day celebrations on Saturday, parliament Speaker You Si-kun said he had been shocked to hear of Trump’s illness, and that he wished him well on behalf of the legislature.
“I want to take this opportunity to wish him a speedy recovery, so he can continue to lead the free world in resisting the Chinese communists’ outrages,” You said, without elaborating.
Since Trump took office Sino-US relations have plummeted to their lowest point in decades, with arguments over trade, Hong Kong, Taiwan and multiple other issues.
The Trump administration has made standing up to China a key policy platform, and has been particularly vocal in criticism of China’s human rights record, whether in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang or Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.
While the United States like most countries does not officially recognise Taiwan’s government, it is its main supplier of arms and strongest internationally backer.
Both Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Chinese President Xi Jinping have offered their best wishes to Trump and his wife Melania.
More on cases in the US, from Reuters:
Nine US states have reported record increases in Covid-19 cases over the last seven days, mostly in the upper Midwest and West where chilly weather is forcing more activities indoors.
Daytime highs in many of these states are now in the 50s Fahrenheit (10 Celsius). Health experts have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside could promote the spread of the virus.
Kentucky is the first Southern state to report a record increase in cases in several weeks.
Governor Andy Beshear said last week was the highest number of cases the state has seen since the pandemic started. State health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise but point to fatigue with Covid-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges.
US records more than 50,000 new cases, total deaths near 210,000
The United States is nearing 210,000 deaths.
The US reported 50,044 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the country’s total – the highest in the world and a fifth of global cases – to nearly 7.5m.
690 new deaths were confirmed, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The day before, the US reported 54,506 new cases in 24 hours – the highest figure since 14 August.
This the place the US is in:
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Reporting highs last seen in mid-August.
Just 3 states are seeing a decline in new cases compared to last week. pic.twitter.com/5RA32xIYTY
CNN reports meanwhile that “only three US states are reporting a decline in new Covid-19 cases compared to last week, as the country hit its highest daily rate of new cases in almost two months.”
More on the Walter Reed physician who tweeted criticising Trump’s decision to be driven around in front of fans outside the hospital, from a New York Times report:
In a telephone interview on Sunday night, Dr. Phillips also said the [car] trip raised the alarming question of whether the president was directing his doctors.
‘At what point does the physician-patient relationship end, and does the commander in chief and subordinate relationship begin, and were those doctors ordered to allow this to happen?’ he said, noting that it violated standards of care and would not be an option open to any other patient.
‘When I first saw this, I thought, maybe he was being transported to another hospital.’
Trump and coronavirus: What we know so far
Here are the key Trump-related coronavirus developments from the last few hours:
- The United States is nearing 210,000 deaths. The US reported 50,044 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total – the highest in the world and a fifth of global cases – to nearly 7.5m. 690 deaths were reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.
- The White House’s medical team said that Donald Trump “has continued to improve” since Saturday and could be released as early as Monday. The team confirmed the president had lowered oxygen levels at one point and refused to answer questions about whether the president has suffered lung damage. Continuing to take an “upbeat” perspective, one member of the team suggested that Trump could be released as early as tomorrow.
- Trump has no public events listed for Monday on White House schedule. Trump’s schedule for Monday 5 October says: “The President has no public events scheduled”.
- Trump made an impromptu appearance outside of the hospital on Sunday afternoon, waving from inside an SUV to a crowd of supporters who gathered outside the hospital. Concerns were raised about the other people who were in the car with Trump, who was wearing a mask, given that Trump is contagious with the virus.
-
An attending physician at Walter Reed Medical Centre condemned Trump’s drive, calling it “insanity”. Dr James Phillips, a full-time emergency medical physician at Walter Reed, wrote on Twitter: “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.” In a second tweet Phillips said, “the irresponsibility is astounding.”
-
NBC reported that Melania Trump would not leave her residence to visit her husband because it would put agents and staff in danger. A White House official told NBC Melania would not leave the White House because, “That would expose the agents who would drive her there and the medical staff who would walk her up to him.”
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the widest lead in a month that Joe Biden has over Trump. The poll, taken Friday and Saturday, showed Biden with a 10-point lead over Trump. A separate poll indicated a majority – 65% – of Americans believe that Trump would not have been infected with the virus if he took it more seriously.
- Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19. Biden’s second test since it became public that Donald Trump had contracted Covid-19 was negative. Biden’s campaign said last night that they will be releasing the result of every Covid-19 test the candidate takes moving forward.
- A report from the Wall Street Journal said that Trump had a positive Covid-19 rapid test on Thursday and did not disclose it. Trump told Fox News that night that he was waiting for test results and then tweeted later that night that he has the virus. In the meantime Trump carried on business-as-usual.
- State health officials in New Jersey have contacted more than 200 people who attended a campaign fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster on Thursday, hours before the president announced he had Covid-19, as they try to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Somerset County officials are meanwhile contacting employees who worked the event, most of whom live in the county.
- White House refuses to release number of officials with Covid-19. Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary, refused to commit releasing to the public how many White House officials have tested positive for Covid-19 when questioned by reporters at a press briefing.
-
A report from the Washington Post said Sean Conley, the White House physician, told co-workers in the spring that he was feeling intense personal stress in his current job – before the president contracted Covid-19. Conley, a 40-year-old Navy commander, joined the White House medical staff in December 2016 after serving as a Navy emergency physician and serving in a trauma unit in Afghanistan. The Post reports that those who have worked with Conley believe that the public statements he has given appear to be dictated by politics. “Every statement he is giving appears to be political, dictated by the White House or the president,” one anonymous source who has worked with Conley told the Post.
- The White House sent its first all-staff email since Trump’s diagnosis. The White House Management Office on Sunday for the first time since Trump’s diagnosis sent an all-staff email advising staffers on whether to come to work or stay home. The email states that those “experiencing any symptoms such as sore throat, cough, fever, headache, new loss of taste or small, muscle aches, chills, diarrhea, or difficulty breathing” should “please stay home and do not come to work until you are free of symptoms”. The advice in the email was largely similar to that in previous all-staff emails, but included the possibility of teleworking for the first time, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.
- White House releases photo of Trump on conference call with chief of staff present in room. The White House has released a photograph of Trump inside Walter Reed, allegedly participating in a conference call with the vice president, secretary of state and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The caption also indicated that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was physically present in the room, despite CDC guidelines stating that individuals who have Covid-19 should “stay home and away from other people.”
- Mary Trump has said the United States is “in the horrible place we’re in” because members of the family, including the president, see illness as “a display of unforgivable weakness”, whether it is in themselves or others. Speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air, Mary Trump, who recently published the tell-all book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, said: “That’s why we’re in the horrible place we’re in, because he cannot admit to the weakness of being ill or of other people being ill.”
Updated
Mary Trump says president sees illness as sign of 'unforgivable weakness'
Here is more on that interview with the US president’s niece:
Mary Trump has said the United States is “in the horrible place we’re in” because members of the family, including the president, see illness as “a display of unforgivable weakness”, whether it is in themselves or others.
Speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air, Mary Trump, who recently published the tell-all book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, said: “That’s why we’re in the horrible place we’re in, because he cannot admit to the weakness of being ill or of other people being ill.”
Mary Trump says the president sees illness as “a display of unforgivable weakness” – as did his father.
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Donald Trump's grandfather died of Spanish flu: https://t.co/vbOTcQSVS8
She spoke as the US president was criticised by doctors for unnecessarily exposing his staff and his security detail to coronavirus by performing a drive-by to wave to supporters outside Walter Reed military medical center where he is being treated for the disease.
Mary Trump is suing the president and two of his siblings, alleging that they cheated her out of millions of dollars over several decades while squeezing her out of the family business.
On Sunday, Mary Trump said both the president and his father, Fred Trump, held the view that illness was “unacceptable”. “Which sounds incredibly cruel, but happens to be true,” she said.
Updated
India records more than 74,000 cases
India’s coronavirus case tally rose by 74,442 in the last 24 hours to 6.63 million on Monday morning, data from the health ministry showed.
Deaths from coronavirus infections rose by 903 to 102,685, the ministry said.
India’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose past 100,000 on Saturday, only the third country in the world to reach that bleak milestone, after the United States and Brazil, and its epidemic shows no sign of abating.
Last week, India further eased restrictions and permitted states to open schools and movie theatres.
New Jersey health officials contact more than 200 people who attended Trump fundraiser
State health officials in New Jersey have contacted more than 200 people who attended a campaign fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster on Thursday, hours before the president announced he had Covid-19, as they try to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
AP reports that Somerset County officials are meanwhile contacting employees who worked the event, most of whom live in the county. In a joint statement issued Sunday, the officials asked guests and employees to monitor their symptoms and, if they were close to President Trump or his staff, to quarantine for 14 days.
The officials, who started seeking the information on Friday, said on Sunday that the White House had sent them a list of 206 guests. They declined to say when they had received the names. They were advising guests not to be tested for five to seven days out from the event.
Last week it emerged that Trump attended the fundraiser after White House officials learned Hicks was symptomatic.
They knew yesterday and Trump still went to New Jersey for a fundraiser today. Let that sink in.
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) October 2, 2020
“While the risk is low, a negative test earlier than that time cannot definitively rule out that Covid-19 will not develop,” the statement said.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president had no contact with any donors or staff that would be considered to be close based on CDC guidelines (more than 15 minutes and within 6 feet).”
During the roundtable event and remarks, the President was more than 6 feet away from all participants, he said.
Hi, Helen Sullivan here. Send news from your part of the world, interesting Trump updates or analysis, questions and comments to me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Auckland coronavirus restrictions to be lifted from Wednesday night
A world away from the US or Europe: coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand’s largest city will be lifted this week, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said, as she expressed confidence a second wave of Covid-19 infections in Auckland has been almost eliminated.
Reuters report the city will move to alert level 1 from 11.59pm on Wednesday, joining the rest of the country, after reporting no new cases in the Auckland cluster for 10 consecutive days.
“There is now a 95% probability of the cluster being eliminated,” Ardern said at a news conference on Monday. “Covid-19 will be with us for many months to come. But we should still mark these milestones.“
New Zealand, a nation of 5 million, appeared to have stamped out community transmission of Covid-19 earlier this year following a tough nationwide lockdown that was subsequently lifted.
Updated
In non-Trump news, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,382 to 300,619, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.
The reported death toll rose by five to 9,534, the tally showed.
Germany has recently seen highs of more than 2,500 daily cases. Monday’s figure is low – but Germany’s figures are often markedly lower after the weekend.
Updated
The New York Times, citing medical experts, reported on Sunday that Trump’s medical treatments suggest that the president has a “severe” case of Covid-19.
The times report, which asks several doctors to decipher how ill Trump may be – amid confusing and contradictory reports from his medical staff and the White House – based on the treatments he is taking.
It also suggests that Trump may be directing his own treatment:
Some experts raised an additional possibility: that the president is directing his own care, and demanding intense treatment despite risks he may not fully understand. The pattern even has a name: V.I.P. syndrome, which describes prominent figures who receive poor medical care because doctors are too zealous in treating them — or defer too readily to their instructions.
The president is has been given several drugs, including experimental treatments. Here is a list of his treatments so far, compiled by CNN:
Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapy: On Friday afternoon, the White House said in a letter that Trump was treated with an 8-gram dose of the experimental antibody therapy cocktail made by the biotechnology company Regeneron. The investigational cocktail, known by its investigational name REGN-COV2, has been in clinical trials since June.
Remdesivir: President Trump is being given a five-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir, one of the doctors treating him said during a briefing on Saturday. The treatment is intended to shorten recovery time for Covid-19 patients. In a Phase 3 clinical trial, remdesivir was found to speed recovery in moderately ill patients with pneumonia from Covid-19, according to results published in the medical journal JAMA in August.
Dexamethasone: Trump was given the corticosteroid drug dexamethasone on Saturday after his oxygen level transiently dipped, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said during a briefing on Sunday. The drug is typically given to patients on supplemental oxygen or needing ventilation.
Supplemental oxygen: After previously telling reporters on Saturday that Trump “is not on oxygen right now,” White House physician Conley said during a briefing on Sunday that the President had been given supplemental oxygen and had two episodes of transient drops in his oxygen level. Oxygen therapy, or supplemental oxygen, is a treatment that delivers oxygen gas for patients to breathe who may have difficulty breathing.
Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia to be closed as New South Wales sees 10th day with no new local cases
In non-Trump coronavirus news, my colleague Elias Visontay reports from Australia that one of the world’s most famous beaches, Sydney’s Bondi Beach, is set to be closed off this afternoon as thousands of Sydneysiders enjoying the warm public holiday weather bring the beach near its Covid-19 safe capacity.
The news comes as the state of New South Wales – home to Bondi – celebrates its 10th straight day with no new locally acquired coronavirus cases – its longest stretch without community transmission since the pandemic began.
NEWS: Bondi Beach is nearing capacity. If you haven’t left for the beach already, please rethink your trip and check capacity later. Read more here: https://t.co/PgaPZTtb6x pic.twitter.com/TI91fkbbPZ
— Waverley Council (@WaverleyCouncil) October 5, 2020
In what appears to be the first big test of its Covid plan for controlling crowds during summer, Waverley Council are warning people against travelling to the beach for the rest of the day.
Last week, Waverley Council said it would shut off the iconic beach if it neared its capacity of about 6,000 people is reached.
Updated
The privately owned White House gift shop has a “President Donald J. Trump Defeats Covid” coin for sale. The pre-order only ships in 14 November, however, which is after the election.
The pin was launched on 4 October by the privately-owned gift shop,
So it gives Trump a while to “defeat” Covid if the pin refers to his personal battle with the illness.
The White House Gift Shop is selling a “Donald J. Trump defeats Covid” commemorative coin. You can pre-order it now for $100. https://t.co/aPQ0vNRHB3
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) October 4, 2020
Updated
White House releases photo of Trump on conference call with chief of staff present in room
The White House has released another photograph of Trump inside Walter Reed.
The photo allegedly shows Trump participating in a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley.
The caption also indicates that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was physically present in the room but is not pictured. It does not indicate whether he was wearing a mask.
A reminder that the CDC guidelines state, “If you have or think you might have COVID-19, it is important to stay home and away from other people.”
Here is where Meadows sat at the Rose Garden:
Here is where Meadows was at the Rose Garden (Number 14): https://t.co/vxqiFDY8dG pic.twitter.com/c7wEdS8oQT
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Here is also a reminder of what happened the last time the White House released photos of Trump working (and why I use the word “allegedly” above):
The photos released by the WH tonight of the president working at Walter Reed were taken 10 minutes apart at 5:25:59 pm and 5:35:40 pm ET Saturday, according to the EXIF data embedded in both @AP wire postings that were shared by the White House this evening. pic.twitter.com/EzeqIkGdf7
— Jon Ostrower (@jonostrower) October 4, 2020
Updated
Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump has just given an interview on NPR in which she says that Trump “cannot admit to the weakness of being ill or of other people being ill,” and that this is why the US is “in the horrible place we’re in”.
She says that Trump’s father saw illness as “unacceptable”.
“Which sounds incredibly cruel, but happens to be true.”
"That's why we're in the horrible place we're in, because he cannot admit to the weakness of being ill or of other people being ill" – Mary Trump just now on NPR
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Mary Trump wrote the tell-all book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. She is currently suing Trump and other family members.
Updated
And here is how Trump’s message was written about in a campaign email attributed to Donald Trump Jr. and sent on Sunday evening, before the drive took place but after the US president had published his video taken inside the hospital.
It paints Trump as simply not being able to “sit back”:
Day two into this and he’s working hard and looking great. If it was anyone else, I’d be surprised, but, that’s just OUR President.
He even released an official video message from Walter Reed Medical Center because he wants to speak DIRECTLY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, directly to you.
...
President Trump couldn’t sit back while this was going on – he had to go forward and lead our nation. Leaders confront challenges head-on, and that’s exactly what my father is doing.
Updated
Here is how Fox Business Network journalist Lou Dobbs – whose show is among those that Trump frequently watches, and who congratulated Trump on his Nobel nomination on Twitter recently – is spinning Trump’s drive earlier.
He says the US President may not be the best patient, but that he is nonetheless a “great leader”:
Gotta love our President! A bad patient, but a great leader#MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs https://t.co/PR2LrGBEhf
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 5, 2020
Updated
The latest from New York Times White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker gives an insight into how Trump spent the weekend:
Mr. Trump was said to be working from his hospital suite, including receiving a briefing via secure video conference from Robert C. O’Brien, his national security adviser, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The president has also been watching lots of television, even more than usual, and has been exasperated by coverage of Saturday’s calamitous handling of his medical information by Dr. Conley and Mr. Meadows, as well as speculation about him transferring powers to Vice President Mike Pence.
He was also angry that no one was on television defending him, as he often is when he cannot inject his own views into news media coverage, aides said. As a result, Rudolph W. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, was expected to appear on several television shows, as was Corey Lewandowski, who was Mr. Trump’s first campaign manager in the 2016 race.
NBC White House correspondent had this to say about Trump’s drive:
🚨Reminder: A White House official, on Saturday, told me the First Lady would not be visiting Trump at Walter Reed because “she has COVID and that would expose the agents who would drive her there.” https://t.co/DNpV7oPwWG
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 5, 2020
White House sends first all-staff email since Trump's diagnosis
The White House Management Office have for the first time since Trump’s diagnosis sent an all-staff email advising staffers on whether to come to work or stay home.
The email states that those “experiencing any symptoms such as sore throat, cough, fever, headache, new loss of taste or small, muscle aches, chills, diarrhea, or difficulty breathing” should “please stay home and do not come to work until you are free of symptoms”:
Three days after the public learned about President Trump’s COVID-19 infection and the viruses spread through the White House and federal government, WH staff finally received an email telling them what to do if they have symptoms. @NYMag obtained the note, sent by WH Management: pic.twitter.com/GvOBe3Cm5J
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 5, 2020
Following Trump’s decision to be driven past fans standing outside Walter Reed, the hashtag “#25thammendmentnow” is trending at number two on Twitter in the US.
Here is a reminder of what that refers to:
Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.
Adopted by the US Congress in 1967 after John F Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th cleared up a vagueness in the constitution over succession in event of resignation, death or conviction in impeachment.
The least tricky part of the amendment is section 4, which stipulates what would happen should Donald Trump be indisputably physically debilitated either from an injury or ailment, so much so that he couldn’t communicate but remained alive.
Then the vice-president is in charge unless and until the president recovers.
If Pence is also unable to assume control, then under the constitution powers are delegated to the speaker of the House of Representatives, in this case, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic California congresswoman. In the US Congress, the Democrats currently control the House, while the Republicans are in a majority in the Senate.
This is now the place to go for all Trump-coronavirus updates, as well as global Covid-19 developments.
I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be steering the blog for the next few hours. Say hi and send me anything you think might be interesting on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Here is a brief summary from my colleague Lauren Aratani of the key Trump news from the last few hours:
- The White House’s medical team said that Donald Trump, who is currently being treated for Covid-19 at a military hospital, “has continued to improve” since Saturday. The team confirmed the president had lowered oxygen levels at one point and refused to answer questions about whether the president has suffered lung damage. Continuing to take an “upbeat” perspective, one member of the team suggested that Trump could be released as early as tomorrow.
- Trump made an impromptu appearance outside of the hospital this afternoon, waving from inside an SUV to a crowd of supporters who gathered outside the hospital. Concerns were raised about the other people who were in the car with Trump, who was wearing a mask, given that Trump is contagious with the virus.
- A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the widest lead in a month that Joe Biden has over Trump. The poll, taken Friday and Saturday, showed Biden with a 10-point lead over Trump. A separate poll indicated a majority – 65% – of Americans believe that Trump would not have been infected with the virus if he took it more seriously.
- A report from the Wall Street Journal said that Trump had a positive Covid-19 rapid test on Thursday but did not disclose it immediately to the public and carried on business-as-usual. Trump told Fox News that night that he was waiting for test results and then tweeted later that night that he has the virus.
Trump has no public events listed for Monday
Trump’s schedule for Monday has just been published – and it is completely clear.
The daily guidance and press schedule for Monday 5 October says “The President has no public events scheduled”.
Trump's schedule for Monday completely clear pic.twitter.com/Ur9u3rmKak
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 5, 2020
Earlier on Sunday, Dr Brian Garibaldi, another member of the medical team said Trump was feeling well and his condition was improving.
“If he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” Garibaldi said.
The drive taken by Trump today outside Walter Reed also wasn’t scheduled either, so it’s unclear from the below if we can expect anything like that tomorrow.
Hi, Helen Sullivan here.
The US politics live blog will be closing soon and I’ll be bringing you all of the latest Trump news in addition to key global coronavirus updates here.
If you see anything I’ve not yet reported, if you have questions, comments or suggestions – please get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 761,665 on Sunday with a total reported death toll of 79,088, according to the health ministry.
Authorities reported 3,712 new cases and 208 deaths, but the true figures are likely significantly higher due to limited testing.
Mainland China reported 20 new Covid-19 cases on 4 October, all imported, up from 16 reported a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Monday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement all new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed Covid-19 cases, rose to 27 from 26 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Mainland China now stands at 85,470, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
As we worry about how much updates from within the White House administration can be trusted my colleague Jim Waterson has this update from Buckingham Palace:
Queen Elizabeth II has issued a message of support to the British newspaper industry, praising traditional media outlets.
The monarch said that “having trusted, reliable sources of information, particularly at a time when there are so many sources competing for our attention, is vital”.
In a letter to the News Media Association, the industry organisation that represents all major national and local newspaper publishers, the Queen said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated what an important public service the established news media provides, both nationally and regionally.
“The efforts of the news media to support communities throughout the United Kingdom during the pandemic have been invaluable – whether through fundraising, encouraging volunteering, or providing a lifeline for the elderly and vulnerable to the outside world”:
Updated
Back to Trump news now:
Sean Conley, White House physician, reportedly told co-workers in the spring, before the president contracted Covid-19, that he was feeling intense personal stress in his current job, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
Conley, a 40-year-old Navy commander, joined the White House medical staff in December 2016 after serving as a Navy emergency physician and serving in a trauma unit in Afghanistan. He was tapped as White House physician in 2018.
The Post reports that those who have worked with Conley believe that the public statements he has given appear to be dictated by politics. “Every statement he is giving appears to be political, dictated by the White House or the president,” one anonymous source who has worked with Conley told the Post. “These are not statement a medical doctor gives.”
After painting an upbeat picture of the president’s health on Saturday, Conley today admitted that the president’s oxygen levels had dropped at one point. He said that he was “trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, over his course of illness, has had.”
In the UK, thousands of work coaches will be hired under a new government employment programme to help those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, amid fresh warnings of an unemployment crisis as the furlough scheme ends.
The £238m job entry targeted support (Jets) scheme will help jobseekers who have been out of work for at least three months. It will be available to people receiving the “all work related requirements” universal credit payment, or the new style jobseeker’s allowance:
Like most of Europe, Ireland has seen a steady increase in infections since the end of July after emerging slowly from one of Europe’s most severe shutdowns. It reported the highest number of daily cases since late April on Saturday.
However Ireland’s 14-day cumulative case total of 104.6 per 100,000 people represents only the 14th-highest infection rate out of 31 European countries monitored by the European Centre for Disease Control.
Europe’s worst infection hotspot Spain has an infection rate three-times higher than Ireland and while it severely tightened confinement measures in hard-hit Madrid on Friday, restaurants, gyms and shops can still open at limited capacity.
Ireland has a relatively low hospital bed capacity compared to other European countries. The number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients has risen steadily to 132, but peaked at 881 in April during the first lockdown.
Ireland’s main business lobby, Ibec, reacted with dismay, calling for the evidence underpinning the advice to be published.
“It is intolerable that after six months we are still receiving both vague and changing criteria to advance such serious restrictions,” Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy said in a statement.
Irish health chiefs recommend return to full lockdown
Ireland’s health chiefs recommended to the government on Sunday that the country enter a second nationwide lockdown for four weeks in a surprise move that cabinet will discuss on Monday, two government sources said.
Reuters: Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team recommended a leap to the highest level of COVID-19 restrictions, Level 5, from current Level 2 controls in 24 of Ireland’s 26 counties and stricter Level 3 measures in Dublin and Donegal.
The government has almost entirely adopted their health chiefs’ advice throughout the pandemic, but one of the sources said a return to lockdown would have a serious economic and societal impact.
Prime Minister Micheal Martin and the leaders of his two coalition partners will meet the country’s chief medical officer on Monday ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss the recommendations.
Under level 5, people are asked to stay at home, except to exercise within 5 kilometres, with only essential retailers allowed to stay open. Unlike the first lockdown, schools and crèches would not have to close.
Nine New York neighbourhoods headed for lockdown
New York City’s mayor said Sunday that he has asked the state for permission to close schools and reinstate restrictions on nonessential businesses in several neighbourhoods because of a resurgence of the coronavirus.
The action, if approved, would mark a disheartening retreat for a city that enjoyed a summer with less spread of the virus than most other parts of the country, and had only recently celebrated the return of students citywide to in-person learning in classrooms.
Shutdowns would happen starting Wednesday in nine ZIP codes in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
About 100 public schools and 200 private schools would have to close. Indoor dining, which just resumed a few days ago, would be suspended. Outdoor restaurant dining would shut down in the affected neighbourhoods as well, and gyms would close.
Houses of worship would be allowed to remain open with existing restrictions in place, de Blasio said.
Over the past two weeks, the number of new cases of the virus has been rising in pockets of the city, predominantly in neighbourhoods in Brooklyn and Queens that are home to the city’s large Orthodox Jewish population.
Nearly 1,100 people have tested positive in Brooklyn in just the last four days, according to state figures.
As many as 500,000 people live in the neighborhoods affected by the proposed shutdown, de Blasio said. He said the lockdown could be lifted in 14 days or 28 days if the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 declines.
More now on doctors condemning Trump for his surprise drive-by visit to supporters outside the Walter Reed military medical center, where the president is being treated for an infection of Covid-19.
At least two other people, probably Secret Service agents, wearing respirators and eye protection, were seen on video in the vehicle accompanying Trump, who was also masked, during the short drive.
James Phillips, doctor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, who is an attending physician at Walter Reed, called the stunt “insanity”.
“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die,” he wrote in a tweet.
Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University school of medicine and health services, said in a tweet: “By taking a joy ride outside Walter Reed the president is placing his Secret Service detail at grave risk”:
By taking a joy ride outside Walter Reed the president is placing his Secret Service detail at grave risk. In the hospital when we go into close contact with a COVID patient we dress in full PPE: Gown, gloves, N95, eye protection, hat. This is the height of irresponsibility.
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) October 4, 2020
Trump signalled his intention to visit his flag-waving supporters in a video tweet of his own, released only moments before a cavalcade of black SUVs drove through the gates of the Maryland medical center. Trump was seen waving animatedly through a fully-closed window, before the vehicles doubled back into the hospital grounds.
Leak reveals possible harsher three-tier Covid plan for England
Meanwhile in England: a new three-tier lockdown system is being planned, with leaked government documents paving the way for potential harsher restrictions including the closure of pubs and a ban on all social contact outside of household groups.
The draft traffic-light-style plan, seen by the Guardian, is designed to simplify the current patchwork of localised restrictions, which apply to about a quarter of the UK. It also reveals tougher measures that could be imposed by the government locally or nationally if Covid cases are not brought under control.
On Sunday the number of cases jumped by 22,961 after it emerged that more than 15,000 test results had not previously been transferred on to computer systems, including for contact tracers.
Called the “Covid-19 Proposed Social Distancing Framework” and dated 30 September, it has not yet been signed off by No 10 and measures could still be watered down.
Alert level 3 – the most serious – contains tougher measures than any seen so far in local lockdowns since the start of the pandemic. They include:
- Closure of hospitality and leisure businesses.
- No social contact outside your household in any setting.
- Restrictions on overnight stays away from home.
- No organised non-professional sports permitted or other communal hobby groups and activities, such as social clubs in community centres.
- Places of worship can remain open.
Jessica Elgot and Heather Stewart report:
Walter Reed physician calls Trump drive 'insanity'
Shortly after a masked US President Donald Trump climbed into a car driven by a secret service agent – wearing a medical gown, face shield and mask – an attending physician at Walter Reed Medical Centre, where Trump is currently being treated for coronavirus, condemned the drive, calling it “insanity”. At least one other secret service agent was also in the car.
In a second tweet he said: “the irresponsibility is astounding.”
Dr James Phillips is a full-time emergency medical physician at Walter Reed.
Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential “drive-by” just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.
— Dr. James P. Phillips, MD (@DrPhillipsMD) October 4, 2020
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m Helen Sullivan and in this blog, I’ll be bringing you the latest coronavirus developments from around the world as well as key Trump developments.
For an all-Trump blog, head here.
Send me questions, comments or news on Twitter here.
Speaking of the US President: an attending physician at Walter Reed Medical Centre, where Trump is being treated for coronavirus, has condemned the president’s decision to be driven pas fans waiting outside the hospital, calling it “insanity”:
Moments ago, Dr James Phillips tweeted, “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”
Meanwhile, the global coronavirus case total has passed another milestone, with 35 million infections confirmed by Johns Hopkins University – the US president’s one among the staggering total.
So far, 1,035,208 people have died.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- The UK reported 22,961 new cases on Sunday – a staggering figure that Public Health England has said is ‘artificially high’ due to case reporting backlogs. This has meant the 15,841 cases that went unreported between 25 September and 2 October were added onto Saturday and Sunday’s figures, with worrying implications for the country’s contact tracing system.
- Donald Trump did not disclose his positive test result immediately, according to the Wall Street Journal. The president said on Fox News Thursday night that he was awaiting test resultswhen he already knew about his positive rapid test result, only making the disclosure following the more thorough Covid-19 screening.
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Trump, who has been hospitalised after testing positive for the coronavirus, made a brief drive-by appearance where he waved at supporters from a car. It reportedly lasted about a minute.
- Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended the entire country transitions to the highest level of restrictions, Level 5. It follows 364 new coronavirus cases being reported on Sunday.
- All bars in Paris will close from Tuesday after the capital was put on maximum alert level, Reuters reported. It comes as France’s caseload rose by 12,565 to 619,190.
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Brazil has reported 8,456 more cases, taking the total to 4,915,289. Deaths rose by 365, bringing the toll to 146,352, the health ministry said.
- South Africa’s health minister said a further 1,573 coronavirus cases were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total up to 681,289. Deaths rose by 38 to 16,976.
