This blog is now closed. Follow the latest updates on our live global coverage below
Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- Italy reported 1,071 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, exceeding 1,000 cases in a day for the first time since lockdown restrictions were eased in May.
- India announced on Saturday that the country has hit the milestone of one million tests per day.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) said children aged 12 and over should wear masks to help tackle the corornavirus pandemic under the same conditions as adults.
- The Democratic-led US House of Representatives passed a bill to provide the cash-strapped Postal Service with $25 billion ahead of the 3 November election, amid concerns that the pandemic will cast a shadow over in-person voting.
- US president Donald Trump accused members of an alleged “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), without providing evidence, of working to slow testing of Covid-19 vaccines until after the November presidential election.
- England’s chief medical officer has said it would be “foolish” to plan for winter on the basis of having a coronavirus vaccine.
- Thousands of Israelis again took to the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday to protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Ireland has reported 156 new coronavirus infections, the fourth highest daily tally since early May.
That’s it from me for today, I’m now handing over to my colleagues in Australia. Thanks for reading, goodnight.
Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin asked EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan to “consider his position” on Saturday, after revelations he attended a parliamentary golfing event in breach of coronavirus guidelines.
Martin and deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar - the head of Fine Gael, the party for which Hogan previously served as a lawmaker - “did speak with Commissioner Hogan today and asked him to consider his position”, a government spokesman said, according to AFP.
Hogan was named by newspaper the Irish Examiner as one of the 82 attendants of an Oireachtas (parliament) Golf Society dinner on Wednesday night.
The event was held 24 hours after the government announced fresh Covid-19 restrictions to curb a new surge in cases, including no “formal or informal events or parties” to be held at hotel restaurants.
It was reported attendees sat at tables of ten in breach of coronavirus guidelines, and that organisers erected a room divider in a bid to skirt legislation banning gatherings of more than 50.
But police on Friday said they had opened an investigation into the event for alleged breaches of that same legislation.
Irish agriculture minister Dara Calleary and deputy chair of parliament’s upper chamber Jerry Buttimer both resigned their roles on Friday after their attendance at the event.
Hogan initially said he had been assured the dinner - attended by swathes of lawmakers, a supreme court judge and the Moroccan ambassador - would comply with government guidelines.
He later issued a statement apologising for “the distress caused by his participation”, according to state broadcaster RTE.
A spokesman for Martin said: “The commissioner’s apology came late and... he still needs to give a full account and explanations of his actions.”
Martin and Varadkar “both believe that the event should never have been held,” he added.
The Democratic-led US House of Representatives passed a bill to provide the cash-strapped Postal Service with $25 billion and block policy changes that have stirred concerns about mail-in balloting ahead of the 3 November election.
Under restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus, the slow process of voting got under way after more than three hours of debate, during a rare Saturday session called by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the middle of the congressional August recess, Reuters reports.
The Democratic bill, which passed on Saturday despite opposition from Republicans, would provide $25bn in aid for the USPS and prioritise election mail as “first class”, to ensure ballots arrive in time to be counted in an election in which the coronavirus pandemic will cast a shadow over in-person voting.
But it is unlikely to be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The White House strongly opposes the legislation and has said it would recommend that president Donald Trump veto the measure.
With mail-in voting expected to surge during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has alarmed Democrats by repeatedly denouncing mail-in ballots as a possible source of fraud.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently suspended cost-cutting measures that have slowed deliveries in recent weeks.
Democrats, who accuse Trump of trying to discourage mail-in balloting to gain an electoral advantage over Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, cast themselves as defenders of a public that relies on the Postal Service for vital deliveries including prescription drugs.
“The American people do not want anyone messing with the Post Office. They certainly do not want it to be politicized. They just want their mail, they want their medicines and they want their mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way. And that is exactly what our bill does,” said Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney, who authored the legislation.
Maloney also released a Postal Service document showing an 8% slowdown in the processing of first class mail, most of it occurring after DeJoy became postmaster in June.
Republicans denied that the Postal Service was in any danger and criticized Democrats for moving legislation forward before DeJoy could testify at a House hearing slated for Monday.
“This is the result of a legislative process only slightly less absurd than the conspiracies, insinuations and fabrications that gave rise to the purported need for it,” said Republican Representative James Comer.
As lawmakers prepared to vote, Trump took to Twitter to accuse Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of seeking unnecessary funding for the Postal Service and trying to pull off a “Universal Mail-In Ballot Scam.”
“Vote NO to the Pelosi/Schumer money wasting HOAX which is taking place now,” the president wrote.
Representatives of the Post Office have repeatedly stated that they DO NOT NEED MONEY, and will not make changes. This is all another HOAX by the Democrats to give 25 Billion unneeded dollars for political purposes, without talking about the Universal Mail-In Ballot Scam....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
....that they are trying to pull off in violation of everything that our Country stands for. Vote NO to the Pelosi/ Schumer money wasting HOAX which is taking place now. Then fight the $51 million unasked for Ballots. Only ABSENTEE BALLOTS are acceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
DeJoy told a Senate committee on Friday that the Postal Service would deliver ballots “securely and on time” in the November election but said bigger changes could come after that.
In fact, the House bill would prevent DeJoy from taking any action that would impede service until after next January or the end of the coronavirus health emergency, whichever comes later.
“Our legislation is not just about the election. It’s about - surprise, surprise, Mr. Postmaster General - the coronavirus!”, Pelosi told a news conference.
Updated
England’s chief medical officer has said it would be “foolish” to plan for winter on the basis of having a coronavirus vaccine.
But professor Chris Whitty told reporters on Saturday that there was a “reasonable chance” there could be vaccines to the virus before the winter of 2021-2022, the Press Association reports.
He warned that going into winter there will be “real problems” with Covid-19 and said that the country should plan on the basis of no vaccine being available.
He said:
I would obviously be delighted if it came earlier rather than later but I’d be quite surprised if we had a highly effective vaccine ready for mass use in a large percentage of the population before the end of winter, certainly before this side of Christmas.
Now that may be wrong, a lot of people are doing a huge amount scientifically, logistically to make sure that’s a pessimistic statement, to try and see if we can get a vaccine at extraordinarily fast speed but we have to check it works and we have to make sure it’s safe and these things do take time.
So I think if we look forward a year I think the chances are much greater than if we look forward six months and we need to have that sort of timescale in mind.
So planning for the next winter, it would be foolish to plan on the basis we will have a vaccine.
We should plan on the basis we will not have a vaccine and then if one does prove to be effective and safe and available then we’re in a strong position to be able to use it and that will be great but we should be planning on the basis of what we currently have.
Whitty added he was “confident in the long-term” that science would have the ability “to get us out of this hole”, but stressed that this would be unlikely to be the case in the next few weeks or even months.
Brazil reported 50,032 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 892 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday.
Brazil has registered 3,582,362 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 114,250, according to ministry data from the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak outside the United States.
Thousands of Israelis protested in Jerusalem on Saturday against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu again, as the country’s summer outcry denouncing alleged corruption and the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic showed little signs of abating.
A large crowd marched in the streets outside Netanyahu’s official residence, waving signs and flags and calling for his resignation.
Some protesters clashed with police, who arrested at least seven people.
One police officer was injured, Reuters reports.
The protest movement has gained traction in the summer months, with critics accusing Netanyahu of being distracted by a corruption case against him while Covid-19 cases have spiked.
He denies wrongdoing.
On Friday Israel passed 100,000 reported coronavirus cases.
It has recorded 809 Covid-19 deaths among its 9 million population. The country is in a recession and unemployment hovers above 20%.
Netanyahu has condemned the demonstrations against him, accusing protesters of trampling democracy and the Israeli media of encouraging them.
He has argued that Israel’s economy is better positioned than many developed countries hit by the global pandemic.
Saturday’s protest comes just days before a 25 August deadline for the government to pass a state budget.
A failure to do so will lead to general elections.
The US state of Texas reported 5,559 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the overall tally of cases in the state to 573,139.
Deaths in Texas rose by 215 to 11,266 in total, the state health department said.
Current hospitalisations in the state fell by 292 to 5,274 in total.
Transparent facemasks and shields are costly compared with classic counterparts but could prove a boon for the deaf and hard of hearing battling to communicate in the coronavirus era.
The concept has started to take off, aided not least by Youtube tutorials or the likes of American football coach Nic Saban, who makes a point of wearing his pitchside.
Alabama football shared this photo of Nick Saban in his practice field mask. pic.twitter.com/xyJ6G5JkXs
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) August 18, 2020
Other proponents include French secretary of state for people with disabilities Sophie Cluzel, who donned a mask with a see-through section to speak in parliament, and a sign-language interpreter at a Portsmouth hospital in southern England.
As Cluzel pointed out, the transparent window facilitates communication by permitting lip-reading and showing facial expressions.
The deaf and the hard of hearing number about 70 million globally, according to the World Federation of the Deaf.
According to AFP, the French federation of speech therapists says that classic facemasks mean “patients find themselves deprived of the main source of the oral message: the mouth and facial expressions.”
Teachers say they too like the transparent model.
Rory Burnham Pickett, a professor based in Sapporo in northern Japan, said:
“I know it is frustrating that my pupils don’t see my mouth or facial expression. I made my own transparent mask as they are difficult to find.”
Governments are taking a proactive approach and are placing orders.
Authorities in Quebec have placed an order for 100,000 for distribution across the health network in the Canadian province, local media say.
In the United States, private US medical firm ClearMask LLC said Tuesday it had received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for a fully transparent surgical mask for use in hospitals and clinics but also schools, retail and hospitality settings.
The Baltimore-based form was already producing non-surgical versions.
Updated
Standing in a graveyard on the outskirts of Mexico City, guitar player Eberardo Vargas this week had fewer funerals to play at than he has for most of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
Even as Mexico approaches a grim new milestone in its battle with the pandemic - 60,000 fatalities - signs of relief are beginning to emerge in the country that has registered more dead than any other bar the United States and Brazil.
Vargas, 49, said May, June and July were the busiest months he could recall as a musician as mourners in the municipality of Ecatepec northeast of Mexico City paid him and his band to hear favorite songs of lost loved-ones during their last goodbyes.
But that demand has eased lately as public life gradually returns to normal in the sprawling Mexican capital, prompting the government to declare this week that the coronavirus scourge is in “sustained decline” in Mexico.
“We sometimes had 10 or 15 performances a day at the peak of the pandemic, but it’s come down,” he said, who had little to do at the Ecatepec graveyard for much of Friday.
“Now, it’s more like three, or sometimes five.”
Deaths due to coronavirus are on track to hit their lowest weekly total for two months, and new cases have eased since reaching a record daily number at the start of August.
“Our whole band used to wait here, there was always work,” said Vargas. “Now, we take turns because it’s become so quiet.”
Still, the country is almost certain to cross the threshold of 60,000 dead this weekend.
Earlier in the pandemic, Mexico’s coronavirus czar and deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell had cast such a figure as a “catastrophic” outcome.
Despite the improving news, Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday there was no cause for complacency.
“This week we lost some momentum in the trend of falling number of infections and hospitalisations,” she said.
The French health ministry on Saturday reported 3,602 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, a smaller rise than on Friday and after the increase in cases reached a post-lockdown high earlier in the week.
The ministry said the total coronavirus deaths in the country had risen by nine in the past 24 hours to 30,512.
The total of confirmed infection cases in France now stands at 238,002, while the number of people in intensive care units was up by 1, to 380.
A majority of Poles thinks schools should reopen on 1 September, according to a recent poll.
43.1% of respondents said they believe Poland’s schools should reopen, while 33.3% said they think schools should not, according to research from daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
23.6% expressed no opinion.
The Polish government is currently planning for most schools to reopen on 1 September.
According to the Polish Press Agency, Poland announced on Sunday that arrivals from Russia would soon be able to enter the country again, after the Polish government updated its list of travel corridors.
According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus resource center, Poland has so far reported 60,281 infection cases and 1,938 deaths.
Updated
US president Donald Trump on Saturday accused members of an alleged “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), without providing evidence, of working to slow testing of Covid-19 vaccines until after the November presidential election.
In a Twitter post, Trump said a deep state “or whoever” at the FDA was making it very difficult for drug companies to enroll people in clinical trials to test vaccines and therapies for coronavirus.
The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! @SteveFDA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
The comment came after a top FDA official said on Thursday he would resign if the Trump administration approved a vaccine before it was shown to be safe and effective.
“Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!,” Trump wrote, tagging FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in the tweet.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was a “dangerous statement” and that the president was “beyond the pale” for accusing the FDA of playing politics.
The FDA could not immediately be reached for comment.
Drug manufacturers in coordination with the FDA and National Institutes of Health are ramping up production while testing is underway in order to respond as soon as possible with a vaccine for Covid-19, which has killed nearly 800,000 people worldwide.
Trump often uses Twitter to criticise federal agencies, sometimes accusing them of being controlled by the “deep state” in an apparent reference to long-serving staff who, in Trump’s eyes, are determined to undermine his agenda.
His tweet increases the pressure on the FDA after Peter Marks, director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, last week said on a conference call with government officials, pharmaceutical executives and academics that he would resign if the agency rubber-stamped an unproven vaccine.
Scientists, public health officials and lawmakers are worried that the Trump administration will push the FDA to approve a vaccine in advance of the vote, even if data from clinical trials do not support its widespread use.
Marks, whose division regulates cutting-edge biotech treatments, vaccines and gene therapies, told Reuters he has not faced any political pressure and that the FDA would be guided by science alone. Should that change, he said on Thursday, “I would feel obligated (to resign) because in doing so, I would indicate to the American public that there’s something wrong.”
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) said children aged 12 and over should wear masks to help tackle the corornavirus pandemic under the same conditions as adults, while children between six and 11 should wear them on a risk-based approach.
Children aged 12 and over should particularly wear a mask when a one-metre distance from others cannot be guaranteed and there is widespread transmission in the area, the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a document on the WHO website dated 21 August.
Whether children between six and 11 should wear masks depends on a number of factors, including the intensity of transmission in the area, the child’s ability to use the mask, access to masks and adequate adult supervision, the two organisations said, according to Reuters.
The potential impact on learning and psycho-social development, and the interactions the child has with people at high risk of developing serious illness, should also play a role.
Children aged five years and under should not be required to wear masks based on the safety and overall interest of the child, the WHO and UNICEF said.
Studies suggest older children potentially play a more active role in transmission of the new coronavirus than younger children, the WHO and UNICEF said, adding more data was needed to better understand the role of children and adolescents in the transmission of the virus, which causes Covid-19.
The WHO first advised people to wear masks in public on 5 June to help reduce the spread of the disease, but had previously not issued specific guidance for children.
More than 23 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally since it was first identified in China last year and 798,997 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Updated
The Rome region in Italy recorded 215 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours to Sunday, mainly because of people returning from holiday, the largest such rise since the Italian capital was in lockdown in March, health officials said Saturday.
The figure is a record number and is more than the 208 people infected in a one-day period on 28 March, when Rome had come to a virtual standstill to stop the coronavirus spreading, the capital’s health official Alessio D’Amato said.
“Sixty-one percent [of the cases] are linked to people returning from vacation,” D’Amato said, adding that almost half the cases were returning from Sardinia.
Sardinia had been spared the first wave earlier this year, but D’Amato said the movement of tourists and people partying have helped spread the virus.
Most of those infected are young people who are not showing symptoms and it is urgent to “block the chain of transmission as fast as possible by finding the asymptomatic and averting the spread of the virus among families, he said, according to AFP.
“Be very careful especially with your relatives and the people dearest to you,” he said in an appeal to the young.
He warned them to stay home and not meet with people while awaiting test results.
“Don’t feel invincible,” he urged them.
Italy, particularly the northern Lombardy region, the Venice area and Rome, are seeing a resurgence in the virus over the summer, even if the daily numbers remain below the national threshold of 1,000 - unlike in neighbouring France.
The Italian government has taken several steps to block the spread, suych as closing nightclubs since 17 August and making mask wearing compulsory in busy public spaces between 6pm and 6am.
Since the pandemic broke out, Italy has recorded more than 257,000 cases, including more than 35,000 deaths.
Updated
Ireland has reported 156 new coronavirus infections, the fourth highest daily tally since early May.
It’s the fourth time in eight days that Ireland has reported more than 100 daily coronavirus cases.
Ireland significantly tightened its nationwide coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday to try to rein in the new spike, which began in late July after cases had fallen to a daily average of around 20 for much of the previous two months.
On Thursday, the Irish health minister, Stephen Donnelly, had said the country was “at a tipping point.”
The government lifted separate stricter measures in two counties on Friday but extended them for two more weeks in Kildare, where there were 36 cases. Dublin accounted for 55 with the rest spread across the country, similar to previous days.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has promised developing nations it will ramp up efforts to help them tackle climate challenges as they strive to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, approving $879m in backing for 15 new projects around the world.
At a four-day virtual board meeting ending late Friday, the fund added Afghanistan and Sudan to a list of more than 100 countries receiving a total of $6.2bn to reduce planet-heating emissions and enhance climate resilience.
The GCF was set up under UN climate talks in 2010 to help developing nations tackle global warming, and started allocating money in 2015.
Executive director Yannick Glemarec said the fund had “a key role to play to maintain climate ambition in the era of Covid-19” and would aim to improve the speed and efficiency of its response to developing country needs.
Board co-chair Nauman Bashir Bhatti, from Pakistan, said climate finance would be crucial for recovery from the pandemic and the fund needed to increase support “even during these difficult times”.
Those promises came as small island states criticised the pace and size of GCF assistance, saying they were now struggling with the economic blow from the pandemic on top of climate change impacts such as rising seas and stronger storms.
Fiji’s UN ambassador Satyendra Prasad said Covid-19 risked worsening the already high debt burden of small island nations, as tourism dived.
“The importance of the [GCF] ... in accelerating transformative climate action in this present decade cannot be understated,” he added.
He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation island nations were struggling to access other sources of finance and urged the GCF to boost aid to help them prepare project proposals and to release funding for approved projects faster.
The Alliance of Small Island States said its members represented less than 10% of total funding requests.
Updated
Italy records more than 1,000 new cases for the first time since May
Italy reported 1,071 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, exceeding 1,000 cases in a day for the first time since May when the government eased its rigid lockdown measures.
Italy, one of Europe’s worst-hit countries, managed to contain the outbreak after a peak in deaths and cases between March and April.
However, the country has seen a steady increase in infections over the last month, with experts blaming gatherings of people associated with holidays and nightlife.
Last time the country recorded a higher figure was on 12 May, with 1,402 cases, six days before restaurants, bars and shops were allowed to reopen after a 10-week lockdown, Reuters reports.
India reaches milestone of 1 million tests per day
India announced on Saturday that the country has hit the milestone of one million tests per day, with 10,23,836 tests completed on Friday.
This is the highest in the world outside China and now well above the testing efforts of the United States, the by far worst affected country in the world so far.
India’s recovery rate increased to 74.30%, up from 73.91% on Friday, as reported by the ministry of health and family welfare.
This follows Narendra Modi’s call to rapidly increase testing to 1 million just two weeks ago.
Updated
China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to groups facing high infection risks since July, a health official told state media.
No vaccine has yet passed final, large-scale trials to prove it is safe and effective enough to protect people from contracting the virus that has led to almost 800,000 deaths worldwide.
The aim is to boost the immunity of specific groups of people, including medical workers and those who work at food markets and in the transportation and service sectors, Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official, told state TV in an interview aired late on Saturday.
Authorities could consider modestly expanding the emergency use programme to try to prevent possible outbreaks during the autumn and winter, added Zheng, who heads the Chinese government-led team that coordinates state resources for coronavirus vaccine development.
The guidelines for emergency use of potential coronavirus vaccines, approved on 24 June according to Zheng, have not been made public.
The state media Global Times reported in June that China had been offering candidate coronavirus vaccines to employees at state-owned firms travelling overseas.
Some countries are sceptical about China’s use of experimental vaccines.
Papua New Guinea has denied entry to Chinese nationals who participated in a coronavirus vaccine trial, according to the Australian newspaper.
China’s coronavirus vaccines will be priced close to cost, Zheng said.
“It does not mean that companies cannot make profits,” Zheng said. “Companies should decide on moderate profits, or reasonable profits based on costs.”
A potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) could cost no more than 1,000 yuan ($144) for two shots, Sinopharm chairman Liu Jingzhen told state media last week, according to Reuters.
“[The price] will definitely be lower than what Liu said,” Zheng said.
Updated
About 1,500 volunteers equipped with face masks, hand sanitiser and tracking gadgets attended an indoor concert in Germany on Saturday as part of a study to simulate how coronavirus spreads in large gatherings.
As part of the so-called Restart19 study, researchers from the University Medical Centre in the city of Halle want to find out how cultural and sporting events can safely take place without posing a risk to the population, Reuters reports.
Volunteers were handed protective masks of the type typically used in hospitals and bottles of fluorescent hand sanitiser at the concert of German singer-songwriter Tim Bendzko in an indoor arena in Leipzig.
“I am extremely satisfied with the discipline displayed by the participants,” Stefan Moritz, the head of the study, told a news conference after the concert. “I was surprised how disciplined everyone was in wearing masks.”
He said results of the study, which is being financed by the states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, were expected in 4-6 weeks.
The participants were also given contact tracers to help track the distance between concertgoers and to identify in which parts of the arena, such as entrance halls and grandstands, people might crowd too closely together.
Researchers asked participants to regularly disinfect their hands using the fluorescent sanitiser so scientists can identify, with the help of ultra-violet light, which surfaces are touched frequently and pose a risk for spreading the virus.
Sporting events such as Liverpool’s Champions League soccer match against Atletico Madrid and the Cheltenham horseracing festival in Britain in March have been blamed for playing a role in spreading Covid-19.
Most events with big crowds have been put on hold. A decision to grant approval for a concert of the German singer Sarah Connor with 13,000 attendees on 4 September in Duesseldorf has faced sharp criticism from virologists and local politicians.
Updated
The UK recorded 1,288 new positive cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, up from 1,033 a day earlier, government figures showed.
Eighteen more people have died after testing positive for the coronavirus, up from two a day earlier.
The new cases were recorded as the government ramps up testing in an effort to suppress the spread of the virus and ease restrictions that have crippled the economy.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a round up of today’s developments:
- The global coronavirus death toll has reached 800,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. It represents a doubling in global deaths from the virus within 11 weeks.
- Scotland has recorded 123 more cases, its biggest daily rise for more than three months. The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, expressed her concern but pointed out that more than half of the new cases were linked to an outbreak at a food processing plant in Tayside.
- Iraq has registered nearly 4,000 new cases, bringing its recorded total to over 200,000. Many fear yet another surge in cases is imminent, as Shia Muslims converge on the holy city of Karbala to commemorate the beginning of the mourning month of Muharram.
- Coronavirus will be around “for ever” and people are likely to need regular vaccinations against it, a former chief scientific adviser to the UK government has said. Prof Mark Walport, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, likened the virus to influenza, as he said repeat inoculations on a global scale would almost certainly be required to control it.
- A third of staff at Bletchley Park, a museum that celebrates Britain’s wartime codebreaking, face redundancy because of the pandemic.The trust that runs the museum has warned it expects to lose around £2m this year.
- Croatia has criticised the UK government’s decision to impose 14-day quarantine conditions on holidaymakers returning from Croatia. Frano Matušić, the secretary of state at Croatia’s tourism ministry, said the imposition of the quarantine was unfair and urged the UK to think again.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,034 to 232,082, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. The death toll also rose by seven, bringing the confirmed total to 9,267. Dozens of schools in Berlin have reported cases since reopening.
- A university in Leipzig is organising a series of concerts as an experiment to see how large events can safely resume. Some 4,000 young and healthy volunteers will attend and agreed to have their movements tracked.
- South Korea has said it will roll out tougher social distancing guidelines after reporting 315 new domestic infection. The rise is the latest in a series of triple-digit increases.
- The Czech republic and Ukraine have both reported the highest ever increases in daily cases. Ukraine reported 2,328 cases, while there 506 new case in the Czech republic.
- Russia has reported 4,921 new coronavirus cases, pushing its confirmed national tally up to 951,897.The authorities said 121 people had died of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours.
Updated
Global death toll hits 800,000
The global coronavirus death toll has reached 800,000, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
This represents a doubling in global deaths from the virus within 11 weeks.
The number of global cases has almost reached 23m.
#Coronavirus Global #deathtoll tops 800,000 (800,000). Total Confirmed Cases ≈ 23 MILLION (22,984,824).
— Medical Science and Technology #StayAlert (@MedicalScitech) August 22, 2020
*according to COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) @JHUSystems at The Johns Hopkins University @JohnsHopkinshttps://t.co/Y7QRpPWIXx pic.twitter.com/1pawjBNy2u
Updated
Six more people have died in hospitals in England after testing positive for coronavirus, NHS England has announced. Its brings the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 29,496.
The patients were aged between 79 and 93 years old and all six had underlying health conditions.
England now has a total of 280,519 in confirmed coronavirus cases, with an infection rate of 498.4 per 100,000 people.
Updated
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has tweeted her concern about the biggest rise in cases in Scotland since May. But she points out that 78 of the 123 new cases are in Tayside where there is an outbreak at 2 Sisters food processing plant.
123 new positive #Covid cases today is of course of concern. However, it also needs some context - 78 of them are in Tayside where we’re dealing with the outbreak at the 2 Sisters food processing plant. Important that all workers and household contacts follow advice to isolate. https://t.co/U9D7omhhUm
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 22, 2020
A further 71 people have also tested positive in Northern Ireland.
The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated with latest data on tests.
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) August 22, 2020
71 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/mBCna9Nids
And Wales recorded a daily increase of 34 cases.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales has been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) August 22, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻 https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱 https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh
Find out how we are responding to the spread of the virus in our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/IFq5vMjIwp
Scotland: largest rise in cases for more than three months
Scotland has recorded its biggest daily rise in cases for more than three months. In an update the Scottish government said a further 123 people had tested positive taking Scotland total to 19,728 cases. This is the first time there has been a three-figure increase in cases since May.
The data shows that 78 of the new cases are in the NHS Tayside area, where there is an outbreak a food processing plant.
The number of deaths of patients who tested positive remains at 2,492
461,167 people in Scotland have been tested for #coronavirus
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) August 22, 2020
The total confirmed as positive has risen by 123 to 19,728
The number of deaths of patients who tested positive remains at 2,492
Latest update:
https://t.co/bZPbrCoQux Health advice
https://t.co/l7rqArB6Qu pic.twitter.com/0hxZoSuRtS
Updated
China has approved human testing for a potential coronavirus vaccine cultivated within insect cells, officials in the southwestern city of Chengdu have said, according to Reuters.
Using insect cells to grow proteins for the coronavirus vaccine, a first in China, could speed up large-scale production, the city government of Chengdu said in a notice on WeChat.
The vaccine, developed by West China hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, has received approval from the National Medical Products Administration to enter a clinical trial, the notice said.
When tested on monkeys, the vaccine was shown to prevent Sars-CoV-2 infections with no obvious side-effects, the notice added.
Chinese scientists are already leading work on at least eight other potential coronavirus vaccines that have entered different stages of clinical trials.
Foreign players, including Germany’s BioNTech and Inovio Pharma in the United States, have also cooperated with local firms to test their experimental vaccines in China.
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Iraq has registered nearly 4,000 new cases, bringing its recorded total to over 200,000, AFP reports.
According to the Iraqi health ministry, 201,050 Iraqis have contracted the virus, including 6,353 who have died, while 143,393 are declared to have recovered since the pandemic began.
The daily increases have hovered around 4,000 for more than a week, but authorities have declined to reimpose a strict lockdown that was lifted earlier this summer.
An overnight curfew remains in place, most restaurants are closed for dine-in customers and land crossings are officially shut.
But airports, supermarkets and take-out cafes are open, with varying degrees of social distancing or mask-wearing.
Many fear yet another surge in cases is imminent, as Shia Muslims converge on the holy city of Karbala to commemorate the beginning of the mourning month of Muharram.
Muharram, which includes the memorial of the killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein in AD680, is typically marked by mass funeral processions and self-flagellation.
It usually sees thousands of pilgrims cross the border from neighbouring Iran, which has suffered the largest mortality figure from Covid-19 infections in the Middle East, with more than 20,200 deaths officially registered.
Iraq’s hospitals have already been worn down by decades of conflict and poor investment, with shortages in medicines, hospital beds and even protective equipment for doctors.
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For the latest on the virus in the US follow our US politics live blog:
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Police in Greater Manchester, UK, issued a number of dispersal orders overnight at engagement parties, children’s birthdays and in car parks as they enforced coronavirus distancing measures in the county amid confusion.
It advised people earlier today to check the government website for coronavirus regulations in the north-west of England after the government last week said households in Greater Manchester “must not” mix with other households within their homes or gardens.
A crackdown on those seemingly flouting the measures yesterday and overnight took place throughout the county, leading the force to issue a number of tweets describing events.
“Officers are currently attending a gathering in the car park of a licensed property in Moss Side. The group, who are believed to be under the influence, are being dispersed and evidence gathered in relation to Covid breaches by the premises,” one statement said.
The force acknowledged confusion over current localised restrictions in another incident, saying: “Officers attended a property in Blackley where 12 people gathered in a private garden were dispersed and issued a fixed penalty notice. The group stated that they were unsure of current restrictions in the north-west as not local to Greater Manchester.”
Another police statement said: “Officers are attending a location in Beswick where 20 people, who are believed to be under the influence, are gathered at a private address. Officers are engaging with the group who are being resistant to advice.”
One final one from us: “Officers attended a property in Swinton where 3 families were celebrating a child’s birthday in a private garden. The homeowner has been issued with a fixed penalty notice.”
You can take a look at all of the tweets following the crackdown on Greater Manchester police’s Twitter.
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Argentina has joined Peru, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates in approving phase three clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the company said.
CNBG needs research participants from other countries for testing, Reuters reports. Phase three trials, which usually involve several thousand participants, allow researchers to gather data on the efficacy of potential vaccines for regulatory approvals.
CNBG will partner with Argentina’s ELEA in the vaccine trial, it announced. The experimental vaccine by CNBG, a unit of state-owned pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), received approval from the UAE in June for a phase three trial and has since recruited 15,000 volunteers.
The company said on Thursday that Peru and Morocco also approved the trials. CNBG has also obtained approval from Bahrain for a phase three study designed to involve around 6,000 participants.
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Two police stations in Northern Ireland have been closed after eight officers tested positive for Covid-19.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s assistant chief constable, Alan Todd, said:
Following reports of a number of officers from Antrim Station being unwell, these officers have undergone testing for Covid-19. At this time, eight of these officers have tested positive for the virus.
We have undertaken, and we will continue to undertake a range of appropriate measures, in line with public health advice and guidance, to address the issue. This includes the closure of both Antrim and Newtownabbey stations in order to conduct a deep clean.
Colleagues from across the district are also self-isolating and will undergo testing for Covid-19.
I want to reassure the public that we have plans in place to ensure continuance of service delivery to keep our people and our communities safe.
We are also working to identify any other risks arising from this outbreak and will address those with our health care partners.
Following reports of a number of our officers from Antrim Station being unwell, these officers have undergone testing for Covid-19. At this time, eight of our officers have tested positive for the virus.
— Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) August 22, 2020
Read more from ACC Alan Todd here: https://t.co/IyHkMF1OY6
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Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged people to act on health advice after official data showed daily Covid-19 infections had risen to a record level.
The country recorded 2,328 cases of the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 37 deaths of people having tested positive for the virus, data from the national council of security and defence showed.
Zelenskiy asked people to take seriously the recent jump in the daily tally of new infections, urging them to wear masks and keep social distancing.
In a TV interview he said:
Please help doctors, be careful We really did not have the first wave (of infections) when it happened in Europe. Now it is coming, now we are growing ... almost daily.
He said Ukraine had managed to avoid a big number of infections in March through May thanks to a strict lockdown. Yet as soon as restrictions had gradually been lifted, numbers of new daily coronavirus cases started rising, from bellow 1,000 in June to above 2,000 this week.
We are well prepared in terms of (hospital) places, equipment, number of tests ... But no number of places in hospitals, and especially no number of specialists, will help us survive if there is the second and third wave, if it is very powerful.
And here the question is only for our people.
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Donald Trump is peddling a conspiracy theory that the US Food and Drug Administration is somehow delaying the development of a coronavirus vaccine until after the US presidential election.
The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! @SteveFDA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
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The French government has delayed by a week the implementation of a €100bn coronavirus recovery package, AFP reports.
Businesses had eagerly awaited details of the new shot in the arm for the eurozone’s second-largest economy, trailed for 25 August, and government spokesman Gabriel Attal said it was “ready”.
But for now “the government is completely mobilised to prepare for the health deadline” of 1 September, when pupils return to school and many workers will be back from summer holidays, Attal said in a statement.
Groundwork must be laid, including a nationwide requirement to wear masks in workplaces and secondary schools, he said, adding that President Emmanuel Macron wants ministers working “to make sure these measures are applied properly and allow everyone to adopt them”.
Only then will the economic plan be presented “in the first week of September”.
Paris is sticking to its aim of returning French GDP to the same level as before the coronavirus pandemic by 2022, Attal said.
Summary
Here’s a round up of the latest developments:
- Coronavirus will be around “for ever” and people are likely to need regular vaccinations against it, a former chief scientific adviser to the UK government has said. Prof Mark Walport, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, likened the virus to influenza, as he said repeat inoculations on a global scale would almost certainly be required to control it.
- A third of staff at Bletchley Park, a museum that celebrates Britain’s wartime codebreaking, face redundancy because of the pandemic.The trust that runs the museum has warned it expects to lose around £2m this year.
- Croatia has criticised the UK government’s decision to impose 14-day quarantine conditions on holidaymakers returning from Croatia. Frano Matušić, the secretary of state at Croatia’s tourism ministry, said the imposition of the quarantine was unfair and urged the UK to think again.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,034 to 232,082, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. The death toll also rose by seven, bringing the confirmed total to 9,267. Dozens of schools in Berlin have reported cases since reopening.
- A university in Leipzig is organising a series of concerts as an experiment to see how large events can safely resume. Some 4,000 young and healthy volunteers will attend and agreed to have their movements tracked.
- South Korea has said it will roll out tougher social distancing guidelines after reporting 315 new domestic infection. The rise is the latest in a series of triple-digit increases.
- The Czech republic and Ukraine have both reported the highest ever increases in daily cases. Ukraine reported 2,328 cases, while there 506 new case in the Czech republic.
- Russia has reported 4,921 new coronavirus cases, pushing its confirmed national tally up to 951,897.The authorities said 121 people had died of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours,
Updated
South Korea has said it will roll out tougher social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus nationwide as it deals with a new outbreak spreading from Seoul.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 315 new domestic infections as of midnight on Friday, the latest in a series of triple-digit increases in such cases.
South Korea used advanced contact tracing and widespread testing to contain its first outbreak of Covid-19, but Asia’s fourth-largest economy has experienced persistent outbreaks in recent weeks, mostly in and around the densely populated capital and its surrounding areas.
The latest numbers take the country’s tally to 17,002 cases, with 309 deaths.
The Philippines reported 4,933 infections of the coronavirus on Saturday, the fifth consecutive day above 4,000.
In a bulletin, the health ministry said total confirmed cases increased to 187,249 while confirmed deaths reached 2,966. The Philippines has the most infections in south-east Asia, and the second-highest number of deaths, behind Indonesia.
Updated
More than half the companies in Spain that closed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic have reopened, according to government data released today, Reuters reports.
The number of companies registered to pay social security by the end of July was 1,282,346, according to figures from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, or 91,240 fewer firms than in February before the government imposed a strict lockdown to try to contain Covid-19.
However, the statistics showed that since the easing of lockdown started in May, 49,159 companies have registered with the government. This is just over half the number which closed when the pandemic was at its height in March and April.
The worst affected sectors of the economy between February and July were education, where 22.6% of companies closed, and agriculture and fishing, in which 15.2% of firms stopped trading, the government data showed.
The number of cases of Covid-19 has been rising steadily since the end of lockdown in June. Spain diagnosed 3,650 coronavirus infections, the health ministry said on Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 386,054. The death toll was 28,838.
Updated
A German university has organised a series of concerts under coronavirus conditions, hoping the mass experiment involving 4,000 people will determine whether large events can safely resume, AFP reports.
The singer, Tim Bendzko, agreed to give three separate performances over the course of the day in eastern city of Leipzig, allowing researchers from nearby Halle University to try out different configurations for the gigs. Only young, healthy volunteers were allowed to attend to limit infection risks.
As the audience arrives at the Leipzig Arena concert hall they will submit to a temperature check. All the participants will wear masks meeting the high-protection standard, as well as an electronic device allowing tracking of their movements within the space.
Using fluorescent disinfectants, the researchers will also be able to see which surfaces concert-goers most often touch with their hands. And the scientists will even track the trajectories of tiny aerosol particles breathed out by attendees, believed by experts to play a role in infections.
Data collected on Saturday will flow into a mathematical model to help judge risks of the virus spreading in a large concert venue, with results expected in the autumn.
Updated
Coronavirus cases have been reported by at least 41 schools in Berlin, barely two weeks after the German capital’s 825 schools reopened.
Cases are rising across Europe, including in Spain, which registered 66,905 in the past two weeks, resulting in the continent’s highest 14-day infection rate and warnings over the risk of a new wave of deaths.
The disclosure by Berlin city education authorities that hundreds of students and teachers have had to quarantine has underlined once more how little is known about the risk of infection in school settings, despite the insistence of governments and experts, including in the UK, that reopening schools is safe given the right precautions.
The Berlin experience echoes that in some states in the US, including Georgia, and in Israel, which have recorded clusters tied to schools. According to reports in Berlin, all age groups have been affected, including in elementary schools, high schools and trade schools.
Croatia has criticised the UK government’s decision to impose 14-day quarantine conditions on holidaymakers returning from Croatia.
Frano Matušić, the secretary of state at Croatia’s tourism ministry, said the imposition of the quarantine was unfair and urged the UK to think again.
Speaking to Sky News, Matušić he said:
We think that this decision was not fair. Because we think that Croatia is really safe destination. Croatia is on the list for many European countries as a safe destination still. It is true that we have some several hotspots in Croatia, but we didn’t register until now, any infection in hotels camps and other accommodation facilities.
So we appeal to UK government to replace this 14 days quarantine measure by reliable tests. We are really disappointed by this.
Matušić, pointed out that Croatia currently attracts almost 700,000 tourists, including 170,000 from Germany and almost 16,000 from the UK. He said:
This will adversely affect the continuation of the season. From 1 August until 20 August we had around the 62,000 arrivals from United Kingdom and more than, 350,000 of overnight stays. So this decision will definitely negatively affect the continuation of the tourist season in Croatia.
Updated
A third of staff at Bletchley Park, a museum that celebrates Britain’s wartime codebreaking, face redundancy because of the pandemic.
The trust that runs the museum has warned it expects to lose around £2m this year and 95% of its income from March to July.
It is proposing a restructuring that includes a possible 35 redundancies, approximately a third of the workforce, as it seeks to reduce its annual spend and the size of its team.
Bletchley Park’s chief executive, Iain Standen, told staff:
It with deep regret that I am informing you today that the trust needs to cut jobs. We have built a very successful heritage attraction and museum at Bletchley Park and its principal strength is its people. However, the economic impact of the current crisis is having a profound effect on the trust’s ability to survive. We have exhausted all other avenues, and we need to act now to ensure that the Trust survives and is sustainable in the future.
The museum, which hosts the first programmable computer designed by the codebreaker Alan Turing, was opened in 2011 with the aid of a £5m lottery grant.
Updated
Russia has reported 4,921 new coronavirus cases, pushing its confirmed national tally up to 951,897.
The authorities said 121 people had died of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, raising the official death toll to 16,310.
За сутки в 83 регионах России выявлен 4 921 случай COVID-19
— Интерфакс (@interfax_news) August 22, 2020
https://t.co/W25ULgmIA1
The possibility of another national lockdown in the UK can’t be ruled out according to a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Prof Sir Mark Walport, a former chief scientific adviser, said a targeted local approach to outbreak were the right tactics for now.
But asked by the Today programme whether the a second national lockdown would ever be used again, Walport said:
Never is very strong word – the whole point is to improve the local control, increase the amount of testing, give guidance to avoid that happening, but is there a situation where it could get out of control? Well obviously that’s possible and that’s why it’s so important that we’ll work together.
People do understand that this is a risk. If it’s allowed to get out of control, then there could be much more draconian measures.
His comments come after report in the Telegraph said a second national lockdown could be imposed after the R number in England increased above 1.
Walport also warned that coronavirus will be present “forever” and people are likely to need regular vaccinations against it. He said it could be controlled by “global vaccination” but that it is not “going to be a disease like smallpox which could be eradicated by vaccination”. He added:
This is a virus that is going to be with us forever in some form or another and almost certainly will require repeated vaccinations.
So a bit like flu, people will need re-vaccination at regular intervals.
Updated
Biggest daily rise in cases in Czech Republic
The Czech authorities recorded 506 new coronavirus cases, the highest number of new infections in one day since the outbreak began there, Reuters reports.
Czech Republic has so far reported 21,551 confirmed cases of the virus, with 411 deaths, including 19 over the past week. The previous record daily high was 377 cases registered on 27 March.
The Czech government was among the first in Europe to introduce curbs on movement and business as the outbreak took hold. It began to lift restrictions since May but has reintroduced some measures as cases rose in recent weeks.
Face masks will once more be compulsory on public transport, at health and social care facilities and in state office buildings from 1 September, but the government rowed back on a requirement to wear masks in shops, restaurants and common areas of schools.
Outdoor public events including soccer, which starts new league season this week, may be attended by up to 5,000 people, if separated into sections of 1,000, and indoor events can host up to 5,000 in separate sections of 500. The government plans to further relax restrictions on public events from September.
Updated
The Labour leader of Pendle council in England has criticised the UK government for imposing tougher lockdown restrictions in parts of the borough.
Mohammed Iqbal told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the restriction were illogical.
He said:
The new restrictions mean that you can’t socialise with anybody outside your own home within your own home, but you can go to work, you can go to a restaurant you can go to a pub, club, a place of faith, and there you can socialise with people who are outside of your own home. The restrictions are something that as a council we have argued against all week.
But the government clearly refused to listen to us, and have imposed this simply to punish people who have been testing flat out. We’ve got the highest rate of testing in the north-west over a number of days. On the one hand, people like myself with government support, have been saying to the community: ‘Get yourself tested it’s free’, and on the other hand, the government come and slap us, and the community with these restrictions.
He added:
The government has announced these tightening restrictions for local people in my area, yet they have not issued any detailed guidance as to how it will operate, who will police it.
So local people are actually more confused than they were on Thursday evening.
Updated
A senior medical expert has suggested the UK may need to increase testing from current levels of 150,000 a day to up to 10m a day.
Prof Ara Darzi, a surgeon and co-director of Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, said regular home testing could be the UK’s “best hope” against the pandemic.
He is overseeing a large study of home testing, involving more than 100,000 people, which has found self-testing at home to be practical and acceptable to the public.
He acknowledged the UK’s “formidable” testing programme may need to be increased to “1m or even 10m a day”.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph he said:
Mass testing is not merely our best defence against the spread of the virus, it is also key to giving the country the confidence it urgently needs.
And unlike a vaccine, which is still many months away, simple, easy and cheap tests, some based on saliva, with results in as little as 10 minutes, are already out there.
His study has found 90% of home tests are carried out and reported correctly.
However, it is not currently possible on a mass scale because the gold standard PCR test, which is both expensive and slow, requires a nose and throat swab which can only be analysed in a lab,” he wrote.
If testing were simplified so people could self-test or be tested anywhere, easily and with rapid results, then it could be carried out daily.
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That’s where I might leave you for now but never fear, Matthew Weaver is here to guide you through the rest of today’s news.
Updated
New restriction for returned UK travellers from Croatia
Holidaymakers scrambled to get home to beat new quarantine measures as further restrictions were implemented, according to a report from the Press Association.
From 4am on Saturday travellers arriving to the UK from Croatia have to self-isolate for 14 days after a spike in coronavirus cases led to the government removing Croatia from its safe travel list.
At London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 on Friday evening, British Airways flights arriving from the Croatian city of Dubrovnik and the capital Zagreb were among the last to arrive in the UK before the quarantine deadline.
Thomas Maguire, 63, a sales manager from Northern Ireland, was due to fly back on Sunday, but returned to beat the quarantine deadline due to the impact it would have on his family.
He branded the rule changes as a “complete shambles”, saying he had spent nearly £400 on his flight which he hoped to recoup through insurance.
“Why they decided to do it the way they have done it, it’s not in support of any scientific evidence ... that I’m safer today than I would be tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Imperial College London’s Prof Ara Darzi said regular home testing could be the UK’s “best hope” against the pandemic and warned the UK may need to increase its current testing to “one million or even 10 million a day”.
Updated
Covid is a ‘restart button’ for climate action, Royal Institution Christmas lecturers say
Covid-19 has provided a crucial opportunity to make drastic changes to tackle climate change, experts behind this year’s Royal Institution Christmas lectures have said.
The talks, Planet Earth: A User’s Guide, will take audiences on a deep dive into our planet’s workings, from rock formation and Earth’s ancient climate, to the fundamental role of the oceans and the makeup of the air we breathe.
Each of the three lectures will be presented by a different scientist from a trio of experts: the oceanographer Dr Helen Czerski, environmental scientist Dr Tara Shine and geologist Prof Chris Jackson.
“What gets the three of us really excited is that we’re not going to tell you about all these parts in isolation, we’re trying to paint for you a picture of how our planetary system works and where we are as one species within that,” said Shine, speaking over Zoom from Ireland.
You can read the full report below:
Updated
Ukraine has reported its highest ever increase of Covid-19 cases with 2,328 news infections in the last 24 hours.
New social distancing rules in South Korea as Seoul cluster grows
South Korea will roll out tougher social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus nationwide as it battles a new outbreak of the disease spreading from the capital, Seoul, according to Reuters.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 315 new domestic coronavirus infections as of midnight Friday, the latest in a string of triple digit increases in new local cases.
South Korea used advanced contact tracing and widespread testing to contain its first outbreak of the novel coronavirus, but Asia’s fourth-largest economy has experienced persistent outbreaks in recent weeks, mostly in and around densely populated Seoul and the surrounding areas.
The latest numbers take the country’s tally to 17,002 cases with 309 deaths.
In Seoul and some surrounding cities, the government has reimposed second-tier social distancing rules, including restricting large gatherings, banning in-person church meetings while closing nightclubs, karaoke bars, buffets and cyber cafes.
The same guidelines will be imposed on other areas across the country effective Sunday. However, in some areas with fewer infections, the guidelines would be recommended rather than obligatory.
“If we don’t curb the spread (of the virus) in early stages, this will grow as a large-scale wave. To us, there is nothing more important than focusing on responding to Covid-19,” the health minister, Park Neung-hoo, told a briefing on Saturday.
Health authorities have categorised social distancing rules in three stages – stage 1 being the least intense and stage 3 the toughest, where schools and businesses are urged to close.
“If we enhance the social distancing guidelines to the third stage, it is inevitable that they will take a toll on people’s daily lives and economy. We urge you to take the situation seriously,” the KCDC deputy director, Kwon Jun-wook, told a briefing.
Updated
Kelly says aged care outbreaks were one of the main topics of conversation at the national cabinet yesterday, with commonwealth officers now deployed in Queensland to help prevent aged care outbreaks in the state.
So yesterday all of the states and territory first ministers and the commonwealth agreed about that strategy going forward, and the other things we can be doing together in preparedness and prevention.
I spoke with the Queensland chief health officer and we enacted those issues that we talked about yesterday. So there will be liaison officers from the commonwealth and from the [Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission] in the state Health Emergency Control Centre in Brisbane as a precaution.
We don’t have any outbreaks in aged care [in Queensland] right now, but with that cluster of cases we believe that there is a real need to work closely together to prevent that happening.
Updated
Australia’s acting chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, is speaking now.
Has expressed concern over Queensland’s youth detention centre cluster.
Updated
Germany records more than 2,000 cases
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,034 to 232,082 on Saturday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.
The death toll also rose by seven, bringing the confirmed total to 9,267.
Updated
In the border regions, there are a number of students living in Victoria who attend school in NSW. Only Year 11 and 12 students who live outside the limited border bubble regions will be allowed to attend their NSW schools in person.
Dr Kerry Chant was asked about this decision this afternoon:
So the rationale is for the criticality for the year 11th and 12 students [to be at school] given the HSC is almost upon them. So that’s a priority.
And then, as is usual, all of the government processes are working through the issues in terms of the risk assessment for other groups. There is ability for students to apply through exemption processes, in other circumstances.
Dr Chant said the second infected security guard was the only postive results from over 700 tests.
We’re currently identifying what floors he worked on. He recalls adhering to his PPE and doesn’t report any interactions with with the visitors in the hotel that would have given him any exposure.
But obviously we are reviewing the shift records to see if he was working on the same level, we know the previous guard was working on the same level. And we’re also looking at CCTV footage.
Authorities are currently trying to establish when the two guards may have come into close contact while on the same shift. Chant said they are not known to each other socially.
Kerry Chant says NSW Covid-positive security guards worked same shift
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant is speaking about the second NSW hotel quarantine security guard who has tested postive.
Chant said both Covid-19 positive security guards worked the same shift.
That newly diagnosed guard worked at the hotel [Marriott hotel in Circular Quay] on the third, fifth, ninth, 10th, and 11th of August, and both guards worked on the same shift on just one occasion, on third of August.
This gentleman also worked at the Sheraton Grand in Hyde Park overnight on the 16th of August. We are not sure as to his infectiousness, but for the ultimate, ultimate prudence and as a precaution, we are ensuring that that hotel is aware and that we are talking with any identifying any contacts who may have been exposed to him.
Updated
Here is our latest rundown on the coronavirus world news.
The Northern Territory has also reported no new cases. The territory is holding its election today, and Covid-19 restrictions have limited the amount of people allowed in polling booths, and poll booth sausage sizzles are banned.
Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have reported no new cases of Covid-19.
In case you missed the coverage during the week on what went wrong with Victoria’s hotel quarantine system that led to 99% of the current cases in the state, my colleague Gay Alcorn has dived into the big points that came out during the week.
Main developments so far today
Now is probably a good time to catch up on all the news so far today:
- The Australian state of Victoria reported 182 new coronavirus cases, and 13 deaths. It is the second day in a row of cases under 200 for the first time since mid-July as Melbourne edges towards the halfway mark of stage four restrictions.
- New South Wales reported nine new cases. In addition to those cases a security guard who worked at a Sydney quarantine hotel has tested positive.
- Queensland reimposed restrictions after six new cases linked to a youth detention centre. People living in the greater Brisbane area will only be allowed to have 10 guests at home, and aged care residences are closed to visitors after the outbreak.
- New Zealand reported six new cases. Four are connected to the cluster in Auckland and two are under investigation.
- Mexico reported 5,928 new cases and 510 deaths.
- South Korea reported 332 new cases. The government is considering new economic restrictions in a bid to slow the resurgence in cases.
Updated
South Korea reports 332 new cases
South Korea has reported its ninth straight day of triple-digit case increases, with 332 new cases reported on Saturday.
The figure is the highest number of new infections since 8 March, when the country recorded 367 infections.
The government is considering economic restrictions to slow a resurgence, AP reports.
The national caseload is now at 17,002, including 309 deaths.
Churches had been a major source of new cases in the Seoul area before authorities shut them this week while raising social distancing restrictions, something they had resisted for months out of economic concerns. Nightclubs, karaoke bars, buffet restaurants and computer gaming cafes in the greater capital region have also closed, and spectators have been banned again from baseball and soccer games.
During a virus briefing Saturday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the government is considering expanding such measures nationwide as health workers struggle to track transmissions and predict infection routes.
KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong has endorsed even stronger restrictions. If there’s no sign that the virus spread is slowing after the weekend, she said the country should consider elevating social distancing measures to “Level 3,” which includes prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people, shutting schools, halting professional sports and advising private companies to have employees work from home.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 700 infections have been linked to a Seoul church led by a vocal critic of the country’s president. Sarang Jeil Church pastor Jun Kwang-hun was hospitalized with Covid-19 on Monday after participating in an anti-government protest last week where he shared a microphone on stage with other activists.
Police raided the church late Friday while trying to secure a more comprehensive list of its members who remain out of contact. Health workers have used mobile phone location data to identify some 15,000 people who spent more than 30 minutes on the street during the protest last Saturday and have been alerting them to get tested.
China on Saturday reported another 22 new cases brought by travellers from abroad, with no additional local infections.
Updated
New South Wales is offering an additional $45m in grants for small businesses on the Victorian border, AAP reports.
The grants announced on Saturday will come in bundles of $5000 and $10,000 depending on the size of the economic loss caused by the NSW-Victoria border closure.
“We know people in border communities like Albury-Wodonga, Yarrawonga-Mulwala and Echuca-Moama usually move between towns, with closures having a significant impact on day-to-day business,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said in a statement.
“The NSW government is investing in targeted relief to help ease the pressures and costs of keeping businesses open while borders remain closed.”
Updated
No new cases in the ACT
The Australian Captial Territory has once again recorded no new cases.
Their total case number remains at 113, and there is currently no one in hospital with Covid-19.
Updated
Victoria police have issued 161 fines to individuals in the last 24 hours.
This included 24 for failing to wear a face covering, 13 at vehicle checkpoints and 58 for curfew breaches.
As has become tradition, the police have released a few examples of yesterday’s wrongdoings. These includes:
- A man on a Mernda bound train not wearing a mask, who allegedly said he refused to wear a mask “because my solicitor said so”.
- A man not wearing a mask who was seen walking next to Flinders Street railway station, and allegedly stated had been at a friend’s house and was catching the train home to Epping. He allegedly told police he “does not believe in restrictions”
- A woman who had been given a warning for breaching restrictions earlier this month and was located at a bus terminal. She allegedly stated she “visited a friend for their birthday”.
- A man walking in Abbotsford during curfew hours allegedly told police “I forgot why I was out”.
Police checked 16,115 vehicles checked at the vehicle checkpoints and conducted 4,530 spot checks on people at homes, businesses and public places across the state.
Updated
During the press conference, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews played a one of a new series of Covid-19 awareness ads.
The press conference cameras didn’t capture it, but never fear here is the video in all its glory.
Sharon Strzelecki has asked me to pass on a message. So here it is - “the sooner we obey the rules and get this Covid thing OVAH the sooner we can get back to the things that matter...like NETTY!!” #COVID19Victoria #COVID19Vic #springst pic.twitter.com/Tp30I7fM3L
— Magda Szubanski AO (@MagdaSzubanski) August 22, 2020
It appears these ads are aimed at a younger Victorians, using familiar celebrity faces to push the message that everyone must follow the physical distancing tules.
They will be rolled out across all platforms in the coming days.
Updated
New Zealand reports six new cases
The New Zealand ministry of health has recorded six new cases of Covid-19 overnight.
There are now 111 active cases in the country.
Four of the new cases are epidemiologically linked to the cluster in Auckland, with two household contacts and two church contacts. The other two are under investigation.
A total of 145 people linked to the cluster have been moved to the Auckland quarantine facility, including 75 people who have tested positive and their household contacts.
There are a total of 2,060 close contacts, and 2,004 have been contacted and are self-isolating.
Nine people are in hospital, with three in ICU.
The total number of confirmed cases in New Zealand is 1,321.
A total of 12,256 tests were processed yesterday.
Updated
One of New South Wales’s cases went to the Cabramatta Family Practice on John Street Cabramatta on 20 August.
The practice is closed and has been cleaned and everyone at the facility at the time is being contacted.
An earlier case went to Westfield Mt Druitt while infectious on 12 August between 12pm and 12.30pm and 14 August between 11am and 12pm. People who were there on those days and have symptoms should get tested and isolate.
Updated
Second NSW hotel quarantine security guard tests positive
The New South Wales health department has confirmed a second security guard working in hotel quarantine has tested positive for Covid-19.
The guard worked at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel, and NSW Health says an update will be provided this afternoon.
The case is separate from the nine cases reported earlier today.
Of those cases:
- Four cases are close contacts of previously reported cases whose source is under investigation
- Two are cases whose source is under investigation
- One case is a household contact of a previously reported confirmed case linked to the Tangara School for Girls Cherrybrook cluster
- Two cases are household contacts of previously reported known cases linked to the Bankstown area funeral gatherings cluster
There were 30,810 tests reported in the 24-hour reporting period.
Once you’re on a ventilator, what are your chances of surviving?
Brett Sutton says in Victoria your survival chances are quite good, but globally it is not so good. He doesn’t have exact figures.
Sutton says mask use will be with us for “some time” because they are effective.
“It depends on the numbers we are seeing. If we have no community transmission whatsoever, then I am not going to be recommending masks beyond that.”
He says the state is looking at its current testing capacity to reduce wait times. He says anyone who is symptomatic needs to be tested, but indicated people who do not have symptoms do not need to get tested.
The effective reproduction rate is 0.86 at the moment, and Sutton says that will come down further as a result of stage four. He says stage four was needed to slow it down so stage three didn’t need to go on for weeks and months.
“It is absolutely painful to be in stage four, there is no question, and the additional restrictions on businesses and what it means for everyone’s life is well-known to government, is well-known to me, but the alternative was a very, very slow reduction in numbers on a daily basis.”
Updated
Victorian chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton says it’s great to see two days below 200 and it’s trending down. He says if it carries on like this Victoria will soon be below 150 cases per day.
Tests are being maintained above 20,000 per day but he says Victoria needs to keep the numbers above that.
On whether the government has modelling out to mid-September showing less than 30 cases a day, Sutton says the government is not forecasting out that far yet.
Sutton says the biggest cluster in the state is the Epping Gardens aged care facility with 209 cases.
When asked whether there have been any cases in Victoria of someone getting Covid-19 a second time. He says: “It doesn’t seem to be something that occurs.” He says there have been rare cases overseas where in some cases the original infection has been detected again.
Updated
Daniel Andrews says there are 1,689 active cases in aged care settings, related to 129 outbreaks.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is providing his latest update on the 182 new cases and 13 deaths.
The deaths include:
- One male in his 50s
- One female in her 70s
- Two males and three females in their 80s
- Three females in their 90s
- One female in her 100s.
Ten of these deaths are linked to aged care outbreaks.
Andrews says there are 610 Victorians in hospital. Thirty-six of those are receiving intensive care and 22 of those 36 are on a ventilator.
He says there were more tests yesterday than there has been but people should still be coming forward, despite the cold and wet weather.
“Without that [test] data, it does get very difficult for us to make decisions about exactly what place we’re at and what, if any, changes we can make and when.”
There are 30 “mystery cases”, and those are trending down.
Updated
New South Wales records nine new cases
The Australian state of New South Wales has recorded nine new cases of Covid-19.
Nine new cases were diagnosed, bringing the total in NSW to 3,792. pic.twitter.com/h0aYyjMruk
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 22, 2020
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews will provide an update at 11am. We will bring all the news to you then.
Mexico has recorded 5,928 new cases of Covid-19 and 510 deaths.
It takes the country’s total confirmed cases of Covid-19 to 549,734 and 59,610 deaths.
Boeing says it is developing a “hand-held wand” that emits ultraviolet light to neutralise bacteria and viruses and can be used to clean airplanes. Via Reuters:
The wand would eliminate the need for using alcohol or other disinfectants that could damage sensitive electronic equipment, Rae Lutters, chief engineer for Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator program, told a media briefing.
Boeing is looking at licensing the technology and hiring third-party companies in the fall to begin manufacturing the wands for commercial use, it said.
Boeing has been working on the technology with 13 different airlines. Kevin Callahan, a Boeing technical fellow leading testing of the wand prototype, cited “very strong interest” as carriers think about restoring confidence in flying as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
Under heightened cleaning practices, many airlines have started using electrostatic disinfectants, which kill viruses on contact, as well as an anti-microbial spray that forms a coating for 30 days.
Boeing is also testing an anti-microbial coating for aircraft surfaces.
Some more on the new UK rules for returned travellers from France, in light of the country recording over 4,000 new cases of Covid-19 overnight, via Reuters:
The United Kingdom has said travellers returning from France on or after 15 August should self-isolate upon their return, due to high COVID-19 infection rates in France.
The imposition of quarantine conditions have hit Britons’ favourite holiday destinations in the middle of summer and as the travel industry fights for survival.
Earlier this year the government was criticised for being too slow to lock down at the beginning of the pandemic when many cases were thought to have arrived from holidaymakers returning from Italy. The UK’s quarantine policy began in June.
Other countries including Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia and Austria are already on the government’s quarantine list.
Victoria records 13 new deaths and 182 new coronavirus cases
The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 182 new cases of coronavirus.
It is the second day below 200 for the first time in over a month, but an increase on the 179 cases announced yesterday.
There were 13 more deaths recorded.
We are expecting another daily press conference from the premier, Daniel Andrews, later this morning.
#Covid19VicData for August 22, 2020.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 21, 2020
There have been 182 new cases of #coronavirus (#COVID19) detected in Victoria in the last 24 hours, and sadly 13 deaths. Our thoughts are with all of those affected.
More information will be available later today. pic.twitter.com/gIysNoDXji
Updated
In New South Wales, the Red Lion Hotel in Rozelle was fined $10,000 over a birthday lunch and other breaches. On 2 August around 40 guests were seen on a balcony for the birthday lunch in breach of the public health orders.
The booking was done as four groups of 10 people and when police turned up, the guests were seated in compliance with the rules, but once CCTV footage was examined, they saw people moving between tables, mingling, standing while drinking, and people hugging and shaking hands.
The Lewisham hotel also copped a $5,000 fine for not having a valid Covid-19 safety plan, and not spacing poker machines at least 1.5m apart.
So far the state regulator has issued 68 fines to NSW hospitality venues, totalling $304,000.
Elsewhere in Australia, the Northern Territory is holding its territory elections today.
Much of the focus of the campaign has been on the Labor government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular because the Country Liberal opposition had been calling for the territory borders to open up early before Victoria’s second wave.
There are social distancing rules in place for voting booths, and the Australian election tradition of sausage sizzles have been banned at booths amid concerns over Covid-19.
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s global coronavirus live blog.
I’m Josh Taylor and I will be bringing you the latest news as we get it.
Here’s what we have learned overnight:
- The Australian state of Queensland reported six new cases linked to the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre. The state is reimposing restrictions on gatherings in the local area and limiting access to aged care and disability accommodation as contact tracers look to find all new cases.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that children over 12 should wear masks in the same contexts as adults in the bid to rein in the Covid-19 pandemic.
- STA Travel, a company that offered package tours for backpackers and adventurous young people, has become the latest business to cease trading because of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The WHO hopes the Covid-19 pandemic will be over in less than two years. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 took two years to end, and that we now have more technology and knowledge to stop a crisis.
- Italy has recorded its biggest daily infection increase since May. On Friday, the country’s health ministry registered 947 new infections, the largest 24-hour rise since 14 May, when it was still in lockdown.
- Coronavirus cases are nearing 3 million in India, after it reported 68,898 new infections in a single day. Friday’s tally was the third straight daily increase above 60,000 – taking the total to 2.91 million. Deaths also increased by 983 to 54,849.
- Lebanon has imposed a partial lockdown to contain a surge of infections following the devastating Beirut explosion. On Thursday, the country reported a record 24-hour total of new coronavirus cases, with 613 new infections. Medics have said the virus has spread in the aftermath of the blast as hospitals were flooded with casualties.
- Madrid residents have been advised to stay at home by the Spanish government as it recorded 8,148 new coronavirus cases on Friday. The number of new cases across Spain in the past 14 days now sits at 70,420, while around 30% were detected in the capital.
- Coronavirus infections have been reported by at least 41 schools in Berlin, barely two weeks after they reopened. The disclosure by Berlin city education authorities that hundreds of students and teachers have had to quarantine has underlined once more how little is known about the risk of infection in school settings, despite the insistence of governments and experts that reopening schools is safe with the right precautions.
Updated
