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Here now is the full story on the layoffs at Disney:
Walt Disney announced it was laying off 28,000 employees from its theme park business on Tuesday, the latest company to announce huge jobs cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The entertainment company blamed limited attendance at the theme parks it has reopened and the continuing closure of others for the “difficult decision”.
Disney’s theme parks in Florida, Paris, Shanghai, Japan and Hong Kong have been reopened with limited capacity but both its parks in California remain closed as Orange county, home to Disneyland, struggles to meet local health metrics for reopening.
The majority of the positions Disney is cutting are part-time. “As heartbreaking as it is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 on our business,” wrote D’Amaro.
Disney lost $4.72bn in the three months ended on 27 June, its first quarterly loss in nearly two decades. The reopening of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, has also proved disappointing as Covid-19 cases surge in the state:
Updated
Disney to lay off about 28,000 parks employees due to coronavirus hit
Disney will lay off roughly 28,000 employees in its theme parks division, the company said, as its resorts struggle with limited attendance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Disney has reopened all of its parks except California’s Disneyland. About two-thirds of the laid-off employees are part-time workers, the company said in a statement.
Disney shut its theme parks around the world when the coronavirus began spreading earlier this year. All but Disneyland gradually reopened, though the company was forced to limit the number of visitors to allow for social distancing.
“We have made the very difficult decision to begin the process of reducing our workforce at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment at all levels,” Josh D’Amaro, chairman of the parks unit, said in a statement.
He cited the parks’ limited capacity and continued uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic, which he said was “exacerbated in California by the state’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen”.
Updated
World Bank announces $12bn plan for poor countries to buy Covid vaccines
The World Bank has announced plans for a $12bn (£9.3bn) initiative that will allow poor countries to purchase Covid-19 vaccines to treat up to 2 billion people as soon as effective drugs become available.
In an attempt to ensure that low-income countries are not frozen out by wealthy nations, the organisation is asking its key rich-nation shareholders to back a scheme that will disburse cash over the next 12 to 18 months.
David Malpass, the World Bank president, said the initiative was needed because Covid-19 was having a much bigger impact on low and middle income countries than on the developed world.
Having this finance available will be a game changer because once a safe and effective vaccine is available it will allow people to resume their lives with confidence.
Results from an early safety study of Moderna coronavirus vaccine candidate in older adults showed that it produced virus-neutralising antibodies at levels similar to those seen in younger adults, with side effects roughly on par with high-dose flu shots, researchers said.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers a more complete picture of the vaccine’s safety in older adults, a group at increased risk of severe complications from Covid-19.
The findings are reassuring because immunity tends to weaken with age, Dr Evan Anderson, one of the study’s lead researchers from Emory University in Atlanta, said.
The study was an extension of Moderna’s Phase I safety trial, first conducted in individuals aged 18-55. It tested two doses of Moderna’s vaccine - 25 micrograms and 100 micrograms - in 40 adults aged 56 to 70 and 71 and older.
Overall, the team found that in older adults who received two injections of the 100 microgram dose 28 days apart, the vaccine produced immune responses roughly in line with those seen in younger adults.
Moderna is already testing the higher dose in a large Phase III trial, the final stage before seeking emergency authorisation or approval.
Side effects, which included headache, fatigue, body aches, chills and injection site pain, were deemed mainly mild to moderate.
In at least two cases, however, volunteers had severe reactions.
One developed a grade three fever, which is classified as 39°C or above, after receiving the lower vaccine dose. Another developed fatigue so severe it temporarily prevented daily activities, Anderson said.
Typically, side effects occurred soon after receiving the vaccine and resolved quickly, he said.
“This is similar to what a lot of older adults are going to experience with the high dose influenza vaccine,” Anderson said. “They might feel off or have a fever.”
North Korea now has the coronavirus “under safe and stable control,” the country’s UN ambassador, Kim Song, told the United Nations General Assembly.
“Thanks to the far-sighted leadership of the government of the DPRK ... the anti-epidemic situation in our country is now under safe and stable control,” said Kim, using the initials of his country’s formal name - the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Coronavirus cases among young adults rose steadily across the US in recent weeks as universities reopened, suggesting the need for this group to take more measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a US health agency said.
Universities that want to reopen for in-person learning need to implement mitigation steps such as mask wearing and social distancing to curb the spread of the virus among young adults, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report.
Between 2 August and 5 September, weekly cases of Covid-19 among people aged 18 to 22 rose 55.1%. The Northeast region recorded a 144% increase in Covid-19 cases, while Midwest cases rose 123.4%, the report said.
The uptick in cases was not solely attributable to increased testing and could be linked to some universities resuming in-person attendance, the CDC researchers said. They also said transmission could also be among young adults not attending college.
Previous reports identify young adults as being less likely to adhere to prevention measures, the report said.
In a separate study published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on Tuesday, researchers reported a rapid rise of Covid-19 cases two weeks after a North Carolina university opened its campus to students.
The study found that between 3 August and 25 August, the university reported 670 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19, with preliminary investigations finding that student gatherings and congregate living settings likely contributed to the spread.
On 19 August, classes moved online and the school began to reduce density of on-campus housing. No Covid-19 patient from the university was hospitalised or had died, the researchers said.
The authors of both studies suggest the need for enhanced measures to reduce transmission among young adults and at institutes of higher education.
Updated
The chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s largest maker of vaccines, said she was optimistic the industry will be able to make an immunisation against Covid-19 widely available next year.
“I share the optimism that we will have solutions next year. The challenge here is getting to the scale that is required,” GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said at an online event of the Confederation of British Industry.
“Lots of progress has also been made for therapeutics,” she added.
France has reported 8,051 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, up sharply from Monday’s 4,070.
The number of people in France who have died from Covid-19 infections rose by 85, versus 81 on Monday, taking the total death toll to 31,893.
The cumulative number of cases now totals 550,690.
As of Tuesday a total of 6,500 people were hospitalised for a Covid-19 infection in France, 85 more over 24 hours. This included 1,204 patients in intensive care units, a rise of 40 since Monday.
The government has recently ramped up measures aimed at containing the resurgence of the virus and avoiding a second national lockdown.
Updated
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called for the European parliament to return to its seat in Strasbourg as soon as possible, after meetings were moved to Brussels amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“I strongly defend the idea that the European parliament should meet in Strasbourg,” Macron told students in Vilnius on the second day of a Lithuanian visit.
If we accept that the European parliament meets only in Brussels we are screwed, because in ten years everything will be in Brussels. And people will be talking only among themselves in Brussels. This is not the idea of Europe.
On Monday, the European parliament Speaker, David Sassoli, said MEPs will not be returning to Strasbourg just yet, despite a plea from Macron for an 5-8 October session to be held in the usual place.
The parliament has its headquarters in the eastern French city, where MEPs usually based in Brussels travel every month for 12 plenary sessions a year.
These have been held exclusively in Brussels, where the parliament also has a chamber, since March due to concerns over spreading the virus.
Sassoli said Monday that parliament’s return to Strasbourg had been agreed “once the conditions allow”.
This would not be next week, however, “given the increased rate of transmission of the virus in France, including in Bas-Rhin” where Strasbourg is located.
Updated
The Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcântara has tested positive for Covid-19.
The 29-year-old, who missed Monday’s match against Arsenal, has exhibited minor symptoms of the virus but is in good health and is getting better, the club said.
Liverpool added: “The club has, and will continue to follow, all protocols relating to Covid-19 and Thiago will remain in self-isolation for the required period of time.”
The Premier League said it will pay for Covid-19 testing for EFL opponents in cup competitions this season. Under the terms of an arrangement that will start with any Carabao Cup quarter-finals and apply to FA Cup ties, clubs will be required to comply with the process.
The decision comes after disparities in testing regimes between the top flight and Football League clubs led to concerns over safety, with an outbreak of coronavirus in the Leyton Orient squad discovered only after Tottenham, their opponents in the Carabao Cup, paid for testing.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the 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_
Summary
I’m handing the blog over to Jess Murray now. Thanks very much for reading. A summary of a particularly dark day is below:
- The global coronavirus death toll passed one million. The world has suffered the loss of more than one million people in just nine months since the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who rely on official government data.The current total is: 1,003,337. The true toll is likely to be higher due to time lags, differing testing rates and definitions (of what constitutes a coronavirus-related death, for example) and suspected underreporting in some countries.
- The director-general of the World Health Organisation described the one millionth death as a “difficult moment for the world”. Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus urged urged countries to “bridge national boundaries” to fight back against the virus and said it was never too late to turn the tide on the disease.
- Germany is heading for nearly 20,000 new infections a day unless urgent action is taken, its chancellor Angela Merkel said. Merkel said she wanted to avoid another nationwide lockdown “at all costs” but that measures were necessary on a state-by-state basis. Restrictions will include a cap on the number of people at parties and family gatherings in areas worst affected by the coronavirus.
- The Netherlands is in grip of a fast-growing second wave of coronavirus. The country reported 3,011 new cases on Tuesday, a daily record, as it imposed new measures to combat a resurgence of infections.
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The UK reported 7,143 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, the highest single figure to date, and 71 deaths, the biggest toll since July. This figure is possibly misleading though, as testing is more widespread now than it was during the peak.
- More than 60 million people in India could have contracted Covid-19, the country’s lead pandemic agency said, citing a nationwide study measuring antibodies. The study found that the number of Indians to have had the disease may be 10 times higher than the official figure of 6.1 million.
Ukraine’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, has tested positive for Covid-19 as the pandemic situation worsens across the country.
“I got a positive test for Covid-19,” the 55-year-old ex-president wrote on Twitter, adding that he is undergoing treatment at home.
Отримав позитивний тест на Covid.
— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) September 29, 2020
Невчасно. Дуже шкодую, що змушений зробити перерву в поїздках регіонами.
За шість останніх років звик переносити хвороби на ногах. Але ця підступніша. Значно підступніша.
Тому від сьогодні лікуюся вдома.
Закликаю всіх українців берегти себе! pic.twitter.com/MdYXZ5Cf8x
Poroshenko – now a lawmaker – has diabetes, which has been associated with an increased risk of developing complications from the coronavirus.
The former president added that he is not used to taking sick leave, but Covid-19 is “much more treacherous”.
Poroshenko led Ukraine after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a Moscow-backed separatist conflict in country’s east.
In 2019 he was trounced in a presidential election by Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience.
Ukraine, one of Europe’s poorest countries with a population of some 40 million, has reported more than 204,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 4,000 fatalities.
Updated
The head of the International Monetary Fund has given a stark warning that Covid-19 will lead to a lost generation unless urgent steps are taken to prevent the pandemic widening the gap between rich and poor countries.
Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said financial support for the most vulnerable countries had to be stepped up to prevent long-time scarring that would roll back anti-poverty efforts of recent decades.
Writing for the Guardian, Georgieva said failure to act would reverberate around the world, with greater inequality leading to social and economic upheaval.
You can read the piece here:
New York City will impose fines on people who refuse to wear a face covering as the rate of positive tests for coronavirus climbed above 3% for the first time in months, mayor Bill de Blasio has said.
Officials will first offer free masks to those caught not wearing one. If the person refuses, they will face an unspecified fine, de Blasio told reporters, according to Reuters.
“Our goal, of course, is to give everyone a free face mask,” de Blasio said. “We don’t want to fine people, but if we have to we will.”
The new rule extends across the city a similar policy imposed earlier this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, controlled by New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, in which commuters who refuse to wear a mask on public transit face a $50 fine.
De Blasio’s office did not respond to questions about who would enforce the new fines and how much they would be.
The city-wide daily positive test rate was 3.25%. The mayor attributed the rise in part to nine zip codes out of 146 that city health officials say have seen a worrying uptick in cases, including several tight-knit Hasidic Jewish communities. The seven-day rolling average for positive coronavirus tests was 1.38%.
Updated
More than 60 million Indians may have caught Covid, 10 times the official figure
The AFP news agency has more on the Indian study mentioned below. Its key finding is pretty stark: more than 60 million people in India - 10 times the official figure - could have contracted the novel coronavirus, the country’s lead pandemic agency has said, citing a nationwide study measuring antibodies.
According to official data, India is the world’s second most infected nation, with more than 6.1 million cases, just behind the United States.
But the real figure could be much higher, according to the latest serological survey - a study testing blood for certain antibodies to estimate the proportion of a population that has fought off the virus.
“The main conclusions from this sero-survey are that one in 15 individuals aged more than 10 have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by August,” Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director-general Balram Bhargava said at a health ministry press conference.
Coronavirus infection rates among adults in India have risen sharply, a new survey has shown, although cases could rise much further because a large percentage of the population has not yet been exposed.
In the serological survey conducted in August and September, blood samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. If a person tests positive for the antibodies, it means they were infected with the virus at some point.
Blood samples collected from more than 29,000 adults between 17 August and 22 September showed that the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies increased to 7.1% compared to 0.73% in a previous survey between 11 May and 4 June, the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Balram Bhargava, told a press briefing.
“However, a large percentage of the population is still unexposed and the susceptibility of a considerable section of people getting infected exists,” he added.
France is looking across the Channel with rare admiration after the NHS Covid-19 test-and-trace app was downloaded 12.4m times in four days – a much greater take-up than its French equivalent.
An estimated 3 million people have downloaded the French app, called StopCovid, since its launch in June. In August it was revealed that the app had sent only 72 alerts.
France’s minister for digital transition, Cédric O, admitted on Tuesday that more work was needed to convince the French population to download the app, which he said could help avert a new nationwide lockdown.
O said he was surprised to learn that the prime minister, Jean Castex, had not downloaded StopCovid, and nor had the justice minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, the foreign affairs minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, or the junior interior minister, Marlène Schiappa.
You can read the full piece here:
Angela Merkel warns daily infections could rise sharply in Germany
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, expects the rate of infection spread to rise as the change in weather means more people will spend time inside in the coming months.
Speaking after a video conference with premiers of the federal states, Merkel said the number of daily infections could rise to 19,200 in three months if the rate of infection continued as it has done over the past three.
According to Reuters, Merkel also said she wanted to avoid a full nationwide lockdown “at all costs”:
We want to act regionally, specifically and purposefully, rather than shutting down the whole country again - this must be prevented at all costs.
Updated
Health inspectors in Greece say an emergency docking order for a cruise ship near Athens can now be lifted after crew members suspected of having been infected with Covid-19 tested negative.
The Maltese-flagged Mein Schiff 6, carrying more than 1,500 people, was rerouted from a Greek island cruise and ordered to sail to the port of Piraeus after sample testing of the crew indicated that 12 ship staff were positive for coronavirus but asymptomatic.
However, Gkikas Magiorkinis, a member of the government’s pandemic expert committee, has said that all 12 crew members have now tested negative, using rapid and confirmatory tests, along with 24 other people they had come into contact with, Associated Press reports.
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is holding a briefing which you can watch live below:
In New York City holding a briefing. Watch Live: https://t.co/3ntyjsvzg4
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 29, 2020
UK records highest daily rise in cases
The UK reported 7,143 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, the highest single figure to date, and 71 deaths, the biggest toll since July, according to the government’s dashboard. This figure is possibly misleading though, as testing is more widespread now than it was during the peak.
The 71 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test is the highest level since 97 fatalities were recorded on 1 July. However, that figure is an underestimate because it only counts people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. Overall more than 57,600 people have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus in the UK.
Follow more updates on our UK live blog:
Updated
New York City will impose fines on people who refuse to wear a face mask from Tuesday as the rate of positive tests for coronavirus climbed above 3% for the first time in months, the mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
Officials will first offer free masks to those caught not wearing one, and then if the person refuses they will face an unspecified fine, De Blasio told reporters.
Our goal, of course, is to give everyone a free face mask. We don’t want to fine people, but if we have to we will.
The city’s positive Covid-19 test rate topped 3% “for the first time in months”, the mayor added, attributing the rise in the city’s infection rate to nine particular zip codes.
The citywide daily positive test rate was 3.25%, while the seven-day rolling average was 1.38%. De Blasio added:
Obviously everyone is concerned about that. That is something we all have to work on together to address.
The new rule extends across the city a similar policy imposed earlier this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, controlled by New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, in which commuters who refuse to wear a mask on public transit face a $50 fine.
The citywide daily positive test rate was 3.25%, which the mayor attributed in part to nine zip codes that city health officials say has seen a worrying uptick in cases. The seven-day rolling Covid-19 positivity average was 1.38%.
Updated
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has extended an upcoming school holiday by a week to limit the spread of coronavirus, days after sources told Reuters that the Russian capital’s hospitals had been told to free up hundreds of beds.
Covid-19 infections have been rising across Europe in the weeks since the start of the new academic year. Other countries have also considered extending October school holidays to try to slow the spread.
The Kremlin said last week it did not plan to impose severe lockdown restrictions despite a growing number of new cases of Covid-19, but Sobyanin advised anyone with chronic health problems or those older than 65 to stay home.
On Tuesday, Sobyanin said students would be off school from 5-18 October, and urged parents to keep their children at home. On his website, he wrote:
Today a significant proportion of the sick – who are often asymptomatic – are children. When they come home, they easily transmit the virus to adults and elderly family members who get much more sick.
The increase in cases in Moscow has escalated since Russia reopened schools on 1 September. The number of new daily infections has more than doubled compared with late August.
The rouble nosedived on Tuesday, hitting 93 against the euro and continuing its sharp downward trajectory from the previous two trading sessions. The falls were due to concern over the rising rate of infections as well as clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh just beyond Russia’s southern border.
With 1,167,805 cases, Russia has the world’s fourth highest number of infections. On Tuesday, the authorities said that 160 people had died from the virus in the last 24 hours, pushing the country’s official death toll to 20,545.
The energy ministry plans to ask nearly 20% of its staff to work from home from 1 October in response to the growing number of coronavirus cases, the deputy minister Anastasia Bondarenko said, after over 70% of its personnel was working remotely in March-July.
Updated
Restaurants and bars will have to close by 10pm in areas of Poland worst affected by the coronavirus, the health minister said, adding that there would be no nationwide lockdown.
The country reported 1,326 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, after a record 1,587 new cases on Friday. Poland will continue to report high numbers of daily coronavirus cases in the coming days, Adam Niedzielski said earlier on Tuesday.
“Depending on the place and scale of new infections we will be implementing new measures,” he told a news conference. It was not immediately clear when the new measures would take effect.
There would also be further limits on the number of people who can attend weddings and the wearing of face masks will be obligatory outside home in badly hit places, he added.
Niedzielski said that he saw no threat of a shortage of hospitals beds, reacting to complaints from some doctors that they are struggling to deal with high numbers of coronavirus patients. He added:
Expecting that the trend of new infections above 1,000-1,500 a day will be continued … we have increased the base of beds available.
Updated
German finance minister Olaf Scholz has said he will persist with heavy spending to help Europe’s largest economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic as rescue and stimulus measures push debt to its highest level on record, Reuters reports.
German finance minister defends record debt to continue fiscal splurge in pandemic https://t.co/EqVNc6hdpm pic.twitter.com/n7ZtTQEQ1H
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) September 29, 2020
Presenting his draft budget for 2021, he said the government would continue to help companies and consumers by expanding job protection schemes and would keep public investments high. Scholz said:
With the investments of this budget, we’re pushing the door further open for the future of our country.
He said the draft budget, which envisages net new debt of €96.2bn ($112.45bn) to finance further measures to tackle the coronavirus crisis, was “a lot of money” but added that inaction would lead to even higher costs in the long run.
Updated
The cost of Spain’s Covid-19 social-protection measures, including the ERTE furlough scheme, reached €22bn ($25.75bn) between April and September, Reuters reports.
The full package of measures could cost an additional €1bn per month beyond September, social security minister Jose Luis Escriva told reporters today at the weekly cabinet meeting.
This is Lexy Topping holding the fort for a while, so Josh can eat a sandwich and do an interview. Do get in touch on alexandra.topping@theguardian.com.
Updated
Italy is likely to extend a state of emergency to help keep the coronavirus crisis under control, a senior official has said, as the government looks to avoid the surge in new cases hitting other European countries.
Reuters reports that the state of emergency, which is due to expire in mid-October, gives greater powers to both regional and central government, making it easier for officials to bypass the bureaucracy that smothers much decision-making in Italy.
“I believe the government will need to ask for a further extension,” health under-secretary Sandra Zampa told state broadcaster RAI. “The state of emergency allows the government to cut through red tape quickly if needed.”
Italy was the first country in Europe to be hit by Covid-19 and has the highest death toll on the continent, with 35,851 people dying since the outbreak flared in February.
Thanks to one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, Italy managed to get the contagion under control by the summer. However, cases have picked up over the past month and an average 1,694 new infections were reported daily in the last seven days.
Updated
Netherlands reports record daily rise in cases
The Netherlands is in grip of a fast-growing second wave of coronavirus. The country has reported 3,011 new cases, a daily record, as it imposed new measures to combat a resurgence of infections.
This is from the BBC’s Anna Holligan:
Almost 20,000 positive tests in the Netherlands since last week. 102 deaths recorded. 244 hospital admissions.
— anna holligan 🎙 (@annaholligan) September 29, 2020
NL entering second wave with one of most rapidly increasing infection rates in Europe.
New measures come into force this evening.https://t.co/mobqCyftR3#COVID19 https://t.co/Bd9IZkvIvr
Updated
Poland will continue to report high numbers of daily coronavirus cases in the coming days, the country’s health minister Adam Niedzielski has said.
Poland reported 1,326 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, after it hit a record number last Friday with 1,587 new cases. The ministry is expected to announce new restrictions in some regions this week, Reuters reports.
Updated
UK prime minister apologises for 'misspeaking' on Covid rules
Not even the prime minister is immune from the widespread confusion surrounding the patchwork of varying Covid restrictions in the UK.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Boris Johnson was asked whether people in the north-east of England could meet others from a different household in a pub garden.
In his answer, Johnson suggested six people were allowed to meet inside the pub, contradicting a rule announced by his government less than 24 hours ago. From tomorrow, it will be illegal for people in the north-east of England to meet others in any indoor setting, including a pub.
Johnson has now corrected the record:
Apologies, I misspoke today.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 29, 2020
In the North East, new rules mean you cannot meet people from different households in social settings indoors, including in pubs, restaurants and your home. You should also avoid socialising with other households outside. (1/2)
This is vital to control the spread of coronavirus and keep everyone safe. If you are in a high risk area, please continue to follow the guidelines from local authorities. (2/2)
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 29, 2020
Updated
German chancellor Angela Merkel will push for the country’s 16 states to agree to tougher measures including alcohol bans or stricter mask requirements if coronavirus cases soar beyond a threshold as winter approaches, AfP reports.
The news agency says Merkel will stress at a meeting with state premiers later on Tuesday the importance of not risking another fully fledged lockdown across Germany like in mid-March, as cases rise once again.
“The overarching aim must be to keep schools and childcare facilities running, as well as the continued operation of the economy after the painful restrictions early this year and in the summer,” according to a draft policy paper seen by AFP that is to be discussed at the meeting.
Merkel is also expected to urge state premiers to impose a limit on large gatherings if infection rates pass the threshold of 35 new cases per 100,000 over seven days. Measures including widening the list of places where people are required to wear masks or “bans on alcohol sale for a limited period of time” could also be imposed in cases of unabated contagion.
Updated
Spain is due to extend a scheme supporting hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a labour ministry source has told Reuters.
With Spain among the European countries hardest hit by the new wave of coronavirus cases, the government has reached agreement with unions and business leaders on extending the ERTE scheme until 31 January, the source said.
ERTE, from which millions of workers in Spain have benefited since mid-March, was due to expire on Wednesday. Under the scheme, workers were able to claim 70% of their base salary for the first six months and 50% thereafter – with employers able to top up the rest.
Authorities introduced it at the same time as they imposed one of Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns, which triggered Spain’s worst recession on record.
As curbs were lifted in mid June, many people returned to their jobs. But as of August more than 800,000 were still getting ERTE benefits.
The move, due to be ratified at the weekly cabinet meeting, is part of a broader social protection package that also includes prolonging a ban on evicting vulnerable tenants, another government source told Reuters.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, a member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and director of the global health charity Wellcome, described the 1 million deaths moment as a “devastating milestone”.
He added:
In reality, the unrecorded total is much higher. Every individual death is a tragedy. We must not forget that this pandemic is still accelerating and shows no signs of slowing down. We must do everything in our power to bring this pandemic, and all its harmful consequences, to an end as quickly as possible.
The ACT-Accelerator urgently needs $35bn to develop and provide tests, treatments and vaccines for the world and to have the health systems to deliver them. In the last week, the UK & Canadian Governments have stepped up and committed significant amounts. We urge global leaders to delay no longer and join them. Every day matters.
This needs more than warm words of solidarity. This needs a moment of visionary, historic, political and financial leadership. Only when we have tools to detect, treat and prevent it everywhere, will we be able to stop this pandemic and therefore save lives, give children the education they deserve and restart all our economies.
One in four children in the European Union (EU) are at risk of poverty or social exclusion – equating to almost 23 million under-18s – with the figure likely to grow due to the Covid pandemic, the EU’s external auditor has said.
In a new report, the European Court of Auditors said member states should urgently coordinate their efforts in the face of Covid-19 as the euro area unemployment rate is expected to increase from 7.5 % in 2019 to about 9.5 % this year, with devastating consequences on people’s livelihoods.
Tony Murphy, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report, said:
Child poverty is a serious issue in the EU. Without a sustained and targeted action, the current unacceptable level is unlikely to decrease. It is becoming more critical because of the expected impact of the pandemic.
Iran has recorded 207 new Covid deaths and 3,677 additional cases over the most recent 24-hour period, the country’s health ministry has said. This takes the total death toll to 25,986 and cases to 453,637.
Up to 100m additional doses of any eventual Covid-19 vaccines will be secured for delivery to poorer countries in 2021, an international vaccine alliance has said.
The announcement by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, doubles the number of doses already secured from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, by Gavi following an initial agreement last month, AfP news agency reports.
“This brings the total number of vaccine doses to be covered by the partnership between SII, Gavi, and the Gates Foundation to an aggregate of up to 200m doses,” Gavi said in a statement.
It stressed that the agreement “provides an option to secure additional doses, potentially several times the 200m dose total”, if needed, adding that the vaccines will have a ceiling price of $3 a dose.
Under the agreement, SII will receive upfront capital to scale up its manufacturing capacity to produce candidate vaccines being developed by AstraZeneca and by Novovax.
Updated
WHO director general: 1 million deaths is 'difficult milestone'
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, says the 1 million Covid deaths marks a “difficult moment for the world” as he urged countries to “bridge national boundaries” to fight back against the virus.
In a column for the UK’s Independent website, Ghebreyesus said there were “glimmers of hope”, including accurate tests, useful treatments that help reduce mortality and, most important, a number of promising potential vaccines.
He said the key lesson from 2020 was that “no matter where a country is in an outbreak, it is never too late to turn things around”. And there were four essential steps that all countries, communities and individuals must take to control the spread of the virus:
First, prevent amplifying events. Covid-19 spreads very efficiently among clusters of people.
Second, reduce deaths by protecting vulnerable groups, including older people, those with underlying conditions and essential workers.
Third, individuals must play their part by taking the measures we know work to protect themselves and others – stay at least 1 metre away from others, clean your hands regularly, practise respiratory etiquette, and wear a mask. Avoid the “three Cs”: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings.
And fourth, governments must take tailored actions to find, isolate, test and care for cases, and trace and quarantine contacts. Widespread stay-at-home orders can be avoided if countries take temporary and geographically targeted interventions.
Updated
Hello. It’s Josh Halliday here, taking over from Caroline Davies for the next few hours. Stay with us as we bring you the very latest.
That’s all from me, Caroline Davies. Handing you over to my colleague Josh Halliday. Thank you for your time.
Updated
A lantern featuring medical staff with a face mask is displayed with others during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kuala Lumpur. The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar and is marked by Chinese families and friends gathering to eat Chinese moon cakes and pomelos together.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, has announced the introduction of an 11pm curfew for the hospitality sector. The curfew will apply from midnight on Wednesday and includes an instruction for last orders to be called at 10.30pm.
It will apply to pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, hotels and guesthouse bars, Foster told the Stormont assembly, adding the arrangements will be subject to enforcement.
Colin Neill, the chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, said he welcomed that the earlier curfew time of 10pm was dismissed by Stormont ministers, but warned the 11pm curfew will still see the sector lose hours.
He said:
We respect that health has to come first, but this curfew and other restrictions must be kept under continuous review. The sector is going to lose hours, it’s losing staff and it has lost live music and needs to be given a fighting chance.
A curfew is not ideal, but we in the hospitality sector will do all we can to make this work, which hopefully will be only a temporary measure.
Updated
Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday it had scrapped plans for “flights to nowhere” aimed at boosting its coronavirus-hit finances after an outcry over the environmental impact.
With the aviation industry in deep crisis, several carriers – including in Australia, Japan and Taiwan – have been offering short flights that start and end at the same airport to raise cash. They are designed for travel-starved people keen to fly at a time of virus-related restrictions, and have proved surprisingly popular.
But Singapore’s flag carrier – which has grounded nearly all its planes and cut thousands of jobs – said it had ditched the idea following a review.
The carrier has come up with alternative ideas to raise revenue, including offering customers tours of aircraft and offering them the chance to dine inside an Airbus A380, the world’s biggest commercial airliner.
Environmental activists had voiced opposition to Singapore Airlines launching “flights to nowhere”, with group SG Climate Rally saying they would encourage “carbon-intensive travel for no good reason”.
Updated
Angela Merkel warns that Germany facing nearly 20,000 new cases per day without action
Germany could face up to 19,200 new coronavirus infections per day by Christmas unless it finds new ways to slow down the spread of the virus during the cold season, chancellor Angela Merkel has warned ahead of a summit with state premiers today.
The country’s disease control agency recorded 2,089 new infections in the last 24 hours, but Merkel believes Germany could find itself in a similar situation to France or Spain by the end of the year.
At a meeting of politicians from her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Monday, the German leader reportedly said her government would prioritise keeping open schools and nurseries while also protecting the economy from further closures.
New restrictions to be discussed at today’s conference of German state premiers reportedly include a ban on gatherings of more than 25 people and restrictions on alcohol sale in Corona hotspots, as well as fines for those who leave behind false addresses on contact-tracing forms. Funding for local health authorities are mooted to be boosted by €4bn.
Bavarian state premier Markus Söder has proposed a nationwide “traffic light” system, whereby restrictions would be tightened when a municipality records over 35 (yellow) or over 50 (red) new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. Some regions, such as Berlin, already have such a system in place.
In neighbouring Austria, however, a nationwide traffic-light system has proven problematic, with measures necessitated by the “red” level already being introduced across the country as infection rates have jumped up.
Updated
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 registered in England and Wales has risen for the second week in a row.
A total of 139 deaths registered in the week ending 18 September mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).This is up from 99 deaths in the week to 11 September, and 78 deaths in the week to 4 September.
Registered deaths involving Covid-19 increased in six of the nine English regions in the week ending 18 September, according to the ONS. The six regions were: north-west England (39, up nine on the previous week’s total); the West Midlands (15, up eight); London (13, up seven); Yorkshire & the Humber (21, up seven); north-east England (eight, up five); and the East Midlands (14, up four).
The number fell in two regions: south-east England (11, down one on the previous week’s total) and south-west England (five, down two). It was unchanged in Eastern England on eight deaths.
In Wales, the weekly total increased by four, from one to five.
Nearly 57,900 deaths involving Covid-19 have been registered in the UK.
Updated
Israeli health minister Yuli Edelstein said today that there was “no way” the country’s second nationwide lockdown would be lifted after three weeks as originally planned.
“There’s no way that in 10 days we’ll be lifting all the restrictions and saying it’s all over, everything is fine,” he told public broadcaster Kan.
Israel imposed its second lockdown on 18 September after the infection rate soared. It was originally scheduled to end on October 10.
On Friday, the measures were tightened after the initial eight days failed to bring down the infection rate.
Beyond shuttering schools and cultural events, the lockdown has closed the vast majority of workplaces, markets and places of worship, AFP reports.
Parliament was meanwhile due to debate a regulation limiting demonstrations, which could curb weekly protests that have been held against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership for months.
Convoys of vehicles were meanwhile heading to Jerusalem to protest the possible restrictions on demonstrations.
On Saturday night, Netanyahu acknowledged “mistakes” in the reopening of Israel’s educational system and economy following the first lockdown earlier this year.
“There might be some changes for the better, but this time, as part of the the learning process from what happened in April, we’ll exit (the lockdown) gradually, responsibly,” Edelstein said. “The opening of the economy and our lives will be gradual and slow.”
Israel has recorded more than 233,000 infections and 1,507 deaths in a population of 9 million.
Updated
In Australia, former chief medical officer Prof Brendan Murphy has conceded some deaths could have potentially been avoided in aged care homes during the second wave of Covid-19 infections in Victoria if the commonwealth had set up its aged care response centre in the state earlier, Katharine Murphy reports.
Murphy, now the secretary of the federal health department, told a Senate hearing on Tuesday: “If the public health response had been more prompt we might have avoided some of the scale of the outbreaks in Victoria.”
“Obviously we’re looking at, for example, if we had stood up the Victorian aged care response centre early on,” Murphy said. If the Morrison government “had been aware, if we’d had prior warning the public health response may have been compromised, that’s something that might have prevented some of the spread amongst facilities by responding more quickly”.
Read the full report here:
Updated
A World Health Organization special envoy on coronavirus has warned against imposing stricter rules to control behaviour, arguing people must support the restrictions needed to slow the spread.
David Nabarro told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
This war, and I think it’s reasonable to call it a war, against this virus, which is going to go on for the foreseeable future, is not going to be won by creating tougher and tougher rules that attempt to control people’s behaviour.
The only way that we will come out ahead of this virus is if we’re all able to do the right thing in the right place at the right time because we choose to do it.
I think we will get the point, I just hope that it doesn’t require a lot more people to end up in hospital and dying for us all to get the point, that all of us, all of us, have to be rigorous about physical distance, wearing masks, hygiene, isolating when we’re sick and protecting those who are most vulnerable.
Updated
You can see the latest Covid vaccine tracker data here:
In the UK, the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has urged the government to let Bolton’s pubs and restaurants reopen, pointing to other areas that have higher infection rates but no restrictions on hospitality.
This is the problem with local restrictions.
— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) September 29, 2020
Once they’re in, they tend to stay in.
And the longer they’re in, the more the anomalies/injustices grow.
Either Ministers close hospitality in places with high cases with compensation. Or let Bolton’s open today.
It’s that simple. https://t.co/yvmladLlEo
Updated
More on the cruise ship the Mein Shiff 6, operated by TUI Cruises and carrying about 920 passengers, which docked at Piraeus port near Athens early on Tuesday [see 07.07 post].
A repeat test for 12 of its crew members was negative for coronavirus, a Greek health ministry official said.
Greek health authorities boarded the ship on Tuesday morning and conducted a third test, the official said, adding that results were expected later in the day.
Updated
British students are expected to be able to go home for Christmas, a junior minister said on Tuesday, amid concern that the second wave of coronavirus could strand them at university over the festive period.
“We would expect students to be able to go home for Christmas of course that is something that absolutely we’ll be working towards,” junior skills minister Gillian Keegan told BBC Radio.
Updated
Thailand will receive its first foreign vacationers when a flight from China arrives next week, marking the gradual restart of a vital tourism sector battered by coronavirus travel curbs, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The first flight will have about 120 tourists from Guangzhou, flying directly to the resort island of Phuket, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters.
Thailand has kept coronavirus infections low with just 3,559 cases and 59 deaths, but its economy has taken a hit from a ban on foreign visitors since April and is expected to contract 8.5% this year.
Government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisoranakul expects 1,200 tourists in the first month, generating about 1bn baht ($31.55m) in revenue and 12.4bn baht over one year, drawing in 14,400 tourists.
Nationalities permitted to enter will be from countries deemed low risk by the government, which will keep tabs on them.
“We are not opening the country, we are limiting the number of entries and will manage with wrist bands, apps to follow them,” prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
The government predicts just 6.7 million foreign visitors this year after a record 39.8 million in 2019, whose spending made up about 11.4% of GDP, or 1.93tn baht.
“Tourists will be on a long stay visa, starting on 8 October and will stay in alternative state quarantine for 14 days,” Yuthasak said. Visitors need health insurance and a negative coronavirus test 72 hours before travelling and will be tested twice in quarantine.
Updated
Germany reported 2,089 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday and 11 more deaths, a tally from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.
In the UK, the high street bakery chain Greggs has said it is in talks with staff over cutting employee hours “to minimise the risk of job losses” when the furlough scheme ends next month.
The Newcastle-based business said it has completed a review of its trading operations as it looks to ensure its “employment costs reflect the estimated level of demand from November onwards”.
It told investors its “immediate priority” is to complete the consultation and confirm the financial impact of the move when the consultation ends in November, PA Media reports.
The update came as Greggs said that sales have picked up over the past month, as it continues its recovery following the pandemic.
The food-to-go specialist said it suffered a “challenging month” in August, as the closure of seated areas meant it was unable to benefit from Eat Out to Help Out.
High temperatures also made August a “difficult month” for trading, it said. However, more people ate meals outside of their homes in September, which it believes helped to drive improvements.
Since reopening on 2 July, its like-for-like sales averaged at 71.2% of its levels from 2019 for the 12-week period to September 26. In the past month, covering the four weeks to 26 September, like-for-like sales were at 76.1% of its levels from the same period last year, as trading improved.
In a statement, Greggs said: “The outlook for trading remains uncertain, with rising Covid-19 infection rates leading to increasing risks of supply chain interruption and further restrictions on customer activities out of the home.
“In these challenging conditions our teams continue to work hard and have proven our ability to operate with social distancing and adapt to new digital channels.”
Updated
Hundreds of thousands of elementary school students are heading back to classrooms today as New York City enters a high-stakes stage of resuming in-person learning during the pandemic, which is keeping students at home in many other big US school systems, AP reports.
Twice delayed, the reopening of elementary schools comes despite objections from school principals who say the city’s complicated, changing plans put them in a staffing bind.
Meanwhile, officials are worried about recent rises in the number of virus cases in some city neighbourhoods after a summer of success at keeping transmission fairly stable in the city as a whole.
It’s a big moment for the city, mayor Bill de Blasio said on cable news station NY1 on Monday night. With in-person learning for middle and high school students scheduled to begin on Thursday, he noted, as many as half a million kids could be in school in the course of this week.
Meanwhile, the Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Tuesday that the Russian capital would extend a planned school holiday in October to two weeks in bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Updated
In England, adults without A-levels are to be offered a free college course to help boost their employment opportunities in the beleaguered post-Covid-19 economy, as Boris Johnson reiterates the government’s warning that not all jobs can be saved, Simon Murphy reports.
As part of a package of measures unveiled by Downing Street, people who do not have A-levels or equivalent qualifications will be able to study a college course in England from April paid for via the £2.5bn national skills fund.
At present, the government pays for a first A-level equivalent qualification up to the age of 23, but this is being extended to all ages for courses deemed to be valued by employers with further details of those available due to be set out next month.
You can read the full report here:
Top diplomats from the US, India, Australia and Japan will gather in Tokyo next week for rare face-to-face talks on tackling coronavirus and strengthening co-operation, Japan said Tuesday.
The four nations have in recent years formed a strategic grouping – known as the “Quad” – meant to serve as a counterweight to China and promote their vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, AFP reports.
The meeting on 6 October will be attended by the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the Indian minister of external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The Japanese foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, announced he would host the four-way talks – the second such meeting after the first was held in New York last year.
“It is the right time for these like-minded foreign ministers to gather in Tokyo for face-to-face talks, to exchange views about how to deal with issues that have emerged from the spread of the virus along with regional affairs,” he told reporters at a regular briefing.
It will be the first ministerial-level international meeting hosted by Japan since the pandemic began, and also since prime minister Yoshihide Suga took power this month.
Japan is moving gradually to open its borders to more foreigners, particularly business travellers, as it prepares to hold the postponed Olympics next summer.
Updated
Most countries are failing to adequately protect women and girls during the fallout from Covid-19, according to a new UN database that tracks government responses to the pandemic, Liz Ford reports.
The global gender tracker has looked at how 206 countries and territories address violence against women and girls, support unpaid care workers and strengthen women’s economic security.
Forty-two countries had no policies to support women in any of these areas. Only 25 had introduced some measures in all three categories.
The UK had introduced measures to support women facing violence and their unpaid care work, but had not targeted efforts to support women economically in its response plans.
The number of comestic violence cases have surged during the pandemic and the data said 135 countries had put in place measures to prevent and respond to gender-based violence cases, such as running helplines and shelters.
Earlier this month, the UN projected the poverty rate among women would increase by 9.1% because of the pandemic and its fallout. In July the McKinsey Global Institute reported that the crisis made women’s jobs 1.8 times more vulnerable than men’s, but if action on gender equality was taken now, $13tn (£10tn) could be added to global GDP over the next decade.
Read the full report here:
Updated
The Czech Republic reported 1,287 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, its lowest daily tally since Sept. 20, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.
The country has had one of Europe’s highest infection rates in September as its total tally of cases jumped by more than 40,000. As of the end of Monday, which was a state holiday, it had reported a total 65,883 cases, with 618 deaths.
The first cruise ship to sail to Greece since lockdown docked at the port of Piraeus early today after a dozen crew members were reported positive for the virus, state news agency ANA said.
The Maltese-flagged Mein Schiff 6, operated by German travel giant TUI, is carrying 922 passengers and 666 crew.
Nobody will be allowed to disembark as testers from Greece’s public health agency embarked for inspection.
The Greek coastguard said Monday that 12 crew members had tested positive, although TUI Cruises said that they were asymptomatic.
However, Greek media on Tuesday reported that follow-up tests on the same crew members turned out negative.
The passengers had originally being given a clean bill of health after undergoing tests prior to the voyage, the Greek coastguard said on Monday.
The cruise ship had sailed from the Cretan port of Iraklio on Sunday evening and was heading to Piraeus ,AFP reports.
But it halted at the Aegean island of Milos on Monday after the infections were detected, before being rerouted to Piraeus.
The ship was the first to return to Greek waters after lockdown measures imposed in March.
Hi. Caroline Davies here, taking over the blog. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@theguardian.com
That’s it from me for today. Over to you, Caroline Davies.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The global coronavirus death toll passed one million. The world has suffered the loss of more than one million people in just nine months since the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who rely on official government data.The current total is: 1,000,555The true toll is likely to be higher due to time lags, differing testing rates and definitions (of what constitutes a coronavirus-related death, for example) and suspected underreporting in some countries.
- The White House coronavirus task force rift deepened. A rift is deepening between longtime US health officials coordinating the coronavirus response and Scott Atlas, a doctor and conservative commentator recently brought onto the team by Donald Trump. In an interview on Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious director, Anthony Fauci, said he is concerned the president’s new task force pick is spreading misinformation and implied he does not work with the other health officials. The interview comes after Fauci was noticeably absent from the president’s Covid briefing, as was the response coordinator, Deborah Birx.
- Pence said Americans should expect cases to rise in the coming weeks. US Vice President Mike Pence claimed the country has “passed through a challenging time” with its coronavirus crisi, but he added that, “The American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead.”
- India saw its lowest deaths since 3 August. India reported its smallest daily rise in coronavirus deaths since 3 August, with of 776 new fatalities, data from the health ministry showed on Tuesday, as global deaths crossed 1 million and infections surged in several countries. The country’s coronavirus case tally rose to 6.15 million after it reported 70,589 new infections in the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data, while total deaths stood at 96,318.
- Mexico revised its case and death toll. Mexico upped its estimated Covid-19 deaths to 89,612 on Monday, and boosted estimates of its total number of cases to 870,699, almost 137,000 more than it previously recognised. With the new estimated death toll, Mexico is still in fourth place world wide behind India, which has 95,542 deaths. But in the case of infections, the new estimates would boost Mexico from eighth place in total cases, to fifth place, behind Russia with about 1.15 million cases.
- New Zealand reported a fourth consecutive day of no new Covid-19 cases spread in the community. There were two new diagnoses of the virus in the government-run isolation facilities for travellers returning to New Zealand, health officials said.
- Slovakia to declare coronavirus state of emergency. Slovakia is set to declare a new state of emergency this week to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Monday following a sharp rise in cases.
- Rapid Covid-19 tests are about to be rolled out across the world, the WHO announced. The move could potentially save many thousands of lives and slow the spread of the pandemic in both poor and rich countries.
- The official global death toll probably underestimates the true total, the WHO’s top emergencies expert warned. Dr Mike Ryan suggested it could be more than a million already.
- A host of new restrictions was introduced in the Netherlands.Travel was limited, bars and restaurants closed early public gatherings discouraged.
- The UK government came under pressure to scrap its 10pm closing time rule. The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, said there needed to be an “urgent review of the emerging evidence” after city centre supermarkets were “packed” after closing time.
- New rules came into effect in Paris and 11 other French cities. All bars must close at 10pm and remain closed until at least 6am. Restaurants can stay open later.
Updated
Hi, Helen Sullivan with you again, taking on the blog from my colleague Ben Doherty.
I’ll be bringing you the latest for a little while. Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
I spoke to Rachel Rojales about her mother, Gely, for this important story. Also sick with covid she was one the phone to her mother as she died. Rachel said Gely was an exceedingly kind and quirky woman; now one of more than one million victims. https://t.co/ZawJMxNDnh
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) September 29, 2020
Explainer: why the coronavirus death rate still eludes scientists
Global deaths from Covid-19 have reached 1 million, but experts are still struggling to figure out a crucial metric in the pandemic: the fatality rate - the percentage of people infected with the pathogen who die.
Here is a look at issues surrounding better understanding the COVID-19 death rate.
How is a death rate calculated?
A true mortality rate would compare deaths against the total number of infections, a denominator that remains unknown because the full scope of asymptomatic cases is difficult to measure. Many people who become infected simply do not experience symptoms.
Scientists have said the total number of infections is exponentially higher than the current number of confirmed cases, now at 33 million globally. Many experts believe the coronavirus likely kills 0.5% to 1% of people infected, making it a very dangerous virus globally until a vaccine is identified.
Researchers have begun to break down that risk by age group, as evidence mounts that younger people and children are far less likely to experience severe disease.
“The death rate for people below age 20 is probably one in 10,000. Over the age of 85 it is around one in 6,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.
What is a “case fatality rate”?
There has been an apparent decline in death rates when measured against the number of new infections confirmed by coronavirus testing. In places like the United States, that “case fatality rate” has fallen dramatically from 6.6% in April to just over 2% in August, according to Reuters statistics.
But experts said that the decline has largely been driven by more widespread testing compared with the early days of the pandemic, detecting more people who have mild illness or no symptoms. Improvements in treating the severely ill and protecting some of the highest-risk groups, are also credited with improving survival.
“We are much more aware of potential complications and how to recognize and treat them,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in Baltimore. “If you are a patient who gets COVID-19 in 2020, you would much rather get it now than in March.”
What does that mean for individuals, and governments?
That highlights the need for continued vigilance, as some countries begin to experience a second wave of infections.
For example, researchers in France estimate that country’s case fatality rate fell by 46% by the end of July compared with the end of May, driven by an increase in testing, improved medical care and a greater proportion of infections occurring in younger people, who are less likely to experience severe disease.
“Now, we are seeing a fresh rise in hospitalisations and ICU (intensive care unit) registrations, which means this discrepancy is about to end,” said Mircea Sofonea, a researcher with Montpellier University in France. “We will have to understand why.”
Life is returning to normal across the African continent, but fears of the virus linger still. AFP reports:
“Things are getting back to normal, even though it will never be like it was before,” says a relieved Petunia Maseko, relaxing in a bar in South Africa’s Soweto township.
Africa has weathered the coronavirus pandemic relatively well in terms of infections and deaths, though its economies have been badly ravaged.
While many nations ease their Covid-19 measures and citizens dare to breathe a little easier, experts are warning against letting the continent’s success lapse into complacency.
There was plenty of celebrating at The Black and White Lifestyle Pub in Soweto on Friday as the first weekend of spring coincided with South Africa’s transition to its lowest level of lockdown.
The continent’s hardest-hit nation, South Africa has reeled under one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
“It was tough staying in for six months without socialising,” said Maseko, a 21-year-old engineering student wearing a brightly coloured Ndebele traditional outfit.
But virus measures were followed, with masked revellers getting their temperatures checked at the bar’s entrance.
Sanitising gel in hand, 26-year-old DJ Tiisetso Tenyane was delighted to finally play in front of a live audience after months of live-streaming shows.
“I’ve been craving to play for the people again,” he said.
He said that face masks are “the only sign left that there ever was a pandemic”.
On the rest of the African continent, daily life varies vastly between strict observance of health measures and total relaxation.
- ‘Back to our habits’ -
“We don’t care about corona,” Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara said, oblivious to listening microphones, when he kissed a party official last month in front of thousands of people in clear defiance of virus restrictions.
Although masks are still compulsory, that rule is “not respected anywhere or almost anywhere” in Ivory Coast, a health worker said on condition of anonymity.
“The hysteria is gone and the state no longer communicates much about the subject”.
In DR Congo’s capital Kinshasa, taking temperatures and washing hands are still the norm in the residential district of Gombe, which is also the city’s diplomatic and economic centre.
But in working-class communities, masks are being pushed down to the chin and people are shaking hands again.
For many the latest buzz phrase is “corona eza te”, which translates to “there is no corona” in the local Lingala.
In West Africa’s Burkina Faso, 43-year-old fish seller Ousmane Ouedraogo said he can’t wear a mask forever.
“We tried to wear it every day but it was the authorities who set the example by acting as if the disease was over. So we’re going back to our habits,” he said.
Nobody uses the hand-washing station at the entrance to Guillaume Traore’s restaurant in Burkina’s capital Ouagadougou.
“When you remind a customer, he tells you that the coronavirus does not exist,” he said.
In Chad and Gabon, many wear masks low down, covering only the mouth or just the chin, only to hastily lift them up when they come across the police.
In churches, mosques and markets, people jostle into each other. In the evening, however, a strict curfew remains in place.
- ‘Be very careful’ -
In the megacity Lagos of Africa’s most populous country Nigeria, civil servant Isiaka Okesanya said he now regularly forgets to wear his mask.
“It’s like God has helped us to get rid of the disease. We no longer read about those big figures of deaths,” the 41-year-old told AFP.
But Emmanuel Akinyemi, director of Lagos-based Estate Clinic, said that “coronavirus is real and is still very much around us”.
Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said last week that while Nigeria’s daily infection figures have been trending downwards, “we unfortunately cannot afford to rejoice or speak of success”.
The World Health Organization’s Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti said the continent has been spared “an exponential spread of Covid-19 as many initially feared”.
However John Nkengasong, director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that “we also have to be very careful that we do not over-project any successes”.
In West Africa’s Senegal, life has almost returned to normal since June.
This is in stark contrast to Rwanda, where one of the strictest lockdowns is still in place and police make arrests for “not wearing masks properly”.
In northern Africa, Morocco remains in lockdown, especially economic capital Casablanca, where large neighbourhoods are tightly sealed off.
Eastern Africa’s Kenya is meanwhile reopening its bars and allowing restaurants to sell alcohol again as infections drop.
“We are the most vulnerable and fragile at the moment where we think we have won,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday.
“If we have won one battle against Covid-19, we have not yet won the war.”
India sees lowest deaths since 3 August
India reported its smallest daily rise in coronavirus deaths since 3 August, with of 776 new fatalities, data from the health ministry showed on Tuesday, as global deaths crossed 1 million and infections surged in several countries.
The country’s coronavirus case tally rose to 6.15 million after it reported 70,589 new infections in the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data, while total deaths stood at 96,318.
Though India’s death toll is a relatively low 1.6% of total cases, the country, along with the United States and Brazil, account for nearly 45% of global Covid-19 fatalities.
Updated
South Korea appealed on Tuesday for strict social-distancing despite a slight fall in the number of its new coronavirus cases, with millions of people set to travel for a major holiday, Reuters reports.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 38 new infections as of Monday midnight, which marks a fifth day of double-digit rises. It brought South Korea’s total infections to 23,699, with 407 deaths.
The numbers came a day after the daily tally fell to its lowest since a new clusters of the novel coronavirus emerged from a church and a big political rally last month, which have resulted in more than 1,800 infections.
Health authorities pleaded for people to stay home and refrain from gatherings ahead of the Korean thanksgiving holiday of Chuseok, which begins on Wednesday, although millions are still expected to travel across the country.
“We request you to be aware that the Chuseok holidays must not ignite another nationwide spread of Covid-19 and to act accordingly,” Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae told a meeting.
“Keeping distancing rules and wearing masks is the safest way to protect you, your family and society.”
The government eased some social distancing rules after the rate of infections slowed this month but imposed special measures for the holiday, including banning dining at motorway rest areas and nursing home visits and requiring temperature checks at all stations.
More than 78% of Koreans said they planned to stay at home for the holiday in a survey conducted over the weekend by the Korea Society Opinion Institute.
But airport authorities said on Sunday the number of people taking domestic flights would drop by 25% compared with last year.
Updated
This gallery of people in Hong Kong devising new ways to protest amid the repressive security law includes a few images inspired by or taken during the pandemic, too.
Here is theatre costume designer and actor Edmond Kok:
Mexico revises cases and death toll
Mexico upped its estimated Covid-19 deaths to 89,612 on Monday, and boosted estimates of its total number of cases to 870,699, almost 137,000 more than it previously recognised, AP reports.
Even with the new estimated death toll, Mexico is still in fourth place world wide behind India, which has 95,542 deaths. But in the case of infections, the new estimates would boost Mexico from eighth place in total cases, to fifth place, behind Russia with about 1.15 million cases.
Mexico has about 76,600 test-confirmed deaths and 733,717 test-confirmed cases. But officials acknowledge those are significant undercounts, because the country does so little testing: only about 1.6 million tests have been done so far.
In a nation of almost 130 million, that means that only about one in 80 Mexicans has ever had a test. About 40% of all tests are positive, because only people with significant symptoms are tested.
Mexico had previously published estimated figures based on tests still awaiting results, which sometimes takes weeks.
But the new estimates released Monday by the Health Department are higher because they were calculated by adding two new groups: those who never were tested but had symptoms, and those who had tests which could not be analysed because the samples were not handled properly. The new figures also include a proportion of pending results.
Coronavirus cases were rising in 30 of the 50 US states on Monday, the first time that many states have trended upwards since 2 August, according to a Reuters analysis of data for the past two weeks.
The number of new cases has risen for two weeks in a row in 27 out of 50 states, with North Carolina and New Mexico both reporting increases above 50% last week, according to Reuters.
Cases in New York state have risen 4.4% so far in September, one of the smallest increases in the country.
Cuomo urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant in mask-wearing and warned of consequences if they do not comply.
“It’s not time to get tired because the virus isn’t tired,” he said.
The midwest has emerged as the country’s new hotspot, with hospitalisations surging in some states.
Wisconsin set records for new cases twice last week and is now reporting more new infections each day than Florida. South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have all set records for new daily cases three times this month.
The positive rate has risen to 26% in South Dakota, up from 17% last week, according to an analysis using data from the Covid Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.
On Monday, according to the analysis, the rate in Wisconsin was 19%; it was 16% in both Iowa and Missouri; 15% in Kansas; and 14% in Nebraska.
The US is reporting 45,000 new infections on average each day, compared with 40,000 a week ago and 35,000 two weeks ago.
Deaths have generally been trending downward in the US for about six weeks. Deaths are a lagging indicator, however, and can take several weeks to rise after an increase in cases.
In England, ministers must be honest with the public that patients face “several years” of waiting longer than usual for treatment because Covid-19 has disrupted so many services, NHS leaders have warned.
The health service is facing a “triple whammy” of pandemic pressures involving the recent rise in numbers of people being treated in hospital, a large backlog of patients not treated in the spring and the ongoing drive to restore normal care.
NHS England has told hospital trusts to provide close to full levels of services for people with non-Covid illnesses by October, such as cancer patients and those needing surgery. But the NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts in England, makes clear in a report published on Tuesday that this target is not realistic:
Western Australian authorities are considering their options after the number of Covid-19 cases linked to a bulk carrier off Port Hedland climbed to 17. There are now a dozen crew members in quarantine at the Hedland Hotel, 10 of whom have tested positive.
Nine people remain on the Patricia Oldendorff as part of the essential crew, and seven of them have tested positive.
The ship, carrying 20 Filipino nationals and the captain, has been anchored nine nautical miles off WA’s north-west coast since 16 September:
Colombia will extend a so-called selective quarantine for the duration of October, President Ivan Duque said in a nightly address on Monday, and urged citizens to avoid meeting in large groups, Reuters reports.
The Andean country began more than five months of lockdown in March. It entered a much-looser “selective” quarantine phase – allowing dining at restaurants and international flights - at the start of September.
“The rules we have followed in September will remain in place during October,” Duque said, adding people should avoid meeting in large groups to help control the spread of coronavirus.
Colombia has reported 818,203 infections of the novel coronavirus, as well as 25,641 deaths.
New Zealand sees fourth day in a row with no community transmission
Charlotte Graham McLay reports for the Guardian:
New Zealand on Tuesday reported a fourth consecutive day of no new Covid-19 cases spread in the community.
There were two new diagnoses of the virus in the government-run isolation facilities for travellers returning to New Zealand, health officials said. One of the passengers had arrived in the country from Ukraine and the other from Pakistan.
Only New Zealanders and their families – as well as those with special exemptions – may enter the country, and all must spend two weeks in managed quarantine facilities where they are tested twice for Covid-19.
There are 55 active cases in New Zealand, 29 in managed isolation and 26 in the community. A cluster of cases in the largest city, Auckland, is shrinking as people recover, and restrictions on the city have eased in recent weeks.
There have been 1,479 known cases of the coronavirus in New Zealand, with 25 deaths. One person is in hospital.
White House coronavirus task force rift deepens
A rift is deepening between longtime US health officials coordinating the coronavirus response and Scott Atlas, a doctor and conservative commentator recently brought onto the team by Donald Trump.
In an interview on Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious director, Anthony Fauci, said he is concerned the president’s new task force pick is spreading misinformation and implied he does not work with the other health officials.
The interview comes after Fauci was noticeably absent from the president’s Covid briefing, as was the response coordinator, Deborah Birx. Present instead was Atlas, a conservative commentator whose views are more aligned with Trump’s and who praised the president’s coronavirus response.
Earlier this month, a group of 98 medical experts including immunologists and infectious disease physicians signed a letter condemning “the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr Scott Atlas”.
Fauci said he shared these concerns regarding Atlas spreading misleading and incorrect information.
“Well yeah, I’m concerned that sometimes things are said that are really taken either out of context or actually incorrect,” Fauci said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Robert Redfield, has also expressed concerns about Atlas, and was overheard on a phone call saying “everything he says is false” which he later confirmed was about Atlas.
Specifically he is concerned Atlas is feeding misinformation to Trump about the concept of herd immunity – that if enough people are infected with coronavirus the numbers will stabilize – and young people’s susceptibility to the virus. Atlas is also against severe lockdowns and mask usage. These views ware at odds with those backed by science and promoted by the likes of Fauci and Birx.
Fauci also noted in a CNN interview that as the 2020 presidential election approaches, the coronavirus response has received less attention. “We’re meeting now on an average of one and at the most two times a week,” Fauci said.
One million coronavirus deaths: how did we get here?
Though an inevitable milestone for months, its arrival is still breathtaking.
Deaths from Covid-19 exceeded 1 million people on Tuesday, according to a Johns Hopkins University database, the known toll of nine relentless months of a pandemic that has changed everything, from global balances of power to the mundane aspects of daily life.
The figure can only hint at the immeasurable grief of the friends, partners, parents and children of those who have died, many isolated in hospital wards, and buried or cremated without traditional funerals. In a year defined by loss, these 1 million people and their loved ones have lost the most.
The road to 1 million confirmed deaths started in December, with doctors in a central Chinese city noticing a pattern of strange illnesses surrounding a live-animal market. By the middle of January, people were dying every day. Since 18 March, the daily toll has not fallen below 1,000.
Behind every increase, there was a life.
Michael Safi, Helen Davidson, Angela Giuffrida, Aamna Mohdin, Matilda Boseley, Caio Barretto Briso and Noa Yachot report. Visuals by Pablo Gutiérrez and Ashley Kirk:
Global coronavirus deaths pass 1m with no sign rate is slowing
The number of people who have died from Covid-19 has exceeded 1 million, according to a tally of cases maintained by Johns Hopkins University, with no sign the global death rate is slowing and infections on the rise again in countries that were thought to be controlling their outbreaks months ago.
The milestone was reached early on Tuesday morning UK time, nine months since authorities in China first announced the detection of a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The first recorded death, that of a 61-year-old man in a hospital in the city, came 12 days later.
So far there have been 1,000,555 deaths from Covid-19, according to the latest update to the database, which draws on information from the World Health Organization, the US and European centres for disease prevention and control and China’s national health authority, among other sources:
Global coronavirus death toll passes one million
The world has suffered the loss of more than one million people in just nine months since the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who rely on official government data.
The current total is: 1,000,555
The true toll is likely to be higher due to time lags, differing testing rates and definitions (of what constitutes a coronavirus-related death, for example) and suspected underreporting in some countries.
These are the twelve countries with the highest number of deaths worldwide:
- US: 205,031 deaths
- Brazil: 142,058 deaths
- India: 95,542 deaths
- Mexico: 76,430 deaths
- United Kingdom: 42,090 deaths
- Italy: 35,851 deaths
- Peru: 32,262 deaths
- France: 31,744 deaths
- Spain: 31,411 deaths
- Iran: 25,779 deaths
- Colombia: 25,641 deaths
- Russia: 20,299 deaths
Updated
Pence says Americans should expect cases to rise in the coming weeks
Earlier today, US Vice President Mike Pence claimed the country has “passed through a challenging time” with its coronavirus crisi, but he added that, “The American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead.”
Vice President Mike Pence says "the American people should anticipate that [COVID-19] cases will rise in the days ahead" https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/bDik1bL5tq
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 28, 2020
A number of health experts have warned that the country could see another surge in coronavirus cases as the weather gets colder.
The children’s commissioner for England has called on the government to exempt under-12s from its “rule of six” for social gatherings, in a wide-ranging new report that lays bare the damaging impact of the pandemic on children.
As Covid restrictions tighten across the country, Anne Longfield argued that children’s right to play together after months of isolation should be preserved, warning that limits on individuals from different households meeting should not apply to children under 12.
The rule of six, which limits meeting indoors and outdoors to six people, came into effect a fortnight ago, but similar restrictions in Wales and Scotland – introduced to curb the surge in coronavirus cases – do not include children under 11 and 12 respectively.
Longfield, whose term in office comes to an end next year, said children had suffered disproportionately as a result of lockdown measures – particularly the most vulnerable – and called on the government to come up with a comprehensive recovery package for the most disadvantaged, including welfare and housing support to avoid a wave of family homelessness:
In Canada, Ontario has set a new record for daily coronavirus cases, as the province officially entered its second wave of Covid-19, and officials warned that it will be “worse than the first”.
Ontario logged 700 new Covid-19 infections on Monday – well above the previous highest daily total of 640 on 24 April – as the premier, Doug Ford, warned residents to expect a “more complex” and “more complicated” surge of the virus in the coming weeks.
“We know it will be worse than the first wave, but we don’t know how bad the second wave will be,” said Ford. “Our collective actions will determine if we face a wave or a tsunami.”
Ford called Monday’s numbers in Canada’s most populous province “deeply concerning” and pleaded for residents to download the country’s Covid-19 alert application:
New York test positivity rate climbs
The percentage of Covid-19 tests taken in New York state that have come back positive has inched up to 1.5%, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, a worrisome trend for the former epicentre of the US epidemic, Reuters reports.
The rise in New York above the 1% positive target comes as 27 other US states recorded increases in the number of positive cases for two straight weeks.
While New York’s rate remains much lower than that in some midwestern states, where over 15% of tests are coming back positive, it marks a significant uptick in its rate, which has hovered at 1% or below for weeks.
“It’s basically Brooklyn, Orange and Rockland that are increasing this number,” Cuomo told reporters on Monday, adding that state health officials were looking into Covid-19 clusters in these areas.
Updated
Slovakia to declare coronavirus state of emergency
Slovakia is set to declare a new state of emergency this week to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Monday following a sharp rise in cases.
“The situation is extremely serious, and I think we must adopt very fundamental decisions and very bold decisions,” Matovic said after a meeting of the country’s crisis management team.
The measure is expected to be approved by the government on Wednesday and would be the second time that Slovakia introduces a state of emergency to combat the pandemic.
Under the proposed restrictions, all sporting events, cultural events and religious services would be banned from 1 October.
Weddings and funerals would only be allowed if all the participants can prove they have had a negative test for coronavirus.
Restaurants, bars, and cafes would close at 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) and if people not living in the same household come closer than two metres (six feet) outdoors, they would have to wear masks.
Masks are already compulsory in public indoor spaces in Slovakia.
The EU country of 5.4 million registered 9,343 coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 44 patients have died.
On Friday, the number of daily infections reached a record high of 552.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours.
You can get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
There are 999,629 deaths currently confirmed on the Johns Hopkins University tracker, as we await the devastating milestone of one million lives lost in the nine months of the pandemic so far.
In good news, tests for Covid-19 that show on-the-spot results in 15 to 30 minutes are about to be rolled out across the world, potentially saving many thousands of lives and slowing the pandemic in both poor and rich countries.
The tests, which look like a pregnancy test, with two blue lines displayed for positive, are read by a health worker. One test has received emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the other is expected to get it shortly.
- Dutch advise masks in shops as virus surges. Some more detail on news the Dutch government has tightened some of Europe’s most relaxed coronavirus rules after a surge in cases, ordering bars to shut early and recommending people wear masks in shops.The prime minister, Mark Rutte, told a news conference that the situation in the country’s three largest cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, had become “serious” and required urgent action. “We’re doing our best, but the virus is doing better,” said the country’s health minister, Hugo de Jonge, adding that nearly 3,000 new infections were being recorded a day, with the figure expected to reach 5,000 within weeks.
- Rapid Covid-19 tests are about to be rolled out across the world, the WHO announced. The move could potentially save many thousands of lives and slow the spread of the pandemic in both poor and rich countries.
- The official global death toll probably underestimates the true total, the WHO’s top emergencies expert warned. Dr Mike Ryan suggested it could be more than a million already.
- A host of n ew restrictions was introduced in the Netherlands. Travel was limited, bars and restaurants closed early public gatherings discouraged.
- The known number of infections worldwide passed 33 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The death toll has moved closer to 1 million and stands at 999,202.
- The total number of cases in Ukraine exceeded 200,000. The death toll stood at 3,996, the country’s security council said.
- The UK government came under pressure to scrap its 10pm closing time rule. The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, said there needed to be an “urgent review of the emerging evidence” after city centre supermarkets were “packed” after closing time.
- New rules came into effect in Paris and 11 other French cities. All bars must close at 10pm and remain closed until at least 6am. Restaurants can stay open later.
- Children have 44% lower odds of catching Covid-19 than adults. According to an analysis led by the president of Britain’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, there is preliminary evidence that those younger than 10 to 14 years have lower susceptibility.
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India’s confirmed coronavirus tally reached 6 million cases on Monday, keeping the country second to the United States in number of reported cases since the pandemic began. The Health Ministry on Monday reported 82,170 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving the overall tally to 60,74,703. At least 1,039 deaths were also recorded in the same period, taking total fatalities up to 95,542 since the pandemic began.
- South Korea confirms lowest cases since 11 August. South Korea on Monday reported 50 new coronavirus cases, the lowest since 11 August, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Of the new cases, 40 were domestic and 10 imported. The numbers were the lowest since a new wave of outbreaks emerged from a church whose members attended a large political rally in Seoul on 15 August, KDCA data showed.
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Northern England and possibly London facing new lockdown. The UK government is planning to impose a total social lockdown across most of northern England and potentially London, to combat a second coronavirus wave, the Times reports. Under the new lockdown measures being considered, all pubs, restaurants and bars would be ordered to shut for two weeks initially, the report said, citing a senior government source. The report added that households would also be banned indefinitely from meeting each other in any indoor location where they were not already under the order.
- There have been a further 5,693 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data, taking the total to 429,277. Government figures show a further 17 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus as of Sunday. This brings the official UK toll to 41,988.
- Travel between New Zealand and some states of Australia is possible before the end of the year, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday. Plans for a travel ‘bubble’ between Australia and New Zealand has been in discussions for months as both nations slowed the spread of the coronavirus, but they were disrupted after a resurgence of Covid-19 in Melbourne, Australia, followed by a second wave of infections in Auckland.With the virus largely contained in New Zealand, and as cases continue to decline in Australian regions, talks of a travel bubble with some states have been revived.
- Greece has recorded its first coronavirus fatality among its large migrant community. Health authorities described the victim as a 61-year-old Afghan man, saying the father-of-two succumbed to Covid-19 in Athens’ Evangelismos hospital after being moved from Malakassa, a refugee camp east of the capital.
