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Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
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Global deaths are nearing 600,000. Globally, there are 14,126,793 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and 596,688 deaths.
- Covid-19 cases are surging across much of the south and west of the United States, as familiar scenes of weary doctors and nurses in packed hospitals replay across a new region.
- WHO reports record daily rise in cases globally. The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 259,848 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were recorded in the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 237,743 on Friday. Deaths rose by 7,360, the biggest one-day increase since 10 May.
- British PM likens second national lockdown to using nuclear deterrent. Boris Johnson has played down the prospect of a second national coronavirus lockdown, saying he did not want to use it any more than Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. “I can’t abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
- In Spain, more than four million people in Barcelona were advised to stay at home on Friday except for necessary trips from this weekend onwards, after Alba Vergés, the Catalan health minister, said the measure was the best way to avoid a new lockdown.Cinemas, theatres and nightclubs were closed and gatherings of more than 10 people were also prohibited.The new restrictions came barely four weeks after Spain ended its state of emergency when its 47 million residents were subjected to one of the world’s toughest lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus.
- Scotland has recorded its highest number of daily positive coronavirus tests for almost a month, with 21 confirmed results in 24 hours, as the deputy first minister warned of the ongoing threat of coronavirus.Figures released by the Scottish government on Saturday were the highest number since 21 June, when there were 26 positive test results.
- Iran reintroduced localised lockdown measures. The Iranian government on Saturday reimposed local restrictions, including a week-long lockdown in the capital Tehran, after president Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that some 25 million Iranians may have been infected with coronavirus.The measures include the banning of religious and cultural functions, the closing of boarding schools, cafes, indoor pools, amusement parks and zoos.
- France make masks compulsory in enclosed spaces. Face masks will be made mandatory in France in enclosed public spaces including banks, shops and indoor markets from Monday, the country’s health minister has announced.
- The UK government is pausing updates of the coronavirus death toll after ordering a review of how the data is calculated, after concerns were raised that the total may be exaggerated. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has called for an urgent review of the figures.
The Guardian’s Denis Campbell & Michael Savage report:
In the UK, “Talking therapies” services run by the NHS will be overwhelmed in the autumn when almost 500,000 people who did not get treated during the lockdown finally seek help, according to a major therapy provider. The warning comes as teachers predict a wellbeing crisis among children when schools return full-time in September.
Analysis by Ieso Digital Health claims there will be “an explosion” this autumn in the number of people being referred by their GP for treatment for anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. The sharp rise in people suffering psychological conditions during the pandemic will leave England’s 54 specialist NHS mental health trusts struggling to cope:
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.
I’ll be bringing you the latest coronavirus pandemic news from around the world, including Australian updates, for the next few hours.
As always, it would be great to hear from you. Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com
British PM likens second national lockdown to using nuclear deterrent
The British prime minister Boris Johnson has played down the prospect of a second national coronavirus lockdown, saying he did not want to use it any more than Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
Johnson said the authorities were getting better at identifying and isolating local outbreaks, although it was important that the power to order national action was held in reserve.
“I can’t abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
His comments could lead to further tensions between ministers and their scientific experts after the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned on Friday there was “a risk” that national measures could be needed as winter approaches.
Announcing another easing of lockdown restrictions in England, Johnson on Friday said he hoped there could be a “significant return to normality” in time for Christmas.
At the same time, he said the government had given local authorities new powers to close specific premises, shut outdoor spaces and cancel events.
Johnson told the Telegraph: “It’s not just that we’re getting much better at spotting the disease and isolating it locally, but we understand far more which groups it affects, how it works, how it’s transmitted, so the possibility of different types of segmentation, of enhanced shielding for particular groups, is now there.
“We’re genuinely able now to look at what’s happening in much closer to real time, to isolate outbreaks and to address them on the spot, and to work with local authorities to contain the problem locally and regionally if we have to.”
As he approaches his first anniversary in office, Johnson insisted his agenda for domestic reform and “levelling up” the economy would not be blown off course by the pandemic.
“We want to be a transformative government, because there’s a massive opportunity in this country to do things differently and to do things better,” he said. “We’ve seen that really exemplified in what happened with coronavirus.”
The official coronavirus death toll in the UK stands currently at 45,053, the highest in Europe and the third highest worldwide.
The Office for National Statistics has recorded 64,500 excess deaths in the country during the pandemic, suggesting the real number of fatalities is likely higher than the official tally.
Updated
Covid-19 cases are surging across much of the south and west of the United States, as familiar scenes of weary doctors and nurses in packed hospitals replay across a new region.
“All of our ICU beds are full,” Dr Risa Moriarity, the University of Mississippi medical center executive vice-chair, emergency medicine, told local news station WAPT. “We have patients in the emergency department who need ICU beds. They’re on ventilators.”
In Washington, Congress is gearing up to pass another economic stimulus package. Optimistic economists once thought such a package could be unnecessary, but Covid-19 is now expected to continue to hurt the economy.
My colleague Jessica Glenza reports from New York.
Updated
Israeli police fired water cannons to disperse anti-government protests attended by thousands on Saturday, as public anger mounts over the handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Demonstrators gathered outside the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, residence in Jerusalem and at a park in Tel Aviv, voicing frustration over the government’s response to a growing pandemic that has taken a devastating economic toll, Reuters reports.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers had allowed demonstrations to take place but took action against unauthorised “disturbances”, including road blockages.
Rosenfeld said protesters in Tel Aviv sprayed pepper spray at police, leading to multiple arrests.
With Israel recording more than 1,000 new coronavirus infections a day in recent weeks, the government on Friday announced a broad range of new restrictions.
Shops, markets and other public venues have closed on weekends, while restaurants have been restricted to take away and delivery.
Netanyahu has admitted he reopened the economy too soon through late April and early May, when Israel, a country of about 9 million people, had reduced its daily caseload to a trickle.
In an apparent bid to quell public anger, Netanyahu this week announced plans to send cash to all Israelis – a measure criticised by some experts who said the economy needed targeted assistance, not a nationwide payout.
While some protesters voiced frustration over the reimposed restrictions, others have blasted the government for failing to improve testing capacity ahead of the second transmission wave.
Updated
A large new study from South Korea has found that children between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do.
The findings suggest that as schools reopen, communities will see clusters of infection take root that include children of all ages, several experts cautioned, the New York Times reports.
Children under the age of 10 transmit the virus to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero.
The researchers analysed reports for 59,073 contacts of 5,706 coronavirus patients reported in South Korea between 20 January and 27 March.
Updated
Poland’s ministry of health reported 339 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, as well as six deaths from Covid-19.
The ministry recorded 14 fewer cases than on Friday, when 353 were reported.
On Thursday there were 333 new infections, on Wednesday 264, on Tuesday 267 and on Monday 289, according to TVN24.
The country of nearly 38 million people has so far recorded a total of 39,746 cases and 1,618 deaths.
92,008 people are in quarantine, and 29,924 people are considered recovered.
Updated
The British health secretary, Matt Hancock, has bowed to pressure from councils, which have demanded full access to the names and data of people in their areas who tested positive for Covid-19, and those with whom they have been in contact, in another major government U-turn.
Local authorities and public health officials have been complaining for weeks that they are being hampered in efforts to combat and prevent local outbreaks by lack of access to “named patient data” which would allow them to get straight to the sources of local outbreaks.
Now the Observer has been told that Hancock, who has insisted repeatedly that local authorities have all the information they need, is set to allow access to the named data as well other information, such as postcodes, so long as strict data protection rules and conditions are followed.
My colleagues Toby Helm and James Tapper have more:
Updated
Two people were killed at Johannesburg airport on Saturday during a shootout between police and thieves who stole face masks and cellphones, police said.
South Africa has the highest number of coronavirus cases on the continent with nearly 5,000 deaths and 350,000 infections. It also has one of the highest crime rates in the world.
“A group of suspects entered the cargo section at the O. R. Tambo Airport and held the staff at gunpoint at one of the warehouses,” police said, according to AFP.
“A high-speed chase and shootout resulted,” said police, adding that two suspects were shot dead and seven others were arrested.
“A civilian in the vicinity sustained a gunshot wound apparently by a stray bullet. The police upon searching the suspects’ truck recovered the stolen personal protective equipment as well as three crates containing cellphones,” police said.
Updated
Algeria said Saturday that the combination of the coronavirus crisis and falling oil prices have caused unprecedented damage to its economy, including over $1bn in losses in the public sector alone.
“Algeria is facing an unprecedented difficult economic situation,” said the prime minister, Abdelaziz Djerad, quoted by the APS news agency.
This was due to “the structural crisis inherited from the former government, the fall in hydrocarbon prices and, finally, the health crisis,” he said.
The premier was speaking at a meeting at which the finance minister, Aymen Benabderahmane, announced that public company losses total more than $1bn, affecting mainly the transport and energy sectors.
The government decided in early May to slash the state budget by half because of the global collapse in oil prices and coronavirus lockdowns.
The North African nation is heavily dependent on oil production, which generates over 90% of its export revenues.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts Algeria’s economy will shrink by 5.2% this year, and it will have one of the highest budget deficits in the region.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ruled out approaching the IMF for loans, saying, “accumulating debt harms national sovereignty”.
A commission tasked with assessing the impact of the pandemic on the national economy was set up Saturday, according to APS.
Algeria has reported several record daily tallies of Covid-19 cases in the past week, with 601 new infections confirmed Saturday.
The worst-affected country in North Africa, Algeria has officially reported a total of more than 22,500 cases of the Covid-19, including 1,068 deaths, AFP reports.
Updated
The US state of Arizona has reported a record number of deaths in a single day, 147, and 2,742 additional cases on Saturday morning, which was lower than in previous days.
That brought the state’s total tally to 141,304 infections and 2,730 fatalities, according to a New York Times database.
Across Pima County, 13,270 cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed, up 212 cases from the day before, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
On Friday, the Arizona governor, Doug Ducey, announced that up to 5,000 tests will be provided free of charge to members of the public each day for 12 consecutive days, serving up to 60,000 Arizonans.
Updated
WHO reports record daily rise in cases globally
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 259,848 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were recorded in the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report.
The previous WHO record for new cases was 237,743 on Friday. Deaths rose by 7,360, the biggest one-day increase since 10 May.
Deaths have been averaging 4,800 a day in July, up slightly from an average of 4,600 a day in June.
Total global coronavirus cases surpassed 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 600,000 people in seven months.
The WHO reported 71,484 new cases in the United States, 45,403 in Brazil, 34,884 in India and 13,373 in South Africa.
Updated
For fear of a second wave of infections, rule enforcers, police and crowd controllers were deployed in Amsterdam’s city centre this weekend to check whether social-distancing rules were being observed, the Het Parool newspaper reported.
On Kalverstraat, a busy shopping street in the Dutch capital, one-way traffic was introduced due to the crowds.
Cameras measure passers-by at various places, and the number of visitors is also monitored at the Red Light District.
Local shop owners reacted with disappointment, but according to an officer in the city’s Crowd Management department, the measures were desperately needed. “We made this decision after doing a round on the street. It has become a lot busier,” they said.
Updated
Thousands of people are rallying in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as part of a series of ongoing protests this week against the Israeli government’s handling of the pandemic.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing anger after what officials said was an overly hasty reopening of the country following a spring lockdown as well as what his critics said were insufficient steps to boost the damaged economy.
Israel reimposed some lockdown measures on Friday following a vigorous second surge in the number of coronavirus infections, putting in place stringent weekend shutdowns and shuttering gyms and indoor dining at restaurants.
Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader, is also under pressure as he fights three damning corruption allegations – accusations he denies. His lawyers are due in court again on Sunday.
In Jerusalem, police closed a central road but protesters pushed through, chanting for their leader to resign. In Tel Aviv, thousands gathered along the beachfront.
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute thinktank this week found only about 30% of the public trust Netanyahu’s response to the pandemic.
Updated
The governor of the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said tests administered in his state on Friday aiming to detect Covid-19 antibodies showed a 16.1% positive rate.
Having antibodies indicates that a person has had the virus at some point.
“That is a significant jump from where we were about a month and a half ago,” DeSantis said during a press conference on Saturday.
“So there’s a bigger pool of people who have the antibody,” he said.
“If you don’t have symptoms but you think [...] you have been exposed to the virus in the past, the antibody test is probably a better test than the diagnostic test. [...] If you have the antibodies, that’s information that you can take with you,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis also urged citizens who have recovered from the virus to consider donating blood for scientific trials involving convalescent plasma.
Coronavirus cases in Florida have surged in recent weeks. On Saturday, Florida reported a total of 337,569 virus cases and 4,895 deaths.
Florida made headlines with a record number of deaths among residents on Thursday, but both deaths and cases began to decline over the last two days.
DeSantis has resisted calls to impose statewide mandatory wearing of masks.
Updated
Finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies (G20) vowed on Saturday to continue using “all available policy tools” to fight the coronavirus pandemic and bolster the global economy, but warned that the outlook remains highly uncertain.
G20 finance ministers and central bankers, in a communique issued after a virtual meeting on Saturday, said the global economy would recover as economies gradually reopen, but said further actions were needed to ensure growth.
“We are determined to continue to use all available policy tools to safeguard people’s lives, jobs and incomes, support global economic recovery, and enhance the resilience of the financial system, while safeguarding against downside risks,” they said in statement after the meeting ended.
Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, has infected more than 14.14 million people and killed 596,576, according to a Reuters tally. The United States, the world’s largest economy, tops the list of deaths.
Sweeping shutdowns aimed at halting the spread of the disease have caused massive disruption to the global economy, and are hitting the world’s poorest countries hardest.
G20 finance officials said 42 of the world’s 73 poorest countries had requested a freeze in official bilateral debt payments through the end of the year, amounting to about $5.3bn in deferred payments.
Reflecting concerns raised by the World Bank that China, a G20 member and the largest creditor to developing countries, was not participating fully, the officials urged all official bilateral creditors to implement the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) fully and transparently.
They also “strongly encouraged” private creditors to participate on comparable terms, and said they would consider extending the debt standstill in the second half of 2020.
Updated
Scotland sees highest daily number of cases in a month
Scotland has recorded its highest number of daily positive coronavirus tests for almost a month, with 21 confirmed results in 24 hours, as the deputy first minister warned of the ongoing threat of coronavirus.
Figures released by the Scottish government on Saturday were the highest number since 21 June, when there were 26 positive test results.
My colleague Sarah Marsh reports.
Parisians heading to the opening of Paris Plages, the yearly transformation of sections of the Seine river into man-made beaches, were met with a new attraction on Saturday: Covid-19 test centres.
A series of indicators across the country, including in the French capital, have suggested the virus could once again be gaining momentum.
Authorities are pushing an aggressive testing policy to avoid a return to the peaks seen from March to May.
“At Paris-Plages people have got the time and they really want to know whether they have been sick [...] and there are those who need a certificate to travel on some airlines to go on holiday,” Muriel Prudhomme, a doctor and deputy at the townhall’s health department, told Reuters as a steady stream of people of all ages came to be tested.
As well as sand and views of central Paris’ architecture, Paris Plage offers sporting opportunities such as fencing, giant table-football and open-air gyms looking out over the Seine, although this year the tighter health restrictions have limited some of the activities.
Along the banks of the river and the Bassin de la Villette, medical teams are now in place at two locations until the end of August offering serological and standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests with a capacity to carry out 150 to 200 a day.
Covid-19 has killed more than 30,000 people in France.
While it has been largely under control, with fatalities and the number of people in intensive care falling, daily cases have increased ahead of the summer holiday season as people gather in larger groups and travellers come to and from France without specific quarantine measures.
Updated
Iran reintroduces localised lockdown measures
The Iranian government on Saturday reimposed local restrictions, including a week-long lockdown in the capital Tehran, after president Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that some 25 million Iranians may have been infected with coronavirus.
The measures include the banning of religious and cultural functions, the closing of boarding schools, cafes, indoor pools, amusement parks and zoos.
From Sunday, 22 cities and towns in the southwestern Khuzestan province will be under a three-day lockdown, the province’s governorate announced on Saturday.
That will include Behbahan, where police on Thursday fired teargas into a crowd protesting over economic hardships.
Updated
A stand-off between EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Saturday threatened to derail plans for a massive stimulus fund to breathe life into their coronavirus-hammered economies.
“We are in an impasse now. It is more complex than what was expected,” Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said in a video on Facebook as the 27 European Union leaders neared the end of a second day of talks.
“There are many issues that remain unresolved.”
The budget commissioner of the bloc’s executive, Johannes Hahn, reminded the leaders, who wore masks and kept their distance from each other, that Covid-19 was still among them and they needed to act.
“Just a solemn reminder: the Corona crisis is not over: infections on the rise in many countries. High time to reach an agreement which allows us to provide the urgently needed support for our citizens+economies!”, Hahn tweeted.
With the pandemic dealing Europe its worst economic shock since the second world war, leaders gathered on Friday to haggle over a proposed €750bn ($856bn) recovery fund and a 2021-27 EU budget of more than €1tn.
But a group of wealthy and fiscally “frugal” northern states led by the Netherlands have blocked progress in the first face-to-face EU summit since spring lockdowns across the continent, Reuters reports.
They favour repayable loans rather than free grants for the hard-hit indebted economies mostly on the Mediterranean rim, and they want control over how the funds are spent.
Hopes for an agreement grew earlier on Saturday when the summit’s chairman, European Council president Charles Michel, proposed revisions to the overall package that were designed to assuage the Dutch concerns.
Updated
Updated
Indonesia has increased tax incentives for businesses in a move to try to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, its tax office said on Saturday.
Previously announced tax relief that was due to expire in September has been extended until the end of the year, a statement said.
It includes tax breaks for some manufacturing workers and small and medium-size enterprises, and a discount on corporate tax installments.
The government has also expanded the type of companies eligible to apply for the tax breaks, including, for example, forestry businesses, Reuters reports.
It has allocated nearly $50bn in state spending to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
That, and a projected drop in fiscal revenues, are seen expanding its 2020 budget deficit by more than three times the government’s original plan, to 6.34% of gross domestic product.
Updated
Over 2,000 healthcare workers in Ghana have tested positive for coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak in March, according to the Ghana Health Service.
Of those infected, six have died, five of whom were engaged in active clinical practice, a health adviser for the office of the president said, according to CNN.
The number of infections is a cumulative figure and not a number that has been recorded over a short period of time.
Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, director-general of the Ghana Health Service, could not specify exactly how 2,000-plus healthcare workers became infected but initially, he said, the country faced personal protective equipment shortages that made it difficult for workers to adequately protect themselves.
Since then, he said, the number of those infected has reduced significantly.
“Over 90% of the infected has recovered and we now have a sufficient supply of PPE,” Kuma-Aboagye said.
Updated
The number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 in New York state dropped to 743 and 11 more people died, governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.
Daily statewide statistics show New York with 754 newly confirmed cases, representing 1.08% of all tests carried out.
The number of people hospitalised on Friday was down 22 from the previous day, AP reports.
New York, once a pandemic hotspot, has so far avoided a surge in new cases like those plaguing other states in the south and west.
But the Democratic governor has repeatedly warned New Yorkers could be at risk if they abandon social distancing and other practices adopted to check the spread of the virus.
A few reminders:
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 18, 2020
It's Saturday. Wear a Mask. Be Smart. pic.twitter.com/JcQ7lxgF8o
“We remain alarmed by spikes in much of the country and the risk of a lack of compliance at home as the state pursues a phased, data-driven reopening,” Cuomo said in a prepared release.
Cuomo announced on Friday that New York City is set to begin a scaled-down version of the fourth phase of the statewide reopening process on Monday that will allow movie and TV crews to film, zoos to welcome reduced crowds and professional sports teams to play to empty seats.
More than 25,000 people have died statewide since the outbreak began.
Updated
Barcelona scrambles to avoid new lockdown
More than four million people in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona were advised to stay at home on Friday except for necessary trips from this weekend onwards, after Alba Vergés, the Catalan health minister, said the measure was the best way to avoid a new lockdown.
Cinemas, theatres and nightclubs were closed and gatherings of more than 10 people were also prohibited.
The new restrictions came barely four weeks after Spain ended its state of emergency when its 47 million residents were subjected to one of the world’s toughest lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus.
France is watching coronavirus clusters in neighbouring Spain very closely, prime minister Jean Castex said on Saturday, less than a month after the border between the two countries was reopened.
Spanish health officials are monitoring more than 150 outbreaks across the country just weeks after they ended one of the world’s toughest lockdown regimes.
They are particularly alarmed at clusters popping up in Catalonia, one of the border regions.
“We are monitoring this very closely, here in particular, because it is a real issue that we also need to discuss with the Spanish authorities,” Castex said in response to a question about the possible closure of borders, according to AFP.
The frontier was reopened on 21 June after three months of strict confinement on the Spanish side to contain the pandemic.
But the upsurge in cases in Catalonia has already prompted the reimposition of lockdown in one area.
Some 160,000 people in Lleida and surrounding towns were ordered to stay in their homes on Wednesday, following a standoff between the regional government and a local court that had blocked the order.
Many Spanish regions have made it mandatory to wear face masks in public, even if people maintain social distancing.
Spain has suffered more than 28,400 deaths from the pandemic, one of the highest rates in the world.
Updated
The pandemic sweeping through major US cities is now wreaking havoc on rural American communities, with some recording the nation’s most new confirmed cases per capita in the past two weeks.
The virus is infecting thousands of often impoverished rural residents every day, swamping struggling health care systems and piling responsibility on government workers who often perform multiple jobs to which they never signed up, the Associated Press reports.
Officials attribute much of the spread in rural America to outbreaks in workplaces, living facilities and social gatherings.
Food processing plants and farms, where people typically work in cramped quarters, have proven to be hotspots.
Umatilla County, with a population of 77,000, has Oregon’s highest number of confirmed infections per capita, sometimes reporting a figure this month above that of Multnomah County, which is 10 times larger and includes Portland.
The coronavirus has torn through the small Oregon community where farmers grow crops such as potatoes, onions and grains.
In Umatilla County, the virus has infected more than a thousand people and killed nine, overwhelming its limited resources and employees.
The county’s rate of people testing positive for Covid-19 is about 16%.
The World Health Organization recommends it stay below 5%.
The surge in Umatilla and most of Oregon’s rural counties is driving the state’s rise in confirmed cases.
In response to the pandemic, Umatilla County divided virus-related tasks among the 30-person public health department.
Other rural counties also are seeing virus cases soar.
Forested Hot Spring County in Arkansas leads the nation in the number of confirmed new cases per capita in the past two weeks, according to data compiled by AP.
Also near the top of the list are even more remote places, such as Scurry and Crockett counties in Texas.
Updated
UN secretary-general António Guterres on Saturday accused world powers of ignoring inequality in global institutions, but said the coronavirus pandemic had created a “generational opportunity” to build a more equal, sustainable world.
Delivering the annual lecture for the Nelson Mandela Foundation via the internet, Guterres pushed for a so-called New Global Deal to ensure power, wealth and opportunity are shared more broadly and fairly at the international level, Reuters reports.
“The nations that came out on top more than seven decades ago have refused to contemplate the reforms needed to change power relations in international institutions,” Guterres said.
“The composition and voting rights in the United Nations Security Council and the boards of the Bretton Woods system are a case in point.”
“Inequality starts at the top: in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them,” he added.
The Bretton Woods system includes the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
He said the pandemic had revealed, like an x-ray, “fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.”
“It is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid care work is not work; the delusion that we live in a post-racist world; the myth that we are all in the same boat,” Guterres, a former Socialist prime minister of Portugal, said during the virtual lecture.
“Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in superyachts while others are clinging to the floating debris,” he said.
During this pandemic, more than 14 million people are confirmed to have been infected with coronavirus and there have been nearly 600,000 known deaths worldwide, according to a Reuters tally.
The UN has appealed for $10.3bn to help poor states, but has received only $1.7bn.
Guterres said rich countries had “failed to deliver the support needed to help the developing world” and that the pandemic had “brought home the tragic disconnect between self-interest and the common interest, and the huge gaps in governance structures and ethical frameworks.”
Updated
Summary of recent updates
I’m going to be handing over the blog for the evening, but before I go, here’s a summary of recent developments.
Thank you all for reading and sharing tips, it’s much appreciated. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend.
- Ministers in the UK are to gain greater powers over localised lockdown measures.
- The UK government is pausing updates of the coronavirus death toll after ordering a review of how the data is calculated, after concerns were raised that the total may be exaggerated. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has called for an urgent review of the figures.
- The UK government has also announced a £266m housing fund to find long-term accommodation for people given emergency shelter during the coronavirus pandemic.
- G20 finance ministers are meeting virtually today to discuss stimulating the global economy. Separately, an EU summit to negotiate a fiscal rescue package to support the European community continues today.
- France is to make masks compulsory in enclosed public spaces from Monday.
- Afghanistan has requested international aid to help fight coronavirus.
- Russia has recorded a further 6,234 cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, while Philippines has reported 2,357 cases and Indonesia 1,752.
- Globally, there have been 14,082,979 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and 597,227 deaths.
Updated
France make masks compulsory in enclosed spaces
Face masks will be made mandatory in France in enclosed public spaces including banks, shops and indoor markets from Monday, the country’s health minister has announced.
The French government has accelerated plans to make the masks compulsory after they appeared to become more popular, especially in areas in western and southern France that were less affected by the height of the outbreak between March and May.
“From Monday, mask-wearing will be mandatory in closed spaces,” Olivier Véran said on Twitter. “That concerns shops, buildings open to the public, covered markets and banks.”
Updated
More than 140 released prisoners were housed in hotels and B&Bs during lockdown, in what the Ministry of Justice said was a “last resort” to prevent them from becoming homeless and reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading.
You can read more on this story, which we mentioned earlier in the blog, here:
Updated
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has called for immediate action to protect care homes in case of a second wave of coronavirus cases this winter.
After meeting with care workers, he said the country needed to “get to the bottom of what happened in care homes so that lessons can be learned”.
Ahead of a possible second wave this winter we need action now.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 18, 2020
I met care workers who told me about the lack of testing and lack of PPE.
We need to get to the bottom of what happened in care homes so that lessons can be learned, and lives can be saved. pic.twitter.com/VYvNbS66Vx
Updated
Further 13 deaths in hospitals in England
A further 13 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England.
This brings to the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,173, NHS England said.
Those who lost their lives were aged between 49 and 96 years old and all had known underlying conditions.
UK ministers to get greater powers to introduce localised lockdowns
The UK government will get new powers to implement local measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, Boris Johnson has announced.
Ministers will be able to “close whole sectors or types of premises in an area, introduce local stay at home orders, prevent people entering or leaving defined areas, reduce maximum gathering size, or restrict transport systems serving local areas.”
Johnson said that from today “local authorities will have new powers in their areas, to close specific premises, shut public outdoor spaces, and cancel events. This will enable them to act more quickly in response to outbreaks, where speed is paramount.”
However, he said action by local councils would not always be sufficient, adding that “next week we will publish draft regulations explaining how central government can intervene at a local level.”
You can read the full thread here:
1: Our understanding of the epidemiology of coronavirus and intelligence on where it is spreading has vastly improved. This means we can control it through targeted, local action.
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 18, 2020
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There were clashes between riot police and attendees of an illegal rave in north London last night as officers shut down the event.
The Metropolitan police said people living near the Woodberry Down estate in Finsbury Park had alerted them to the “unlicensed music event” at around 11pm and that all those in attendance were cleared from the area within around five hours.
Footage on social media appeared to show revellers responding angrily to attempts by dozens of officers to break up the party. An 18-year-old man was arrested for violent disorder and obstructing police, and a 19-year-old was arrested for obstructing police. They remained in custody on Saturday.
You can read the full story here:
England could return to normality by Christmas but it depends on how “alert” people are, according to the transport secretary, Grant Shapps.
Shapps made the comments after Boris Johnson unveiled his plans for a “more significant return to normality” by the festive season. The prime minister revealed steps to encourage people back to work in England and sweeping measures that will allow ministers to issue stay-at-home orders to tackle outbreaks.
Read more from my colleague Sarah Marsh on Shapps’ comments here:
Updated
Hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok, Thailand, defied coronavirus regulations to protest against the government yesterday.
The demonstration, thought to be one of the largest since the country’s 2014 military coup, had three demands: the dissolution of parliament, an end to harassment of government critics, and changes to the military-written constitution that critics say virtually guaranteed victory for the prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s party in last year’s election.
Updated
G20 finance ministers and central bankers have been holding talks today on stimulating global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The virtual talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia, seek to “discuss [the] global economic outlook and coordinate collective action for a robust and sustained global economic recovery,” G20 organisers in Riyadh said before the meeting started this afternoon.
The EU started its first face-to-face summit in five months yesterday, discussing a post-virus economic rescue plan. The summit continues today.
Updated
If you spot something you think we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter. Tips and pointers on global breaking news stories about the pandemic are always much appreciated.
I won’t always be able to reply, although I’ll do my best, so thank you in advance!
Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region, has launched an emergency response plan after the city reported 16 new coronavirus cases on Friday.
The city has suspended gatherings and imposed restrictions on people visiting those outside of their household, state broadcaster CCTV said.
It urged people not to make unnecessary trips outside the city and ordered infection tests for anyone who needed to leave the city. It has also carried out city-wide free infection tests, in what officials termed as a “wartime” response, the broadcaster said.
Xinjiang, home to most of China’s Uighur population, has been less affected than other parts of the country by the coronavirus pandemic.
Yesterday, the region reported a total of 18 coronavirus cases, with another 269 people under medical observation, according to the regional health commission. It reported another 12 asymptomatic cases as of noon today.
More than 140 offenders were housed in hotels and bed and breakfasts after being released from prison during lockdown.
The Ministry of Justice said the policy had been “a last resort” to prevent the individuals from becoming homeless, and limit the spread of coronavirus.
Of the 304 offenders who were due for release and provided with accommodation, 136 were housed in hotels or B&Bs, and of the 172 offenders released under the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme - in which prisoners who are within two months of their release date are temporarily released from custody - six were housed in hotels.
An MoJ spokesman said: “All offenders due for release are thoroughly risk-assessed and hotels have only been used as a last resort to reduce any potential spread of coronavirus. These temporary measures are part of the unprecedented response to the pandemic which has helped protect the NHS and save lives.”
The MoJ has been using hotels as part of its Conditional Release Date accommodation (CRD) scheme which launched in May and will run until the end of this month.
In Arizona, teachers have launched protests at the planned reopening of schools.
The protesters are putting on red T-shirts last worn in a 2018 strike and driving around cities in cars carrying slogans including “Remote learning won’t kill us but Covid can!”
“We don’t want any children to get this from us, because as a teacher I don’t want to go to any of their funerals,” said Stacy Brosius, 47, a third grade teacher who will not send her three children back to school.
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The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has become the first senior politician to announce he is going on holiday abroad this summer.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 this morning, Shapps said he was planning to take advantage of the relaxation of Foreign Office guidance on travel and take an overseas vacation with his wife.
Senior politicians had previously been keen to reveal they would be staying in the UK this holiday season, after the pandemic jeopardised plans for international travel.
This week Boris Johnson confirmed he had opted for a “staycation”, saying: “This country is uniquely blessed with fantastic places to holiday, whether coastal or otherwise.”
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has also chosen to remain in the UK, as have the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the health secretary, Matt Hancock.
Updated
The UK government said on Saturday it was pausing its daily updates of the coronavirus death toll after ordering a review of how the data is calculated, following concern that numbers may have been exaggerated.
Academics have said the way that Public Health England (PHE), the government agency responsible for managing infectious disease outbreaks, calculates the figures for England means they may look worse than in other countries of the United Kingdom.
Updated
EU leaders are debating new proposals for a huge post-coronavirus economic recovery plan on Saturday, seeking to overcome resistance from the Netherlands and Austria on the second day of an extraordinary summit.
The European council president and summit host, Charles Michel, proposed a fresh plan after his initial blueprint for a €750bn recovery package ran into stiff resistance from a so-called “frugal four” member states, Agence France-Presse reports.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has insisted that member states retain the final say over approval of any EU funding for national recovery plans for partners such as Spain and Italy, whose economies were ravaged by the virus and its attendant lockdowns.
In a concession to Rutte’s demands, Michel’s new plan includes a “super emergency brake” that gives any country a three-day window to trigger a review by all member states of another’s spending plans.
Analysts said it amounted to a right of veto, and it remains to be seen whether countries such as Spain and Italy will accept it, while a European source said the frugal countries were still not happy with the broader package and were seeking more cuts.
“In the end this is a package and there are many more issues to solve, but the proposal on governance as put forward by Michel is a serious step in the right direction. Many issues remain and whether we get there will depend on the next 24 hours,” a Dutch diplomat said.
Rutte says EU oversight is necessary to oblige countries to reform their labour markets, and said the atmosphere at Friday night’s dinner had turned “grumpy”.
Talking to reporters late on Friday, he urged southern partners not to drag their feet on reform “to make sure that next time, when for whatever reason there is a crisis again, economic or otherwise, countries are better able to take care of themselves.”
Updated
For dairy farmers across the UK, the coronavirus pandemic has brought on its own set of challenges after many producers were forced to throw away thousands of litres of milk when demand from restaurants dropped in lockdown.
Now a movement is growing to raise awareness about the struggles of the British dairy market, and this Saturday a cheese awards event will take place online. The Virtual Cheese Awards, running from 11am-5.30pm BST, is a not-for-profit event organised by cheese industry authorities Nigel Pooley and Sarah de Wit. The annual awards ceremony is usually held in person.
De Wit emphasised the extent to which the pandemic hadaffected the cheese industry, and said the virtual awards ceremony would hopefully spur consumers to shop for British produce when purchasing cheese.
“We are lucky to have so many delicious and exciting cheeses in Britain., but some of their stories are hidden in myth and intrigue,” she said.
The aim of the event is to “demystify cheese, tell its story and celebrate in all its glory,” she said. “The inaugural Virtual Cheese Awards have been created to power up British cheese in a time of great need, and we hope people get involved and join us on the day.”
Updated
Hello everyone. I am taking over the Guardian’s live feed while my colleague Molly takes a break for lunch. Please do get in touch if you want to share with me any comments or news tips.
If it’s a global news tip, I can share it with one of our foreign correspondents. Anything for the UK, please let me know and I will look into it.
Thanks in advance – hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Updated
A new proposal on the EU’s coronavirus recovery fund is “a serious step in the right direction”, a Dutch diplomat has said.
It comes after demands from the Netherlands left the EU struggling to agree over a proposed mass stimulus package.
“In the end this is a package and there are many more issues to solve. But the proposals on governance as put forward by (the European council president Charles) Michel are a serious step in the right direction. Many issues remain and whether we get there will depend on the next 24 hours,” the diplomat said.
Yesterday’s negotiations ended in failure, but talks continue today.
Updated
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, is ordering an urgent review of the daily Covid-19 death statistics produced by Public Health England after it emerged that they may include recovered former sufferers who could have died of other causes.
The oddity was revealed in a paper by Yoon K Loke and Carl Heneghan, of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, titled “Why no one can ever recover from Covid-19 in England – a statistical anomaly”.
Their analysis suggests that PHE cross-checks the latest notifications of deaths against a database of positive test results – so that anyone who has ever tested positive is recorded in the Covid-19 death statistics.
Read the full story from the Guardian’s political editor Heather Stewart here:
Updated
Iran has reported a further 188 deaths from coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 13,979, a state-run news agency reports.
Iran reported 2,166 new cases of infection over the past 24 hours, 1,293 of whom have been hospitalised.
However, disputes continue over the country’s coronavirus figures. Earlier, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, cited a health ministry study which estimated that the country might have 25 million coronavirus infections – far more than the official figure of around 269,000 confirmed cases, and even exceeding the global total of confirmed cases, which stands at about 14 million.
Updated
Afghanistan has asked for international humanitarian aid to help it fight against coronavirus as it launched a programme to distribute food to 90% of the population.
The poverty rate in Afghanistan could jump to 72% in 2020, from 55% in 2017, due to the impact of reduced incomes and higher prices, according to a report by the World Bank released Wednesday.
President Ashraf Ghani said Saturday that 90% of Afghans live below the poverty line. The food aid distribution programme has two phases and will cost $244m. The plan includes distribution of flour, rice, oil and soap.
On Saturday the country reported a further 17 coronavirus deaths and 60 new cases, taking the totals to 35,289 and 1,164.
All the new deaths and 55 of the new infections were reported in the capital, Kabul, which has been the country’s worst affected area with a total of 448 deaths from Covid-19.
The western province of Herat, which borders Iran, recorded no new cases and deaths on Saturday, but officials there have warned of a second wave of the virus in the province. They said the flow of refugees from Iran and people’s failure to follow health guidelines had increased the possibility of a resurgence. Concerns about a second wave are high in Afghanistan as Eid celebrations are approaching.
Meanwhile, violence continues to rage, with 240 civilians killed or wounded over the past month, according to the country’s national security council. “Taliban had a choice to cease the fire and halt taking innocent lives; instead they chose to kill more and showed no will for peace,” said Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the security council.
Updated
BBC Radio 4 is set to air a summer comedy festival to give listeners “a little bit of the magic they may be missing” after the cancellation of many live events due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The virtual event will be curated by Miles Jupp, Jo Brand, Darren Harriott, Sara Pascoe, Daliso Chaponda and Jayde Adams, and will feature comedy, literature and spoken word performers.
Each curator will chose a selection of their favourite performers, with Jupp’s including stand-up comic Simon Munnery and crime writer Val McDermid, and Brand’s featuring poet, musician and performer John Hegley, spoken word artist Hollie McNish and poet and playwright Nafeesa Hamid.
Updated
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has expressed his gratitude to researchers at Imperial College London as they move on to the next stage of coronavirus vaccine trials.
The team will now complete randomised tests on 105 participants aged 18-75, who will receive their first shot of one of three doses of the vaccine. They will be given a booster four weeks later. Neither staff nor participants will know which dose they have received.
The first 15 volunteers who received the dose will return to receive their second booster dose in the coming days.
You can get more updates from the team at Imperial here.
Congratulations to the scientists at @imperialcollege on moving to the next phase of your vaccine trial.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) July 18, 2020
We have invested £40 million into this trial & are leading the world in developing potential vaccines.
Updated
“In early June, the United States awoke from a months-long nightmare. Coronavirus had brutalized the north-east, with New York City alone recording more than 20,000 deaths, the bodies piling up in refrigerated trucks. Thousands sheltered at home. Rice, flour and toilet paper ran out. Millions of jobs disappeared.
“But then the national curve flattened, governors declared success and patrons returned to restaurants, bars and beaches. ‘We are winning the fight against the invisible enemy,’ the vice-president, Mike Pence, wrote in a 16 June op-ed titled ‘There isn’t a coronavirus “second wave”’.
“Except, in truth, the nightmare was not over – the country was not awake – and a new wave of cases was gathering with terrifying force.”
The US reported its highest one-day tally of new coronavirus cases so far on Thursday, total cases have reached 3,647,715 and the death toll stands at 139,266.
Read the full piece from my colleague Tom McCarthy about what lies ahead for the US here:
Updated
The Philippines has reported a further 2,357 cases of coronavirus, and 113 deaths.
This brings the total death toll to 1,773 and the number of confirmed cases to 65,304, the health ministry said.
The majority of the cases have come from the capital, Manila, and Cebu City in central Philippines.
Updated
The UK government has announced a £266m housing fund to find long-term accommodation for people given emergency shelter during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Next Steps accommodation programme will make the funds available for local councils to cover property costs and support new tenancies.
Since the start of the pandemic, 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in hotels and other forms of emergency accommodation as part of the government’s Everyone In programme. These have included rough sleepers, people who have been living in shared night shelters, and those at risk of becoming homeless during the pandemic.
The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “The remarkable national effort to support rough sleepers and vulnerable people during this crisis has protected many lives and I am hugely grateful to all those involved. We now have a landmark opportunity to break the cycle of rough sleeping and ensure that people do not return to a life on the streets.”
Updated
Indonesia has recorded 1,752 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number to 84,882, the health ministry has announced.
The country recorded a further 59 deaths on Saturday, taking the total to 4,016.
Updated
Ahead of the reopening of bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants in Wales this weekend, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, has urged people to “act safely and responsibly”.
This will be the first weekend where pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants are able to open outdoors in Wales.
— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) July 18, 2020
As more restrictions are eased, please act safely and responsibly.
Plan ahead and keep 2 metres apart where possible. We all have a role to play to keep Wales safe. pic.twitter.com/GjjTitDci1
Updated
Summary of recent developments
If you’re just joining us, here’s a summary of key developments in the pandemic over the last few hours to bring you up to speed:
- A member of the UK’s scientific advisory group Sage has said a return to normality is a “long way off”. This comes as an apparent contradiction to
Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the country could return to a pre-lockdown state by Christmas, which has been met with scepticism. - The UK government is planning to distribute millions of free coronavirus antibody tests after secret trials showed they were 98.6% accurate.
- There have been more than 70,000 new cases of the virus recorded in the US for a second consecutive day.
- EU leaders have yet to agree on a stimulus plan to support Europe during the coronavirus pandemic, but talks continue today.
- Iran may have 25 million coronavirus cases, compared with the confirmed number of 260,000, a health ministry study estimates.
- The Bollywood star and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been taken to a Mumbai hospital along with her eight-year-old daughter nearly a week after they were revealed to have coronavirus.
Updated
Captain Sir Tom Moore said being presented with a knighthood by the Queen was “something very special”.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Saturday, he described it as a “marvellous day”.
“You never, ever could imagine what it was like to be so close to the Queen, who is an absolute dream of a person,” he added. “We really enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and to have that honour, really, that is something very special.”
Moore was knighted for his efforts to raise £33m for the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
You can watch the video here:
Moore said he and the Queen had a “little private conversation”, but the contents of this “would stay between the two of us for all time”.
He said he was “absolutely thrilled” if his actions had given people hope during the pandemic, and said he would not stop his fundraising efforts any time soon.
“We are not entitled to a respite because so many people still are so kindly interested and people are so kindly contributing to our cause, so rest is not in the order of things,” he said. “I’m afraid you’re going to be stuck with me for some time now.”
Updated
People who accept refund credit notes for cancelled package holidays will get their money back if the travel firm later collapses, the government has said.
While package holiday customers whose trips have been cancelled due to coronavirus are entitled to a cash refund, many travel companies are offering refund credit notes to help their cashflow during the pandemic.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the Department for Transport had provided “much-needed clarity” by confirming that such cases will be covered by the Atol scheme.
The consumer group Which? had been advising people to reject refund credit notes and insist on a refund because of concerns about them losing money if the issuing firm later goes bust.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said the move sent a “clear message” that people could book their holidays with confidence.
Updated
Easing of restrictions in England: what is it, when will it happen, and what does it mean for you?
Just joining us? Here’s are some good resources to learn more about the new easing of restrictions in England.
Here is an overview of the key points...
...and here is a Q&A on what these changes will mean for you...
...and finally, here’s a timeline of what is due to happen when:
Hope that helps!
Updated
Iran may have 25m cases - not official figure of 260,000
This is from my colleagues Michael Safi and Akhtar Mohammad Makoii:
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has cited a health ministry study estimating that the country might have 25 million coronavirus infections – far higher than the official figure of about 269,000 cases and well above the global confirmed total of 14 million.
Rouhani told a coronavirus summit on Saturday that another 30 to 35 million people could become infected in the weeks and months ahead, according to the study, and that the hospitalisation rate may grow among this cohort – though he didn’t explain why that might be.
The figure is the frankest estimate so far from an Iranian leader of the scale of the outbreak in the country, which is confirmed to have killed around 14,000 people so far and has resurged in the past month after briefly seeming to relent.
Iran locked down after cases started to grow in March but eased the quarantine about two months later citing the need to kickstart the economy.
At least 2 million Iranians are estimated to have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic as well as continuing US sanctions and poor economic conditions.
Updated
Four million residents of Barcelona have been urged to stay at home, as the number of cases of coronavirus continues to increase.
The coronavirus death toll in Spain stands at around 28,400, making it one of Europe’s worst. Recently, Spain has identified more than 150 new virus clusters across the country.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are set to meet today to discuss the further easing of coronavirus restrictions across Europe.
Updated
Russia has reported a further 6,234 cases of coronavirus, and a further 24 deaths.
This compares with 6,406 new cases yesterday, and 186 deaths.
Sage scientist: Normality a long way off
A member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has warned that a return to normality is “a long way off”.
In an apparent contradiction of Boris Johnson’s announcement that the country could return to pre-lockdown state by Christmas, Prof John Edmunds, said: “Unfortunately I think it is quite a long way away.”
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Edmunds said: “If what you mean by normality is what we used to do until February and the middle of March this year – go to work normally, travel on the buses and trains, go on holiday without restrictions, meet friends, shake hands, hug each other and so on – that’s a long way off, unfortunately.
“We won’t be able to do that until we are immune to the virus, which means until we have a vaccine that is proven safe and effective. If we return to those sort of normal behaviours the virus will come back very fast.”
When asked by the presenter if he would hug his grandmother, Edmunds said no.
Updated
Shapps also said that employers must make sure workplaces are Covid-safe for employees to return to work.
“We absolutely expect and ask employers and employees to work sensibly together, there’s full employee protection in place,” he said. “The Heath and Safety Executive would certainly have something to say if they are not using all of the guidelines.
“How do we get people to feel comfortable? And of course, the ultimate answer to that is to continue fighting this virus, and make sure that the reproduction rate continues to stay low and continues to decline so the issue is effectively resolved through fighting the virus.”
Shapps also insisted the public transport had the capacity to handle greater usage, and said it was no longer just for key workers.
He said public transport was being used at about 20% of its normal rate, though it was not clear whether he was referring just to England or the UK as a whole.
“We are quite close to full capacity but the usage of public transport is way down,” he said.“We have been very careful to ask people not to flood back too quickly and they have not, and so we are seeing many cases of quite empty, for example, trains.
“There’s more capacity there, you can now return. Anyone, not just key workers, can use public transport. I would recommend trying to avoid the busier times of day, but as people return to work – and the prime minister asked employers and employees to look at doing that particularly from 1 August - the public transport is there.”
Updated
The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has reiterated the prime minister’s message that is possible for the country to return to normality by Christmas.
He said Boris Johnson’s announcement gave a “sense of direction”.
“It’s giving people a roadmap, really, so we can give people some hope whilst planning for the worst as well,” he said. “We want to give people some sense of direction, because a lot of people are running businesses or rely on the Christmas period and need to know that if everything goes well, that this is our intention.
“But you can’t get away from the fact that the virus is still, in many ways, a bit of an unknown, and of course it depends how millions of people respond and how good and alert we are in terms of all the things we know, like washing your hands and for the time being keeping that distance of 1 metre plus.”
On BBC Breakfast, he said the return to normality by Christmas would depend on how people respond to the easing of restrictions and how “alert” they were.
It comes after Johnson’s plan for further easing of restrictions in England was met with scepticism.
Shapps issued a similar message on BBC Breakfast this morning. You can watch an extract here:
"I think it's possible that we can get there"
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 18, 2020
On #BBCBreakfast the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps MP, supported the PM's plan for a "significant return to normality" by Christmas.https://t.co/LvRmF4A2K9 pic.twitter.com/uIHClfe3yN
Updated
Thailand’s outgoing central bank governor, Veerathai Santiprabhob, has ruled out joining prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s cabinet, Reuters reports.
The country’s finance minister, deputy prime minister and two other ministers resigned on Thursday, and local media reported that Veerathai would be asked to join the cabinet to shore up the prime minister’s economic team.
But on Saturday, Veerathai said: “Given media reports that I was approached to join a new economic team, I already thanked the prime minister for his trust (in me) and told him earlier in the week that would not be able to take any posts.”
Prayuth said on Friday he had approached private bank executive Predee Daochai to join his cabinet, and previous central bank governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul to join his cabinet but Prasarn declined the invitation.
Hi everyone, I’m Molly Blackall, taking over the blog for the next few hours. I’ll be bringing you all the latest updates in the coronavirus pandemic from around the world.
If you spot something you think we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter. Tips and pointers always appreciated – thanks in advance!
Updated
With that, I’ll be handing the blog over to my colleague Molly Blackall, who will keep you updated with the latest from the UK and Europe. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Matilda Boseley for her coverage earlier. Stay tuned.
Last night, EU leaders failed to agree on a stimulus plan to counter the coronavirus pandemic – but they will try again when talks resume today.
Officials said on Friday that wealthy northern states, led by the Netherlands, stood their ground on access to the recovery fund in the face of opposition from Germany, France, southern nations Italy and Spain, and eastern European states.
Talks will continue on Saturday morning.
Updated
And read this feature on the US’s upcoming “terrifying autumn”:
Second day of more than 70,000 cases in the US
Johns Hopkins have just confirmed that there were 71,600 cases in the US on Friday. That’s the second day running over 70,000 – after yesterday’s record one-day tally of 77,255.
Updated
UK planning to hand out millions of free antibody tests
The UK government is planning to distribute millions of free coronavirus antibody tests after secret trials showed they were 98.6% accurate.
The tests can give results in 20 minutes from a finger prick, and human trials were held in secret in June, according to the Daily Telegraph.
However, it is unclear whether someone with coronavirus antibodies would be immune to future infection, or for how long.
Read our full story here:
Australia’s acting chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says there are “good signs” coming from Melbourne, where the R rate is at 1, but Sydneysiders are “not taking those messages about physically distancing ... seriously”.
He has shared the virus’s reproduction rate – known as the R rate – for the two cities. Melbourne has an R rate of 1, while Sydney has an R rate of 1.4.
A rate of 1 means that a person who has Covid-19 spreads it, on average, to one other person. A rate below 1 means the spread is slowing, and a rate above 1 means it is spreading.
Kelly says:
In Melbourne, over the last couple of weeks, because there has been a lockdown, people are generally staying at home, and definitely taken onboard those messages much more strongly than they were three or four weeks ago.
That R effective number is virtually at one in Victoria, which is a good sign.
However, he says the R rate is higher in south-western Sydney.
People are more mobile, they are mixing in greater numbers and there are suggestions from that modelling that people are not taking those messages about physical distancing, hygiene and so forth ... as seriously as they currently are in Melbourne.
So the R effective rate is 1.4. That demonstrates that the potential for transmission is higher in New South Wales.
That does not necessarily translate to an increase or decrease in the numbers of cases but it gives us a sense ...
The message to people in south-west Sydney is please be careful, please do not take this time to have large gatherings either at home or outside the home, and to take those messages of physical distancing, personal hygiene, hand washing and so forth very seriously.
Updated
Australian treasurer will get quarantine exemption to come to Canberra
Australia’s treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, who is currently in Melbourne, will be allowed to enter Canberra to deliver the nation’s economic update on Thursday, but will have to take certain precautions, Paul Kelly says.
Australia’s acting chief medical officer has confirmed that Frydenberg will be granted an “essential worker” exemption to enter the Australian Capital Territory in time to deliver his update.
But the MP for Kooyong will have certain restrictions – to be determined – on contact.
Kelly says:
There is an exemption for essential workers in the quarantine arrangements that have been set up by the ACT government, and the restrictions on the treasurer will be along those lines.
The treasurer is coming for an important economic statement next week and we are working through that – I have been working through that today with my ACT counterpart and I hope to have that resolved by this evening.
But essentially, if he comes, there will be restrictions on what he can and can’t do, and that will have to be agreed both between myself and the ACT chief health officers in the first instance, and with the ACT government as well.
Kelly is asked whether Frydenberg will be allowed to meet face-to-face with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, but did not specifically answer.
Updated
Acting CMO says 'risk from Victoria' and Sydney led to his advice on postponing parliament
Australia’s acting chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says he spoke to the ACT’s chief health officer to discuss the decision to delay parliament’s next sitting.
Yesterday we were asked by the prime minister to give specific advice to him about these matters and that was provided. The decision was made that given the risk from Victoria at this time ... and the emerging situation in south-west Sydney, it was deemed that that sitting should be delayed.
He says that even with precautions, the risk was too high.
Let’s think about how parliament works. We need to have people both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives from all of the states and territories, so flying in from all states and territories ... Even with physical distancing, hygiene and all the other measures we put in place ... that would be deemed a mass gathering in any way that you would consider it and we would feel that there is a high risk.
Updated
Kelly says today’s statistics are a “good decrease” in Victoria, but “this is not over”.
It certainly is not over in Victoria. We have a large, widespread community outbreak, mainly in Melbourne, but also some cases appearing in the rural parts of the state.
Kelly says it is good to see the Victorian government expanding testing in rural areas.
Updated
Paul Kelly says there have been 233 new cases nationally since yesterday – the majority (217) from Victoria.
He says 118 Australians have now died from Covid-19, after Victoria reported two new deaths overnight.
There are 2,700 active cases nationally, with “almost all of those in the greater Melbourne and Mitchell Shire”.
Updated
Australia’s acting chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, will be speaking at 3.30pm (AEST).
Updated
Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here. Thanks to Matilda Boseley for her incredible work on the blog earlier.
Australia’s finance minister, Mathias Cormann, will take part in a virtual meeting of G20 finance ministers later today, he has confirmed. Saudi Arabia will be hosting the meeting, which includes finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 as they discuss the global recession.
Updated
That’s where I will end things for today, but I leave you in the capable hands of Naaman Zhou, who will guide you through the next few hours of news.
Updated
Panama’s civil aviation authority says it will extend a suspension of international flights by another month due to the coronavirus crisis.
The additional month of suspended flights begins on 22 July, according to a statement from the civil aviation authority on Friday.
International flights were first suspended in March as the spread of the virus prompted authorities to impose measures to better contain it.
The country’s Tocumen airport is a major hub for Panama-based Copa Airlines, which like other carriers has been hard hit by the pandemic.
As of Friday, Panama had reported 51,408 total cases of the coronavirus and 1,038 deaths.
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Bollywood star Aishwarya Bachchan moved to coronavirus ward
The Bollywood star and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been moved to a Mumbai hospital along with her eight-year-old daughter nearly a week after they were revealed to have the coronavirus, according to media reports.
Her actor husband, Abhishek Bachchan, and superstar father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, are already in the same hospital, the highest-profile personalities to have been infected in India, which has now recorded more than one million cases in the pandemic.
Aishwarya Bachchan, a former beauty queen who went on to become one of India’s top actors, and her daughter, Aaradhya, were revealed on Sunday to be suffering from the coronavirus.
They had been in self-quarantine at home but the Times of India newspaper said they were moved to the Nanavati hospital on Friday after complaining of “breathlessness”.
“They are fine,” a hospital source told Press Trust of India news agency.
Amitabh Bachchan, 77, and his son Abhishek, 44, are in the hospital’s isolation ward. When they entered hospital their cases were described as “mild”. No health update has been given since but Amitabh has been regularly issuing Twitter messages.
“In happy times, in times of illness, you our near and dear, our well wishers, our fans have ever given us unstinting love,” he said on Friday.
The elder Bachchan, idolised in India and affectionately known as “Big B”, has a more than four-decade-long career in the film industry. He was voted “actor of the millennium” in a BBC online poll in 1999 and became the first Indian actor to gain a lookalike at London’s Madame Tussauds waxworks museum.
Nationally, the country of 1.3 billion people has reported 26,000 dead.
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Victoria police fine 74 people, including man wanting 'specific butter chicken'
A man has been fined in Victoria for travelling from the outer Melbourne suburb of Werribee to the city to “get a specific butter chicken”, according to police.
This was one of 74 fines handed out over the past 24 hours in the state, where the city of Melbourne and one regional shire are in stage-three lockdowns and residents are only allowed to leave the house for essential reasons.
Victoria police say 10 of these infringements were issued at vehicle checkpoints, with more than 13,000 cars stopped by police.
Officers also conducted 3,463 spot checks on people at homes, businesses and public places.
Police fined multiple people “gathering in public and private places, to catch up with friends or consume alcohol”.
Two people have also been fined for breaching quarantine orders in the Northern Territory. Police say two women, aged 28 and 44, undertaking self-quarantine in Alice Springs were not at home during a routine check on 16 July.
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Germany records 529 new cases
Germany has logged 529 new cases of Covid-19, and one person has died, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
The country’s total number of cases is now at 201,372.
Donald Trump has refused to order Americans to wear face masks despite the soaring number of new cases of coronavirus.
Speaking on Fox News on Friday, Trump was asked if he would issue a federal mandate on the wearing of masks in the wake of comments by the administration’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, that everyone should wear one.
The US president said he wanted to allow people a “certain freedom”.
The country is facing a rapidly growing crisis with a record 77,000 new cases recorded on Thursday.
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Western Australia records three new cases, but only one active
Western Australia has announced three new cases – but only one is active, and came from an overseas traveller, and two are historical cases.
The active case is a 43-year old Romanian man who is a technical engineer who flew into Australia on an Emirates flight from Dubai on 1 July. The man was part of the swap-over of a maritime crew.
The state’s health minister, Roger Cook, says there are “strong quarantining arrangements” and he is “not worried about the public health risk”.
The other two cases are historical cases related to cruise ships.
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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, one of India’s most famous actors, has been taken to hospital with Covid-19, along with many other members of her family.
Bachchan, 46, is a former Miss World contestant and a Bollywood star. Her daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan, husband, Abhishek Bachchan, and father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, are also in hospital being treated for the virus.
Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan are also well-known actors. Amitabh, 77, tweeted on Sunday that he had tested positive.
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Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here taking the blog for a little bit.
In good news, the Australian Capital Territory has recorded no new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. There are five active cases in the territory currently.
However, people in the ACT who have visited Sydney’s Covid hotspots are being asked to self-isolate.
Authorities today advised people who visited the Plus Fitness gym in Campbelltown in Sydney (from 9am to 10am on Saturday 11 July) or the Thai Rock restaurant in Wetherill Park on 9-12 and 14 July to isolate for 14 days and contact ACT Health.
Earlier in the week, the ACT made it mandatory for people to self-isolate if they had visited the Crossroads hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula or the Picton hotel between 3 and 10 July.
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Daniel Andrews has closed out the press conference with some stern words for those complaining about stay-at-home orders.
[There is] a very clear message to all Victorians, particularly some of those featured on social media. Whether you are in Broadmeadows or Brighton, stay at home means stay at home, and if walking your local streets is boring, well, being bored is much better than being in intensive care.
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Daniel Andrews is asked about increasing reports of it taking contact tracers multiple days to contact people and business who are close contacts and need to isolate.
I am aware of some reporting. Again, what’s most important to acknowledge here is the team is getting close to more than 2,000 now.
We have got support from different state government organisations, commonwealth public servants, a whole range of corporate staff and, of course, ADF.
Certainly from a leadership tasking point of view, it’s a big team, but the task is big too. The task is very big and it does take time to get to people. They are all doing their very best, but they are always keen to improve every single day.
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During this press conference the chief health officer, Brett Sutton, throws gentle shade at the Australian health minister’s failure to correctly put on a mask at a press conference last week.
I won’t do a Greg Hunt, I will put it on properly.
Here was Hunt’s attempt.
WATCH: Health Minister Greg Hunt is encouraging Victorians to wear a face mask when they cannot practise social distancing - providing a demonstration.
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) July 13, 2020
More here: https://t.co/phDzy1UD94#COVID19 #9News pic.twitter.com/8XfF3StNXY
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Three new Victorian aged-care homes battle Covid-19 infections
The health minister of Victoria, Jenny Mikakos, says three additional aged-care homes have now reported Covid-19 cases.
The three new aged-care facilities are Bethlehem aged-care facility in Bendigo, Bill Crawford Lodge in Ballarat – my understanding is both those cases it is a single staff member that has tested positive in each of those facilities – and also Bupa in Edithvale.
As I said we continue to be concerned about the number of our rates that we have across aged-care facilities in Victoria, they have been to date concentrated in Melbourne, but now having facilities in regional communities as well is concerning.
There has also been an additional single case at the Australian Lamb Company meat processing plant in Colac.
The refrigeration I guess may create some additional risks [in abattoirs], we are aware of this being an issue in the United States, in other locations, so we are working very closely with that sector.
In the past we have undertaken testing across various meat processing facilities and that is something that we are considering at the moment.
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405 Victorian healthcare workers now infected
The chief health officer of Victoria, Brett Sutton, says 11 additional healthcare officers have tested positive since yesterday, bringing the state’s total to 405.
However, there has been a decrease in overall hospitalisations in Victoria.
We have had a decrease in the total number of hospitalised patients, it is 110 as of today, which has decreased by 12 since yesterday, 25 patients in intensive care, which is in full – which is, fortunately, a decrease in six from yesterday, 18 patients remain on ventilators, which is a decrease of four since yesterday.
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Daniel Andrews says the hard lockdown imposed on the public housing tower at 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne also ends tonight, and residents will move to the same stage three lockdown imposed on the rest of the city.
It’s not as if there are no rules that apply at 11.59pm tonight just because the 14 days of hard lockdown have ended. There is still a framework and everyone is expected to be part of that.
Andrews says a large portion of the tower’s residents will remain in hard lockdown however, with positive cases and close contacts still required to self-isolate.
While that 14-day lockdown ends tonight, the notion of quarantine or the notion of being isolated in your residence, that will not end for a number of people for a number of days to come ... that’s no different to any other resident, regardless of their landlord or their postcard anywhere in metropolitan Melbourne.
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Today’s 217 cases is a significant decrease in case numbers from yesterday’s 428.
It’s been noted several times by Victoria’s chief health officer that the results of strict city-wide lockdowns in Melbourne would take upwards of 10 days to be reflected in case numbers. Today marks the 10th day, potentially suggesting they have had an impact. However, there have been significant fluctuations in case numbers in previous weeks.
Daniel Andrews says he does not have any additional announcements to make today in relation to additional lockdowns but reiterated the need for people to stay at home.
Stay at home means stay at home unless you need to go out, and then only for the things that you absolutely need. So food shopping, things of that nature. Getting care, giving care, those sorts of things, going to work, all of that is fine. But only if you need to. If you can work from home you must work from home. If you don’t necessarily need additional supplies then you should not be going out to get those additional supplies.
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Victoria records 217 more Covid-19 cases
The premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, is speaking now.
Andrews says 217 cases have been added to the state total since yesterday.
He confirms two more people have died, a woman and a man both in their 80s.
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Global Covid-19 cases surpass 14 million
More than 14 million people across the globe have now been infected with Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Three countries make up 6 million of these cases: the US with more than 3.6 million, Brazil with around 2 million and India which has just surpassed one million cases.
More than 600,000 people have now died of the virus worldwide.
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The Australian Greens have criticised the prime minister’s suspension of parliament.
Democracy should not be a victim of the pandemic.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) July 18, 2020
Every other organisation has been asked to work out how to function with health based restrictions, and Parliament should be able to as well. pic.twitter.com/OozOIn3zBc
China reports 22 new Covid-19 cases
China has reported 22 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for 17 July, up from 10 cases a day earlier.
Of the new infections, 16 were in the far western region of Xinjiang, according to a statement by the National Health Commission on Saturday. The other six were imported cases. China reported 14 new asymptomatic patients, up from five a day earlier.
As of Friday, mainland China had 83,644 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The Covid-19 death toll remained at 4,634.
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The NSW deputy chief health officer, Jeremy McAnulty, urged all New South Wales residents with symptoms to get tested.
It’s important to note that it’s not just these clusters we are worried about, with Covid being so active, anywhere in NSW.
If you have the symptoms, don’t hesitate, come forward to one of the Covid clinics, one of the respiratory clinics that the commonwealth has set up, or through your GP where you can get tested.
Don’t be shy, come forward for testing. Even if you have been tested before and symptoms recur, come forward for testing again.
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Batemans Bay restaurant patrons asked to isolate
Residents who visited the Soldiers Club bistro in Batemans Bay in New South Wales on 15 July between 7pm and 9.30pm have been asked to isolate for two weeks. This is after two Covid-19-positive people dined there while asymptomatic but possibly infectious.
It is understood they also visited the McDonald’s at Albion Park on 15 July from 2pm to 2.30pm. Those who visited the fast-food restaurant are asked to watch carefully for symptoms and isolate if they develop.
It is unclear if these cases are linked to other known outbreaks.
The cluster at Planet Fitness gym at Casula has now grown to six cases.
“We now have six cases associated with Planet Fitness gym who all so far attended on the evening of 8 July. So again that reinforces the importance of people who have been to the Planet Fitness gym to isolate and come forward for testing if they have been in that period from the fourth,” the NSW deputy chief health officer, Jeremy McAnulty, said.
This cluster is associated with the Crossroad hotel outbreak in Casula.
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NSW records 15 new Covid-19 cases overnight
Five of the 15 new cases in New South Wales are linked to the Crossroads hotel cluster. One is a case linked to the Thai Rock restaurant in Wetherill Park.
The remaining cases, including two from the same household, remain under investigation.
15 new cases of #COVID19 have been diagnosed in NSW between 8pm on 16 July and 8pm on 17 July.
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 18, 2020
For the latest list of COVID-19 locations, visit: https://t.co/pqkRdfh3cR pic.twitter.com/ZDTk7Li9ZO
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Free coronavirus antibody tests to be distributed in the UK
The UK government is planning to distribute millions of free coronavirus antibody tests after successful secret trials, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The fingerprick tests, which can tell within 20 minutes if a person has ever been exposed to the coronavirus, were found to be 98.6% accurate in human trials held in June, the newspaper reported.
The test was developed by the UK Rapid Test Consortium (UK-RTC), a partnership between Oxford University and leading UK diagnostics firms.
Britain’s only antibody tests approved thus far have involved blood samples being sent to laboratories for analysis, which can take days, the Telegraph said.
Anticipating a regulatory approval in the coming weeks, tens of thousands of prototypes have already been manufactured in factories across the United Kingdom, the report added.
Ministers are hoping that the AbC-19 lateral flow test will be available for use in a mass screening programme before the end of the year, the newspaper reported.
“It was found to be 98.6% accurate, and that’s very good news,” Chris Hand, the leader of the UK-RTC, was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
“We’re now scaling up with our partners to produce hundreds of thousands of doses every month,” Hand said, adding the government’s health department was in talks with UK-RTC over buying millions of tests before the year ends.
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African vaccination benefits ‘far outweighs’ virus child death risk, Lancet study says
Continuing routine immunisations against diseases such as measles and yellow fever for children in Africa would far outweigh the risk of infant deaths from Covid-19, health experts said on Friday.
To assess the extent of the risk to child health, researchers based in Britain and Switzerland created a mathematical model that simulated the spread of Covid-19 for all 54 countries in Africa.
They assumed based on similar countries’ experience with the virus that around 60% of each population would end up contracting the coronavirus and that it would disrupt health services for six months on average.
According to the model, continuing with routine immunisations could lead to 8,300 additional child deaths across Africa from Covid-19.
However, disrupting vaccinations to avoid coronavirus deaths could see more than 700,000 children die throughout the continent before they reach the age of five.
The research, published in the Lancet medical journal, focused on the impact of vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, flu, measles, rubella and yellow fever among others.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s fund warned on Wednesday that the first four months of 2020 saw a “substantial drop” in the three-dose jab that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
At least 30 countries had cancelled or might cancel measles vaccination programs, the UN said.
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Mexico records more than 700 new deaths
Mexico’s health ministryhas reported 7,257 new coronavirus infections and 736 additional fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 331,298 cases and 38,310 deaths.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
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South Australian police tightening Victorian border patrols
South Australian police say dog squads will be joining police and Australian defence force personnel at checkpoints from today.
Police commissioner Grant Stevens said the new measures came after police received intelligence that people were hiding in freight carriers to get across the border.
In a statement, he said those found illegally crossing the border could receive fines of up to $1,000.
This sends a strong message to anyone thinking about sneaking across the border that they will be caught. They will then be placed in quarantine and removed from South Australia as quickly as possible.
Police say the dog operations will begin at the checkpoint near Renmark and travel to other border checkpoints during the week.
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In the US, California’s governor has announced strict rules for the reopening of school that would prevent the vast majority of students from returning to classrooms in the autumn as coronavirus cases hit their highest levels yet in the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced new guidance on Friday mandating that public schools in California counties that are on a monitoring list for rising coronavirus infections cannot hold in-person classes and will have to meet rigorous criteria for reopening.
With 31 of California’s 58 counties now on that monitoring list, including the state’s most populous areas, that would mean most of the state’s 10,000 schools are unlikely to start the school year with in-person instruction.
The conversation over reopening schools has become politically fraught, with Donald Trump earlier this month saying his administration would pressure governors to reopen schools to in-person instruction this fall.
US education secretary Betsy DeVos has also backed Trump’s demands, despite a long history of championing local control and pushing back on federal mandates.
You can read the full story below.
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Anthony Albanese said the government should have made an announcement regarding jobkeeper and jobseeker before requesting parliament be cancelled.
Had the government made its decision clear to the public before this announcement, then people would have been able to have a view as to whether the changes that will be made and announced this Thursday are up to scratch or not.
Up to this point, there’s 3 million Australians who remain uncertain as to whether support will be given to their job past September. There are small businesses who remain in uncertain territory, unsure of whether they will continue to have support.
And jobseeker – under the current legislation – runs out and reverts to the old $40-a-day level come September unless legislation is changed.
The government is expected to make an announcement on support packages next Thursday. Albanese said the new system needs to be comprehensive.
[It] needs to provide that ongoing support, because the government – with this decision by the prime minister to cancel the parliament – is saying, himself, that it’s not business as usual.
Well, if it’s not business as usual for the parliament of Australia, it certainly isn’t business as usual for those small businesses relying upon jobkeeper and those people who are maintaining a work relationship and an income as a result of jobkeeper.
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Anthony Albanese says Labor accepts Scott Morrison's decision to postpone parliament
The Australian Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, says the opposition accepts Scott Morrison’s decision to postpone parliament, but has attacked the lack of consultation about the decision.
He said:
Labor has always said that we need to follow the advice by the health experts. When it comes to this sitting though, it is problematic. Because Labor has also always argued that the government needs to be held to account, particularly because of the uncertainty that remains with jobkeeper and jobseeker.
We believe it’s absolutely critical that the parliament sit in September, and we expect to be consulted much further in advance from any decision being made than what’s occurred with these circumstances.
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Just on that news of Australian prime minister Scott Morrison requesting the cancellation of the upcoming parliamentary sitting:
This is due to fears of politicians from more heavily infected states mingling and potentially spreading the disease to other states and territories.
Victoria’s case numbers have now exceeded 400 a day, and NSW is struggling to control a large cluster stemming from the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney.
In a statement the acting chief medical officer of Australia said:
The entry of a high-risk group of individuals could jeopardise the health situation in the [Australian Capital Territory] and place residents at unnecessary risk of infection. In addition, the health risk to members and senators and their staff from other jurisdictions is a material concern.
It is my medical advice that, despite proposed mitigation measures, these risks would be significantly higher in the context of a parliamentary sitting period due to the number of persons travelling from Victoria and the inevitable mixing with ACT residents, members, senators, staff and visitors within Parliament House.
If the speaker of the House grants this request, it means the next parliament sitting fortnight will begin on 24 August rather than 4 August as planned.
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Australia can expect 'some form of income support' after September jobkeeper cut off
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says some form of “income support” will continue when the federal government’s jobkeeper wage subsidy ends at the end of September.
“There will be another phase of income support,” Frydenberg told the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, adding that “maintaining business and household confidence is going to be critical”.
Tourism, arts and recreation, hospitality and aviation were key industries that needed support, he said.
The government is expected to outline further support measures in a major economic statement on Thursday.
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Hello, Matilda Boseley here to guide you through the next few hours of news.
Here are the main developments with the pandemic from around the world:
- The World Health Organization reported the greatest increase in global cases, with the total rising by 237,743 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report.
- In Brazil, the spread of the virus is no longer thought to be exponential, though there is no guarantee it will recede without intervention, health officials have said. The news presents an opportunity to get the outbreak under control, the WHO’s emergencies program head, Mike Ryan, has said.
- India has became the third country in the world to record more than 1 million coronavirus cases, while the list of US states requiring face coverings in public grew as the country reported at least 70,000 new cases, a record daily jump for the seventh time this month.
- The next sitting of the Australian parliament has been postponed as the country faces a second wave of cases in the second-most populous state, Victoria. The country’s chief medical officer said there was too great a risk of infection being spread.
- Boris Johnson has outlined a plan for the UK to return to normality but it has been met with scepticism.
- The European Union is negotiating advance purchase deals of potential Covid-19 vaccines with drugmakers Moderna, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and biotech firms BioNtech and CureVac, two EU sources told Reuters.
- The reproduction rate of the novel coronavirus in the Brittany region has risen sharply in less than a week, the latest indication that the virus is again gaining momentum in France.
- Authorities urged some 4 million people in Spain’s Catalonia to stay home, as the region battles a growing number of new coronavirus clusters.
- The Japanese government is facing a backlash after excluding Tokyo residents from a multibillion-dollar campaign aimed at reviving domestic tourism, even as the capital on Friday reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases.
- Hong Kong authorities reported 50 locally transmitted cases on Friday, stoking further concern about an escalating third wave of infections in the global financial hub.
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Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of curbs to lower infection rates.
- Global share markets treaded water on Friday and government bond yields edged lower as investors waited on the European Union to iron out the details of an expected multibillion-euro recovery fund.
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