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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Davidson (now), Jedidajah Otte Aaron WalawalkarMattha Busby Christopher Knaus and Matilda Boseley (earlier)

Italy infections spike; Madrid tightens lockdown – as it happened

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

There’s a lot of news around today, so we will shortly be consolidating our live blogs. For continuing global coverage of the pandemic as well as the latest on President Donald Trump, please head here:

AAP: after New South Wales recorded its ninth consecutive day with no community transmission cases, state premier Gladys Berejiklian said today the state’s public sector workers would be urged to return to offices over coming weeks in a move considered to be a significant step in the virus recovery.

“The health and safety of the people of NSW has always been our number one priority, however we are also focused on firing up the economy,” she said.

“We are now encouraging public servants to physically return to work in their offices in a Covid-safe way, which will help stimulate city-based businesses and create more jobs across the state.”

Managers will be encouraged to use flexible rostering and workers are asked to avoid using public transport during peak periods whenever possible.

Updated

Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 757,953 on Saturday, according to the health ministry, with a total reported death toll of 78,880.

Authorities reported 4,863 new cases and 388 deaths, but the true figures are likely significantly higher due to limited testing.

Trump medical team 'cautiously optimistic'

White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, has just sent out a new update on Trump, from his doctor Sean Conley.

Conley says Trump has made “substantial progress since his diagnosis” and has just taken his second dose of Remdesivir “without complication”.

He remains fever-free and off supplemental oxygen with a saturation level between 96% and 98% all day. He spent most of the day conducting business and has been up and moving about the medical suite without difficulty. While not out of the woods yet, the team remains cautiously optimistic. The plan for tomorrow is to continue observation in between doses of Remdesivir, closely monitoring his clinical status while fully supporting his conduct of presidential duties.”

Updated

Biden camp to release all Covid test results

AP: US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is committing to releasing the results of all future Covid-19 tests the candidate takes.

Biden spokesman Andrew Bates repeated on Saturday evening that the former vice president is tested regularly. But before President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis earlier this week Biden had not disclosed full details of his testing protocol or the results of each test.

Biden told reporters on Saturday in Wilmington that he was not tested earlier in the day but would be tested Sunday morning. His campaign said he tested negative for Covid twice on Friday.

Joe Biden in Wilmington, DE, on Saturday.
Joe Biden in Wilmington, DE, on Saturday. Photograph: Saquan Stimpson/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Bates said in the statement that Biden was not in close contact with Trump, his family members or his aides during their debate Tuesday night. Several people in Trump’s orbit have tested positive in recent days.

Biden’s campaign also emphasised in its latest statement that for months Biden and his campaign have followed public health guidelines on wearing masks and social distancing. At the same time, Trump has held large public rallies without requiring masks or enforcing social distancing.

Updated

Away from Victoria and Australia for a moment:

“Asked what it’s been like for insiders trying to get information about the president and the virus spreading through the government, a senior White House official told Intelligencer, “That’s easy. We don’t get any.”

New York Magazine has published some inside information on the White House cluster. You can read it in full here, but there are some alarming claims worth pulling out.

The Intelligencer column cites White House sources saying no one is being told anything about the growing cluster inside their workplace.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of people who work on-complex, some who have families with high-risk family members. Since this whole thing started not one email has gone out to tell employees what to do or what’s going on,” said a senior official.

The rest of the piece notes discrepancies in timelines given by the White House, and quotes medical experts saying the admission that Trump is taking Remdesivir suggests he is suffering moderate or severe Covid-19.

Updated

Dan Andrews' press conference ends

That’s it for the Andrews press conference. We’ll have a full wrap from Calla Wahlquist shortly.

Updated

Aged care numbers are dropping. Is Brett Sutton confident that the outbreak in the sector is under control?

The numbers are under control. Again, there’s a fragility there because every single new case needs to be doing the right thing, testing as soon as they get symptoms and isolating if they’re working in those settings.

There’s a real awareness now for everyone who’s working in an active outbreak to look out for residents who present new symptoms and of course for any of those staff members who develop symptoms to be isolating, testing. So that’s happening and that gives you a much greater sense of control. But it’s fragile.”

Updated

Sutton is asked the question that was directed at Andrews earlier: how confident are you Victoria can almost have its rolling average within two weeks?

“Obviously some of the numbers on a daily basis have clearly been driven by our existing clusters and outbreaks,” he says.

If we can get really good control of those in the next few days ... then those numbers come off our future daily numbers. So instead of 12 cases with six linked to outbreaks and clusters today, we should just see six cases.”

Updated

Q: Do you think on grand final day we might be in position to allow bigger public gatherings or pubs to watch the game?

Andrews: I wish I could provide you with an answer to that question today. What I can say is we’ll have ... people will have a clearer picture once we get to 18th, 19th, around that period which is just a couple of weeks away, we’ll be in a better position to give people a clearer sense of what the following week and the weeks ahead will look like. If I could say it now, of course I would.

Fans lining the parade route during the 2019 AFL grand final parade on 27 September 27 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.
Fans lining the parade route during the 2019 AFL grand final parade on 27 September 27 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Q: That date is 14 days away from tomorrow. Are you confident that the 14-day average can get down from 11.9 to five in just two weeks?

A: As confident as you can be. You can’t be certain, that’s not the nature of this virus ... Hopefully to the question in relation to people gathering for the grand final – hopefully we can finish up in a situation where we have got arrangements that are pretty close to what’s happening in regional Victoria. There’ll be a big focus on outdoors but may be some inside. It’s just bit too early for us to be able to say now.

Updated

Ninth day of no community cases in NSW

For the ninth consecutive day, the state of New South Wales has reported no recent cases of locally transmitted Covid‑19, the health department has just announced.

In the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday, there were two cases reported among returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,045.

Since the start of the pandemic more than half the state’s cases are likely to have stemmed from an overseas source, the department said. There have been 393 cases with no known source.

Updated

Remember the apocalypse before this one, the summer bushfires? Well the time for prepping for the next season is fast approaching. Andrews says they’ve been asked consistently about people who want to travel to the regions to start working on their property to get ready. He says he’ll have more to say on that soon.

Updated

Andrews and Sutton are asked if the Covid safe app helped track down any of the cases in the current clusters.

Andrews says he’s downloaded the app, and asks that others do too. The question is repeated.

The Covid-safe app.
The Covid-safe app. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Andrews says he’s “not interested” in talking about the app.

“I’d rather spend my time and the time of our audience today and everyday simply commending to every Victorian, please download the app.”

Updated

Andrews is asked to explain the following:

“On Friday, we learnt that one of the nine workers who tested positive for coronavirus while working in hotel quarantine between July 27 and the end of August had been working shifts at an aged care facility and at the Grand Chancellor hotel ... This was happening at a point where you told hundreds of thousands of Victorians that they couldn’t go to work because we were trying to spread the limit of coronavirus.”

It’s not known if the person was infectious at that time, which Andrews says is a key question.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

“We’re doing everything that we can to limit movement. Sometimes, you can’t get it 100%. You can’t reduce that to zero, but the key point there is whether the person was infectious,” Andrews says.

“The program has been reset since then, and that’s a process which takes time.

“I dare say that you know, in any workforce ... even despite some pretty concerted efforts, there may well be a very small number of people who, for a period of time ... may have worked in their own transition period ... They may have worked at more than one place.”

Updated

Asked if they think it’s justified to have regional Victoria – an area 23 times the size of metro Melbourne – on restrictions for just three cases, Sutton says: “Clearly we do.”

He says there is movement across the regions, and it includes border towns.

“We need regional Victoria to be in a position where it can have that movement, potentially across to other jurisdictions.”

Updated

Among the infected healthcare workers there are 17 aged care workers, 14 nursing staff and one medical practitioner.

Sutton says this is in line with the relative split throughout the outbreak, with aged care and nursing staff making up most of the cases.

Updated

Among today’s new cases there are three linked to the Butchers Club at Chadstone shopping centre (total now: 20) and three linked to the medical centre in Ashwood.

The Mitchell shire case is linked to the Butchers Club outbreak, and Sutton says regional Victoria will remain at risk through the movement of essential workers, but everyone is working to protect the region from new cases.

“The numbers are a bit high today but the trend is on track.”

There is only one person in ICU on a ventilator and three in intensive care.

Updated

Chief health officer Brett Sutton now:

“Outdoor activities are actually fine if you do them safely,” he said.

“I know we focused on rule breakers yesterday but I have seen many examples of people doing absolutely the right thing, enjoying the outdoors.

Victoria chief health officer Brett Sutton.
Victoria chief health officer Brett Sutton. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“We know that it is good for emotional wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, so it is important to get out. But the rules are no more than two households coming together or no more than five people, or indeed your entire household as a collective, and keeping your distance from other groups.”

Updated

Dan Andrews press conference begins

Andrews is up now.

Here are the latest numbers:

  • 806 Victorians have died so far, the latest death is a man in his 80s and linked to aged care.
  • 2,745,493 test results received so far, including almost 12,000 since yesterday.
  • 32 healthcare worker are among active cases.
  • rolling seven-day average is 11.9 in metropolitan Melbourne and 0.2 in regional Victoria.
  • 18 metro cases in the past week are mystery cases with an unknown source.
  • There is one new case in Mitchell shire and another two active cases in regional Victoria.
  • There are 91 aged care cases and that number continues to fall
  • There is one in disability care – a staff member

“We’ve got to stay the course on this, we’re so so close,” he says.

‘if you want to spend summer at the beach [you can] if we don’t do anything silly right now.’
‘if you want to spend summer at the beach [you can] if we don’t do anything silly right now.’ Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Andrews urges people to behave better especially with the weekend’s warmer weather.

“if you want to spend summer at the beach [you can] if we don’t do anything silly right now.”

Updated

Victoria’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, has praised the social distancing on display at a Melbourne park on Saturday night, one of the warmest nights of spring so far.


Police are continuing to patrol St Kilda beach, where very social but not especially distant crowds reportedly gathered on Friday night. Councils in bayside suburbs have warned residents, particularly non-locals, to stay away from the beach during crowded times. Some residents have criticised the City of Port Phillip for painting social-distancing circles on the ground, which they said encouraged people to come down.

Updated

Hello everyone, Helen Davidson here in Sydney to take you through the next few hours.

Victorian premier Dan Andrews is scheduled to stand up in a few minutes. I’ll bring you those updates.

Updated

US president Donald Trump has just posted a video message from the Walter Reed hospital where he is being treated for Covid-19.

“I came here, wasn’t feeling so well. I feel much better now, we’re working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back because we still have to make America great again,” he says.

“I think I’ll be back soon and I look forward to finishing the campaign the way we started.”

Donald Trump leaves the White House to go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Donald Trump leaves the White House to go to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

He said he’s fighting for everyone all over the world who got “this coronavirus or whatever you want to call it”.

He said some of the therapeutics he’s taking now, and some that are coming out soon, “frankly they’re miracles”.

He says Melania Trump is faring well, noting she is younger than he is (and statistically likely to handle to virus better).

He says he was given the option to stay at the White House recuperating but he didn’t want to so he went to Walter Reed.

“This is the most powerful country in the world. I can’t be locked in a room upstairs.”

Updated

A note on coronavirus deaths in Victoria

Victoria recorded no new deaths on 15 September, the first day without a death recorded since 13 July. The next lowest total, equal to today, is one death recorded on 26 September.

There have been 45 deaths reported in the past 14 days, so the rolling average is 3.2. To date, 806 people have died after testing positive to Covid-19 in Victoria, 90% of all deaths recorded in Australia.

Summary

Here the latest key developments at a glance:

That’s everything from me for today, my colleagues in Australia will take over shortly. Thanks for reading and writing in, goodnight.

Updated

Victoria, Australia, records 12 new cases and one death

Victoria, the state of Australia most affected by Covid-19, has recorded just 12 new cases and one life lost in the past 24 hours. That’s the equal lowest death toll for almost a month.

The rolling 14-day average is now just 11.9. The state government has said it will not move to the next stage of eased restrictions until the rolling 14-day average is five new cases a day – now expected to be 19 October. There have been just 13 cases with an unknown source in the past 14 days.

Updated

Brazil on Saturday registered 599 new coronavirus deaths and 26,310 new confirmed cases, the health ministry said.

The country now has a total of 145,987 dead due to the coronavirus and 4,906,833 confirmed cases, making it the second worst affected country globally, after the US and before India, which has the third highest death toll in the world.

A view of Taruma Park cemetery, used to bury coronavirus victims, as the death toll rises in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
A view of Taruma Park cemetery, used to bury coronavirus victims, as the death toll rises in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

The former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has checked himself into a hospital Saturday afternoon as a precautionary measure after announcing earlier in the day that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

Christie, who has asthma, said he decided it was best to be monitored in hospital, after a consultation with his doctor.

He reported having a slight fever and aches but said he felt well enough to drive himself to the hospital.

Though he said his breathing is fine, Christie told CNN he had started a course of the Covid-19 treatment remdesivir after being admitted.

Christie had previously helped president Donald Trump in his preparation for debates with challenger Joe Biden.

This from the BBC’s Emily Maitlis:

Updated

Hundreds of protesters opposed to mask wearing and other coronavirus measures gathered at a lakeside town in southern Germany on Saturday for rallies that were smaller than planned.

The gathering in the city of Konstanz on the border with Switzerland fell far short of the expected 15,000 people, with police saying roughly 1,000 had arrived in the area and all the events had passed off peacefully.

Similar events in August in Berlin - attended by a mix of the extreme left and right, anti-vaccination campaigners, conspiracy theorists and self-described free thinkers - had attracted roughly 20,000 people.

A demonstrator holds up a placard reading ‘Fake news - Trump tested positive’ to protest against masks and virus restrictions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Konstanz, southern Germany.
A demonstrator holds up a placard reading ‘Fake news - Trump tested positive’ to protest against masks and virus restrictions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Konstanz, southern Germany. Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

Germany enforces similar rules to many other European countries, obliging people to wear masks on public transport and keep 1.5 metres (five feet) apart where possible are among the most prominent.

But the country has consistently had a lower rate of infection than most of its neighbours and has managed to avoid the kind of restrictive blanket lockdowns seen in Spain and Italy.

“People need to think a bit more about this... and not be so afraid of nature because viruses and bacteria are part of nature,” one participant, Ella, 51, told AFP.

Police were out in force to patrol the rallies after one of the previous gatherings saw groups of protesters try to break into the parliament building in Berlin.

The rallies have also caused outrage after images showed some participants with Nazi insignia.

Updated

Tunisian authorities will ban all gatherings and reduce working hours for employees in the public sector in order to stop the rapid spread of the coronavirus, prime minister Hichem Mechichi said on Saturday.

The decision was taken amid strong fears that hospitals in the North African nation will be unable to cope with a high number of patients because of the shortage of intensive-care beds.

The total number of coronavirus cases has jumped to more than 20,000 compared with roughly 1,000 cases before the country’s borders were reopened on 27 June.

Children at a school in Tunis, Tunisia. According to the Tunisian Ministry of Health coronavirus cases are on the rise, which prompted the government to impose a night curfew in Monastir and Sousse provinces until 15 October.
Children at a school in Tunis, Tunisia. According to the Tunisian Ministry of Health coronavirus cases are on the rise, which prompted the government to impose a night curfew in Monastir and Sousse provinces until 15 October. Photograph: Mohamed Messara/EPA

In a speech announcing the latest measures to combat the virus, Mechichi said he gave orders to Tunisia’s governors to implement a regional lockdown if necessary.

But he added it was unthinkable to reimpose a nationwide lockdown because of the unprecedented economic collapse caused by the first lockdown in March.

Tunisia’s tourism-dependent economy shrank 21.6% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year as a result of the pandemic and measures to curb it, Reuters reports.

Updated

A spokesperson for the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care has told the Guardian that the government currently does not know exactly how many new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours.

They said “some new data” would be published over the next couple of days, “but currently, we do not have a breakdown showing which cases are from today and which from a previous period”.

A technical issue resulting in conflated old and new test results was blamed, and the spokesperson said this would affect reported cases for a number of days. “This issue does not affect people receiving their Covid-19 test results. All people who tested positive have received their Covid-19 test result in the normal way,” they added.

The delayed results all refer to positive cases identified between 24 September and 1 October.

“The issue will affect the total new cases published on the Covid-19 dashboard over the coming days, which will be updated to provide accurate data on the total number of positive cases over this period,” the spokesperson added.

Updated

UK reports staggering 12,872 new infections in one day

The UK reported 12,872 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to Saturday, nearly double the number reported a day earlier.

On Friday, the government had reported 6,968 new infections.

The figures, normally released daily at 4pm GMT, were only published just before 9pm on Saturday.

A government website blamed a “technical issue”, which has now been resolved, for “a delay in publishing a number of Covid-19 cases to the dashboard in England. This means the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases from the period between 24 September and 1 October, increasing the number of cases reported.”

This from the Labour MP Justin Madders:

Updated

Thousands of Israelis protested again across the country on Saturday, flouting a new law meant to curb anti-government demonstrations during a new national coronavirus lockdown.

The street protests, just three days after parliament approved an edict to limit the scope of such demonstrations, kept pressure on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and over allegations of corruption, which he denies.

The new law bans Israelis from holding demonstrations more than 1km (about half a mile) from their homes and forces stricter social distancing, a measure the government said was aimed at curbing Covid-19 infections.

Anti-Netenyahu protests continue in Israel on 3 October, 2020.
Anti-Netenyahu protests continue in Israel on 3 October, 2020. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Critics have called it a blow to freedom of speech.

Most protests on Saturday night were small and scattered throughout the country, though a crowd of thousands gathered in Tel Aviv.

A small number of protesters scuffled with police and tried to block city streets. About 15 people were arrested, a police spokesman said, according to Reuters.

Israel has shut down much of its economy and instructed people to stay within a kilometre of their homes whenever possible in an effort to contain a second-wave surge in coronavirus infections.

Updated

Pope Francis on Saturday made his first trip since the Vatican’s coronavirus lockdown, though it was a solitary affair for the crowd-loving Argentine due to pandemic precautions.

Francis visited the central Italian town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake saint, where he signed his new encyclical – a document laying out the pope’s views on key issues – called “Fratelli tutti” on the importance of fraternity and social friendship, particularly during the pandemic.

The pope’s last trip was to the southern Italian port city of Bari on 23 February for a meeting with Mediterranean bishops, AFP reports.

As the virus began to spread around the world earlier in the year, Francis instead reached out through a live-streamed mass, performed alone on Saint Peter’s Square.

“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said in the historic March address, describing the coronavirus “tempest” as having put everyone “in the same boat”.

Pope Francis waves from the seat of a car as he leaves the lower Basilica of San Francesco, in Assisi, Italy, on 3 October 2020.
Pope Francis waves from the seat of a car as he leaves the lower Basilica of San Francesco, in Assisi, Italy, on 3 October 2020. Photograph: Gianluigi Basilietti/EPA

Updated

Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, has said he was worried that Boris Johnson would die after the prime minister was taken into intensive care with coronavirus in April.

Raab, who stood in for Johnson when he became unwell, told the Conservative party conference on Saturday that he was often asked how he felt during that time, and admitted he was “really worried that we might lose him”.

He said coronavirus had affected every community and nearly taken the life of Johnson, whom he called a “friend as well as a leader”.

My colleague Sarah Marsh reports.

Ireland is seeing a “significant escalation” in coronavirus infections, the acting chief medical officer said on Saturday after reporting the highest daily death toll since May and the third-highest number of daily cases recorded to date.

Like most of Europe, Ireland has seen a steady increase in infections since the end of July and has tightened restrictions as a result, including banning all indoor restaurant dining and most trips in and out of the capital, Dublin, Reuters reports.

The 613 new cases on Saturday was the highest daily total since late April, when the country was still in a full lockdown.

Ten more people died, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 1,810.

“The numbers being reported today and over the past week represent a significant escalation in the profile of Covid-19 in Ireland,” acting chief medical officer Ronan Glynn said in a statement.

Glynn urged people over the age of 70 and those who are medically vulnerable to Covid-19 to limit the number of people they meet to a very small core group of family members, carers or friends, and for short periods of time.

Ireland has reported just over 100 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, the 16th-highest Covid-19 infection rate out of 31 European countries monitored by the European Centre for Disease Control.

People attend an anti-mask protest organised by Health Free Ireland at Custom House in Dublin on Saturday, 3 October, 2020.
People attend an anti-mask protest organised by Health Free Ireland at Custom House in Dublin on Saturday, 3 October, 2020. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

Updated

France reports record 16,972 new infections in one day

France reported 16,972 new confirmed cases over the past 24 hours on Saturday, a new daily record, as well as 49 new deaths.

Saturday’s daily toll is 4,824 cases higher than Friday’s 12,148, which was lower than Thursday’s 13,970 and well below highs of more than 16,000 recorded last week.

There were 4,087 new cases of people being hospitalised over the last seven days, including 849 in intensive care units.

The rate of positive coronavirus tests in France rose to 7.9% from 7.7% on Friday.

Updated

Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko has been hospitalised in Kiev with double pneumonia, days after he tested positive for Covid-19, AFP reports.

“Petro Oleksiyovych [Poroshenko] was hospitalised,”, his wife, Maryna Poroshenko, said in a video on Facebook. “Despite the fact that my husband has double pneumonia, he is strong-willed and is demonstrating this in the fight against the disease.”

Poroshenko, 55, announced on Tuesday that he had tested positive for coronavirus and said he was receiving treatment at home.

Poroshenko, who is currently a member of the Ukrainian parliament, suffers from diabetes, which is associated with an increased risk of developing complications from the coronavirus.

He led Ukraine after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the outbreak of a conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the east of the country. In 2019 he was easily beaten in presidential elections by Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience.

Ukraine, one of Europe’s poorest countries, with a population of 40 million, has reported more than 222,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 4,300 fatalities.

Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Zelensky’s wife both contracted the virus, but have recovered.

Updated

This from Politico’s Gabby Orr:

US president Donald Trump is “doing very well” and is fever-free at a military hospital on Saturday a day after he tested positive for coronavirus, the president’s doctor said on Saturday.

But a person familiar with the situation said some of Trump’s vital signs over the last 24 hours were concerning, and that the next 48 hours would be critical in terms of his care.

Trump was moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington on Friday just hours after his diagnosis.

White House doctor Sean P Conley told reporters outside the hospital on Saturday that Trump had not experienced difficulty breathing, and had not been given supplemental oxygen. “The team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made,” he said.

It was, however, pointed out immediately that Conley’s exact words were that the president wasn’t on oxygen “right now”.

This from the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman:

The White House has said Trump, 74, will work in a special suite at the hospital for the next few days as a precautionary measure.

During the press conference, Dr Brian Garibaldi, who is involved in the president’s care, told reporters: “About 48 hours ago, the president received a special antibody therapy directed against the coronavirus […] Yesterday evening he received his first dosage of Remdesivir and our plan is to continue a 5-day course.”

This from the ABC’s Jonathan Karl:

This from my colleague Lauren Gambino:

Updated

Italy reports highest rise in infections since April

Italy on Saturday reported 2,844 new coronavirus cases, its highest daily tally since April, when the country was still in lockdown.

Twenty-seven more people have died with the virus in the last 24 hours, and the death toll now stands at 35,968. The country’s total number of confirmed cases has reached 322,751.

Italy’s government has announced new measures to halt the outbreak to be introduced this month, including making wearing masks compulsory in public at all times.

Interior minister Luciana Lamorgese said the government was also considering using the military to help to enforce the new crackdown. But despite the surge in Covid cases, the government insists there are no plans for a new lockdown.

A local police officer checks people and tourists in front of the Fontana di Trevi during the first day since the wearing of protective masks outdoors has become mandatory in the Lazio region amid the coronavirus pandemic in Rome, Italy, on 3 October 2020.
A local police officer checks people and tourists in front of the Fontana di Trevi during the first day since the wearing of protective masks outdoors has become mandatory in the Lazio region amid the coronavirus pandemic in Rome, Italy, on 3 October 2020. Photograph: Angelo Carconi/EPA

Updated

A woman stranded in London after travelling to the capital from Mauritius in April has said she cannot afford her government’s return fee.

Shahin Kadir, 30, from Mauritius, has been stuck in north London after her country closed its borders in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC reported.

Borders have reopened but the Mauritian government said those returning must pay quarantine fees.

Kadir was on holiday in London at the beginning of March when Mauritius closed its borders, and has been able to stay with relatives in Haringey for the past six months.

“I came to London on a tourist visa and I don’t have the money to pay for a ticket home for about £800 and a quarantine fee of around £1,300,” she said.

“I had to do a Covid-19 test in the UK which was around £200 so it is costing me around £2,000 to go back.

“It’s not something right now I can afford to pay.”

Updated

A further 42 people who tested positive for coronavirus were reported to have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 30,138, NHS England said on Saturday.

Patients were aged between 44 and 100 years old.

Three patients, aged between 49 and 82, had no underlying health conditions.

The deaths occurred between 8 August and 2 October.

Eight other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Hello, I’m taking over from my colleague Aaron now. As ever, feel free to get in touch if you have relevant updates, tips and pointers to share, you can get me on Twitter or via email.

Schools, libraries, mosques and other public institutions in Tehran will be closed for a week as part of measures to stem a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases, Reuters reports.

The closure plan – which will also affect universities, seminaries, libraries, museums, theatres, gyms, cafes and hair salons – came after Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran’s coronavirus taskforce, called for the shutdown to help control the epidemic.

Zali said in an interview on state television that if the spread of the continued at the current rate in the Iranian capital, there would be as much as a five-fold increase in cases and a rise in the fatality rate to between 1.5% and 3%.

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 179 on Saturday to 26,746, and identified cases by 3,523 to 468,119, the health ministry said.

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, speaks at a meeting in Tehran
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, speaks at a meeting in Tehran. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said anyone concealing a Covid-19 infection would face a severe penalty.

“Anyone who feels ill and it’s clear to them that they are ill, must not hide their illness,” Rouhani said in televised remarks. Otherwise they will be committing “the highest offence” that will demand “the highest punishment”.

Those not wearing a mask in public will be fined, he said. Government employees who fail to observe regulations face measures ranging from warnings to a one-year suspension from their posts.

Government offices where people go for services should not serve people who do not observe health protocols, such as wearing masks.
Businesses that flout regulations could face closure.

Rouhani said penalties would be most severe in Tehran, where in recent weeks the daily death toll from the coronavirus has been more than 100 compared with less than 10 at the end of the first wave of the virus earlier this year, according to Zali.

Iran has registered more than 3,500 new cases in each of the past six days, with a record 3,825 cases announced on Thursday, official statistics showed.

Updated

Joe Biden has urged the US public to be patriots by wearing masks.

“Wearing a mask will protect you. But it will also protect those around you — your mom, your dad, your son, your daughter, your neighbour, your co-worker,” the Democratic presidential candidate tweeted.

It is in stark contrast to the messaging of Donald Trump, who has publicly eschewed mask-wearing and social distancing.

Updated

Donald Trump Jr tests negative for Covid-19

The US president’s son has tested negative for Covid-19.

He said on Saturday that he would take another test in a few days time and return to work if the result was still negative.

“I tested negative give it a few more days out of and [sic] abundance of caution and test again and if I’m clear I’ll get back to work,” he tweeted.

Updated

Donald Trump’s physician, Dr Sean Conley, will give an update on the president’s condition in just over an hour, according to the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.

Follow the latest developments in the US in this blog run by my US-based colleagues here:

Updated

UK Covid testing cutoff quietly extended to eight days after first signs

The government has quietly changed its guidance on the number of days within which people with coronavirus symptoms should get tested, the Guardian has learned.

On the government website people are now told: “On day eight, you need to go to a test site,” after an apparent change on Friday morning. Earlier in the day it was quoted as saying: “You need to get the test done in the first five days of having symptoms.”

My colleague Mattha Busby has the full report:

Updated

A partial lockdown has come into effect in Madrid to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The new restrictions began at 10pm on Friday and are set to last for two weeks, as the capital and its suburbs become Europe’s biggest hotspot in the second wave of the virus.

The measures prohibit all nonessential trips in and out of the capital and nine of its suburbs, affecting around 4.8 million people. Police have set up traffic checkpoints, restaurants must close at 11pm and shops at 10pm, and both must limit occupancy to 50% of their capacity.

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the steps were vital to stopping virus outbreaks and preventing a repeat of the scenes of March and April, when hospitals were overrun with dying patients.

A local police officer checks a driver’s identification at a checkpoint
A local police officer checks a driver’s identification at a checkpoint. Photograph: Óscar del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images

Madrid has been worst affected by the resurgence of the virus in Spain, which has Europe’s highest cumulative caseload 770,000 since the onset of the pandemic.

The capital had a two-week infection rate of 695 cases per 100,000 residents on Thursday, more than twice the national average of 274 cases and seven times the European average, which stood at 94 per 100,000 residents last week, according to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 32,000 people have diedof the virus in Spain, according to the health ministry. The true death count is likely to be much higher given the lack of testing during the first weeks of the pandemic.

Updated

Scotland records 764 new coronavirus infections

Scotland has recorded 764 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, according to government figures.

The increase brings the total number of people testing positive for the virus to 31,451.

Four more people have died, bringing the total to 2,530.

Updated

US senator Ron Johnson tests positive for Covid-19

The Republican senator Ron Johnson, who heads the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The spokesman said Johnson “feels healthy and is not experiencing symptoms” but will stay in isolation until he is cleared by a doctor.

The aide did not identify the person Johnson came into contact with recently who also has Covid-19.

Updated

Donald Trump’s opponent Joe Biden has reportedly pulled all negative advertising about the president in response to his Covid-19 diagnosis:

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has joined world leaders in sending a message of sympathy to Donald and Melania Trump following their coronavirus diagnosis.

“My wife, Peng Liyuan, and I express our sympathies to you and your wife and wish you a fast recovery,” Chinese state media cited the message as saying.

Chinese-US relations have tumbled to their lowest point in decades amid disputes over trade, technology, security, Beijing’s tightening of control over Hong Kong and complaints about abuses in China’s north-western region of Xinjiang, Associated Press reports.

Trump has accused China of mishandling the coronavirus outbreak and allowing it to spread, repeatedly referring to it as the “Chinese virus”.

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in April 2017
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in April 2017. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

Updated

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has sent a message of sympathy to Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, expressing his hope that they will recover from coronavirus, state media reported.

“He sincerely hoped that they would recover as soon as possible. He hoped they will surely overcome it,” the Korean Central News Agency reported. “He sent warm greetings to them.”

Kim and Trump once exchanged threats of destruction and crude insults after North Korea in 2017 carried out a series of high-profile weapons tests, but they then developed a personal relationship after Kim abruptly reached out to the US president in 2018 for talks on the fate of his advancing nuclear arsenal.

Before their nuclear talks entered a stalemate, Trump said he and Kim “fell in love”.

North Korea has said there hasn’t been a single virus outbreak on its soil, a claim widely disputed by foreign experts, reports the Associated Press.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in June 2019
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in June 2019. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Updated

A veil of solemnity descends upon the land at times like this, when elected officials or public figures get sick or die.

We wish them speedy recovery, or extend sympathies, as we should. We ignore their faults and failings, as we would want our own ignored.

These are the norms of politics and public life. Established norms, like behaving with dignity and self-restraint in a presidential debate, or condemning racist terrorists and murderers.

For the record, we should all wish Donald and Melania Trump a full and speedy recovery. But that does not answer the fundamental question this president will leave behind when he leaves office. What norms survive a man who takes pleasure in destroying norms?

Read the full article:

Updated

This video from Reuters shows White House officials continuing to appear in public without masks, hours after the president and first lady tested positive for the virus:

Updated

Boris Johnson has said he is sure Donald Trump will “come through it very well” as he is treated for Covid-19 in hospital.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday morning, the prime minister said he had rung the White House on Friday night.

I think obviously everybody’s wishing him and Melania the very best and hoping that they recover speedily and I’ve no doubt that he will, he’ll make a very strong recovery.

When asked if he had any advice for the president, Johnson said:

I think that he will be doing exactly what the doctors tell him to do and I’m sure he will be having the best care he can possibly get.

I’m sure he’ll come through it very well.

Boris Johnson speaks outside 10 Downing Street after recovering from Covid-19 in April
Boris Johnson speaks outside 10 Downing Street after recovering from Covid-19 in April. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

Updated

The Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on MSNBC that Donald Trump’s announcement early on Friday that he and his wife, Melania, had tested positive for Covid-19 was “very sad”.

She added, however, that his actions during the pandemic were “a brazen invitation for something like this to happen”.

Updated

Anger continues to mount against Twitter after it said those who use the platform to wish death upon Donald Trump were violating its policies.

The children’s laureate, Malorie Blackman, and the filmmaker Ava Duvernay are among the thousands of users to accuse the social media firm of double standards.

As Trump made his way to Walter Reed medical centre for treatment on Friday, many Twitter users, including his opponent Joe Biden, wished him a speedy recovery.

Many others, however did the opposite. They said they hoped he would dieof the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the US under his leadership while he repeatedly downplayed the severity of the disease.

The official Twitter Comms account said on Saturday: “Tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed.

“This does not automatically mean suspension.”

The announcement has come as a surprise to many Twitter users, especially people in marginalised communities who say they frequently experience abuse on the platform.

Read more on this story here.

Updated

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, wishes Donald and Melania Trump a speedy recovery

Updated

Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis is a reminder that the virus is an ongoing threat to the US that “can happen to anyone”, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

Dr Tom Frieden, now the president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, said the development showed that the US needed a comprehensive approach to Covid-19.

He said in a statement:

Testing does not replace safety measures including consistent mask use, physical distancing and hand washing.

Learning more about when President Trump and others with whom he had contact last tested negative and first tested positive will help understand this outbreak and limit the risk of further spread.

Frieden added that his thoughts were with the president, the first lady and “all those infected with and affected by this virus”.

Updated

Donald Trump told the veteran journalist Bob Woodward he was not worried about contracting coronavirus himself, CNN reports.

The US broadcaster obtained a new audio recording from Woodward’s 13 April 13 interview with the US president on Friday.

While admitting to Woodward the virus was a “plague” that “rips you apart,” the president dismissed concerns about his own health.

“You’re risking getting it of course,” said Woodward. “The way you move around and have those briefings and deal with people. Are you worried about that?”

”No, I’m not. I don’t know why I’m not. I’m not,” Trump said.

“Why?” Woodward asked.

“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I’m just not.”

Rage by Bob Woodward on sale at a Chicago bookshop
Rage by Bob Woodward on sale at a Chicago bookshop. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The exchange is described in Woodward’s recent book Rage, which displayed the chasm between Trump’s public and private statements on the Covid-19 pandemic.

It revealed that the president knew the extent of the coronavirus threat in February but intentionally misled the public by deciding to “play it down”.

Trump has publicly resisted wearing a mask and has flouted social-distancing recommendations.

Updated

Here is the clip Donald Trump posted to his Twitter account a few hours ago while in transit to Walter Reed military medical centre:

Updated

Poland has recorded 2,367 new coronavirus in the past 24 hours – the third day in a row that infections have hit new highs.

It also registered a further 34 Covid-19-related deaths, its health ministry tweeted on Saturday.

This brings Poland’s total number of cases to 98,140 and its death toll to 2,604.

Updated

The University of Edinburgh has no plans to refund tuition fees to students affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, its vice-chancellor has said.

Prof Peter Mathieson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday:

We’re not planning to make tuition fee refunds because we believe that the quality of tuition that we can provide, especially if we are able to provide a mixture of face-to-face and online tuition, is still very high.

An Edinburgh degree will still be a fabulous investment for these students.

We are very concerned about students whose teaching has been disrupted and who have had a bad experience in terms of some of their accommodation support.

So we are making food vouchers available, we will listen to requests for specific expenses to be reimbursed but generally we believe we should invest in these students’ futures, it is in their best interests to stay with us and to receive the education we can offer.

He added:

We’re not planning tuition fee refunds - I don’t know of any universities which are planning tuition fee refunds.

University students told the Guardian earlier this week of the mental health impact of the coronavirus restrictions on campuses and demanded to be refunded part of their tuition fees.

Hermione Marshall, 21, a third year English student at the University of Edinburgh said that she would not have returned to university if she had known there was not going to be much in person teaching – a decision which students were informed of a week before the start of term.

She said:

I rely on being able to go home frequently to support my mental health, and as I will be unable to do this this year, I am very worried I will have a lot of difficulties in managing this.

Glasgow University has said it would refund one month’s rent to students in halls of residence as compensation after hundreds were forced to self-isolate following an outbreak of coronavirus.

Updated

The Philippines has reported 2,674 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase in five days.

Health ministry figures published on Saturday showed a further 62 people had died from the virus.

The ministry said total confirmed cases in the Philippines have increased to 319,330, the highest in south-east Asia.

Deaths have reached 5,678, a third of which were recorded in the past 30 days.

Updated

Covid vaccine could be rolled-out in UK within 3 months – report

A coronavirus vaccine could be be rolled out across Britain in as little as three months, according to a report in the Times.

Unnamed government sources involved in making and distributing the Oxford vaccine told the Times they expect a full inoculation programme, which would exclude children, could take six months or less after approval.

The paper reports that “scientists working on the Oxford vaccine hope it could be approved by regulators before the start of next year, with some health officials estimating that every adult could receive a dose within six months”.

This would raise the hope of the UK public receiving Covid-19 jabs by Easter, the paper said.

Oxford University’s potential Covid-19 vaccine, which is being jointly developed by firm AstraZeneca, was initially hoped to be available by September this year.

However trials had to be put on hold last month to investigate the “potentially unexpected illness” of one participant.

At the time AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot said the vaccine could still be available by the end of this year or early next year. The trial resumed a few days later.

Russia has recorded 9,859 new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest number of daily infections since 15 May, when the outbreak was at its peak.

Its coronavirus crisis centre said that 174 deaths had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, which took the official national toll to 21,251.

Updated

New Zealand will not reciprocate quarantine-free trips across the Tasman as the Australian Capital Territory joins Australia’s travel bubble with the country.

On Friday, Australia’s deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, announced New South Wales and the Northern Territory would allow Kiwis to bypass the compulsory fortnight of quarantine on arrival from 16 October.

Matilda Boseley has the full report:

Singapore has recorded six new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the nation’s smallest daily increase since March.

Of those six, four were classed as ‘imported cases’ – travellers who had been ordered to stay home on arrival into the Southeast Asian island nation.

The city-state has seen cases fall sharply in recent months as it has brought outbreaks in migrant worker dormitories under control, according to Reuters.

The experimental coronavirus drug being used to treat Donald Trump has been trialled on hundreds of UK patients, according to an Oxford University professor.

Trump was given the yet-to-be-peer-reviewed artificial antibody treatment at the White House on Friday, before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.

The drug began being used in “about three hospitals in the north” last weekend as part of Oxford University’s national Recovery trial, said Prof Peter Horby.

Horby, who specialises in emerging infectious diseases at Oxford University and is co-chief investigator of the Recovery trial, added that the drug is due to be rolled out to “another 30 to 40 hospitals” in the UK next week.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning, Horby described the drug as “very promising” and “very potent”.

He said:

The class of drugs, these artificial antibodies, have been around for quite a while now, and they’ve been extensively used in inflammatory conditions and cancers, and they’re pretty safe and well understood, and so the technology is something that I think we have confidence in.

This particular drug has probably been given to, I would think now, four or five hundred patients, mild or severe patients in different trials, and so far there’s been no worrying safety signals.

In the laboratory, in cell cultures it has a very strong effect against the virus, and there have been studies in artificial animals where it also shows benefits. So probably of the drugs that are available, it’s one of the most promising.”

Horby said a single dose of the treatment provides “prolonged protection” for “a month to six weeks”, making it “quite attractive for the older population”.

The antibody cocktail works by binding to a protein on the surface of the virus, stopping it from attaching to cells and replicating, while allowing the immune system to attack the virus.

Trump has been given the drug alongside Remdesivir, an antiviral treatment which has been shown to help some coronavirus patients recover faster.

Donald Trump’s positive Covid-19 test shows how “nobody is immune from the virus”, the president’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has said.

Lewandowski was quizzed over the White House’s “Covid competence” on Saturday, with Trump having regularly eschewed mask-wearing and held crowded campaign rallies in the weeks and months leading up to his illness.

Defending the White House, Lewandowski told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “I think the American people will understand that even with the best of protocols in place ... even with mask-wearing and hand sanitiser ... it shows that nobody, regardless of your political beliefs or standing in society, is immune from this virus.”

He outlined some of the protocols he understands the White House has in place to prevent virus transmission.

It includes ensuring that all guests who enter must go directly to the infirmary to have a Covid test, receiving their results in about 15 minutes, before being allowed to roam the campus.

Before coming into contact with the President – at the Oval Office or in the West Wing – visitors have “two additional temporal thermometer testings”, he added

Updated

Hello, it’s Aaron Walawalkar in London here.

I’ll be steering you through the latest global developments in the coronavirus pandemic for the next several hours.

Reaction continues to pour in after US President Donald Trump announced he tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, and is now treated at the Walter Reed national military military medical centre.

My colleague Victoria Bekiempis analyses the responses from liberal politicians and pundits, which “threaded the needle between expressing sympathy and blaming him for bringing it on himself.”

Among them is the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who said on MSNBC that this was a “very sad” situation, and added that Trump’s actions during the Covid-19 pandemic were “a brazen invitation for something like this to happen”.

Read the full report here:

As always, if you have any tips, questions or suggestions for coverage – please get in touch by DM on Twitter at @AaronWala.

That’s it from me for today. Thanks so much for following along.

My colleague Aaron Walawalkar will take over the live coverage from here.

The news that Donald and Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19 prompted an “explosion of rumors, misinformation, and conspiracy theories”, AP reports.

The conspiracies include that Democrats somehow intentionally infected the president or that he may have been faking his illness.

Facebook is monitoring misinformation about the president’s diagnosis and has started applying fact checks, while Twitter is monitoring an uptick in “copypasta” campaigns about Trump’s illness. Such campaigns use the same phrase over and over to inundate Twitter users and can be a sign of coordinated activity, AP reports.

Updated

Solomon Islands reports first confirmed case of Covid-19

Solomon Islands, previously one of a handful of countries that had remained Covid-free throughout this global pandemic, has reported its first case.

Dorothy Wickham reports from Honiara:

The Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has just confirmed in a nationally televised address that one Solomon Islands student repatriated from the Philippines late last month has tested positive for Covid-19.

“It pains me to say we have lost our Covid-19 free status, despite our collective efforts to prevent the pandemic from entering our country.”

The student is in quarantine but is asymptomatic. He had been tested before leaving Manila – returning a negative result – but tested positive later in Honiara.

Sogavare said contact tracing and testing of medical staff attending to students was now taking place. All of the students who returned on the repatriation flight are undertaking a compulsory 14-day quarantine. The infected student - as well as two other suspected cases - have been taken into hospital isolation facilities.

Sogavare reaffirmed that there were currently no confirmed cases of community transmission, and assured Solomon Islanders there were no plans for any lockdowns at this stage.

“Fellow citizens, while we have been working to prevent the virus from reaching our shores, it is now with us. However … we are ready to identify it … to isolate it … to contain it … and to eliminate it.”

Sogavare announced that all repatriation flights of Solomon Islander citizens have been suspended until further notice.

File photo of Nggela kids swimming in Solomon Islands

Pacific islands have been largely spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic – with very low case numbers – but there are fears that, if the virus was to take hold, it could spread rapidly among populations that live close together, have high rates of comorbidities, and fragile and underresourced public health systems.

While the virus has remained largely under control so far, Pacific economies, particularly those dependent on tourism, have been devastated by the pandemic. The economy of Fiji, one of the largest Melanesian countries, is expected to retreat more than 20% this year.

Updated

News regarding Thailand. The former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra tested positive for coronavirus, was hospitalised in Dubai, but has since recovered, AFP reports.

“It’s true he was infected several weeks ago, but now he has recovered. He joked that he was on trend,” a source within Pheu Thai, a political party linked to Thaksin, told AFP, asking not to be named.

Updated

Germany has recorded 2,563 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total to 296,958, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Germany’s death toll increased by 19 to 9,527.

Updated

India records 100,000 confirmed Covid-19 deaths

India has recorded 100,000 confirmed Covid-19 deaths.

The grim milestone puts the country’s death toll at nearly 10% of the global fatalities.

It is now behind only the United States and Brazil.

AP has reported that India’s health ministry confirmed the caseload has increased to more than 6.4 million with 79,476 new infections.

September has been India’s worst month with daily cases and fatalities outstripping those in any other country. Almost 41% of total cases and 34% of Covid-19 deaths were reported in the month alone, with nearly 1,100 Indians dying every day on average from the virus.

Updated

What do we know about remdesivir, the experimental drug being given to Donald Trump?

Remdesivir was approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration in May, after evidence suggested it could help Covid-19 patients recover faster.

The FDA acted on the basis of preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

At the time, Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, expressed cautious optimism about the results of a remdesivir drug trial.

“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Fauci said. “What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus.”

The FDA’s emergency authorisation allows for drugs to be rushed onto the market during public health crises, and does not require the usual “substantial” level of evidence.

The emergency use authorization (EUA) warned of possible side-effects, including “increased levels of liver enzymes, which may be a sign of inflammation or damage to cells in the liver; and infusion-related reactions, which may include low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, sweating and shivering”.

The authorisation warns of possible other serious side-effects that have not been discovered yet.

Updated

A reminder for Australian readers who want to stay up-to-date with US election news: sign-up to our daily email briefing.

The US election briefing for Australia is an Australian take on the news, delivered every weekday at 5pm to keep you up to date with the extraordinary electoral contest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The email gives you the top US election headlines and most important developments, as well as links to our full range of election coverage, all explained and presented from an Australian viewpoint.

It’s written by my Guardian colleague, columnist and former US reporter Josephine Tovey, who spent three years reporting in New York and covered the 2016 presidential election for Fairfax Media.

You can sign up here:

Updated

Health expert Sanjay Gupta has told CNN that the use of experimental antibody therapies and the drug remdesivir shows there must have been a “level of concern” for Donald Trump.

“There must have been a level of conern that was high enough, and as you point out, it was given to the president and not the first lady,” he said.

Updated

Trump says he is 'going well' as growing list of allies test positive for Covid-19

Developments have been coming thick and fast in the past hour, so let’s recap.

  • Donald Trump tweeted an update from Walter Reed Hospital, saying he was “going well, I think”. He had earlier posted a video statement, saying: “I think I’m doing very well but we’re going to make sure things work out.” He is expected to spend several days at Walter Reed.
  • Trump’s physician, Sean Conley, revealed the president is being treated with the therapeutic drug remdesivir. The physician said Trump was “doing very well” and did not require supplemental oxygen. We already know that Trump has been given a cocktail of antibodies to treat Covid-19.
  • A growing list of Trump allies tested positive to Covid-19. His former counsel, Kellyanne Conway, tested positive, as did his campaign manager, Bill Stepien. We already know that Hope Hicks has tested positive.
  • The developments focused further attention on an event at the Rose Garden this week, during which Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his supreme court nominee. At least seven figures in attendance tested positive for coronavirus, including the president himself. Health experts have suggested the event may have been a “super spreader”.
  • Eric and Lara Trump said they had tested negative for Covid-19.
  • Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will maintain a distance of 12 feet at their vice presidential debate on Wednesday, CNN reported, following concerns about the initial distance of seven feet.

Updated

Back to the story dominating global headlines, the Covid-19 diagnoses of Trump and his inner circle.

Dana Bash of CNN has tallied the people in the White House debate preparation room who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Updated

Over to Australia, momentarily, where police are down at Melbourne’s famous St Kilda beach, enforcing Covid-19 restrictions following “unacceptable” scenes on Friday. A second wave in Melbourne has prompted a long-running, strict lockdown, but crowds of Victorians were seen at the beach on Friday partying. The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, slammed the scenes and urged Victorians to continue adhering to restrictions.

My colleague Matilda Bosely is down at the beach today, and reports a strong police presence.

Updated

My colleague Lois Beckett has just published a wrap on news that Kellyanne Conway, the president’s former counsellor, has tested positive and has mild symptoms.

Conway’s diagnosis has focused attention on an event at the Rose Garden at the White House, during which Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his supreme court nominee. At least seven figures in attendance have now tested positive for Covid-19.

Updated

Trump's campaign manager has tested positive for Covid-19, Politico reports

Politico is reporting that Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has tested positive for Covid-19.

Trump being treated with remdesivir: presidential physician

We’ve just received an update from the president’s physician, Sean Conley.

Donald Trump is being treated with remdesivir.

Trump says he is 'going well'

Donald Trump has tweeted an update for the first time since he was hospitalised.

He says he is “Going well, I think”.

Eric and Lara Trump test negative for Covid-19

Eric and Lara Trump have both tested negative to Covid-19, according to a spokesperson.

A statement released through Lara Trump’s Instagram account said the pair were “praying for their father and father-in-law, respectively”.

“At this time, they both have negative Covid tests and will be taking all necessary precautions, under the advisement of medical professionals.”

View this post on Instagram

🤍

A post shared by Lara Trump (@laraleatrump) on

Updated

News of Donald Trump’s positive test was, predictably, splashed across the front pages of the UK’s major newspapers.

My colleague Warren Murray has just published a wrap-up on how the momentous news was covered. The Daily Mail’s headline pondered how many Trump had put at risk.

The Times was able to squeeze in the news of Trump’s hospitalisation.

The Financial Times reported that the news had thrown the US presidential race into turmoil.

The Independent simply splashed Trump’s tweet announcing the news on its front page.

Updated

Hello everyone. Christopher Knaus here.

I’ll take you through our next several hours of global Covid-19 coverage. The status of Donald Trump continues to dominate headlines.

CNN has just reported more on Trump’s movements this week.

On Thursday, Trump flew to a fundraiser in New Jersey, at a time when the White House was already aware of Hope Hicks’ Covid-19 status. CNN reports he attended a series of events, including an outdoor reception, and indoor VIP reception, and an indoor roundtable.

Photos show attendees from Texas posing with Trump at the VIP event, though they maintained a safe distance during conversation.

The attendees were not wearing masks, CNN reported.

That’s where I might leave you for now, but never fear, the inimitable Christopher Knaus is here to take you through the next few hours of Covid-19 news.

Twitter has said that tweets wishing for Donald Trump’s death in the wake of the president’s diagnosis with Covid-19 violate its policies and could result in suspension.

The social media platform confirmed in a tweet on Friday that doing so violates Twitter’s “Abusive Behavior policy”, which prohibits tweets “wishing or hoping serious harm on a person or group of people”.

“Tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against anyone are not allowed and will need to be removed,” the company said in a tweet. A spokesman told the Guardian this policy has been in place since April and applies to all users, not just Trump.

Read the full story here:

Updated

Mass vaccine program potentially just months away for UK

A mass roll-out of a Covid-19 vaccine in Britain could be finished in as little as three months, the Times reports, citing government scientists.

Scientists working on the Oxford vaccine hope regulators approve it before the beginning of 2021, the newspaper says.

A full Covid-19 immunisation programme that would exclude children could be quicker than experts predicted, the Times says, adding that health officials estimate that every adult could receive a dose of the vaccine within six months.

The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday it had started reviewing data on AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s potential Covid-19 vaccine, in real time, the first of such moves aimed at speeding up any approval process in the region for a vaccine.

The news of the European review also raises chances of the British vaccine, which is seen as leading the race for a successful vaccine against Covid-19, becoming the first to be approved in Europe for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has killed more than a million people globally.

The Times report adds that plans under consideration by government include allowing a much wider group of healthcare staff to administer the vaccine, setting up drive-through vaccination centres and recruiting armed forces’ help.

Updated

Kellyanne Conway tests positive to Covid-19

It’s now confirmed, key Trump ally Kellyanne Conway is Covid-19 positive.

My apologies to her daughter Claudia for doubting the authority of her TikTok announcement.

Updated

This is a slightly unorthodox way to gather news but Donald Trump’s former adviser Kellyanne Conway allegedly has Covid-19, according to her daughter’s TikTok account.

Fifteen-year-old Claudia Conway is well known for criticising her mother and the US president via her TikTok account where she has amassed a significant following.

Given the somewhat ironic tone of her posts, we may have to wait for official confirmation.

Updated

Colombian capital braces for second wave

Bogota, the capital of Colombia, will see a second outbreak of coronavirus cases, possibly between November and December, which will hopefully be less severe than the first wave, Bogota’s mayor, Claudia Lopez, said on Friday.

This report via Reuters:

“Most probably towards the end of the year, in November or December, we could have a second wave much smaller than the first,” Lopez said in a meeting with foreign press.

The Andean country began more than five months of lockdown in March. It entered a much-looser “selective” quarantine phase – allowing dining at restaurants and international flights – at the start of September. On Monday the government extended the selective quarantine until the end of October.

A second wave is expected to be less severe due to measures such as mandatory use of face masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing, in addition to tracking coronavirus cases and quarantines for those infected, Lopez said.

In addition, a new wave of cases would be smaller due to higher levels of immunity and greater capacity of the city’s healthcare system.

Colombia has reported more than 841,500 cases of coronavirus and 26,397 deaths. In Bogota, intensive care unit occupancy – which exceeded 90% in July – stands at 62.7%. The capital accounts for almost a third of the country’s cases and 6,825 deaths, according to the national health institute.

Updated

Ten new Covid-19 cases in mainland China

Mainland China reported 10 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the same as a day earlier, the health authority said on Saturday.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that all the new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas.

It said there were currently 189 active cases of the disease in mainland China, including one serious case, and an additional four suspected cases.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China now stood at 85,434, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

Updated

NSW goes one week without any locally acquired Covid cases

The Australian state of New South Wales recorded only one positive case of Covid-19 on Saturday – a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.

NSW has now gone eight consecutive days with zero community transmission.

Despite NSW’s streak of zero community transmission, the border between Queensland and NSW won’t reopen until 1 November.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says the hard border will lift the day after Queenslanders head to the polls, provided NSW has no mystery cases in the preceding 28 days.

The announcement follows months of tension between Palaszczuk and the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, over the issue.

Berejiklian told reporters she was frustrated to learn the announcement was just a reiteration of their existing policy.

“It is frustrating for me that WA and Queensland keep lumping us in with Victoria,” she said.

“What happened in NSW is not what happened in Victoria. NSW was much closer to what was going on in WA and Queensland.”

Updated

Melbourne's shopping centre cluster grows

Now that case numbers in Melbourne are again closer to seven than 700 attention has turned to controlling individual outbreaks.

One of the largest current clusters is linked to the Chadstone shopping centre. Victoria’s health officer, Brett Sutton, confirmed today that the number of connected infections has potentially grown to 17.

There are 15 now linked. So five staff, six family members, all household members of existing cases, and two customers of that club. And two further cases associated with a cafe that was just nearby. So I expect that they’re all linked. So, essentially, there are 17 cases now with that one event.

Updated

Republican senator Thom Tillis tests positive to Covid-19

Updated

New Bond film further delayed by Covid-19

The makers of the new James Bond movie – which has already had its release date pushed back once due to the pandemic – on Friday said it would not now be released until April 2021.

No Time to Die, the 25th instalment of the fictional British spy saga, sees Bond drawn out of retirement in Jamaica by his old friend and CIA agent Felix Leiter.

It is expected to be actor Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007, after starring in four previous films.

The movie had been initially set for a London premiere on 31 March 2020 before a rollout worldwide in April.

As the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March, MGM, Universal and Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced they were delaying the release until 12 November, with a US launch on 25 November.

Then on Friday, they said the film would be delayed further until 2 April “in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience”.

“We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing NO TIME TO DIE next year,” they said.

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a poster for the new James Bond movie No Time to Die in Bangkok earlier this year
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a poster for the new James Bond movie No Time to Die in Bangkok earlier this year. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says he will leave it to the police to decide if St Kilda beach should be close.

The police have steely determination to make sure the people are following the rules. And I will leave it to them to make decisions on a case-by-case basis ...

While it was very disappointing, and I’m sure the cause of much anger across the community ... let’s not detract from the fact that the vast majority of Victorians are doing quite an amazing job and I am deeply grateful to them.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at Saturday’s daily briefing
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at Saturday’s daily briefing. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Updated

Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, has added to the premier’s comments, labelling the illegal beach gathering an “insult”.

It is a bit of an insult to everyone who has done it tough for months and months and months across the state for some people to be putting all our gains at risk. It is due to the fantastic sacrifices of everyone that we are at the point at which we are at. It is disappointing to see people breaking the rules.

He says it is important to follow social distancing rules to avoid ending up in a position like Europe.

It has been a long haul and sunny days certainly bring some effervescence to people. That is not unexpected. But ... the sacrifices we make now, the stuff that we can hold back right now, make a huge difference.

Europe will be wearing masks for the foreseeable future. Maybe a year, maybe two years, maybe three years. We can move to a point where we don’t have to wear masks all the time, certainly outdoors. We’re not there yet, but we’re certainly very close.

Victoria’s chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton speaks to the media at Saturday’s daily briefing
Victoria’s chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton speaks to the media at Saturday’s daily briefing. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Updated

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says crowds at St Kilda beach are “unacceptable” as the state battles to lower case numbers.

The state currently has some of the strictest Covid-19 restrictions in the world, however, they are being slowly relaxed as case numbers dip to single figures.

But yesterday hundreds, if not thousands, gathered on the foreshore, drinking and partying, with many not wearing masks.

It is really important that nobody takes anything between now and the 19 October to jeopardise everything the Victorians have done. Everything that Victorians have given. Everything that Victorians have sacrificed over these recent months. Some of the scenes at beaches for instance overnight are just unacceptable. Nobody has the right to break the rules and potentially put at risk everything that good, decent, law-abiding Victorians have built. All of the sacrifices has to be worth something.

Andrews said police will be out in force along the beach over the weekend.

Updated

Daniel Andrews, the premier of the Australian state of Victoria, is addressing media now.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media in Melbourne
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media in Melbourne. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Updated

Brazilian president and Covid survivor Jair Bolsonaro wishes Trump well

Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, who downplayed the seriousness of Covid-19 for months before contracting the virus, has taken to Facebook to wish the US president a speedy recovery.

He wrote:

I with the president of the USA Donald Trump and First Lady Melania a quick recovery.

With faith in God, soon they will be recovered and the work driving their country and their re-election campaign will not be affected.

You will win and come out stronger, for the good of the USA and the world.

Bolsonaro contracted the virus in early July and has since recovered.

Updated

Ivanka Trump has made a statement on her father’s hospitalisation.

Updated

Mexico records more than 400 deaths

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Mexico rose to 753,090 on Friday, according to updated data from the health ministry, along with a total reported death toll of 78,492.

Authorities reported 4,775 new cases and 414 deaths on Friday, but the true figures were likely significantly higher due to little testing.

Updated

The ongoing political stoush around the Queensland border is heating up again in Australia as the federal government redeploys 110 soldiers from north Queensland to Western Australia.

For those who aren’t familiar with the situation, Australia’s Liberal federal government is urging states to open their borders with low case numbers everywhere in the country besides Victoria. Queensland’s Labor government has been steadfastly refusing. Several other states (Western Australia and Tasmania) have also declined, but with a state election coming up in Queensland this border fight has gotten a little dirty.

This report via AAP:

The federal government has deployed 110 Australian soldiers based in north Queensland to help with quarantine duties in Western Australia.

The deployment was approved on 23 September, the day after the federal government announced that Australian Defence Force personnel would be withdrawn from Queensland’s border with NSW.

At least three federal cabinet ministers insisted that the troops were redeployed to prepare for the upcoming storm season in Queensland’s north.

The state’s Labor government claimed the withdrawal was political and intended as payback in an ongoing stoush over the border.

An ADF spokesperson has confirmed that 110 Townsville-based troops are deployed on quarantine duties in WA.

“About 100 personnel from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and 3rd Combat Signal Regiment (part of Army’s 3rd Brigade) have deployed to Western Australia to support hotel quarantine compliance tasks,” a defence spokesperson said.

“Additionally, following a request for assistance from the Western Australian government, 10 ADF personnel are supporting WA Health quarantine compliance monitoring at the Hedland Hotel.

“This is due to the increased passenger caps and the number of Australians expected to return home.”

The revelation that Queensland-based troops have been redeployed in another state has reignited a smouldering federal-state dispute over the border.

Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, said pulling soldiers from the NSW border has put pressure on Queensland police and led to delays for people trying to cross.

He said the timing of the redeployment showed the federal government was acting for “purely political” reasons.

“It’s absolutely galling that they’d now transfer our troops from Townsville to WA,” Miles said.

“Every person who had to wait at the border today should know it was because the LNP cared more about the WA border than they did about them.”

Comment has been sought from the federal government.

Updated

Here is a bit more information about this potentially infectious plane in Sydney, Australia, via AAP:

New South Wales authorities are trying to track down almost 50 people who shared a flight to Sydney with a Victorian traveller infected with Covid-19.

The passenger travelled on Jetstar flight JQ510, which left Melbourne at 11am last Sunday, and tested positive on their second day in quarantine.

They are believed to have been infectious while travelling.

NSW Health says there is no ongoing risk to the public, and most of the flight’s passengers are already in mandatory hotel quarantine.

Authorities are contacting 47 crew and passengers who travelled with special permits or quarantine exemptions.

“Those deemed close contacts of the case have been advised to immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days and stay isolated for the entire period, even if a negative test result is received,” NSW Health said in a statement.

NSW has now gone seven days without a locally transmitted case.

Four new cases were diagnosed on Thursday – all returned travellers in hotel quarantine, including one from Victoria.

Updated

Donald Trump receiving Covid treatment yet to be peer-reviewed

Donald Trump is being treated with an experimental antibody drug that has shown promising initial early results but has yet to be peer-reviewed. According to a statement from his doctor, the US president has received a single eight-gram dose of an antibody cocktail called REGN-COV2 – a combination of two human neutralising antibodies against the virus.

The treatment was developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which previously developed a similar antibody drug against Ebola. He is also taking zinc, vitamin D, melatonin, aspirin and the heartburn drug famotidine – often sold in the US under the brand name Pepcid. Although the drug has not been shown to work against coronavirus, researchers are studying it as a possible treatment.

Read the full story here:

Updated

In more positive news in Australia, the sunshine state of Queensland has recorded no new cases of Covid-19, after recording two new infections yesterday.

There were now six active cases in the state, five of these in hospital.

Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, has just spoken to media about the first day of relaxed Covid restrictions:

We stood for the first time in bars and cafes and restaurants to enjoy their drinks and their snacks, and again that’s just another reward for how effectively we’ve managed the virus here in Queensland.

Updated

Victoria records three deaths and just eight new Covid cases

The Covid-ravaged state of Victoria in Australia has recorded only eight news cases on Saturday, marking its second consecutive day of single-digit numbers, and bringing the rolling two-week average down to 12.

The state also recorded an additional three deaths, bring the death toll to 805.

Updated

Hello, Matilda Boseley here, and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, the biggest news of today is the US president, Donald Trump, being transferred to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19. Check out all the updates on our US Politics live blog.

I’ll be bringing you all the major Trump news along with Covid-19 updates from around the world. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter, @MatildaBoseley, or shoot me an email at matilda.boseley@theguardian.com

Another thing to look out for across the Pacific, authorities in Sydney are scrambling to contact all passengers on board a flight from Melbourne after possibly being exposed to Covid-19.

A potentially infectious passenger travelled on Jetstar flight JQ510 on 27 September and was recently diagnosed while quarantining. Currently, the majority of people who travel from Victoria to NSW must undertake mandatory hotel quarantine, but there is concern for the 47 passengers who travelled with special permits, exemptions or as part of the airline crew.

Authorities are now contacting all passengers on the flight and asking them to either quarantine or monitor for symptoms. The NSW health department says there is “no ongoing risk of infection to the general public”.

To start us off, here is a bit of a crash course to get you up to speed on the news of the last day:

  • The World Health Organization has finalised approval for a second antigen-based rapid diagnostic test, giving it emergency use listing.
  • Brazil has surpassed the grim milestone of more than 145,000 deaths. The death toll now sits at 145,388, compared with 144,680 yesterday, the country’s health ministry said. Brazil has also registered 4,880,523 confirmed cases, up from 4,847,092 yesterday.
  • New York state’s daily count of coronavirus cases topped 1,500 for the first time since late May as the governor, Andrew Cuomo, warned local governments they will face fines if they do not enforce social distancing and mask rules.
  • The European Medicines Agency has started a safety review after some patients taking coronavirus drug remdesivir reported serious kidney problems. The EU regulator said it is not clear “whether remdesivir was causing the acute kidney injury but that the issue warrants further investigation”.
  • Authorities ordered the lockdown of more than 100 towns and villages across Lebanon after hundreds of people tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days amid a shortage of hospital beds.
  • France reported 12,148 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the French health ministry said. Friday’s figure is lower than Thursday’s 13,970 and well below highs of more than 16,000 recorded last week.
  • Denmark will cull around 1 million mink after finding further coronavirus infections among the animals at farms that breed them for their fur, authorities said. The Nordic country is the world’s largest producer of mink – small, lithe mammals with brown-black fur used to make coats and scarves.
  • Madrid’s regional authorities will shortly put the Spanish capital and nine nearby towns under partial lockdown, with immediate effect, a source from Madrid’s regional government told Reuters on Friday. With 859 cases per 100,000 people, the Madrid region is the worst Covid-19 hotspot in Europe.
  • Tunisia recorded 1,308 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, a record since the start of the pandemic, the Tunisian health ministry said.

Updated

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