Health workers in Nigeria have suspended plans for a week-long strike over pay, Covid-19 bonuses and inadequate facilities, AFP cites trade union officials as saying.
The strike, the latest to hit Nigeria’s health sector, would have come amid an outbreak that has so far infected 57,242 and claimed 1,098 lives in Africa’s most populous country, which has a population of 206 million.
The workers, including pharmacists, nurses, midwives and radiographers, called the strike last week to demand improved welfare and payment of virus hazard allowance, among other issues.
Union leaders said they would meet later to decide on “the next line of action” while urging the government to address the demands of the workers.
Around 1,000 health workers have been infected in Nigeria, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The government had condemned the strike as unnecessary, ill-timed and illegal.
Authorities feared any reduction in capacity could harm the country’s ability to tackle the pandemic.
In Spain, police in Madrid, the capital, and its surrounding towns have begun stopping people coming in and out of some working-class districts that are subject to local coronavirus lockdowns.
For the first two days the police patrols, which began on Monday, will merely stop people at checkpoints to give them information, the Associated Press reports. From Wednesday, enforcement will become mandatory and those unable to justify their trips for work, study or medical reasons will face fines, regional authorities said.
Some 860,000 residents are affected by the new heightened restrictions. Parks are closed and shops and restaurants have to limit their occupancy to 50% in the affected zones.
Spain is struggling to contain a second wave of the virus, which has killed at least 30,000 people according to the countrys health ministry, and the rules have been brought in on the pretext that Spain now has Europe’s fastest coronavirus spread. The targeted areas have a 14-day rate of transmission above 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, some of the highest in Europe.
The measure has been met with protests from people who accuse authorities of stigmatising poorer people.
Ireland plans to farm out some coronavirus testing to a German laboratory because its own system is struggling to keep up with soaring levels of infection, writes Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Dublin correspondent.
Demand for testing neared the 15,000 daily limit last week and the highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases came on Sunday, with 396 infections recorded. Dublin, which has just started three weeks of fresh restrictions, accounted for 241 cases.
Paul Reid, head of the Health Service Executive, warned government ministers last week that the current testing system could not not handle another surge, the Sunday Independent reported.
The HSE has increased capacity by signing a deal with a German firm, Eurofins Biomnis, to do up to 2,000 additional tests daily.
Last week Reid said his agency had to rebuff a request from the UK’s National Health Service to source some Covid-19 tests to Irish laboratories.
In the past 7 days we've completed over 85,000 #COVID19 tests & met all demand. However testing doesn't provide us with a "suit of armour" against the virus. Our first line of defence is ourselves and what we do. It's serious again but we can turn this around too. @HSELive
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) September 21, 2020
Eamon Ryan, the environment minister, told RTE Ireland’s testing system was under strain but functioning. “When you look at what’s happening in other jurisdictions, actually our system is holding up.”
Northern Ireland’s system is also under pressure, with the highest number of daily infections under the current testing model – 222 – recorded on Saturday. There were 176 cases on Sunday.
Colm Gildernew, chair of Stormont’s health committee, said the region’s testing system had “areas of great concern”.
The health ministry Indonesia has reported 4,176 new coronavirus infections, its biggest daily rise, taking the country’s total tally to 248,852.
The number of deaths rose by 124 to 9,677, the highest number of fatalities in Southeast Asia.
We now have more details on the resignation of the Czech Republic’s health minister, courtesy of Robert Tait, who writes for the Guardian from Prague.
Adam Vojtěch quit after an alarming rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the country, which had previously been hailed for its successful handling of the pandemic.
Vojtěch, 33, a member of prime minister Andrej Babiš’ ANO party, announced his departure in a press conference on Monday, amid recriminations over the government’s approach to a second wave of the wave of the virus.
He has clashed repeatedly with Babiš, a billionaire businessman and former finance minister, over proposed measures to stem a rising number of infections. The prime minister last month vetoed a proposal to reintroduce mandatory mask-wearing in shops and malls only for the measure to be later deemed essential and imposed along with other tougher steps.
The Czech Republic – with Slovakia – was the first European country to bring in obligatory face-covering last spring as part of its anti-coronavirus lockdown strategy and won international praise for controlling the spread of infection. But case numbers surged after restrictions were lifted almost entirely in late June.
The country of 10.7 million documented a record 3,129 infections in a single day on 17 September following weeks of spiking numbers and currently stands behind France and Spain as the European country with the highest number of cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days. There have now been 49,320 cases and 503 deaths.
Announcing his resignation, Vojtech said he had “nothing to be ashamed of”.
Babiš has sent mixed signals as infection figures have soared, prompting several neighbouring states to impose quarantine requirements. Last week he declared that it was time to stop being afraid of the virus only to say days later that the public needed to treat it seriously. He also told the World Health Organisation to “keep quiet” after it voiced concern about the situation in the Czech Republic.
Roman Prymula, the ex-deputy health minister of the Czech Republic, now commissioner for science and research in healthcare, who is an epidemiologist, called at the weekend for a renewed state of emergency, warning that there could be up to 8,000 infections a day without further restrictions.
The government’s central crisis unit on the pandemic was due to meet for the first time in months on Monday. But Jan Hamáček, the interior minister, told journalists that a state of emergency would not be declared in the immediate future.
Updated
Germany to set up walk-in 'fever clinics'
Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, is planning to set up “fever walk-in clinics” across the country for the start of the cold season, writes Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief.
With more patients expected to develop flu-like symptoms in the autumn, the 40-year-old conservative politician told Rheinische Post newspaper his aim was to set up walk-in clinics “ideally all over the country”. Over the weekend, Germany’s disease control agency recorded 2,297 confirmed new coronavirus infections, the highest new daily number since the end of April.
In neighbouring Austria, where officials are already speaking of the onset of a second wave of Covid-19 infections, a raft of new restriction came into effect on Monday. Private gatherings across Austria – including parties and weddings – will be limited to 10 people, with exceptions only for funerals.
The Alpine country, whose capital, Vienna, was issued with a travel warning by Germany last week, had registered 8,100 active cases by the weekend.
Updated
The Philippines’ health ministry on Monday confirmed 3,475 new coronavirus infections and 15 more deaths, the lowest daily increase in fatalities in two weeks.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 290,190, still the most in south-east Asia, while confirmed deaths had reached 4,999.
Updated
If you want to follow developments in the UK more closely, and in particular events leading up to today’s coronavirus briefing by Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, at 11am, turn over to our UK politics blog with Andrew Sparrow.
He will be keeping us updated on the latest developments in the UK, with a particular focus on politics, while on this blog we will now turn to focus more on news from elsewhere in the world.
Updated
The UK government has extended emergency funding measures for rail companies for the next six to 18 months to help them get through the Covid-19 crisis, as a first step towards a complete overhaul of the railway system, writes Julia Kollewe for the Guardian’s business desk.
The Department for Transport said the move had ended franchising after 24 years as the first step in bringing Britain’s fragmented network back together. It hailed the emergency measures as a “transitional stage to a new system, the biggest change to the railways in a quarter of a century”.
So far the government has spent £3.5bn covering train companies’ losses since the pandemic started. It effectively nationalised them in March when rail franchise agreements were suspended. Rail travel collapsed to 95% of pre-pandemic levels during the coronavirus lockdown in late March and April, and is still down about 70%.
Under the new emergency arrangements, the DfT will continue to cover rail companies’ losses and pay them a fixed fee of up to 1.5% of their costs before the pandemic. This is less generous than the 2% under the previous measures, and more heavily weighted to performance, such as punctuality, passenger satisfaction and financial performance.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said:
The model of privatisation adopted 25 years ago has seen significant rises in passenger numbers, but this pandemic has proven that it is no longer working.
Our new deal for rail demands more for passengers. It will simplify people’s journeys, ending the uncertainty and confusion about whether you are using the right ticket or the right train company.
Czech Republic's health minister resigns
The health minister in the Czech Republic has resigned, saying his move should create space for a new approach to the coronavirus pandemic as the country sees a record rise in infections, the Associated Press reports.
It is not immediately clear who will replace Adam Vojtech, who was under pressure from the opposition to resign.
The country coped well with infections in the spring but has been facing a record surge of new confirmed cases over the past week. On Thursday, the daily increase of new cases was higher than 3,000.
The Czech Republic has reported a total of 49,290 infected and 503 deaths since the pandemic began, according to government figures released on Monday.
Updated
Did Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, fly out for a secret weekender to Italy?
That’s the question exercising observers of UK politics this morning after Italian media claimed he made a secret trip to the country less than a fortnight ago.
According to Peter Walker, the Guardian’s political correspondent, one of Johnson’s ministers has denied the report, a claim Downing Street has also rejected as “completely untrue”.
Asked if Johnson had landed in Perugia in the past two weeks, which the Umbrian airport said had happened in a statement, Grant Shapps, the transport minister, told Sky News: “Not that I’m aware of. I think it’s mistaken, as far as I’m aware.”
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on the alleged trip after the Barcelona footballer Luis Suárez flew into Perugia on 17 September. The airport put out a press release saying that as well as Suárez, Johnson had also arrived there in recent days.
Updated
More than three-quarters of people displaced or affected by conflict have lost income since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which says that as a result many are being tipped into “a hunger, homelessness and education crisis”.
The NGO said its conclusions were drawn from a survey of 1,400 people in eight countries, which showed that 77% had lost a job or income from work, 70% had been forced to cut back on meals, and 73% were less likely to send their children to school because they could not afford to.
Jan Egeland, the secretary general of Norwegian Refugee Council, said:
The world’s most vulnerable communities are in a dangerous downward spiral. Already forced from their homes by violence, often with limited rights to work or access to government services, the economic impact of the pandemic is pushing them to catastrophe.
Worse than the virus? The world’s refugees & displaced are caught in an economic meltdown: 77% have lost jobs/income; 70% have reduced family meals; 73% are less likely to send children back to school. Our new report: https://t.co/mVMXX1D0z4
— Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) September 21, 2020
Updated
A 102-year-old woman in the US has achieved the remarkable feat of surviving both Covid-19 and the 1918 Spanish flu, according to local media.
Mildred Geraldine Schappals caught Spanish flu as a baby in 1918 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and in May, now living in an elderly care home in Nashua, New Hampshire, she tested positive for Covid-19.
Her daughter, Julia, was quoted as saying by Cincinnati.com:
She’s often said that she thinks Mother Nature believes that she died in 1918 and has forgotten about her.
"She’s often said that she thinks Mother Nature believes that she died in 1918 and has forgotten about her."https://t.co/5poWasEVgI
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) September 21, 2020
Global stock markets are starting the new week firmly on the back foot, as rising Covid-19 cases and US political tensions worry investors, writes Graeme Wearden on the Guardian’s business blog.
Stocks have dropped across Asia, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.5% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shedding 0.7%. European markets have just opened lower too.
London’s FTSE 100 has shed over 90 points, or 1.6%, at the open as the prospect of a second national lockdown looms. Travel companies, pub chains, hotel groups and banks are among the top fallers.
You can follow the latest business news updates on our business blog, which has just fired up. Follow the link below.
Updated
Tory backbench signals resistance to new lockdown
The head of an influential group in the UK parliament has signalled that the government could face resistance from its own party if ministers once again introduce new lockdown measures without proper legislative scrutiny.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, a powerful group of Conservative party backbench MPs, said ministers had “got into the habit of ruling by decree”, adding: “The British people are not used to being treated like children.”
Brady is tabling an amendment which would require the government to put any new measures to a vote of MPs.
He said more scrutiny of the so-called rule of six would have enabled MPs to question why the limit was put at six and not eight or 10 and why children were included in England and not in Wales or Scotland.
He questioned whether the lockdown strategy had worked, pointing to the situation in Sweden, where such restrictions were not used. And he denied that greater scrutiny would prevent ministers from acting swiftly to deal with the pandemic.
“Governments find it entirely possible to put things to Parliament very quickly when they choose to do so,” Brady told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
Updated
The UK government has warned of six more months of “very difficult” lockdown restrictions, amid a continuing rise in infections, the Times reports this morning.
According to the paper, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to announce new movement curbs in the coming days, although there is said be a split among members of his cabinet over how extensive these should be, with the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is resisting a full shutdown of the hospitality sector.
The Times: Covid curbs will last for six months, No 10 warns pic.twitter.com/tLa5x8Deya
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) September 21, 2020
The UK is at a “critical moment” and if people fail to follow coronavirus rules “we’re going to end up back in situations we don’t want to be in”, a senior government minister warned in a broadcast interview this morning.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, told Sky News:
We’re certainly at a critical moment this morning. It is clear we’re just a few weeks behind what we’re seeing elsewhere in Europe.
You only have to look at what’s happening in France, particularly in Spain, and you can see that things have taken off there including, I’m afraid, deaths. So it is very important that we do everything we can to bear down on this.
It’s absolutely vital that people do (follow restrictions) because otherwise we’re going to end up back in situations we don’t want to be in.
.@grantshapps says it's important the public adhere to the new social distancing rules as #COVID19 'hospital admissions are creeping up'.
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) September 21, 2020
The transport sec says "deaths haven't gone up as yet" but the govt is expecting it to do so like Spain.#KayBurley: https://t.co/smsK11yuT6 pic.twitter.com/tOodnaTlsB
Updated
This morning the print Guardian leads with the news that Britain’s most senior government advisors are to make a direct appeal to the public on Monday, warning that the coronavirus trend is “heading in the wrong direction” and “a critical point has been reached”.
As Downing Street considers imposing nationwide curbs to contain a sharp jump in cases, the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, will make a rare live televised address alongside the UK chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
The scientists will set out the latest data on the spread of the disease, and urge people to exercise caution. Whitty is expected to warn: “We are looking at the data to see how to manage the spread of the virus ahead of a very challenging winter period.”
The front page of today's Guardian: UK is at a critical point, chief scientists to warn public. pic.twitter.com/De8PZ8NCKG
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) September 21, 2020
Also on the front page is a report on critical comments by Lady Hale, the former head of the supreme court, who says parliament “surrendered” its role over emergency laws restricting freedoms amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Coronavirus Act 2020, passed in March, gave government “sweeping” powers alongside other “draconian” regulations, and “it is not surprising the police were as confused as the public as to what was law and what was not”, she says in an opening essay for a collection published on Monday and seen by the Guardian.
Hi, this is Damien Gayle taking over the live blog now from London. For the next few hours I’ll be continuing to keep you updated with the latest coronavirus-related world news. If you have any news you think I should include drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
I leave you with what it looks like to lose an Emmy in 2020 – the awards were delivered to actors’ houses by people wearing hazmat suits... who quickly departed if the actor didn’t win:
when you lose the emmy pic.twitter.com/ECkbGcoHBA
— ramy youssef (@ramy) September 21, 2020
Taj Mahal reopens after six-month closure
The Taj Mahal will reopen after a six-month closure. There will be some restrictions such as compulsory mask-wearing, thermal screening of visitors and physical distancing at the monument.
India has recorded nearly 87,000 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, with another 1,130 deaths.
With the Health Ministry announcement Monday, India now has more than 5.4 million reported cases since the pandemic began and within weeks is expected to surpass the United States, currently the country with the most reported cases.
India’s total deaths in the pandemic now stand at 87,882.
More than 60% of the active cases are concentrated in five of 28 Indian states: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Despite the steady increase in cases, the government has continued to relax virus restrictions in order to help an economy that contracted 24% in the second quarter.
Contact-tracing app for England and Wales 'hampered by loss of public trust'
Dominic Cummings’ lockdown travels and the exams fiasco could have contributed to dooming the government’s Covid contact-tracing app before it even launches, a technology expert has warned.
Evidence of low uptake overseas also suggests the app may not live up to ministers’ early hopes of a panacea. In late May, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, admitted it was “the cherry on the cake but [not] the cake”; in recent weeks it has barely been mentioned.
The app, which is due to launch in England and Wales on Thursday 24 September, will use the bluetooth signal in mobile phones to track close and sustained contact between users and then warn those who may have been exposed to an infectious person that they should self-isolate.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The US is nearing the stark milestone of 200,000 deaths, nine months after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of deaths in the US, the highest in the world, stood at 199,509 on the Johns Hopkins University tracker on Monday morning, roughly a fifth of the global total. The virus has killed people of colour and immigrants (regardless of race) in the US at higher rates than their white and US-born counterparts. Among the dead are more than 1,000 healthcare workers.
- Australia’s coronavirus hotspot of Victoria reported its lowest daily rise in infections in three months on Monday, although state premier Daniel Andrews said there were no plans yet to ease restrictions sooner than expected. Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state and home to a quarter of the country’s 25 million people, reported 11 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the smallest one-day jump since 16 June. It also reported two deaths due to the virus. The premier said his government would not accelerate a timetable for easing restrictions, which were imposed after daily case numbers topped 700 in early August.
- Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, further eased restrictions on the country’s largest city, Auckland, and completely removed domestic restrictions on the rest of the nation, after zero new cases were reported.The country has recorded a total of 1,464 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 25 deaths.
- The UK’s most senior government scientists will make a direct appeal to the public on Monday, warning that the coronavirus trend is “heading in the wrong direction” and “a critical point has been reached”. The warning comes after the UK reported 3,899 new cases on Sunday after four-month high of 4,422 on Saturday.
- The French health ministry has reported 10,569 new cases in 24 hours, down from the previous day’s record increase of 13,498. 12 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, with the death toll rising to 31,585. The latest increase in deaths from yesterday’s toll may reflect late-arriving data for earlier fatalities, according to Reuters.
- In Spain, Madrid’s rate of transmission is more than double the national average, which already leads European contagion charts.
- In Israel, which on Friday became the first country globally to return to a strict nationwide lockdown, thousands of protesters gathered on Sunday in Jerusalem to demand the resignation of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the first such demonstrations since the start of a new nationwide lockdown.
A series of hospitals will be designated as coronavirus-free zones during the second wave of the outbreak in a significant policy shift designed to ensure the NHS continues treatment for cancer and other conditions, the Guardian has learned.
NHS England is determined not to repeat the widespread suspension of normal service that occurred in the first wave, which doctors and charities have criticised for damaging patients’ health, leading to more deaths and creating a backlog of millions of treatments.
In a tacit admission that the March shutdown denied patients vital care, NHS bosses have drawn up plans for certain hospitals – mainly small district generals – to treat no Covid-19 patients and focus instead on common planned operations such as cancer surgery, hip and knee replacements, and cataract removals.
Under NHS plans, such “clean” hospitals will as far as possible be kept free of coronavirus patients in a reversal of the approach taken in spring. That should reduce the risk of patients admitted for normal care becoming infected with Covid-19 while on wards:
Here is a lovely moment from the Pandemmys earlier:
Everyone is focused on @Zendaya’s age as the youngest Best Actress in a Drama Series winner... but let’s not forget she’s only the 2nd Black actress to ever win in this category... in 72 years. #Emmys https://t.co/qjI5W3I8on
— Steven Canals (@StevenCanals) September 21, 2020
Schools in the South Korean capital Seoul and nearby areas resumed in-person classes for the first time in almost a month on Monday after daily coronavirus cases dropped to the lowest levels since mid-August, Reuters reports.
Students returned to schools under a hybrid schedule of in-person and online classes to limit the number of people at schools at any given time. Students will attend in-person classes once or twice a week.
South Korea managed to contain the virus and avoid a full lockdown earlier this year, but infections at a church and political rally in August sparked the country’s largest outbreak forcing authorities to impose social distancing curbs. Many schools closed on 26 August, though high school seniors facing a key test were allowed to continue in-person classes.
Authorities on Sunday, meanwhile, extended phase 2 social distancing for a week until 27 September, which limits indoor gatherings to below 50 and outdoor to less than 100.
They said they would impose stricter restrictions on 28 September, ahead of the three-day Chuseok holiday when people traditionally reunite with families.
“We are not at a stage to let our guard down yet,” health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 70 new cases as of midnight Sunday, the lowest daily increase since the middle of August.
The latest outbreak peaked at more than 440 new cases at the end of August, and despite the steady decline officials say they fear the upcoming holiday may lead to another spike.
Yoon urged residents to hold online visits during the holiday, and said the government is arranging for proxy services for some of the Chuseok traditions, including tidying around ancestors’ graves.
Overall South Korea has reported 23,045 coronavirus cases with 385 deaths.
World leaders will come together virtually on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the deadly coronavirus pandemic challenges the effectiveness and solidarity of the 193-member world body, Reuters reports.
As Covid-19, which emerged in China late last year, began to spread around the world, forcing millions of people to shelter at home and dealing a devastating economic blow, countries turned inward and diplomats say the United Nations struggled to assert itself.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters that the pandemic has exposed the world’s fragilities. He plans to tell world leaders on Monday that they need to work together at a time when there is a surplus of multilateral challenges and deficit of solutions.
The 15-member Security Council took months to back a call by Guterres for a global ceasefire - to allow countries to focus on fighting Covid-19 - due to bickering between the world’s biggest powers: China and the United States.
The 193-member General Assembly only adopted an omnibus resolution on a “comprehensive and coordinated response” to the pandemic earlier this month and it was not by consensus. The United States and Israel voted no.
A $10.3 billion UN appeal to fund fighting the pandemic in vulnerable and low-income countries is only a quarter funded. Guterres now has taken a lead in pushing to make sure any vaccine for the coronavirus is made available to everyone globally.
A senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the General Assembly should have acted months ago, but “we were all hampered by, and hit, by the Covid-19.”
It was uncharted waters for the 72nd Emmy awards – the first major acting awards show held since the pandemic began, a strange and subdued ceremony in which stars accepted awards on Zoom. But unwelcome new methods (the telecast required more than 100 live feeds), and the end of former Emmys juggernauts Game of Thrones and Veep, ushered in a celebration of new series and talent: Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek swept the comedy awards, HBO’s Succession dominated in drama and the evening’s most-nominated show, HBO’s prescient, eerie Watchmen, cleaned up in the limited series category:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 922 to 272,337, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday.
The reported death toll remained unchanged at 9,386, the tally showed.
Victoria, Australia sees lowest cases since June
Australia’s coronavirus hotspot of Victoria reported on Monday its lowest daily rise in infections in three months, although state Premier Daniel Andrews said there were no plans yet to ease restrictions sooner than expected, Reuters reports.
Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state and home to a quarter of its 25 million people, reported 11 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the smallest one-day jump since 16 June. It also reported two deaths due to the virus.
“This is not just a good day. This is a great day,” Andrews told reporters in the Victorian capital, Melbourne.
But the premier said his government would not accelerate a timetable for easing restrictions, which were imposed after daily case numbers topped 700 in early August.
“The formal position is clear,” Andrews said.
“If circumstances change, if we find ourselves ahead of schedule, not for one day, but in a manifest sense, common sense always guides us,” he added.
Melbourne has been under one of the toughest lockdowns, including nightly curfews, but the state government has said it will let construction sites, manufacturing plants, warehouses and childcare facilities in the capital reopen on 28 September if the average number of cases over two weeks is below 50. The average in Melbourne is now below 35.
Updated
Here’s the full story on New Zealand easing restrictions, with the Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington:
Many New Zealanders will on Monday night taste freedom from all Covid-19 restrictions for a second time during the pandemic, after Jacinda Ardernremoved all domestic rules for much of the country.
Some restrictions will remain on the largest city, Auckland, for a further two weeks, although the rules will be eased somewhat as health officials said a cluster of cases in the city did not appear to have generated any fresh instances of the virus in the past week.
“Our actions collectively have managed to get the virus under control,” the prime minister told a news conference on Monday. “We are in a strong position to make our next move down the alert settings.”
Celebrations began on social media as New Zealanders heard the news.
Israelis hold first protests since lockdown
Thousands of Israeli protesters gathered Sunday in Jerusalem to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first such demonstrations since the start of a new nationwide coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.
Authorities in Israel, which has seen one of the world’s highest per capita rates of coronavirus infections in the past two weeks, imposed a new nationwide lockdown on Friday.
Coinciding with the first day of the Jewish holiday season, it sparked particular anger among ultra-Orthodox Jews.
While the government was praised for its initial handling of the pandemic, implementing a strict lockdown in March, many Israelis have accused the government of bungling its crisis response since.
Protests are still allowed despite the new restrictions, and demonstrators were undeterred in joining the rally outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, as they have done every week for almost three months.
Many protesters wore masks, but did not distance themselves from each other to prevent transmission of the virus.
Although economic activity usually slows during the Jewish high holidays, many in Israel fear the financial fallout of the second lockdown could be drastic.
Netanyahu’s government had tried various measures in recent months to avoid a full shutdown, such as weekend closures, but has repeatedly backtracked in the face of opposition.
The Jewish state has the world’s second-highest detected virus infection rate after Bahrain, according to an AFP tally over the past fortnight, recording 187,396 cases and 1,236 deaths.
Victoria Beckham cancelled her planned “salon-style” catwalk show just a few days before London fashion week, fearing that although permitted under current guidelines, a show “didn’t feel appropriate”.
Instead, she presented her new collection to small groups of three visitors at a time, in the same Hoxton art gallery where she had planned to hold the show. Monogrammed silk “VB” face masks were presented to each visitor, to ensure chic social distancing was maintained at all times:
Podcast: The growing influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory
The Guardian US tech reporter Julia Carrie Wong discusses the rise of QAnon, a wide-ranging and baseless internet conspiracy theory that has been festering on the fringes of rightwing internet communities for years. In recent months its visibility has exploded amid the social unrest and uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic:
From an article on what 200,000 US deaths mean, in the New Yorker:
According to one estimate, each person who dies of covid-19 leaves behind an average of nine surviving family members. If this is right, then there are now at least 1.8 million Americans mourning the loss of kin—parents, husbands, wives, children, siblings, grandparents—and millions more who are mourning with them.
And:
In less than a year, covid-19 has killed four times as many Americans as died from the opioid crisis during its deadliest year. It has killed more Americans than those who perished in every armed conflict combined since the Second World War.
The New York Times reported on 12 August 2020 that the US toll had likely already passed 200,000 as excess deaths – or the number of deaths that have happened in a given period compared to the same period a year earlier – showed that 60,000 more people had died than the number officially linked to Covid-19.
On 29 March, Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading US government infectious diseases expert, warned that the toll could get as high as this – at the time, 2,188 Americans had died from the virus:
Updated
The official death toll in the US is likely to pass 200,000 today. It is the highest toll in the world – and more than 60,000 deaths higher than the next worst, which is Brazil’s. According to Johns Hopkins University, the toll currently stands at 199,474.
It took five months for the virus to kill the first 100,000 Americans and just over three months for the next 100,000. Here is our story from May:
Updated
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday announced the return of professional football as part of a loosening of restrictions following a fall in the number of coronavirus cases, AFP reports.
But the West African country’s land and sea borders remain closed, and its beaches, bars, cinemas and night clubs will also stay shut for the time being, he said in a televised address.
“Now more than ever, we must be even more disciplined in our adherence to the personal hygiene, mask wearing and social distancing measures that have become part of our daily routines,” he warned.
The loosening of restrictions means training in contact sports can resume, while Premier League and Division One football will resume on October 30, he said. Players and support staff will be regularly tested, he added.
But the wearing of masks will remain mandatory until December 14.
“No spectators will be allowed at the training centres, and, when actual competition resumes, seating at all stadia will be limited to twenty-five percent capacity to ensure social distancing,” the president said.
The resumption of other sports would be discussed on a case-by-case basis between the sports ministries and the federations concerned, he added.
Ghana has recorded around 46,000 cases of coronavirus and 297 deaths.
New Zealand eases restrictions in Auckland
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, further eased restrictions on the country’s largest city, Auckland, and completely removed domestic restrictions on the rest of the nation, after Covid-19 case numbers continued to fall.
A community outbreak in Auckland – after New Zealand earlier eliminated the virus in June – had prompted a second lockdown in August, which has now been eased further. From 11:59p.m. on Wednesday, social gatherings in Auckland are now limited to 100 people, rather than the current limit of 10.
Face coverings are mandatory on public transport and on any planes going to or from Auckland.
Ardern said that from 11:59p.m. on Monday, the rest of the country would fall to so-called level 1 restrictions – meaning there are no rules in place except for strict border restrictions.
There has been no community transmission of the virus outside of Auckland.
“Our actions collectively have managed to get the virus under control,” Ardern said.
Updated
Zero new cases in New Zealand
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
There were no new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand on Monday, health officials said.
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern will shortly reveal whether moderate restrictions on the largest city, Auckland, will be further eased, and whether domestic restrictions on the rest of the country will be jettisoned altogether.
The country has recorded a total of 1,464 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 25 deaths.
There are 62 active cases in New Zealand, 33 of them transmitted in the community and the remaining 29 diagnosed in managed isolation facilities for travelers returning to New Zealand.
Three people are in hospital.
Mexico’s health ministry on Sunday reported 3,542 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country, bringing the total to 697,663, and 235 new deaths, for a cumulative death toll of 73,493.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell has said the real number of cases in the country is significantly higher.
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Australian state of Victoria seeing steady downward case trend
The state of Victoria in Australia is reporting a steady downward trend in daily coronavirus cases, putting the it on course to ease more restrictions by next week.
The two-week average rise in cases in Melbourne, the state capital, dropped below 35 on Monday, on track to meet a target of below 50 cases by 28 September when the authorities have said they may relax restrictions in the city.
Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, is on an extended hard lockdown until 28 September, but authorities lifted some restrictions last week allowing residents to leave their homes for longer periods for exercise and shortened a nightly curfew.
The strict restrictions on movement have brought the daily coronavirus cases in the state down to double digits after it touched highs of 700 in early August.
“It’s welcome news for Victorians and welcome news for Australians,” Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth told the Australian Broadcasting Corp television on Monday.
Victoria reported two deaths from Covid-19 and 11 cases in the last 24 hours. A day earlier, the state reported five deaths and 14 new cases, its lowest rise in daily infections in three months. Australia has so far recorded a total of just over 26,900 novel coronavirus infections and 851 deaths, with Victoria accounting for the bulk of both.
Mainland China reported 12 new Covid-19 cases on 20 September, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Monday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement all new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas. It also reported 25 new asymptomatic infections, up from 21 a day earlier, though China does not classify these symptomless patients as confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in mainland China now stands at 85,291, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Updated
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Air New Zealand CEO says Trans-Tasman travel bubble unlikely in next six months
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
Australians and New Zealanders have long pinned their hopes on an eventual trans-Tasman bubble that would allow travel between the two countries to resume without a fortnight in government-run quarantine at either end.
But the chief executive of Air New Zealand has told an Australian newspaper he doesn’t expect the “bubble” to be in place for at least six more months.
Greg Foran, who heads New Zealand’s flag carrier airline, made the comments to the Sydney Morning Herald, adding that he “certainly do[es] not believe we will see anything across the Tasman this calendar year.”
“It’s hard to believe it would be before March next year and could well be longer,” he said.
The prime ministers of both countries have frequently been asked about the proposed “bubble” since the idea was first floated, but neither would commit to a timeline before the coronavirus is brought under control.
There are 909 active cases of the virus in Australia and Melbourne remains in lockdown. New Zealand has 71 active cases.
UK at ‘critical point’ over Covid-19, top scientists to tell public
Heather Stewart and Josh Halliday report:
Britain’s most senior government scientists will make a direct appeal to the public on Monday, warning that the coronavirus trend is “heading in the wrong direction” and “a critical point has been reached”.
As Downing Street considers imposing nationwide curbs to contain a sharp jump in cases, the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, will make a rare live televised address alongside the UK chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
The scientists will set out the latest data on the spread of the disease, and urge people to exercise caution. Whitty is expected to warn: “We are looking at the data to see how to manage the spread of the virus ahead of a very challenging winter period.”
Their intervention comes after ministers were accused of eroding trust, from failings and broken pledges on testing and tracing to scandals such as Dominic Cummings’ lockdown journeys.
London could become the latest area to be subject to regional restrictions, with the mayor, Sadiq Khan, meeting council leaders on Monday. A spokesperson for Khan said: “The situation is clearly worsening … it is better for both health and business to move too early than too late”:
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest as the US nears the devastating milestone of 200,000 dead.
The number of deaths currently stands at 199,481 on the Johns Hopkins University tracker, roughly a fifth of the global total. The US case total stands at 6,792,075.
Britain meanwhile is at a critical point in the Covid-19 pandemic and faces a very challenging winter, one of the government’s top medical advisers will warn at a public briefing on Monday.
“The trend in the UK is heading in the wrong direction and we are at a critical point in the pandemic,” England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is expected to say in an address set for 10am on Monday.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- Cases in Britain are on the increase in what Boris Johnson has labelled a second wave of the virus, with large areas of the country subject to restrictions on social freedom and London expected to be next in line. The UK reported 3,899 new cases on Sunday after four-month high of 4,422 on Saturday.
- Tens of thousands of private renters in England and Wales could be at risk of losing their homes when the ban on evictions ends on Monday, campaign groups say.Renters in England and Wales have been protected from eviction during the Covid-19 outbreak by a ban announced in March which was then extended, meaning anyone served with an eviction notice since August 29 has been given a six-month notice period.
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Lebanon on Sunday said it confirmed 1,006 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths from the disease in 24 hours, in a new record for the crisis-hit country, according to AFP.
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Thousands of demonstrators calling for Benjamin Netanyahu to resign have gathered in Jerusalem, despite an Israeli national lockdown that went into force on Friday.
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The French health ministry has reported 10,569 new cases in 24 hours, down from the previous day’s record increase of 13,498. 12 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, with the death toll rising to 31,585. The latest increase in deaths from yesterday’s toll may reflect late-arriving data for earlier fatalities, according to Reuters.
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The US performed a record one million tests on Saturday – but experts say the country needs to be hitting targets of between six and ten million a day to get the outbreak under control.
- Myanmar has announced a stay-at-home order for its largest city, Yangon, from Monday, following a record daily rise in new coronavirus cases on Sunday.
- The UK has reported an additional 3,899 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases. This brings the total to 394,257. The death toll has risen by 18 to 41,777, according to government data.
- Authorities in China’s northeastern Jilin province have found the coronavirus on the packaging of imported squid, health authorities in the city of Fuyu said on Sunday, urging anyone who may have bought it to get themselves tested.
- Russia has reported 6,148 new cases. It was the second straight day when the daily number of cases exceeded 6,000, taking the national tally of infections to 1,103,399.
- Indonesia has reported 3,989 new cases, taking the total to 244,676. Data from the country’s health ministry also showed 105 new deaths, taking the total to 9,553, the biggest death toll in Southeast Asia.
Updated
