This blog is closing now but thanks very much for reading. We’ll be back in a few hours with more rolling coverage of the pandemic from all around the world.
In the meantime you can catch up with all our coverage of the pandemic here.
It started out well enough, writes Rob LeDonne.
In the heart of New York City, on Central Park’s Great Lawn, the weather was overcast leading up to We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert, a genre-spanning spectacle produced by the city itself.
Two minutes before the 5pm kick-off the clouds parted, and, hallelujah, the warm sun shone through, sitting there in the sky as bright as co-host Gayle King’s flowing yellow dress. The only way the sight of sun would have been more welcome was if the baby from the Teletubbies were inside it.
Perhaps, though, it was a metaphor. After all, the show was designed to herald the return of city life in the face of the coronavirus, a gut-punch to the Big Apple in particular. This was the city’s way of saying: we made it through. It’s over. We’re done. Happy days are here again.
But as the mood remained celebratory on stage, ominous clouds were forming. In the distance, a brewing mass of darkness.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Brazil recorded 14,404 new Covid cases over the latest 24-hour period, along with 318 deaths, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.
Brazil has registered more than 20 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 574,527, Reuters reports.
Updated
Vaccine makers are concerned flu jabs could fail to protect people this winter because global Covid surveillance prevented laboratories from gathering sufficient data on dominant variants, the Telegraph reports.
Experts had already raised questions about the impact of coronavirus restrictions on people’s immunity to influenza but vaccine makers say global genetic sequencing of flu had dropped by up to 94% in the months preceding February.
The mass cancellation of flights has also led to a 62% drop in shipments of influenza surveillance samples, the paper adds.
Australian states are continuing to push back against the terms of a nationally agreed plan to open up the country once vaccination rates hit 70% and 80%, warning the worsening Covid crisis in New South Wales could yet be a dealbreaker.
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has insisted that growing case numbers are not a reason to abandon the national plan agreed to by all states and territories.
On Sunday, however, the Queensland deputy premier, Steven Miles, said the states had agreed to the national plan before the NSW outbreak, and Queensland could still close the border to NSW even when vaccination rates reached 80%.
The Western Australia premier, Mark McGowan, also cast doubt on whether the state would be prepared to abandon its elimination strategy, saying it wanted to continue to try to “crush and kill” the virus.
Read Sarah’s Martin’s full report here:
The United States has administered 362,657,771 doses of Covid vaccines as of Sunday morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Of those, 201,425,785 people have received at least one dose while 170,821,621 people are fully vaccinated.
Updated
A third dose of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine offers significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel, compared with those who received just two shots, Reuters reports.
The findings published by the country’s health ministry show that among people of that age group, protection against infection provided from 10 days after a third dose was four times higher than after two doses.
With regard to serious illness and hospitalisation, a third jab offered five to six times greater protection after 10 days than after two doses.
In recent weeks, healthy officials have said immunity in people who received two doses of a vaccine has diminished over time and those who have fallen severely ill were over 60 and with underlying health conditions.
The country began administering third jabs to over-60s at the end of July.
Updated
Full federal approval of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine will empower businesses and universities to require vaccinations and tip hesitant Americans toward getting the jab, said the US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy.
Until now, the Pfizer shot has been administered under an emergency use authorisation, though experts emphasise that it is safe and effective.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to finish its licensing process for the lifesaving drug as soon as Monday, the New York Times has reported.
“We already know that there are many businesses and universities that have moved toward vaccine requirements,” Murthy told CNN’s State of the Union.
“And I think it’s a very reasonable thing to do to create a safe environment.
“We’ve given it to hundreds of millions of people. We’ve seen that it’s doing its job. And that’s why we’re continuing to recommend that people get vaccinated starting today and … as soon as they can.”
Updated
Labour has written to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, urging him to ensure a new £5bn contract for NHS protective equipment including gowns and masks is not awarded to companies implicated in forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region.
Given the tenders for the contracts for gowns, masks, eye protectors and other items, and the £6bn glove contract will close at the end of August, “you have little over a week to decide how you will tackle the issue of forced labour”, the shadow international trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, warned Javid.
In the letter, seen by the Guardian, Thornberry wrote: “Just as that is no excuse for the lucrative contracts awarded to government cronies with no experience of producing or providing PPE, nor is it an excuse for ignoring the risks that forced labour is being used overseas to manufacture the supplies required by the NHS.
“As you will be aware, evidence has emerged in recent years of the widespread and systematic use of forced labour against China’s Uyghur population in the factories, farms and prison camps of Xinjiang region, and of the forced transport of Uyghurs to carry out similar work in other regions under the Chinese state’s so-called labour transfer programme.”
Read the full exclusive story here:
Donald Trump was greeted with the unusual sound of booing and jeering at a rally in Alabama, after he told supporters: “I recommend taking the vaccines.”
Like other states home to resistance to vaccinations and other public health measures – often stoked by Republican leaders – Alabama is struggling with a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant.
“I believe totally in your freedoms,” Trump said at the rally in the city of Cullman on Saturday night. “I do, you’re free, you got to do what you have to do.
“But I recommend taking the vaccines. I did it, it’s good, take the vaccines.”
Read Martin Pengelly’s report here:
Updated
France reported 17,300 new Covid cases and 44 further deaths on Sunday, compared with 22,636 cases the previous day.
The number of people in French intensive care units for Covid is 2,128, a slight increase of 22 patients from yesterday.
Thousands demonstrated across France for a sixth consecutive weekend on Saturday against a coronavirus health pass required for daily activities.
Updated
More children are being hospitalised with Covid in the US south and midwest than ever before, as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads among unvaccinated people.
One hospital in New Orleans has reported as many as 20 children hospitalised for Covid at a time in the past three weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2020, that number never topped seven, the hospital’s physician-in-chief told the paper.
Children’s hospitals in the US are bracing for even more cases as schools reopen after the summer break, with the potential additional pressure of the impending flu season on hospital resources.
Although children are much less likely to develop severe Covid-19 or die from the virus, recent data shows paediatric hospitalisations for coronavirus in the US are at the highest point since the pandemic began.
Updated
Doctors and staff working in GP surgeries across England are reporting a torrent of physical and verbal abuse from patients, the Independent reports.
Some GPs have told the newspaper they fear coming to work and say staff have quit over the threats they are receiving on a near-daily basis.
Others have reported receiving bomb threats, while staff at one London practice received hate mail over their role in the vaccination rollout.
A report published earlier this month by the British Medical Association found that more than a third of doctors have recently experienced verbal abuse, with GPs the most likely to be targeted.
Delays in getting treatment and changes to the way the NHS operates as a result of the pandemic were cited as the trigger for at least some of the abusive behaviour, the BMA said.
Updated
Critically ill Covid patients are less likely to die or to require invasive ventilation if they lay on their stomachs while receiving oxygen, a global research project has found.
The study looked at the impact of the technique, known as awake prone positioning, on more than 1,000 patients with severe coronavirus in hospitals in six countries.
It found that putting patients in this position while they received high-flow nasal cannula oxygen reduced death and the need for invasive mechanical ventilation.
The study’s findings have been published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Updated
Italy reported 5,923 new Covid cases and 23 further deaths on Sunday, according to the latest data from the health ministry.
Today’s numbers are a significant drop compared with yesterday, when 7,470 new cases and 45 deaths were recorded.
The country has registered a total of 128,751 deaths linked to Covid since the start of the pandemic – the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain.
Updated
UK reports 32,253 new cases and 49 further deaths
Britain reported 32,253 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Sunday, and a further 49 people were recorded as having died within 28 days of a positive test.
The data compared with 32,058 new cases reported on Saturday and 104 deaths.
Summary of recent developments
-
People in the UK will be able to receive Covid-19 antibody tests for the first time next week as part of a new government programme. Up to 8,000 adults will be able to take part in the scheme.
- Iran has reported an all-time daily coronavirus death toll, with 684 further fatalities recorded. Sunday’s figure passes the 655 deaths recorded in 24 hours on 16 August.
- Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 6,747,087. Of this total, 1,661 were recorded in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg.
- Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is preparing to enter lockdown as cases in the southeast Asian country’s most populous city surge. Residents will be under stay at home orders from Monday, with the army and police deployed.
-
Israel has launched an antibody testing programme for children aged three and above as it seeks to monitor much protection from the virus unvaccinated children have developed.
-
Prime minister Scott Morrison has said Australia’s stringent lockdown strategy will remain in place until at least 70% of country is fully vaccinated as the country sees record numbers of cases.
-
Vaccinated Filipino workers will be allowed to enter Hong Kong from 30 August, Manila’s labour minister has said.
-
Japan’s top coronavirus adviser has asked the government to call on doctors who have not been treating Covid patients to help tackle the wave of rapidly rising infections.
That’s all from me for today – my colleague Léonie Chao Fong will be here shortly to guide you through the next few hours. Thanks for reading along.
Updated
Malaysia reported another 19,807 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, bringing the national total to 1,555,093.
Ho Chi Minh City prepares for lockdown
Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is preparing to enter lockdown as cases in the southeast Asian country’s most populous city surge.
Residents will be under stay at home orders from Monday, with the army and police deployed to enforce the restrictions and deliver essential to those in need, Vn Express reports.
However, panic buying set in over the weekend, with reports of endless queues and empty supermarket shelves as people rushed to stock up before Monday.
The lockdown follows on from measures, including a dusk to dawn curfew, that have already been imposed on the metropolis, but appear to have been unable to break the chain of infections.
The government hopes the lockdown can bring cases under control by 15 September.
Vietnam has recorded 323,000 coronavirus infections and 7,540 deaths, with Ho Chi Minh City accounting for more than half of the cases and 80% of the fatalities, according to the health ministry.
Updated
The Sri Lankan government has declared a “vaccination week” from Monday in an attempt to boost take-up rates in unvaccinated over-60s.
Most people dying of Covid-19 are in this group, said state minister Channa Jayasumana in remarks reported in Sri Lankan newspaper the Daily Mirror.
“These people have forgone the vaccine owing to their personal reasons and several misconceptions. This is the very reason as to why the number deaths has gone considerably high. The majority of victims are of unvaccinated people above 60,” he said.“Hence, the coming week will be dedicated mainly to vaccinate the 60 plus age group in the country.”
Jayasumana called on people who care for older people to encourage them to get vaccinated.
It comes as people are asked to accept the first Covid-19 vaccine they are offered, rather than requesting one by a particular manufacturer. “According to researches and studies on vaccines against Covid-19, all those vaccines can combat the virus and variants,” the director general of health services, Dr Asela Gunawardena said.
Updated
Prime minister Scott Morrison has said Australia’s stringent lockdown strategy will remain in place until at least 70% of country is fully vaccinated as the country sees record numbers of cases.
The country recorded 914 Delta cases on Sunday, surpassing the previous high of 894 a day earlier.
“You can’t live with lockdowns forever and at some point, you need to make that gear change and that is done at 70%,” Morrison said in a television interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The government’s reliance on lockdowns and tough border policy, while the vaccine rollout has lagged behind, has been a source of frustration for many. The state of Victoria is currently in its sixth lockdown since the start of the pandemic, while Sydney’s lockdown was recently extended to the end of September.
Donald Trump staged a rally in the city of Cullman in Alabama on Saturday night, despite the city having declared a Covid emergency on Thursday.
The state is struggling with a surge in cases of Covid-19 driven by the contagious Delta variant.
Speaking ahead of last night’s rally, Dr William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional, told CBS42: “We view this as a potential ‘super-spreader’ event, just like last week’s Rock the South [at the same location]. We’ve seen an increase in patients since that event last weekend and we’re concerned we could see the same impact.”
Read Martin Pengelly’s report here:
Updated
Vaccinated Filipino workers will be allowed to enter Hong Kong from 30 August, Manila’s labour minister has said.
Hong Kong has agreed to let overseas Filipino workers who have been vaccinated in the Philippines come and work there upon showing their vaccine cards, Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello said in an announcement reported by Reuters.
The agreement should benefit some 3,000 workers waiting to be deployed to Hong Kong, Bello said in a statement. There are about 210,000 overseas Filipino workers, mostly domestic workers, employed in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, which has enforced some of the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions, had previously barred those who received their jabs in the Philippines.
So far, 11.8% of the Philippines’ 110 million population has been fully vaccinated.
Updated
Vietnam has reported a further 11,214 coronavirus infections, with most of Sunday’s cases detected in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province.
The country reported 737 additional fatalities over the past two days, raising its coronavirus death toll to 8,277, Vietnam’s ministry of health said in a statement reported by Reuters.
Photograph: Reuters
Ho Chi Minh City will be under lockdown from Monday, and there have been reports of panic-buying and empty shelves in the city.
The government said on Friday that it would deploy troops in the city to enforce the lockdown, while the army will also be used to deliver food supplies to citizens.
A Covid-19 testing company co-owned by a former Labour justice minister and a Labour councillor has been accused of failing to deliver kits and test results and not refunding customers, forcing them to fall back on the NHS.
RT Diagnostics is one of hundreds of firms that won government approval to sell PCR tests to travellers planning to enter England, after ministers decided to leave provision to the private sector, under a system that has drawn criticism over allegations of poor service against several companies.
Travellers to the UK have spent at least £500m on PCR tests from private companies since mid-May. But evidence is mounting that the taxpayer-funded NHS testing service, which itself has been outsourced to contractors, is effectively being left to bear the costs when private companies fail.
Read the full exclusive story here:
South Korea is getting more Moderna Covid jab doses in an effort to boost its vaccination efforts, Reuters reports.
The country’s health ministry said on Sunday that Moderna will supply7.01m doses by the first week of September, following a government request to speed up delivery.
Some 1.01m doses are expected to arrive on Monday, the ministry said, with another 6m to be supplied sequentially. Moderna delivered 1.3m doses earlier this month.
At the time, the company had told South Korea that it would only be able to deliver less than half the 8.5m doses it had been due to ship in August.
“In response to our request to speed up and expand the vaccine supply, Moderna informed us that it will supply 7.01m doses by the first week of September,” the ministry said in a statement.
Under the plan, the country will be able to give 36 million people at least one dose of the vaccine before the Chuseok holiday in September.
The statement also said that the government is currently in talks with Romania for a vaccine swap deal, but denied a local media report that said the Romanian government approved donation of 450,000 doses of Moderna vaccines.
It gave no details of the planned swap, saying more information on the discussion with Romania will be provided as soon as it is finalised.
On Saturday, South Korea reported 1,628 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 236,366. A total of 2,215 people have died so far.
As of Saturday midnight, 50.4% of the 52 million population have had at least one vaccine dose, while just 22.5% have been fully vaccinated, government data showed.
South Korea aims to immunise over 70% of the population by September.
Israel launches antibody testing for under-12s
Israel has launched an antibody testing programme for children aged three and above as it seeks to monitor much protection from the virus unvaccinated children have developed.
Looking forward to the beginning of the school year, the Israeli government is aiming to avoid school closures despite rising causes driven by the more transmissible Delta variant, AFP reports.
Israel has already begun vaccinating children aged 12 and above.
The serological survey is focused on the nearly 1.5 million pupils between the ages of three and 12 who are not yet eligible for the jabs, aiming to discover how many children have developed strong antibody protection against coronavirus.
Those found to have sufficient antibody levels will not be forced to quarantine if exposed to a positive.
The city of Lake Charles, south-west Louisiana has endured four federally declared disasters in less than a year, making it particularly challenging to respond to the fourth coronavirus wave.
Sara Sneath reports on how the community is responding to the surge of cases in the state with highest rate of new infections in the US other than Mississippi.
Updated
Iran reports record daily death toll
Iran has reported an all-time daily coronavirus death toll, with 684 further fatalities recorded.
Sunday’s figure passes the 655 deaths recorded in 24 hours on 16 August, taking the cumulative toll to 102,038, according to IRNA, the country’s official news agency.
An additional 36,419 cases were also identified.
The country, which has a population of around 85 million, has administered first doses to about 16,700,000 people, while some 5,830,000 have had a second jab.
Updated
Scientists in Britain are examining whether smaller doses of Covid vaccine could be used as part of booster programmes, amid hopes that the approach could also increase the supply of jabs across the world.
The use of so-called “fractional doses” has been proposed as a way of ensuring that precious supplies can immunise as many people as possible in parts of the world where there are shortages, while still providing high levels of protection from the virus.
Several members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the UK government, are said to be interested in the idea. Lower doses of vaccines to tackle other diseases have been used in times of shortage.
The Greek government has reiterated its pledge to avoid shuttering the economy again this autumn, saying it will instead seek to curb cases through the use of Covid passes for hospitality venues.
Unvaccinated people will be unable to sit indoors in venues including restaurants, cafes, bars, theatres and cinemas, while those who have been inoculated will be required to show proof of vaccination.
Appearing Skai TV on Saturday, government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said: “We are not done with the pandemic, it is persistent and is not backing down, contrary to the stubbornness of those who interpret things in their own way.”
“Either these people will be vaccinated, or they will get sick, endangering society in its entirety, including those who are already vaccinated, and that is unfair,” he said.
An announcement detailing further measures is expected on Tuesday.
Japan’s top coronavirus adviser has asked the government to call on doctors who have not been treating Covid patients to help tackle the wave of rapidly rising infections.
“We hope they will be involved as much as possible. We want the state and local governments to make strong requests,” Shigeru Omi said in televised comments, the Japan Times reports.
Meanwhile, economic revitalisation minister Yasutoshi Nishimura hinted that the government may introduce stricter coronavirus measures in a bid to stem the spread of infections.
“We took strong measures in spring last year and April and May this year. We need to consider (such steps) as an option,” Nishimura said.
It comes amid a proposal by the National Governors’ Association has to expand the coronavirus state of emergency, which covers 13 prefectures, and pre-emergency measures nationwide.
The emergency measures cover nearly 60% of Japan’s population and will run until 12 September.
Updated
Along with many other industries, ice-cream sellers made huge losses in 2020. From social media to eating competitions, Ellie Violet Bramley takes a look at some of the creative ideas UK ice-cream parlours and vans have been coming up with to helping to raise their fortunes:
Updated
Russia reports 20,564 new cases
Russia reported 20,564 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 6,747,087.
Of this total, 1,661 were recorded in Moscow and 1,481 in St. Petersburg, according to Reuters.
A further 762 deaths of coronavirus patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, the Russian coronavirus task force said, taking the official death toll to 176,044.
A separate count by Rosstat, the government statistics agency, has tallied about 315,000 deaths related to Covid-19 between last April and June this year.
Calculations by Reuters based on the latest Rosstat data show that there have been around 463,000 excess deaths between April 2020 and June 2021. Some epidemiologists say excess deaths are the most accurate way to measure the pandemic’s real death toll.
Updated
Following two months of rising coronavirus cases, Thailand’s daily infections have begun to fall as the country registered a a 19-day low of 19,014 cases.
A further 233 deaths were also reported on Sunday, the Public Health Ministry said.
According to the Bangkok Post, the capital registered 71 deaths, while a further 83 were in its adjacent provinces.
It comes as the Department of Health recommended that 12 to 18-year-olds with underlying illnesses get vaccinated amid concern over rising infections in young people.
Updated
Rev Jesse Jackson hospitalised with Covid-19
Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, according to a statement Saturday.
Jackson, 79, has been vaccinated against Covid-19 and received his initial dose in January. He and his wife, 77, are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” according to the statement from Jackson’s nonprofit, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “There are no further updates at this time,” the statement said. “We will provide updates as they become available.”
Jackson was key in guiding the modern civil rights movement on numerous issues, including voting rights.
Updated
UK to roll out antibody tests this week
Hello and welcome to today’s global coronavirus coverage.
People in the UK will be able to receive Covid-19 antibody tests for the first time next week as part of a new government programme.
From Tuesday, anyone aged 18 or over in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, will be able to enrol to the programme when receiving a PCR test, Sky News reports. Up to 8,000 people will be able to take part in the scheme.
The results will be used to monitor antibody levels in coronavirus cases, with those who test positive sent two finger-prick antibody tests which measure their body’s response to different virus variants. The first should be taken immediately following a positive result, while the second should be 28 days later.
It will be the first time antibody tests have been offered to the general public, and comes amid discussions over the rollout of vaccine third doses in the UK. Some experts have said more time is needed to decided whether they are required.
I’ll be updating the blog for the next few hours – you can reach me on Twitter if you’d like to flag a story I’ve missed. Thanks in advance.
Updated
