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White House brings forward Brazil travel restrictions by two days
The White House on Monday issued a statement amending the timing of the start of new restrictions on travel from Brazil to the United States to 11.59pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, 26 May.
The White House announced on Sunday that it was restricting travel from Brazil to the United States, two days after the South American nation became the world’s No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases.
In its original announcement, it said the restrictions would come into force on 28 May.
UK volunteering soars during coronavirus crisis
Ten million UK adults have been volunteering in their community during the coronavirus crisis, and most say they will carry on after the lockdown ends, according to new research.
The study also found that Britons have been extending a financial helping hand to local businesses. More than £1bn was spent on services and goods that people knew they would never be able to use during the pandemic, including payments to home cleaners and gardeners.
Ireland sees no new deaths for first time in more than two months
The Irish Times reports that there were no new coronavirus deaths reported on Monday, for the first time since 21 March:
The Department of Health reported 59 new confirmed cases of the virus however bringing the total number of known cases of the disease to 24,698. The death toll stands at 1,606.
The State’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the declining number of new cases and reported deaths over the past week shows ‘we have suppressed Covid-19 as a country.’
[The Taoiseach, Leo] Varadkar tweeted: ‘This is a day of hope. We will prevail.’
Kentucky lockdown protesters condemned for hanging effigy of governor from tree
Political leaders in Kentucky have condemned rightwing protesters against the state’s measures to fight the coronavirus, after the demonstrators hanged an effigy of Democratic state governor Andy Beshear from a tree.
The incident happened on Sunday during a protest in favor of gun rights and other mostly conservative causes. Several men produced a rope and an effigy and strung it from a tree outside the state capitol building in Frankfort.
The state representative Charles Booker, who is African American and the Democratic party challenger for the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky in November, described the representation as “ vile and traumatic”.
“It’s not just the threat on his life, it’s the fact that they demonstrated an act rooted in our history of racism. I’ve had family lynched in Kentucky,” Booker added.
Summary
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There are more than 5.4m cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins university coronavirus tracker, which has counted a total of 5,467,945 confirmed infections. The death toll stands at 344,731.
- Dominic Cummings, the UK PM’s aide, has said he does not regret breaching lockdown. Dominic Cummings, the chief of staff to Boris Johnson, admitted driving about 250 miles (400km) from his home during the UK’s lockdown, but insisted he acted reasonably.
- Health authorities in Spain revised downward the country’s death toll from the coronavirus by nearly 2,000, bringing the total number of deaths recorded to 26,834. A new system of gathering data had allowed them to identify cases that were counted twice and exclude deaths wrongly attributed to the virus, said Fernando Simon, the health ministry’s emergencies coordinator.
- About 15,000 Rohingya refugees are now under coronavirus quarantine in Bangladesh’s vast camps, officials said Monday, as the number of confirmed infections among them rose to 29.Health experts have long warned that the virus could race through the cramped settlements, housing almost a million Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, and officials had restricted movement to the area in April.
- The World Health Organization has said it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine from its study into coronavirus treatments. Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was made in light research that showed people taking it were at higher risk of early death.
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Greece took another step towards normality as it reinstated ferry links with islands and allowed restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen. The moves, designed to kickstart the country’s tourist industry ahead of seasonal hotels reopening on 15 June, following almost three months of enforced closure.
- Spain will lift its quarantine requirement for people entering the country from 1 July, the government confirmed. At the moment, travellers from overseas are required to undergo a 14-day self-isolation on arrival. On Saturday the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country would reopen to tourists from July.
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Italy reported its fewest number of new coronavirus cases since early March. Authorities confirmed the deaths of 92 more people, bringing the total death toll from the pandemic to 32,877. New infections grew by 300, down from 531 on Sunday, with zero new cases registered in five regions.
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Sweden’s top epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, defended his country’s outbreak strategy as the number of people to have died after catching the virus passed 4,000. Critics have accused Swedish authorities of gambling with citizens’ lives by not imposing strict stay-at-home measures.
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now – I’ll be bringing you the latest developments for the next few hours, and a summary of the most recent developments shortly.
As always, it would be great to hear from you: get in touch via Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Tips, questions, feedback and fun all welcome.
Two of the highest profile fashion houses are planning to cut back on how many collections a year they will launch, the Associated Press reports.
Gucci and Saint Laurent will leave the fashion calendar behind, with its relentless four-times-a-year rhythm, which sees the industry shuttle between global capitals for runway shows.
The coronavirus lockdown has hit luxury fashion houses on their bottom lines, and has also given pause to rethink the pace of fashion, offering the possibility to return to less hectic, more considered periods of creativity and production — and perhaps consumption.
Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele imagines a twice yearly appointments — one in the fall and one in the spring — to present collections.
“Two appointments a year are more than enough to give time to form a creative thought, and to give more time to this system,” Michele said in a video conference on Monday
Saint Laurent hasn’t articulated its intentions, but said in a statement last month that it would “take control” of the fashion schedule “conscious of the current circumstances and its waves of radical change.”
Belgian and Polish politicians are claiming that they are far better placed to deal with any second wave of coronavirus, Reuters reports.
After nearly two months of clampdowns, pupils are returning to school and non-food shops or restaurants are re-opening, albeit with warnings that this easing could be stopped or even reversed if coronavirus cases start to spike.
“We can rule out that we will have to go back to the tough measures,” Belgian interior minister Pieter De Crem told broadcaster VTM on Sunday.
This was echoed by Polish health minister Lukasz Szumowski who told weekly newspaper Sieci that Warsaw was well equipped, after successfully halting the spread of an outbreak in Silesia.
“One can’t do a second lockdown ... We have infrastructure, over 120 laboratories perform tests. There are tools to control this monster,” Szumowski said.
The crisis that has engulfed the British government over top political aide Dominic Cummings’ conduct continues to rage despite a press conference in he repeatedly refused to resign or apologise for breaking lockdown rules, writes deputy political editor Rowena Mason.
After an outpouring of public anger rattled No 10, Cummings attempted to explain why he drove 264 miles from London to his parents’ estate in Durham despite suspecting that both he and his wife had coronavirus.
No 10 had hoped the move would draw a line under fury about Cummings’ behaviour after at least 20 Tory MPs called for him to quit and senior scientists accused him of undermining public health advice.
But his appearance in the Rose Garden of No 10 raised yet more questions after Cummings admitted he had suspected both he and his wife had coronavirus when they made the decision to travel across the country with their son.
Read the full story here
Updated
Reuters reports that New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, has urged locals to continue working from home despite schools reopening as the number of coronavirus cases slows.
The country has reported just over 7,100 infections and 102 deaths, well below figures reported by other developed countries, and with fewer than 20 new cases most days, states are pressing ahead with a three-stage plan to remove most social restrictions imposed by July.
In New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, children returned to full-time face-to-face learning on Monday, allowing many parents to return to offices – although lawmakers urged those who could to stay home to avoid putting pressure on the transport network.
“I am very pleased that the system hasn’t been overwhelmed,” the NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
“People are listening, making informed decisions, and that is the way we would like it to continue.”
Updated
British prime minister Boris Johnson has said outdoor markets and car showrooms can reopen from 1 June as long as proper measures are put in place. He says the open nature of such places means they represent a lower risk than indoor places.
At his daily briefing, Johnson also said that a further wave of reopening could start on 15 June, adding that indoor shops such as department stores would be allowed to open for business from that date as long as proper measures are put in place.
It was also announced by Prof Yvonne Doyle of Public Health England that the current R rate is around 0.7.
Updated
About 15,000 Rohingya refugees are now under coronavirus quarantine in Bangladesh’s vast camps, officials said Monday, as the number of confirmed infections among them rose to 29.
Health experts have long warned that the virus could race through the cramped settlements, housing almost a million Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, and officials had restricted movement to the area in April.
On Monday, Bangladesh recorded a fresh high in coronavirus detections, with 1,975 more people reported as testing positive in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total to 35,585. Of those who have tested positive, so far 7,334 have recovered and 501 have died, with 21 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, according to the country’s epidemiology institute.
The first cases in the Rohingya camps were detected in mid-May. “None of the infections are critical,” Toha Bhuiyan, a senior health official in the surrounding Cox’s Bazar area told AFP. “Most hardly show any symptoms. Still we have brought them in isolation centres and quarantined their families.”
Mahbubur Rahman, the chief health official of Cox’s Bazar, said authorities hoped this week they would double the number of tests being performed daily from 188. He said further entry restrictions have been imposed on the camp, with a 14-day quarantine in place for anyone visiting from Dhaka. “We are very worried because the Rohingya camps are very densely populated. We suspect community transmission (of the virus) has already begun,” Rahman told AFP.
Health authorities in Spain have revised downward the country’s death toll from the coronavirus by nearly 2,000, bringing the total number of deaths recorded to 26,834, AFP reports.
A new system of gathering data had allowed them to identify cases that were counted twice and exclude deaths wrongly attributed to the virus, said Fernando Simon, the health ministry’s emergencies coordinator.
“A variation of 1,900, that’s a lot,” he added. “We are trying to check that it’s correct, but these are the figures that we have at the moment.”
The health ministry, which gathers data from regional health authorities, also revised downwards the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus, from the 235,772 announced on Sunday to 235,400.
“We are satisfied with the growing quality of the information that allows us to take decisions,” said Simon. “It is something that happens in every epidemic, when the evolution of the epidemic leaves us with a bit more time, you have to correct the figures and in certain cases you have to reduce them,” he explained.
While the new system cut the number of deaths by 1,918, Spain remains one of the countries worst hit by the virus.
Summary
- The UK PM’s aide has said he does not regret breaching lockdown. Dominic Cummings, the chief of staff to Boris Johnson, admitted driving about 250 miles (400km) from his home during the UK’s lockdown, but insisted he acted reasonably.
- The World Health Organization has said it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine from its study into coronavirus treatments. Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was made in light research that showed people taking it were at higher risk of early death.
-
Greece took another step towards normality as it reinstated ferry links with islands and allowed restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen. The moves, designed to kickstart the country’s tourist industry ahead of seasonal hotels reopening on 15 June, following almost three months of enforced closure.
- Spain will lift its quarantine requirement for people entering the country from 1 July, the government confirmed. At the moment, travellers from overseas are required to undergo a 14-day self-isolation on arrival. On Saturday the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country would reopen to tourists from July.
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Italy reported its fewest number of new coronavirus cases since early March. Authorities confirmed the deaths of 92 more people, bringing the total death toll from the pandemic to 32,877. New infections grew by 300, down from 531 on Sunday, with zero new cases registered in five regions.
- Sweden’s top epidemiologist Anders Tegnell defended his country’s outbreak strategy as the number of people to have died after catching the virus passed 4,000. Critics have accused Swedish authorities of gambling with citizens’ lives by not imposing strict stay-at-home measures.
- Global cases passed 5.4m, according to the Johns Hopkins university coronavirus tracker, which has counted a total of 5,449,135 confirmed cases worldwide. The death toll stands at 345,721.
Updated
WHO drops hydroxychloroquine from Covid-19 trial
The World Health Organization has said it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the malaria drug Donald Trump said he is taking as a precaution — from its global study into experimental coronavirus treatments after safety concerns.
The WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems than those who were not, it would pause the hydroxychloroquine arm of its solidarity global clinical trial.
“The executive group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity trial while the safety data is reviewed by the data safety monitoring board,” Tedros said on Monday. “The other arms of the trial are continuing,”
He said the concern related only to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid-19, adding that the drugs were accepted treatments for people with malaria and auto-immune diseases.
Africa’s prompt and unified mobilisation to contain the coronavirus pandemic is a surprise to “those who have always belittled the continent,” the chair of the African Union commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has said.
In a statement marking Africa Day, the anniversary of the founding of the Organisation for African Unity, the forerunner of the modern AU, Faki paid tribute to member states that, he said, “promptly took appropriate measures, consistent with the continental strategy.”
“Right from the onset the pandemic, much to the surprise of those who have always belittled the continent, Africa mobilised itself,” the former prime minister of Chad said. “A continental response strategy was developed and implemented promptly.”
Celebrating #AfricaDay quote from the speech by #JuliusNyerere of #Tanzania made at the founding of the #AfricanUnion on 25th May 1963 Read the full speeches made in 1963 on https://t.co/cMF5oIKzYw pic.twitter.com/kt7uQ7pCf5
— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) May 25, 2020
More than 14 weeks after the first case of coronavirus was detected in Africa, the continent has registered just over 100,000 cases and about 3,100 deaths – about 1.5% of the world’s cases and 0.1% of deaths.
Faki called on Africa to continue to forge its own path, and not expect help from elsewhere as it prepared for a post Covid-19 world. He went on:
We should however redouble efforts, determination and perseverance in strictly implementing the pillars of the strategy. We should go beyond the present situation, by preparing for post-pandemic conditions in the world.
There is an urgent need for Africa to develop new forms of resilience. In a world in which multilateralism is sorely tested, Africa must stop expecting solutions from others. Africa should no longer be satisfied with this role of never-ending reservoir for some, and dumping ground for others.
There is an urgent need for Africa to chart its own course. Its food dependency and insecurity are unacceptable and intolerable, as is the state of its road, port, health and educational infrastructure. Africa’s land, forests, rich fauna, mines, energy potential, and maritime and inland waterways, hold the necessary resources to provide an adequate response to the needs of its peoples. We should, in full lucidity, boldly opt for an innovative approach that is inward-looking rather than outward-looking. Let us live on what we have, using what we have, in other words let us live within our means!
Updated
Russia’s government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has been discharged from hospital, just under a fortnight after he was admitted after testing positive for the coronavirus, Tass news agency reports.
“[I] was discharged from hospital. For now, I will be in quarantine,” he was quoted as saying by the agency. “I will gradually start working from home.”
Peskov, who as spokesman for the Kremlin is a recognisable figure on the world stage, was admitted to hospital on 12 May.
Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate in the forthcoming US presidential election, has made his first in-person public appearance in more than two months to lay a wreath for the country’s war dead.
The 77-year-old, who has not made a campaign appearance outside his Delaware home since quarantining himself due to the coronavirus pandemic 10 weeks ago, visited a nearby veteran’s memorial to mark the Memorial Day holiday.
“It feels good to be out of my house,” Biden told reporters, his speech slightly muffled by the mask, Reuters reported. Maintaining his distance, he saluted about a dozen veterans and other onlookers standing a few yards away.
Updated
The southern Africa regional collaborating centre has collated the latest coronavirus figures for the 10 countries in the region.
May 25 #Southern_Africa. 10/10 countries #COVID19 (Cases; Deaths; Recoveries)#Angola(69;4;18)#Botswana(35;1;19)#Eswatini(250;2;156)#Lesotho(2;0;0)#Malawi(101;4;33)#Mozambique(194;0;51)#Namibia(21;0;13)#SouthAfrica(22,583;429; 11,100)#Zambia((920;7;336)#Zimbabwe(56;4;25) pic.twitter.com/J4EICwihhz
— SouthernAfricaRCC (@SouthernRCC) May 25, 2020
Updated
Sweden’s top epidemiologist has defended his country’s coronavirus outbreak strategy, after the number of people dying after catching the virus passed 4,000 on Monday.
Critics have accused Swedish authorities of gambling with citizens’ lives by not imposing strict stay-at-home measures. Death rates from the virus have been much higher than in Sweden’s Nordic neighbours, which did introduce coronavirus lockdowns, but still lower than those of countries such as Spain, Italy and the UK.
On Monday, Anders Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist of Sweden’s public health agency, stressed countries’ death tolls should be compared with caution and pointed out that not all deaths registered among his country’s Covid-19 statistics would have been as a result of the illness. He told AFP:
In Sweden, anybody who has the diagnosis of Covid-19 and dies within 30 days after that is called a Covid-19 case, irrespective of the actual cause of death. And we know that in many other countries there are other ways of counting that are used.
Sweden’s board of health and welfare insisted the country’s nursing homes were functioning well in spite of the outbreak. It noted that 11,000 nursing home residents died in January-April this year, compared with 10,000 during the same period a year ago.
Tegnell said the overall situation in Sweden was “getting better”, with a declining number of people being admitted to intensive care units, a drop in the number of cases being reported in nursing homes, and fewer deaths in nursing homes.
On Sunday the Observer published an interview with Annika Linde, Tegnell’s predecessor, in which she said she now believed the authorities should have put in place tougher restrictions in the early stages of the pandemic. She said:
I think that we needed more time for preparedness. If we had shut down very early ... we would have been able, during that time, to make sure that we had what was necessary to protect the vulnerable.
Updated
Italy reports fewest new coronavirus cases since early March
There were 92 new coronavirus deaths in Italy on Monday, the lowest daily rate since early March, bringing the death count to 32,877, writes Angela Giuffrida, the Guardian’s Rome correspondent.
New infections grew by 300, down from 531 on Sunday, with zero new cases registered in five regions including Bolzano, Umbria, Calabria, Molise and Basilicata, according to figures from the civil protection authority.
There are 55,300 people who are currently suffering from the virus in Italy, 541 of whom are in intensive care.
Italy has 230,158 confirmed cases to date, including the deaths and 141,981 survivors.
The country is planning to ask 60,000 people to volunteer to help enforce social distancing rules amid concerns infections will rise again following scenes of group gatherings over the weekend.
Updated
Brazil’s embattled leader, Jair Bolsonaro, has come under further pressure after his political idol, Donald Trump, banned flights from the South American country in response to its soaring number of coronavirus infections, writes Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro.
The US announced the measure on Sunday as the number of cases in Brazil rose to more than 363,000 and the death toll to nearly 23,000. Only the US now has more confirmed infections than Brazil.
Bolsonaro has faced severe criticism for flouting social distancing guidelines and has lost two health ministers in less than a month.
The White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the move would “help ensure foreign nationals who have been in Brazil do not become a source of additional infections in our country”. The indefinite ban, which comes into force on Friday, will apply to all non-US citizens who have been in Brazil within the last 14 days.
The news is a blow to Brazil’s far-right leader who touts his supposed closeness to Trump as proof he is steering Brazil in the right direction. Bolsonaro’s supporters frequently wave the Star-Spangled Banner at rallies, and the president himself recently donned a “Trump 2020” hat.
“The US [message] to Brazil: Stay at Your Own Home,” one newspaper, the Estado de Minas, reported on its front page alongside an image of Bolsonaro supporters holding a US flag.
Updated
Donald Trump has threatened to move the Republican party’s national convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, if the state is not able to commit to “full attendance” at the gathering despite Covid-19 restrictions, Edward Helmore writes for the Guardian US.
In a series of tweets on Monday morning. Trump said the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, was “still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee” that the party would be able to fill the arena with supporters.
I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August. Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
...full attendance in the Arena. In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space. Plans are being....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
...made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
...to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site. This is not something I want to do. Thank you, and I LOVE the people of North Carolina!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
Trump’s tweets came two days after North Carolina recorded its largest daily increase in positive cases of the coronavirus.
Even as fears grow in Italy about people failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines, a survey shows that the country’s people were strongly supportive of their government-imposed lockdown.
Findings published on Monday by national statistics bureau Istat showed that 91% of respondents said the restrictions on movement and work were very useful or quite useful, against just 9% who deemed them not very or not at all useful, Reuters reports.
The measures were also well understood and observed by a vast majority of respondents, with 89.5% describing the government’s instructions as “clear”.
On average Italians washed their hands 12 times a day and used disinfectant gel five times a day, the survey showed, and on most days they did not leave their home for any reason, according to the poll, conducted from 5-21 April at the height of Italy’s epidemic.
Earlier, my colleague Angela Giuffrida, who is based in Rome, reported on a video produced and circulated by the government in the Veneto region warning Italians not to drop their guard against coronavirus as they socialise.
❌❌❌ HAPPY HOUR? ❌❌❌ pic.twitter.com/k4crAKc6s4
— Luca Zaia (@zaiapresidente) May 24, 2020
The video is mostly targeted at young people, who have been criticised for gathering in groups outside bars since they reopened last Monday.
Luca Zaia, the president of Veneto, came under attack for posting it, with one Twitter user describing it as “pure terrorism”. Another wrote: “Dear president, this virus is cured (not fought against) in suitable places. Outside, one must live!”
Updated
Today’s World Health Organization coronavirus briefing is marking Africa day, which is the anniversary of the founding of the Organisation for African Unity, the forerunner of today’s African Union.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, began by remarking on the relatively mild impact of the coronavirus outbreak on African countries. He said:
So far, although around half of the countries in the World Health Organization Africa region have community transmission, concentrated mainly in major cities, Africa is the least-affected region globally in terms of the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths reported to WHO.
Africa has just 1.5% of the world’s reported cases of Covid-19 and less than 0.1% of the world’s deaths.
The World Health Organization’s daily coronavirus briefing is now beginning. Click on the player at the top of the blog to watch.
Vladimir Putin made a rare recent appearance in the Kremlin on Monday as Russia prepares to ease restrictions imposed over the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports. The 67-year-old has worked remotely over the past few weeks from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, chairing meetings with officials by video conference.
But on Monday, Putin held talks with the general director of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, at the Kremlin, his office said.
It came as Russia reported fewer than 10,000 new coronavirus infections for the tenth day in a row, recording 8,946 past 24 hours to Monday morning, taking the cumulative total to 353,427. Ninety-two more people died, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said, taking Russia’s total death toll from the outbreak to 3,633.
Meanwhile, in the country’s east, authorities opened an investigation into a street party that drew hundreds of people, flouting the country’s coronavirus containment measures. The investigative committee in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk said it was looking into the case after photos and videos were posted online of young Russians dancing as music played from loudspeakers in the city’s central Lenin Square from Saturday night to Sunday morning.
Russians can face up to seven years in prison for violating anti-virus lockdown rules, though in most cases face only a fine.
Authorities in Novosibirsk have opened an investigation into a street party that saw dozens gather in the city center despite an anti-coronavirus lockdown. Russians can face up to seven years in prison for violating lockdown rules
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) May 25, 2020
Read more: https://t.co/XSwPkMhDcb pic.twitter.com/ViyWxVuHYo
Updated
Somalia has reported 95 new cases of coronavirus, and five more deaths from Covid-19. So far the east African country has reported 1,689 officially confirmed infections, while a total of 66 people have died after catching the virus.
25.5.2020: Update on #COVID19
— Ministry of Health- Somalia (@MoH_Somalia) May 25, 2020
> New cases confirmed today: 95
> Somaliland: 72
> Benadir: 17
> South West: 4
> Galmudug: 2
> Male:65
> Female:30
> Recovery: 31
> Death:5
Total confirmed cases: 1,689
Total recoveries: 235
Total deaths: 66
Please visit:https://t.co/2X5ZGypfHr pic.twitter.com/UpEsAGRFwN
The countries of the European Union need to present a united front to shield – wait for it – the banks.
That is the message from the EU’s banking regulator, José Manuel Campa, on Monday. Reuters says his intervention will rekindle a divisive debate about whether rich countries such as Germany should support banks of poorer neighbours, such as Italy.
But it will also no doubt evoke memories of the 2008 financial crisis, when governments poured billions into propping up banks even as millions lost their homes and jobs, and income levels fell.
Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have proposed an EU recovery fund to help the bloc’s worst-hit members to rebuild their economies after the coronavirus outbreak.
“It would make sense to have a European approach to support banks,” Campa told Reuters.
“That could be in the form of a Tarp-style precautionary recapitalisation. Here, the EU recovery fund could play a role,” he said, suggesting that assistance could be aimed at banks that were fundamentally robust but hit by the coronavirus crisis.
Updated
The World Health Organization’s thrice-weekly coronavirus briefing is due to begin shortly. Click on the player at the top of the blog to tune in.
Today is #AfricaDay!
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) May 25, 2020
On this day, we thank the health workers who fight for #HealthForAll across the continent.🌍 pic.twitter.com/JhvM1rM467
Mongolia is to remain under coronavirus lockdown until a vaccine is found, its prime minister said on Monday.
The landlocked country, wedged in the heart of Asia between Russia and China, was one of the first to close its borders to protect itself against the pandemic.
Other measures to curb the spread of the virus include a ban on children under 12 in malls and restaurants, mandatory face masks in public, and the closure of universities, schools and early years education until September.
“The country will keep the quarantine rules until a vaccine becomes available,” Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa told reporters in the country’s parliament, according to AFP.
Thousands of Mongolians remain stranded abroad after the country said only vulnerable groups – including pregnant women, seniors, children with their parents, and people with serious health issues – could return
Updated
The reopening of nightclubs in China have given a taster of what ravers around the world can expect when nightlife finally begins again amid the widely touted “new normal”.
Reuters reports from 44KW, a techno club in Shanghai, that customers danced and mingled without much physical distancing over the weekend. But there have been some significant changes.
Nightclubbers – at least those in the UK – are used to ID checks and stringent drugs searches. But if things proceed as they are in China, they will have to get used to submitting to a temperature check on the door now as well, and register their details.
While face masks were not compulsory for the customers at 44KW, the staff, including bouncers, bartenders and waiters, all kept their faces covered.
The club has installed hand-sanitiser dispensers throughout.
Some changes will be welcomed. The Chinese nightclub has committed to disinfecting toilets every hour, and the entire venue is disinfected every day – before and after opening.
Updated
The Czech Republic has lifted its trailblazing rule requiring face masks to be worn in public, a symbolic landmark in the country’s relatively successful battle against Covid-19, writes Robert Tait in Prague.
The long-awaited lifting of the regulation – imposed in March shortly after a state of emergency was declared – coincided with the final phase of an easing of lockdown restrictions, in which pubs, restaurants, hotels and museums have been fully reopening their doors.
Czech officials have pressed ahead with a phased easing of restrictions amid a consistent decline in the number of confirmed cases. The health minister, Adam Vojtěch, declared last week that “the Covid-19 crisis is behind us”.
Health ministry figures reported 8,932 confirmed cases as of 24 May, with nearly 400,000 tests performed. There have been 315 deaths.
The Czech Republic was among the first countries in Europe to close its borders against the spread of coronavirus, on 12 March, ordering the closure of most businesses days later.
But the mask edict – in common with neighbouring Slovakia – quickly became the symbol of the Czech fight against the pandemic, prompting debate in other countries over whether they should follow suit.
Updated
Poland’s health minister, Łukasz Szumowski, has denied any wrongdoing following accusations of inadequate supervision of the procurement of equipment to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
The allegations against Szumowski, a highly popular politician of the nationalist government, risk damaging the popularity of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party ahead of a presidential election.
PiS needs to win the election in order to retain control during the pandemic – which has infected 21,440 and killed 996 people in the country – as the president has the power to veto new legislation and to trigger an early general election.
Polish media have accused Szumowski’s ministry of inadequate supervision of the procurement of items such as protective masks. The daily newspapers Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the ministry bought masks with fake certificates from a skiing instructor who is a family friend of Szumowski.
“Neither I, nor my brother, nor my wife, have done anything wrong. There is not a single fact that would indicate any irregularities,” Szumowski told the private broadcaster Polsat News.
Updated
Data released today showed the number of Portuguese young people requesting jobless benefitsrose 52% last month from a year earlier, way above the increase for other age groups, amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Overall, nearly 200,000 people received unemployment benefits last month, a 17% jump from the same period last year and a near 14% increase from the previous month, social security service numbers showed.
Reuters reports there was also an almost 33% increase among those aged 25 to 34 and a 20.4% rise among people aged between 35 and 44.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of “unusual or aggressive” behaviour in American rats as a consequence of more than two months of human lockdown for city-dwelling rodents, who now find themselves unable to dine out on restaurant waste, street garbage and other food sources.
Edward Helmore reports that last month – according to the national health body – dumpster-diving rats were observed resorting to open warfare, cannibalism and eating their young in the wake of urban shutdowns.
“Community-wide closures have led to a decrease in food available to rodents, especially in dense commercial areas,” the CDC said in recently updated rodent-control guidelines.
“Some jurisdictions have reported an increase in rodent activity as rodents search for new sources of food. Environmental health and rodent control programs may see an increase in service requests related to rodents and reports of unusual or aggressive rodent behavior.”
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Hello, it’s Frances Perraudin here again. I’ll be taking over the live blog while Damien has a break. You can contact me with hints and tips on frances.perraudin@theguardian.com and on twitter @fperraudin.
Big crowds turned out for the Memorial Day weekend in the US amid warnings from authorities about people disregarding the coronavirus social distancing rules and risking a resurgence of Covid-19 as the country braces to surpass more than 100,000 deaths.
The US is on track to hit the grim milestone in the next few days, while Europe has recorded more than 169,000 dead, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that almost certainly understates the toll. Worldwide, more than 5.4 million people have been infected and nearly 345,000 have died.
Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus taskforce, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together over the weekend.
“We really want to be clear all the time that social distancing is absolutely critical. And if you can’t social distance and you’re outside, you must wear a mask,” Birx said on ABC’s This Week.
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The Spanish arm of the international charity Médecins Sans Frontières has ended its coronavirus operations in the country, writes Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent.
For the past two months, MSF Spain has been running field hospitals and working to relieve some of the strains on the country’s overstretched health system.
On Monday, the NGO said it was winding up its activities as Spain’s hospitals “have passed the most critical point”. But it warned that the hard-won gains against the virus could not be taken for granted and that systemic problems needed to be addressed.
David Noguera, the head of MSF Spain, said:
Everyone now appreciates what this epidemic means for the most vulnerable sectors of the population, such as older people in care homes. It would be unacceptable for our system not to be more prepared in order to avoid the repetition of the tragic situations and deaths we’ve seen.
Noguera pointed out that more than 19,000 people had died in Spanish care homes, adding: “The dignity of the most vulnerable people in our society need to be our common focus.”
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The Netherlands reported 209 more confirmed cases of coronavirus on Monday, taking its cumulative total to 45,445, as officials said a second Dutch worker may have been infected by a mink.
According to the latest update from the Dutch national institute for public health and the environment, eight more people have died from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, taking the country’s total death toll from the outbreak to 5,830.
It came as the agriculture minister said on Monday that another person had been infected while working on a mink farm. The case follows a reported infection last week on one of two farms near the southern city of Eindhoven, where the disease was discovered in April among mink that are bred for their valuable fur.
“A second case has become known where on one of the mink farms SARS-CoV-2 has been passed from a mink to a human,” Carola Schouten said, according to AFP.
“The case is similar to the previous one,” she said in a letter to the Dutch parliament.
The infection happened before it was known the mink were carrying the virus, meaning workers did not wear protective clothing at the time.
Updated
Spain to scrap quarantines for foreign arrivals from 1 July
Spain will lift its quarantine requirement for those entering the country from 1 July, the government has just confirmed, writes Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent.
At the moment, travellers from overseas are required to undergo a 14-day self-isolation on arrival.
On Saturday the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country would reopen to tourists from July.
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The official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Sweden has topped 4,000, statistics published by its public health agency showed on Monday.
The data published on the agency’s website showed that deaths from Covid-19 had risen to 4,029, from 3,998 a day earlier, while the number of confirmed cases increased by 384 to 33,843.
Unlike most other countries, Sweden has taken a soft-touch approach to fighting the virus, leaving most schools, shops and restaurants open and relying on voluntary measures focused on social distancing and good hygiene.
Accumulated deaths in the pandemic in Sweden have been many times higher relative to the size of the population than in its Nordic neighbours, but still lower than in some hard-hit countries such as Spain and Britain that implemented strict lockdowns.
On Sunday, people gathered in Stockholm to protest against their government’s perceived inaction over the outbreak.
From today's protest in Stockholm against Sweden's corona policy. The CNN and media from Germany, France and Radio Sweden were there reporting the event.
— Ina Hallström (@killedbyproxy) May 24, 2020
So thankful to those who attended! 🌹❤👏👏👏 Photos by Déborah Siqueira de Oliveira and Maria Rydberg - thank you! pic.twitter.com/smPhkYyCJC
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Vietnam reported a new case of coronavirus on Monday, its second in a week, bringing its total number of cases to 325, with no deaths so far.
The new case is a 20-year-old Vietnamese student who has recently returned to the country from France, the ministry of health was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency. She is being treated in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam has recorded no local transmission of the coronavirus for 39 consecutive days. The country’s success in tackling the outbreak has been based on a fast, aggressive and comprehensive response. There are currently more than 15,400 people being monitored and quarantined.
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Newspapers in Brazil continue to rebel against President Jair Bolsonaro’s response to Covid-19, writes Tom Phillips, the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent.
On Monday, with Brazil’s official death toll at 22,666, Rio de Janeiro’s O Dia newspaper led its coverage with this striking front page:
Wow: the front page of one of Rio’s major papers this morning asks: “Where will this end?” Its answer: in a Bolsonaro-shaped grave ht @mvitorodrigues pic.twitter.com/VcuUBv2Sge
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) May 25, 2020
Bolsonaro continues to cause outrage in Brazil by playing down the pandemic and flouting social distancing guidelines. On Saturday he was branded a “killer” by opponents as he popped out for a Saturday night hotdog on the day a further 965 of his citizens were reported to have died.
Foreign newspapers have also joined the criticism of Bolsonaro. On Monday the Telegraph in the UK branded Bolsonaro “the man who broke Brazil”.
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Thirty-four more people in Iran have died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry reports. But the lowest daily Covid-19 death toll in the country since March comes amid an apparently rise in new coronavirus cases.
In his daily update, Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry spokesman, said 2,023 more Iranians had tested positive for the virus since yesterday, taking the total cumulative total number of cases in the country to 137,724. Daily new cases have been rising, on average, since 2 May, when the country recorded 802 new infections, but are still well short of a high of 3,186 reported on 30 March.
The Covid-19 death toll in Iran is 7,451, while 107,713 have recovered, Jahanpour said.
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After months of working remotely while the continent has been frozen by coronavirus lockdowns, European Union leaders may meet face to face in the coming weeks to bargain over the next joint budget and a linked pandemic recovery fund.
A senior EU diplomat told Reuters:
The budget and recovery fund cannot be agreed without a physical summit. I haven’t yet met anyone who would think it possible on a video conference
According to Reuters, technical issues, problems with translation and the less personal nature of video calls have made it hard for EU leaders to replicate the atmosphere of their all-night summits, a hallmark of Brussels where they meet to haggle over joint policies.
On Wednesday the European commission, the EU executive, will propose its blueprint for the 27-nation budget, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework and worth around €1tn, and the accompanying coronavirus recovery fund.
France and Germany have joined in support of granting handouts worth €500bn through the new fund to kickstart economic growth. But the so-called “frugal four” of Austria, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are opposed, calling for aid to come in the form of repayable loans rather than free grants.
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A fortnight after the end of France’s strict eight-week lockdown, parks and gardens in Paris remain closed to city-dwellers, many of whom spent the confinement cooped up in apartments with no outside space, writes Kim Willsher, in the French capital.
While the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, continues her battle with the government to have the spaces opened – so far unsuccessfully – an unlikely hero has emerged from the night-time shadows.
An anonymous lock-picker calling himself José, who says he has a full-time and perfectly respectable day job, is spending his evenings cracking park padlocks.
“I’m not a thief, I steal nothing …,” he said.
“But everything is closed, it’s worse than before the lockdown. I saw some children playing in the road in front of a locked-up park and it seemed so stupid. So I decided to open up a green corridor. I leave the gates open and people can do what they want.”
José says the smiles on childrens’ faces when they discover their local park is open is worth the risk. If caught he risks five years in prison and a maximum €75,000 fine.
Updated
Restaurants, bars and cafes reopen in Greece
Greece has taken another step towards normality today, reinstating ferry links with islands and allowing restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen, writes Helena Smith in Athens.
The moves, designed to kick-start the country’s tourist industry ahead of seasonal hotels reopening on 15 June, follow almost three months of enforced closure thanks to coronavirus. In central Athens cafes began filling up from early morning – although it wasn’t quite business as usual. Waiters wore face coverings and, though not everywhere, hand sanitisers were visible on tables.
Yachting industry activities also kicked off as the Greek government gradually opens up the sector in advance of seasonal hotels accepting guests in mid-June and international flights resuming to popular destinations on 1 July.
In a nation so reliant on tourism – one in five Greeks work in the sector, which accounts for almost 25% of GDP – officials are desperate to capitalise on the country’s successful handling of the pandemic and salvage what is left of the season.
But reopening borders is also replete with risk. With less than 3,000 confirmed coronavirus cases to date and a death toll of 172, questions are mounting over the ability of rudimentary health services on popular islands to deal with any outbreak of the virus. So far Greek isles have remained remarkably coronavirus-free.
Civil protection officials and personnel from the national public health organisation have been dispatched to remote isles such as Kimolos, Folegrandos and Sikinos to look at boosting medical infrastructure in advance of tourists arrivals.
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More than 110,900 people have so far tested positive for the coronavirus across Africa, according to the World Health Organization’s office for the continent.
More than 14 weeks after the virus was first detected on the continent, the 54 countries of Africa, which between them account for a population of about 1.4 billion people, have so far counted 44,500 recoveries and 3,300 deaths.
Over 110,900 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 44,500 recoveries & 3,300 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/FjMIeJP8vd
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) May 25, 2020
On Friday, the WHO said it now seemed apparent that the coronavirus outbreak was “taking a different pathway” in Africa, which has not seen the kind of catastrophe that had earlier been feared.
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said:
For now Covid-19 has made a soft landfall in Africa, and the continent has been spared the high numbers of deaths which have devastated other regions of the world. It is possible our youth dividend is paying off and leading to fewer deaths. But we must not be lulled into complacency as our health systems are fragile and are less able to cope with a sudden increase in cases.
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To hunker in a medieval castle while a pandemic rages outside sounds like a Black Death chronicle but Laura Jamieson and Michael Smith have rather enjoyed their lockdown, writes Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Dublin correspondent.
The young couple have been the sole occupants of Ashford Castle, a five-star hotel with 83 rooms on the shores of Lough Corrib in county Mayo that is one of Ireland’s premier tourist magnets.
Jamieson, from Surrey, and Smith, from Perthshire in Scotland, usually live in the nearby village of Cross and commute to the castle for work but have spent the past two months living there while maintaining the buildings and 350-acre estate until tourists return. “It’s like being in a TV reality show that’s nobody watching,” Smith told RTE.
Duties include flushing 160 toilets, dusting chandeliers and fielding emails and phone calls. The working day often ends with a visit to the school of falconry to check on the owls and hawks. For date night they choose a bottle from the wine cellar to accompany a film at the 32-seat private cinema.
The couple consider their quarantine there a once-in-a-lifetime adventure – a story of happy isolation in a big hotel that could be a Ladybird book reworking of Stephen King’s The Shining.
Ashford Castle was built in the 13th century, rebuilt in Victorian times and subsequently refurbished. US presidents, Barbra Streisand and Brad Pitt have stayed there. Jamieson and Smith are due to move back to their more modest digs before the castle reopens on 20 July.
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Afghanistan’s health ministry has pledged to establish three more medical centres for Covid-19 patients in Kabul, as the capital experienced a record rise in infections and the number of confirmed cases nationwide passed 11,000, Akhtar Mohammad Makoii reports from Herat.
Ferozuddin Feroz, the health minister, said in a meeting with his deputies on Monday that three more centres will be established in Kabul for Covid-19 patients. Last week the ministry said it had run out of hospital beds for treating patients with the disease in most parts of the country.
“The hospitals which had empty beds until 10 days ago and we were sending patients to, are packed, with no more beds. We should launch more hospitals immediately,” Wahid Majroh, deputy health minister said last week.
The health ministry said it had tested 1,095 more suspected patients, of whom 591 were positive, taking the total number of confirmed infections to 11,173. The official death toll reached 219 after one more patient died overnight. There have been 1,097 recoveries.
The ministry has pledged to increase the number of daily tests – it has tested 31,718 suspected patients since the outbreak began.
Most of the new infections were reported in Kabul, where 390 cases came back positive out of 697 tests. Kabul is the country’s worst-affected area in number of transmissions, with 4,141 confirmed cases and 29 deaths.
The eastern province of Nangarhar and the western province of Herat, which have both recorded surges in the number of new infections in recent days, recorded 80 new cases combined. Herat is the country’s worst-affected area for deaths, with 36.
Sunday was the first day of Eid in Afghanistan and concerns are high as streets are crowded with people, despite the government-mandated lockdown, According to a Guardian tally, Afghanistan recorded 3,920 new cases in the seven days before Eid – a record high.
Meanwhile, after recent violence, the country is experiencing a rare period of calm, with the Taliban and Afghan government announcing a three-day Eid ceasefire. Local media reported there were only two security incidents recorded on the first day of Eid.
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Ethnic minorities have been the hardest-hit by the coronavirus in the US, and now Latino workers are facing fresh difficulty, as they and their communities suffer discrimination after contracting coronavirus in meat processing plants and warehouses, writes Adam Gabbatt for the Guardian US.
More than 10,000 meatpacking workers, many of them Latino, have contracted coronavirus in the US, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and dozens have died.
Latino advocates say workers are also experiencing racism due to fears they have contracted the virus in the workplace.
“We’ve received reports that some workers at a plant were turned away from grocery stores and not allowed in, because they were presumed to have the coronavirus because they worked at the local meatpacking plant,” said Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac).
“We’ve also heard in Marshalltown [Iowa] people were being refused service because they thought they were positive for Covid-19 – just because they were Latino,” Garcia added.
Updated
Summary
Global cases pass 5.4m
There are currently 5,424,718 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The death toll stands at 345,296. Both figures are likely to be higher, due to differing test rates, definitions and deliberate underreporting.
Germany enters recession in first quarter
Falling consumer spending, capital investments and exports pushed the German economy into a recession in the first three months of the year, the national statistics office said this morning, as the virus continued to hurt the major economies. Capital investments slumped by 6.9%, private consumption by 3.2% and exports by 3.1% between January and March compared with the last three months of 2019.
China says virus pushing US ties to brink of ‘cold war’
The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, has said Washington seemed infected by a “political virus” but that Beijing would nevertheless be open to an international effort to find the coronavirus source. “Some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new cold war,” Wang said. Speaking on Sunday, Robert O’Brien, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, likened China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak to the Soviet Union’s cover-up of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.
US bars travellers who have been in Brazil in last two weeks
The White House has announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they have been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world’s second-worst affected country in terms of coronavirus cases. Brazil meanwhile registered 15,813 new cases and 653 new deaths in 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,666, and cases to 363,211 confirmed cases, the health ministry said.
Japan ends state of emergency
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe, has lifted the state of emergency imposed due to the coronavirus crisis. He said on Monday that the country had managed to get the spread of the virus under control in under two months. Social distancing curbs were loosened for most of the country on 14 May as new infections fell, but the government has kept Tokyo and four other prefectures under watch.
Boris Johnson under pressure to sack senior aide
Pressure on Boris Johnson to sack Dominic Cummings has intensified, as at least 18 Conservative MPs publicly called on the adviser to face the consequences of breaking lockdown rules. The UK prime minister backed his senior aide at a defiant press conference on Sunday, saying it had been within the rules for Cummings to drive his family 264 miles to his parents’ estate in Durham while his wife was suffering coronavirus symptoms.
Restrictions ease in Madrid and Barcelona
Major parks and cafe terraces reopened in Madrid for the first time in more than two months as the capital and the surrounding region moved into the second phase of the loosening of lockdown restrictions. The Barcelona metropolitan area and parts of Castilla y León also joined Madrid in the same phase, which allows groups of up to 10 people to meet as long as they maintain physical distancing. Small shops can also open without prior appointments and places of worship can reopen at 30% capacity.
Chile’s healthcare system ‘very close to the limit’
The Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, said on Sunday that the country’s healthcare system was under strain and “very close to the limit”, as the number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections approached 70,000, after a rapid increase in recent days. The health ministry reported 3,709 new cases in the last day, bringing the total to 69,102. The death toll is at 718.
South Africa announces further easing of lockdown
South Africa will further relax coronavirus lockdown restrictions from 1 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced, allowing large areas of the economy to fully reopen. “Cabinet has determined that the alert level for the whole country should be lowered from level four to level three,” he said in an address broadcast on television, describing the move as a significant shift in approach to the pandemic.
Updated
Splits are emerging between federal and state governments in Germany over plans to end coronavirus lockdowns, the Associated Press reports.
The overall number of coronavirus cases in the country has been in a steady decline after peaking in late April. but as restrictions, imposed 10 weeks ago, have slowly been eased there have been fresh clusters of cases linked to slaughterhouses, restaurants, religious services, nursing homes and refugee shelters.
The governor of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, said on Saturday he hoped to lift the remaining statewide lockdown rules on 6 June and tackle outbreaks locally. Saxony, a neighbouring state, said on Monday that it too is aiming for a “paradigm change” on pandemic rules from 6 June if infections remain low.
Jens Spahn, the health minister, on Monday cautioned against acting as though the outbreak was over. He told Bild, a German tabloid, that “on the one hand we are seeing whole regions where there are no new reported infections for days. And on the other hand local and regional outbreaks in which the virus is spreading quickly again and immediate intervention is required.”
Federal and state officials agreed earlier this month that restrictions would be re-imposed if there are more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in a city or county within a week.
Updated
Donald Trump, the US president, recently shared a doctored video of his head superimposed on to actor Bill Pullman’s character in the 1996 film Independence Day’s crowd-rallying scene, likening frontline workers to warriors.
But it rang hollow for Denita Jones, a Dallas-area call center worker. For many black, essential workers like her, the message is about reopening the economy, but the real meaning is more subtle.
“We’re not essential, we’re expendable,” she said.
African Americans in Texas are dying of Covid-19 at a rate more than one-third higher than their share of the population. Yet across the country, the protesters who became the faces of the race to reopen have been mostly white.
Guardian US writer Kenya Evelyn reports on how experts are warning that reopening states could have dire consequences on public health, and black Americans already face greater risk.
Updated
The cumulative tally of officially confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has increased by 289 to 178,570, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Monday, according to Reuters.
The reported death toll rose by 10 to 8,257, the data showed.
Meanwhile, the German federal government is recommending that states ease some social distancing regulations from 6 June, the Bild newspaper reported, but continues to urge that limits be placed on the size of social gatherings.
According to an official paper seen by the newspaper, Helge Braun, the head of the office of the chancellor, recommended that private gatherings be held in the open air where possible and be limited to 20 people, while indoor meetings should be limited to 10 people.
Updated
Hi, this is Damien Gayle taking over on the coronavirus live blog now, with thanks to Frances Perraudin for keeping things going for the past few hours.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for coverage please get in touch, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter DM to @damiengayle.
A chilling video warning Italians not to drop their guard against coronavirus as they socialise has provoked a strong reaction on social media.
The video, entitled Happy Hour? and created by leaders of the Veneto region, is mostly targeted at young people who have been criticised for gathering in groups outside bars since they reopened last Monday.
❌❌❌ HAPPY HOUR? ❌❌❌ pic.twitter.com/k4crAKc6s4
— Luca Zaia (@zaiapresidente) May 24, 2020
The clip shows people drinking, chatting and haphazardly wearing masks, while warning that “it takes little … a warm greeting, innocent laughter, a handshake … before it’s all going to stop.” The characters then freeze in action before images of Covid-19 patients in intensive care are shown.
Luca Zaia, the president of Veneto, said during a press conference that “Happy hour will be unhappy if you end up in hospital”. He came under attack for the video, with one Twitter user describing it as “pure terrorism”. Another wrote: “Dear president, this virus is cured (not fought against) in suitable places. Outside, one must live!”
There was support from some quarters, particularly from Vincenzo De Luca, the president of the Campania region, who became somewhat of a star during the lockdown for his comical rants aimed at getting citizens to comply with rules. “Well done Luca,” he tweeted. “Sometimes we need to terrorise if they don’t understand.”
A town in Veneto was among the first 11 in Italy to be quarantined at the start of the outbreak, but mass testing enabled the region to quickly get the virus under control. As of Sunday, there were 1,869 deaths and 17 new infections.
Other Italian leaders have had to reimpose restrictions following scenes of people mixing closely together and without face masks.
In Brescia, one of the areas in Lombardy hardest hit by coronavirus, bars will now have to close by 9.30pm, while in Verona in Veneto, bar customers must be seated at a table. Bars will also have to close by 9pm in Perugia, Umbria.
Updated
Hungary has opened its southern border for citizens of Serbia and Hungary from today, the country’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has told a news conference.
He said Hungary had decided to reciprocate a similar measure taken by Serbia on Friday, Reuters reports, adding that the coronavirus pandemic was under control in both countries, which allowed the easing of restrictions.
The move followed a gradual reopening of landlocked Hungary’s other borders, which now allow some movement although restrictions have not been fully lifted.
Hungary has recorded 3,756 cases of Covid-19 and 491 deaths.
Updated
Japan to lift state of emergency
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe, is to lift the state of emergency imposed due to the coronavirus crisis. He said on Monday that the country had managed to get the spread of the virus under control in under two months.
Physical distancing curbs were loosened for most of the country on 14 May as new infections fell, but the government has kept Tokyo and four other prefectures under watch.
According to the public broadcaster NHK, the world’s third-largest economy has escaped an explosive outbreak with more than 16,600 infections and 839 deaths so far.
A little over a month ago, health experts were saying Japan risked becoming one of the world’s coronavirus “disaster zones”. This report from the Guardian’s Justin McCurry in Tokyo looks at how the country’s government went on to win plaudits for its response to the crisis.
Updated
Restrictions ease in Madrid and Barcelona as Spain moves into next phase
Major parks and cafe terraces reopened in Madrid for the first time in more than two months as the capital and the surrounding region moved into the second phase of the loosening of lockdown restrictions.
The Barcelona metropolitan area and parts of Castilla y León also joined Madrid in the same phase, which allows groups of up to 10 people to meet as long as they maintain physical distancing. Small shops can also open without prior appointments and places of worship can reopen at 30% capacity.
Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, marked the occasion by tweeting a picture of himself standing by the boating lake in the city’s famous El Retiro park. “Open,” he tweeted. “Good morning and let’s be responsible.”
Abiertos.
— José Luis Martínez-Almeida (@AlmeidaPP_) May 25, 2020
Responsabilidad y buenos días, Madrid. pic.twitter.com/3GBVX79gsR
Almost half of Spain – 47% – has moved into the third phase of the de-escalation. The penultimate phase allows shops in shopping centres to reopen (but not communal areas) and restaurants to serve customers inside, but while operating at 40% capacity. Cinemas and theatres are also permitted to open, but must operate at 30% capacity.
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What if it had just fizzled out? What if leading Chinese scientist Zhong Nanshan had gone on state television on 20 January and delivered news that the unusual virus detected in Wuhan was not spreading between people, instead of what he really said that night: that human-to-human transmission was certain? ...
What would we be talking about instead? What stories would have defined 2020 so far? Even before the worst pandemic in a century, tectonic shifts were already under way. The news felt exhausting. But the world is still turning, despite the movements of half of humanity being restricted in some way. Even apart from Covid-19, it has been a year of significant developments.
The Guardian’s international correspondent Michael Safi looks at the global stories that would have been getting our attention if Covid-19 had never emerged.
The Philippines’ health department has reported five additional coronavirus deaths and 284 more infections, the largest daily increase of cases in two weeks.
In a bulletin, the government said total deaths had increased to 873, while confirmed cases had risen to 14,319. Seventy-four more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 3,323.
Updated
From crowded informal settlements to conservation areas teeming with wildlife, cottage industries have popped up around the globe producing and distributing face masks for frontline workers, taxi drivers, market sellers and more, Kate Hodal reports.
Usually comprised of two fabric layers with a disposable filter, mask-making enterprises are stoking local economies and helping communities. Read the full story here:
Updated
Singapore’s health ministry has confirmed 344 more coronavirus cases, taking its tally of infections to 31,960, Reuters reports.
The lower number of cases on Monday is partly due to fewer tests being conducted, the ministry said in a statement.
It said the vast majority of the newly infected people were migrant workers living in dormitories, adding that four were Singaporeans or permanent residents.
The often unsanitary dormitories that house migrant workers in Singapore have become a hotbed of infections in recent weeks. For background, read this report from the end of last month from the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent, Rebecca Ratcliffe.
Updated
Spain suggests quarantine for tourists will end in July
Spain’s tourism minister has said this morning that foreigners can book vacations in Spain from July as the two-week self-quarantine for overseas travellers is likely to be suspended by then.
Spain – one of the worst-hit nations in the world from the coronavirus – has an economy that is heavily dependent on tourism. While it is gradually easing its strict lockdown measures, it has kept a quarantine for foreign visitors to try to prevent a second wave of infections.
“It is perfectly coherent to plan summer vacations to come to Spain in July,” Reyes Maroto said in an interview with the local radio station Onda Cero.
The country’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Saturday the government would guarantee the safety of visitors and locals when they started to return from July. “Spain needs tourism, and tourism needs safety in both origin and destination,” he said.
Updated
Hello, I’m Frances Perraudin in London. I’ll be taking over the live blog for the morning. You can contact me with hints and tips on frances.perraudin@theguardian.com and on twitter @fperraudin. Thanks for reading.
India has resumed domestic flights despite the country recording its biggest daily number of infections yet.
Here’s the full story from Amrit Dhillon.
Cummings 'fatally' undermines virus response, says government adviser
The pressure on Boris Johnson to sanction Dominic Cummings is already being ratcheted up after a member of the government’s advisory group on behavioural science told morning TV that the “debacle” has “fatally undermined” efforts to fight coronavirus.
Prof Stephen Reicher told Good Morning Britain:
If you look at the research it shows the reason why people observed lockdown was not for themselves, it wasn’t because they were personally at risk, they did it for the community, they did it because of a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’.
If you give the impression there’s one rule for them and one rule for us you fatally undermine that sense of ‘we’re all in this together’ and you undermine adherence to the forms of behaviour which have got us through this crisis.”
Reicher was reiterating criticism he voiced yesterday when he said Johnson’s defence of his favourite aide had “trashed” advice on how to build public consensus on following the rules of lockdown.
I argued that Johnson's defence of Cummings had broken the unity of the nation and trashed the idea that 'we are all in this together'.
— Stephen Reicher (@ReicherStephen) May 24, 2020
My apologies
I was wrong.
He has united the Daily Mail, the bishops, and the Guardian.
All together against him.
Sheer political genius. https://t.co/MnYAbdFDhA
Updated
Germany enters recession in first quarter
Falling consumer spending, capital investments and exports pushed the German economy into a recession in the first three months of the year, the national statistics office said this morning, as the virus continued to hurt the major economies.
Capital investments slumped by 6.9%, private consumption by 3.2% and exports by 3.1% between January and March compared with the last three months of 2019.
Slump in consumption, exports push Germany into recession in first quarter https://t.co/1kdRC2KCpT pic.twitter.com/41QxkzuNVf
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 25, 2020
Updated
100 writers call for an end to anti-Asian hostility
More than 100 prominent writers, including several top Asian American authors, have called for an end to a surge in anti-Asian hostility in the US which they say has been “egged on” during the pandemic by the Trump administration’s pandering to racist tropes.
The joint statement, co-ordinated by Pen America and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW), comes at a time when hate crimes, violence and other attacks against Asians and Asian Americans are on the rise in the US. There have been numerous reports since early in the pandemic of Asian Americans being blamed for “bringing the virus” into the country and being told “go back to China”.
Asian stock markets have given back earlier gains amid concerns about growing US-Sino antagonism over the coronavirus crisis and trade.
Hong Kong has slumped 1.4% to a two-month low after sinking 5.5% on Friday.
Global mkts start week in Risk-On mood on reopening narrative BUT rising US-China tensions dampens mood. Trading light w/holidays in US, UK. Hong Kong shares extending losses on mounting fears about future stability in city. Bonds, Oil unch w/Brent $35/b. Gold $1726, Bitcoin <$9k pic.twitter.com/CFknWeFzgj
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) May 25, 2020
The London stock market is closed today for the spring bank holiday but other European bourses are in business. Here are the opening calls.
European Opening Calls:#FTSE 6029 +0.60%#DAX 11167 +0.84%#CAC 4481 +0.82%#AEX 528 +0.69%#MIB 17443 +0.73%#IBEX 6741 +0.66%#OMX 1564 +0.55%#STOXX 2929 +0.80%#IGOpeningCall
— IGSquawk (@IGSquawk) May 25, 2020
Note UK on holiday. Our FTSE market open throughout.
Lockdown gives asylum seekers reprieve and hope for change in policy
Clare Considine reports for the Guardian:
As Britain takes its first small steps out of lockdown, there is one group of people quietly wishing that it wouldn’t.
For many asylum seekers, the two-month hiatus has meant reprieve. Freed from detention centres, liberated from the threat of imminent deportation and no longer obliged to report to the Home Office, many have welcomed the relief. And all this at a time when the general population have learned something of what it is like to live with severe curbs on civil liberties:
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, on a chilly and wet Sydney evening. I’m off to gently encourage some rather large insects seeking shelter in my house to rediscover their love of the great outdoors – and not so gently encourage others.
Thank you for for following along, and, as always, to those who got in touch.
The parts of Spain already in or entering Phase 1 today, according to El Pais, include:
“The regions of Madrid, Castilla y León and Valencia, as well as most of Catalonia and the provinces of Ciudad Real, Toledo, Albacete, Granada and Málaga.”
Those entering Phase 2 are:
“The Canary and Balearic Islands, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarre, Aragón, Extremadura, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Murcia, all of Andalusia apart from Málaga y Granada, Terres de l’Ebre (Tarragona), Camp de Tarragona (Tarragona), Alt Pirineu-Aran (Lleida), and the Spanish exclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa.”
Updated
Spain enters Phase 1 of eased restrictions today
Spain is easing lockdown restrictions today, with the country entering Phase 1 of the relaxed restrictions, while some parts will enter Phase 2, which is more relaxed.
The El Pais newspaper has detailed the differences between the two phases:
Phase 1
Under this stage of the deescalation plan, building work in properties that are being lived in will no longer be prohibited, while the opening of shopping malls will be made more flexible. Stores in malls will be able to open provided that they measure under 400 square meters, or they demarcate an area of that size for customers. They will also require an independent, direct access point from outside of the shopping mall in which they are located.
Museums will be able to decide how many people to let in, within a range of 30% to 50% of normal capacity.
Phase 2
Local councils will be able to establish access limits and control the number of people on beaches in order to guarantee a two-meter distance can be observed, as well as establishing time limits both on the sand and in car parks. The order specifies that access to beaches must always be free of charge. To calculate the maximum capacity of a beach, each bather is considered to occupy approximately four square meters.
Updated
Thailand confirmed two new coronavirus cases and one additional death on Monday, a health ministry spokesman said.
The new numbers brought the total number of cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,042 and deaths to 57 since the outbreak began in January, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the Covid-19 Administration Centre.
More than 96% of the patients, or 2,928 people, have recovered, he said.
Get in touch via Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Tips, questions, feedback and fun all welcome.
Updated
UK front pages
Boris Johnson’s defence of Dominic Cummings has dominated the front pages of the UK’s media landscape, with newspapers taking varied lines on the prime minister’s decision to excuse his senior aide’s lockdown breaches.
The Daily Mail – whose coverage usually backs the prime minister and his government – has taken a particularly strong line against Johnson, simply asking: “What planet are they on?” The Telegraph has stuck closer to its usual pro-Conservative position, quoting Johnson’s defence of his senior aide.
GUARDIAN: No apology, no explanation: PM bets all on Cummings #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/DChMNeL0Cf
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
DAILY MAIL: What planet are they on? #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/pmeEE0G4gM
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
THE TIMES: Cummings acted like any father, insists PM #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/5vfo7fPX00
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: No answers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mhaqhfqoz3
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
TELEGRAPH: ‘He has acted responsibly, legally and with integrity’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/pcbfSqmPKH
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
FT: @hmtreasury draws up bailout plan to aid key debt laden companies #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/u0nO1jQes4
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 24, 2020
Nightclubs in China have mostly come back to life as owners and customers feel increasingly comfortable the novel coronavirus epidemic is under control, but disinfectant, disposable cups and masks have become part of the experience, Reuters reports.
At 44KW, a club for electronic music lovers in the financial hub of Shanghai, customers sat, danced and mingled with little sign of social distancing on the weekend. The club re-opened in mid-March after closing for about six weeks, but it took a while for business to get back to normal.
“There really weren’t many clients as most people were quite worried about their safety,” said Charles Guo, founder of 44KW.
“Our client flow began to recover quickly towards the end of April”, Guo said, adding that business was back to last year’s average levels by mid-May.
But not everything is like the old days: the club checks the temperature of every customer and gets them to register their details. Staff, including bouncers, bartenders and waiters wear masks and gloves all the time. Customers don’t have to wear masks but many do. Some glasses have been replaced with plastic cups and the club has installed hand sanitizer dispensers throughout. Door handles and toilets are disinfected every hour while the entire club is disinfected every day before and after opening, Guo said.
Global report: US suspends travel from Brazil as school reopen in parts of Australia
President Donald Trump has further limited travel to the US from the world’s coronavirus hotspots by denying entry to foreigners coming from Brazil, which is second to the US in the number of confirmed cases.
Trump had already banned certain travellers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Iran. He has not moved to ban travel from Russia, which has the world’s third-highest caseload, approximately 20,000 fewer than Brazil’s.
The worsening situation in Latin America came as other nations started to emerge from coronavirus lockdown. Japan was expected to lift a state of emergency on Monday and India restarted domestic flights. Australia’s most populous state sent children back to school for the first time since the pandemic began.
The authorities in New South Wales deployed hundreds of crowd-control staff on Monday to enforce social distancing on public transport amid an expected commuter surge as schools and offices reopened and coronavirus cases fell.
New Zealand to further loosen lockdown restrictions from Friday
The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay reports:
New Zealand will further loosen its coronavirus lockdown restrictions from Friday, allowing gatherings - including funerals, church services and parties - to increase in size from 10 people to 100.
Three weeks after a relaxation of the strictest-possible level 4 shutdown rules, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said, it was clear that a fresh wave of infection had been avoided.
This was “counter to what many countries overseas have experienced,” she said, adding that the curb of the virus’ spread was “in large part to New Zealanders sticking to the rules” at levels 3 and 2 over the past few weeks.
Under the current level 2 restrictions, schools and most businesses have been permitted to reopen, with strict physical distancing rules in place, but all gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people. That has generated criticism from some churches and those holding funeral services, who said they had expected looser rules at level 2.
Ardern had earlier promised that the current rules might be relaxed if New Zealand’s record with the virus – health officials have regularly reporting days of zero or one new case for the country – continued. On Monday, she said that had happened.
The country’s success to date in fighting the virus meant “we can now make choices others can’t,” Ardern added.
“It’s another step in re-normaisling life as we continue to stamp out the virus.”
Cabinet would discuss the lockdown rules again on 8 June, she said, and would consider by 22 June whether the country could safely move to the lightest, level 1 restrictions.
New Zealand has recorded fewer than 1,500 confirmed cases and 21 deaths from the virus. One person is in hospital.
Summary
-
Global cases pass 5.4m. There are currently 5,407,701 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The death toll stands at 345,036. Both figures are likely to be higher, due to differing test rates, definitions and deliberate underreporting.
- White House official likens China’s handling of coronavirus to Chernobyl cover-up. A top White House official on Sunday likened China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak to the Soviet Union’s cover-up of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Beijing knew what was happening with the virus, which originated in Wuhan, from November but lied to the World Health Organization and prevented outside experts from accessing information.
- China says virus pushing US ties to brink of “Cold War”. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that Washington seemed infected by a “political virus” but that Beijing would nevertheless be open to an international effort to find the coronavirus source.“Some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” Wang said.
-
Dominic Cummings reported to police over lockdown breach. Boris Johnson’s chief advisor is facing a possible police investigation under health laws over a claim that he breached self-isolation rules in north-east England, after a weekend of mounting pressure on the prime minister to sack his chief adviser.
Boris Johnson described Cummings as acting “responsibly, legally and with integrity”. - World’s top drug firms turned down proposals for work on pathogens like coronavirus. The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies rejected an EU proposal three years ago to work on fast-tracking vaccines for pathogens like coronavirus to allow them to be developed before an outbreak.
- US bars travellers who have been in Brazil in last two weeks. The White House has announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world’s second-worst affected country in terms of cases.
- Brazil registers 15,813 new cases, 653 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,666, the Health Ministry said. Brazil has 363,211 confirmed cases.
- France has lowest daily rise in new coronavirus cases and deaths since lockdown. French authorities reported the smallest daily rise in new coronavirus cases and deaths on Sunday since before a lockdown began on 17 March, raising hopes that the worst of the epidemic is over in France.
- The French government has discouraged citizens from travelling abroad this summer, recommending they holiday in France, the environment minister Elisabeth Borne has said. This follows Emmanuel Macron saying it was unlikely that French people would be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer.
- First Spanish beaches to reopen as lockdown eases. Coronavirus lockdown measures will finally be eased for people in Madrid and Barcelona from Monday, while elsewhere in Spain the first beaches are due to reopen, AFP reports. Residents in the two cities can now meet in groups of up to 10 people in their homes or on the terraces of bars and restaurants.The gates of the capital’s parks will also be reopened, and major museums will be able to receive a limited number of visitors.
- Australian children return to school. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, on Monday deployed hundreds of crowd control staff to enforce social distancing on public transport amid an expected commuter surge as schools and offices reopened and coronavirus cases fell. Australia has reported just over 7,100 Covid-19 infections, including 102 deaths, well below figures reported by other developed countries.
-
New Zealand expected to further loosen lockdown restrictions.
New Zealand has reported another day of no new cases of Covid-19, with the news from health officials coming hours before Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, is expected to announce further loosening of lockdown restrictions on the country. After a week of “zero days” for the coronavirus, peppered with the odd day of one new case – most recently on Friday – New Zealand’s total number of confirmed instances of Covid-19 remains under 1,500. - Chile’s healthcare system “very close to the limit”. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Sunday that the country’s healthcare system is under strain and “very close to the limit”, as the number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections approached 70,000, after a rapid increase in recent days. The Ministry of Health reported 3,709 new cases in the last day, bringing the total to 69,102. The death toll is at 718.
-
South Africa announces further easing of lockdown. South Africawill further relax coronavirus lockdown restrictions from 1 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced, allowing large areas of the economy to fully reopen. “Cabinet has determined that the alert level for the whole country should be lowered from level four to level three,” he said in an address broadcast on television, describing the move as a significant shift in approach to the pandemic.
- India resumes domestic flights despite record spike in new cases. Domestic flights will resume across India on Monday, the federal civil aviation minister has said, despite a 24-hour record increase in new cases on Sunday. The announcement follows a day of “hard negotiations”, the minister said, after some states sought to limit the number of flights.
-
Thousands of pro-democracy protesters assembled in Hong Kong against a controversial security law proposed by China, defying a coronavirus measure banning gatherings of more than eight people. The planned legislation is expected to ban treason, subversion and sedition, and the clashes between police and demonstrators were the most intense seen in months.
Updated
ICYMI: A hug is all we need - Woman wears an inflatable hippo suit to safely hug her mother at a nursing home in Virginia pic.twitter.com/Wwj0HCJ54p
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 25, 2020
World’s top drug firms turned down proposals for work on pathogens like coronavirus
Exclusive: The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies rejected an EU proposal three years ago to work on fast-tracking vaccines for pathogens like coronavirus to allow them to be developed before an outbreak, the Guardian can reveal.
The plan to speed up the development and approval of vaccines was put forward by European commission representatives sitting on the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) – a public-private partnership whose function is to back cutting-edge research in Europe – but it was rejected by industry partners on the body.
The commission’s argument had been that the research could “facilitate the development and regulatory approval of vaccines against priority pathogens, to the extent possible before an actual outbreak occurs”. The pharmaceutical companies on the IMI, however, did not take up the idea.
The revelation is contained in a report published by the Corporate Observatory Europe (COE), a Brussels-based research centre, examining decisions made by the IMI, which has a budget of €5bn (£4.5bn), made up of EU funding and in-kind contributions from private and other bodies.
Opposition leaders across Europe walk coronavirus tightrope
The Guardian’s Shaun Walker reports from Budapest with Kate Connolly in Berlin:
Opposition politicians across Europe, from cautious centrists to firebrand populists, have had to walk a tricky political tightrope over the past two months, as coronavirus has taken over the political agenda.
How to stay politically relevant while governments, even when making errors, are benefiting from a ‘rally round the flag’ effect and seeing approval ratings rise? And how to hold those governments responsible for their mistakes, without playing political games during a health crisis?
“It’s a very hard balance to strike, but there have been moments where we had no choice except to fight back,” admitted the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, in a recent interview at his office.
Chinas foreign minister is dismissing claims that the country is exploiting the coronavirus outbreak to expand its footprint in the South China Sea, labeling such accusations as sheer nonsense, Reuters reports.
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that China was cooperating closely on anti-virus efforts with Southeast Asian countries, several of whom have overlapping territorial claims with China in the strategically vital waterway.
While China has long been stepping up its presence in the region, Wang said other countries, implying the United States and its allies, have been creating instability with military flights and sea patrols.
Their ill-intentioned and despicable moves are meant to sow discord between China and (Southeast Asian countries) and undermine the hard-won stability in the region, Wang said.
Sydney Opera House’s livestreamed concert series could be a game-changer for local bands
Sydney’s Vivid festival was due to light up the city on Friday but instead the city is dark and silent bar a few night-joggers ploughing the streets. There’s a stir at Joan Sutherland theatre though, guitars leaning on amps ready for post-punk band Low Life’s concert – the first contemporary music act to be presented as part of the opera house’s digital season.
At the band’s request, a slab of silver bullets (Reschs Pilsener) and KFC have been delivered to the green room. The venue is permitting individual dinners only: buckets and shared fries would breach its social distancing rules. Onstage, plastic bags are puckered around each microphone and, when they’re removed, engineers clap to test the audio. Say goodbye, world, to handshakes, shared Holy Communion, candles on cake and “microphone check 1-2”.
New Zealand media group Stuff to be sold to chief executive Sinead Boucher for NZ$1
One of New Zealand’s largest media organisations will be sold for a single dollar to its chief executive, the owners announced on Monday.
Stuff prints many of the nation’s daily newspapers and runs a popular news website of the same name. It employs about 900 staff, including 400 journalists.
Owned by Australia’s Nine Entertainment, Stuff faced financial challenges before the coronavirus pandemic struck and has since seen advertising revenues plunge.
In a statement to the Australian stock market, Nine said Stuff would be sold to CEO Sinead Boucher in a management buyout deal that will be completed by the end of the month.
“We have always said that we believe it is important for Stuff to have local ownership and it is our firm view that this is the best outcome for competition and consumers in New Zealand,” said Hugh Marks, the CEO of Nine.
Boucher said her plan is to transition the ownership by giving staff a direct stake as shareholders in the company.
Coronavirus strands English-born musher in Alaska after Iditarod win
Thomas Waerner won this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in March, but he is still waiting to return to his home in Norway.
Waerner and his 16 dogs have been stranded in Alaska by travel restrictions and flight cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, The Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday.
“I like Alaska a lot,” Waerner said. “It’s kind of my dream place. But I have a family.”
Waerner, whose official bio states he was born in England but lives in Norway, has five children and 35 other sled dogs in rural Torpa. He missed the 10th birthday of one of his children and misses morning coffee with his wife, Guro, who left Alaska in March shortly before health restrictions stopped travel.
The 47-year-old plans to fly home in early June on a DC-6 aircraft bound for the Air History Museum in Sola, Norway.
Everts Air Cargo of Fairbanks is selling the historic plane, and Waerner said the museum is expected to finalize the deal this week.
“We are hitchhiking,” Waerner said. “The plane is going to Norway, and we are going with them. We are so lucky.”
Blog readers: get in touch via Twitter @helenrsullivanor email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Tips, questions, feedback or fun are welcome.
Thank you to those who have already reached out today.
China says virus pushing US ties to brink of ‘Cold War’
China said Sunday that its relations with the United States were “on the brink of a new Cold War,” fuelled partly by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 350,000 people worldwide and pitched the global economy into a massive downturn.
Fresh tensions between Beijing and Washington emerged as virus restrictions continued to shape and remake lives around the world, and in very different ways.
US President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of a lack of transparency over the outbreak, suggesting the virus may have leaked from a top-security Chinese laboratory.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that Washington seemed infected by a “political virus” but that Beijing would nevertheless be open to an international effort to find the coronavirus source.
“Some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” Wang said.
Only locals will benefit from Spain’s open beaches for the time being. Travel between regions is still forbidden and foreigners arriving in Spain must quarantine for 14 days.
But the government plans to reopen the borders to foreign tourists in July. The lockdown, in force since mid-March, has been among the most severe in the world.
In the first few weeks, Spaniards could hardly set foot outside and their children were kept indoors. Many residents have become impatient over the government’s slow and cautious process of lifting the restrictions.
Thousands of people protested on Saturday by car in major Spanish cities at the call of the far-right Vox party.
Drivers honked their horns, waved Spanish flags and banged on pots and pans to denounce the management of the coronavirus crisis by the left-wing government of Pedro Sanchez.
First Spanish beaches to reopen as lockdown eases
Coronavirus lockdown measures will finally be eased for people in Madrid and Barcelona from Monday, while elsewhere in Spain the first beaches are due to reopen, AFP reports.
Residents in the two cities can now meet in groups of up to 10 people in their homes or on the terraces of bars and restaurants.
The gates of the capital’s parks will also be reopened, and major museums will be able to receive a limited number of visitors.
The Madrid and Barcelona regions, the most populated in the country, and a large part of Castile-Leon in the northwest are moving into the first phase of Spain’s four-phase deconfinement programme, following what has been one of the strictest lockdowns in the world.
These regions have been on a slower deconfinement track as they bore the brunt of the pandemic in Spain, which has killed more than 28,700 people to date, one of the world’s highest tolls.
Everyone must continue to wear a mask, which is already compulsory in buildings and on public streets when it is not possible to keep a distance of two metres (six feet).
The rest of the country meanwhile - 22 million out of Spain’s 47 million inhabitants - is moving on to the second phase, which is expected to last until the end of June.
Restaurants may then reopen to a limited number of customers, and outings for walks or sports will no longer be limited to certain hours of the day.
Americans defy Covid-19 social distancing rules to celebrate Memorial Day holiday
Americans across the country appeared to abandon social distancing guidelines as they sunbathed on beaches and gathered for pool parties on Memorial Day weekend.
The long weekend traditionally signals the start of the US summer, and despite the country’s Covid-19 death toll approaching 100,000, many revellers dismissed any safety concerns to celebrate.
At the Lake of the Ozarks, made famous by the television series with the same name, hundreds gathered for a pool party to enjoy the warm spring weather. Bar tables installed in the pool were filled with drinks, as people danced and apparently forgot that Covid-19 existed.
No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks😳 #loto pic.twitter.com/Yrb4UNM64u
— Scott Pasmore (@scottpasmoretv) May 24, 2020
Missouri, where the Ozarks are located, has had 686 deaths from Covid-19.
Updated
Global cases pass 5.4m
There are currently 5,405,029 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The death toll stands at 345,036.
Both figures are likely to be higher, due to differing test rates, definitions and deliberate underreporting.
These are the ten worst-affected countries worldwide in terms of numbers of infections:
- US: 1,642,021
- Brazil: 363,211
- Russia: 344,481
- United Kingdom: 260,916
- Spain: 235,772
- Italy: 229,858
- France: 182,709
- Germany: 180,328
- Turkey: 156,827
- India: 138,536
Updated
Australian children return to school
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, on Monday deployed hundreds of crowd control staff to enforce social distancing on public transport amid an expected commuter surge as schools and offices reopened and coronavirus cases fell.
Australia has reported just over 7,100 Covid-19 infections, including 102 deaths, well below figures reported by other developed countries.
With fewer than 20 new Covid-19 cases most days, Australian states are pressing ahead with a three-stage plan to remove most social restrictions imposed by July.
In New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, children returned to full-time face-to-face learning on Monday, allowing many parents to return to offices.
But officials warned locals to expect travel delays, with buses and trains operating at significantly reduced capacity due to distancing requirements. “We’ve got 1.2 million kids on the move,” NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance told Australia’s Channel 9.
“We just need everyone to be patient.”
With international borders likely to remain closed for months, Morrison is also pressing locals to begin holidays locally to help support Australia’s tourism sector.
Updated
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken to the heads of the country’s six big banks to get their views on the state of the economy and the Covid-19 relief efforts, the Globe and Mail reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources.
This was Trudeau’s first one-on-one dialogue with the CEOs since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the report, which added that the calls took place around the Victoria Day long weekend.
The topics covered included adjustments required in relief efforts rolled out by the government, need for further support and pressures faced by clients of the banks, the report said, adding that the talks were ‘high-level check-ins rather than deep policy discussions’.
Updated
Brazil registers 15,813 new cases, 653 new deaths
Brazil, the world’s second-worst coronavirus hotspot behind the United States, registered 653 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,666, the Health Ministry said.
Brazil has 363,211 confirmed cases, up 15,813 from Saturday, the ministry said.
New Zealand expected to further loosen lockdown restrictions
The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay reports:
New Zealand has reported another day of no new cases of Covid-19, with the news from health officials coming hours before Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, is expected to announce further loosening of lockdown restrictions on the country.
After a week of “zero days” for the coronavirus, peppered with the odd day of one new case – most recently on Friday – New Zealand’s total number of confirmed instances of Covid-19 remains under 1,500.
97% of all confirmed and probable cases of the virus have recovered, health officials said in a statement on Monday. One person in New Zealand is in hospital with Covid-19. They are not in intensive care.
Ardern has drawn praise for a strict, swift lockdown of the country in late March, at a time when there were just over 200 cases and no deaths. 21 people have now died of the virus.
She has slowly relaxed restrictions on the country as new case numbers have fallen, and is expected to announce today that her Cabinet has agreed gatherings can be increased to more than 10 people.
She will also outline a plan to take the country from its current status of alert level 2 – out of a possible 4 – down to level 1. There is not currently a timeline in place for that to happen.
Mexican health officials on Sunday reported 2,764 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 215 deaths, bringing the totals to 68,620 and 7,394, respectively.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday that the novel coronavirus could cost as many as a million jobs in the country as many industries considered not essential remain shut, Reuters reports.
The Mexican economy was already in recession before the pandemic struck and different investment banks have forecast contractions as large as 9% for this year with only a gradual recovery next year.
“My prediction is that with coronavirus, a million jobs will be lost,” Lopez Obrador said in a televised speech. “But we will create two million new jobs.”
The job loss number matches the estimate by the country’s business coordinating council.
Lopez Obrador’s government repeatedly said it had the outbreak under control but since posted record numbers for new cases and deaths.
Earlier this week, his government issued guidelines for restarting operations in carmaking, mining and construction in Latin America’s second-largest economy that is linked to the United States and Canada through a free trade agreement.
In April, the finance ministry said in an annual economic report used to guide the budget that the economy could contract by as much as 3.9% this year, adding that the numbers incorporated a “drastic” impact from coronavirus.
Updated
China reported 11 new imported cases yesterday, compared to three the day before, according to the People’s Daily.
There were 40 new asymptomatic cases, up from 36 the day before.
There were no new deaths.
On Sunday, the Chinese mainland reported:
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) May 25, 2020
- No new #COVID19 deaths
- 11 new cases, all imported (10 in Inner Mongolia)
- 40 new asymptomatic cases
- 83 active cases in total, including 7 in critical condition pic.twitter.com/WOVyojsJia
Updated
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said a controversial ban on the sale of alcohol would be lifted for home consumption when the country moves into level three of a five-tier coronavirus lockdown next month.
South Africans were prohibited from buying alcohol and cigarettes when the country went into one of the world’s strictest lockdowns on 27 March.
The booze ban was meant to prevent a spike in violence and reduce pressure on emergency wards as hospitals geared up to face a virus that has infected at least 22,583 people across the country and killed 429.
“Alcohol will be sold for home consumption only under strict conditions on specified days and for limited hours,” Ramaphosa announced in an address to the nation.
“The sale of tobacco products will remain prohibited in alert level 3 due to the health risks associated with smoking,” he added.
South Africa started gradually easing confinement measures on 1 May, allowing citizens to exercise outdoors in the morning and some businesses to partially resume operations.
Japan is considering a fresh stimulus package worth over $929bn that will consist mostly of financial aid programmes for companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the Nikkei newspaper said on Monday.
The package, to be funded by a second extra budget for the current fiscal year beginning in April, would follow a record $1.1tn spending plan deployed last month to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, reports Reuters.
The second extra budget, worth ¥100tn ($929.45bn), will include ¥60tn yen for expanding loan programmes that state-affiliated and private financial institutions offer to firms hit by virus, the paper said.
Another ¥27tn will be set aside for other financial aid programmes, including ¥15tn for a new programme to inject capital into ailing firms, it said.
The government is expected to approve the budget, which will also include subsidies to help companies pay rent and wages as they close businesses, at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Updated
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has repeatedly urged Virginia residents to cover their faces in public during the coronavirus pandemic. On Friday, he told reporters wearing a mask “could literally save someone else’s life”.
But the Democrat did not heed his own advice on Saturday, when he posed without a mask for photographs with residents during a visit to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said Northam should have had a mask.
“He was outside and not expecting to be within 6ft of anyone,” Alena Yarmosky said. “This is an important reminder to always have face coverings in case situations change. We are all learning how to operate in this new normal, and it’s important to be prepared.”
Northam has suggested he will announce a statewide policy on face coverings on Tuesday. At the beach on Saturday, he told reporters his administration was still working on the details.
Critics on social media chided Northam, a doctor, for not practicing what he has preached.
“Physician, heal thyself,” tweeted Todd Gilbert, Virginia’s Republican House minority leader.
Chile’s healthcare system is under strain and “very close to the limit,” President Sebastian Pinera said on Sunday, as the number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections approaches 70,000 after a rapid increase in recent days, Reuters reports.
The Ministry of Health reported 3,709 new cases in the last day, bringing the total to 69,102. The death toll is at 718.
“We are very close to the limit because we have had a very large increase in the needs and demands for medical care, and for intensive care unit beds and ventilators,” Pinera said during a visit to a hospital in Santiago, which has the highest concentration of cases.
More than 1,000 people have been hospitalized for disease associated with the coronavirus, according to the government.
Chile, the world’s top copper producer, confirmed its first case of coronavirus in early March and surpassed 50,000 infections this week.
A third of Chile’s population of about 19 million is under mandatory quarantine after the government put Santiago and several other cities under lockdown.
Here’s the full story on Robert O’Brien, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, accusing China of a cover-up that will “go down in history along with Chernobyl”, and ramping up efforts to deflect attention from a Covid-19 death toll in the US fast closing on 100,000.
White House official likens China's handling of coronavirus to Chernobyl cover-up
A top White House official on Sunday likened China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak to the Soviet Union’s cover-up of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Beijing knew what was happening with the virus, which originated in Wuhan, from November but lied to the World Health Organization and prevented outside experts from accessing information.
“They unleashed a virus on the world that’s destroyed trillions of dollars in American economic wealth that we’re having to spend to keep our economy alive, to keep Americans afloat during this virus,” O’Brien said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history, along with Chernobyl. We’ll see an HBO special about it ten or 15 years from now,” he added, referring to a television miniseries.
The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, released radioactive nuclear material that killed dozens of people within weeks and forced tens of thousands to flee. Moscow delayed revealing the extent of what is regarded as the worst nuclear accident in history.
“This is a real problem and it cost many, many thousands of lives in America and around the world because the real information was not allowed to get out,” O’Brien said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It was a cover-up. And we’ll get to the bottom of it eventually.”
More on the US travel ban from Brazil:
The White House on Sunday broadened its travel ban against countries hard-hit by the coronavirus by denying admission to foreigners who have been in Brazil during the two-week period before they hoped to enter the US.
President Donald Trump had already banned travel from the United Kingdom, Europe and China. He said last week that he was considering similar restrictions for Brazil.
The ban on travel from Brazil takes effect late Thursday. As with the other bans, it does not apply to legal permanent residents. A spouse, parent or child of a US citizen or legal permanent resident also would be allowed to enter the country.
US bars travellers who have been in Brazil in last two weeks
The White House has announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world No. 2 hot spot for coronavirus cases.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the new restrictions would help ensure foreign nationals do not bring additional infections to the US, but would not apply to the flow of commerce between the new countries.
Brazil became the No. 2 hot spot for cases on Friday, second only to the US. Brazil has recorded over 347,000 infections, while the US has over 1.6 million.
The decision follows comments by the national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, to CBS.“We hope that’ll be temporary, but because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” O’Brien said.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’ll be bringing you the very latest news for the next few hours – as always, it would be great to hear from you via Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Tips, questions, feedback or fun are welcome.
British PM Boris Johnson has doubled down on his defence of chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, who breached lockdown rules to drive his wife, who who was suffering coronavirus symptoms, and son 425km (264 miles) to his parents’ farm in Durham.
Cummings is facing a possible police investigation after retired chemistry teacher Robin Lees made a complaint to the police over the breach.
Meanwhile in the US, the Trump administration has barred travel from Brazil, which now has the second-highest number of confirmed cases worldwide. The White House announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks.
Here are the main developments from the last few hours:
- Global toll passes 340,000 The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 5,344,539, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. There have been 342,695 deaths officially linked to coronavirus around the world.
- Dominic Cummings reported to police over lockdown breach. Boris Johnson’s chief advisor is facing a possible police investigation under health laws over a claim that he breached self-isolation rules in north-east England, after a weekend of mounting pressure on the prime minister to sack his chief adviser. Boris Johnson described Cummings as acting “responsibly, legally and with integrity”.
- US bars travellers who have been in Brazil in last two weeks. The White House has announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world’s second-worst affected country in terms of coronavirus cases.
- France has lowest daily rise in new coronavirus cases and deaths since lockdown. French authorities reported the smallest daily rise in new coronavirus cases and deaths on Sunday since before a lockdown began on 17 March, raising hopes that the worst of the epidemic is over in France.
- The French government has discouraged citizens from travelling abroad this summer, recommending they holiday in France, the environment minister Elisabeth Borne has said. This follows Emmanuel Macron saying it was unlikely that French people would be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer.
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South Africa announces further easing of lockdown. South Africa will further relax coronavirus lockdown restrictions from 1 June, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced, allowing large areas of the economy to fully reopen. “Cabinet has determined that the alert level for the whole country should be lowered from level four to level three,” he said in an address broadcast on television, describing the move as a significant shift in approach to the pandemic.
- South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti has suspended operations at its Mponeng mine after at least 164 employees tested positive for coronavirus. The mining company said it had tested 650 workers at the gold mining site in Merafong, Gauteng province, after a first case was detected last week. Contact tracing and sanitisation processes are under way.
- India resumes domestic flights despite record spike in new cases. Domestic flights will resume across India on Monday, the federal civil aviation minister has said, despite a 24-hour record increase in new cases on Sunday. The announcement follows a day of “hard negotiations”, the minister said, after some states sought to limit the number of flights.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada has risen to 84,081 from 82,892. There have been 103 more deaths, bringing the country’s toll up to 6,380.
- German authorities are trying to trace the people who attended a church service in Frankfurt after 107 tested positive for the coronavirus. The service took place at a Baptist church on 10 May, and it is not clear whether all the 107 attended the service, or whether the figure includes those who were infected by those who did.
- China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has said the US should stop wasting time in its fight against the coronavirus and work with China to combat it, instead of smearing the country. State councillor Wang’s comments came as he expressed his sympathy to the US for the pandemic, where the death toll is approaching 100,000.
- Thousands of pro-democracy protesters assembled in Hong Kong against a controversial security law proposed by China, defying a coronavirus measure banning gatherings of more than eight people. The planned legislation is expected to ban treason, subversion and sedition, and the clashes between police and demonstrators were the most intense seen in months.
- Italy has recorded 50 new deaths – but worst-hit Lombardy’s figures are missing due to late reporting. The number of new infections rose by 531, down from 669 on Saturday. There have been 32, 785 deaths and 140,479 people have recovered.
Updated
