US passes 5m Covid-19 cases as Joe Biden says pandemic 'breaks heart'
Richard Luscombe, Tom Lutz and Joanna Walters report for the Guardian:
The US on Sunday passed the grim milestone of 5m coronavirus cases, as Donald Trump’s executive orders seeking to break a political impasse over further economic relief were denounced by a Republican as “unconstitutional slop” and Joe Biden accused the president of issuing little more than “excuses and lies”.
Recriminations have been flying in Washington since talks on further aid for the unemployed and for states struggling with a public health crisis collapsed on Friday.
Trump intervened on Friday and Saturday, holding press conferences at his luxury golf club in New Jersey, cheered on by well-heeled members crowding close together, a jarring setting amid a pandemic and recession:
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.
I’ll be bringing you the latest coronavirus news from around the world for the next few hours. Please do get in touch with news from your part of the world if we’ve missed it.
You can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or send an email to helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
British prime minister Boris Johnson said reopening schools in September was a social, economic and moral imperative and insisted schools would be able to operate safely despite the coronavirus pandemic.
His comments follow a study earlier this month which warned that Britain risks a second wave of Covid-19 in the winter twice as large as the initial outbreak if schools open without an improved test-and-trace system.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said restarting schools was a national priority.
Schools would be the last places to close in future local lockdowns, he was quoted by another newspaper as telling a meeting on Thursday.
Schools in England closed in March during a national lockdown, except for the children of key workers, and reopened in June for a small number of pupils.
“Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible,” Johnson wrote.
The economic costs for parents who cannot work if schools are shut are spiralling, and the country faces big problems if children miss out on education, the prime minister warned.
“This pandemic isn’t over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become complacent. But now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so,” Johnson wrote.
The headteachers’ union has criticised Johnson’s push and warned that schools will teach pupils on a “week on-week off” basis if there is a resurgence of the coronavirus, and are drawing up a number of contingency plans, according to the Telegraph.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Johnson has ordered a public relations campaign to ensure schools open on time.
New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday that the infection rate in the state is now at its lowest since the start of the outbreak.
We need to protect the extraordinary progress New Yorkers have made.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 9, 2020
Today’s infection rate of 0.78% is the lowest we have seen since the pandemic began.
What we are doing is working. We need to stay smart and stay cautious.
According to the New York Times, infections in the US are now rising fastest in the states of Virginia, Illinois, Hawaii, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as well as in Puerto Rico.
Updated
Brazil has registered 23,010 new coronavirus infections to Sunday, taking the overall official tally in the country to 3,035,422.
The health ministry also announced 572 new deaths, bringing the total Covid-19 death toll to 101,049.
The UK’s official Covid-19 daily death count could be scrapped following an investigation into Public Health England’s method of counting the toll, The Telegraph newspaper reported.
The conclusions of the investigation, which was ordered by health secretary Matt Hancock after it emerged officials were “exaggerating” virus deaths, are expected this week, the newspaper said.
One recommendation could be to move to a weekly official death toll instead, a government source told the Telegraph.
Britain paused its daily update of the death toll last month and the government ordered a review into how Public Health England reports coronavirus deaths, after academics said the daily figures may include people who died of other causes.
Academics in a blog post had warned that the way the government health agency calculated the figures was skewed as patients who tested positive for coronavirus, but are successfully treated, will still be counted as dying from the virus “even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later”, Reuters reports.
England’s death figures vary substantially from day to day due to this reason, the academics had argued.
In contrast, the other parts of the United Kingdom do not follow the same approach.
There is a cut-off threshold of 28 days in Scotland after a positive test, after which a patient is not automatically considered to have died from the virus.
Britain, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, reported more than 1,000 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, its highest daily increase since June, taking the total number of cases past 310,000.
Updated
Belarus police fired stun grenades and began detentions in a crackdown on protests that erupted as president Alexander Lukashenko was set to claim another election win on Sunday in the face of the biggest challenge in years to his grip on power.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Minsk while protesters clapped, shouted “victory” and honked their car horns in solidarity with the opposition.
Police blocked off streets and at least 10 people were detained in one spot in Minsk, a Reuters witness said, while local media reported detentions and clashes between police and protesters in the capital and other cities.
The internet and social media networks experienced disruption.
The government said in a statement that no protesters had been injured.
A former Soviet collective farm manager, the authoritarian Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994 but has battled a wave of anger over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy and his human rights record.
State-approved exit polls showed him winning 79.7% of the vote while his main opponent Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who emerged from obscurity a few weeks ago to lead rallies against him, received 6.8%.
Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995.
Wedded to a Soviet-style economic model, Lukashenko has struggled to raise incomes and living standards in recent years.
He also faced anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he dismissed as a “psychosis” while suggesting drinking vodka and playing ice hockey as remedies.
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French passengers sue Costa Cruises over virus ship ordeal and for manslaughter
Around 850 French passengers who were onboard a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship that was turned away from numerous ports in March have filed a collective suit in Paris with 180 complaints, including manslaughter, against Costa Cruises, their lawyer said on Sunday.
The class action, which includes complaints from the families of three passengers who died of Covid-19, accuses the Italy-based cruise giant of negligence and various faults during their trip on the Costa Magica.
From 6 to 13 March the ship was refused to dock in most of the Caribbean islands it visited, including Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados and Saint Lucia.
In the absence of stopovers, the crew encouraged the passengers to use the ship’s shops, spas, restaurants and casino without sufficiently putting health measures in place, or informing them there were suspected infections onboard, the complainants said in their suit.
The staff members on the ship “were at fault, the passengers had almost no information and only found out from local media that there were cases on the ship,” lawyer Philippe Courtois, who represents the collective of some 850 French passengers, told AFP.
Courtois also criticised the “extremely light” virus measures on the ship.
“It was meant to be a dream cruise, but it ended in an ordeal,” he said.
Costa Cruises, which is part of the Carnival group, has suspended its trips worldwide until 15 August due to the pandemic.
All arrivals coming to Germany from high-risk areas are subject to compulsory coronavirus testing since Saturday, amid a rise in the country’s infections.
On Sunday morning, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 555 new infections, markedly lower than on the previous three days, which saw infections topping 1,000 for three days in a row.
If you have arrived in Germany since Saturday, I am keen to hear about your experience.
If you have updates on the pandemic from any other place in the world, I’d also love to hear from you, you can message me on Twitter @JedySays or email me.
A total of nine students and staff members at a Georgia high school that made national headlines after a photo shared on social media showed its hallways packed with teenagers, many of them not wearing masks, have tested positive for the coronavirus, my colleague Tom Lutz reports.
North Paudling High School principal Gabe Carmona wrote Saturday that six students and three staff members returned positive tests in a letter obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/fzdidaAABM
— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) August 4, 2020
Hannah Watters, a sophomore at the school who was initially suspended for posting the photo to Twitter, has since had her punishment revoked, CNN reported.
Elsewhere in Georgia, the AP reports that school officials in a nearby metro Atlanta county said 12 students and two staff members across a dozen schools tested positive for the virus during their first week back at school. The Cherokee County school system reported that more than 250 students with potential exposure had been sent home to quarantine for two weeks.
As our Ed Pilkington wrote today, Georgia is one of 21 states across the US that have been placed by the White House coronavirus taskforce in the “red zone”, indicating the disease is now so prevalent that immediate restrictions must be imposed to avoid dire consequences.
A large study on the transmission of coronavirus in schools, involving about 20,000 pupils and teachers in 100 institutions across the UK, will confirm that “there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted” there, according to a leading scientist, the Sunday Times reports.
Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of the government advisory group Sage, said: “A new study that has been done in UK schools confirms there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools.
“This is the some of the largest data you will find on schools anywhere. Britain has done very well in terms of thinking of collecting data in schools.”
The study is being carried out by Public Health England and is expected to be published later this year.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 4,974,959 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 54,590 cases from its previous count a day prior, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,064 to 161,284.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as Covid-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4pm ET on 8 August.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Summary of recent events
- The US has passed the grim milestone of 5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus.
- Britain’s economy will be officially declared in recession this week for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, as the coronavirus outbreak plunges the country into the deepest slump on record. The country recorded more than 1,000 new infections on Sunday, for the first time since late June.
- Greece has recorded 203 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday, the highest daily rise since the start of the outbreak in the country.
- Ten people have died in a fire at a coronavirus treatment and quarantine facility in India.
- There have been no new deaths from coronavirus in Wales since Saturday’s tally, meaning the total death toll remains at 1,579. The number of cases increased by 26.
- The coronavirus death toll in hospitals in England has risen by 10. This brings the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,411, NHS England said on Sunday.
- Ministers have rejected a call from the children’s commissioner for England to bring in routine coronavirus testing in English schools.
Despite international tourism facing its worst crisis since records began, Saudi Arabia has agreed with Europe’s biggest hotel group Accor for the group to expand and operate a resort at the $20 billion Al-Ula tourism project in the kingdom’s northwestern region, the Royal Commission for the project said on Sunday.
Al-Ula, the site of an ancient civilisation in a remote northwestern corner of the country, is part of plans by the world’s top crude exporter to diversify its economy away from oil and open up after decades of seclusion, Reuters reports.
The agreement will see Accor operate an expanded Ashar Resort under the Banyan Tree brand, with 47 new units bringing the resort’s total capacity to 82 high-end villas, along with a spa and several gourmet restaurants, a commission statement said.
The project is located in the Ashar valley, 15 km (9 miles) from the Kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra.
In April, Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister said the sector could see a 35-45% decline this year due to measures taken by the government to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes such as the segregation of men and women in public and the requirement that women wear all-covering black robes, or abayas.
Al-Ula’s development is part of a push to preserve pre-Islamic heritage sites in order to attract non-Muslim tourists and strengthen national identity.
It plans an official opening to the world as a year-round destination in October 2020.
The kingdom closed its borders to foreign “umrah” pilgrims and to tourists from at least 25 countries in late February.
In March, it barred all travel in and out of the country.
Saudi Arabia has reported 287,262 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, and 3,130 deaths so far.
Binational couples separated by coronavirus travel and immigration restrictions will soon be granted a ‘laissez-passer’ - a special exemption that allows the partner from the high-risk country to be reunited with their partner in France, the daily Sud Ouest reports.
Since travel restrictions and lockdown rules were introduced in France in March, some couples have been living a long-distance relationship in two different countries.
Secretary of state for tourism and French people Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne announced on Saturday that a derogatory procedure would allow binational couples to meet again.
From Monday, a laissez-passer can therefore be issued in consulates for one of the spouses to join the other in France.
They “must present themselves at the consulate with documents attesting to common activities, their identity documents, proof of residence in France for the French spouse, a return ticket”, Lemoyne said.
Updated
Greece records highest single day rise in infections
Greece has recorded 203 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak in the country, a government official said.
The latest jump in cases brings the total number of infections in the country to 5,623 since its first infection surfaced in late February, Reuters reports.
UK's new daily infections surpass 1,000 for first time since June
Britain’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 1,062 on Sunday, going over 1,000 for the first time since late June.
As cases rise in the country, new local lockdowns are implemented in some areas and worries over a second wave of infections are rife.
Official data showed Sunday’s reported cases are 304 higher than the 758 new cases reported on Saturday.
In mid-June, the World Health Organization advised that England’s coronavirus lockdown should not be further lifted until the government’s contact-tracing system has proven to be “robust and effective”, after widespread criticism of the first results of the government’s new tracking operation.
Non-essential shops began reopening in England and Northern Ireland in mid-June, and in Wales and Scotland later that month.
Hotels, pubs and restaurants in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland followed suit in July, though customers were only allowed back inside Welsh pubs and cafes in the first week of August.
As confirmed coronavirus cases in the US have hit 5 million on Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the world’s most powerful nation to contain the virus has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe, the Associated Press reports.
Perhaps nowhere outside the US is America’s bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe’s epidemic.
The Italian government was unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world’s highest official death tolls at 35,000.
But after a strict nationwide, 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.
“Don’t they care about their health?,” Patrizia Antonini, a mask-clad woman asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome.
“They need to take our precautions. [...] They need a real lockdown.”
Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didnt have when the first Covid-19 patients started filling intensive care units.
Yet, more than four months into a sustained outbreak, the US reached the 5 million mark, according to the running count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Health officials believe the actual number is perhaps 10 times higher, or closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all those who are infected have no symptoms.
“We Italians always saw America as a model,” said Massimo Franco, a columnist with daily Corriere della Sera.
“But with this virus we’ve discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent.”
Italian health minister Roberto Speranza hasn’t shied away from criticizing the US, officially condemning as wrong the decision of the Trump administration to withhold funding from the World Health Organization and expressing amazement at president Donald Trump’s virus response.
After Trump finally donned a mask last month, Speranza told La7 television: “I’m not surprised by Trump’s behavior now; Im profoundly surprised by his behavior before.”
Updated
I’m going to be handing over the blog to my colleague Jedidajah Otte - thank you all for reading.
I hope you’re all safe and well, and if you’re in the UK, that you can catch the last of the sun! Goodbye from me.
Saudi Arabia will soon begin Phase III clinical trials on around 5,000 people for a coronavirus vaccine.
This stage of development will see a placebo being used alongside the vaccine, in the cities of of Riyadh, Dammam and Mecca.
The vaccine, developed by China’s CanSino Biologics Inc, uses a cold virus known as adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) to carry genetic material from the coronavirus into the body.
Researchers said last month that CanSino’s vaccine, co-developed with China’s military research unit, appeared to be safe and induced immune responses in most subjects.
CanSino’s vaccine became the first in China to move into human testing in March, but other potential vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) have already been approved for Phase III trials overseas.
In New Delhi, India, social health workers have staged a protest and launched a two day strike for better wages, increased protection from infectious disease, and medical insurance.
The demonstration has been organised by the Accredited Social Health Activist group.
Some very striking pictures have emerged - here are some of the most remarkable.
Updated
“When 700,000 Scottish children start returning to school from Tuesday, they’ll have to find new ways to mark their excitement because teenagers will be asked to avoid hugs and high-fives.
Under a new normal that teachers and parents across the UK will be watching closely, there will be one-way corridors, hand-washing stations and temporary classrooms erected in libraries, gym halls and dining rooms.”
This piece from Severin Carrell explores what the reopening of schools in Scotland will look like.
US hits 5 million cases
The US has just passed a grim milestone, with Johns Hopkins University data showing the country has recorded more than five million cases of Covid-19. More than 162,000 people have died.
The US has more cases than any other country in the world, by a huge margin. The second highest number of cases is in Brazil, which has 2.96m cases so far, followed by India and Russia.
You can get live coverage on the pandemic in the US on our designated US live blog here.
This piece by Ed Pilkington offers an in-depth look at how a world superpower ended up in this position.
Seven months into the pandemic, the full horror of a deadly disease allowed to run amok by state governors and a US president who has consistently downplayed the severity of the crisis, denied the science and deflected attention from the failures of his own administration is now glaringly evident. The virus has taken hold of the south and is making its way steadily up the Mississippi River into the heartlands of America.
As the virus spreads, the many discrete problems that it has exposed in earlier stages of the pandemic are now congealing into one epic challenge.
Read the full report here:
Updated
India: death toll after fire at coronavirus facility rises to 10
The death toll from a fire at a coronavirus treatment quarantine facility in India has increased to 10.
The fire broke out at the facility in the southeastern Indian city of Vijaywada early on Sunday, officials said. The death toll was originally reported as being 7.
Emergency crews rescued up to 20 patients and medical staff from the centre housed in a hotel and took them to hospital, police commissioner B Srinivasulu told journalists at the scene.
Initial reports suggest the fire was caused by a short circuit in the centre, police and fire officials said.
Television footage showed rescuers, clad in face masks and full body suits, removing survivors from the blackened building on trolleys. Lakshmi, a constable at the police control room, said that “several people who were trapped and injured have been rescued and moved to a government hospital”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter he felt “anguished” and had discussed the situation with the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy. Reddy said the state would pay each of the victim’s families 5 million rupees (around £51,000).
Last week, eight coronavirus patients died in a fire that broke out in the intensive care ward of a private hospital in India’s western city of Ahmedabad.
Updated
A further 10 people who have died in hospital in England, having either tested positive for coronavirus, or in cases where a positive test was not returned, but coronavirus was mentioned on their death certificate.
This brings the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,411, NHS England said on Sunday.
The patients were aged between 45 and 89 and all had known underlying health condition
In two of the cases, the deceased had not tested positive for Covid-19, but Covid-19 was mentioned on their death certificate.
All deaths are recorded against the date of death rather than the day the deaths were announced, NHS England said.
Regional breakdown
The region with the highest number of deaths was the Midlands with four.
There were three deaths in the North East & Yorkshire, two in the East of England and one in London.
There were no deaths reported in the North West, where local lockdown measures in place in Greater Manchester and parts of east Lancashire were extended on Friday to include Preston.
No new coronavirus deaths in Wales
In Wales, there have been no further deaths recorded where people died after testing positive for Covid-19, Public Health Wales said.
This means the total death toll remains at 1,579.
The number of cases in Wales increased by 26, bringing the total confirmed to 17,451.
Updated
In Berlin, artists are demonstrating to demand more financial support to survive the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Artists performed on the streets of Berlin as part of the protests calling for more support from the authorities.
Katharina Micada, one of the organisers, told a local newspaper before the protest: “Other people are getting help to get through this crisis but we’re being overlooked.”
Many are angry because large parts of a billion-euro aid programme have not yet been distributed and rules surrounding state handouts have made it harder for artists to qualify.
Juggler Fabio Zimmerman told Berliner Kurier: “Art is not seen as essential. Berlin’s diverse cultural scene is a jewel but in a crisis, the jewels are first to get sold.”
Updated
UK: coronavirus plunges country into deepest slump on record
Britain’s economy will be officially declared in recession this week for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, as the coronavirus outbreak plunges the country into the deepest slump on record.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday are expected to show gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic prosperity, fell in the three months to June by 21%.
After a decline of 2.2% in the first quarter, the latest snapshot will confirm the UK economy slid into recession after the outbreak spread in March and the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the pandemic. Economists consider two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP as the technical definition of a recession.
Confirmation of the Covid-19 recession this week will come as the government tries to strike a balance between relaxing lockdown restrictions to kickstart growth, while also needing to prevent a severe second wave in infections. After four month of harsh controls, growing numbers of companies are coming under severe financial stress, with job losses steadily beginning to mount. Some localised restrictions are also being launched as infections rise.
Here is the full story:
Updated
Ministers have rejected a call from the children’s commissioner for England to bring in routine coronavirus testing in English schools.
Nick Gibb, the schools minister, confirmed that teachers and pupils in England will not have access to routine testing when they reopen in September, and will instead be primarily reliant on hygiene and distancing measures to control any spread of the virus.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
In England, Hays Travel, the holidays agency that took over Thomas Cook last year, has customer service centre staff working on the government’s Covid-19 contact-tracing operation, the Observer and openDemocracy can reveal.
The Sunderland-based company, owned and run by the married couple John and Irene Hays, pitched for work on the coronavirus response in March, a spokeswoman confirmed, as the virus was spreading and the travel industry was plunged into crisis. The spokeswoman said that Hays Travel does not have a contract directly with the government, but has been subcontracted by two providers, whom she said the company could not name due to client confidentiality.
Serco, the logistics company believed to have the largest private contract with the government for Covid-19 contact tracing, confirmed that it has subcontracted Hays Travel to do some of the work, and more companies from the travel sector and other industries.
You can read the full story here:
The news follows widespread critique of the current track and trace system, as evidence of widespread inactivity amongst tracers surfaces.
You can read more on that in this piece from Sarah Marsh and I, which showed that some tracers had not made a single call in ten weeks of work:
Updated
If you spot something you think we should be reporting on in this blog, you can drop me a message on Twitter. I won’t always be able to reply but will do my best.
Thanks in advance. Tips and pointers are always much appreciated!
Pope Francis has urged international solidarity with Lebanon, following the explosion that devastated the capital of Beirut this week.
“Last Tuesday’s catastrophe calls on all of us, starting with the Lebanese people, to work together for the common good of this beloved country,” he said. He also called on church leaders in Lebanon to lead by example.
The church in Lebanon should stay close to the people in their hour of need, with “solidarity and compassion”, he said, speaking after weekly prayers in Saint Peter’s Square.
“I also renew my appeal for generous help from the international community.
His words came as French President Emmanuel Macron hosts a UN-backed virtual conference with world leaders including Donald Trump to generate support and financial aid for Lebanon in the wake of the blast.
Vietnam’s health ministry has recorded a further 31 cases of coronavirus, and one further death.
This takes the country’s total number of cases to 841, with 11 fatalities.
All of the new cases are linked to the central city of Danang, where the new outbreak began late last month, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. There have been 355 cases since the virus resurfaced in Danang, with 11 deaths.
Coronavirus infections have since been detected in at least 15 locations in Vietnam.
Updated
Summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s a summary of some of the key developments over the last few hours.
- In the UK, prime minister Boris Johnson has spoken of “a moral duty” to get all children back in class, and indicated that he would force pubs, restaurants and shops to close ahead of schools if there was a second wave of coronavirus infections.
- Seven coronavirus patients have died in India in a fire that broke out early on Sunday at a hotel being used as a Covid-19 facility, officials said. This is the second such incident this month.
- The US health secretary has arrived in Taiwan to strengthen the ties between the two countries over their response to the coronavirus pandemic. The trip has been strongly condemned by China who claim Taiwan belongs to them.
- Lebanon’s Information Minister, Manal Abdel Samad, has announced her resignation, citing the government’s failure to introduce reforms, and the enormous explosion that devastated Beirut this week. Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron will host political leaders today for a UN-backed video conference to raise emergency relief funds for Lebanon, following the devastating explosion in Beirut this week. The country was already struggling with mounting numbers of coronavirus cases, amid economic and political turmoil.
- Russia has recorded 5,189 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its nationwide tally to 887,536, while Indonesia has reported 1,893 new coronavirus infections, taking the country’s total number of cases to 125,396. Hong Kong has reported 72 new cases of coronavirus, a slight increase from the 69 new cases reported on Saturday.
- The Philippines has recorded 61 new deaths from coronavirus, the highest daily increase in fatalities reported for three weeks.
Updated
The Philippines has recorded 61 new deaths from coronavirus, the highest daily increase in fatalities reported for three weeks.
This takes the country’s death toll to 2,270.
A health ministry bulletin also reported 3,109 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total confirmed cases to 129,913.
The Southeast Asian country leads the region in the most number of cases and is second to Indonesia in deaths.
Updated
“On Saturday the official death toll hit 100,000 – up from 10,000 in early May. A similar number of lives were lost during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war or the ongoing conflict in Yemen. Brazil has recorded more than 3m infections – second only to the US.
“We failed – as a country, as a government, as a society – to get the message out in a clear, transparent and educative way,” scientist Natalia Pasternak admitted.”
Read more about Brazil’s Covid-19 deaths reaching 100,000 from the perspective one scientist, who made it her mission to reduce the spread of the virus, in this piece from Tom Phillips, our Latin American correspondent:
North Korea’s ruling party has delivered aid packages of food and medical supplies to residents of Kaesong, close to the border with the South, after imposing a lockdown there due to coronavirus concerns, state media reports.
Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an emergency and imposed a lockdown on the small border town after a 24 year old, who defected to South Korea in 2017, returned to Kaesong across the highly fortified border showing coronavirus symptoms.
Seoul officials said the individual returned to the North after facing a sexual assault investigation in the South. South Korean health officials said there was no sign he was infected before he crossed the border, and at least two people who were in close contact with him have tested negative.
Pyongyang has not confirmed any coronavirus infections but has been taking strict quarantine measures and screening the town, while providing food, test kits and other medical equipment, according to state media. State television on Sunday showed a train arriving at the Kaesong station and trucks delivering supplies to residents.
“Australia has recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic so far, after 17 people died in Victoria in the 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday.
Ten of the 17 deaths were linked to aged care homes, and the state also recorded 394 new cases of Covid-19, premier Daniel Andrews announced.
Sunday’s figures surpass the previous deadliest day – Wednesday – when Victoria reported 15 deaths, including a man in his 30s. A second man in his 30s died in the state on Saturday.”
Here is the full report on Australia’s deadliest day in the coronavirus pandemic, from my colleague Naaman Zhou:
The Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has urged people to “continue to keep 2m from others and wash your hands often”, ahead of further reopening in Wales tomorrow.
Swimming pools, indoor fitness studios, gyms and leisure centres are set to reopen in Wales tomorrow. Children’s indoor play areas are also allowed to open, but should keep areas which are difficult to clean closed.
Swimming pools, indoor fitness studios, gyms and leisure centres can reopen tomorrow.
— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) August 9, 2020
Children’s indoor play areas can also open but areas that can't be easily cleaned should remain closed.
Please continue to keep 2m from others and wash your hands often to #KeepWalesSafe. pic.twitter.com/SFA15ln0IA
US health secretary arrives in Taiwan to strengthen cooperation over Covid-19
The US Secretary of Health and Human Services has arrived in Taiwan, on a trip intended to strengthen economic and public-health cooperation between the US and Taiwan, and to support Taiwan’s international role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday health secretary Alex Azar will sign a ‘health cooperation memorandum of understanding’ with Taiwan’s government, and visit Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control. He is also set to meet President Tsai Ing-wen during his visit.
The trip has been condemned by China, who claim the island belongs to them. Washington broke off official ties with Taipei in 1979 in favour of Beijing, but the Trump administration has made strengthening its support for the island a priority, and has boosted arms sales.
With tensions already mounting between Beijing and Washington, over issues including human rights, trade and the coronavirus pandemic, has threatened counter-measures to the visit, but has not specified what these might be.
Azar arrived at Taipei’s downtown Songshan airport on a US government aircraft late in the afternoon, and was met by Brent Christensen, the de facto US ambassador to Taiwan, and by Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang. There were no handshakes, and masks were worn.
Taiwan’s case numbers have been far lower than those of its neighbours, generally put down to early and effective preventative measures. So far, it has recorded 480 infections, including seven deaths. Most cases have been imported.
Updated
“Health specialists in the American midwest predict a sharp increase in deaths across the region in the coming weeks, that will be made significantly worse in some states by the politicians who followed Donald Trump’s lead in undermining medical advice and in questioning the value of masks.
Anthony Fauci, the president’s lead coronavirus expert, recently warned the midwest’s political leaders to follow the science.
“Some states are not doing that,” he said. “We would hope that they all now rethink what happens when you don’t adhere to that. We’ve seen it in plain sight in the southern states that surged.”
Coronavirus deaths in the midwest remain a fraction of the nearly 160,000 recorded during the pandemic across the US. But Missouri is second only to Oklahoma in the number of new positive tests for the virus over the past two weeks.”
Read the full story as America’s midwest braces itself for a Covid-19 surge from my colleague Chris McGreal here:
A man in Australia’s Northern Territory, who had just one day of mandatory quarantine left, has been given a $5,000 fine after he was caught trying to sneak out early.
The 20-year-old was issued with a $5,056 penalty after police and staff discovered him trying to leave Darwin’s Howard Springs quarantine facility a day before his release date. Police said the man would remain overnight to finish his isolation before being allowed to leave.
The Northern Territory has reopened its borders to all Queenslanders but parts of New South Wales, and all of Victoria, are still designated coronavirus hotspots.
Lebanon’s Information Minister, Manal Abdel Samad, has announced her resignation, citing the government’s failure to introduce reforms, and the enormous explosion that devastated Beirut this week.
I’ll share any more information as soon as I have it.
Hong Kong has today reported 72 new coronavirus cases. Of these, 63 were locally transmitted. This is a slight increase from Saturday’s figures of 69 new cases.
More than 4,000 people have been infected in Hong Kong since January, 51 of whom have died.
Updated
Indonesia reported 1,893 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the country’s total number of cases to 125,396.
The number of death rose 65 on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,723.
Updated
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has reiterated his support for prioritising the reopening of schools.
In a tweet, Johnson shared the link to a piece he wrote in the Daily Mail on the reopening of schools, saying: “keeping our schools closed a moment longer than is absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”
Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than is absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.https://t.co/9sK8lpQPsJ
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 9, 2020
Scientific advisors have warned that retail and hospitality venues may need to close to be able to reopen schools safely at the start of the academic year next month.
You can read more on this story here:
Updated
“It looks like children overall have a transmission efficiency of about 50% of adults, although that varies dramatically across age groups,” says Susan Coffin, an infectious disease physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “As children enter their teens, the transmission efficiency begins to approach that of adults.”
You can read more on the link between coronavirus and children here:
UN video conference to support Lebanon begins
French president Emmanuel Macron will host Donald Trump and other political leaders today for a UN-backed video conference to raise emergency relief funds for Lebanon, following the devastating explosion in Beirut this week.
The blast, which killed 158 people and injured more than 6,000, destroyed large areas of the capital city. Rebuilding Beirut could cost billions of dollars, and economists forecast the explosion could reduce the country’s GDP by an eye-watering 25%.
Lebanon was already in an economic crisis, and battling a growing outbreak of coronavirus. Despite a five-day lockdown, doctors had warned that the country’s healthcare system was already “beyond its capacity”. Currently, the country has 6,223 confirmed cases, and 78 people have died.
You can read more on the situation in Lebanon prior to the explosion, and why the country was already vulnerable to the catastrophic impacts of the blast, here:
Updated
Russia has reported a further 5,189 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its nationwide tally to 887,536.
This is the fourth highest number of cases in the world, after the US, Brazil and India respectively.
Russia’s coronavirus taskforce said a further 77 people had died over the last 24 hours, putting the official death toll at 14,931.
This story is leading much of this morning’s newspaper coverage in the UK, so, to fill you in...
The British prime minister Boris Johnson is understood to favour closing schools only as the last resort, speaking of a “moral duty” to get children back into classrooms.
As scientific advisors warn that more restrictions may need to be imposed to safely reopen classrooms next month, Johnson has indicated he would force pubs, restaurants and shops to close ahead of schools.
You can read more here:
Hi everyone, I’m Molly Blackall, taking over the blog for the next few hours. Thanks for joining us. I hope you’re all safe and well, wherever you’re reading from.
Summary of recent events
I’ll be handing over the blog to my colleagues in London shortly. In the meantime here is a quick rundown of the recent updates. Thanks for staying with us, and take care.
- Australia records 404 new cases nationally, with 10 in New South Wales and 394 in Victoria, where 17 people also died in the country’s deadliest day of the pandemic.
- The US is nearing five million people diagnosed with Covid-19. More than 162,000 people have died.
- In Brazil a former health minister has accused president Jair Bolsonaro of failing to offer any comfort to the families of the 100,000 Brazilians who have died from Covid-19.
- New Zealand has marked 100 days of zero community transmission cases.
- Mexico reported 6,495 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 695 additional fatalities on Saturday, bringing the total in the country to 475,902 cases and 52,006 deaths.
- Australian state of Victoria announces $59.7m in additional mental health funding, focusing on the surge in demand for acute services, after stats reveal 33% increase in self harm presentations to hospital for people under 18.
- In Britain, only half the population definitely would accept being vaccinated against Covid-19, and one in six (16%) said they would definitely not or would be unlikely to accept a vaccine, a study has found.
- China has reported 23 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday. Eight cases were imported, and all 15 of the locally transmitted cases were in the region of Xinjiang.
- Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would extend enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits and employment taxes into next year with executive orders, but cut the level of some of the support
- In Israel thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets near the official residence of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in central Jerusalem, calling for Netanyahu to resign, protesting his handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.
Updated
Japan has reported 331 new cases in the capital city of Tokyo, down from 429 the previous day.
Still on the subject of jobs in the pandemic, the Observer has this exclusive from the UK:
The majority of people who have been furloughed have carried on working during lockdown, with men significantly more likely than women to flout the rules of the scheme and work for their employer when they are not allowed to do so.
Working mothers have also felt more compelled to volunteer to be furloughed than working fathers, research shared exclusively with The Observer reveals.
Economists from the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Zurich have found that “not all workers are furloughed equally”, with women significantly more likely to be furloughed than men doing the same type of job.
The study also found that three-quarters (75%) of furloughed men had their wages topped up beyond the 80% provided by the government, while less than two-thirds (65%) of women enjoyed this financial benefit.
Owen Alexander, a recent law graduate who lives in Flemington in Melbourne’s inner city, went for a position in a call centre for the Australian Tax Office. He was told they had received about 5,000 applicants, and didn’t get the job.
“It really makes you start to feel bad about yourself,” he says. “You’re reading job descriptions for things you don’t actually want to do, knowing the pay is terrible, knowing you’re probably not even going to get an interview.
“It constantly chips away at your self-esteem. It’s probably been the hardest part of this lockdown. Earlier on you might have thought things were going to get better, but now you sort of wonder. It’s hard to be optimistic.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has wrought previously unimaginable chaos in Australia’s economy. Since March, when state governments began announcing lockdowns amid rising case numbers, tens of thousands of jobs have disappeared as entire industries fold in on themselves.
In June, the official unemployment figure was 7.4%, already a two-decade high, and the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, admitted the figure would have been closer to 13% if not for the government’s jobkeeper program. On Thursday the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the official figure was likely to reach 10% anyway by the end of the year, and that the effective rate would be more like 13%.
Across the country, thousands of the newly unemployed are living in the fallout of those abstract numbers.
Read the full story here:
AAP: A new Alcohol and Drug Foundation survey has found one in 12 Australians have been drinking every day since the coronavirus outbreak began.
The foundation quizzed more than 1,000 people, with a concerning number reporting they were drinking more than usual.
One in 10 people reported consuming more than 10 standard drinks per week, increasing the risk of alcohol-related injury and diseases such as cancer.
Nearly one in five people said they wished they’d drunk less during the Covid-19 lockdown, with half hoping to cut down in the future.
Read more:
In Britain, only half the population definitely would accept being vaccinated against Covid-19. That is the shock conclusion of a group of scientists and pollsters who have found that only 53% of a test group of citizens said they would be certain or very likely to allow themselves to be given a vaccine against the disease if one becomes available.
By contrast, one in six (16%) said they would definitely not or would be unlikely to accept a vaccine, according to research by King’s College London and Ipsos Mori. In addition, it was found that one in five (20%) said they would only be “fairly likely” to go ahead with inoculation.
Read more:
Until there’s a vaccine Coatsworth says everyone needs to keep up the good hygiene practises developed, and social distancing.
“And we must continue to encourage our friends and family. I saw reports today that there are clearly members of the community that do not engage in traditional media or even social media. There are doubtless many millions of Australians that don’t necessarily watch Dr Nick Coatsworth press conferences on a Sunday afternoon, but with one or two degrees of separation and the community engagement. So for example, if you are a mother or a father whose teenager or 20-year-old doesn’t appear to be getting the message, then now is of course the time to encourage them.
Coatsworth is asked about the mental health statistics from Victoria - year-on-year at the end if June there was a 33% rise in the number of self harm presentations to emergency departments by people under the age of 18.
He doesn’t have national data on whether that’s replicated around the country but he’s going to take it on board.
For those of us who aren’t in Victoria at the moment, it’s really difficult to imagine how challenging this is,” he says. “Having been sensitised to it in the first wave, to then be in a situation that you have to go through it again and then some in those areas that have stage four restrictions is going to produce a whole range of undesirable effects and one of those is clearly in the mental health space.”
He says the extra funding announcements by state and federal governments are good, but we have to make sure people can and will access the services. As well as services like the Black Dog Institute and Beyond Blue, your local GP is “your port of call”.
There are some people who won’t be accessing those and the people we are most concerned about are the people who either haven’t recognised the mental health consequences for themselves or people that don’t know how to access services or are afraid of accessing services. And for those again - I’ll go back to what I said at the start of the press conference, that’s where community has to be part of this. That’s where friends and family have to changes in people and reach out and be aware those services are there.”
Coatsworth: Victoria appears to be "at the plateau"
Some cautious optimism from the deputy chief medical officer.
“I think the challenging thing about Covid is you never really know where you are on the curve,” he says.
But there is relative confidence about where Victoria is, because the reproductive number over the past few days has been one or just below one.
“It appears we’re on the plateau. We’re looking for the inflection point that tells Victorians that their efforts are being rewarded, that we see numbers going down. And we haven’t seen that yet, but I have no doubt we will see it.
If you consider that stage three restrictions had a sort of almost at a plateau, then the stage four restrictions will produce a result. The extent of that result really depends on how low that reproductive number can be brought, and the ideal situation would be if we could see the reproductive number at 0.5. We don’t have enough data at the moment from the numbers to see whether that’s approaching 0.5. But hopefully in the coming days to weeks we will see that.
Australia’s CovidSafe app (which has been... divisive, to say the least) is working much better than it used to, says Coatsworth.
It’s not identifying many extra contacts for Victorian cases, largely because everyone’s in lockdown and they know who they’ve seen (very few people) and where they’ve been (very few places).
But in NSW the app has been much more successful.
Coatsworth:
“Why is that the case that we’ve suddenly gone from an app that appeared not to be working to one that is? The first thing to say is the app was always letting off its digital signals and pinging. There have been updates and improvements to the algorithms that others could describe more fully. That’s undoubtedly had an effect. Finally we see what happens when you have an essentially open economy as you do in New South Wales. And that’s where COVIDSafe comes into its own.
Coatsworth is asked about the fatality rate in Australia. He says he hasn’t seen the data in the last week or two but Australia has generally been better than much of the rest of the world.
The reasons include the already high standard of Australian health care and in particular intensive care units and staff.
“But we’re also learning more and more. We’re applying new treatments and [a medication] that’s demonstrating in a recovery trial to decrease mortality. We have at our disposal... and our specialists that are backed up by the Australia New Zealand Intensive Care Society and are discussing the clinical treatment of patient whose are gravely ill with Covid-19 and how you ventilate them is a challenge and the contact of proning which is where you ventilate someone on their tummy, rather than on their back, has proven to be critical. The timing you do that.
Dr Nick Coatsworth, deputy chief medical officer in Australia is giving a national briefing.
Nationally in Australia there are 295 dead from Covid-19, and 658 currently hospitalised with 51 in intensive care.
On Friday the national cabinet considered the Aus govt’s vaccine and treatment approach.
“It demonstrates the need during this pandemic to not just focus on the now... and plan for the medium and long term,” he says, including the key issue of procurement, manufacture, and distribution of a vaccine.
It is not going to be acceptable for any single country to have the vaccine and Australia is joining with a number of different countries around the world through the initiative to ensure that any vaccine that is developed is available.
He says there are a number of Australian vaccine candidates currently at the sate of human trials, including one by the University of Queensland, and one developed by Flinders University and the Adelaide company vaccine and two developed by international companies.
India: AP reports that seven coronavirus patients have died in a fire that broke out early on Sunday at a hotel being used as a Covid-19 facility, officials said, in the second such incident this month.
The blaze at Hotel Swarna Palace in the city of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh state started at 5am. Rescue teams evacuated those trapped in the multi-storey building, said senior police officer Srinivasulu, who added that at least 22 people were taken to hospital, he said.
Srinivasulu said an electrical short-circuit appeared to be the cause of the fire.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and assured survivors of all possible support.
This the second fire incident at a Covid-19 facility in India this month. On Thursday, eight people were killed in a fire in the intensive care unit of a private Covid-19 designated hospital in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state.
New South Wales: Anyone who attended a church service at St Agatha’s in Pennant Hills on Wednesday 5 August and Thursday 6 August has been warned to be alert for symptoms of Covid-19.
The NSW health department has just sent out an alert that one of the cases reported in today’s figures attended early masses from 6:30 am to 7am on both of these days, prior to the onset of their symptoms.
People who were at the church at these times are urged to watch out for any symptoms of Covid-19, and if they occur, to immediately self-isolate and seek testing.
The church has been closed for cleaning.
The latest statement on monetary policy from Australia’s Reserve Bank brought the good news that the recession due to the coronavirus should not be as deep as the RBA expected it would be three months ago, but also reinforces just how long the recovery will take.
For those who says there is only gloom, let me say that while in May the RBA predicted Australia economy would shrink 8% in the 12 months to June; now it only expects a 6% fall.
Huzzah!
Yes, we exist in a world where the economy falling by 6% – roughly double the size of the worst fall to have occurred since the second world war – is good news.
And it also about the only good news to be had.
Read more here:
Reuters: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 555 to 215,891, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by one to 9,196, the tally showed.
Here’s our wrap of today’s Victorian news, from my colleague Naaman Zhou.
AAP also has a few more details on the $59.7m Victorian mental health package announced earlier today.
Part of the funding will go to extending community mental health programs to seven days a week, rather than Monday to Friday, and with longer opening hours to provide psychiatric, allied healthcare and data support.
It will also pay for outreach programs run by Melbourne’s 15 Headspace centres, which can identify those at the acute end of the mental health spectrum and deliver help within their neighbourhood.
The funds will also fast-track two recommendations of the interim report from the royal commission into mental health, Mr Andrews said.
An extra 144 acute mental health beds will be rolled out at Box Hill, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Monash Clayton, Heidelberg and Broadmeadows, Warrnambool and Mildura.
The remainder will be spent on Orygen’s Hospital in the Home and post-hospital suicide prevention program, HOPE.
Updated
Former New South Wales Liberal premier, Mike Baird, has written in support of Victoria’s Daniel Andrews (who is Labor).
“The political badge you wear should mean very little during this moment,” he said in a blog post titled ‘Perspective’.
We are living through history, and there is no playbook they give you when you become PM, Premier or Minister on how to respond.
Leaders are making dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of big decisions every day. And not all of them will be correct in hindsight. Every leader around the world is learning on the run, and the stakes are impossibly high. Every leader is making mistakes, which is not surprising as they are human.”
A projection on a building honouring the 100,000 victims who died of Covid-19 in Brazil reads “100,000 Victims of [Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro”, in Botafogo neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday.
The country is the second in the world to pass the grim milestone. Just a day after Latin America and the Caribbean became the hardest-hit region in the global pandemic, Brazil reported a total of 100,477 fatalities, joining the United States as the only two countries to surpass the six-digit death mark.
![A projection on a building honouring the 100,000 victims who died of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 in Brazil reads “100,000 Victims of [Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro”.](https://media.guim.co.uk/769a66465ccb269816ae3658c12373808ffa67d8/0_0_4844_2907/1000.jpg)
AFP: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the distribution of aid to the border city of Kaesong after the area was locked down last month to fight the coronavirus, state media said Sunday.
Authorities raised the state of emergency to the maximum level for the city in July, saying they had discovered the country’s first suspected virus case.
A train carrying goods arrived in the “totally blocked” city of Kaesong on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported.
“The Supreme Leader has made sure that emergency measures were taken for supplying food and medicines right after the city was totally blocked and this time he saw to it that lots of rice and subsidy were sent to the city,” it said.
Kim had been concerned “day and night” about people in Kaesong as they continue their “campaign for checking the spread of the malignant virus”, the report added.
Last month, Pyongyang said a defector who had left for South Korea three years ago returned on July 19 by “illegally crossing” the heavily fortified border dividing the two countries.
The man showed symptoms of coronavirus and was put under “strict quarantine”, authorities said, but the North has yet to confirm whether he tested positive.
If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognised case of Covid-19 in North Korea, where medical infrastructure is seen as woefully inadequate to deal with any epidemic.
The nuclear-armed North closed its borders in late January as the virus spread in neighbouring China.
It imposed tough restrictions that put thousands of people into isolation, but analysts say the country is unlikely to have avoided the contagion.
Some good news from New Zealand, which today marks 100 days of zero community transmission cases.
The Conversation has taken a look at how they’ve done it.
- Ongoing border controls to stop Covid-19 from entering the country
- A lockdown and physical distancing to stop community transmission
- Case-based controls using testing, contact tracing and quarantine
“New Zealand is one of a small number of jurisdictions – including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Australia and Fiji – pursuing Covid-19 containment or elimination. Most have had new outbreaks. The exceptions are Taiwan, Mongolia, Fiji and New Zealand.
Australia adopted very similar responses to the pandemic and it is important to note that most states and territories are in the same position as New Zealand. But Victoria and, to a lesser extent, New South Wales are seeing a significant resurgence.
The key difference is that New Zealand committed relatively early to a clearly articulated elimination strategy and pursued it aggressively. An intense lockdown proved highly effective at rapidly extinguishing the virus.”
Mexico just days away from half a million cases
Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 6,495 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 695 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 475,902 cases and 52,006 deaths.
Officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Mexico has the third highest coronavirus death tally globally, behind the US and Brazil, and last week saw daily case rises above 9,000.
As in Brazil and the US, wearing a mask has assumed cultural and political connotations in Mexico – where opinions on Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador are deeply polarised.
Speaking to reporters last month, the president, popularly known as Amlo, said: “You know when I’m going to put on a mask? When there is no corruption. Then I’ll put on a mask and I’ll stop talking.”
Like his populist counterparts Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, Amlo, has appeared skeptical over masks since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
He has offered homespun advice for avoiding the virus: lose weight, eschew junk food and find spirituality, and the country has mystified experts with its lack of testing.
Last question in the Andrews press conference and a reporter has sought clarification on whether visiting someone because they were feeling pretty low or stressed is ok under the Melbourne lockdown.
Andrews says it’s about getting and giving care, which is a permitted reason to visit someone else but the threshold is higher than it was at stage three.
“So where you can put in place an alternative arrangement, you should. Urgency is what drives this. Otherwise, again without running a commentary on any group in the community or the community at large, we cannot have a situation where it is impossible for police to enforce this by virtue of a loose category that you can use to essentially get around these rules.
“If it is urgent, genuinely urgent, then that is different.”
Andrews is asked to respond to an “open letter” from the founder of Jim’s Mowing, Jim Penman, who wants gardeners and other outdoor work sole traders to be exempt from the restrictions. He accused Andrews of being a “tyrant” and suggested there was no identifiable case of someone being infected while working alone in someone’s garden.
Andrews says there’s an aggregate risk of people sharing services and moving around the community.
“I understand and appreciate these are very challenging choices for businesses and workforces, for families, for individuals to live with,” he says.
“But the simple fact of the matter is that if every single person came to me and argued passionately, eloquently, whether publicly or privately, that they’re low risk and that they should get a pass, they should be able to continue pretty much as normal, then we would finish up with more people at work and more people moving around the community in August than we had in July or June and that will just mean that we have zero chance, like no chance whatsoever, of driving these numbers down.”
Andrews suggests Victoria could increase at-home testing, when asked about people who have no means of transport other than public transport to get to a testing site.
If you have symptoms, you could be infectious and we want to see you staying away from as many people as possible. We know that’s challenging. That’s why we have done some home testing. If we have to do more of that, of course, we would. There is... I know one of the reasons I say I’ll come back to you is I think that ADF and authorised officers of the Health Department when doing the door knock, which now must be close to 6,000 or more, I think that they have facilitated some testing. I’m more than happy to get further detail on that.
Asked about Mikakos’s tweets, Andrews says it’s a big team and he’s proud of them all.
“No one who is dealing with a second wave of this wildly infectious virus is pleased to be there. No-one wants to be in a situation where we’ve got to make some of the heart breaking choices we have,” he says, and everyone is working as hard as they can.
”Even a team that is many thousands and thousands of people large cannot do this alone. We need every single Victorian to play their part.”
He says there’s a growing number of people doing the right thing.
“Some of our public health experts tell us that unless you start achieving compliance numbers that are in the 90s, not necessarily 99%, but certainly higher than 90%, then it takes longer to achieve what you might want to achieve. That’s why despite the fact that there have been some fines issued because of people breaching the curfew.”
Andrews says he hasn’t spoken to Mikakos this morning and has only been briefed on the tweets, not read them in full. He says Mikakos is “a very strong person”, as is the whole team, and they can’t afford to stop.
Asked about the penalties being handed out by police for breaching the restrictions, Andrews says each one was a choice.
“Each is the product of someone saying to themselves, I can do something that no one else is allowed to do.”
He said these sorts of choices will only mean that businesses are closed for longer, more people are unemployed, patients are in hospital for longer, and more families will be holding funerals.
He says there’s a growing number of people doing the right thing, but “these rules are binary now”.
“Stay at home means just that”.
He says it’s in people’s interests to work with the restrictions, even if it’s inconvenient or difficult.
“We do know for some people economic circumstances have driven some of these poorer choices” like needing to go to work, and that’s why the government’s brought in payments for insecure workers who need to stay home.
Questions now.
Andrews is hesitant to talk about any kind of trend in the lower numbers over the past few days.
“We’ve only had just a couple of days of the stage four settings, and some don’t kick in til midnight tonight. We’re seeing perhaps the tail end of the stabilisation that is the result of those stage three rules.”
He says the reinfection rate is still around one, which means every infected person is on average infecting one other person. That needs to be halved, and then “halved again and halved again”.
The government has already announced 144 new mental health beds, in answer to the royal commission into mental health services. Today they’re announcing the locations.
They’re also accelerating the rollout of a post hospital suicide prevention program into the last seven of 23 mental health regions.
The HOPE program, the whole of mental health package, of which this is the third component in the past week, is about telling people we value them, your existence, your role in the community, your life is important.
The pandemic is stressful. The pandemic is seeing anxiety and depression levels rise quite substantially, but there is help out there. There is support out there.
Foley finishes up: So if you need support, call Beyond Blue, call Lifeline, call any numbers of the specialist organisations out there and get the support that you need, because it is available.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
The package will also focus on proactively reaching people in need and connecting them to community services so they can avoid traumatic emergency departments, will extend mental health support to carers and frontline health workers, “particularly through the Phoenix Trauma Centre for police and ambulance workers dealing with the trauma and the stress that they’re all under at the moment”.
“The program will also make sure that when we have three trained clinical professionals in the Ambulance Victoria referral centre to make sure that the mental health components of what goes through the 000 line is dealt with in a way that gets people the support, the information and the referrals that they need closer to them and in their community.”
$60m mental health boost in Victoria
Mental health minister Martin Foley is up now, announcing $59.7m in additional funding, focusing on the surge in demand for acute services. He’s given some devastating figures.
One in five Victorians sought help for a mental illness prior to the pandemic, says Foley.
Year on year, to the end of July, there’s been a 9.5% increase in emergency presentations for self harm, across all age groups. For young people there’s been a 33% increase.
23.3% increase of people presenting in acute settings with a mental illness.
Emergency departments are busy at the best of times, particularly now in the height of a pandemic. We want to make sure that we keep those people who need support for mental illness with the support that they need in the community.
Andrews says his minister for mental health is here with him to make “significant announcements” about additional acute care.
He draws attention to one element - $250,000 for a counselling service for nurses, midwives, personal careworkers, in addition to $350,000 announced a few months ago.
I want to thank the ANMF for their leadership and making sure that we understood that many, many in our health team, particularly nurses, midwives, personal careworkers, are doing it very tough. This is a very challenging set of circumstances. And particularly those nurses and personal careworkers who have gone into aged care settings in fundamental crisis. You can’t unsee what you’ve seen.
Since yesterday there have been an additional 174 cases with an unknown source, bringing that to a total of 2,758.
Even large numbers in known contained outbreaks are, to a certain extent, less significant than the smaller number of cases where we simply can’t find the circumstance or the point of origin. Where did that person get the virus from? They’re the ones that are incredibly challenging from a containment point of view, and that’s what’s made fundamentally necessary these really challenging settings, these really difficult decisions we’ve had to make to drive down movement, and therefore, drive down the number of cases.
There are 994 healthcare workers among the active cases, Andrews says.
394 cases, 17 deaths in Victoria
Dan Andrews is up now.
394 new cases in Victoria, and another 17 deaths including 10 linked to aged care homes.
The fatalities include two men in their 50s, four in their 70s, four women and two men in their 80s, and two men and three women in their 90s.
Updated
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, will be holding his daily press conference shortly. I’ll bring you those updates when he does.
Victoria’s had a few days of numbers around the 400s, much lower than the 6-700+ daily figures earlier. But the state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton has said the stabilisation of numbers isn’t good enough but it is a positive.
“If we hadn’t stabilised these numbers we would have seen 1000s of cases a day. and there are estimates we averted 20,000 or more cases with the stage three restrictions, but that’s not enough.”
The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has also posted a lengthy Twitter thread overnight defending her government’s response.
The Victorian government has been repeatedly questioned over failures in the hotel quarantine system which contributed to the state’s outbreak. Andrews had initially refused to answer detailed questions, saying it would be inappropriate while the current inquiry underway. However head of that inquiry, former family court judge Jennifer Coate, has since said there was no legal basis for that.
When we have to look back 100 years to the Spanish flu to find a pandemic of comparable global magnitude, it’s outside all of our collective experiences. It means there’s no detailed go-to manual of how to respond to these pandemics.
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) August 8, 2020
Since that fateful day on 25 January, when we had our first-ever case, I’ve worked every day to keep everyone safe. I have put every ounce of energy I’ve had into that effort. If it wasn’t enough, then I’m deeply sorry.
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) August 8, 2020
New South Wales reports 10 new cases
The state’s health authorities have released Saturday’s tally of new cases, with 10 people diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
- One is a returned international traveller
- Seven were locally acquired, all close contacts of known cases
- Two are under investigation with no link to other cases at this point
A healthcare worker who has tested positive for Covid-19 worked one shift while infectious at Hornsby Hospital’s emergency department, from 11am to midnight on Thursday 6 August.
Another of the 10 is a Tangara School for Girls student, bringing the number of cases associated with the Cherrybrook school to three.
“All students, staff and support staff at the secondary school have been advised to get tested for Covid-19 and self-isolate immediately until Friday 21 August, even if a negative test result is returned,” said the health department.
Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, will be closed for on-site learning on Monday and cleaning and contact tracing is being undertaken, after a student tested positive for Covid-19.
Customers who attended Bunnings, Campbelltown, on Tuesday 4 August, Wednesday 5 August and Thursday 6 August should be alert for symptoms of Covid-19 and if even mild symptoms occur, to get tested and isolate themselves, after an employee at the store tested positive for Covid-19.
NSW has now recorded 3,672 cases, after conducting more than 1.76m tests. 52 people have died. There are 111 people currently being treated, eight in intensive care.
Click here for a list of locations associated with known cases and advice on testing and isolation.
Updated
In Australia, the premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, has rebuffed calls to extend an inquiry into the Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle to hear from federal officials who have refused to appear.
The cruise ship was responsible for hundreds of Covid-19 cases and at least 22 deaths.
On Thursday, the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, claimed the government “had cooperated” because it provided a written submission, and angrily defended the actions of Border Force officers, despite the revelation one gave verbal authorisation for passengers to disembark and mistook negative flu test results for Covid-19 results.
Read the full story from Paul Karp here:
Updated
Parisians and holidaymakers strolling along the banks of the River Seine or browsing open-air markets in Paris must wear a face mask from Monday after authorities imposed new measures to curb a rise in coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.
The order, which applies to people aged 11 and over, covers busy outdoor areas in the French capital, although tourist sites such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees boulevard were not listed.
France recorded its highest daily case number this week, nearing 1,700 on Wednesday. More than 235,200 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 during the pandemic, at least 30,327 fatally, according to John Hopkins University.
Still in Australia, and more on that Mathias Cormann interview.
Government ministers are keeping the door open to making further changes to income support measures - such as the wage subsidy scheme - depending on how the coronavirus situation develops.
A few weeks ago, the federal government unveiled plans to reduce the rate of the “jobkeeper” wage subsidy and of the “jobseeker” unemployment benefit in September - with jobkeeper due to wind down by March next year. A few days ago, however, the government tweaked eligibility requirements for the wage subsidy - at a cost of nearly $16bn - because of the worsening economic outlook from the tighter lockdown measures in the state of Victoria, which is trying to contain a second wave of infections.
Cormann said today it was the government’s “current intention” to reduce the rates in September and to stick to the schedule that was previously announced.
In an interview with the ABC’s Insiders program, though, the finance minister clearly kept the government’s options open. Cormann said the Coalition had demonstrated, through its response to the crisis, that it was “prepared to make decisions in the context of an evolving situation based on the information that comes before us”.
“I’m not going to speculate. The policy settings are what they are. As we’ve demonstrated in the past, if facts change, we’ll reassess what may or may not be appropriate at the time.”
In a separate interview with Sky News this morning, the agriculture minister, David Littleproud, also said that the government would continue to be “agile” in responding to changing circumstances.
New forecasts by the Australian Treasury indicate the lockdown in Victoria will likely push unemployment in Australia to 10% by the end of the year, and will cost the national economy between $10bn and $12bn.
Australia: The current lockdown conditions in Melbourne, Victoria, are some of the strictest seen anywhere. Metropolitan Melbourne is under stage four lockdown measures including mandatory masks, an 8pm curfew, and a 5km travel limit, while the rest of the state is under stage three.
It’s being heavily enforced by authorities, and police are releasing de-identified descriptions of some people who have been fined for breaching the rules.
This post was amended to correct that Mitchell Shire is not under stage four.
BREAKING. @VictoriaPolice has issued 268 fines for Stage 4 lockdown breaches in the past 24 hours... 38 of those were to people refusing to wear a mask. Some other “excuses” for breaking the rules are listed below...🤯 @10NewsFirst #COVIDVIC19 #SpringSt pic.twitter.com/6vUEnw7wxa
— Candice Wyatt (@CandiceWyatt10) August 8, 2020
Updated
AFP: Belgian police arrested several people Saturday after a brawl broke out on a beach between officers and youths they had told to leave for refusing to respect virus safety measures.
The clashes took place at the resort of Blankenberge. A group of youths became violent after police told them to leave the beach, the daily Het Laatste Niewus reported.
Dozens of people were involved in the brawl and local police had to call in reinforcements.
Footage on social media showed young people throwing parasols at the officers.
The town’s mayor Daphne Dumery denounced the violence, saying: “This can’t go on. We are doing everything to maintain safety in our resort, and now this.”
Belgium is one of the countries worst hit by the virus in terms of its death rate and was one of the first countries to require people to wear masks outdoors in crowded areas.
To date it has recorded more than 72,000 infections and 9,866 deaths.
This aerial view taken on August 8, 2020, shows tourists taking a sunbath at the beach, in Oostende, in Belgium. (Photo by ERIC LALMAND / BELGA / AFP) / Belgium OUT (Photo by ERIC LALMAND/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images) Photograph: Eric Lalmand/BELGA/AFP/Getty Images
Australia’s finance minister, Mathias Cormann, says the federal government now supports the current border restrictions that several states have put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The comments by Cormann, the senior minister from Western Australia, reflect the dramatic shift in the Australian government’s position on the internal border closures after strong public support for the measures in places like WA.
A week ago, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, bowed to pressure from the state premier to end the federal government’s involvement in a high court case challenging WA’s border closure. And in the last few days, Morrison has personally appealed to the businessman Clive Palmer to drop the case altogether. Morrison and numerous ministers have previously argued against state border closures but the politics have shifted amid growing concerns about the rise in infections in the state of Victoria.
Cormann - who argued in late July that governments “must not gratuitously impose unnecessary and avoidable economic or social harm for no or very little public health upside” - told the ABC’s Insiders program today: “Given what’s been happening in Victoria and given where the country is at, we support the current state border arrangements, including here in Western Australia.”
Cormann said the federal government had “changed our view as the position has evolved”. Asked about suggestions that the WA border might remain shut until next year, Cormann said the premier, Mark McGowan, had said “that he can’t put a date on it and that’s certainly right”.
“I’m sure that the premier, like everyone, would want those state borders to be able to come down at the earliest opportunity, but we just don’t know.”
China has reported 23 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday. Eight cases were imported, and all 15 of the locally transmitted cases were in the region of Xinjiang, where observers have expressed fear the current virus outbreak could reach China’s internationally criticised re-education camps.
Jair Bolsonaro’s former health minister has accused the Brazilian president of failing to offer any comfort to the families of the 100,000 Brazilians who have lost their lives to Covid-19.
In an interview marking Brazil’s latest Covid-19 milepost, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was sacked in April after challenging the president’s internationally condemned coronavirus response, expressed consternation that Brazil’s leaders had failed to recognise so much pain.
“There are 100,000 Brazilian families who have yet to receive a single word of comfort or solidarity from the government,” Mandetta told the newspaper O Globo.
On Saturday afternoon a coalition of Brazilian news outlets announced the number of deaths had risen by 538 to 100,240, the second highest number on earth after the US.
On the eve of that milestone Bolsonaro urged his country’s 210m citizens to put the unfinished tragedy behind them. “We regret all of the deaths,” the far-right populist said during his weekly live broadcast. “But let’s get on with our lives, get on with our lives and try to find a way of getting away with this problem.”
Read more here:
When he called the home affairs department again, the official he spoke to was sympathetic, but read to him advice from a government website that people submit their requests at least a month before their planned travel date.
“I asked her, ‘look, how will I know that my mother is going to have a stroke on Friday or Sunday?’”
Thousands of Australians trying to leave the country to visit sick family members, reunite with partners, or emigrate to another country of citizenship, have struggled with an exemption system they describe as opaque, arbitrary and dysfunctional.
Hannah Ryan has this report on the stresses of the application process:
Hello, and welcome to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. This is Helen Davidson in Sydney here, to take you through the next few hours. Thanks to my colleagues in London - you can catch up on all their coverage on the previous blog here.
First up, a summary of where we’re at:
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The Australian state of New South Wales has ramped up its own travel restrictions and is forcing residents returning from coronavirus-hit Victoria into two weeks of hotel quarantine.
Entry to NSW from Victoria is now restricted to flights landing at Sydney Airport, except for border community residents with permits. - Boris Johnson has insisted the nation has “a moral duty” to reopen schools next month, amid indications he would force pubs, restaurants and shops to close ahead of schools in the event of severe coronavirus flare-ups. The prime minister is understood to favour only closing schools as the last resort after scientific advisers warned more restrictions may be needed to reopen classrooms in England next month.
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Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would extend enhanced coronavirus unemployment benefits and employment taxes into next year with executive orders, but cut the level of some of the support. Speaking at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said he was taking action after Congress had failed to agree a deal, blaming “far left” Democrat demands in a campaign-style speech.
- Belgian police have made several arrests after a brawl broke out on a beach between officers and young people they had told to leave for refusing to respect virus safety measures. The clashes took place at the resort of Blankenberge, which is about 15km north of Bruges. A group of young people became violent after police told them to leave the beach, the daily Het Laatste Niewus reported.
- Cuba has placed Havana back on a strict lockdown following a rebound in coronavirus cases, ordering restaurants, bars and pools once more to close, suspending public transportation and banning access to the beach. Cuba, which has been hailed as a rare success story in Latin America for its textbook handling and containment of its coronavirus outbreak, had eased lockdown restrictions last month after cases dwindled to but a handful per day.
- Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets near the official residence of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in central Jerusalem. Throughout the summer, thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets, calling for Netanyahu to resign, protesting his handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.
- Meat giant, Danish Crown announced Saturday it had closed a large slaughterhouse in Denmark after nearly 150 employees tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The abattoir in Ringsted, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital Copenhagen, employs nearly 900 people and slaughters tens of thousands of pigs every week.
