That’s where we might leave this blog for now. You can keep up to date with global news on the Guardian website or come join me on the new Guardian live blog here.
Updated
Labor MP Amanda Rishworth is also speaking with ABC. She agrees the parliament must follow medical advice, but says the cancellation of this sitting fortnight makes it difficult for the opposition to scrutinise government.
Question time is a really important forum which the opposition can ask the government questions, and every MP has a chance to raise their voice in parliament. So this is critically important that we have parliament sitting. It is a really important vehicle.
Yes, there is the Covid committee, but parliament itself is the opportunity for every MP from around the country to bring the concerns of their constituents. So it does make it more challenging [if it is not sitting].
Updated
Australian Liberal MP Tim Wilson has defended the prime minister’s decision to request the next fortnight of parliament to be cancelled.
I can’t think of a single federal MP who doesn’t want parliament to sit, including the prime minister, including the ministry, including backbenchers, including the opposition, including senators. But unfortunately the circumstances that we’re presented with put us in a situation where it’s the responsible thing to do at this time...
The advice is informed by an evolving situation. Actions that might have been acceptable a week ago aren’t necessarily acceptable today. What the prime minister’s done is taken medical advice based on the circumstances in which we face. Parliament brings together people from all over the country and puts them in one place. If there is deemed a sufficient risk that Victorians and the evolving situation in New South Wales might lead to spreads elsewhere, the cost and consequences could be extraordinary.
Updated
Donald Trump has commended Australia’s $270bn defence budget boost and discussed China’s “unfair retaliatory trade measures” and threats to Indo-Pacific security, in a phone call with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.
The US president also thanked Morrison for seeking World Health Organisation reform and an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Morrison described the president’s call as “very complementary”.
The defence budget boost meant Australia was no longer a passenger in its defence relationship with allies “and that is greatly appreciated by our American friends”, the prime minister said.
The phone call came as Trump, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and other key members of the president’s administration ramp up rhetoric and measures against China.
Pompeo has repeatedly pointed to China’s “coercion” in hitting Australia with steep barley tariffs and beef export bans after Morrison led global calls for the Covid-19 probe.
Updated
Hello, Matilda Boseley here with you now.
Just on that previous news, the Australian prime minister has requested the cancellation of the upcoming parliamentary sitting, due to fears of politicians from more heavily infected state mingling and potentially spreading the disease to other states and territories.
The acting chief medical officer of Australia said in a statement:
The entry of a high-risk group of individuals could jeopardise the health situation in the [Australian Capital Territory] and place residents at unnecessary risk of infection. In addition, the health risk to members and senators and their staff from other jurisdictions is a material concern.
It is my medical advice that, despite proposed mitigation measures, these risks would be significantly higher in the context of a parliamentary sitting period due to the number of persons travelling from Victoria and the inevitable mixing with ACT residents, members, senators, staff and visitors within Parliament House.
If the speaker grants this request, it means the next parliament sitting fortnight will begin on 24 August rather than 4 August as planned.
Residents of Australia’s second most populous city, Melbourne, are waiting with bated breath to see if case numbers reduce in the next few days as the city approaches two weeks of lockdown.
Yesterday the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is located, recorded a record 428 cases in one day. This number is approaching the highest ever national daily total back from the country’s first wave.
Health officials are hoping to see a drop in cases from today, the 10th day of serious new city-wide lockdowns, otherwise harsher social distancing measures may be on the table.
A positive Covid-19 case has been found in a Melbourne prison for the first time, raising fears for the safety of inmates. The infected man was new to the Metropolitan Remand Centre and was conducting a precautionary two weeks of isolation before entering the main prison population.
In NSW health officials are still grappling to control a cluster at Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel, which has now been linked to 42 cases.
NSW’s case numbers are still generally in the teen or single digits, but officials fear that this growing cluster could place the state in a similar situation as Victoria. As a result, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian tightened restrictions on restaurants and bars, limiting group numbers to ten a requiring all patrons to be seated while inside.
Patrons who visited a western Sydney Thai restaurant have also been ordered to get tested and self-isolate after a third Covid-19 case linked to the venue. NSW Health on Friday afternoon said a customer who dined at Thai Rock in Wetherill Park on 10 July had tested positive for Covid-19.
NSW will hold their daily press conference at 11 am local time.
Up north, Queensland police intercepted more than 43,000 vehicles and turned away 1,143 at the border with New South Wales, and authorities have constructed a 700-metre border wall at the border suburb of Coolangatta.
Queensland has now banned people from entering the state if they had visited “hotspots” in Sydney. Long delays for motorists looking to cross the state border there are expected to last for months.
Updated
Scott Morrison asks for Australian parliament to be postponed on advice of acting chief medical officer
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has written to the speaker of the House of Representatives to urge the postponement of the upcoming sitting of parliament.
Morrison says the government “cannot ignore the risk to parliamentarians, their staff, the staff within the parliament, and the broader community of the ACT that holding a parliamentary sitting would create”.
Updated
Egypt reported 703 new cases, its health ministry said, the lowest figure since late May. In total, 86,474 cases have been reported and 4,188 deaths, including 68 on Friday, the ministry said.
Egypt reopened resorts to foreign tourists on 1 July after tourism came to a halt in March under measures to curb the outbreak. But Egypt has not made it yet to a “safe list” of countries for resumption of non-essential travel to the European Union, which is reviewed every two weeks.
Tourism accounts for 5% of Egypt’s economic output, according to the government. Analysts put the figure as much as 15% if jobs indirectly related to the sector are included.
Brazil has registered 34,177 new confirmed cases and 1,163 new deaths, its health ministry has said. Total cases in Brazil, the world’s second-worst affected country after the United States, have now risen to 2,046,328 while deaths totalled 76,688.
California’s governor has announced strict rules for school reopening that would prevent the vast majority of students from returning to classrooms in the fall as cases hit their highest levels yet in the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the new guidance on Friday, which mandates that public schools in California counties that are on a monitoring list for rising coronavirus infections cannot hold in-person classes, and will have to meet rigorous criteria for reopening.
The Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has rejected the proposal for a mass economic stimulus to help lift EU economies from recession, he has said. Earlier, we reported that the Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš had said the EU was no closer to a stimulus deal. Kurz said:
Our most important central demand is that there should be no long-term debt union... but that what is decided here remains a one-time action.
The chancellor said he had talks with his German counterpart Angela Merkel and the French president Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a summit of all 27 national EU leaders in Brussels.
There will be new proposals over night. There is a dynamic in our direction.
Summary
Here’s a summary of the latest news:
- The World Health Organization reported the greatest increase in global cases, with the total rising by 237,743 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report.
- In Brazil, the spread of the virus is no longer thought too be exponential, though there is no guarantee it will recede without intervention, health officials have said. The news presents an opportunity to get the outbreak under control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) emergencies programme head Mike Ryan has said.
- India has became the third in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, while the list of US states requiring face coverings in public grew as the country reported at least 70,000 new cases, a record daily jump for the seventh time this month.
- The European Union is negotiating advance purchase deals of potential Covid-19 vaccines with drugmakers Moderna, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and biotech firms BioNtech and CureVac, two EU sources told Reuters.
- Russia will unveil a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the pharmaceuticals giant and Oxford University, its wealth fund head said.
- The reproduction rate of the novel coronavirus in the Brittany region has risen sharply in less than a week, the latest indication that the virus is again gaining momentum in France.
- Authorities urged some four million people in Spain’s Catalonia to stay home, as the region battles a growing number of new coronavirus clusters.
- In the US, public health specialists who have for months warned the government that shuffling detainees among immigration detention centers would help spread Covid-19 were right, according to a Reuters review of court records and ICE data.
- The Japanese government is facing a blowback after excluding Tokyo residents from a multibillion dollar campaign aimed at reviving domestic tourism, even as the capital on Friday reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases.
- Hong Kong authorities reported 50 locally transmitted cases on Friday, stoking further concern about an escalating third wave of infections in the global financial hub.
- The steepest dive in cocoa demand in a decade has thrown into jeopardy a plan by top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana to guarantee some two million farmers a living wage, sources within the countries’ regulators said.
- Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of curbs to lower infection rates.
-
South Korea approved an early stage clinical trial of Celltrion Inc’s experimental Covid-19 treatment drug, making it the country’s first such antibody drug to be tested on humans.
- Global equity benchmarks treaded water on Friday and government bond yields edged lower as investors waited on the European Union to iron out the details of an expected 750bn euro recovery fund.
Greatest daily increase in cases recorded
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported the greatest increase in global cases, with the total rising by 237,743 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report. Previously, the most new cases recorded in a 24-hour period was the 230,370 seen on 12 July. Deaths have held steady and averaged fewer than 5,000 per day in July.
Total global cases are approaching 14m on Friday, according to various tallies, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than 590,000 people in seven months.
Azerbaijan has extended lockdown restrictions, including the closure of its borders, until 31 August after a further rise in the number of infections, the government has said.
People in big cities, including the capital Baku, will be allowed to leave their homes only with special permission from 20 July until 5 August. Shopping centres, cinemas, restaurants, cafes and museums in those cities remained closed, while beauty salons will be reopened.
Azerbaijan introduced lockdown measures on 24 March and has extended them several times, most recently until 1 August. The South Caucasus country of about 10 million people had registered 26,636 confirmed cases and 341 deaths as of Friday.
Long lines form every morning in one of the Bolivian cities hardest hit by the pandemic as desperate people wait to buy small bottles of chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure.
The rush in the city of Cochabamba to buy a disinfectant known to cause harm to those who ingest it comes even after the Bolivian health ministry warned of its dangers and said at least five people had been poisoned after taking chlorine dioxide in La Paz, the capital.
“The health ministry cannot risk recommending something that doesn’t have a scientific basis,” said Miguel Ángel Delgado, a senior ministry official.
However, Bolivia’s opposition-controlled congress is promoting the use of chlorine dioxide. Last week, the senate approved a bill authorising the emergency “manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus”.
The EU is no closer to a stimulus deal designed to help its member states’ economies recover from their lockdowns, the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has said.
Views remain widely different among EU leaders after hours of talks on Friday on the plan to inject hundreds and billions of euros to restart growth. Babis also said he did not feel the 27 EU heads were getting closer to a deal and that there was no agreement on the size of a new fund proposed at €750bn.
Updated
The US has suffered another 926 deaths and recorded 72,045 new cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said. That takes the respective totals to 137,864 and 3,555,877.
A top medical official has linked a recent spike in coronavirus cases in Canada to groups of young people gathering in bars, nightclubs and parties.
Deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo said during a briefing:
When we examine recent trends in case reporting, there is some cause for concern. After a period of steady decline, daily case counts have started to rise.”
Njoo said the daily case count had risen to an average of 350 over the last week up from 300 a day earlier in July. More than 430 cases were reported on Thursday.
This coincides with increasing reports of individuals contracting COVID-19 at parties, nightclubs and bars as well as increasing rates of transmission among young Canadians.”
Canada has reported 109,266 total cases and 8,827 deaths, far fewer than in the United States.
Officials and experts this week said they saw signs of a new spike as the 10 provinces lifted social and economic restrictions imposed in March to fight the outbreak.
Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said on Friday that he will donate a quarter of his salary to help Mexico deal with the coronavirus pandemic that has harmed its economy, and also encouraged public servants to contribute.
Reuters reports that Lopez Obrador’s salary is about 108,000 pesos ($4,806). The contribution amounts to 27,000 pesos ($1,201), which Lopez Obrador said will go to health services. He did not say if it would be a one-off or a recurring deduction.
“There can’t be a rich government with a poor populace,” Lopez Obrador said in his regular morning news conference, urging others to follow his lead.
Updated
Trump’s handling of the crisis continues to draw widespread scrutiny. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 46% in May and 51% in March. Disapproval has simultaneously climbed to 60%, up from 53% in May and 45% in March.
Critics have accused the president of politicizing the pandemic, repeatedly undermining the advice of public health experts, and pressuring Republican governors to follow his lead as he focuses on the November election. Most recently the Trump administration has pushed the reopening of schools as soon as possible as part of its efforts to jump start the economy, despite safety concerns.
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which has more than 1.7 million members, told the Guardian she regards the effort as “reckless”, and could lead to an exodus of people out of the teaching profession.
More here:
Updated
New York governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted this viral video to encourage people to wear a mask
We appreciate the commitment to social distancing and the flexibility!
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 17, 2020
Wear a mask.pic.twitter.com/TLdKfDwJGB
Coronavirus infections in Brazil no longer appear to be rising exponentially but have reached a plateau, creating an opportunity to get the outbreak under control in the country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) emergencies programme head Mike Ryan said today.
Ryan told a news briefing that the “R” number, the number of people each infected person goes on to infect, now appeared to be between 0.5 and 1.5 across states in Brazil, and the number of new cases was plateauing at 40,000-45,000 per day.
The virus is not doubling itself in the community as it was before, so the rise is not exponential”.
Ryan added there was “absolutely no guarantee that it will go down by itself”.
Teams of military medics were deployed in Texas and California in the US to help hospitals deluged by coronavirus patients
In California, military doctors, nurses and other health care specialists have been deployed to eight hospitals facing staffing shortages amid a record-breaking case numbers, Reuters reports. California reported its largest two-day total of confirmed cases, nearly 20,000, along with 258 deaths over 48 hours. There are more than 8,000 people in hospitals who have either tested positive for the coronavirus or are suspected to have it.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock (10713592i) ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA- Photograph: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock
In Houston, an 86-person Army medical team worked to take over a wing of United Memorial Medical Center.
Texas reported 10,000 new cases for the third consecutive day on Thursday and 129 additional deaths.
At least half of the 50 states have adopted requirements for wearing masks or other facial coverings.
Gregory Robinson here, If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter to share insight or send tips, I’m on @Gregoryjourno or send me an email at gregory.robinson@guardian.co.uk
Millions of workers in the US have lost health insurance and faced salary cuts and unions say firms are not doing enough to take care of employees during the pandemic. Michael Sainato reports for the Guardian:
Updated
The US economy is going to take longer to recover from the hit from the coronavirus pandemic than the market expects, and more stimulus is critical, BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink said on Wednesday.
“There is a belief that we will have some form of anti-viral that reduces the severity but let’s be clear, if we had this type of infection rate in March the markets would have been down even further,” Fink said.
US stocks fell sharply during the first three months of the year with the S&P 500 dipping 20%.
Stocks have recovered since then and the index is down less than 1% for the year, even as coronavirus infections continue to shatter new records in the United States. “For one reason or another there is less fear about the disease with respect to its impact,” Fink said.
Fink said additional stimulus is critical for the recovery.
With protests growing, economically punishing restrictions reimposed and surging coronavirus cases in Israel, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s poll numbers are sinking.
After a late-night cabinet meeting, the government on Friday announced that stores, markets and various other public spaces would be closed on weekends. It said restaurants would be limited to takeaway services through the week, with a later statement specifying the measure would start from Tuesday.
Netanyahu’s office said the premier wanted to avoid another “general lockdown” – a move that would likely infuriate a public battered by the pandemic.
But it is clear that coronavirus stumbles by Netanyahu, a right-winger, have dented his support.
A poll this week by Channel 13 found that 61% of voters were “displeased” by his handling of the crisis. That marks a stark reversal for Netanyahu, whose response early in the outbreak won praise.
After his government curbed flights and imposed lockdown measures in March, Israel briefly reduced its daily tally of newly confirmed cases to the single digits in early May, but in recent weeks new cases have regularly topped 1,000 per day.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, 57.5% of the public supported Netanyahu’s coronavirus management at the beginning of April. As of July 12, that number had fallen to 29.5%.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, whose support has been essential to keeping Netanyahu in power, have voiced frustration over the looming threat of renewed synagogue closures.
Netanyahu met with ultra-Orthodox party leaders this week and said he wanted to ease their “distress,” while pledging to hold consultations before imposing any closures.
Summary
Below is a summary of the latest global developments.
- India has became the third in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, while the list of US states requiring face coverings in public grew as the country reported at least 70,000 new cases, a record daily jump for the seventh time this month.
- The European Union is negotiating advance purchase deals of potential Covid-19 vaccines with drugmakers Moderna, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and biotech firms BioNtech and CureVac, two EU sources told Reuters.
- Russia will unveil a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the pharmaceuticals giant and Oxford University, its wealth fund head said.
- The reproduction rate of the novel coronavirus in the Brittany region has risen sharply in less than a week, the latest indication that the virus is again gaining momentum in France.
- Authorities urged some four million people in Spain’s Catalonia to stay home, as the region battles a growing number of new coronavirus clusters.
- In the US, public health specialists who have for months warned the government that shuffling detainees among immigration detention centers would help spread Covid-19 were right, according to a Reuters review of court records and ICE data.
- The Japanese government is facing a blowback after excluding Tokyo residents from a multibillion dollar campaign aimed at reviving domestic tourism, even as the capital on Friday reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases.
- Hong Kong authorities reported 50 locally transmitted cases on Friday, stoking further concern about an escalating third wave of infections in the global financial hub.
- The steepest dive in cocoa demand in a decade has thrown into jeopardy a plan by top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana to guarantee some two million farmers a living wage, sources within the countries’ regulators said.
- Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of curbs to lower infection rates.
-
South Korea approved an early stage clinical trial of Celltrion Inc’s experimental Covid-19 treatment drug, making it the country’s first such antibody drug to be tested on humans.
- Global equity benchmarks treaded water on Friday and government bond yields edged lower as investors waited on the European Union to iron out the details of an expected 750bn euro recovery fund.
Updated
Hello all. I am taking over the live feed while my colleague takes a break. Please get in touch with me if you want to share any comments or news tips.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Homebuilding in the US increased by the most in nearly four years amid reports of rising demand for housing in suburbs and rural areas as companies allow employees flexibility to work from home during the pandemic.
Housing starts increased 17.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.186m units last month, the commerce department said on Friday. The percentage increase was the largest since October 2016. Data for May was revised up to a 1.011m-unit pace from the previously reported 974,000.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts increasing to a rate of 1.169m units.
Permits for future homebuilding rose 2.1% to a rate of 1.241m units last month. Single-family building permits increased 11.8% to a rate of 834,000 units last month. But permits for multi-family units dropped 13.4% to a rate of 407,000 units.
Builders reported increased demand for single-family homes in lower density markets, including small metro areas, rural markets and large metro suburbs. The public health crisis has shifted office work from commercial business districts to homes, a trend that economists predict could become permanent.
Updated
Following the earlier reports of partial and voluntary lockdown in Barcelona, Guardian journalist Stephen Burgen reports on the response in the city.
Meritxell Budó, the Catalan government spokeswoman, urged people not to travel to their second homes for the weekend. The measures mirror those recently introduced in L’Hospitalet, a a large satellite town on the southern edge of Barcelona, as well as in Lleida and the surrounding rural area in north-west Catalonia.
Budó said “the pandemic is advancing without cease” and said people “have to follow all the measures taken by the regional government”. She called for “personal and collective commitment”.
Strictly speaking the lockdown can only be advisory in the absence of a state of emergency, which can only be imposed by central government. The state of emergency was lifted on June 21.
Furthermore, the recommendations are confusing and apparently contradictory. People are being asked to stay at home but bars and restaurants remain open, albeit with a limited capacity. Children’s summer schools are also allowed to stay open.
The only absolute prohibition imposed is on meetings of more than 10 people in the street, but even this will have to be ratified by a judge.
The measures have been introduced after the regional health department said that 1,293 new cases had been recorded in Catalonia in the past 24 hours, a figure similar to that recorded in March at the height of the pandemic. In the course of a week the number of cases in Barcelona has tripled.
India reports over 1m coronavirus infections
India has become the third country to record more than 1m coronavirus infections, following the US and Brazil, as it reported 34,956 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 1,003,832, Peter Beaumont reports.
Amid evidence that the disease was taking hold in poorer, rural areas less well-served by public healthcare, the latest tally prompted renewed concerns about the country’s ability to cope with rising infections.
The figures have been released after a week in which authorities in India were forced to impose new lockdowns, including fresh restrictions on 128 million people in the state of Bihar, which came into force on Thursday.
Read more here:
Updated
Covid-19 cases in the France’s Brittany region, which is popular with tourists, have risen sharply in less than a week, according to government data. This is the latest indication that the virus is again gaining momentum in France.
According to data released on today, the disease’s reproduction rate, known as the R0, in Brittany had risen from 0.92 to 2.62 between July 10 and July 14, Reuters reports. The number is one of several indicators authorities are watching when deciding on whether to reimpose tougher restrictions after ending the country’s lockdown in May.
A reproduction rate of 2.62 means that each Covid-19 infected person is, on average, passing the disease on to between two and three other people. A rate of less than one is needed to gradually contain the disease.
The government on Thursday accelerated plans to make it compulsory to wear face masks in enclosed public spaces amid concerns about renewed spikes of Covid-19, especially in areas in western and southern France that had been relatively spared during the height of the outbreak between March and May.
Barcelona residents told to stay home amid rise in coronavirus cases
Barcelona residents were urged to stay at home and to not gather in groups of more than 10 as regional authorities aim to curb a rise in coronavirus cases, without imposing a mandatory lockdown.
Catalonia’s health chief Alba Verges said:
We recommend that people don’t move around if it’s not absolutely necessary.”
It is very important to respect these measures now, it’s the best way to avoid a lockdown.”
Residents were urged to shop online and cultural and sports events will also be limited, Reuters reports.
Barcelona, which is Spain’s second largest city with a population of 1.6 million people, has seen its number of coronavirus cases increase from last week.
Spain reported the steepest daily jump in coronavirus infections in over two months on Thursday, with 580 new cases registered.
Spain has been one of Europe’s hardest hit countries with more than 28,000 deaths in the pandemic. It emerged from a strict national lockdown on 21 June but since then more than 170 clusters have appeared, prompting regional authorities to impose a patchwork of local restrictions.
Updated
Authorities in the Czech Republic have tightened restrictions in the north-east of the country after a spike in cases. Compulsory face coverings, limited restaurant opening hours and ordering checks on cross-border commuters have been reinstated.
There have been 335 Covid-19 related deaths in the country but it has seen a new spike in infections in the past three weeks, mostly concentrated in the industrial Moravia-Silesia region bordering Poland and Slovakia.
The area, which includes the city of Ostrava, is home to about 11% of the country’s 10.7 million population.
The Czech Republic has reported more than 100 new cases in seven out of the past 10 days, with a large number from the north-east following an outbreak in the state-owned OKD coalmines, Reuters reports.
The national tally of new positive cases hit 305 on 28 June when the mine outbreak peaked. The mine suspended most operations earlier this month after criticism that it had acted too slowly.
Health minister Adam Vojtěch tweeted that from today the local hygienic station will extend the currently valid measures in the Karviná region to the entire region. In the region, the obligation to wear veils indoors and on public transport is being introduced.
V souvislosti s epidemiologickou situací v Moravskoslezkém kraji dnes místní hygienická stanice rozšíří aktuálně platná opatření v oblasti Karvinska na území celého kraje. V kraji se zavádí povinnost nošení roušek ve vnitřních prostorách i veřejné dopravě.
— Adam Vojtěch (@adamvojtechano) July 17, 2020
Updated
Urumqi, the capital of China’s far western region of Xinjiang, reported five new coronavirus cases on Friday, after the report of an earlier case, its first in months. The new cases has led to hundreds of flights being cancelled.
The city also reported eight new asymptomatic cases, the regional health commission said, taking Xinjiang’s tally to six infections and 11 asymptomatic patients.
Reuters reports epidemic control measures led to the cancellation of more than 600 scheduled flights at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, or more than 80% of the day’s total, figures from aviation data firm Variflight showed.
Subway services have also been suspended in Urumqi on Thursday.
On Thursday, health authorities in Urumqi said a 24-year-old woman with symptoms such as a sore throat, fever and headaches, tested positive for the virus. Three people with whom she had close contact tested positive but did not show symptoms.
Also on Thursday, the eastern province of Zhejiang reported an asymptomatic case involving a traveller from Xinjiang.
The tally of mainland China’s confirmed infections was 83,622 by the end of Thursday, with the number of deaths remaining at 4,634. Another 104 asymptomatic patients were under observation.
Beijing reported no new cases for an 11th consecutive day.
Updated
Belgium may be at the start of a second wave of coronavirus infections after reporting a 32% increase in weekly cases, Reuters reports. However the resurgence appears more localised than the initial outbreak.
Belgium reported zero new Covid-19 related deaths in 24 hours on 14 July for the first time since 10 March. But the national public health institute Sciensano said today that new infections have been increasing. From 7-13 July, the country recorded an average of 114.7 confirmed new COVID-19 cases per day, a 32% increase from the previous week.
This was still significantly below the 1,600 daily new cases the country logged at the peak of the pandemic.
Virologist Marc Van Ranst told Belgium’s Radio 1:
With the latest numbers and the recent increases of confirmed cases, you can clearly see that we are at the start of a second wave”
However, Yves van Laethem, a spokesman for the Belgian health ministry, told Belgian broadcaster RTBF that the prospect of a second wave appeared to be localised to particular provinces for now. Speaking to Le Soir newspaper, virologist Marius Gilbert echoed this, adding that transmission rates remain relatively low.
Health Minister Maggie de Block today called on Belgians to respect social distancing rules.
Boris Johnson has unveiled the next steps in England’s coronavirus response, Simon Murphy reports.
At a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister highlighted that local authorities will have new powers in their areas to enable the closure of specific premises, shut outdoor spaces and cancel events.
In addition, new regulations will allow the government to intervene in local areas. He said: “Action for local councils will not always be sufficient, so next week we will publish draft regulations which clearly set out how central government can intervene more effectively at a local level.
“Where justified by the evidence, ministers will be able to close whole sectors, or types of premises in an area or introduce local stay-at-home orders, prevent people entering or leaving defined areas, reduce the maximum size of gatherings beyond national rules or restrict transport systems serving local areas.”
Johnson also said during the press conference he hopes for a “return to normality, possibly in time for Christmas”.
Updated
Barcelona to ban gatherings of more than 10 people
Reuters is reporting Catalonia’s regional authorities announced today they will restrict some activities in Barcelona, including asking people not to gather in groups of more than 10, to fight an increase in coronavirus cases. They have stopped short of imposing a lockdown and said the measures were meant to avoid having to do so.
Updated
Good morning. I’m Gregory Robinson, taking over from Amelia Hill. If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter to share insight or tips, I’m on @Gregoryjourno or you can send me an email at gregory.robinson@guardian.co.uk
And that’s Goodbye from me, Amelia Hill – and Hello to him, Gregory Robinson. I wish you a very fine rest-of-day and an even finer weekend.
Updated
One final story before I sign off: Reuters is reporting the positive news that the euro zone economy may contract less this year than the European Central Bank had forecast and its recovery could also be quicker.
According to the bank’s Survey of Professional Forecasters, the quarterly survey sees the economy shrinking by 8.3% this year, a downgrade from its May projection for a 5.5% drop but a more benign outcome than the ECB staff’s own estimate for an 8.7% drop. For next year, growth is seen at 5.7%, above the ECB’s staff’s 5.2% estimate in June.
Although the eurozone suffered its biggest recession in generations, recent data suggest the economy bottomed out in April or May and a recovery is under way, even if it is bound to be choppy, uneven and prone to setbacks.
The survey was also more optimistic about inflation as it sees 2020 price growth at 0.4% against the ECB’s 0.3% projection while inflation in 2021 is seen at 1% as against the ECB’s 0.8% prediction.
Updated
The meeting between EU leaders continues. It’s their first face-to-face summit since the coronavirus crisis but there are low expectations of a deal as the leaders acknowledged that they are about as far apart from reaching a deal on an unprecedented €1.85tn ($2.1tn) EU budget and virus recovery fund as the seating distance imposed upon them for health reasons at their summit centre.
“The differences are still very, very big and so I can’t predict whether we will achieve a result this time”, German chancellor Angela Merkel told Reuters, as she arrived at the Europa summit site. “I expect very, very difficult negotiations.”
The challenges facing the 27 EU leaders some of whom arrived masked, some unmasked are formidable, Reuters reports. Their bloc is suffering through the worst recession in its history and member states are fighting over who should pay the most to help other countries and which nations should get the most to turn around their battered economies.
The BBC is reporting that French president Emmanuel Macron said it was a “moment of truth” for Europe and the next hours would be decisive.
The main issue is how much of the recovery fund will be handed out in grants and how much in loans. They also need to agree on a seven-year budget worth another €1.07tn.
European council president Charles Michel acknowledged that the talks would be “very difficult”, but Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said nobody should lose sight of the big picture: “We’re faced with the biggest economic depression since the second world war.”
Updated
Despite the allegations that Russian hackers tried to steal UK coronavirus vaccine research, Russia says it expects a deal for it to make a Covid-19 vaccine that is being developed by Astrazeneca and Oxford University to go ahead.
Reuters is reporting that Russia sees western allegations that it tried to steal others’ vaccine data as an attempt to “unfairly undermine credibility” of its own vaccine.
Updated
The Trump administration is considering banning travel to the US by all members of the Chinese Communist party and their families, Reuters is reporting.
Quoting “a person familiar with the matter”, the move would almost certainly prompt retaliation against Americans seeking to enter or remain in China and exacerbate tensions between the two nations.
Senior officials discussing the matter have begun circulating a draft of a possible presidential order but deliberations are at an early stage and the issue has not yet been brought to President Donald Trump, the anonymous source is reported as having said.
First reported by the New York Times, discussions centre on whether to deny visas to tens of millions of Chinese in what would be one of Washington’s toughest actions yet in a widening feud with Beijing that some have likened to a new Cold War.
Such a ban, if implemented, could hit the ruling Communist party from the highest levels down to its rank-and-file and would be certain to draw retaliation against Americans who travel to China. This could include not only diplomats but also business executives, potentially harming US interests in China.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said earlier such action by the US, if true, would be “pathetic”.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo stopped short of confirming it was under consideration but said: “We’re working our way through, under the president’s guidance, about how to think about pushing back against the Chinese Communist party.”
The New York Times reports that the presidential proclamation, still in draft form, could also authorise the US government to revoke the visas of party members and their families who are already in the country, leading to their expulsion. Some proposed language is also aimed at limiting travel to the US by members of the People’s Liberation Army and executives at state-owned enterprises, though many of them are likely to also be party members.
Updated
Still on the race to develop a vaccine, the South China Morning Post is reporting that researchers in Australia have devised a test that can determine novel coronavirus infection in about 20 minutes.
Using blood samples in what they say is a world-first breakthrough, the researchers at Monash University said their test can determine both if someone is currently infected and if they have been infected in the past.
“Short-term applications include rapid case identification and contact tracing to limit viral spread, while population screening to determine the extent of viral infection across communities is a longer-term need,” the researchers said in a paper published in the journal ACS Sensors on Friday.
Hundreds of samples can be tested every hour, the researchers said, and they hope it can also be used to detect antibodies raised in response to vaccination to aid clinical trials.
A patent for the innovation has been filed and the researchers are seeking commercial and government support to scale up production.
In (potentially) positive news, Reuters is reporting that India’s Zydus Cadila plans to complete late-stage trials for its potential coronavirus vaccine in March 2021 and could produce up to 100 million doses a year if trials are successful.
Cadila’s vaccine candidate, dubbed ZyCov-D, is one of dozens being developed around the world to fight the coronavirus.
The Times of India reported on Covaxin, another Indian vaccine, which has been approved for clinical testing. Produced by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, Covaxin is also underway to start testing. Participants across regions have been identified and more updates regarding the same are awaited.
The paper reports that the work on Zydus Cadila’s novel vaccine was accelerated after authorities found promising results in pre-clinical trials, which were conducted on animals like mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats who developed necessary antibodies to fight the infection. It was also found that the vaccine candidate was by far safe and “well-tolerated” in early studies.
Interestingly, the paper notes, Zydus Cadila is also involved in the production of experimental anti-viral medication to treat COVID-19, the much-debated Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).
The South China Morning Post is reporting that African leaders are ‘turning on’ their citizens as efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus fall short and already fragile health care systems struggle to cope with an influx of patients.
The message from governments in several nations that initially praised their citizens for supporting efforts to contain the pandemic has shifted, with some officials now chastising them for not doing enough.
The paper reports that the change in tone marks an attempt by the continent’s leaders to absolve themselves of some of the responsibility for the escalating number of infections, and head off potential social unrest, quoting Amaka Anku, head of the Eurasia Group’s Africa practice.
Infections took off relatively slowly in the world’s poorest continent after many nations imposed stringent lockdowns, but confirmed cases soared as economies reopened, breaching the 600,000 mark this week. Maintaining physical distancing has proved difficult in many crowded slums, and appeals to wear masks have often gone unheeded, with some questioning the seriousness of the disease.
In South Africa, which has almost half the continent’s confirmed virus cases, the government has faced criticism for imposing some seemingly arbitrary lockdown rules that caused undue economic hardship. While the authorities initially conceded they had made mistakes and pledged to rectify them, President Cyril Ramaphosa went on the offensive this week and railed against those who went on drinking sprees, organised parties and failed to wear masks in public.
The Financial Times is reporting that despite rising coronavirus cases, Japan has launched a tourism campaign.
The campaign, intended to promote domestic tourism by paying half the cost of a holiday up to a limit of ¥20,000 ($186) per person per day, has attracted accusations that it could spread Covid-19 across the country.
Under the “Go To” campaign, Shinzo Abe’s government will offer billions of yen in subsidies to kick start travel to Japan’s regions, which are suffering from a collapse in international and domestic tourism, the paper reports.
But after a surge in infections in Tokyo, the government said it would exclude travel to and from the capital, a concession that would sharply reduce the economic impact of the scheme.
A group of civic activists has filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court seeking an injunction to halt the “Go To” campaign, arguing that it violates the right to life.
Their point seems to be self-evident after Motohiro Ono, the governor of Saitama prefecture, which is part of the Greater Tokyo area, told reporters that: “We’d like Saitama residents to avoid choosing Tokyo for their holiday and to stay in or near the prefecture.
“And to everyone in Tokyo, since many of Saitama’s tourist areas have a large population of elderly people, we’d like you to show consideration [and stay away].”
Israel reimposes lockdown, shutting shops, hairdressers and attractions
Our own Oliver Holmes is reporting Israel has lurched back to lockdown measures following a vigorous second surge of coronavirus infections, imposing stringent weekend shutdowns in which shops, hairdressers and attractions will be closed.
The government announced the new measures in the early hours of Friday morning, following a marathon emergency cabinet session called after infection rates climbed close to 2,000 a day.
Gyms and fitness studios will also be closed at all times, while restaurants, which opened again in May, will return to takeaways and deliveries only. All indoor gatherings of 10 or more people will be banned.
Changes start from this weekend, which in Israel begins on Friday afternoon, the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, and last until Sunday, the first working day of the week. Nurseries will remain open, although closures were being considered.
Israel Radio reported full lockdowns, with people again confined to their homes, might be imposed from next weekend, following parliamentary approval.
The country of nine million was initially praised for a swift lockdown in March that was credited with reducing daily infections to single digits. However, officials and public health officials say the economy was reopened too hastily and without necessary steps take to control the pandemic.
With more than one in five Israelis unemployed, Benjamin Netanyahu has faced mounting public anger surrounding his handling of the crisis, with thousands of protesters holding frequent demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The Israeli prime minister is also fighting three corruption allegations, including charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust – accusations he denies.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu had presented a 6bn shekel (£1.4bn) package, with payments of up to £175 for individuals, rising to nearly £700 for families, arguing it would boost spending and “get the economy moving faster”.
Updated
Returning to the grim news that India has surged past 1 million cases.
Given India’s population of around 1.3 billion, experts say, one million is relatively low - but the number will rise significantly in the coming months as testing increases, further straining a healthcare system already pushed to the brink.
With more than 600 Indians dying daily, lockdowns are being reimposed across the country of 1.4 billion after an easing of restrictions in recent weeks, reports the South China Morning Post.
Now trailing only the United States and Brazil, which have 3.6 million and 2 million infections respectively, the milestone is a deeply concerning one: with almost 1.4 billion people, India’s population is more than double that of the other two countries combined and is squeezed into a smaller land mass.
India imposed the world’s most-expansive lockdown at the end of March when it had recorded just 1,000 cases. But as the economy nosedived, the government eased distancing measures and numbers shot up.
Now the SCMP is reporting that senior members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have begun telling citizens they must “live with the virus” as they focus on India’s relatively low fatality rate as a marker of success, and try to build capacity to catch sick people early and treat them.
So far, three states – Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu – have accounted for the majority of cases. Authorities imposed fresh lockdowns and designated new containment zones in several states this week, including the largely rural Bihar state in the east and the southern tech hub Bengaluru, where cases have risen.
But as the SCMP reports, in India’s vast countryside, which is much less prepared and with weaker health care, the pandemic is clearly growing.
“The acceleration in cases remains the main challenge for India in the coming days,” Dr Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute told the paper, adding that the vast majority of cases were still being missed.
Dr Kapil Yadav, assistant professor of community medicine at New Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences went further.
The million cases so far recorded likely left out many asymptomatic ones, he told Reuters. “It’s a gross underestimate.”
Hong Kong fears third peak with over 60 new cases
The South China Morning Post is reporting that a third peak is feared in Hong Kong as more than 60 new cases, a mixture of confirmed and preliminary cases, were reported in the city today.
A potential new cluster has emerged in Jockey Club Harmony Villa, a elderly care centre, according to two medical sources. A bus driver has also tested positive. On Monday, he drove four buses criss-crossing the city, along Route 23 which links North Point with Pok Fu Lam.
It is the second elderly care home to be infected: the first, at the Kong Tai Elderly Care Centre in Tsz Wan Shan, has so far infected at least 42 elderly residents and employees, with two fatalities.
As of Thursday, the city’s overall tally reached 1,655 cases, with 10 related deaths. Since July 6, 120 out of 299 local infections have been untraceable.
Updated
On that fairly shocking note, it’s goodbye from me, Helen Sullivan, and over to Amelia Hill, who will bring you the latest.
US records world record daily cases with 77,300 new infections in one day
Before I hand over, Johns Hopkins has just posted the figure we have been waiting to confirm for the last few hours.
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official government data, the US has recorded a startling 77,300 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours.
This is the highest one-day total for the pandemic so far. The US has consistently broken one-day records in recent days, but this is by a fairly wide margin. 10 July marked the last global record increase, with 67,800 new cases in the US.
The US, by far the worst-affected country worldwide in terms of the number of cases and deaths, has 3,576,221 confirmed infections and 138,358 fatalities.
Brazil is next highest with 2,012,151 cases (the country passed the sombre milestone of 2m on Thursday) and 76,688 deaths.
Here is more on the US specifically:
And here is our global report:
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today. My colleague Amelia Hill will be taking you through the next few hours of pandemic news.
Before I go, here is some Friday inspiration – I’m not sure whether this African clawless otter has grown more comfortable around people because of lockdown, or whether he was just too delighted with the sunshine after a week of rain to care about the camera, but here is a video (taken by my mom) of a very relaxed creature enjoying a sand bath at a beach in Simon’s Town, South Africa:
finally some good news pic.twitter.com/gmq1QycHnu
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) July 17, 2020
Updated
Global report: US Democrats urged to skip convention as Covid-19 cases surge
US Democrats have urged elected leaders and party delegates to skip the national convention in August as coronavirus cases surge, the New York Times reported, in what the paper says is “a sign of the ever-shrinking aspirations for their big campaign event in the face of the spreading virus”.
In an email to congressional aides, senior adviser to the convention committee Chasseny Lewis wrote: “We have been working closely with state and local public health officials, as well epidemiologists, and have come to the hard decision that members of Congress should not plan to travel to Milwaukee.”
Early on Thursday, the Republican National Committee announced plans to scale back its convention scheduled for next month in Jacksonville, Florida. It had moved the event from North Carolina before the surge of cases in Florida, hoping for fewer restrictions on crowds.
Meanwhile, around the world, countries are re-imposing localised restrictions as new virus clusters or outbreaks emerge:
Global coronavirus cases pass 13.8m
The known number of Covid-19 infections passed 13.8m on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker , with 13,805,296 cases currently registered.
Cases are currently climbing by around 200,000 every 24 hours, with roughly a third of these accounted for by daily increases in the US, which have been surging by around 60,000 per day for at least nine days.
Deaths worldwide are climbing towards 600,000, with 589,911 currently registered on the database, which relies on official government data.
The true number of infections and deaths is believed to be higher, due to differing definitions (of what constitutes a death caused by coronavirus, for example) and testing rates, as well as delays in reporting and suspected underreporting.
These are the ten worst-affected countries worldwide in terms of number of cases:
- US: 3,576,157
- Brazil: 2,012,151
- India: 1,003,832
- Russia: 751,612
- Peru: 341,586
- South Africa: 324,221
- Mexico: 324,041
- Chile: 323,698
- United Kingdom: 294,116
- Iran: 267,061
Uganda’s Quentin Tarantino rolls his camera for Covid-19 comedy fundraiser
A new video from Ugandan film director Isaac Nabwana is a move away from his previous output – movies heavy on blood and gore and ultra-low on budgets – which is gaining him an international cult following. And he says the pandemic’s impact in pushing film online, with the trend towards all-digital film festivals, has helped.
He calls his style “action comedy”, others have called him Uganda’s Quentin Tarantino, but his films have attracted so much attention that fans from around the world visit his Kampala studio and pay to appear as extras, mostly to be killed, in his movies.
“We give them a part,” he says, “we have killed more than 200 people that way. We had people come from Switzerland on their honeymoon to take part, they just wanted to die in a movie and they were happy.”
Urumqi, the capital city of China’s far western region of Xinjiang, cancelled hundreds of flights on Friday, after the report of its first coronavirus case in about five months fuelled concerns of a potential new outbreak, Reuters reports.
Epidemic control measures led to the cancellation of more than 600 scheduled flights at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, or more than 80% of the day’s total, figures from aviation data firm Variflight showed.
Urumqi also suspended subway services from late Thursday.
The National Health Commission reported 10 new confirmed virus infections for the mainland, one a locally transmitted case in Xinjiang and nine involving international travellers from abroad.
On Thursday, health authorities in Urumqi said a 24-year-old woman with symptoms such as a sore throat, fever and headaches, tested positive for the virus. Three people with whom she had close contact tested positive but did not show symptoms.
Also on Thursday, the eastern province of Zhejiang reported an asymptomatic case involving a traveller from Xinjiang.
The tally of mainland China’s confirmed infections is 83,622 by the end of Thursday, with deaths unchanged at 4,634. Another 104 asymptomatic patients are under observation.
Beijing, which suffered a fresh outbreak last month, reported no new cases for an 11th consecutive day.
Updated
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, has voiced his anger at the “looseness” of Australia’s leaders in handing the latest coronavirus outbreaks, and offered to give Victoria the benefit of Kiwi experience in fighting Covid-19.
“I am looking at the premiers of the states in Australia, at Scott Morrison and I feel a great deal of regret that looseness allowed this thing to get out of control in my view, in Australia,” Peters told the Today Show on Friday.
“I do hope you get on top of things in Melbourne. It’s a great state but boy ... what can I say. If we can help, give us a shout.”
Victoria endured another record day of new coronavirus cases on Friday, with more than 428 people diagnosed and three deaths. The premier, Daniel Andrews, said on Friday that 370 of the new cases discovered over the past 24 hours were under investigation, while 57 were connected to known outbreaks.
The fresh outbreak has further delayed long-mooted plans for a trans-Tasman travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand:
More on Israel from Reuters:
Israel reopened schools and many businesses in May, lifting restrictions that had flattened an infection curve after a partial lockdown imposed in March.
But with the infection rate rising sharply in the past few weeks, many public health experts said the government had moved too fast while neglecting to take the necessary epidemiological steps to control the pandemic once the economy reopened.
A poll by the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute on Tuesday found only 29.5% of the public trust Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis and thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets, demanding economic relief.
Unemployment soared after the March lockdown and is at 21%. Netanyahu has announced numerous aid packages, some of which have been slow to come through and others that have drawn criticism for being ineffective.
Israel, with a population of 9 million, has reported more than 44,000 coronavirus cases and 377 deaths.
Israel imposes new weekend shutdown
Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of coronavirus curbs to lower infection rates, amid growing public anger over the government’s handling of the crisis, Reuters reports.
People would be allowed to leave their homes this weekend but malls, shops, pools, zoos and museums would shut from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, the government said in a statement.
Full weekend lockdowns that could confine people to their homes may be imposed by 24 July, after the government gains parliamentary approval for that, Israel Radio reported. Weekends in Israel begin on Friday afternoon, the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, and last until Sunday - a working day.
On all days, gatherings will be limited to 10 people indoors and 20 outdoors and restaurants would be allowed to serve take-out only, the government said. A further decision on whether to keep summer schools and nurseries open would be made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz.
Israel, with a population of 9 million, has reported more than 44,000 coronavirus cases and 377 deaths.
Updated
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
-
There are 13,767,548 known coronavirus cases worldwide. The number of deaths stands at 589,211, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
- US Democrats have urged elected leaders and party delegates to skip the national convention in August as coronavirus cases surge, the New York Times reported, in what the paper says is “a sign of the ever-shrinking aspirations for their big campaign event in the face of the spreading virus”.
- The state of Victoria in Australia reported a record 428 new cases, 10 days in to the lockdown of Melbourne. The neighbouring state of New South Wales tightened restrictions on pubs, restaurants and gatherings, as it reported eight new cases, six of which were from community transmission. Australia has 10,810 cases and 113 deaths, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University data.
- In Mexico, authorities imposed local restrictions on mobility, commerce, and leisure, particularly in popular tourist destinations, even as the government seeks to revive the battered economy. Mexico has 317,635 cases and 37,574 deaths.
- In Spain, officials in Catalan said on Thursday that residents in three districts in the Barcelona suburb of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat must stay indoors amid a resurgence in cases. Wednesday saw residents told to stay at home in an area in and around the north-eastern city of Lerida, a measure affecting around 160,000 people. They are allowed to leave to go to work, buy food or medication, or to exercise.
- In Colombia, doctors are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in the capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing. The country has reported over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country’s total cases and over 20% of its deaths. Bogota’s intensive care units were at just under 90% capacity as of Wednesday evening, according to local government figures.
- Israel has imposed a new weekend shutdown. Israel imposed a new weekend shutdown on Friday and tightened a series of coronavirus curbs to lower infection rates, amid growing public anger over the government’s handling of the crisis, Reuters reports.
- In India, new restrictions have been introduced in the western city of Pune and other states including Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people, as well as badly hit Tamil Nadu and Assam. The northern Indian state of Bihar, with a population of around 125 million people, started a 15-day lockdown from 16 July. The southern city and IT hub of Bangalore, home to more than 13 million people, also began a week-long confinement on 14 July.
- Puerto Rico’s governor has announced major rollbacks including the closure of bars, gyms, marinas, theaters and casinos and restricted the use of beaches as the U.S. territory is hit by a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.Governor Wanda Vázquez said the changes and an ongoing curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. will remain in place until 31 July.
- White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools. McEnany defended President Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.“And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
- Brazil cases have passed 2 million. Brazil on Thursday passed the 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases mark, with little sign that the rate of increase is slowing as anger grows over President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the outbreak. In recent weeks, there have been nearly 40,000 confirmed new cases per day, according to government figures.
- A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says President Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report said.
Updated
Malta marked a week without new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the first since the virus was detected there for the first time on 7 March, Reuters reports.
Health Minister Chris Fearne confirmed in a tweet that no new cases had been detected for a week. The last was a single case on 9 July.
“We must continue to be prudent to maintain our success,” he said.
Malta saw 674 cases and nine deaths in almost four months but now only has four active cases of the virus, the rest having recovered. The Mediterranean island has benefited from its small size by employing a high rate of testing – with some 20% of the population tested - and contact tracing.
India cases top 1m
India has crossed 1 million coronavirus cases, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s feeble health care system, AP reports.
A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832.
The Health Ministry on Friday also reported a record number of 687 deaths for a total of 25,602. The ministry said the recovery rate was continuing to improve at 63%.
More countries re-introduce restrictions
Around the world, countries are re-imposing localised restrictions as new virus clusters or outbreaks emerge. In Mexico, authorities imposed local restrictions on mobility, commerce, and leisure, particularly in popular tourist destinations, even as the government seeks to revive the battered economy. Mexico has 317,635 cases and 37,574 deaths.
In Spain, officials in Catalan said on Thursday that residents in three districts in the Barcelona suburb of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat must stay indoors amid a resurgence in cases. Wednesday saw residents told to stay at home in an area in and around the north-eastern city of Lerida, a measure affecting around 160,000 people. They are allowed to leave to go to work, buy food or medication, or to exercise.
In Colombia, doctors are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in the capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing. The country has reported over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country’s total cases and over 20% of its deaths, Reuters reports.
Bogota’s intensive care units were at just under 90% capacity as of Wednesday evening, according to local government figures.
The Israeli government is reported to be considering a full national lockdown at weekends and plans to shut all kindergartens. Israel has 46,059 cases and 384 deaths.
In India, new restrictions have been introduced in the western city of Pune and other states including Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people, badly hit Tamil Nadu and Assam. The northern Indian state of Bihar, with a population of around 125 million people, started a 15-day lockdown from 16 July. The southern city and IT hub of Bangalore, home to more than 13 million people, also began a week-long confinement on 14 July:
Updated
Hi, Helen Sullivan here. As always, you can get in touch on Twitter or via email with tips, news from your part of the world, questions and suggestions:
Twitter: @helenrsullivan
Email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com
In the meantime, please enjoy this blessed Friday video taken my mom right near her house South Africa:
finally some good news pic.twitter.com/gmq1QycHnu
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) July 17, 2020
Updated
In India, new restrictions have been introduced in the western city of Pune and other states including Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people, badly hit Tamil Nadu and Assam, AFP reports. The northern Indian state of Bihar, with a population of around 125 million people, started a 15-day lockdown from 16 July.
The southern city and IT hub of Bangalore, home to more than 13 million people, also began a week-long confinement on 14 July.
India has nearly 1 million cases, with 968,876 currently confirmed, and 24,915 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Updated
Here is the full story on the new infections in the Australian state of Victoria:
Tokyo dropped from multibillion-dollar tourism campaign amid rising infections
Tokyo has been dropped from a multibillion-dollar tourism campaign after the Japanese capital reported a record number of daily coronavirus infections on Thursday. The Go To campaign, due to begin next Wednesday, is supposed to encourage domestic tourism and boost the world’s third-largest economy, with the government offering subsidies to travellers of up to 50%.
But the tourism minister, Kazuyoshi Akaba, said Tokyo residents and those currently visiting the city would not be part of the campaign, citing fears that they could spread the virus to other parts of the country, including regions that have been relatively unaffected by the outbreak.
Tokyo reported a record 286 new cases on Thursday, prompting the governor, Yuriko Koike, to call on its 14 million residents to avoid non-essential travel to other parts of the country. The city now has 8,640 cases, accounting for almost a third of the nationwide total of 23,600. Koike warned that a similar number of daily infections would be announced later on Friday.
Some parts of Japan are reluctant to welcome tourists, despite the potential economic benefits. A recent poll by Kyodo News found that 26 of Japan’s 47 prefectures thought the Go To campaign should be restricted to certain areas.
“The success in containing the virus that regional areas worked so hard for could be undone in a flash,” Tokihiro Nakamura, the governor of Ehime, with just 82 cases, said, according to the news agency.
The economy minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, encouraged people living outside Tokyo to take advantage of the scheme.”We agreed that Tokyo should be temporarily removed, but we are not telling people to stay home,” he told reporters. “Families can still vacation if they are careful and take the proper precautions.”
Updated
Doctors in Bogota, Colombia call for return to city-wide quarantine
Doctors in Bogota are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in Colombia’s capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing, a leading medic said on Thursday.
The Andean country has reported over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country’s total cases and over 20% of its deaths, Reuters reports.
“We’re in a critical situation,” the president of the Bogota College of Medicine, Herman Bayona, told Reuters. “We are close to collapse.”
Colombian President Ivan Duque declared an ongoing quarantine to slow the spread of the coronavirus in late March.
The quarantine is due to be lifted on 1 August, with certain sectors of the economy and parts of the country already starting to reopen. This week the capital began strict, rolling two-week quarantines by neighbourhood, something Bayona said was ineffective.
“We don’t think zonal quarantines have the power to slow the speed of infections,” he said.
Bogota’s intensive care units were at just under 90% capacity as of Wednesday evening, according to local government figures. Mayor Claudia Lopez visited a public hospital on Thursday and said between 20 and 30 new ventilators will come online daily to increase ICU capacity.
Russia calls off WWII marches amid virus fears
Russia on Thursday called off its annual “Immortal Regiment” commemoration of the nation’s World War II dead in which thousands carry photographs of relatives through the streets due to the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.
Organisers had already postponed the event originally scheduled for 9 May but have now dropped plans to stage it on July 26 saying it will only take place once the virus situation in Russia allows it.
The indefinite cancellation of the national commemoration points to official jitters over the virus rate, which has fallen gradually and still stands at over six thousand new cases per day.
Russia has confirmed 752,797 Covid-19 cases and 11,937 deaths.
The air will be freshly piped, the rooms deep-cleaned, and handshakes will be banned. As EU leaders gather for their first physical meeting in Brussels to thrash out a coronavirus recovery plan, no effort has been spared to avoid a local outbreak of the disease.
The two-day meeting, thought to be the largest gathering of world leaders since the start of the pandemic, will be the first featuring all 27 heads of state and government since February, when an attempt to agree the EU’s €1tn seven-year budget collapsed in acrimony. On Friday and Saturday, they will return to the same task and will also seek to hammer out a €750bn (£689bn) recovery plan in response to the biggest economic shock forecast in EU history.
But any pre-summit bonhomie smoothing the way to a deal will be limited by social distancing. Leaders are being asked to wear masks on arrival and to avoid shaking hands – advice that appears to preclude the air kisses and backslapping that usually accompany the opening of summit talks.
Gathering in the Europa headquarters of the European council, nicknamed the space egg, leaders will meet in a fifth-floor room designed to seat 330 people. This will ensure distancing for 30 leaders (27 national ones plus three from the EU institutions) and three or four senior EU officials:
Hong Kong records 67 new cases
Hong Kong has recorded a record 67 new cases of Covid-19, in a growing new outbreak which has seen the city reintroduce widespread restrictions.
On Thursday evening health authorities said it was investigating another 67 cases from the past 24 hours, of which 63 were locally transmitted. Worryingly, 35 cases had an unknown source of infection.
Hong Kong recorded a record 67 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, more than half from an unknown source.
— heldavidson (@heldavidson) July 17, 2020
Govt graphic: Red dots mark buildings with recorded infections in the past 14 days. pic.twitter.com/RE611qxDZp
I cannot say this is a peak because usually you can only say it is a peak afterwards,” the head of the centre for health protection, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, told media.
“There is still a chance more cases are coming.”
Chuang said most of the newly diagnosed people live in the Tsz Wan Shan area and many had visited a local shopping centre and market.
“But we also found a few staff of the restaurants and also the customers visiting the restaurants,” said Chuang.
“Also we observed quite a number of taxi drivers and also customer-facing staff. Maybe they have met a lot of people and also many of them like to visit cha chaan tengs (Hong Kong-style cafes) and local restaurants.”
On Wednesday Hong Kong restaurants stopped allowing patrons to dine in and provided takeaway and delivery only between 6pm and 5am.
Twelve types of businesses including gaming centres, gyms, clubs and karaoke venues were also forced to close, and group gatherings are capped at 50 people for public places and 20 for weddings and company shareholder meetings. Public transport passengers must wear masks.
The new outbreak in Hong Kong has also set back mooted plans for a travel bubble with Macau and Guandong province. Those entering Guangdong must now provide proof of a Covid test (with a negative result) if they want to cross over the border to mainland China.
10 people have died after contracting Covid-19 in Hong Kong since the beginning of the pandemic, and there are currently 319 people in hospital.
Hong Kong remains off limits to any non-residents, but the government has now added further quarantine requirements for residents returning from high risk areas.
Georgia’s governor sues to block Atlanta mayor from mandating masks in public
The governor of Georgia is suing Atlanta’s mayor and city council to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the Covid-19 pandemic, AP reports.
Governor Brian Kemp and Georgia attorney general Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late Thursday in Atlanta, argue that Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law.
“Governor Kemp must be allowed, as the chief executive of this state, to manage the public health emergency without Mayor Bottoms issuing void and unenforceable orders which only serve to confuse the public,” the lawsuit states.
The move followed an executive order by Kemp on Wednesday that resulted in an ambiguous situation, with Kemp denying local governments could order masks, but local governments arguing it was within their power:
Australian state of Victoria reports record 428 new cases, three new deaths
Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed 428 new coronavirus cases in the state.
That is the highest-ever one-day total for an Australian state, and considerably higher than the last record, 317.
#BREAKING 428 coronavirus cases announced in Victoria today pic.twitter.com/dsjdY4fPJh
— casey briggs (@CaseyBriggs) July 17, 2020
Three more people have died. That brings the total number of deaths in the state from coronavirus to 32 and the total number of cases to 5,165 .
The people who died are a man in his 80s, a man in his 70s, and a woman in her 80s.
Some 122 people are in hospital, and 31 are in intensive care.
People have not embraced an easing of lockdown restrictions in England’s pubs, bars and restaurants, according to figures that showed a drop in sales of about 40% among venues that opened their doors at the beginning of the month.
Pubs that were open in the week beginning 6 July posted a 39% decline in sales compared with the same period last year, while bars were down 43% and restaurants down 40%:
Australian state of New South Wales announces tighter restrictions on gatherings
The Australian state of New South Wales has announced tighter restrictions on gatherings, to come into place from Friday next week.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the new restrictions “give us every opportunity to keep New SouthWales as open as possible”, as the state confirmed 8 new coronavirus cases, six of which are community transmission cases.
The new restrictions are:
- Expanding the restrictions that were imposed on pubs — maximum group bookings of 20 people, maximum venue capacity of 300 — to clubs, restaurants, cafes and “all indoor hospitality venues”.
- The maximum number for weddings and corporate events will be 150, and there can be “completely seated, no dancing, no mingling”.
- Strict adherence to the four-square metre rule.
- Funerals and places of worship capped at 100 people.
Berejiklian said funerals would have a lower limit because “they are emotional occasions where people know each other and that increases the risk of transmission”.
She said they would not currently change the number of guests you can have in your home, which is capped at 20, but are recommending that 10 is a safe number.
We’re not going to change the at this age but in the next little while we ask people to be thoughtful about who they welcome, how many they welcome and especially protect those most vulnerable.
Updated
A flexible message about an inflexible rule:
Social distancing. Put on a damn mask. pic.twitter.com/BgFVSeEndE
— jamie (@gnuman1979) July 16, 2020
Spain to cull nearly 100,000 mink in coronavirus outbreak
Spain has ordered the culling of nearly 100,000 mink on a farm after confirming many were carrying coronavirus, a regional minister said on Thursday.
Joaquin Olona, agriculture minister for the north-eastern Aragon region, said the cull would involve the slaughter of 92,700 mink which are prized for their pelt, AFP reports.
Officials suspect the virus first reached the farm through a worker who passed it on to the animals. But Olona said it was not completely clear if “transmission was possible from animals to humans and vice versa”.
In the Netherlands tens of thousands of mink have been slaughtered since the start of the pandemic after 20 farms were found to be infected, the Dutch authorities said earlier this month.
Germany’s health minister urged the World Health Organization to speed up its review of how it has handled the coronavirus pandemic, apparently signalling Europe taking a tougher line on the United Nations body, Reuters reports.
Berlin, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has so far largely shielded the Geneva-based organisation from the most intense criticism by Washington, which wants to leave the WHO because of its alleged excessive closeness to China.
But now Germany seems to be taking a more assertive position.
“When it comes to reappraising the work of the WHO during the crisis, I had the opportunity to talk to director general Tedros [Adhanom Ghebreyesus] on Tuesday in Paris as well as two weeks ago in Geneva, and in both conversations I encouraged him very clearly to launch this independent commission of experts and to expedite its launch,” Jens Spahn told a news conference in Berlin.
The WHO said last week it was setting up an independent panel to review its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the response by governments.
“The World Health Assembly resolution in May 2020 called for WHO to initiate such a panel and the panel has been set up to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19. This involves the global response, including but not limited to, WHO,” a spokesman for WHO said.
The west’s shortsighted response to the impact of Covid-19 could result in 640 million people being infected and 1.7 million killed in the world’s poorest countries, the UN warned.
The direct medical costs of treating 2.2 million patients in hospital critical care beds could amount to an estimated $16.28bn, while the focus on coronavirus could also lead to a diversion of scarce health resources, leading to a further 1.7 million preventable deaths from HIV, TB and malaria.
The findings – prepared for the UN by the economics department at Oxford – are designed as a call to arms as G20 finance ministers prepare to meet this weekend.
UN officials are deeply concerned that as the pandemic recedes in Europe, the impacts of the virus and of the global recession on the world’s poorest are already being forgotten.
White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools
Earlier on Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.
“And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
“The science should not stand in the way of this,” McEnany said, adding moments later, “The science is on our side here.”
However, a number of school officials have expressed concern about students and staff members potentially contracting the virus once in-person instruction resumes.
In response to those concerns, many school districts have announced plans to hold virtual classes this fall. Trump and some of his allies have pointed to evidence that children are very unlikely to become severely ill from coronavirus to justify their push to reopen schools. However, many public health experts have said there has not yet been enough research conducted on how children react to the virus.
US daily cases surge at around 60,000 for more than a week
According to data from the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, which relies on official government figures for coronavirus cases and deaths, the US has recorded over 60,000 cases – and on one occasion almost 70,000 cases – for six of the nine days leading up to 15 July, which is the most recent date for which a daily case figure is confirmed.
In the US, there are currently 3,559,899 confirmed cases, the highest in the world, and 138,201 deaths.
10 July marked a global record increase of 67,800 cases. Here are the dates and the case numbers confirmed each day, since 7 July, which was the first day that US daily cases increased by 60,000:
7 July: 60,000
8 July: 58,600
9 July: 63,200
10 July: 67,800
11 July: 60,200
12 July: 59,000
13 July: 59,200
14 July: 67,400
15 July: 67,300
Updated
Democrat officials instruct senators, Congress members to skip national convention
The New York Times reports that Democrats are urging elected leaders and party delegates to skip the national convention in August as coronavirus cases surge, in what the Times says is “a sign of the ever-shrinking aspirations for their big campaign event in the face of the spreading virus.”
The Times reports:
The directive ensures that little will happen at the physical convention site beyond keynote speeches from former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his vice-presidential nominee and a handful of other top party leaders. The remainder of the event — state delegation meetings, parties and schmoozing, voting on the party platform and Mr. Biden’s nomination — will happen virtually or not at all.
Over the past several months, Democrats have scaled back their plans, moving the convention across downtown Milwaukee from the Fiserv Forum, the city’s professional basketball arena, to the Wisconsin Center, a modest convention center that typically hosts events like the city’s car show. The last national political event to take place there was the 2004 Green Party convention. Party officials have been consulting regularly with doctors and epidemiologists and say they are following the recommendations of the medical establishment.
Updated
Mexico to impose local restrictions
The spread of the coronavirus has spurred Mexican authorities to impose local restrictions on mobility, commerce, and leisure, particularly in popular tourist destinations, even as the government seeks to revive the battered economy, Reuters reports.
On Wednesday, authorities in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum threatened to fine or arrest people for disobeying rules on wearing face masks, the latest in a series of local and state-level curbs against the spread of the virus.
Eager to lift an economy that is forecast to shrink as much as 10% this year, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has encouraged people to get out, and has resisted reimposing more stringent nationwide restrictions.
But some local authorities worry if they do not take precautions, the hit to their livelihoods will be worse.
“We can’t play with the health of the citizens,” Tulum’s mayor, Victor Mas Tah, said in comments reported by local media.
Updated
Brazil cases pass 2m
Brazil on Thursday passed the 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases mark, with little sign that the rate of increase is slowing as anger grows over President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the outbreak, Reuters reports.
In recent weeks, there have been nearly 40,000 confirmed new cases per day, according to government figures. On Thursday, confirmed cases in Brazil totalled 2,012,151, while deaths numbered 76,688.
Despite the rapid spread of the virus, Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, has pressured local governments to lift lockdown restrictions.
Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the virus last week, has played down its health risks and fought against social distancing orders, calling their economic effects worse than the disease itself. Under pressure, many governors and mayors have loosened restrictions in recent weeks, fueling bigger outbreaks.
Polls show Bolsonaro’s popularity has been sinking during the pandemic. The share of Brazilians that see his government as bad or terrible has risen to 44%, according to a late June survey by pollster Datafolha. That was up from 38% in April and 36% in December.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest from around the world for the next few hours.
As always, you can get in touch on Twitter or via email:
Twitter: @helenrsullivan
Email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com
Brazil, the second-worst-affected country worldwide in terms of number of confirmed cases and deaths, passed 2 million infections late on Thursday, according to the health ministry.
The country’s cases have doubled in just under a month, nearly 40,000 confirmed new cases per day in recent weeks, according to government figures.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
-
There are 13,683,631 known coronavirus cases worldwide. The number of deaths stands at 586,752, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
- Puerto Rico’s governor has announced major rollbacks including the closure of bars, gyms, marinas, theaters and casinos and restricted the use of beaches as the U.S. territory is hit by a spike in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.Governor Wanda Vázquez said the changes and an ongoing curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. will remain in place until 31 July.
- White House: ‘The science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump’s push to reopen schools, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom.“And when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” McEnany noted furing her White House briefing.
- A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says President Trump’s European travel ban was enacted too late to protect New York residents. “Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation strategy, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of Sars-CoV-2 had already occurred in NYC,” the report said.
- Spain has reported its steepest daily rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months, with 580 new cases, after a rise of 390 cases on Wednesday. The regions of Aragon and Catalonia lead the increase, Reuters reports.Authorities have reimposed restrictions in some areas of Catalonia, including home confinement in the Lleida area affecting about 160,000 people, and health officials there said measures would have to be taken in the capital, Barcelona, but gave no further details.
- Russian state-sponsored hackers are targeting UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, according to British security officials. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which was “almost certainly” part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.
- In the US, Florida has again broken its single-day record of coronavirus deaths, as the state struggles to get the virus under control. Florida health officials announced 156 residents died of coronavirus yesterday, breaking the record of 132 deaths reported on Tuesday morning. The new figure brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in the state to 4,677, with more than 315,000 cases confirmed.
- The Israeli government is reported to be considering a full national lockdown during weekends and plans to shut all kindergartens. The expectation of a move comes as the cabinet is holding an emergency meeting following a surge in infections.
- The team behind the development of a Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University in the UK hope to begin tests on volunteers who will be intentionally exposed to the virus in a “challenge trial”, a move seen as controversial since there is no proven cure for the illness. Although challenge trials, in which healthy volunteers are given a pathogen, are routine in vaccine development, taking the approach for Covid-19, where there is no fail-safe treatment if a volunteer becomes severely ill, has been questioned.
- Coronavirus has been the direct cause of death of nine out of 10 Italian victims, a study released on Thursday said, shedding new light on the pandemic which mainly struck the country’s northern regions. Since discovering its first infections in February, Italy has reported about 35,000 Covid-19 fatalities. However, health authorities said many of those who died were also affected by other ailments and this provoked a fierce debate on whether the virus was the actual cause of death.
