We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Summary
Here’s a quick recap of all the latest coronavirus developments.
- Protests flare in Italian cities against Covid-19 restrictions. Witnesses said a number of luxury stores, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in central Turin as police responded with volleys of tear gas as they tried to restore order in the city. There were also clashes in Milan, the capital of the neighbouring Lombardy region, an area that has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy.
-
Mounting pressure on Portugal’s health system could prompt further restrictions, minister says. The health minister said the country’s national health service is under grave pressure and further restrictive measures could be coming as the number of patients in intensive care approaches record levels.
- France alone may be experiencing 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day – double the latest official figures – Prof Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic, said. Tougher coronavirus containment measures could be announced in the country later this week.
- Czech government tightens coronavirus measures with curfew and retail curbs. The Czech government has ordered a 9pm curfew and will limit retail sales on Sundays, as part of tighter measures adopted to stem a surge in Covid-19 infections.
-
Germany is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus, Angela Merkel has reportedly warned colleagues. In an indication of the growing concern, Merkel brought forward a meeting on additional coronavirus restrictions with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states from Friday to Wednesday.
- Belgium’s intensive care units will be overrun in a fortnight if the rate of infection continues, a spokesman for country’s Covid-19 crisis centre has said. Dr Yves Van Laethem said the 2,000 intensive care beds would be full with patients without a change of course. On Monday morning, new regulations came into force in Brussels.
- Italians have been advised against trips to other European countries because of surging coronavirus cases, with the foreign ministry warning they could get trapped overseas if travel bans became necessary.
Protests are continuing across Italy against a new round of government coronavirus restrictions, with violence reported in at least two major northern cities, Milan and Turin.
Witnesses said a number of luxury stores, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in central Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off huge firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.
Police responded with volleys of tear gas as they tried to restore order in the city, the capital of the wealthy Piedmont region.
There were also clashes in Milan, the capital of the neighbouring Lombardy region, an area that has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy.
“Freedom, freedom, freedom,” crowds chanted as they confronted police in the city centre.
The Italian government on Sunday ordered bars and restaurants to close by 6pm and shut public gyms, cinemas and swimming pools to try to slow a second wave of coronavirus infections.
A number of regions, including Lombardy and Piedmont, have also imposed night curfews.
Many small businesses, still badly bruised by an initial nationwide lockdown in March and April, say the new restrictions could bankrupt them.
While Italians complied peacefully to the spring lockdown, there has been an immediate pushback against the renewed restrictions.
Protesters took to the streets of up to a dozen cities on Monday, including Treviso, Trieste, Viareggio, Latina, Rome, Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Siracusa and Catania.
Looking to calm tensions, the government has said it will present a package of measures on Tuesday to support businesses hurt by the new restrictions.
Mounting pressure on Portugal's health system could prompt further restrictions, minister says
Portugal’s health minister has said the country’s national health service is under grave pressure and further restrictive measures could be coming as the number of patients in intensive care approach record levels.
“Although the Portuguese and the national health service are better prepared to respond to the pandemic than before, the situation in Portugal - as in other places - is grave,” health minister Marta Temido said.
The government “is ready to cover possible new municipalities with more restrictive measures,” she added.
Three municipalities in the country’s north went into partial lockdown last Thursday, and non-essential travel between regions was banned from 30 October to 3 November to reduce the risk of transmission during the All Saints national holiday.
A total of 1,672 people were in hospital as of Monday, with 240 in intensive care units (ICUs) - close to the peak of 271 reached in April.
The health system, which prior to the pandemic had the lowest number of critical care beds per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe, could accommodate a maximum of 800 Covid-19 patients in ICUs, Temido said.
Given current trends, over half that figure would be reached by next week, the minister cautioned.
Portugal has reported a total of 121,133 coronavirus cases and 2,343 deaths.
Recent numbers of new daily cases - reaching 3,669 on Saturday - have approached triple the country’s previous peak in April, but testing has also multiplied by around the same proportion.
The country’s toll of hospitalisations and deaths has surpassed April levels, reflecting the considerable number of new cases still being detected among higher-risk age groups, worrying health authorities.
Rising hospitalisations and deaths are not linked to increased testing.
Parliament voted on Friday for masks to be compulsory in public spaces where social distancing is difficult for a period of 70 days, a measure which will soon come into law.
Pope Francis will have to forgo meeting Catholics at the annual Advent and Christmas masses in the Vatican owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the specialist Catholic News Agency (CNA) has reported.
The 83-year-old pontiff was deprived of a congregation at Easter when he had to celebrate mass at Saint Peter’s with very few people present.
In a letter to foreign envoys to the Vatican, its foreign minister informed them that Christmas ceremonies would take “a private form” this year. Members of the diplomatic corps would not be present, and events would be made available online, a document seen by CNA said.
Tens of thousands of Catholics typically visit Rome in December to attend services at the Vatican.
The pope has scheduled a prayer on Saint Peter’s Square on 8 December in lieu of a public appearance to honour the Virgin Mary, but he is still due to celebrate mass on Christmas Eve and deliver his traditional Urbi and Orbi message to the world.
Pope Francis is fond of greeting the public, but since the Covid-19 pandemic hit Italy he has had to curtail his agenda, cancelling trips, receptions and ceremonies.
Italy has reimposed restrictions to battle a second wave of the virus, and officials face a backlash after ordering restaurants and bars to shut from 6pm and theatres, cinemas and gyms to close for a month.
The virus has killed more than 37,000 people in Italy, but thousands have also turned out in recent days to protest curbs on social activities.
Updated
Stock markets in the US and Europe fell sharply as investors focused on signs that rich countries’ efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic were foundering.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index lost 1.8% after heavy falls in German blue-chip stocks. In the US the benchmark S&P 500 had lost 2.2% by the middle of afternoon trading on Wall Street and the Dow Jones industrial average fell by 2.8%.
Countries across Europe have reported increasing numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases, and governments have reimposed restrictions that are expected to limit the economic recovery from the first wave of the pandemic.
As well as new restrictions in the UK and a new six-month state of emergency in Spain, France reported a record increase in the number of confirmed cases over the weekend, while the seven-day average of new cases in the US also rose to a record.
The share prices of companies in sectors most sensitive to pandemic travel restrictions fell heavily on Monday.
Aviation and aerospace shares dragged down the FTSE 100, which lost 1.2%. The biggest fall was sustained by British Airways owner IAG, which lost 7.6%. Rolls-Royce, the engineering company whose earnings are closely tied to the number of hours its jet engines are in the air, lost 7.2%.
Czech government tightens coronavirus measures with curfew and retail curbs
The Czech government has ordered a 9pm curfew and will limit retail sales on Sundays, as part of tighter measures adopted to stem a surge in Covid-19 infections.
The curfew will be in place from 28 October to 3 November and will last until 5am each day, health minister Roman Prymula said. Exemptions include travel for work or family visits.
Retail shops still running under current restrictions must also close by 8pm and on Sundays, with exceptions including gas stations or pharmacies.
Italy’s interior ministry is on high alert over fears of violence as protests take place in major cities against coronavirus restrictions.
From Turin, Milan and Trieste in the north to Rome, Naples and Catania in the south, people have converged on squares to protest measures that include the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants and complete closure of gyms, swimmings pools, cinemas and theatres.
Episodes of tension have been reported in Turin and Naples, where people are calling for the resignation of the recently re-elected regional president, Vincenzo De Luca.
Extremist groups influenced protests in Naples and Rome over the weekend, causing clashes with police.
However, many of Monday’s protests have so far been peaceful and attended mostly by those working in sectors that will be penalised by the measures, which will be in place until 24 November.
Some doctors and nurses in Belgium who have tested positive for Covid-19 have been requested to keep working if they have no symptoms, the BBC has reported.
Several hospitals in the city of Liège have made the request as they deal with a surge in coronavirus admissions.
One of the worst affected areas in Europe, hospitals in the city have started transferring patients elsewhere and cancelled all non-urgent surgery, and the situation is exacerbated by a shortage of staff.
A quarter of medical staff in Liège are reported to be off work with Covid-19, the BBC reports, and another 10% of staff who have tested positive but are asymptomatic have been asked to continue working.
The president of the Belgian Association of Medical Unions, Dr Philippe Devos, said there is a risk of passing on the virus to patients but the hospital system could collapse within days if action is not taken.
The World Health Organization chief has warned abandoning efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic, as suggested by a top US official, was “dangerous”, urging countries not to “give up”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that after months of battling Covid-19, which has claimed more than 1.1 million lives globally, a certain level of “pandemic fatigue” had set in.
“It’s tough and the fatigue is real,” Tedros said.
“But we cannot give up,” he added, urging leaders to “balance the disruption to lives and livelihoods”.
“When leaders act quickly, the virus can be suppressed.”
His comment came a day after US president Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN that the administration’s focus had moved to mitigation, not stamping out the virus.
“We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations,” Meadows said, comparing the more deadly Covid-19 to the seasonal flu.
Asked about Meadows’ comments, Tedros said he agreed that focusing on mitigation, and especially on protecting the vulnerable, was important.
“But giving up on control is dangerous,” he insisted.
Tedros stressed that mitigation and controlling the pandemic were “not contradictory. We can do both.”
Britain has announced wider coronavirus measures which will take the number of people under England’s highest category of restrictions to nearly 8 million.
The number of new Covid cases has risen by almost a quarter over the past week to 153,483, and new Covid deaths were 50% higher than the week before, at 1,272, taking fatalities over the course of the pandemic to 44,998, the highest in Europe.
From 0001 GMT on Tuesday Warrington in northwest England will be classified as the highest Tier 3 alert level, Britain’s health ministry said.
Local authorities in Nottingham in central England and three nearby towns said they would have similar restrictions from Thursday, the first areas outside northern England to be placed in Tier 3.
Under these curbs, people from different households are no longer allowed to socialise outdoors, adding to an existing ban on indoor socialising in much of England, while pubs and bars that do not serve food must shut.
More than seven million people across northern England, including major cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield, are already under these restrictions.
Schools, shops and restaurants in England are allowed to stay open, unlike the first lockdown in March and April.
Other parts of the UK have imposed stricter curbs than Britain’s central government, which only has direct control over health policy in England.
Wales has shut all non-essential retailers, pubs and restaurants in a 17-day lockdown which began on Friday, and Scotland has severe curbs on hospitality across most of the country.
Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers are also closed in Northern Ireland until 13 November.
Slovakia may be able to avoid harsher anti-coronavirus measures as a result of its plans for nationwide testing scheduled to start this weekend, prime minister Igor Matovič said.
Authorities conducted pilot testing in four badly hit regions over the weekend with more than 90% of people participating, producing an infection rate just below 4% of those tested.
The country will conduct wide-ranging testing over the next two weekends.
“Today, we had only two options, either general testing, or complete lockdown,” Matovič said after a meeting of the government’s Central Crisis Committee.
It is a solution with which, when we do it together, we have the chance to avoid a complete lockdown and save hundreds of lives.
As of Monday, the country of 5.5 million had reported 45,155 cases, while 165 people had died.
Slovakia has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases this month like most of Europe and its plan to test most of the population will be closely watched by other countries.
Slovakia wants to avoid the harsh shutdown measures deployed in the initial wave of the outbreak in the spring, which pushed the economy into a sharp contraction.
The country has imposed a partial lockdown requiring people to stay home apart from work, essential shopping and nature trips, and has closed indoor dining at restaurants and shut venues like pools, fitness clubs or theatres.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, taking over the blog for the next few hours.
Please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_
Summary
Here are the key updates from coronavirus-related news around the world today:
- There have been 43,238,481 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world since the beginning of the pandemic, and 1,156,212 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. According to the World Health Organization data, Europe is the current pandemic hotspot, accounting for 198,276 cases already on Monday.
- France alone may be experiencing 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day – double the latest official figures – Prof Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic, said. Tougher coronavirus containment measures could be announced in the country later this week.
-
Germany is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus, Angela Merkel has reportedly warned colleagues. In an indication of the growing concern, Merkel brought forward a meeting on additional coronavirus restrictions with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states from Friday to Wednesday.
- Belgium’s intensive care units will be overrun in a fortnight if the rate of infection continues, a spokesman for country’s Covid-19 crisis centre has said. Dr Yves Van Laethem said the 2,000 intensive care beds would be full with patients without a change of course. On Monday morning, new regulations came into force in Brussels.
-
Italians have been advised against trips to other European countries because of surging coronavirus cases, with the foreign ministry warning they could get trapped overseas if travel bans became necessary.
- China has detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Kashgar in the north-western region of Xinjiang, after one person was found to have the virus the previous day – the first new local cases for 10 days in mainland China. All the cases detected on Sunday were linked to a garment factory.
- Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June, and the premier, Daniel Andrews, announced that restrictions would be easyed – among these are that hospitality and beauty businesses could reopen.
- India’s total coronavirus infections stood at 7.91 million on Monday, having risen by 45,148 cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed. India recorded its lowest death toll in about four months on Monday with 480 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 119,014.
And that’s it from me, Damien Gayle, for today.
Tougher coronavirus containment measures could be announced later this week in France, government sources have suggested after more than 50,000 new cases were announced on Sunday - the highest daily figure yet.
Emmanuel Macron, the president, will meet with his top ministers on Tuesday to review efforts to curtail the outbreak, his office said. The prime minister, Jean Castex, will then hold talks with political chiefs and union officials, before ministers gather for another meeting with Macron on Wednesday.
The meetings will focus on “the tougher measures under consideration to manage the health crisis,” an official in Castex’s office told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
On October 17, a nighttime curfew came into effect for Paris and several other cities where virus cases are soaring, affecting some 46 million people, and bars nationwide have been ordered to close.
The government has said it wants to avoid another outright lockdown like the one imposed for two months in the spring, when intensive care units were overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
Yet the exponential rise in new cases could force authorities to take more drastic action to ensure social distancing, the head of the government’s medical advisory panel said Monday.
“We knew that we would have this second wave, but we are surprised at the severity of what we’ve seen over the past 10 days,” Jean-Francois Delfraissy told RTL radio.
“This second wave will probably be worse than the first one,” Delfraissy said, adding that “many of our fellow citizens don’t yet realise what’s coming.”
Spain’s cumulative tally of coronavirus cases rose by 52,188 over the weekend, bringing the total to 1,098,320, health ministry data showed on Monday according to Reuters.
The overall death toll from the virus jumped by 279 to 35,031, the data showed.
Spain entered a second state of emergency on Sunday, enabling a night-time quarantine to be enforced across the whole country except the Canary Islands.
Europe needs “serious acceleration” in the fight against the coronavirus but the World Health Organization is still optimistic European countries will not need to need to go into national lockdowns, WHO officials said on Monday,
“We are still hopeful that countries will not have to go into so-called national lockdowns,” Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical head for Covid-19, told an online briefing, when asked about Europe’s rising case numbers, according to Reuters.
“Right now we are well behind this virus in Europe, so getting ahead of it is going to take some serious acceleration in measures,” added Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergency expert.
Low and middle income countries are facing a looming debt crisis as a result of economic pressures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, a UN human rights expert has warned.
In a new report Yuefen Li, the UN’s independent expert on debt and human rights, called for “an effective set of measures and tools to avert a systemic debt crisis with even more devastating consequences to millions of already vulnerable individuals and communities”.
More than 40% of low-income countries were already in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress prior to the onset of the pandemic. In the report, her first to the UN general assembly, Li said:
Temporary debt standstill, emergency financing, debt restructuring and debt cancellation should be part of the tool box of states, international institutions and the private sector, in order to address debt issues quickly. The end game must be to free up fiscal space for investment in people’s acute needs.
In order to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve and prepare for an equitable, resilient, greener and sustainable economic and social recovery from the pandemic, the debt problems have to be addressed as effectively and speedily as possible.
Italians warned against travelling abroad
Italians have been advised against trips to other European countries because of surging coronavirus cases, with the foreign ministry warning they could get trapped overseas if travel bans became necessary.
A statement on the ministry’s website said:
In view of the worsening epidemiological situation in Europe, the foreign ministry recommends that all compatriots avoid travelling abroad except for strictly necessary reasons. It should also be noted that given the high number of infections in many European countries, further restrictions on travel in the future cannot be excluded, which would risk complicating any return to Italy.
The ministry further warned of the dangers of travelling beyond Europe.
Similar repatriation problems could occur, with much more serious consequences, in case of travel to non-EU destinations.
The Italian government helped repatriate almost 100,000 citizens earlier in the year after they were stranded abroad as borders were closed around the world amid coronavirus fears.
In a new record, almost half a million new coronavirus infections were recorded globally in a 24-hour period during the weekend, according to Reuters data.
The Spanish government is facing a backlash over its plans to put one of Europe’s worst Covid hotspots under a six-month state of emergency, Reuters reports.
Opposition parties said six months was too long, epidemiologists said this may be too little too late, and some citizens balked at nightly curfews.
“The curfew doesn’t make much sense. Does the virus only infect people between 2300 and 0600? No,” said Marta Aragoneses, a 36-year old schoolteacher, enjoying a cigarette outside a cafe in La Latina.
Nearby, Mariano Moreno de Guerra, a pharmacist on his way to work in La Latina, said what worried him was plans for a six-month state of emergency.
“I don’t like what they’ve done at all,” he said. “They are acquiring a taste for confining people and that could be dangerous. Extending it by six months is an absolute outrage. I see a lot of potential for abuse.”
Political wrangling between the central and regional governments and between the minority government and opposition has for months hampered the response to the pandemic in Spain.
This has in turn angered many Spaniards, with analysts saying that the uncertainty could eventually hurt willingness to comply with the measures.
The nationwide curfew is set to last until at least 9 November while the government said on Sunday it would seek parliament’s approval for the state of emergency to last six months and give each region the right to take its own measures to tackle the pandemic, including limiting people’s movements.
The curfew applies to all of Spain except the Canary Islands between 11 pm and 6 am - with regions having the authority to start the curfew an hour earlier or delay it to midnight.
People are not allowed to move around at those hours unless for specific reasons, including work or needing to go to the pharmacy
Both the main opposition party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), and the center-right Ciudadanos said on Monday they would back a state of emergency, but not for that long.
PP leader Pablo Casado said his party would agree to as much as eight weeks but no more, and with a set of conditions that would include modifying legislation to allow for limits on the movement of people to tackle the pandemic to be decided without needing to resort to a state of emergency.
“The measures in Spain are reactive, dragging our feet, with the feeling that there’s no evaluation of whether they work and that something is done only because others took those steps,” said Pablo Simon, a political science professor at Madrid’s Carlos III university.
Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, has claimed it will be easier and cheaper to invest in a cure for Covid-19 rather than a vaccine, in a clear sign the president is increasingly positioning himself against inoculation programmes, Reuters reports.
“I’ll give my personal opinion: Isn’t it cheaper and easier to invest in a cure rather than a vaccine?” Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia.
Bolsonaro, who caught and recovered from, Covid-19 in July, has repeatedly downplayed the gravity of the virus and continues to promote the anti-malarial chloroquine as a cure despite mounting evidence it doesn’t work.
In Brazil, more than 150,000 people have died due to COVID-19, the world’s second highest death toll behind the United States.
Chloroquine was also heralded by Donald Trump but has dropped far down the list of potential global treatments for the novel coronavirus as repeated scientific studies failed to find any significant evidence of its effectiveness.
“I’m an example, I took chloroquine, others took invermectin, others took Annita,” Bolsonaro said also referring to two broad-spectrum anti-parasite drugs. “Everything indicates that everyone that took one of these three alternatives early on was cured,” he added without providing any scientific evidence to support his statement.
None of the drugs mentioned by Bolsonaro have been proven to work and none are authorized for the treatment of COVID-19 in Europe, for example.
Bolsonaro’s comments come as a political battle heats up between the president and Joao Doria, the governor of Sao Paulo.
Significant numbers of people around the world believe Covid-19 was created deliberately, has killed far fewer people than reported, or is a hoax and does not actually exist, according to a global survey.
Along with belief in other conspiracy theories – such as that the world is run by a secret cabal – the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, a survey of about 26,000 people in 25 countries designed in collaboration with the Guardian, found widespread and concerning scepticism about vaccine safety.
Among the most widely believed Covid conspiracies is that the death rate of the virus, which according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker has so far killed nearly 1.1 million people worldwide, has been “deliberately and greatly exaggerated”. Nearly 60% of respondents in Nigeria said this was definitely or probably true, along with more than 40% in Greece, South Africa, Poland and Mexico. About 38% of Americans, 36% of Hungarians, 30% of Italians and 28% of Germans felt the same.
Read more here:
The Bavarian city of Nuremberg also canceled its famous Christmas market, one of Germany’s best-known and a major tourist draw, AP reports.
City officials originally wanted the bustling Christkindlesmarkt to go ahead under strict hygiene rules, but Mayor Marcus Koenig said they concluded it would send the wrong signal as virus cases rise.
“This decision is very difficult for us. The Christkindlesmarkt with its great tradition belongs to Nuremberg,” Koenig said.
Norway will impose tougher measures to following a recent rise in the number of infections, including stricter rules on private gatherings, Reuters reports citing a press conference by prime minister Erna Solberg.
The government also said it would stop exceptions to quarantine rules that foreign workers coming to work in Norway enjoyed until now.
From Friday, all foreign workers arriving in the Nordic country from EU countries that are experiencing a high number cases must undergo a 10-day quarantine.
“We need to do more to control the spread of the infection,” Solberg told a news conference.
Indoor public gatherings will be limited to 50 people, reversing an earlier decision to allow up to 200 people, while the maximum number permitted to meet in a private setting will be cut from 20 to a household receiving no more than five guests.
While Norway has Europe’s lowest level of new infections, the government believes that a failure to impose targeted measures now could lead to a broader lockdown later, like those of several other countries.
Solberg in March invoked emergency powers to shut schools, restaurants, sporting events and a wide range of public and private institutions, before starting a gradual easing of restrictions in the months that followed.
Updated
From ski resorts in the north to restaurants in the south, many Italians have been making their objections heard to the government’s latest measures to combat escalating coronavirus infections.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said the restrictions, which include the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants and complete closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas, theatres and ski stations, were needed so that people could enjoy a “serene Christmas”.
But the holiday period will be far from serene for businesses already reeling from the impact of the country’s spring shutdown and that might never reopen. “A calm Christmas is impossible,” said Paolo Bianchini, a restaurant owner in the Lazio town of Viterbo and president of MIO, a hospitality sector association.
Bars and restaurants are the lifeblood of the economy for so many Italian cities and towns, particularly in the south. In Sicily, for example, the number of restaurants has grown by 50% over the last eight years, according to figures from Unioncamere-Infocamere, an agricultural union.
“It’s an injustice and a final blow that we didn’t deserve,” said Giada Penna, who owns Il Mirto e la Rosa restaurant in Palermo.
Bianchini estimates that 50% of restaurants, which were already operating at reduced capacity, will not open at all over the next month as the cost of doing so will far outweigh revenues.
Read more here:
Angela Merkel has brought forward a meeting on additional coronavirus restrictions with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states from Friday to Wednesday, in an indication of growing concern over the country’s increasing number of infections.
“(The conference) will be to discuss what can be done to contain the spread of the virus soon,” said Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, during a news conference. “I expect decisions to be made.”
The conference comes after new cases almost doubled within a week and two districts in the southern state of Bavaria imposed a two-week lockdown (see previous post).
Updated
Belgium’s intensive care units at risk of being overrun
Belgium’s intensive care units will be overrun in a fortnight if the rate of infection continues, a spokesman for country’s Covid-19 crisis centre has said, writes Daniel Boffey, the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief.
Dr Yves Van Laethem said the 2,000 intensive care beds would be full with patients without a change of course.
An average of 12,491 new coronavirus infections were recorded each day between 16 and 22 October, up 44% over the previous week.
Daily hospital admissions over the same period were up 85% week-on-week to 467.7 on average a day. There are 4,827 people being treated in hospital for Covid-19, including 757 people, in intensive care.
On Monday morning, new regulations came into force in Brussels, where the rate of infections has been particularly high. Sports centres and gyms have been forced to close. Shops have been told to shut by 8pm every day and the half-term school break next week will be extended by three days.
Updated
Singapore has temporarily withdrawn two flu vaccines after dozens of people in nearby South Korea died after receiving the shots, the South China Morning Post reports.
Forty-eight people had died in South Korea as of Saturday after receiving the vaccines; however, the South Korean health authorities said they would continue with the vaccination programme because they had found no direct link to the deaths.
Nonetheless, Singapore’s health ministry said late on Sunday that it would halt the use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent, manufactured by South Korea’s SK Bioscience, and VaxigripTetra, made by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi. Two other vaccines would continue to be used.
Countries around the world have launched campaigns to encourage people to get flu jabs, over fears that a double pandemic of flu and Covid-19 could overrun health systems.
Updated
The coronavirus pandemic is starting to inflict a greater toll on areas of Russia beyond Moscow, the Kremlin has said.
“The situation is quite serious,” Dmitry Peskov, the Russian government spokesman, told reporters on a conference call on Monday. “The epidemic has stricken the regions, it has gone east of Moscow.”
Peskov was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency that “extremely energetic” efforts from both the federal and regional governments were now needed to cope with rising case numbers.
Authorities have said Russia has enough hospital beds and medication to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, but media reports suggest some regions are struggling to withstand the pressure on their health system.
In one indication of the crisis, Russia’s health watchdog said it was investigating after local media outlet 161.ru in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don reported that several Covid-19 patients had died in hospital when their oxygen supply ran out.
A city official denied the report.
Russia’s daily tally of new coronavirus cases surged to a record high of 17,347 on Monday, including 5,224 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 1,531,224.
Authorities said 219 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 26,269.
The Netherlands has hit a new record for daily coronavirus infections, with 10,343 new confirmed cases announced on Monday.
The national institute for public health and the environment also reported 26 more Covid-related deaths.
A total of 301,597 cases of coronavirus have been counted in the country so far, and 7,072 deaths.
Pope Francis is facing criticism for rarely wearing a face covering when meeting people even in indoor settings, with some prominent Catholics saying he should be setting an example as well as protecting his own health, writes Harriet Sherwood, the Guardian’s religious affairs correspondent.
At a meeting over the weekend between the pope and the Spanish prime minister at the Vatican, neither wore a mask during the public part of the event. Although Pedro Sánchez’s face was covered when he arrived at the Vatican, the two men and their aides were unmasked immediately before and after the private meeting.
Last week, Francis wore a mask during a prayer service in Rome – only the second time he has been seen with a face covering.
Belgium records almost 12,500 cases a day for a week
An average of almost 12,500 new cases of coronavirus were reported every day in Belgium last week, compared with about 5,000 every 24 hours a week earlier, according to figures released on Monday
About one person in every five who is tested turns out to be positive, with the very elderly hardest hit, according to the Associated Press.
On average over the past week, 42 people died from the virus each day, bringing the death toll to 10,810, in a country with a population of around 11.5 million people.
Pressure is building on Belgium’s hospitals, where 467 people are being admitted on average each day, a rise of 85%. Almost 5,000 people are in hospitals, more than 750 of them in intensive care, according to the latest data.
“What we do now, what we will do in the next two weeks, will be decisive,” said Yves Van Laethem, a spokesman for Belgium’s Covid-19 crisis centre. If the figures don’t change, he said, “we are likely to reach 2,000 patients in intensive care in two weeks. That is, our maximum capacity.”
New lockdown measures were introduced on Monday, but the tightening of restrictions until 19 November, mainly in the cultural and sports sectors, were considered inadequate by two of Belgium’s three regions.
Wallonia and the Brussels capital region extended a night-time curfew from 10pm to 6am. In Brussels, masks must be worn outdoors at all times, while cinemas, theatres and sports centres were ordered to close. People must work from home when possible.
Next week’s school holiday has been extended, with high school students in Wallonia and Brussels working from home as of this Wednesday. Students in Flanders will have two extra days off after what normally would have been the end of the vacation period.
Updated
Lockdown restrictions have been extended in Tehran and across Iran, where two-thirds of provinces are now on a coronavirus red alert.
Some hospitals had run out of beds to treat new patients, the head of the national coronavirus taskforce told state TV. “Our doctors and nurses are tired. I urge everyone to respect the protocols,” Alireza Zali was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The health ministry in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country reported 337 new deaths and 5,960 new cases over the past 24 hours. A banner on state TV said that amounted to a death every four minutes.
The closure of schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran, which was due to end on Monday, will be extended until 20 November, state TV reported.
“Extreme measures and limitations” will be imposed for one week in at least 43 counties where the infection rates have been alarming, the TV report added, citing officials. Twenty-one one of Iran’s 31 provinces were on a coronavirus red alert.
Tehran has blamed US sanctions for hampering its efforts to tackle the outbreak.
Monday’s data took Iran’s total death toll to 32,953 and the number of identified cases to 574,856, the health ministry spokeswoman, Sima Sadat Lari, said.
Updated
A partial lockdown on Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor has been extended for a further two weeks, according to Reuters, as Malaysia recorded its biggest increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
A two-week partial lockdown announced earlier this month will be extended until 9 November, the senior minister of security, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, told a news conference.
His announcement came as health ministry reported 1,240 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily rise on record. The total number of cases in the country has more than doubled in the past month.
The government has imposed curbs on movement, including the closure of schools and places of worship, though all other economic activities are allowed to operate normally.
Malaysia has reported a total of 27,805 infections, including 236 deaths.
Updated
Merkel: 'Germany on the verge of losing control of virus'
Angela Merkel has warned that Germany is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus, reportedly telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic party this morning “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”, writes Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent.
At the internal meeting of the CDU, details of which were leaked to the media by participants, the chancellor warned of “very, very difficult months ahead” and said that “every day counts” in terms of tackling the virus’s spread.
On Friday, she is due to hold a meeting with the leaders of the 16 states where it is expected they will agree on tougher nationwide restrictions than those currently in place.
Merkel used her weekly podcast at the weekend to renew her insistence that people were not powerless to control the virus, and to appeal to them to “reduce contacts” as this was the most convincing measure to tackle it.
She said even though “people expect politicians to come up with new words” her message had not changed, and so she would simply go ahead and repeat her podcast from the previous week. The old podcast was promptly blended in.
Die Zahl der Coronainfektionen steigt weiter rapide. Aber wir sind nicht machtlos gegen das Virus. Was jeder jetzt tun kann und sollte: Kontakte reduzieren. – Kanzlerin #Merkel in einem ungewöhnlichen #Podcast. pic.twitter.com/a8BeJdEqVg
— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) October 24, 2020
Jens Spahn, the health minister, who is in quarantine having been diagnosed with coronavirus last week, appealed in a video message for people to stop believing those who were attempting to downplay the severity of the virus, adding that Germany’s health system was in danger of being overwhelmed if the number of new cases was not kept in check.
Meanwhile, authorities in Berlin, which already for several weeks has been considered one of the nation’s coronavirus hotspots, have said they will veer away from tracking and tracing those infected with coronavirus due to a lack of resources, and will rely instead on infected persons taking responsibility for themselves and going into isolation at home as well as taking the initiative in contacting people with whom they have been in touch.
The health authorities will switch their focus on to the vulnerable instead, including medical personnel, patients in hospitals and care homes as well as homeless people.
Berlin cases have been well over 100 per 100,000 for several days, over double the critical 50 per 100,000 marker.
Updated
Switzerland’s health minister has said that health restrictions expected to be announced this week to contain the spread of coronavirus are likely to be in place for a long time.
Alain Berset told a news conference in Lausanne: “What we’re preparing now will likely last a long time. We’re not making decisions on Wednesday for Friday, we’re making decisions for the next weeks and months.”
Berset’s comments came as Switzerland’s health authorities announced 17,440 new infections, 259 new hospital admissions, and 37 Covid-related deaths. The figures include Saturday and Sunday, as no announcements are made over the weekend.
So far the Alpine country has recorded 121,093 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus, and a death toll of 1,914.
Updated
This is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the live blog now, with thanks to super Sarah Marsh for keeping things going all morning. If you want to get in touch with any comments, tips or suggestions for stories we could cover or update here on the blog (world news only, please) then drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Hello everyone, thanks for following the blog today. I will shortly be handing it over to a colleague who will keep you updated.
Authorities in Ireland have vowed to crack down on shops that circumvent lockdown rules and continue to sell clothes, toys and other non-essential goods.
The government imposed a 5km travel limit and ordered non-essential retail to close on 21 October for six weeks in some of Europe’s severest restrictions.
However, some clothing stores have remained open, citing their stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE), and some supermarkets continue to sell clothes and toys along with food.
Retailers need to abide by the rules and spirit of the rules, Leo Varadkar, the deputy prime minister, told RTE. “If you are a mixed retailer, you should separate your stock and only sell items that are essential. If you are a supermarket or a big store that has groceries and clothes, you should separate off the clothes and not sell them. If [shops] are selling PPE that is one thing. But if they’re trying to use PPE in order to sell other products, that is a very different thing.”
The government had been in contact with the police and the rules will be enforced, Varadkar said.
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association said it opposed the closure of shops but that any restrictions they should be applied fairly and across the board. “We either have a rule or we don’t,” said Neil McDonnell, the group’s chief executive.
Updated
Bulgarian schools will be allowed to switch to online studies, the education ministry said on Monday, as the Balkan country struggles to contain a fresh surge in coronavirus infections.
Bulgaria, like most of the European Union, is reporting a sharp rise in infections, with the total number of confirmed cases almost doubling to 37,889 since the start of October. Prime minister Boyko Borissov himself tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.
The ministry said school heads in areas with high numbers of infections, such as the capital, Sofia, could choose to switch to distance learning if they see a rising number of abstentions due either to infections or quarantines.
The ministry recommended switching to online learning first for high schools, saying online studies for primary pupils should be introduced only if absolutely necessary.
Updated
Hospitals in many Iranian provinces are running out of capacity to handle Covid-19 cases, health authorities say, with the coronavirus killing about 300 people a day.
Authorities have complained of poor social distancing, and the deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, said the pandemic could cause 600 daily deaths in coming weeks if Iranians failed to respect health protocols in the Middle East’s worst-affected country.
A caption that ran on state television news said an Iranian died of novel coronavirus every five minutes, a rate that corresponds to daily death tallies reported by the authorities of just above or below 300 over the past 20 days.
Health ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV on Sunday that 32,616 people had died of the disease and the number of confirmed cases had reached 568,896.
Some experts have doubted the accuracy of Iran’s official coronavirus tolls. A report by the Iranian parliament’s research centre in April suggested the coronavirus tolls might be almost twice as many as those announced by the health ministry.
Updated
European leaders warned of difficult months ahead as the resurgent Covid-19 pandemic forced authorities to impose new restrictions to try to curb the spread of the disease.
Word that a vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc produced immune responses in both elderly and young people offered some positive news.
However, the British health secretary, Matt Hancock, cautioned that the vaccine would not be widely available until next year and said: “We’re not there yet”.
Elsewhere, the picture was unrelentingly grim as a string of countries reported record increases, led by France, which posted more than 50,000 daily cases for the first time on Sunday, while the continent passed the threshold of 250,000 deaths.
Governments have been desperate to avoid the lockdowns that curbed the disease at the start of the year at the cost of shutting down their entire economies. But the steady rise in new cases has forced them to ratchet up controls steadily.
“We are facing very, very difficult months ahead,” the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, told a meeting of leaders from her Christian Democrat party, according to daily Bild.
Although Germany has fared relatively well compared with other countries in Europe, it too has seen a sharp rise in cases and the closely watched Ifo business climate index fell on Monday, reflecting the worries over the virus.
The gloom around the resurgent virus weighed on financial markets, where oil prices dropped on concerns of another slide in demand and stock markets also fell.
In Spain, which has had more than 1m cases of the disease, prime minister Pedro Sanchez warned the country was facing an “extreme” situation as he announced a new state of emergency on Sunday, imposing local nighttime curfews and banning travel between regions in some cases.
Italy, the country worst hit in the early stages of the crisis in March, also imposed new curbs, ordering restaurants and bars to close from 6pm and shutting down cinemas, and gyms and imposing local curfews in several regions.
Street clashes with small groups of protestors over the weekend and angry criticism from restaurant owners and business groups about the impact of the measures underlined the increasingly tense climate facing prime minister Giuseppe Conte.
Updated
Hi all. I will update you on all the news as it comes in from across the globe. I hope everyone is well today, please do email me if you want to share any thoughts, news tips or comments.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford produces a similar immune response in both older and younger adults, and adverse responses were lower among the elderly, British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc said on Monday.
A vaccine that works is seen as a game-changer in the battle against the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 1.15 million people, hammered the global economy and shuttered normal life across the world.
“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the Covid-19 disease severity is higher,” an AstraZeneca spokesman told Reuters.
“The results further build the body of evidence for the safety and immunogenicity of AZD1222,” the spokesman said, referring to the technical name of the vaccine.
The news that older people get an immune response from the vaccine is positive because the immune system weakens with age and older people are those most at risk of dying from the virus.
The Financial Times reported earlier that the vaccine, being developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca, triggers protective antibodies and T-cells in older age groups – among those most at risk from the virus.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be one of the first from big pharma to secure regulatory approval, along with Pfizer and BioNTech’s candidate.
If it works, a vaccine would allow the world to return to some measure of normality after the tumult of the pandemic.
Immunogenicity blood tests carried out on a subset of older participants echo data released in July which showed the vaccine generated “robust immune responses” in a group of healthy adults aged between 18 and 55, the Financial Times reported.
Updated
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Guardian’s live feed on coronavirus where I will update you on all the news as it comes in from across the globe. I hope everyone is well today, please do email me if you want to share any thoughts, news tips or comments. I’ve also done a short explainer on liveblogging on my Instagram today for anyone who is interested.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Updated
Thousands of free meals will be provided to children in England by businesses, local authorities and community groups on the first day of half-term as the government faces a damaging revolt on the issue.
Dozens of people from a range of organisations have stepped in to help, with health secretary Matt Hancock hailing them as “absolutely wonderful” while insisting that millions has already been provided to councils to help their communities.
A petition from the Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, who has been spearheading demands for free meals to be extended in England over the school holidays, has passed 800,000 signatures, piling further pressure on the government to act.
Hancock said he agrees “very strongly” with “the purpose” of Rashford’s campaign, telling Sky News: “I think we’re all inspired by the way that he’s led that campaign. And the purpose is that no child should go hungry, and that’s right.”
He said Universal Credit had been increased by £20 a week while £63m has already been provided by central government to local authorities so that they can support people.
Updated
Wales’ health minister has said that supermarkets in the country can sell non-essential items during the firebreak lockdown in “exceptional circumstances”.
The Welsh government is due to discuss the ban, which has been heavily criticised over the weekend, with supermarkets on Monday.
“We’re looking to have that clarity so you don’t see cards, for example, sealed up in one shop but available in another,” Vaughan Gething told Sky News.
“We want the clarity on the principle that if there really are exceptional circumstances when someone needs what would otherwise be a non-essential item, that can happen as well.
“We want that clarity because this potentially overshadows the much bigger issue of having a firebreak to save people’s lives.”
Updated
UK health secretary says tier 4 restrictions can't be ruled out
The UK’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the government would “rule nothing out” on the prospect of a new fourth tier of measures, a fortnight after it brought in a three-tiered coronavirus restrictions system.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve always said all along that we take nothing off the table. Having said that, we have seen the rise in the number of cases has slowed a bit.
“The problem is it’s still going up, and while it’s still going up we’ve got to act to get it under control. We rule nothing out but at the moment the three-tier system is what we’re working to and it’s effective in slowing the growth of this virus but it hasn’t brought this curve to a halt.”
Updated
Russia’s daily tally of new coronavirus cases surged to a record high of 17,347 on Monday, including 5,224 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 1,531,224.
Authorities said 219 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 26,269.
The UK pharmacy chain Boots is set to unveil a new asymptomatic coronavirus testing service it says can return results from swab tests in just 12 minutes.
Boots said the LumiraDx devices, which are able to quickly process swab tests to give customers same-day results, will be rolled out in selected stores over the next few weeks.
It has also launched a 48-hour testing service which is available in 10 stores across London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, with plans to extend the programme to more than 50 outlets across the nation.
The service is available as a private pre-flight test for customers who require one before travelling abroad, or as a solution for those who would prefer peace of mind before seeing friends and family. The in-store service will cost £120 per test.
Seb James, managing director of Boots UK and ROI, said the programme was being implemented as a way to help ease the pressure on the nation’s health services.
“Boots has supported the government’s Covid-19 testing programme from the very start and offering this new in-store service is the next step in our efforts to fight against the pandemic,” he said.
“We hope that by offering this testing option in local community stores, Boots can help ease pressure on the NHS and the government by providing additional access to testing and crucial reassurances for people across the UK.
Customers who are not displaying any Covid-19 symptoms can book an in-store test through the company’s website.
Updated
France may be experiencing 100,000 new Covid cases a day
France may be experiencing 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day – two times more than the latest figures – Prof Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the pandemic, told RTL radio on Monday.
“There is probably more than 50,000 cases per day. We estimate, on the scientific committee, that we are more in the region of 100,000 cases per day,” said Delfraissy.
France registered a record 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as a second wave of cases surges through Europe.
The new cases took the French total to 1,138,507, with France ahead of Argentina and Spain to register the world’s fifth highest number of cases after the US, India, Brazil and Russia.
Updated
The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca produces a robust immune response in elderly people, the group at highest risk, the Financial Times has reported.
The vaccine triggers protective antibodies and T-cells in older age groups, the FT said said, citing two people familiar with the finding, encouraging researchers as they seek evidence that it will spare those in later life from serious illness or death from the virus.
Details of the finding are expected to be published shortly in a clinical journal, the FT said, without naming the publication.
The findings echo data released in July that showed the vaccine generated “robust immune responses” in a group of healthy adults aged between 18 and 55, the newspaper reported, citing people aware of the results from so-called immunogenicity blood tests.
But it cautioned that positive immunogenicity tests do not guarantee that the vaccine will ultimately prove safe and effective in older people.
AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with Oxford University researchers, is seen as a frontrunner in the race to produce a vaccine to protect against Covid-19.
Oxford and AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.
One of the world’s leading coronavirus vaccine candidates, called AZD1222 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, was developed by Oxford University scientists and licensed to AstraZeneca in April, which took on the task of scaling trials and production.
Updated
In the UK, the main opposition Labour party has hit out at the government’s decision to allow the temporary suspension of VAT on personal protective equipment (PPE) to expire, calling the move “unbelievable”.
The Treasury cut VAT on PPE to 0% in May, with the cut applying to items such as face masks and aprons purchased by care homes, businesses, charities and individuals to protect against the virus.
It was initially due to return to 20% in August, but was extended until 31 October at the estimated cost of around £255m for the six-month period.
Labour says the Treasury has confirmed the suspension will not be extended, with shadow financial secretary to the Treasury James Murray calling the decision “the last thing” families need.
He said:
It’s unbelievable that the government wants to introduce a mask tax in the middle of a pandemic.
“With Covid cases on the rise across the country, the government should be doing all it can to help people follow its own guidance to wear a mask, not ramping up the cost of buying one.
“Families across the country are already struggling financially as a result of the crisis. The last thing they need is to be penalised for doing the right thing.”
Updated
That’s it from me for today. Thanks for following along – Amy Walker will be with you for the next few hours of pandemic news.
The news was greeted with tears, cheers and, at the afternoon school pick-up, a spontaneous concert of parents honking car horns in celebration.
In Australia, as the state of Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, announced at 3.30pm on Monday that Melbourne’s months-long lockdown would (largely) come to an end, residents rejoiced.
Everyone was at home Brigid https://t.co/RG4W6pGOId
— Osman Faruqi (@oz_f) October 26, 2020
From midnight on Tuesday cafes, restaurants, bars and beauty services will reopen, subject to patron limits, and people will be able to leave their home for any reason.
It was a moment of high anticipation.
With the US election just over a week away, millions of Americans have been heading to the polls this fall with healthcare and drug prices as their top voting issue.
The United States’ massive, largely private and very expensive health industry has ranked as a top voter concern for years, and helped drive Democrats to victory in the midterm elections of 2018, when the party took control of the House of Representatives.
While over the last six months of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 Americans, Covid-19 eclipsed healthcare as the top issue of the election, many health voters argue the two are inseparable:
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- China has detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Kashgar in the north-western region of Xinjiang, after one person was found to have the virus the previous day – the first new local cases for 10 days in mainland China.All the cases detected on Sunday were linked to a garment factory where the parents of a 17-year-old girl who was found on Saturday to have the virus – but showed no symptoms – worked, a Xinjiang health commission official told a press briefing.
- The United States saw 83,718 new cases reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the record 83,757 infections reported on Friday, as US Vice President Mike Pence announced that he will continue campaigning on Sunday, despite his chief of staff and four other top aides having tested positive for coronavirus.
- Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, declared a new nationwide state of emergency on Sunday – including a curfew – in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections. The Socialist leader told the nation in a televised address that the extraordinary measure will go into effect on Sunday from 11pm to 6am.
- Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June, and the premier, Daniel Andrews, announced that restrictions would be easyed – among these are that hospitality and beauty businesses could reopen.
- Five aides to US Vice President Mike Pence tested positive. The coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the White House itself, with the chief of staff to Mike Pence and four othersin the vice-president’s inner circle having tested positive. Despite Pence being exposed to the disease, he planned to continue an aggressive campaign schedule in the final nine days of the race. The vice-president was scheduled to hold a rally on Sunday afternoon in Kinston, North Carolina.
- India’s total coronavirus infections stood at 7.91 million on Monday, having risen by 45,148 cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed. India recorded its lowest death toll in about four months on Monday with 480 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 119,014.
-
Mexican health authorities acknowledged Sunday that the country’s true death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is far higher than thought, saying there were 193,170 “excess” deaths in the year up to 26 September, with 139,153 of those judged to be attributable to Covid-19. That is about 50,000 more deaths than Mexico’s official, test-confirmed death toll of about 89,000, and about 56% higher than the previous estimate of 103,882 pandemic deaths.
- Malaysia’s king on Sunday rejected a proposal by embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to declare a state of emergency to fight a new outbreak of the coronavirus. The plan by Muhyiddin, which involves suspending Parliament, has sparked national outrage, with critics slamming the move as an undemocratic means for him to hang on to power amid challenges to his leadership.
- Israel will begin its first clinical trials of a novel coronavirus vaccine next month, authorities said Sunday, as the country grapples with a second wave of infections.
- The World Health Organization’s coronavirus dashboard showed a third consecutive daily record high in the number of new confirmed cases. Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
- The WHO chief warned against “vaccine nationalism”, calling for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine, as the number of cases soared across the world. In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged leaders to choose to, “vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries.”
- Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June,a day after the state delayed the easing of restrictions because of a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
- France registered 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, following a record 45,422 on Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It also said that 116 people had died from coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, compared to from 137 on Saturday, taking the total confirmed death toll to 34,761.
- An official from China’s Xinjiang health commission said that 137 new asymptomatic cases have been detected in the region. All of the new cases were linked to a garment factory.
- The prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte announced a raft of new restrictions and warned that the country’s escalating coronavirus infection rate was already having a worrying impact on hospitals. Italy reported a new daily record of 21,273 coronavirus cases with 128 deaths, health ministry figures showed on Sunday, up from the 19,644 new infections reported on Saturday.
Australia’s lockdown prevented about 400 deaths from other illnesses - research paper
Social distancing and lockdowns in Australia not only slowed the spread of Cpvid-19, they saved the lives of about 400 people who would have been expected to die in June from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia, a research paper published on Monday showed.
Reuters: Examining Australia’s most recent official fatality data, the Actuaries Institute said there was a shortfall between verified deaths and the number expected during the mid-winter month, which it concluded was due to a decline in respiratory illnesses.
“It is clear that lockdowns and other Covid-19 control measures have created great hardship for many in Australia,” said Jennifer Lang, Convenor of the Actuaries Institute’s Covid-19 Working Group.
“These measures have not only saved very many Australians from Covid-19 disease and death, they have also reduced deaths from a number of other causes.”
Updated
South Korea urged citizens to get vaccinated against influenza and reduce the chances of an outbreak that coincides with the battle against the coronavirus, as it kicked off free inoculations for the last eligible group, Reuters reports.
Public anxiety over the safety of flu vaccines has surged after at least 48 people died this month following vaccinations.
Authorities have said they found no direct link between the deaths and the flu shots and have sought to reassure South Koreans about the safety of the vaccines against flu, a disease that kills at least 3,000 each year.
However, last month, about 5 million doses had to be disposed of after not being stored at recommended temperatures.
Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after these deaths, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines’ usage. Singapore has reported no deaths linked to flu vaccinations.
India sees lowest deaths in four months
India’s total coronavirus infections stood at 7.91 million on Monday, having risen by 45,148 cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed.
The world’s second-most populous country also has the second-highest number of infections after the United States, which has around 8.1 million.
However, India recorded its lowest death toll in about four months on Monday with 480 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 119,014.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 8,685 to 437,866, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday.
The reported death toll rose by 24 to 10,056.
Restrictions eased further in Australian state of Victoria after zero new cases reported
Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June,a day after the state delayed the easing of restrictions because of a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Now, the state Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that restrictions will be significantly eased.
From my colleague Amy Remeikis on the Australian live blog:
Melbourne, take a bow – you did it. From tomorrow - all retail opens. Hospitality reopens. Beauty reopens. You can leave your house.
Daniel Andrews:
But the most important thing today is to acknowledge that with zero cases and so much testing over the weekend, not just in the north but across the whole state, we are able to say that now is the time to open up. Now is the time to congratulate every single Victorian for staying the course.
Now is the time to thank every single Victorian family for being guided by the data, the science and the doctors. Not letting our frustration get the better of us but, instead, proving equal to this wicked enemy.
In other holiday news – South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports that there are fears that Halloween crowds this weekend could contribute to a resurgence of the virus in Seoul:
The number of COVID-19 cases in the capital area has increased since the government eased its social distancing rules two weeks ago, posing an ongoing challenge to health authorities ahead of possibly large crowds this Halloween weekend.
The government took coronavirus restrictions down to the lowest Level 1 on Oct. 12, citing falling new cases and “public fatigue” over various restrictions on dining in, gathering in large crowds and other measures meant to stop the spread of the virus.
But in the two weeks since, domestic infections have increased daily by numbers ranging from 41 to 138, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
One of the more surprising Sunday headlines came from the Wall Street Journal: Health Agency Halts Coronavirus Ad Campaign, Leaving Santa Claus in the Cold.
The WSJ reports that the Trump administration offered Santa Claus performers a deal: if they agreed to promote a Covid-19 vaccine, they would get early access to it. The story says that performers playing Mrs Claus or elves would also have been included. But the plan has now been called off.
The article continues:
Ric Erwin, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, called the news “extremely disappointing”, adding: “this was our greatest hope for Christmas 2020, and now it looks like it won’t happen.”
You can read more of this belter at the Wall Street Journal (although it’s behind a paywall).
Nearly 1 billion Indians will soon celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, and the country’s biggest. Socializing is key part of the most highly anticipated event of the year, with malls and markets buzzing with shoppers. It also traditionally brings in a massive increase in consumer spending across India, AP reports.
Even though the government is expecting the festival to help resuscitate the ailing economy, it is also worried about people packing together, foregoing social distancing and masks.
Such concerns prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the nation in a televised speech earlier this week, warning people of “any laxity” during the festive season that “could strain India’s health system.”
India is second to the United States with the largest coronavirus outbreak. Last month, the country hit a peak of nearly 100,000 cases in a single day, but since then daily infections have fallen by about half and deaths by about a third.
Some experts say the decline in cases suggests the virus may have finally reached a plateau but others question the testing methods. India’s testing rate has remained constant but it is relying heavily on antigen tests, which are faster but less accurate than traditional RT-PCR tests.
Even as the reasons behind the decline are not fully clear, India is still clocking more than 50,000 cases a day, making any new surge all the more important.
Mexico reports 193,170 'excess' deaths
Mexican health authorities acknowledged Sunday that the country’s true death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is far higher than thought, saying there were 193,170 “excess” deaths in the year up to 26 September, with 139,153 of those judged to be attributable to Covid-19, AP reports.
That is about 50,000 more deaths than Mexico’s official, test-confirmed death toll of about 89,000, and about 56% higher than the previous estimate of 103,882 pandemic deaths.
Mexico has an extremely low testing rate, and officials had previously acknowledged that many people didn’t get tested or their tests were mishandled. Authorities had earlier presented the estimated Covid-19 death toll of 103,882 after taking into account mishandled tests and some other factors.
But the Health Department said experts had now analyzed databases of death certificates up to late September — the latest date for which complete data was available – to come up with the latest figure of 139,153. The analysis picked up symptoms related to Covid-19 mentioned on death certificates even if they weren’t listed as the cause of death.
Excess deaths are calculated by comparing the expected number of deaths from an average of previous years to those in 2020.
The department did not explain the other 54,000 “excess” deaths, but experts in other countries have suggested that more people may have died from non-coronavirus causes simply because hospitals were crowded with Covid-19 patients, or people were wary of seeking medical attention for other illnesses because they feared getting infected.
Mexico has a policy of testing only people who show serious symptoms of coronavirus infection, as well as a tiny sample of the wider population.
North Dakota officials voted to repurpose US$221m in federal coronavirus aid to various state agencies, including a $16m grant to oil companies in support of the fracking process, AP reports.
The North Dakota Emergency Commission approved the plan Friday, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
The money comes from the $1.25bn awarded to the state through the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal CARES Act.
The Oil and Gas Division plans to award the $16m grant to oil companies for acquiring and disposing of water used in the hydraulic fracturing process, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected underground to crack rock and release oil.
The full story on China’s new outbreak now:
China has detected 137 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Kashgar in the north-western region of Xinjiang after one person was found to have the virus the previous day – the first new local cases for 10 days in mainland China.
All the cases detected on Sunday were linked to a garment factory where the parents of a 17-year-old girl who was found on Saturday to have the virus – but showed no symptoms – worked, a Xinjiang health commission official told a press briefing.
The new cases marked mainland China’s first local infections since 14 October, when one was detected in Qingdao. Xinjiang was the site of a local cluster in August, which prompted a “wartime state” of lockdown in the capital Urumqi, but no new cases had been found in the region since 15 August.
Residents reported confusion on Saturday afternoon as flights in and out of Kashgar were suddenly cancelled, and police authorities posted and then deleted a social media message reminding people to wear masks and “not believe or spread rumours”:
Updated
In the US, these voters in Philadelphia have broken the monotony of the long voting lines by breaking into dance – while wearing face masks – to the Cha Cha Slide by DJ Casper:
South Korea’s Celltrion Inc said on Monday it has received emergency use authorisation (EUA) from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its rapid COVID-19 testing kit Sampinute, which boosted shares of the company and its affiliates.
Reuters: Celltrion said Sampinute delivers coronavirus test results within 10 minutes, with a sensitivity of around 94%.
The authorisation came three months after requesting approval in late July and the product has already been launched in the United States in August, according to the company statement.
“[The company] is planning to supply Sampinute across the United States through local wholesalers as it believes the demand for rapid diagnosis kits will be high, mainly among large businesses and government agencies that are about to return to work after telecommuting,” it said in a statement.
Shares of Celltrion Inc surged as much as 4.6%, while Celltrion Pharm and Celltrion Healthcare jumped 4.6% and 1.6%, respectively. Broader KOSPI, however, was trading down 0.1% as of 0208 GMT.
Malaysia's king rejects PM's proposal to declare emergency
Malaysia’s king on Sunday rejected a proposal by embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to declare a state of emergency to fight a new outbreak of the coronavirus, AP reports.
The plan by Muhyiddin, which involves suspending Parliament, has sparked national outrage, with critics slamming the move as an undemocratic means for him to hang on to power amid challenges to his leadership.
The palace said in a statement that Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah “is of the opinion that there is currently no need for His Majesty to declare a state of emergency in this country or any part of Malaysia.”
Hours later, Muhyiddin said the Cabinet took note of the king’s decision and will further discuss the decree.
“The priority of the Cabinet and the government at this time is to protect citizens from the Covid-19 disease,” he said in a brief statement. He also welcomed the king’s advice to ensure his government’s stability. Local media said the Cabinet is expected to meet later Monday.
Sultan Abdullah, who earlier Sunday conferred with other royal households on the emergency proposal, said the government has handled the pandemic well and believes Muhyiddin is capable of implementing measures to cope with the crisis. But the monarch called for a halt to “all politicking” that could disrupt the government’s stability.
Malaysia’s coronavirus cases doubled to more than 26,000 in just three weeks following a new outbreak, mainly in Sabah state on Borneo island.
Israel to begin first vaccine clinical trials next month
Israel will begin its first clinical trials of a novel coronavirus vaccine next month, authorities said Sunday, as the country grapples with a second wave of infections, AFP reports.
Early in the pandemic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) with developing a vaccine against the virus.
Covid-19 has killed over 2,370 people in the Jewish state since the start of the outbreak there, and has infected more than 300,000, according to official figures.
On Sunday, authorities announced that the first clinical trials of the “BriLife” vaccine would begin on November 1, as a spokesperson for the defence ministry said the “necessary approvals” had been granted. The trials will be conducted over several months.
“Our final goal is 15 million rations for the residents of the state of Israel and for our close neighbours,” IIBR head Shmuel Shapira was quoted as saying in a statement.
Scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, which has killed over 1.1 million people.
Several dozen vaccine candidates are currently being tested in clinical trials, ten of which are in the most advanced “phase 3” stage involving tens of thousands of volunteers.
Mexico’s health ministry reported on Sunday 4,360 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 181 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 891,160 and the death toll to 88,924.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump played host Sunday to hundreds of superheroes, unicorns, skeletons and even a miniature version of themselves as part of a Halloween celebration at the White House.
From AP: In years past, the president and first lady personally handed out candy to the costume-clad kids. This year, the treats were provided separately as participants walked along a path on the South Lawn.
The kids still briefly met the president and first lady, who waved and offered words of encouragement from a safe distance about how much they liked the costumes. Trump and the first lady have both recently recovered from Covid-19.
Trump was particularly pleased with a young boy with a distinctly Trump head of hair and a partner who did her best Mrs. Trump impersonation. The president motioned for them to turn and pose for the cameras, and they happily agreed.
The spooky celebration was changed up a bit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Guests older than 2 were required to wear face coverings and practice social distancing. The same went for all White House personnel working the event, while any staff giving out candy also wore gloves.
Updated
China reports 161 new asymptomatic cases
China reported 20 new confirmed and 161 new asymptomatic Covid-19 cases on 25 October, the national health authority said on Monday, following a surge in symptomless infections in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that all new confirmed cases were imported infections originating from overseas. Of the 161 new symptomless infections, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, 138 were locally transmitted. It did not clarify how many of the infections occured in Xinjiang.
Kashgar in Xinjiang region on Saturday started testing its 4.75 million people after detecting an asymptomatic patient at a garment factory. Another 137 asymptomatic cases have been reported on25 October due to the tests being conducted.
A total of 85,810 confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported in mainland China to date, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,634.
Updated
The global aerospace industry has endured its worst quarter ever with record low orders for new aircraft and 12,000 UK jobs already lost or at risk because of the collapse in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Aircraft manufacturers received only 13 orders in July and August, according to the aerospace and defence lobby group ADS. No orders were placed in September. That compares with 152 in the same period in 2019.
More than a 10th of the jobs in the UK’s aerospace industry could go as the plane manufacturers Airbus and Boeing and their suppliers adjust to lower demand, according to separate figures shown to the Guardian.
At least 12,000 aerospace workers are either being made redundant or are at risk of losing their jobs, according to legally required notices of possible redundancies received by the Unite union. There were 111,000 workers in the aerospace manufacturing and maintenance sectors in 2019, according to ADS:
Five aides to US Vice President Mike Pence test positive
The coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the White House itself, with the chief of staff to Mike Pence and four others in the vice-president’s inner circle having tested positive.
Despite Pence being exposed to the disease, he planned to continue an aggressive campaign schedule in the final nine days of the race. The vice-president was scheduled to hold a rally on Sunday afternoon in Kinston, North Carolina.
Such unbroken travel plans amounted to a breach of the recommendations of the Trump administration’s own public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They would require the vice-president to be in quarantine for 14 days and always to wear a mask around other people. Pence has frequently been seen maskless in public.
Such blatant disregard for the administration’s own health standards is doubly awkward given that Pence has led the White House coronavirus taskforce since late February. Dr Anthony Fauci, the most senior public health expert on the taskforce, said on Friday meetings had dwindled and Trump had not attended one in months.
The White House said Pence was not required to follow the quarantine rule because he is deemed “essential personnel”. Asked why electioneering was classed “essential”, Meadows said the-vice president continued to do his official work in between campaign stops.
Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease expert at George Mason University in Virginia, called Pence’s decision to travel “grossly negligent”:
US sees new case highs
A day after the US set a daily record for new coronavirus infections, it came very close to doing it again.
Data published by Johns Hopkins University showed that 83,718 new cases were reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the 83,757 reported on Friday. Before that, the most cases reported in the US on a single day was 77,362 on 16 July.
Close to 8.6 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and about 225,000 have died. Both statistics are the world’s highest. India has more than 7.8m infections but its daily numbers have been declining.
The new figures came as the Trump administration made the extraordinary admission that it had abandoned all pretence of trying to conquer the crisis
“We are not going to control the pandemic,” Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas”:
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 for the next few hours.
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
The United States saw 83,718 new cases reported nationally on Saturday, nearly matching the record 83,757 infections reported on Friday, as US Vice President Mike Pence announced that he will continue campaigning on Sunday, despite his chief of staff and four other top aides having tested positive for coronavirus.
Meanwhile Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, declared a new nationwide state of emergency on Sunday – including a curfew – in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections. The Socialist leader told the nation in a televised address that the extraordinary measure will go into effect on Sunday from 11pm to 6am.
- The World Health Organization’s coronavirus dashboard showed a third consecutive daily record high in the number of new confirmed cases. Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
- The WHO chief warned against “vaccine nationalism”, calling for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine, as the number of cases soared across the world. In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,“It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first but if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively. And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries.”
- Australia’s coronavirus hot spot of Victoria on Monday reported zero cases of coronavirus for the first time since June, a day after the state delayed the easing of restrictions because of a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
- France registered 52,010 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, following a record 45,422 on Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It also said that 116 people had died from coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, compared to from 137 on Saturday, taking the total confirmed death toll to 34,761.
- An official from China’s Xinjiang health commission said that 137 new asymptomatic cases have been detected in the region. All of the new cases were linked to a garment factory.
- The prime minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte announced a raft of new restrictions and warned that the country’s escalating coronavirus infection rate was already having a worrying impact on hospitals. Italy reported a new daily record of 21,273 coronavirus cases with 128 deaths, health ministry figures showed on Sunday, up from the 19,644 new infections reported on Saturday.
- Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has declared a new nationwide state of emergency in the hope of stemming a resurgence in coronavirus infections. He said: “The reality is that Europe and Spain are immersed in a second wave of the pandemic.”
- The number of new coronavirus cases in the Netherlands has risen by more than 10,000 in 24 hours, according to newly released official data.
- The US’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told the BBC that he expected news on whether a vaccine is safe and effective by December, but noted that a wide rollout was unlikely “until the second or third quarter of [next] year”. He also acknowledged that Donald Trump’s public statements on several key issues had not “followed the science”.
- In Indonesia, the health ministry reported 3,732 new coronavirus infections, and 94 deaths, bringing the totals to 389,712 cases and 13,299 deaths – the highest totals in south-east Asia.
- In Hungary, there were 3,149 new cases of coronavirus reported on Sunday, the highest single-day tally and jumping above 3,000 for the first time.
- The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas in the United States said it was “extremely disappointed” after the Trump administration pulled out of a deal offering the Christmas legends early access to a Covid-19 vaccine in exchange for promoting it.
