Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Clea Skopeliti (now) with Sarah Marsh, Matilda Boseley and Josh Taylor (earlier)

Colombia due to surpass 1m cases; arrests made at London anti-lockdown protest – as it happened

Sheffield has moved into tier 3 restrictions along with the rest of South Yorkshire.
Sheffield has moved into tier 3 restrictions along with the rest of South Yorkshire. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Summary

We’ll be closing down this blog shortly, as the Sydney team get a new one up and running. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with tips and suggestions for coverage.

In the meantime, here’s a quick summary of recent key developments:

  • Several European countries have reported record daily increases in coronavirus cases, including Italy, Greece, Austria, Luxembourg and France.
  • Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has entered self-isolation after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement.
  • The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London.
  • The number of coronavirus deaths in the Czech Republic has doubled to 2,047 in two weeks, data from the health ministry showed on Saturday.
  • Angolan protesters defied coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Luanda on Saturday, taking to the streets to demonstrate against the government. Police fired tear gas and beat up demonstrators, some of whom had set up barricades and set fires.
  • The Australian state of Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours.

The government is facing a legal battle with academics over its “unlawful” decision to reopen universities for face-to-face teaching last month.

The UK’s largest academic union is seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision to ignore advice from its own Sage committee of experts to move all non-essential university and college teaching online in September. In a pre-action letter, sent to the education secretary Gavin Williamson and shared with the Observer, the University and College Union (UCU) argues the government’s failure to direct universities to move to online teaching this term was unlawful, unfair, unjust and irrational.

Updated

The proportion of younger adults in the UK who admit to flouting Covid-19 restrictions has increased in the past fortnight to more than one in six, according to a new poll.

In a worrying sign for ministers, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows the proportion of 18- to 34-year-olds who admit breaking the rules has increased from 10% to 17% in the last fortnight. The proportion of 35- to 44-year-olds increased even more sharply – from 10% to 18% over the same period.

Interesting Reuters update from Colombia amid global anticipation for a vaccine:

As scientists around the world race to find a coronavirus inoculation, Colombia says it is ready to distribute any vaccine which proves effective.

Its preparedness is thanks to decades of work on a free government immunisation programme which offers 21 vaccines to everyone in the South American nation - among the region’s most generous for vaccine provision.

“We have a really strong vaccination programme that serves as a model and which will incorporate the new formula that will arrive against Covid,” Gerardo Burgos, secretary general of the health ministry, told Reuters.

The programme covers not just Colombia’s own population of about 50 million people but also more than 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants and includes everything from infant shots to human papillomavirus.

The country distributes about 23 million doses per year.

Colombia has already committed $213 million to the global COVAX initiative, guaranteeing COVID-19 vaccinations for about 10 million people. People over 60, those with pre-existing conditions and healthcare workers will be immunised first.

Updated

Victoria reports seven new Covid cases

In Australia, Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours. This is a small figure on a global scale, but to residents of Melbourne it is worryingly high.

Melbourne has been under stay-at-home orders for 109 days and the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is scheduled to announce an easing of restrictions today.

It comes as the 14-day rolling average of new cases in the city fell below the target of five cases per day, to 4.6.

However, Andrews said on Saturday that the easing of restrictions could be in doubt because of a new outbreak in the city’s northern suburbs.

Updated

Updated

Labour is ramping up the pressure on the UK government to U-turn and extend free school meal provision over the holidays, warning it will bring the motion back to parliament if ministers do not reverse their position before Christmas.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green called on the prime minister to meet with the taskforce set up by footballer Marcus Rashford “as a matter of urgency” to discuss its proposals for ending child poverty.

“There is still time to change approach, but the Government must act quickly. If you change your policy now, we can ensure that no child goes to bed hungry on Christmas Day,” Green wrote in a letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson.

“Labour will not give up on the fight to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry, and if you do not change course we will bring this issue back to the House of Commons before Christmas.”

Updated

Australians have become accustomed to the daily announcements of new Covid-19 cases. Although the majority of those cases – bar Victoria – have come through returning travellers from overseas, little has been known about Covid-positive cases that have passed through hotel quarantine, and how governments are tracking the origins of these cases.

But data provided to Guardian Australia by three states – New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia – offers some important insights into Covid-positive returning travellers.

The states each provided data from 29 March, when the travel restrictions were introduced, to 19 October, revealing that they were indeed monitoring countries-of-origin where returning travellers may have contracted the virus.

Data from NSW Health shows the majority of 873 Covid-positive travellers who arrived in the state were returning Australian nationals.

Melissa Davey with the full report here:

Updated

Angolan protesters defied coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Luanda on Saturday, taking to the streets to demonstrate against the government.

Police, some mounted on horseback, fired teargas and beat up the protesters, who had set up barricades along the roads using skips, boulders and burning tyres, while others set a national flag ablaze, according to an AFP photographer.

A police source who asked not to be identified told AFP that the demonstration – demanding the holding of local government elections – “resulted in barricades and acts of vandalism”.

Angolan anti-riot police, some mounted on horse backs, fired teargas and beat up people as dozens took to the streets of the capital Luanda in anti-government protests. (Photo by Osvaldo Silva / AFP) (Photo by OSVALDO SILVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Angolan anti-riot police, some mounted on horseback, fired teargas and beat up people as dozens took to the streets of the capital Luanda in anti-government protests. Photograph: Osvaldo Silva/AFP/Getty Images

Municipal elections, which had been scheduled for this year, have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Those were acts of rioting, in a flagrant violation of (new pandemic restrictions), which do not allow street gatherings of more than five people,” he said.

Updated

UK paediatricians have published an open letter calling on the government to extend provision of free school meals until at least Easter 2021 – you can read it here:

The number of coronavirus deaths in the Czech Republic has doubled to 2,047 in two weeks, data from the health ministry showed on Saturday.

It took the country of 10.7 million seven months to reach 1,000 deaths after the first reported case.

The number of patients in a serious state grew to 772 as of Friday, up from 438 two weeks ago. Hospitals were treating 5,314 people with coronavirus in total.

Updated

Summary

Here are the main developments from over the last few hours:

  • Italy reported a new daily record of 19,644 new coronavirus infections on Saturday as the government considered further measures to limit the surge in cases.
  • Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has entered self-isolation after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement.
  • Austria has reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 3,614 infections in the last 24 hours. It is a significant increase from the 2,571 announced on Friday.
  • Coronavirus cases have risen by the record figure of 862 in Luxembourg, while a further three deaths being reported.
  • The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London.
  • Greece announced a record 935 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,992.
  • France reported 45,422 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared to 42,032 on Friday. The country has registered a total of 1,086,497 cases.
  • An investigation is underway in the Chinese region of Xinjiang after an asymptomatic coronavirus case was identified in the city of Kashgar on Saturday, the health commission said. It is the first local case in the region since 15 August.

Updated

Net approval of the UK government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has fallen to a record low of -21%, a poll by Opinium shows.

Public health officials and contractors in England have barely used check-in data from millions of people who have visited cafes, pubs and restaurants, the Guardian has learned.

As a legal condition introduced last month, venues are obliged to record customer details in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, but the government’s hamstrung test-and-trace scheme has appeared unable to cope with the swiftly rising number of coronavirus cases.

Mattha Busby reports here:

France reports record rise of 45,422 infections

France reported 45,422 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared with 42,032 on Friday. The country has registered a total of 1,086,497 cases.

A further 138 people have died, taking the toll to 34,645.

Updated

The Welsh first minister has said the government will be “reviewing how the weekend has gone with the supermarkets”, amid anger over a ban on selling non-essential items during the firebreak lockdown.

A petition to reverse the ban has gathered more than 30,000 signatures.

Guidance published by the Welsh government says certain sections of supermarkets must be “cordoned off or emptied, and closed to the public”.

Mark Drakeford has said the restriction is in place as a “matter of fairness” to non-essential shops that have been ordered to close.

The US is surging towards record numbers of new coronavirus infections above 100,000 a day, health experts have warned, just as a presidential campaign with the pandemic as its core issue enters its final week.

In a further blow to Donald Trump’s hopes of keeping the White House, the US death toll from Covid-19 will pass 225,000 by early this week, bringing extra scrutiny to the president’s repeated but evidently false claims that the crisis is “rounding the turn”.

Richard Luscombe has the story here:

Spain’s cabinet will meet on Sunday morning to discuss announcing a national state of emergency, the government announced on Saturday.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez “has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting at 10am to study the conditions for a new state of emergency,” it said, saying such a proposal had been “positively welcomed by most of Spain’s autonomous communities, who had requested it”.

The meeting comes just days after Spain registered more than one million virus cases, becoming the sixth country in the world to pass the grim milestone – and the first in the European Union.

Greece reports record 935 new cases

Greece announced a record 935 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,992.

Five further deaths were also reported, taking the country’s toll to 564.

The previous highest increase in cases was on Thursday, when 882 cases were reported.

New measures were announced on Thursday, including a 12.30am-5am curfew in areas with high numbers of infections which comes into force tonight.

Face masks are now compulsory in outdoor spaces as well as indoors.

Updated

The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London, for offences including breaching coronavirus regulations, assaulting an emergency service worker, violent disorder and for being already wanted.

Three officers suffered minor injuries, the force said.

Commander Ade Adelekan, the Met’s gold commander for the protest, said: “Organisers did not take reasonable steps to keep protesters safe which then voided their risk assessment. At this point, officers then took action to disperse crowds in the interests of public safety.

“I am grateful that the vast majority of people listened to officers and quickly left the area. Frustratingly, a small minority became obstructive, deliberately ignoring officers’ instructions and blocking Westminster Bridge.”

Updated

Luxembourg reports highest daily rise with 862 cases

Coronavirus cases have risen by the record figure of 862 in Luxembourg, while a further three deaths being reported.

The previous record daily increase in cases was on Thursday, when 595 infections were added to the tally.

This brings the country’s total number of cases to 13,713, while the death toll stands at 144.

It follow Friday’s announcement of new measures to tackle the virus’s resurgence, including a curfew between 11 and 6pm.

Updated

Austria has reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 3,614 infections in the last 24 hours. It is a significant increase from the 2,571 announced on Friday.

Last Saturday, 1,747 cases were reported – which was also a record at the time.

The total confirmed cases in Austria rose to 79,770 cases,

There are currently 25,825 active cases in the country, according to Metropole.

Updated

Algerian president self-isolates after officials show symptoms

Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, entered self-isolation on Saturday after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement.

Tebboune, who is 74, has been advised by medical staff to isolate for five days.

Algeria has officially recorded 55,630 coronavirus cases and 1,897 deaths so far.

Updated

Jason Rodrigues with the latest from the anti-lockdown protest at Westminster Bridge

Updated

New coronavirus measures have been announced in Brussels.

From 26 October, masks will be compulsory throughout the country, while cultural venues (museums, galleries) and sports facilities will be closed.

Other measures include shops closing at 8pm, and takeaways operating until 10pm.

Italy reports record 19,644 daily cases

Italy reported a new daily record of 19,644 new coronavirus infections on Saturday as the government considered further measures to limit the surge in cases.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said he wants to avoid a nationwide lockdown like the one during spring. Several regions have imposed overnight curfews.

It follows clashes between protesters and police in Naples late on Friday night after a nighttime curfew was ordered in the Campania region.

Updated

Arrests have been made on the anti lockdown demonstration in London after a group of protesters decided not to disperse and instead carried on a march from Trafalgar Square to Westminster Bridge.

Police blocked the path of protesters at the north end of the bridge, leading to scuffles as some tried to carry on marching and calls went up from some to rush the police lines.

The Guardian saw police making at least three arrests.

One group of protesters tried to stage a sit down protest on the bridge. They were being forced south by a line of police.

Updated

Damien Gayle with a video from London’s anti-lockdown protest, which has been ordered to disperse:

Jason Rodrigues also reports that there’s been “at least one arrest” by Westminster Bridge:

Updated

UK reports 23,012 new cases and 174 deaths

There have been a further 23,012 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases recorded in the UK, according to government data. This compares with 20,530 new cases registered on Friday.

A total of 854,010 people have tested positive.

A further 174 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported on Saturday, bringing the total to 44,571. There were 224 deaths on Friday.

Updated

Xinjiang identifies first local case in over two months

An investigation is underway in the Chinese region of Xinjiang after an asymptomatic coronavirus case was identified in the city of Kashgar on Saturday, the health commission said.

It is mainland China’s first local case since 14 October, when one was reported in Qingdao. No new cases have been found in Xinjiang since 15 August, when a cluster of infections were reported.

The case was identified after the patient, a 17-year-old woman, was tested during a regular inspection. She has been transferred to a hospital in the city and all close contacts have been isolated.

Police have called time on the anti-lockdown protest in London, where several thousand people remain in Trafalgar Square after a long march through the city.

In a tweet posted on a Metropolitan police account, the force said: “The protest under the name of ‘Stop The New Normal’ have failed to comply with the terms of their risk assessment, government guidelines and they are not maintaining social distancing.

“The officer in charge has now determined their protest is no longer exempt from the regulations and is an illegal gathering.

“We are now telling those participating in this protest to leave. Officers will be engaging with crowds and informing them of this development.

“By leaving now, you can keep yourself safe and avoid any enforcement action being taken by officers.”

The square was flooded with police asking people to leave soon after.

The announcement came at the end of a long and noisy protest march through the city. Louise Creffield, founder of Save Our Rights UK, who organised the protest said: “We’re really pleased, the turnout was phenomenal and we’ve managed to get away with no one being injured or arrested.

“It’s really good to be able to have a voice, and this is the only way we get it.”

Among the protesters taking part was Chloe Toop, 32, a schoolteacher.

“I’m doing it for the next generation, fighting for them,” she said. She said she was anxious about young people “not having a life that I have growing up, not being able to go on holiday or to festivals”.

“Kids are now scared to go and meet each other, hug each other. Social interaction is so important,” she said.

Updated

Hello, Clea Skopeliti taking over the blog for the next few hours. My Twitter DMs are open for any suggestions for global coverage, or you can drop me an email. Thanks in advance!

Summary of the latest updates

I will shortly be handing over the blog to my colleague. Below are the latest updates.

  • Welsh government called on to reverse a ban on supermarkets selling non-essential items during the firebreak lockdown. The country’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, said the restriction was a “matter of fairness” as non-essential retail has to close during the two-week period, which began at 6 pm on Friday and will last until 9 November.
  • Colombia is set to surpass a million Covid-19 infections on Saturday, becoming the eighth country to do so. As scientists around the world race to find an effective inoculation, Colombia says it is ready to distribute any vaccine that proves effective.
  • Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Saturday for strict punishments for violators of Covid-19 restrictions as the Middle East’s hardest-hit country tried to tackle its third wave of infections.
  • Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has tested positive, adding another name to the list of leaders to have been diagnosed with the virus. Aside from the diagnosis, the 48-year-old Duda is believed to be in good general health.

Updated

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling on the Welsh government to reverse a ban on supermarkets selling non-essential items during the firebreak lockdown in Wales.

The country’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, said the restriction was a “matter of fairness” as non-essential retail has to close during the two-week period, which began at 6 pm on Friday and will last until 9 November.

Guidance published by the Welsh government says certain sections of supermarkets must be “cordoned off or emptied, and closed to the public”.

These include areas selling electrical goods, telephones, clothes, toys and games, garden products and dedicated sections for homewares. Supplies for the “essential upkeep, maintenance and functioning of the household” - such as batteries, lightbulbs and rubber gloves - can be sold during the lockdown.

Updated

Colombia is set to surpass a million Covid-19 infections on Saturday, becoming the eighth country to do so.

As scientists around the world race to find an effective inoculation, Colombia says it is ready to distribute any vaccine that proves effective.

Its preparedness is thanks to decades of work on a free government immunisation programme that offers 21 vaccines to all Colombians, among the South America’s most generous for vaccine provision.

“We have a really strong vaccination programme that serves as a model and which will incorporate the new formula that will arrive against Covid,” Gerardo Burgos, the secretary general of the health ministry, told Reuters.

The programme covers not onlyColombia’s own population of about 50 million people but also more than 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants and includes everything from infant shots to human papillomavirus. The country delivers about 23 million vaccinations a year.

Colombia has already committed $213m to the global Covax initiative, guaranteeing Covid-19 vaccinations for about 10 million people. People over 60, those with pre-existing conditions and healthcare workers will be immunised first.

Colombia’s cases have climbed steadily despite more than five months of a gradually loosened lockdown. The death toll is set to top 30,000 people over the weekend.

Updated

Chile has identified more than 500,000 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in March, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said 500,542 Chileans were now confirmed to have suffered from the virus, including 1,631 cases added in the past day and 48 deaths, taking fatalities to a total of 13,892. Active cases are at a record low of 9,900, it added.

Chile, which was among the worst-hit countries in July, ranking only behind Qatar globally for per capita cases , has gradually eased its lockdown over the past two months. Restaurants and bars have opened with limited capacity, office workers are returning and some schools have reopened.

Chileans will vote on Sunday in a referendum on whether to replace the country’s Pinochet-era constitution.

The charter, drawn up by a key lieutenant of the military leader Augusto Pinochet in 1980, is blamed for segmenting pension, health and education provisions and entrenching inequality.

Updated

The organiser of a party attended by more than 50 people has been handed a £10,000 fine for “blatant disregard” of Covid-19 regulations.

Police were called to a flat in Simpson Street, Angel Meadows, Manchester, shortly after 11.20 pm (BST) on Friday. Officers found DJ mixing decks, speakers, a buffet and about 50 people in attendance, Greater Manchester Police said.

The force said the party was closed down and the organiser given a £10,000 fixed penalty notice for breaching coronavirus legislation, one of the first issued since Greater Manchester entered tier 3 restrictions.

Updated

A further 1,324 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 41,577. Public Health Wales said 16 people with Covid-19 had died, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,772.

Updated

The government is set to deliver £75m in grants to 35 of the country’s top cultural organisations and venues, from the Old Vic to Shakespeare’s Globe.

It is the latest tranche of money to be distributed from the government’s £1.57bn culture recovery fund. These grants are the largest to have come from the package to date and will go to bodies which require between £1m and £3m.

Money was allocated based on whether applicants provided jobs, supported the wider community and engaged with the public through innovative means during the pandemic.

More than £52m – 70% of the total awarded in this round - will go to organisations outside London. The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said: “As part of our unprecedented £1.57bn rescue fund, today we’re saving British cultural icons with large grants of up to £3m - from Shakespeare’s Globe to the Sheffield Crucible.

The fund has also distributed £188m to the devolved administrations - with £97m for Scotland, £59m for Wales and £33m for Northern Ireland.

Updated

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Saturday for strict punishments for violators of Covid-19 restrictions as the Middle East’s hardest-hit nation battled the third wave.

Latest officials figures showed coronavirus had killed 32,320 Iranians and infected 562,705, with 5,814 new cases and 335 fatalities in the previous 24 hours. Taking a swipe at arch-foe the United States, Khamenei said Iran must enforce curbs better and end disputes between institutions over the pandemic.

Updated

Thanks, everyone for following the blog and for your emails. Please do get in touch if you have any news tips or want to share any information from where you are.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Spanish regions are urging the central government to take measures that would give them legal backing to impose curfews as the country battles a resurgent coronavirus epidemic.

As of Saturday, 10 of Spain’s 17 regions, including Valencia, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha and the Basque Country, had called on the government to decree a state of emergency, which would allow regions to limit people’s movement.

Regions expect the government to call an extraordinary council of ministers on Sunday to approve the measure, Spanish media including El País reported. “I would say with almost total certainty there will be one. But it has not officially been called yet,” a source from the Spanish government told Reuters.

While many regions favour some form of curfew, the powerful Madrid region opposes it, which has so far prevented a nationwide decision. Spain has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 infections in western Europe.

Updated

Thousands of anti-lockdown protesters have begun a noisy march through central London.

After gathering at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, crowds began to walk down Oxford Street in the direction of Oxford Circus.

Before leaving, they heard from Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who exhorted followers to “stop new normal, save lives”.

Louise Creffield, the founder of Save Our Rights UK, one of the groups behind the protest, told the crowd: “Today we are standing in our power and we are not abiding by their rules.

“It doesn’t matter what they say, it doesn’t matter what threats they bring, it doesn’t matter if they try and intimidate us, we are not going to accept it, because we don’t abide by their rules. We don’t listen because we do not consent.”

As they marched down Oxford Street, protesters chanted for freedom and told passersby to take off their masks. Others played the drums, blew whistles and played music on portable sound systems.

Updated

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

More than 1.1 million dead

The virus has claimed at least 1,145,847 lives worldwide since it first emerged in China late last year, according to an AFP tally based on official sources. At least 42,262,299 cases have been registered across the globe. The US is the worst-affected country with 223,998 deaths, followed by Brazil with 156,471, India with 117,956, Mexico with 88,312 and Britain with 44,571.

WHO warning

The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said “too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close to or above capacity - and we’re still only in October.”

The message was echoed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), whose director, Andrea Ammon, spoke of a “highly concerning epidemiological situation”.

Germany deaths top 10,000

The Robert Koch Institute, a federal government agency, has recorded a total of 10,003 coronavirus deaths in Germany, where 14,714 new cases have also been diagnosed in the last 24 hours, a record figure.

Lothar Wieler, the president of the institute’s disease control authority, said the country was facing a very serious situation. The chancellor, Angela Merkel, told citizens in a weekly video podcast that “the order of the day is to reduce contacts, to meet as few people as possible”.

New daily record cases in US

Johns Hopkins University has reported 79,963 new US cases in 24 hours, a record, although the number of daily deaths has remained broadly stable since the beginning of autumn at between 700 and 800.

Poland president tests positive

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has tested positive, adding another name to the list of leaders to have been diagnosed with the virus.

Aside from the diagnosis, the 48-year-old Duda is believed to be in good general health.

Naples clashes

Hundreds of protesters in Naples threw projectiles at police and set rubbish bins on fire late on Friday during a demonstration against restrictions in the southern Italian city.

A mostly young crowd marched through the streets of the regional capital and chanted as a curfew in the Campania region started at 11:00 pm. Some protesterslit smoke bombs.

Grants for UK arts institutions

The British government has announced a £75m rescue package to save 35 cultural institutions hit by the pandemic, including London’s Globe Old Vic theatres.

Updated

New coronavirus restrictions are to take effect in Madrid on Saturday as the Spanish government weighs declaring a national state of emergency to allow curfews to be imposed.

Days after the country registered more than a million cases of Covid-19, the regions - which are responsible for managing public healthcare - have put pressure on the government to give them legal right to impose tighter restrictions.

In practice, that would involve the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez declaring a national state of emergency that would enable the regions to impose curfews, a measure increasingly applied across Europe.

Nine of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions have formally requested such a move, and a decision is expected to be at an extraordinary meeting of ministers on Sunday.

The government can impose an emergency for up to a fortnight, but it would need parliamentary approval to extend it.

Spain used the powers in spring to enforce one of the world’s tightest lockdowns, and a similar measure has been in force in Madrid for the past fortnight, although only to impose movement restrictions on the capital and various nearby towns.

That measure ends at 4:47 pm (1447 GMT) on Saturday, when new restrictions drawn up by the regional authorities will come into force.

Updated

Hello everyone. I am running the Guardian’s global live feed, updating you on all the latest coronavirus news from around the world. Please do feel free to contact me while I work today, providing any news tips or comments. Thanks

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

The Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus has killed at least 1,145,847 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

At least 42,262,290 cases have been registered, of which at least 28,754,900 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected from national authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only symptomatic or the most serious cases.

On Friday, 482,954 new cases and 6,366 new deaths and were recorded worldwide.

Updated

Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for coronavirus and suffering a fever.

“Yesterday evening around 9pm I got a fever and with a temperature of 38 degrees. I came and spent the night in hospital,” he said in a video.

“Now I am actually well. My fever is not bad. The process is continuing. There is nothing that can be viewed as negative in a medical sense.”

Istanbul’s American hospital said in a statement that Imamoğlu, an opponent of the country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was admitted at 10pm (1900 GMT) after displaying symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. It said he tested positive for coronavirus and that his treatment was continuing.

Imamoğlu, from the secular Republican People’s party (CHP), was elected mayor in a re-run election in June 2019 in a blow to Erdoğan and his ruling AK party.

There have since been sporadic tensions between his municipality and the central government, including disputes over fundraising and measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic in its early stages.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (middle) in September.
Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu (centre). Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated

Spanish regions have urged the central government to take measures that would give them legal backing to impose curfews as coronavirus cases rise.

As of Saturday, 10 of Spain’s 17 regions, including Valencia, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha and the Basque Country, had called on the government to decree a state of emergency, which would allow regions to limit people’s movement, Reuters reported.

Regions expect the government to call an extraordinary council of ministers on Sunday to approve the measure, Spanish media including El País reported.

Many regions favour some form of curfew, but the powerful Madrid region opposes it, which has so far prevented a nationwide decision.

Spain has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 infections in western Europe. Total cases rose to 1,046,132 on Friday, and the death toll is nearing 38,000.

Catalonia said on Friday night that it would impose a curfew across the region, which includes Barcelona, as soon as the central government acted.

The deputy Catalan leader, Pere Aragones, told a press conference:

We need a decentralised state of emergency in which the Catalan government maintains all management capacity. The evolution is very worrying. Either we increase our efforts or Covid-19 increases.

Some regions are considering imposing curfews by alternative means, such as going through regional courts, if the central government does not act.

“We cannot wait any longer and we have to take steps forward,” Murcia’s regional president, Fernando López Miras, told the Spanish broadcaster TVE on Saturday. “If the central government does nothing, we will approve a curfew.”

Updated

Malaysia reported 1,228 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a record daily jump since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total number of cases to 25,742.

The health ministry also said seven new deaths had also been recorded.

Updated

Recent data has highlighted the struggle authorities around the world face in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control, as the US reported 80,000 infections in a single day, France extended a curfew to two-thirds of its citizens and Germany’s death toll passed 10,000.

The World Health Organization had earlier warned of an exponential rise in infections that threatened health systems’ ability to cope.

But populations weary of social isolation and economic hardship have pushed back against fresh restrictions to slow the resurgent virus’ spread. There were clashes overnight in Naples between Italian police and hundreds of protesters.

Covid-19 has become a central election issue in the US ahead of the presidential election on 3 November. Donald Trump promised attendees at a Florida rally on Friday that “we’re going to quickly end this pandemic, this horrible plague”.

Joe Biden matched Trump’s vow to make a vaccine available free to all who want it “whether or not you’re insured” and said the Republican incumbent has “given up” on controlling the outbreak.

Johns Hopkins University had earlier reported 79,963 new US cases in 24 hours, a record, although the number of daily deaths has remained broadly stable since the beginning of autumn at between 700 and 800.

Updated

Ministers may be forced to close schools in England to older children if coronavirus cases continue to increase at the current rate, a scientist has said.

Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led to the original lockdown in March, said the NHS would soon be unable to cope unless the spread of the disease was stemmed.

He said there were 8,000 people in hospital with coronavirus - around a third of the peak earlier this year - and that numbers were continuing to rise. “It is a worrying situation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If the rate of growth continues as it is, it means that in a month’s time we will above that peak level in March and that is probably unsustainable.

“We are in a critical time right now. The health system will not be able to cope with this rate of growth for much longer.”

His warning came as South Yorkshire became the latest region to enter the tightest Tier 3 restrictions in England following Liverpool city region, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

Ferguson said it would be another week or two before it became clear whether the stricter measures would have an impact on case numbers. He said the restrictions on households mixing should have a significant effect, but that further action may also be needed.

Updated

Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, home to about 2 million people, will close nightclubs and discos on Sunday for two weeks in an effort to contain a surge in coronavirus infections straining its health system.

Speaking on national BTV television on Saturday, the city’s mayor, Yordanka Fankakova, also urged Sofia universities to switch to online education and appealed to businesses to let as many employees as possible work from home.

“The situation is Sofia is becoming increasingly alarming. We have a new increase in infections and of people who need hospital treatment. This is straining the hospitals,” she said.

Updated

Hello everyone and thanks for following the Guardian’s live feed today. I am keeping you up to date with all the news on coronavirus from around the globe. Please do email or message me if you want to share thoughts, comments or news tips.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

In the UK, Prof Neil Ferguson has said a decision about whether restrictions on households mixing should be relaxed over Christmas will be a “political judgment” .


“It risks some transmission and there will be consequences of that. Some people will die because of getting infected on that day,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“But if it is only one or two days the impact is likely to be limited. So that is really a political judgment about the cost versus the benefits.”

Updated

Indonesia reported 4,070 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the total number of cases to 385,980, official data from the country’s Covid-19 taskforce shows.

It also reported 128 new deaths, taking the total to 13,205, and 4,119 people recovered from the virus on Saturday, bringing the total to 309,219.

Updated

Wales’ firebreak lockdown should bring the R value - the number of people each coronavirus case infects - below one, health minister Vaughan Gething has said.

Gething told BBC Breakfast the 17-day period would be followed by a set of national measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

Asked about economists warning that the lockdown could cost the Welsh economy more than £500m, Mr Gething said: “It’s not just about the direct costs within the firebreak, when we know there will be a challenge and loss in economic activity.

“It’s about saving a much greater loss if we need to have longer, deeper, more sustained measures.”

Updated

The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, has tested positive for coronavirus and is subject to quarantine but is feeling good, presidential minister Blazej Spychalski announced on Saturday.

“The president yesterday was tested for the presence of coronavirus. The result turned out to be positive. The president is fine. We are in constant contact with the relevant medical services,” Spychalski said on Twitter.

Duda’s infection comes as the country imposed new restrictions on Saturday to curb the spread of the illness. Poland faces a surge in the COVID-19 epidemic, with new infections hitting a daily record of 13,632 on Friday.

Duda, 48, holds a mainly ceremonial role but has the power to veto legislation. He is an ally of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Updated

Russia has reported 16,521 new coronavirus cases and 296 deaths in the past 24 hours, up from 17,340 new cases and 283 deaths the previous day.

The Czech Republic reported 15,252 new cases for 23 October, the highest daily tally. Deaths rose by 126 to 1,971.

In the UK, Sheffield city region mayor Dan Jarvis has said he will not hesitate to seek additional government support for South Yorkshire after the region entered the strictest Tier 3 coronavirus controls.

Jarvis said a 41 million funding package had been secured after a “tough” process of negotiation and he had won an agreement from ministers to keep the situation under review.

“The scale of the challenge is very significant,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “We are acutely aware of the pressures our NHS is under, not least because winter hasn’t bitten yet, so we are looking very carefully at what we need to do.

“But if there is a requirement for more resource - whether it is economic support or it is other measures of assistance from the Government - I won’t hesitate to go back and ask for them.”

Morning all from London, where it is 8am (BST). I am taking over the coronavirus live feed, bringing you all the latest information on the virus from around the world. Please do keep in touch with me while I work, by sharing any comments or news tips.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Updated

That’s where I will leave you for now, but never fear Sarah Marsh is here to take you through the rest of the day’s news.

Updated

Highest ever daily Covid-19 tally for Czech Republic

The Czech Republic recorded 15,252 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the country’s highest ever daily increase.

It also recorded 126 deaths overnight, bringing the death toll to 1,971.

The Czech Republic managed to escape the first wave of Covid-19 relatively unscathed, with case numbers rarely rising above 200 a day prior to September, but has been hit extremely hard as Europe battles a resurgence in the virus.

Updated

President of Poland tests positive to Covid-19

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has tested positive for coronavirus but is feeling good, the presidential minister Blazej Spychalski announced on Saturday.

“The president yesterday was tested for the presence of coronavirus. The result turned out to be positive. The president is fine. We are in constant contact with the relevant medical services,” Spychalski said on Twitter.

Duda’s infection comes as the country faces a surge in the Covid-19 epidemic, with new infections hitting a daily record of more than 13,600 on Friday.

Duda, 48, holds a mainly ceremonial role, but has the power to veto legislation. He is an ally of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

From Saturday, more restrictions to curb the spread of the virus are due to come into force in Poland, including a two-week shutdown of restaurants and bars.

The health ministry reported 153 coronavirus deaths on Friday, taking the total toll to 4,172.

Polish president Andrzej Duda
Polish president Andrzej Duda has tested positive for coronavirus but ‘is fine’, a spokesman says. Photograph: Andrzej Lange/EPA

Updated

UK politician accused of stigmatising the working class

The Conservative MP Ben Bradley has been accused of “stigmatisation of working-class families” over a tweet that labelled the free school meals programme as “20 cash direct to a crack den and a brothel”.

Bradley replied to the post, which was by another user. The MP wrote: “That’s what FSM vouchers in the summer effectively did ...”

The deputy leader of Labour, Angela Rayner, said:

A Conservative MP has said that free school meals are effectively a direct payment to brothels and drug dealers. Notwithstanding the fact that the vouchers in summer could only be used to purchase food, this stigmatisation of working class families is disgraceful and disgusting.

MPs rejected a campaign, started by the Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, to offer free school meals for local children during half-term. A vote on the measures was backed by Labour and made its way to parliament this week but it was defeated by 322 votes to 261.

Bradley said the context of his tweet “wasn’t as clear as I’d thought it was”.

Needless to say, I haven’t said what I’m being accused of, nor would I ever. I’m sorry if others get dragged into the fire. If you want a proper debate you have to accept that sometimes you get it wrong. Proper debate is important. You learn from it, you move on. We’re all human.

Updated

South Yorkshire moves to tier 3 restrictions

More than a million people in South Yorkshire are now living under the strictest coronavirus rules in England after the region moved into the tier 3 controls as health officials battle to stem the spread of the disease.

The region joined Liverpool city region, greater Manchester and Lancashire on the highest alert level for England with the new rules kicking in on Saturday at 12.01am.

Meanwhile, talks were continuing between the government and local leaders in Nottinghamshire, with parts of the county expected to enter tier 3 on Wednesday. And the council in Warrington in Cheshire – where many residents commute to Manchester and Liverpool – has confirmed that it will be moving to tier 3 on Thursday.

It means households will be banned from mixing except in parks and other open spaces while pubs and bars will have to close unless they serve meals.

Three more areas – Coventry, Stoke and Slough – have now also moved into tier 2, the second highest alert level.

It came as Wales began a two-week national “firebreak” at 6pm on Friday evening with a return to the “stay at home” message of the initial lockdown in March. In Scotland, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has set out a five-tier series of controls that will come into force on 2 November if they are approved next week by the Holyrood parliament.

In England, ministers have said they hope the latest measures will suppress the virus sufficiently to enable families to spend Christmas together.

Updated

Thailand records another locally transmitted case

Thailand reported one more locally transmitted case of the coronavirus on Saturday, after confirming five domestic infections last week.

The new patient is a 57-year-old French woman in the southern province of Surat Thani who tested positive for the virus a few days after she had completed a 14-day quarantine, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said.

The patient’s husband and child tested negative, health officials said.

Earlier in the week five people in the town of Mae Sot, on the border with Myanmar, tested positive, and in September a prison inmate in the Bangkok area tested positive.

Before these six cases, Thailand reported its first confirmed local transmission in more than 100 days on 3 September. In total, Thailand has reported 3,731 cases of the virus and 59 deaths.

Updated

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services has put out its daily press release, which gives us a bit more clarity on exactly where those seven cases came from.

Six of today’s seven new cases are linked to known outbreaks and cases. One is a close contact already identified as part of the Hoppers Crossing community outbreak and was already in quarantine and one is a staff member from Estia Keilor. One is a student from East Preston Islamic College, one is a student from Croxton Special School, also linked to East Preston Islamic College through family and two are parents from East Preston Islamic College.

The remaining case is a previously positive case that is currently under investigation.

Of today’s seven new cases, there are three cases in Darebin, and single cases in Banyule, Greater Dandenong, Maribyrnong and Wyndham.

In his daily press conference, the premier, Daniel Andrews, suggested that one remaining case is being investigated as a possible reinfection, but is more likely to be someone who has recovered from Covid-19 but is still shedding the virus.

Updated

European Union fights second wave

The AFP has provided this wrap of the current Covid-19 situation in Europe:

The European Union’s disease control agency has joined frantic health workers to sound the alarm over a coronavirus surge across the continent, as the World Health Organization warned of an “exponential” rise in infections.

Even countries that avoided severe outbreaks during Europe’s first wave of contagion in the spring have watched their case numbers surge, with Germany’s death toll passing 10,000 on Saturday.

Governments have reintroduced containment measures to slow the renewed spread of the virus in nations that only weeks earlier believed they had triumphed over the crisis.

But populations weary of social isolation and economic hardship have pushed back against fresh restrictions, including overnight clashes in Italy’s hard-hit Naples between police and hundreds of protesters.

After Spain became the first European country to officially record a million Covid-19 cases earlier in the week, the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said on Friday the real number of infections was likely more than triple that number.

France followed Spain past the million-case milestone on Friday while Germany hit a fresh daily record of nearly 15,000 new cases, with health authorities urging the public to follow social distancing measures.

Urgent new restrictions on daily life have come into effect in several nations, with France extending a curfew to cover 46 million people.

Wales entered a full lockdown on Friday evening, a day after Ireland shut down, while Poland adopted a nationwide “red zone” lockdown mandating the partial closure of primary schools and restaurants.

Only Sweden, which famously refused to lock down earlier this year, continued to stick to its guns despite a rise in cases.

Belgium has seen one of Europe’s deadliest per capita outbreaks and has found itself suffering some of the highest second-wave infection rates in Europe.

“We’re losing. We’re overwhelmed. We’re bitter,” said Benoit Misset, the head of the intensive care unit at the University hospital in the city of Liege, where several of his staff are having to work despite being positive – if asymptomatic – themselves.

Updated

Queensland health officials are working to determine the strain of Covid-19 infecting the crew of a cargo ship anchored off the Australian state’s Sunshine Coast.

The MV Sofrana Surville was blocked from docking in Brisbane after New Zealand warned it could be carrying a new strain of the virus.

Initial testing found two of the Sofrana’s 19 crew members were infected and they were transferred to a mainland hospital on Friday.

The Queensland deputy premier, Steven Miles, said the New Zealand government had asked Queensland’s health department to undertake genomic sequencing on the suspected new strain.

“Given [the cases] have come off a ship that has been in other countries, it’s highly likely to be a different strain ... [to] the current strains within Australia,” he told reporters.

You can read the full story here:

Updated

Hello, Matilda Boseley with you now to take you through the next few hours of Covid-related news.

Updated

No new cases of Covid-19 in South Australia for today.

Updated

A man who allegedly refused to comply with self-quarantine rules in Western Australia has been taken into custody and refused bail following a struggle with police, AAP reports.

The 32-year-old New Zealander, who resides in Queensland, had been granted approval to enter WA to work and was issued a FIFO self-quarantine direction on 13 October when he arrived in Perth.

He was required to remain in quarantine for 14 days at an East Perth apartment but police say that on Friday a compliance check found he was not there but in front of the complex.

Police said it was further found he had been socialising with a 30-year-old man from the same company who was also quarantining in the complex.

Both men were told they would be fined $1,000 for failing to comply with directions.

But on leaving the complex police officers again found the 32-year-old man at the front of the property, WA police said in a statement on Saturday.

The man was told he would be moved to a secure self-quarantine hotel for the remainder of his quarantine but he became “aggressive and hostile towards the officers”, refusing to comply with the direction, the statement said.

“The man was arrested after a short struggle and was relocated to the Perth watch house.”

He was charged with four counts of failing to comply with a direction and was refused bail to appear in the Perth magistrates court on Saturday.

Updated

South Korea has reported 77 new cases of Covid-19, AP reports, mostly from the greater capital area where officials are scrambling to stem transmissions at hospitals and nursing homes.

Updated

More location notifications from Victoria. I appreciate that they’re getting pretty speedy with getting these out now.

Updated

Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah will consult with other rulers to discuss proposals by the prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, the palace said on Saturday, after sources told Reuters the PM had asked the king to declare a state of emergency.

Muhyiddin met with the king on Friday to present the emergency proposal that includes a suspension of parliament, sources said – a move the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, denounced as an attempt by the PM to cling to power amid a power struggle.

The proposal comes as Malaysia sees a resurgence in coronavirus cases and as Muhyiddin faces a leadership challenge from Anwar, who last month said he had majority support in parliament to oust the PM.

The palace did not identify the recommendations made by Muhyiddin, and said the king would soon hold the consultation with other Malay rulers.

“Al-Sultan Abdullah greatly understands the need for the country’s administration to continue to tackle the threat of Covid-19,” the palace said in a statement. The Council of Rulers, which groups the heads of Malaysia’s nine royal houses, has the power to withhold consent from any law and deliberate on questions of national policy.

A source familiar with the matter said the rulers would meet on Sunday.

Muhyiddin’s office has not commented on the emergency proposal.

The government is scheduled to propose its 2021 budget on 6 November, and there have been questions over whether it can muster a majority in parliament for that. Defeat on the budget would count as a vote of no-confidence in Muhyiddin and could trigger an election. Emergency rule might mean the budget would not be put to a vote at that time.

Updated

Western Australia has reported four new cases of Covid-19 overnight.

The positive cases – all males aged between 30 and 57 – returned to Perth from overseas. They are all in hotel quarantine, and none are in hospital.

Updated

Summary

This is probably a good time to summarise some of what we have learned so far today:

  • The Australian state of Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19, and no new deaths. There are fewer than 100 active cases in the state for the first time since late June, as Victoria seeks to contain an outbreak in the northern suburbs of Melbourne before more restrictions ease.
  • Mexico’s health ministry reported on Friday 6,604 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 418 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 880,775 and the death toll to 88,312.
  • The United States broke its daily record for new coronavirus infections on Friday as it reported at least 83,948 new cases due to outbreaks in virtually every part of the country.
  • Germany has reached 10,000 deaths from Covid-19. The country has reported 14,714 new cases of Covid-19 overnight, and an additional 49 deaths.It takes the country’s totals to 418,005 cases and 10,003 deaths.

Updated

Authorities in Sri Lanka on Saturday closed at least two fishery harbours and many stalls after a surge of 609 cases linked to the country’s main fish market, AP reports.

The government also widened the curfew in parts of Colombo. At least 11 villages were isolated in the densely populated Western province, which includes the capital.

Health authorities on Wednesday temporarily closed the fish market on Colombo’s outskirts after 49 traders tested positive for the coronavirus. By Saturday, the number of cases went up to 609.

Hundreds of traders and fishermen are being tested.

Authorities say the outbreak is related to a cluster in a garment factory early this month, which has grown to 3,426 cases, almost half the country’s total of 6,287. It broke a two-month lull in infections.

Several thousand people have been asked to quarantine at home. Schools and key public offices are closed, gatherings banned and restrictions imposed on public transport.

Sri Lanka has had 14 deaths since March.

Hundreds of protesters in Naples threw projectiles at police and set rubbish bins on fire late Friday during a demonstration against coronavirus restrictions in the southern Italian city, AP reports.

Calls were issued on social media to challenge a curfew that took effect in the Campania region ahead of the weekend, enacted in response to a spiralling second wave of infections that saw nearly 20,000 new cases detected in the last 24 hours.

A mostly young crowd marched through the streets of the regional capital and chanted as the curfew started at 11 pm, with some lighting smoke bombs.

One carried a makeshift sign that read: “If you close, you pay.”

Regional president Vincenzo de Luca had called for stricter confinement measures to contain the virus in Campania, which recorded 2,300 cases over the last day.

“We are on the verge of tragedy, we need a national lockdown,” he said.

Prime minister Giuseppe Conte has so far avoided reimposing the kind of restrictions that saw the entire nation confined to home quarantine for two months earlier this year and precipitated the country’s worst post-war recession.

Italy was the first European country to be badly hit by the virus. It has now registered nearly 500,000 cases and 37,000 deaths, according to health ministry figures.

Some new exposure site information for Victoria.

AFP has more on the Germany numbers:

14,714 were diagnosed in the last 24 hours – a daily record.

Robert Koch Institute president Lothar Wieler said Germany was facing a “very serious” situation and asked the population to adhere to social distancing measures.

Germany was spared during the first wave of coronavirus infections that hit Europe in spring but is now suffering a sharp increase in cases along with the rest of the continent.

Authorities have tightened measures against the pandemic including the adoption of a public assembly ban.

Chancellor Angela Merkel last weekend asked the country to reduce their social contact and stay home as much as possible.

“What winter will be, what our Christmas will be, will be decided in the days and weeks to come,” she had warned.

Updated

Queensland investigates mystery strain

Queensland health officials are working to determine the mystery strain of Covid-19 infecting the crew of a cargo ship anchored off the Sunshine Coast, AAP reports.

The MV Sofrana Surville was blocked from docking in Brisbane after New Zealand warned it could be carrying a new mutated strain of the virus.

Initial testing found two of the Sofrana’s 19 crew members were infected with Covid-19 and they were transferred to a mainland hospital on Friday.

The deputy premier, Steven Miles, said the New Zealand government had asked Queensland Health to undertake genomic sequencing on the suspected new strain.

“Given (the cases) have come off a ship that has been in other countries, it’s highly likely to be a different strain ... (to) the current strains within Australia,” he told reporters on Friday.

He said the additional testing would take about a week.

The Sofrana left New Zealand earlier in the month with fresh crew from the Philippines before stopping at Noumea in New Caledonia and then sailing for Brisbane.

New Zealand requested Australian health officials perform the additional testing after an engineer who had previously worked on the ship tested positive in Auckland.

Miles on Saturday said zero new cases of Covid-19 had been uncovered inside Queensland, meaning the state still had six active cases.

It has been 44 days since the last locally acquired case in Queensland.

Miles on Friday said it was likely an announcement would be made about Queensland’s border reopening to NSW late next week.

Asked when Victorians would be free to travel to Queensland, Miles said it would be after health restrictions in that state were eased and several incubation periods had been completed.

Updated

Earlier this week I reported former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has been allowed to leave Australia not once but twice as part of his new trade envoy role for the Boris Johnson government in the United Kingdom.

The former PM was allowed to leave on what was termed an “auto-exemption” because it was government business. I’d been trying to figure out how many people have been allowed to leave while Australia has had a travel ban in place during the pandemic.

Australian Border Force refused to say how many auto-exemptions have been granted, but I just came across some data on how many exemptions in total.

According to Border Force in documents tabled in the Senate, between April and September this year, a total of 73,848 Australians and permanent residents have been allowed to leave Australia.

More are coming back, however. Border Force also reports 93,937 Australians and permanent residents have travelled to Australia in that time.

It’s not clear how many have left and come back, or how many, if any apart from Abbott, have made multiple trips.

Senate estimates heard Abbott would be expected to go into hotel quarantine for a second time when he returns.

Meanwhile, our current prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said he will seek to get 26,000 stranded Australians back home before Christmas. Some extra capacity will be made available, with around 6,290 places in hotel quarantine available each week.

Updated

Germany reaches 10,000 deaths, reports 14,714 new cases and 49 deaths

Germany has reported 14,714 new cases of Covid-19 overnight, and an additional 49 deaths.

It takes the country’s totals to 418,005 cases and 10,003 deaths

US breaks daily record for new Covid-19 infections at nearly 84,000

The United States broke its daily record for new coronavirus infections on Friday as it reported at least 83,948 new cases due to outbreaks in virtually every part of the country, according to a Reuters tally.

The spike in cases comes less than two weeks before the presidential election on 3 November and is hitting battleground states such as Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. On Thursday, the United States reported a near-record 76,195 new cases.

The previous record was 77,299 new cases on 16 July. At the time, hospitalisations for Covid-19 patients hit 47,000 and two weeks later deaths rose to an average of 1,200 per day.

Now, hospitalisations are over 41,000 and deaths average nearly 800 per day.
Health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise but have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside, fatigue with Covid-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges, could promote the spread of the virus.
The United States has the most cases in the world at 8.5 million and the most fatalities with 224,000 lives lost.

The United States has reported over the past week an average of 60,000 new cases per day, the highest seven-day average since early August.

The Midwest has been the epicenter of the latest surge but infections are rising nationwide.

The Northeast reported an 83% increase in cases in the past month. New cases have doubled in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New Jersey in the past four weeks as compared to the prior four weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.

Western states including Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming have reported a 200% increase in cases in the past four weeks when compared with the previous four weeks.

Updated

Mexico’s northern border state of Chihuahua locked down

Mexico’s northern border state of Chihuahua returned to the highest level of alert and lockdown Friday after coronavirus cases jumped there and hospitals began to fill up.

The Chihuahua state government declared the return to the “red” level of alert Friday, which closes down most non-essential services and encourages people to stay at home.

The Health Department said the state’s hospital beds were now 69% occupied, and that only about 23% of intensive care beds were open. The department said steps were being taken to expand hospital facilities.

The department also said that three other northern states — Durango, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon — were at risk of returning to maximum alert unless infections were brought under control.

Nationwide, 19 of Mexico’s 32 states will be at high alert starting Monday, 11 will be at medium alert and one state was considered at moderate risk level.

Mexico as a whole has seen 880,775 test-confirmed cases, up 6,604 from the previous day’s count, and 88,312 confirmed deaths, up by 418.

Updated

Here is a bit more info on the Covid-19 situation in NSW today:

It’s the second consecutive 24-hour period in which NSW recorded no new locally acquired virus cases, and comes as the state government from this weekend eases some restrictions.

Up to 30 people are now allowed to gather outdoors, group bookings at hospitality venues have been extended from 10 to 30 people and up to 300 are allowed at places of worship.

Protesters can also gather en masse, with up to 500 people allowed to convene outdoors.

Staffing regulations at gyms across NSW have also been relaxed, with a safety marshal only required when more than 20 people are working out.

Updated

Two drugmakers have announced the resumption of US testing of their Covid-19 vaccine candidates.

Testing of AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate had been halted since early September, while Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine study was paused at the beginning of last week. Each company had a study volunteer develop a serious health issue, requiring a review of safety data.

The two coronavirus vaccines are among several candidates in final-stage testing, the last step before seeking regulatory approval.

The drugmakers said they got the go-ahead on Friday from the Food and Drug Administration to restart tests in the US.

Such temporary halts of drug and vaccine testing are relatively common. In research involving thousands of participants, some are likely to fall ill. Pausing a study allows researchers to investigate whether an illness is a side effect or a coincidence.

You can read the full story below:

Updated

Sutton was asked when the press conference will be held tomorrow, and he said “when it is called”. And that’s the end of that.

Victorian chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton says he is “very confident” Victoria will get control of the cases associated with the northern Melbourne outbreak, but reiterates there is a need to find the links between the cases, and that will inform the easing of instructions.

Sutton declines to comment on why he instructed lawyers acting for the health department not to include evidence where it showed he was included on emails on 27 March that mentions the use of private security guards well before he previously said he was made aware.

Sutton says he is providing an affidavit to the inquiry and it is appropriate to wait for that to be provided to the inquiry.

Andrews won’t cop criticism of the public health team who communicated with the family at the centre of the East Preston Islamic College outbreak.

He said the family were advised what to do, but the message didn’t get through because one child went to school while infectious.

Andrews disagrees with the suggestion it would be a miracle to have low case numbers tomorrow given all the tests waiting to be processed.

I wouldn’t say that. We have done, haven’t got a weekly total, but we have had a very, very strong week in terms of test, right back to the weekend. And we have turned up a relatively low number of cases this week and the vast majority have been linked to other known cases.

Updated

Andrews says the 25km radius limit and the Melbourne metro/regional border are on the table to be eased tomorrow, if that happens, but suggests both could remain in place to prevent potential spread of Covid-19 to popular tourism locations like Mornington Peninsula.

Daniel Andrews says the school, community and faith leaders are calling people in the northern Melbourne area to get tested. The two schools involved are organising for everyone who hasn’t been tested to get tested.

I had a conversation this morning, Jerome and I, with some of the school leadership. They have gone through and booked in family by family to come and be tested at the site that the testing station is on the school grounds.

They will work through all those different appointments and that will give them a list of people who did not show and that is not a criticism, they may have gone somewhere else.

Circumstances may have intervened. But then they will go back and do that for a second time, a third time. We are confident we will get all of those people to come and get tested and then we will get the results as fast as possible.

Updated

Daniel Andrews predicts 'late night' after testing blitz in north Melbourne

Daniel Andrews says “it’ll be a very late night, and a very early morning” when it comes to making decisions around restrictions easing tomorrow. Earlier in the press conference he said the easing of restrictions tomorrow could not be “banked on”.

We really do have to wait to see what those test results show us ... what we are hopeful of is connections and linkages to these cases and these cases do not speak to the virus being in the northern suburbs more than we had thought, so it is all about trying to find those linkages and that is why there is a very big team of people interviewing, re-interviewing, looking at things from every conceivable angle to try to find linkages.

He says Victoria is still in a good position with low case numbers, and will proceed with easing of restrictions if possible. It’s just about getting those test results.

I’m trying to be as frank as possible. A lot of people had banked tomorrow as the day where we would have absolute clarity about what the rest of October and November looks like. If we can do that, we will. But the appropriate thing to do if you have thousands of tests in the laboratory being processed, you have to wait for the results.

Updated

Jeroen Weimar says the Victorian health department is focused on close and secondary contacts for the northern Melbourne outbreak, and says he doesn’t think schools opened up again too soon.

“Some family members live in all sorts of housing, some in public housing, some in community housing, many in private accommodation. We are increasingly doing door-to-door testing for them so we are going to them to ensure that they get the care they need and support that they need but also to get tested,” he said.

“If I look at the response of the school leadership of the schools that we are leading with, dealing with in this particular outbreak, they have taken prompt and swift action. We are talking about cases that happened on Monday this week.”

Updated

The positive case at Croxton school is a student, they are part of a family of four, and all four of the family are positive, Jeroen Weimar said.

One of the family’s other children attends the East Preston Islamic College, but it is not clear whether the cases are connected. The two children attended school while infected on one day.

A total of 9,405 tests have been conducted for staff, students or close contacts at the East Preston Islamic College, Victoria’s head of contact tracing, Jeroen Weimar, says.

There are 101 close contacts associated with the college isolating, and 307 secondary contacts isolating. There are 34 close contacts of the Croxton special school also isolating.

The Victorian health department sent out 22,000 text messages and emails to taxi and Uber drivers in the northern Melbourne area, and Weimar has encouraged the drivers to come forward for testing.

Updated

Daniel Andrews says Sunday's easing of restrictions cannot be 'banked on'

Daniel Andrews flags the long-awaited easing of restrictions announcement tomorrow should not be “banked on”. He says the announcements will still come tomorrow, but the actual easing will depend on the thousands of tests results waiting to come back as a result of the testing blitz in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Now is not the time for us to start ignoring when we find significant virus ... whether it be in a given community or in a given geographical area ... We are still optimistic that we will be able to have positive things to say, but I’m just ... It’s a note of caution, with so much information yet to come to us, we need to be guided by that. That has always been the way. That is what has delivered these low numbers.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Updated

On the northern Melbourne outbreak, Daniel Andrews says he met with the community leaders this morning.

I had a meeting early this morning with a number of community and faith leaders from the inner northern suburbs and, indeed, the northern suburbs more broadly.

I want to thank them for the very proactive and cooperative way – the partnership that we have with them.

They’re reaching out to literally hundreds and thousands of people in their own networks, whether they be faith-based or community-based networks, setting up telephone trees, calling upon people to come forward and get tested, making sure that they’re reminding people that, if you’ve been asked to stay in your home – either pending a test result or because you’re a positive or a close contact – that that’s critically important to do and that everybody, regardless of your background, everybody is in this together.

This virus does not, in any way, discriminate between different members of the Victorian community and neither does the government and its agencies when it comes to providing the most appropriate public health response.

He says there are thousands of test results from people in the area still waiting to come back, and hundreds if not thousands of more people are likely to be tested today.

He says it is a 35% increase in the normal amount of testing you would expect to see in that community.

Updated

Daniel Andrews press conference starts

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says Victoria has under 100 active cases of Covid-19 for the first time since 19 June.

Of today’s seven cases, Andrews says six are linked to outbreaks or known cases, including East Preston Islamic College, Croxton special school Northcote, the Hoppers Crossing community outbreak, and Estia in Keilor. One of those seven cases is under investigation.

There are three new cases in Darebin and single cases in Banule, greater Dandenong, Maribyrnong and Wyndham.

There were 17,219 test results since yesterday, which Andrews says is “another very, very strong number.”

Eight people are in hospital, and none in the ICU. There are seven active cases among healthcare workers.

Updated

Mexico reports 6,604 cases and 418 deaths

Mexico’s health ministry reported on Friday 6,604 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 418 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 880,775 and the death toll to 88,312.

Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

I am in Melbourne, the city with one of the, if not the, longest lockdowns in the world. Now we only have around 100 actives cases left, we are on the verge of opening up. We all crave a return to “Covid normal” as the politicians like to say, but there’s a fear it could return, and we might be forced to endure another lockdown.

Updated

New South Wales reports five new cases, but none locally acquired

For the second day in a row, the Australian state of New South Wales has reported no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases.

There were five cases reported in hotel quarantine.

There were 12,890 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with 13,686 in the previous 24 hours.

Updated

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, will provide his daily update at 11.30am AEDT today.

It’s the last update before tomorrow’s expected announcement of the further easing of restrictions in the state.

Australia’s ABC has reported the principal of the East Preston Islamic College in Melbourne has said the family of the child who attended school while infectious with Covid-19 is considering leaving the area after being devastated that it has led to the virus spreading.

The family had been isolating, but was told by the Victorian health department that two of the family’s children could return to school. English is not their first language, and it was interpreted that this meant all three children could go back to school, too.

The child was meant to keep isolating, and tested positive on Wednesday.

Now four new cases connected to the outbreak of 32 cases were reported on Saturday and around 800 people in the northern suburbs of Melbourne are currently isolating and being tested.

Updated

A bright yellow helicopter rose into a blue sky on Friday carrying a Covid-19 patient from the Netherlands to a German intensive care unit, the first such international airlift since the pandemic first threatened to swamp Dutch hospitals in the spring, AP reports.

The clatter of the helicopter’s rotors as it lifted off from a parking lot behind a hospital 30km east of Amsterdam was a noisy reminder of how the coronavirus is again gripping Europe and straining health care systems that struggled for equipment and staff during the pandemic’s first wave.

Elsewhere on the continent, an absence of noise will underscore the virus’ resurgence. More than two-thirds of the people living in France were to be subject to a nightly curfew starting at midnight Friday, hours after health authorities announced that the country had joined Spain in surpassing 1 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.

“The epidemic is very strongly accelerating,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after visiting a hospital near Paris.

France became the second country in Western Europe and the seventh world-wide to reach that number of known infections after reporting 42,032 new daily cases. Of the 445,000 confirmed cases the World Health Organization had recorded in the past 24 hours, nearly half were in Europe, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said.

Updated

Good morning

I’m Josh Taylor and I will be seeing you through the rest of the morning and early afternoon of Saturday, Australian time.

Here’s what we know so far today:

  • Victoria has reported no new deaths and seven new cases of Covid-19 overnight, including four new cases linked to an outbreak at the East Preston Islamic College. About 800 people who are either close contacts or secondary contacts of those associated with the school are currently isolating and awaiting test results. All staff and students from the nearby Croxton School have also been told to get tested and self-isolate, even if they aren’t experiencing symptoms.
  • AstraZeneca has resumed the US trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine after approval by US regulators, the company said. It was paused on 6 September after a report of a serious neurological illness, believed to be transverse myelitis, in a participant in the company’s UK trial.
  • Dr Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert, said the White House coronavirus task force’s meetings have become less frequent, even as infections rise in dozens of US states.
  • The EU’s disease control agency joined health workers across Europe in sounding the alarm about the surge in coronavirus infections as the World Health Organization warned of an “exponential” rise in cases. Several countries in Europe are reporting infection rates higher than during the first wave of the pandemic in March and April, with Spain saying it has now more than 3 million cases.
  • France’s second wave of coronavirus could be worse than the first, the boss of Paris public hospital group AP-HP said on Friday as the country registered a record number of daily cases. With pressure on hospitals rising fast, France has expanded a 9pm to 6am curfew to cover 46 million people, more than two-thirds of its population.
  • Italy registered 19,143 new coronavirus infections, a jump of more than 3,000 within the last 24 hours. The northern Lombardy region, the worst hit region during the first wave of the pandemic, recorded almost 5,000 new cases while in Campania, in the south, there were 2,280.
  • More than half a million people in the US could die from Covid-19 by the end of February next year, but about 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks, according to estimates from a modelling study.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
“I'm, like, sobbing… in tears, because it was so… I mean, he's a poet”: Flea talks collabs and a new Chili Peppers album
He admits he cried when he heard Nick Cave’s vocal on his solo album
MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Full Masters Of The Universe Trailer Revealed Jared Leto's Voice As Skeletor, And I've Got Thoughts
By the power of Greyskull, I am confused.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Slash sale: Guns ‘n’ Roses star’s guitar to fetch up to £300,000 in music auction
Exclusive auction will see rare Slash, Queen, and Beatles memorabilia go up for sale in April
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sir Paul McCartney Banned From Reddit After Attempting to Post in r/PaulMcCartney
Paul McCartney's Reddit activity faced moderation after attempts to post in r/PaulMcCartney, sparking debate about platform rules, subreddit moderation, and how even global celebrities navigate online communities.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Say my name: For newcomer and racialized children, belonging begins with classroom greetings
The first time I understood that names could hold two worlds was not by changing mine, but by hearing it differently. As a Pakistani child growing up in Canada, I learned early that my name could sound different depending on who was saying it. My name is simple and deeply…
The Conversation
The Conversation
‘Death hunted him since he was a kid’: how Lamar Odom survived to become a villain in his own tale
A new documentary charts the tragic events that led to the former NBA star overdosing in a Nevada brothel – and what came next
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play