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A groundbreaking study using high-resolution satellite imagery to analyse graveyards has found that deaths have nearly doubled in Aden, the centre of Yemen’s coronavirus outbreak.
The discovery has given a sense of the true scale of the havoc the pandemic has wreaked on the vulnerable country.
The research, not yet peer-reviewed but released on Wednesday, was done by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the geospatial analysis specialists Satellite Applications Catapult.
The researchers used satellite pictures, official data sources and interviews with researchers in Aden city to quantify burial activity across all the identifiable cemeteries within the Aden governorate.
The team found that between April and September 2020 there were about 2,100 excess deaths in the area, against an expected baseline of about 1,300 deaths.
The findings represent the first significant quantitative data on Yemen’s Covid-19 outbreak, and should assist pandemic response planning and other vital humanitarian interventions. A similar project by the same team is under way in Somalia.
The lead author, Emilie Koum Besson, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:
In a context like Yemen statistics are unreliable or just projections, and even actors on the ground have difficulty collecting accurate data.
You can say x or y about the pandemic, but if there’s no data for it you can’t really know the impact.
Using satellite imagery to create public health data is a very new science and we hope it will prove to be useful in places affected by conflict.
Yemen, which the UN says has experienced the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since the conflict between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition fighting to restore Yemen’s government broke out five years ago, has been particularly susceptible to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Melbourne reopens after months of hard Covid-19 lockdown as cases ease
Australia’s coronavirus hotspot of Victoria state reported two new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday after posting no infections in the previous two days, as state capital Melbourne emerged from more than three months of a hard lockdown.
Restaurants and cafes in Melbourne - home to 5 million people - can reopen from Wednesday and limits on social gatherings at homes have been eased, allowing two adults and dependents from one house to visit another household.
Melbourne, the Australian city most affected by the virus, was put into lockdown in early July after a second-wave outbreak that pushed daily case numbers to more than 700 in early August.
Australia has recorded just over 27,500 Covid-19 infections, far fewer than many other developed countries.
Victoria, the second most populous state, has accounted for more than 90% of the country’s 907 deaths. It reported two deaths in the past 24 hours.
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Summary
Here’s a quick recap of the latest coronavirus developments over the last few hours.
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French ICU units to hit record saturation in two weeks without new measures. The number of Covid-19 patients in French intensive care units could reach the same level as during the peak of the first wave in April in two weeks without new measures, a government spokesman said.
- Nearly 200 airports in UK and Europe could go bust due to collapse in air travel. Airports Council International Europe, which represents airport operators, said it estimated that 193 out of Europe’s 740 commercial airports face “insolvency in the coming months if passenger traffic does not start to recover by the year-end”.
- Canada’s Justin Trudeau predicts ‘tough winter’ and says pandemic ‘sucks’. As a second wave of Covid-19 infections engulfs much of the country, Trudeau called the pandemic a horrific national tragedy in a rare show of emotion and frustration from the prime minister.
- US coronavirus cases surge in midwest as Trump heads there in campaign push. Trump travelled to a rally in Michigan and planned to go on to events in Wisconsin and Nebraska the same day, on a pre-election blitz across three states where cases are rising most steeply.
- Angela Merkel warns Germany’s health system could hit breaking point. The chancellor is bringing forward high-level talks to decide on new restrictions to break the second wave of the pandemic, reported daily newspaper Bild.
- Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been hospitalised. Tebboune was previously self isolating due to contact with cases of Covid-19. A statement from the president’s office said he will continue to work from hospital.
- Italy registers highest death toll since mid-May. Italy registered 221 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since 15 May – and 21,944 new infections. The worst affected regions are Lombardy (where over 5,000 new cases were confirmed), Campania in the south and Piedmont.
- Obama ridicules Trump over Covid media coverage complaints at Florida rally. He mocked the president for his complaints about the media closely covering the national coronavirus crisis, saying “He is jealous of Covid’s media coverage.”
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Barack Obama ridiculed Donald Trump at a Florida rally for the president’s complaints about the media closely covering the national coronavirus crisis.
The 44th president has recently abandoned traditional decorum where a former president refrains from publicly criticising his successor, lambasting the 45th president in recent speeches for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, in particular.
At a drive-in rally in Orlando to boost support for his former vice-president and now Democratic nominee for the White House, Joe Biden, Obama took a tone combining mockery of Trump with indignation.
He spoke of record numbers dying of coronavirus in the US and asked rhetorically of the president: “What is his closing argument?” with the election just a week away.
“That people are too focused on Covid. He said this at one of his rallies ‘Covid, Covid, Covid’, he is complaining. He is jealous of Covid’s media coverage,” Obama said with mock incredulity as the crowd laughed.
At a rally on Saturday in North Carolina, Trump did say those words and complained that the media was paying too much attention to coronavirus, even as he claimed record case numbers are exaggerated and downplayed the death rates.
Obama said:
If he had been focused on Covid from the beginning, cases would not be reaching record highs across the country this week, the White House would not be having its second outbreak in a month.
Staff working for Mike Pence, the vice-president, have come down with Covid, it was revealed at the weekend, just a few weeks after Trump, his wife and youngest son all had coronavirus and multiple prominent people tested positive after the event at the White House to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court.
Italian police have fired teargas at demonstrators protesting virus restrictions for the second night running, as dire figures on global tourism and investment highlighted the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.
Thousands protested again in Italian cities with the cry of “freedom” punctuated by clashes with police, with many traders and employees fearing a second wave economic slump as much as the rising virus numbers.
The protesters are upset at the mandatory early closure of restaurants and other businesses. Some of the rallies have turned violent, particularly in Milan and Turin on Monday night, where angry youths threw petrol bombs and stones at police cars and smashed up shop fronts.
The clashes are “a black page” in Turin’s history, said local police chief Giuseppe De Matteis, “which cannot be attributed to social discontent but... to orchestration by individuals dedicated to crime”.
Late on Tuesday, the Italian government announced the release of €5bn ($5.9bn) of funding for the worst hit businesses, including restaurants, taxi drivers and live entertainment venues.
However, unhappiness over the measures in Italy and elsewhere in Europe - once again the global centre of the pandemic - is palpable among the business owners and residents who are once again facing lengthy restrictions as economies struggle to recover.
The United Nations has cancelled all in-person meetings at its New York headquarters for the rest of the week after five people in Niger’s UN mission were infected with Covid-19.
After largely operating virtually since New York became a global Covid-19 hotspot in March, the 193-member world body had been holding some in-person gatherings again, with precautions such as requiring diplomats to wear masks, social distancing and restricting the number of people at meetings.
In a letter to UN general assembly president Volkan Bozkır, secretary-general António Guterres said that “out of an abundance of caution and following medical advice” all in-person meeting should be suspended for the rest of this week “to allow for a better understanding of the extent of the exposure and for full contact tracing”.
Having received the enclosed letter from Secretary-General @antonioguterres & after consulting with the Chairs of the Main Committees, in light of the need to safeguard public health, all in-person meetings of the Plenary & Main Committees of the #UNGA are cancelled this week.🇺🇳 pic.twitter.com/j4ta4ouzHV
— Volkan BOZKIR (@volkan_bozkir) October 27, 2020
Niger is a member of the 15-member Security Council, which last met in person on Thursday. Diplomats said people who attended Thursday’s meeting were being tested and an in-person meeting on Syria planned for Tuesday was instead held virtually.
President Emmanuel Macron will give a televised address on Wednesday evening, as French authorities explore fresh restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The Élysée palace did not say what Macron’s address would be about, but such televised statements have in the past been the occasion to announce new anti-virus measures.
The French leader has held meetings to review the state of the epidemic in recent days.
The French government has been exploring bringing in a national lockdown from midnight on Thursday, BFM TV reported, albeit a slightly more flexible one than the two-month shutdown that began in mid-March.
Schools could remain open even as restrictions on people’s movements become more severe, BFM TV added.
Sources told Reuters earlier this week that options being envisaged for some areas included confining people to their homes at weekends, closing non-essential shops and starting curfew measures earlier.
France imposed a daily curfew on major cities two weeks ago that runs from 9pm to 6am.
Nearly 200 airports in UK and Europe could go bust due to collapse in air travel
Nearly 200 airports across the UK and Europe are at risk of going bust within months due to the dramatic collapse in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the European airports trade body has warned.
Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), which represents airport operators, said it estimated that 193 out of Europe’s 740 commercial airports face “insolvency in the coming months if passenger traffic does not start to recover by the year-end”.
The trade body said the at-risk airports employed 277,000 people and generated collective annual revenues of €12.4bn (£11.2bn).
Olivier Jankovec, the director general of ACI Europe, said the figures “paint a dramatically bleak picture” for the future of the aviation industry, which has already suffered tens of thousands of job losses.
Eight months into the crisis, all of Europe’s airports are burning through cash to remain open, with revenues far from covering the costs of operations, let alone capital costs.
Governments’ current imposition of quarantines rather than testing is bringing Europe’s airports closer to the brink with every day that passes.
Nearly half a million people in the US have contracted Covid-19 in the last seven days, according to a Reuters tally, as cases and hospitalisations set fresh records in hot spots in the Midwest.
More than 5,600 people died from the virus nationwide in the last week, with hospitalisations shooting up 13%, a Reuters analysis showed.
Illinois, which has emerged as a hot spot in recent weeks, reported over 31,000 new cases in the last seven days, more new infections than any other state except Texas.
Pennsylvania, a hotly contested battleground state in next week’s election, on Tuesday reported a fresh record in new daily coronavirus cases.
US president Donald Trump, facing a tough re-election battle on 3 November, lashed out again at reports that the coronavirus is surging, and reiterated his claim that the country is “rounding the turn” in its battle with the virus that has killed more than 226,000 people.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump struck a defiant tone, saying once again his administration had done “a really good job in battling the pandemic”.
“We did the ventilators and now we’re doing all of the equipment and now we’re doing vaccines, we’re doing therapeutics. We’ve done a great job, and people are starting to see.”
To try and contain the surge, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker imposed fresh rounds of restrictions in six of 11 regions.
Indoor dining in bars and restaurants will be suspended by Wednesday and gatherings will be limited to 25 people. The affected areas include some Chicago suburbs.
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Russia has applied to the World Health Organization for accelerated registration and pre-qualification of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the country’s sovereign wealth fund said.
Russia announced in August that it had registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite.
On Tuesday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which finances the vaccine, said that accelerated registration would make Sputnik V “available globally in a shorter time frame than usual procedures”.
“The Russian Federation has become one of the first countries to apply to WHO for pre-qualification of its vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection,” RDIF said in a statement.
When contacted by news agency AFP, the WHO said such requests were “confidential”.
According to the Russian statement, “successful pre-qualification will enable Sputnik V to be included in the list of medicines used by international procurement agencies and countries to guide bulk purchasing of medicines”.
Some Western scientists have expressed concern over the Russian vaccine, warning that moving too quickly could be dangerous.
So far, the WHO said, it “has not yet pre-qualified a vaccine for Covid-19, nor published any emergency use listing”.
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Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is predicting a “tough winter” as a second wave of Covid-19 infections engulfs much of the country, saying the pandemic “sucks” and calling it a horrific national tragedy.
Canada’s case numbers have been rising, triggering new restrictions to public gatherings and indoor activities in several provinces. On Monday, Canada recorded 4,109 new cases, and there have now been nearly 10,000 deaths.
“This sucks. It really, really does,” Trudeau said at a news conference when asked about the fatigue Canadians now feel after living amid the pandemic for more than seven months.
The comments mark a rare show of emotion and frustration from Trudeau, who has regularly given nationally televised briefings to reassure Canadians that his Liberal government is managing the crisis as best it can.
“What we are living through is a horrific national tragedy. Families have lost loved ones, been devastated by these tragedies, and we need to know that there are more tragedies to come,” Trudeau said.
Quebec, Canada’s second-most populous province, on Monday extended a shutdown of bars, gyms and restaurants in hotspots like Montreal, with new cases coming in at about 1,000 per day.
Alberta on Monday limited social gatherings to 15 people, and British Columbia also imposed more restrictions on the number of people who could meet at one time after a rise in new cases there over the weekend.
“My six-year-old asked me a few weeks ago, ‘Dad, is Covid-19 forever?’,” the prime minister said, saying it was “frustrating” to tell him he could not go trick-or-treating this year. “This is really difficult.”
“It’s frustrating knowing that unless we’re really, really careful, there may not be the kinds of family gatherings we want to have at Christmas,” he added.
But he did also say things will get better and that the federal government would be there to help out, while urging Canadians to do their part to limit the spread of the disease.
“It’s going to be a tough winter,” he said, but “spring and summer will come and they will be better”.
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Wisconsin has broken one-day state records in Covid-19 deaths and cases as state officials told residents to stay home, wear a mask, and implored them to cancel travel and social gatherings.
The US state recorded 64 deaths due to the virus and 5,262 new cases over the last 24 hours.
French ICU units to hit record saturation in two weeks without new measures
The number of Covid-19 patients in French intensive care units could reach the same level as during the peak of the first wave in April in two weeks without new measures, a government spokesman said.
Gabriel Attal said these estimates were based on models by the Pasteur Institute. “We are seeing an exponential increase in the number of infections,” he told reporters after cabinet members met with party leaders and lawmakers.
The prime minister Jean Castex told lawmakers French hospitals’ intensive care units will be saturated with Covid-19 patients by 11 November if nothing is done to stop the epidemic in France.
“He told us that on 11 November, our hospitals will be at a saturation level equivalent to that of the first wave, so a level of extreme saturation,” lawmaker André Chassaigne told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister behind closed doors.
“So the situation is particularly serious. If we can’t flatten the curve, in the next 15 days, our hospitals won’t be able to treat patients,” he added.
The prime minister did not say what measures they planned to take in response, the participants said.
President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to make a speech to the nation on Wednesday, at 1900 GMT, to address the health crisis. Sources told Reuters tighter restrictions would be announced.
France reported 523 new deaths from coronavirus over the past 24 hours on Tuesday, the highest daily toll since 22 April.
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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
- France reports 523 new deaths, the highest daily death toll since April. Reuters reports that Tuesday’s death toll data included hospital deaths, which are reported on a daily basis, and 235 retirement home deaths over the past four days. The country registered 1,194 new coronavirus patients in hospital and 148 people in the intensive care unit over the past 24 hours.
- Angela Merkel warns Germany’s health system could hit breaking point. The chancellor is bringing forward high-level talks to decide on new restrictions to break the second wave of the pandemic, daily newspaper Bild. Merkel told party colleagues that the number of new cases is doubling every seven to eight days, while the number of occupied intensive care beds is doubling every 10 days. The number of new coronavirus infections in Germany is likely to reach 20,000 a day by the end of the week, economy minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday
- Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been hospitalised. Tebboune was previously self isolating due to contact with cases of COVID-19. A statement from the president’s office said he will continue to work from hospital.
- Italy registers highest death toll since mid-May. Italy registered 221 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since 15 May – and 21,944 new infections. The worst affected regions are Lombardy (where over 5,000 new cases were confirmed), Campania in the south and Piedmont.
- Sweden registered 1,870 new coronavirus, the highest since the start of the pandemic. The increase compares with a high of 1,698 daily cases recorded in late June. The country’s health agency has said the peak during the spring was probably much higher but not recorded due to lack of testing.
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Spain’s wine region La Rioja shuts restaurants, bars for a month. This was the latest move to try and contain the second wave of the pandemic in Spain, which has had a nationwide curfew in place since Sunday, while a growing number of regions have banned people from entering or exiting their territory.
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UK deaths involving Covid-19 pass 61,000. The total number of deaths registered by the three statistical agencies across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland now stands at 59,927. However, more up-to-date UK government figures show that 1,189 deaths have occurred within 28 days of a positive test since the figures were registered in each nation. This brings the number of deaths across the four nations of the UK to 61,116.
France reports 523 new deaths, highest daily death toll since April
France reported 523 new deaths from coronavirus over the past 24-hours, the highest daily toll since April 22, Reuters reports citing health ministry data.
Reuters notes:
Tuesday’s death toll data included hospital deaths, which are reported on a daily basis, and 235 retirement home deaths over the past four days.
The health ministry also reported 33,417 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, from 26,711 on Monday and record 52,010 on Sunday.
France reports that 148 people have been taken to intensive care unit in the past 24 hours, a slight decrease from the 186 figure on Monday, Reuters reports.
The country registered 1,194 new coronavirus patients in hospital in that same time period, from 1,307 on Monday.
Angela Merkel warns Germany's health system could hit breaking point
Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany’s health system could hit breaking point if coronavirus infections continue to spiral, after bringing forward high-level talks to decide on new restrictions to break the second wave of the pandemic, Reuters reports, citing daily newspaper Bild.
Bild reported that Merkel told party colleagues that the number of new cases is doubling every seven to eight days, while the number of occupied intensive care beds is doubling every 10 days.
The paper quotes Merkel as saying:
It just needs to double again four more times and the system will be at a breaking point.
On Monday, Bild reported that Merkel was planning a “lockdown light” which would mainly focus on closing bars and restaurants as well as restrictions on public events.
US president Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that a coronavirus economic relief deal would likely come after the Nov. 3 election.
Reuters reports:
“After the election we’ll get the best stimulus package you’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving on a campaign trip.
Trump and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi have traded blame for the impasse over another large stimulus package worth around $2 trillion to help Americans weather the pandemic.
“We’ll always talk about it because our people should get it, the stimulus, but Nancy Pelosi is only interested in bailing out badly run, crime-ridden Democrat cities and states,” Trump said.
Pelosi, the top elected Democrat, led the House to pass a $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill in May, but Republicans who control the U.S. Senate balked at another large bill. They pushed a much smaller measure targeting a few areas for relief.
Algerian president has been hospitalised
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been hospitalised in the country’s capital Algiers days after stating he was self isolating due to contact with cases of COVID-19.
The president’s office said in a statement:
On the recommendation of his doctors, the president Monsieur Abdelmadjid Tebboune entered a specialised care unit in the army’s central hospital in Ain Naadja in Algiers.
His health is stable and is not causing any concern.
They added that the president will continue to work from hospital.
Tebboune, elected in December 2019 after months of protests that toppled his ageing predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika, declared late last week that he was self isolating due to cases of COVID-19 “in the upper ranks,” of the Algerian government.
“In compliance with the advice of the medical staff, I went into voluntary quarantine,” he tweeted on Saturday.“I assure you, my brothers and sisters, that I am well and healthy and that I continue my work,” he said.
Algeria has officially registered 56, 419 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, as well as 1,922 deaths.
The pandemic put a temporary end to weekly Friday protests demanding a complete overhaul of Algeria’s leadership, including anger at Tebboune.
Algerians are scheduled to go to the polls on November 1st to vote on a number of constitutional changes. The referendum has been criticised by supporters of the protest movement, who say the proposed changes are insufficient to curb the power of longtime ruling elites.
Italy registers highest death toll since mid-May
Italy registered 221 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday – the highest daily toll since 15 May – and 21,944 new infections.
The worst affected regions are Lombardy (where over 5,000 new cases were confirmed), Campania in the south and Piedmont.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 across the country increased by 958 to 13,955, of whom 1,411 are in intensive care.
The government’s new restrictions, which include the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants, have been met with protests although Walter Ricciardi, the scientist advising the health ministry, warned the measures might not be enough to contain the virus.
He called for lockdowns in the cities of Milan and Naples, where he said it was possible to catch the virus by simply walking into a bar.
The Spanish government has it will reflect on the need for physical appearances after several leading politicians, including the health minister and the leader of the conservative People’s party, attended a newspaper awards ceremony a day after the declaration of a state of emergency and the imposition of a nationwide curfew.
The event, held by the online newspaper El Español in Madrid on Monday night, was also attended by the president of the Madrid region and the leader of the centre-right Citizens party.
It came 24 hours after the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced a state of emergency and urged Spaniards to limit their movements, adding:
The more we stay at home and the fewer the contacts we have, the more protected we’ll be, and the more we’ll be able to protect our loved ones and the health of everyone.
In a statement, El Español said the venue had been at 33% capacity and that the 80 guests had been seated at 12 tables of six people and two of four people. It added that facemasks had been worn, physical distancing maintained, and that the event had ended an hour before the 12am-6am curfew in Madrid had begun.
María Jesús Montero, the spokeswoman for Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government, also stressed that protocol had been followed but said more thought needed to be given to such events.
She added:
I think all of us who have to participate in public acts need to engage in some self-reflection about reducing our physical presence as much as we can.
We need to take note because we’re conscious that we’re meant to be setting the example for everyone.
Some accused the guests of double standards, pointing out that the continuing spread of the virus couldn’t be blamed solely on irresponsible young people.
Gabriel Rufián, an MP for the Catalan Republican Left party, tweeted pictures of the event with the caption: “Those kids and their drinking parties are just awful, eh?”
Only a share of the European Union population can be inoculated against the new coronavirus before 2022, should an effective vaccine be available, officials said in an internal meeting.
Reuters reports:
The warning comes in spite of the fact that the 27-nation bloc, with a population of 450 million, has secured more than 1bn doses of potential Covid-19 vaccines from three drugmakers. It is negotiating the booking of another billion vials with other companies.
As a global scramble to secure shots accelerates, experts caution that not every potential vaccine may prove to be effective.
“There will not be sufficient doses of Covid-19 vaccines for the entire population before the end of 2021,” a European Commission official told diplomats from EU states in a closed-door meeting on Monday, a person who attended it told Reuters.
A second official confirmed the statement. An EU commission spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
There is still no effective Covid-19 vaccine, but the first shots could be available at the beginning of next year, the commission said earlier in October.
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is self-isolating after coming into contact with a person infected with Covid-19, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Lavrov’s previously planned visits and meetings are being postponed.
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Dr Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told BBC World at One that across the European region there is “an intense and alarming increase in cases and deaths with daily cases increasing by a third and unfortunately daily deaths, increasing by close to 40% compared with the previous week, particularly France, Spain, the United Kingdom”.
She is concerned that hospitals are now filling up with very ill people, despite better management of hospital capacity.
The WHO doesn’t want to see a whole nation go into a lockdown that went before, she said, “though we do understand why in some ways, it’s easier for a government to do that. We don’t want to see the economy damaged because it damages health. But you also need to protect health in order to protect the economy”.
She said people who have to self-isolate need clearer guidance and the authorities need every day to check up on them.
If people are helped to do this, they will do this, but if they get the message and it’s just a poster or a piece of information, but nobody’s taking it seriously. Then they won’t do it. Countries in east Asia have been most effective at doing this and controlling the virus.
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Sweden registered 1,870 new coronavirus
Sweden registered 1,870 new coronavirus cases on 23 October, the highest since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
The increase compares with a high of 1,698 daily cases recorded in late June. The country’s health agency has said the peak during the spring was probably much higher but not recorded due to lack of testing.
Sweden’s official death toll decreased with 15 cases since Friday, taking the total to 5,918 deaths. Reuters notes that while no explanation was given for the decrease but the death count has previously been changed after the actual cause of death has been determined.
Updated
Spain's wine region La Rioja shuts restaurants, bars for a month
Spain’s wine-producing region of La Rioja on Tuesday ordered the closure of restaurants and bars in its two largest towns for a month to try to curb the coronavirus contagion.
Reuters reports:
This was the latest move to try and contain the second wave of the pandemic in Spain, which has had a nationwide curfew in place since Sunday, while a growing number of regions have banned people from entering or exiting their territory.
“Experts tell us the outbreaks come mostly from relaxing in closed spaces.. when we consume food and drinks and take off our masks,” regional leader Concha Andreu told a news conference.
The shutdown will be enforced in the capital Logrono and in Arnedo, the second largest town in the small central Spanish region, mostly known abroad for its red wine.
Together Logrono and Arnedo account for more than half the region’s 300,000 population. The people in the two towns will also be banned from leaving for non-essential reasons.
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One of the world’s leading Covid-19 experimental vaccines produces an immune response in older adults as well as the young, its developers say, raising hopes of protection for those most vulnerable to the coronavirus that has caused social and economic chaos around the world.
Neither Oxford University nor its commercial partner AstraZeneca would release the data from the early trials showing the positive effects, which are being submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. But AstraZeneca confirmed the basic findings about the vaccine it calls AZD1222, which were shared at a closed academic meeting.
The phase 2 trials have shown that people over the age of 56 – and some over 70 – produced the same sort of antibody response as younger volunteers. Whether older people would be protected has always been a key question for the vaccines being developed. The body’s natural immune system and therefore its ability to fight any virus weakens with age, which is why the Covid death rate rises in older people.
The data also show that fewer side-effects – referred to by the scientists as “reactogenicity” – were reported in the older volunteers, which is encouraging, although it could mean that fewer of them reported issues such as a sore arm.
Structural racism led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities in the UK, a review by Dame Doreen Lawrence has concluded.
The report, commissioned by Labour, contradicts the government’s adviser on ethnicity, Dr Raghib Ali, who last week dismissed claims that inequalities within government, health, employment and the education system help to explain why Covid-19 killed disproportionately more people from minority ethnic communities.
Lawrence’s review found BAME people are over-represented in public-facing industries where they cannot work from home, are more likely to live in overcrowded housing and have been put at risk by the government’s alleged failure to facilitate Covid-secure workplaces.
She demanded that the government set out an urgent winter plan to tackle the disproportionate impact of Covid on BAME people and ensure comprehensive ethnicity data is collected across the NHS and social care.
Updated
UK deaths involving Covid-19 pass 61,000
The Covid-19 death toll across the UK has passed 61,000.
The total number of deaths registered by the three statistical agencies across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland now stands at 59,927.
However, more up-to-date UK government figures show that 1,189 deaths have occurred within 28 days of a positive test since the figures were registered in each nation: 1,044 in England, 62 in Scotland, 47 in Wales and 36 in Northern Ireland.
This brings the number of deaths across the four nations of the UK to 61,116.
Updated
Eurozone banks are tightening access to corporate credit amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new data released on Tuesday.
Reuters reports:
With governments once again restricting economic activity, banks are growing worried about rising credit risk, potential damage to economic growth as emergency credit lines are keeping a range of companies afloat, particularly in services.
Banks had already curtailed access to corporate credit in the third quarter and expected to tighten further in the last three months of the year, reflecting concerns about the stalling recovery and governments’ ability to maintain fiscal support measures amid a lingering downturn, the ECB said.
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German minister warns of 20,000 new daily coronavirus cases within days
The number of new coronavirus infections in Germany is likely to reach 20,000 a day by the end of the week, economy minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday, according to a report by Reuters.
He told a virtual German-French economic conference in Berlin:
We are dealing with exponential growth. In Germany, the number of new infections is rising by 70-75% compared with the week before.
According to Altmaier’s forecast, Germany is contending with a faster upswing in coronavirus cases than previously expected. At the end of September, chancellor Angela Merkel said there could be 19,200 cases a day by Christmas.
On Tuesday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 11,409. That compares with 6,868 cases last Tuesday and with the record 14,714 reported on Saturday.
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Hello, I’m Aamna Mohdin and I’ll be taking over the liveblog for the rest of the day. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com) or reach me on Twitter (@aamnamohdin)
Poland’s prime minister defended the tightening of the country’s abortion law and condemned massive nationwide protests led by women’s rights activists, saying they shouldn’t be happening amid heightened coronavirus restrictions and decrying “acts of aggression”.
Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki was reacting to five days of massive protests across Poland against a ruling on Thursday by the country’s top court that declared abortions due to foetal congenital defects unconstitutional.
On Monday, protesters led by women’s rights activists blocked traffic for hours in most cities and also gathered outside churches, chanting obscenities against Poland’s influential Catholicchurch leaders, who condemn abortions. They called for the women to have the right of choice.
“In order to have the freedom of choice you first must be alive,” Morawiecki, whose conservative government backs tight restrictions, said in defending the court’s ruling.
Morawiecki added that “the situations that we are seeing in the streets and which amount to acts of aggression, vandalism, attacks, are absolutely inadmissible, should not be taking place at all”.”
The prime minister urged everyone to observe restrictions that ban gatherings of more than five people in an effort to fight a sudden spike in coronavirus cases.
The constitutional tribunal’s ruling tightened what was already one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws. When it takes effect, abortion will be permitted only when a pregnancy threatens the woman’s health or is the result of crime like rape or incest.
Further protests are planned for later this week.
Updated
The number of new coronavirus infections in Germany is likely to reach 20,000 a day at the end of this week, economy minister Peter Altmaier has said.
“We are dealing with exponential growth,” Altmaier told a German-French economic conference via video link in Berlin.
“In Germany the number of new infections is rising by 70-75% compared to the week before.”
Altmaier’s forecast shows that Germany is contending with a faster upswing in coronavirus cases than previously expected. At the end of September, Chancellor Angela Merkel said there could be 19,200 cases per day by Christmas.
On Tuesday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 11,409.
Merkel and leaders of Germany’s 16 states will meet on Wednesday to decide on additional restrictive measures to slow the second wave of the pandemic.
Daily Bild reported the chancellor is planning a “lockdown-light” which would mainly focus on the closure of bars and restaurants to try to contain the spread of infections.
Altmaier said rising infections across Europe and corresponding curbs on daily life would make it harder for economic growth to rebound as quickly as previously hoped. But he did not expect supply chains to be disrupted like they were during the first wave of the virus in spring.
The German government expects Europe’s largest economy to shrink by 5.5% this year, a source told Reuters on Monday, a slightly more optimistic forecast than its previous guidance for a 5.8% decline in gross domestic product.
Updated
Here’s more on the situation in Russia.
Russia on Tuesday tightened anti-coronavirus restrictions including mask-wearing in public spaces after registering a record daily spike in virus deaths.
According to the country’s consumer safety regulator, face masks are to be worn in crowded areas, on public transport, in taxis and lifts from Wednesday.
Rospotrebnadzor also banned public events between 11pm and 6am, saying cafes and restaurants should be closed during this time.
On Tuesday, health authorities reported a record 320 deaths from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours.
Russia has the fourth-highest virus caseload in the world, with a total of 1,547,774 registered infections and 26,589 deaths.
Moscow remains the epicentre of the outbreak and earlier this month residents over the age of 65 were asked to stay at home.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Russia imposed one of the most severe nationwide lockdowns. on-essential businesses were shuttered and Moscow residents only permitted to move freely with official digital passes.
But most restrictions were lifted ahead of a large military parade in June and a nationwide vote on amendments that paved the way for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036.
Updated
Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov, who is being treated for coronavirus at home after testing positive, called on Bulgarians to observe anti-viral measures and keep safe as daily infections hit a record on Tuesday.
Borissov, 61, said in a posting on Facebook there was no change in his health and he was still feeling a general malaise but that did not prevent him from carrying out his duties as prime minister from home.
“I am being treated like every Bulgarian who has to stay for home treatment. I am confident that our society, led by our doctors, who are some of the best in the world, will go through this ordeal. Follow the measures and keep safe!” he wrote.
Borissov tested positive for the virus on Sunday.
Bulgaria reported 2,243 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, its highest daily tally. Some 40,143 Bulgarians have tested positive for the disease since March and 1,146 have died.
Health authorities have made the wearing of masks obligatory, both indoors and outdoors, and urged the country’s 7 million people to observe social distancing and maintain good hygiene. Some cities have closed nightclubs and bars.
Updated
Meanwhile, Hong Kong will reopen public beaches and increase the number of people allowed to sit together in bars and restaurants starting from Friday as the city continues to unwind strict Covid-19 rules put in place in July.
“The epidemic situation has continued to subside over the past two weeks,” said Sophia Chan, the Chinese special administrative region’s health secretary.
She cautioned that residents needed to remain vigilant to fight the virus, as there are still unknown transmission chains in the community.
The relaxation of measures comes as the Asian financial hub has maintained single-digit or no new local cases in recent weeks. However, the city has continued to register imported cases.
“Globally, there is a worsening epidemic situation that may continue to pose some public health risk to Hong Kong,” she said.
The government began to relax restrictions on dining, sports facilities and theme parks in September after a mass testing programme organised by the Chinese government found 42 cases.
The programme screened 1.8 million people – almost a quarter of Hong Kong’s population.
Updated
France should get ready for “difficult decisions” on new measures to tackle the resurgence of covid cases, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has said ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss the pandemic.
French authorities are looking at options for still tighter measures to fight the disease, which has kept spreading despite some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, according to three sources familiar with the government’s thinking.
“We must expect difficult decisions,” Darmanin told France Inter radio.
France has already set a curfew in major cities, including Paris. Two industry sources in contact with the government said officials are now looking at measures including starting the curfew earlier, confining people to their homes at weekends except for essential trips, and closing non-essential shops.
On Monday, France reported 26,771 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, while the death toll went up by 257, taking the cumulative total since the start of the epidemic to 35,018 deaths. The number of people in intensive care units rose by 186 to 2,770.
Updated
Russia’s consumer health watchdog ordered bars and restaurants to close between 11pm and 6am local time to contain the coronavirus, RIA news agency reported.
Updated
Morning, I’m taking over from Helen to update the blog. As ever, please do send me any stories, tips and even any ideas of what you think we should be covering. Email me at nazia.parveen@theguardian.com or follow me on Twitter to send me a DM
Updated
That’s it from me for today. It’s been Very Nice!
Kazakhstan has embraced Borat with ads that show tourists hiking with a selfie stick, (“Very nice!”), drinking fermented horse milk (“Mm, that’s actually very nice!”), marvelling at the architecture (“Wow, very nice!”)https://t.co/H0WT26YIDT
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 27, 2020
Summary
Here are the key developments form the last few hours:
- Stock markets have opened sharply down in Asia Pacific on Tuesday, taking their cue from the US and Europe where shares fell on Monday amid concerns that the second wave of coronavirus is not being contained. In Sydney the ASX200 has fallen 1.2% and the Dow Jones New Zealand is down 1.3%. Markets in Asia are set to follow suit.
- Trump to announce plan to cover vaccine costs – report. The US Trump administration will this week announce a plan to cover out-of-pocket costs of Covid-19 vaccines for millions of Americans who receive Medicare or Medicaid, Politico reported late on Monday, citing four people with knowledge of the plan.
- Mainland China reported 16 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on 26 October, down from 20 a day earlier, the country’s health authorities said on Tuesday. The number of new asymptomatic cases also fell to 50, from 161 reported a day earlier amid a fresh wave of symptomless infections being reported in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
- Victoria, Australia recorded zero new cases for second time. The epicentre of Australia’s Covid-19 infections said on Tuesday it had gone 48 hours without detecting any new cases for the first time in more than seven months. The state will allow restaurants and cafes in Melbourne to reopen from Wednesday after more than three months under a stringent lockdown.
- With the US Election Day just over a week away, average deaths per day across the country are up 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Newly confirmed infections per day are rising in 47 states, and deaths are up in 34.
- Protesters turned out by the hundreds in Turin, Milan and other Italian cities and towns Monday to vent their anger, sometimes violently, at the latest pandemic restrictions that force restaurants and cafes to close early and shutter cinemas, gyms and other leisure venues.
- ‘We cannot give up’ warned the WHO chief. The World Health Organization chief warned Monday that abandoning efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic, as suggested by a top US official, was “dangerous”, urging countries not to “give up”. He acknowledged that after months of battling the new coronavirus, which has claimed more than 1.1 million lives globally, a certain level of “pandemic fatigue” had set in.
- Pope Francis will have to forego meeting Catholics at the annual Advent and Christmas masses in the Vatican owing to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic, the specialist Catholic News Agency reported on Monday. 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.
- 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.
Structural racism led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, a review by Dame Doreen Lawrence has concluded.
The report, commissioned by Labour, contradicts the government’s adviser on ethnicity, Dr Raghib Ali, who last week dismissed claims that inequalities within government, health, employment and the education system help to explain why Covid-19 killed disproportionately more people from minority ethnic communities:
Police in Italy have fired tear gas to disperse angry crowds in the northern cities of Turin and Milan after protests against the latest round of anti-coronavirus restrictions flared into violence.
As the head of the World Health Organization urged countries “not to give up” in their fight to contain the virus, luxury goods shops, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in the centre of Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.
Police responded with volleys of tear gas as they tried to disperse the crowds and 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:
Antibodies against the coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population in summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long-lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community, Reuters reports.
Although virus immunity is a complex and murky topic and may be assisted by T cells, as well as B cells that can stimulate swift production of antibodies following virus re-exposure, the researchers said the experience of other coronaviruses suggested immunity might not be enduring.
Those confirmed by a gold standard PCR test to have Covid-19 had a less pronounced decline in antibodies, versus those who were asymptomatic and unaware of their original infection. The findings from scientists at Imperial College London, released as a pre-print paper, have not yet been peer-reviewed.
Hundreds of anti-restriction protestors gathered in Barcelona on Monday evening, Catalan News reports, to evoice their frustration with Covid-restrictions from the Spanish and Catalan governments, including a curfew from 10pm-6pm in Catalonia which started on Sunday:
Organized by the far-left pro-independence CUP party and other groups who called for increased funding for public services rather than measures restricting individual freedom, demonstrators with other ideological leanings, including virus denialists, ended up attending the protest as well.
Tumbling numbers of pregnancies and marriages in Japan during the coronavirus pandemic are likely to intensify a demographic crisis in the rapidly ageing nation, Reuters reports.
Japan has the most aged society in the world, with more than 35% of its population expected to be 65 and over by 2050, a trend that poses risks for economic growth and straining government finances.
“I reckon the spread of the coronavirus is having many people worried about getting pregnant, giving births and rearing babies,” Tetsushi Sakamoto, minister in charge of responses to Japan’s declining birthrates, told a news conference on Friday.
Recently published official data showed the number of notified pregnancies in the three months to July fell 11.4% from a year earlier, while the number of marriages over the same period dropped 36.9%. The sharp decline in marriages matters because the majority of babies in Japan are born in wedlock.
Trump to announce plan to cover vaccine costs – report
The US Trump administration will this week announce a plan to cover out-of-pocket costs of Covid-19 vaccines for millions of Americans who receive Medicare or Medicaid, Politico reported late on Monday, citing four people with knowledge of the plan.
According to the plans, Medicare and Medicaid will now cover vaccines that receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The changes are expected to be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the report added.
The planned rule will also address other Covid-19 related issues like expanding flexibility for Medicaid patients seeking care for the coronavirus, Politico reported.
CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular working hours.
Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to 15% of Covid-19 deaths globally, according to research published Tuesday that highlights the health risks posed by greenhouse gas emissions.
AFP: previous research has showed how air pollution from exhaust fumes and factories takes two years off the life expectancy of every man, woman and child on Earth.
Now experts in Germany and Cyprus say they have estimated the proportion of deaths from coronavirus that can be blamed of the exacerbating effects of air pollution.
Their study, published in the journal Cardiovascular Research, drew on health and disease data from the US and China relating to air pollution, Covid-19 and SARS - a serious lung disease similar to Covid.
They combined this with satellite data of global exposure to particulate matter - microscopic particles - as well as ground-based pollution monitoring networks, to calculate to what extent air pollution can be blamed for Covid-19 deaths.
In East Asia, which has some of the highest levels of harmful pollution on the planet, the authors found that 27% of Covid-19 deaths could be attributed to the health effects of poor air quality.
In Europe the proportion was 19%, compared with 17% in North America.
Wild vampire bats socially distance when they are sick, a new study suggests. Scientists had previously seen this behaviour in lab conditions, but wanted to find out if it occurred in the wild.
PA media reports that the researchers captured 31 adult female vampire bats from a hollow tree in Lamanai, Belize. The team injected half the bats with lipopolysaccharide, an immune-challenging substance, to make them sick while the other half received saline injections.
The researchers then glued proximity sensors to the bats and released them back into their tree.
The team tracked changes over time in the associations among the 16 sick bats and 15 control bats.
The researchers found that the animals that were ill spent less time near others, associated with fewer group mates and were less socially connected to those that were healthy.
The study, published in Behavioural Ecology, found that in the six hours after injection, a sick bat associated on average with four fewer associates than a bat that had been injected with saline.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 11,409 to 449,275, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.
The reported death toll rose by 42 to 10,098, the tally showed.
Angela Merkel has reportedly warned colleagues on Monday that Germany is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus. 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.
New Zealand farmers are so desperate for workers that they are offering unlimited supplies of free meat, milk, honey and firewood to tempt employees onto remote properties.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, ordered the closure of her country’s borders in mid-March, sparing New Zealand the worst of Covid-19.
Despite being hailed as a global success story for fighting and managing the disease, the hard border shutdown and multiple lockdowns have taken a toll on the economy, with the country now officially in recession after the economy contracted 12%.
With a population of just 5 million, many New Zealand industries are heavily reliant on migrant labour, including in tourism, horticulture and farming:
A little more about Demon Slayer:
Fans of the franchise include the chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, who mentioned the movie at a recent press briefing, according to Bloomberg. “In the midst of the pandemic, the record box-office has contributed greatly to the movie industry,” he told reporters, adding that he had watched some of the TV series.
Based on a manga series by Koyoharu Gotoge that appeared in 2016, the film is set in Japan around 100 years ago and centres on an adolescent boy who fights human-eating demons after his family is slaughtered and his younger sister is turned into a demon.
The manga, which was later turned into a TV series that aired last year, has sold over 100 million copies in Japan, has been translated into 14 languages and is available in 33 countries, according to publisher Shueisha.
Anticipation is growing that the Haruo Sotozaki-directed film will overtake Miyazaki’s Spirited Away - which went on to amass ticket sales of ¥ 30.8bn - to become the highest-grossing Japanese movie ever.
Aniplex said English-dubbed and subtitled versions are due for release in North America early next year.
Not even a global pandemic has been able to deter people in Japan from flocking to cinemas. Demon Slayer, an anime based on a popular manga and TV series, has set a new record after it generated ticket sales of ¥10.75bn ($102.48 million) in its first 10 days, according to the film’s distributor.
No film in Japan has ever achieved ¥10bn in ticket sales in such a short space of time, with the previous record-holder, Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 animated film Spirited Away, taking 25 days to reach the milestone. By Monday, 7.98m people had seen Demon Slayer at 403 cinemas, according to co-distributors Aniplex and Toho.
Cinemas were closed during Japan’s seven-week state of emergency, but audiences are rediscovering their appetite for big-screen entertainment after they were permitted to fill all their seats from 19 September.
Japan continues to report several hundred coronavirus cases a day but has avoided an explosion in infectionsand the large number of deaths seen in the US, Britain, Brazil and other countries.
As of Monday, Japan had recorded 98,331 cases and 1,741 deaths, according to a tally by public broadcaster NHK.
US election 2020 podcast: are Democrats taking black voters for granted in Wisconsin?
The Guardian US reporter Kenya Evelyn grew up in Milwaukee, in the swing state of Wisconsin. She recently returned to see how this year’s pandemic, recession and Black Lives Matter protests are shifting the city’s politics:
In very nice news that stems at least partially from free time created by the coronavirus pandemic:
Kazakhstan, the home country of the fictional Borat Sagdiyev, has adopted the brash, moustachioed character’s catchphrase – “Very nice!” – for a new tourism campaign.
Kazakhstan has embraced Borat with ads that show tourists hiking with a selfie stick, (“Very nice!”), drinking fermented horse milk (“Mm, that’s actually very nice!”), marvelling at the architecture (“Wow, very nice!”)https://t.co/H0WT26YIDT
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) October 27, 2020
The idea for the campaign came from American Dennis Keen, who travelled to the country on a high school exchange, then studied with a Kazakh professor at Stanford University. He now lives in Almaty, where he gives walking tours.
With a lot of time on his hands due to the coronavirus pandemic, he and a friend pitched the idea to the Kazakh tourism board and “immediately” got the go-ahead to make four 12-second ads:
Updated
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday he would favour a government-to-government deal for the purchase of coronavirus vaccines to prevent the risk of corruption, Reuters reports.
“Let me tell everybody that we will not beg, we will pay,” Duterte said in a weekly televised address. “To the Chinese government, you need not look for partners, we can make it government-to-government.”
The Philippines has the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia.
The US supreme court has sided with Republicans to prevent Wisconsin from counting mail-in ballots that are received after election day.
In a 5-3 ruling, the justices on Monday refused to reinstate a lower court order that called for mailed ballots to be counted if they are received up to six days after the 3 November election. A federal appeals court had already put that order on hold.
The ruling awards a victory for Republicans in their crusade against expanding voting rights and access. It also came just moments before the Republican-controlled Senate voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, a victory for the right that locks in a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court for years to come.
“As the Covid pandemic rages, the court has failed to adequately protect the nation’s voters,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that noted the state allowed the six-day extension for primary voting in April and that roughly 80,000 ballots were received after the day of the primary election:
China reports 50 new asymptomatic cases, down from 161 day before
Mainland China reported 16 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Oct. 26, down from 20 a day earlier, the country’s health authorities said on Tuesday.
The number of new asymptomatic cases also fell to 50, from 161 reported a day earlier amid a fresh wave of symptomless infections being reported in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
Xinjiang’s authorities said separately that 26 new asymptomatic cases were reported on Oct. 26, down from 137 a day earlier.
China does not classify asymptomatic infections as confirmed Covid-19 cases. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 85,826, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Updated
Victoria, Australia records zero new cases for second time
The Australian state of Victoria, the epicentre of Covid-19 infections, said on Tuesday it had gone 48 hours without detecting any new cases for the first time in more than seven months.
Reuters: Victoria, the second most populous state, will allow restaurants and cafes in Melbourne to reopen from Wednesday after more than three months under a stringent lockdown.
Despite case numbers dwindling and businesses poised to reopen, Victoria will only ease limits on social gatherings in the home, allowing two adults and dependents from one house to make one daily visit to one other household.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the highest risk of spreading the virus remained in the family home where social distancing protocols were often not applied.
“This is just about making sure that people can connect, but we can’t have a situation where people are having visitors in the morning, visitors at lunchtime, visitors in the evening,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
“What we, all of us as Victorians, have built is a precious thing, but it is fragile.”
Updated
Mexico’s health ministry reported on Monday 4,166 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 247 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 895,326 and the death toll to 89,171.
Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. On Sunday, the ministry said the true death toll from Covid-19 may be around 50,000 higher.
The UK hotel industry could take four years to return to 2019 levels of business, even if an effective vaccine helps the sector to recover from the deep financial hit caused by Covid 19.
The daily revenue per hotel room – a key indicator for the sector – is not expected to revive to 2019 levels until 2024 in London, and 2023 across the rest of the UK, according to forecasts published on Tuesday by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Renewed lockdowns, the decline in foreign tourist numbers and the near disappearance of business travel have left hotels struggling to attract customers, with a dramatic effect on their earnings:
Pope to celebrate Christmas without congregation
Pope Francis will have to forego meeting Catholics at the annual Advent and Christmas masses in the Vatican owing to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic, the specialist Catholic News Agency reported on Monday.
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.
More from Italy:
The protests began shortly after the national government’s order took effect requiring bars, cafes and restaurants to close their doors at 6 p.m. for the next 30 days as Italy tries to rein the resurgence of coronavirus infections in recent weeks.
Since most Italians don’t dine out before 7:30 p.m. at the earliest, the decree effectively wiped out most of the restaurants’ already reduced revenue in the pandemic, although takeout and delivery can continue until midnight.
The crackdown was announced Sunday, a day after Italy registered more than a half million confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic’s outbreak.
Last week, a peaceful march by shopkeepers and other business owners in Naples, upset about a regional curfew that orders citizens off the streets at 11pm, turned violent near the Campania region’s headquarters. Investigators were quoted in Italian media as saying the violence, in which police officers were injured, bore the hand of the Camorra, the local organized crime group.
A day later, an extreme right political group staged a violent demonstration in downtown Rome.
Smaller cities, including Catania in Sicily, and towns also saw protests Monday. In Cremona, a town in northern Lombardy, restaurant owners turned out in front of the local interior ministry’s office. After banging pots and bans, they left them piled up in the street to highlight their economic woes worsened by the latest early-shutdown decree, the ANSA news agency said.
Protests flare in Italy
Protesters turned out by the hundreds in Turin, Milan and other Italian cities and towns Monday to vent their anger, sometimes violently, at the latest pandemic restrictions that force restaurants and cafes to close early and shutter cinemas, gyms and other leisure venues, AP reports.
In the northern city of Turin, some demonstrators broke off from a peaceful protest, smashing store windows on an elegant shopping street, setting smoke bombs and hurling bottles at police in a main city square where the Piedmont regional government is headquartered, RAI state TV said.
A photographer was injured by a hurled bottle, RAI said. Police fired tear gas to clear the protesters in Piazza del Castello.
In that same square, hours earlier, some 300 taxis peacefully lined up in neat rows to draw attention to their economic losses from the implosion of tourism and disappearance of workers from the city center as they do their jobs remotely during the pandemic.
Triggering the violence in Turin were a group of “ultras,” as violent soccer fans are known, the LaPresse news agency said. It said five of the protesters were detained by authorities.
In Italy’s business capital, Milan, police used tear gas to scatter protesters Monday night, and an Associated Press journalist saw at least two people detained.
Asian stocks fall amid second wave concerns
Stock markets have opened sharply down in Asia Pacific on Tuesday, taking their cue from the US and Europe where shares fell on Monday amid concerns that the second wave of coronavirus is not being contained. In Sydney the ASX200 has fallen 1.2% and the Dow Jones New Zealand is down 1.3%. Markets in Asia are set to follow suit.
APAC Opening Calls:#ASX 6100 -0.97%#NIKKEI 23410 -0.32%#HSI 24777 +0.25%#NIFTY 11784 +0.07%#A50 15750 +0.39%#TWSE 12851 -0.42%#IGOpeningCall
— IGSquawk (@IGSquawk) October 26, 2020
Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist, CMC Markets and Stockbroking in Sydney, said:
“The challenge for markets is that in most cases they are already pricing a very strong economic bounce. The new outbreaks, and the potential for a double-dip recession, directly contradict this assumption.
Asia Pacific markets are under pressure, with futures markets indicating opening falls for stocks. Trade data released this morning in New Zealand is broadly in line with forecasts, although the trade balance for the year was better than expected. China industrial profits and Hong Kong trade numbers could also shape trading today.
'We cannot give up' warns WHO chief
The World Health Organization chief warned Monday that abandoning efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic, as suggested by a top US official, was “dangerous”, urging countries not to “give up”, AFP reports.
He acknowledged that after months of battling the new coronavirus, 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”.
His comments 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. Tedros stressed that mitigation and controlling the pandemic were “not contradictory. We can do both.”
US deaths up 10% in a fortnight
Deaths per day from the coronavirus in the US are on the rise again, just as health experts had feared, and cases are climbing in practically every state, despite assurances from President Donald Trump over the weekend that “we’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great.”
AP: With Election Day just over a week away, average deaths per day across the country are up 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Newly confirmed infections per day are rising in 47 states, and deaths are up in 34.
Deaths are still well below the US peak of over 2,200 per day in late April. But experts are warning of a grim fall and winter, with a widely cited model from the University of Washington projecting about 386,000 dead by 1 February. A vaccine is unlikely to become widely available until mid-2021.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases hit a record high on Sunday of 68,767, according to Johns Hopkins, eclipsing the previous mark of 67,293, set in mid-July. The US recorded more than 80,000 new cases on both Friday and Saturday — the highest marks ever — though testing has expanded dramatically over the course of the outbreak, making direct comparisons problematic.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m Helen Sullivan, you can get in touch with me here, and this is the place to be for the latest global developments in the coronavirus pandemic.
Protests against Covid-19 restrictions are intensifying in Northern Italy. 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.
Meanwhile the World Health Organization chief warned Monday that abandoning efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic, as suggested by a top US official, was “dangerous”, urging countries not to “give up”.
“We must not give up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing.
He acknowledged that after months of battling the new coronavirus, which has claimed more than 1.1 million lives globally, a certain level of “pandemic fatigue” had set in.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- 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.
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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.
