England’s chief medical officer to warn of a ‘very challenging winter’; more than one in five Covid-19 deaths globally is in US; Lebanon sees record case rise
- Trump health official says ‘biology independent of politics’ as US nears 200,000 deaths
- UK at ‘critical point’ over Covid-19, top scientists to tell public
- Mutant virus: should we be worried that Sars-CoV-2 is changing
- ‘Quite a year’: couples on being separated by the Covid pandemic
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn is planning to set up “fever walk-in clinics” across the country for the start of the cold season, writes Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief.
With more patients expected to develop flu-like symptoms in the autumn, the 40-year-old conservative politician told Rheinische Post newspaper his aim was to set up walk-in clinics “ideally all over the country”. Over the weekend, Germany’s disease control agency recorded 2,297 confirmed new coronavirus infections, the highest new daily number since the end of April.
In neighbouring Austria, where officials are already speaking of the onset of a second wave of Covid-19 infections, a raft of new restriction came into effect on Monday. Private gatherings across Austria – including parties and weddings – will be limited to 10 people, with exceptions only for funerals.
The Philippines’ health ministry on Monday confirmed 3,475 new coronavirus infections and 15 more deaths, the lowest daily increase in fatalities in two weeks.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 290,190, still the most in Southeast Asia, while confirmed deaths had reached 4,999.
If you want to follow developments in the UK more closely, and in particular events leading up to today’s coronavirus briefing by Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, at 11am, turn over to our UK politics blog with Andrew Sparrow.
He will be keeping us updated on the latest developments in the UK, with a particular focus on politics, while on this blog we will now turn to focus more on news from elsewhere in the world.
The UK government has extended emergency funding measures for rail companies for the next six to 18 months to help them get through the Covid-19 crisis, as a first step towards a complete overhaul of the railway system, writes Julia Kollewe for the Guardian’s business desk.
The Department for Transport said the move had ended franchising after 24 years as the first step in bringing Britain’s fragmented network back together. It hailed the emergency measures as a “transitional stage to a new system, the biggest change to the railways in a quarter of a century”.
The model of privatisation adopted 25 years ago has seen significant rises in passenger numbers, but this pandemic has proven that it is no longer working.
Our new deal for rail demands more for passengers. It will simplify people’s journeys, ending the uncertainty and confusion about whether you are using the right ticket or the right train company.
Related: UK government extends Covid-19 rail rescue measures
The health minister in the Czech Republic has resigned, saying his move should create space for a new approach to the coronavirus pandemic as the country sees a record rise in infections, the Associated Press reports.
It is not immediately clear who will replace Adam Vojtech, who was under pressure from the opposition to resign.
Did Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, fly out for a secret weekender to Italy?
That’s the question exercising observers of UK politics this morning after Italian media claimed he made a secret trip to the country less than a fortnight ago.
Related: No 10 denies reports Boris Johnson went on secret Italy trip
More than three-quarters of people displaced or affected by conflict have lost income since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which says that as a result many are being tipped into “a hunger, homelessness and education crisis”.
The NGO said its conclusions were drawn from a survey of 1,400 people in eight countries, which showed that 77% had lost a job or income from work, 70% had been forced to cut back on meals, and 73% were less likely to send their children to school because they could not afford to.
The world’s most vulnerable communities are in a dangerous downward spiral. Already forced from their homes by violence, often with limited rights to work or access to government services, the economic impact of the pandemic is pushing them to catastrophe.
Worse than the virus? The world’s refugees & displaced are caught in an economic meltdown: 77% have lost jobs/income; 70% have reduced family meals; 73% are less likely to send children back to school. Our new report: https://t.co/mVMXX1D0z4
A 102-year-old woman in the US has achieved the remarkable feat of surviving both Covid-19 and the 1918 Spanish flu, according to local media.
Mildred Geraldine Schappals caught Spanish flu as a baby in 1918 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and in May, now living in an elderly care home in Nashua, New Hampshire, she tested positive for Covid-19.
She’s often said that she thinks Mother Nature believes that she died in 1918 and has forgotten about her.
"She’s often said that she thinks Mother Nature believes that she died in 1918 and has forgotten about her."https://t.co/5poWasEVgI
Global stock markets are starting the new week firmly on the back foot, as rising Covid-19 cases and US political tensions worry investors, writes Graeme Wearden on the Guardian’s business blog.
Stocks have dropped across Asia, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.5% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shedding 0.7%. European markets have just opened lower too.
Related: Travel, hotel and pub shares slide as Covid-19 lockdown fears hit markets - business live
The head of an influential group in the UK parliament has signalled that the government could face resistance from its own party if ministers once again introduce new lockdown measures without proper legislative scrutiny.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, a powerful group of Conservative party backbench MPs, said ministers had “got into the habit of ruling by decree”, adding: “The British people are not used to being treated like children.”
The UK government has warned of six more months of “very difficult” lockdown restrictions, amid a continuing rise in infections, the Times reports this morning.
According to the paper, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to announce new movement curbs in the coming days, although there is said be a split among members of his cabinet over how extensive these should be, with the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is resisting a full shutdown of the hospitality sector.
The Times: Covid curbs will last for six months, No 10 warns pic.twitter.com/tLa5x8Deya
The UK is at a “critical moment” and if people fail to follow coronavirus rules “we’re going to end up back in situations we don’t want to be in”, a senior government minister warned in a broadcast interview this morning.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, told Sky News:
We’re certainly at a critical moment this morning. It is clear we’re just a few weeks behind what we’re seeing elsewhere in Europe.
You only have to look at what’s happening in France, particularly in Spain, and you can see that things have taken off there including, I’m afraid, deaths. So it is very important that we do everything we can to bear down on this.
.@grantshapps says it's important the public adhere to the new social distancing rules as #COVID19 'hospital admissions are creeping up'.
The transport sec says "deaths haven't gone up as yet" but the govt is expecting it to do so like Spain.#KayBurley: https://t.co/smsK11yuT6pic.twitter.com/tOodnaTlsB
This morning the print Guardian leads with the news that Britain’s most senior government advisors are to make a direct appeal to the public on Monday, warning that the coronavirus trend is “heading in the wrong direction” and “a critical point has been reached”.
As Downing Street considers imposing nationwide curbs to contain a sharp jump in cases, the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, will make a rare live televised address alongside the UK chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
Related: UK at 'critical point' over Covid-19, top scientists to tell public
The front page of today's Guardian: UK is at a critical point, chief scientists to warn public. pic.twitter.com/De8PZ8NCKG
Related: Parliament surrendered role over Covid emergency laws, says Lady Hale
Hi, this is Damien Gayle taking over the live blog now from London. For the next few hours I’ll be continuing to keep you updated with the latest coronavirus-related world news. If you have any news you think I should include drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
I leave you with what it looks like to lose an Emmy in 2020 – the awards were delivered to actors’ houses by people wearing hazmat suits... who quickly departed if the actor didn’t win:
when you lose the emmy pic.twitter.com/ECkbGcoHBA
The Taj Mahal will reopen after a six-month closure. There will be some restrictions such as compulsory mask-wearing, thermal screening of visitors and physical distancing at the monument.
Dominic Cummings’ lockdown travels and the exams fiasco could have contributed to dooming the government’s Covid contact-tracing app before it even launches, a technology expert has warned.
Evidence of low uptake overseas also suggests the app may not live up to ministers’ early hopes of a panacea. In late May, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, admitted it was “the cherry on the cake but [not] the cake”; in recent weeks it has barely been mentioned.
Related: Contact-tracing app for England and Wales 'hampered by loss of public trust'
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
A series of hospitals will be designated as coronavirus-free zones during the second wave of the outbreak in a significant policy shift designed to ensure the NHS continues treatment for cancer and other conditions, the Guardian has learned.
NHS England is determined not to repeat the widespread suspension of normal service that occurred in the first wave, which doctors and charities have criticised for damaging patients’ health, leading to more deaths and creating a backlog of millions of treatments.
Related: Some hospitals in England to be kept Covid-free in second wave
Here is a lovely moment from the Pandemmys earlier:
Everyone is focused on @Zendaya’s age as the youngest Best Actress in a Drama Series winner... but let’s not forget she’s only the 2nd Black actress to ever win in this category... in 72 years. #Emmyshttps://t.co/qjI5W3I8on
Schools in the South Korean capital Seoul and nearby areas resumed in-person classes for the first time in almost a month on Monday after daily coronavirus cases dropped to the lowest levels since mid-August, Reuters reports.
Students returned to schools under a hybrid schedule of in-person and online classes to limit the number of people at schools at any given time. Students will attend in-person classes once or twice a week.
South Korea managed to contain the virus and avoid a full lockdown earlier this year, but infections at a church and political rally in August sparked the country’s largest outbreak forcing authorities to impose social distancing curbs. Many schools closed on 26 August, though high school seniors facing a key test were allowed to continue in-person classes.
Authorities on Sunday, meanwhile, extended phase 2 social distancing for a week until 27 September, which limits indoor gatherings to below 50 and outdoor to less than 100.
World leaders will come together virtually on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the deadly coronavirus pandemic challenges the effectiveness and solidarity of the 193-member world body, Reuters reports.
As Covid-19, which emerged in China late last year, began to spread around the world, forcing millions of people to shelter at home and dealing a devastating economic blow, countries turned inward and diplomats say the United Nations struggled to assert itself.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters that the pandemic has exposed the world’s fragilities. He plans to tell world leaders on Monday that they need to work together at a time when there is a surplus of multilateral challenges and deficit of solutions.
The 15-member Security Council took months to back a call by Guterres for a global ceasefire - to allow countries to focus on fighting Covid-19 - due to bickering between the world’s biggest powers: China and the United States.
The 193-member General Assembly only adopted an omnibus resolution on a “comprehensive and coordinated response” to the pandemic earlier this month and it was not by consensus. The United States and Israel voted no.
A $10.3 billion UN appeal to fund fighting the pandemic in vulnerable and low-income countries is only a quarter funded. Guterres now has taken a lead in pushing to make sure any vaccine for the coronavirus is made available to everyone globally.
A senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the General Assembly should have acted months ago, but “we were all hampered by, and hit, by the Covid-19.”
It was uncharted waters for the 72nd Emmy awards– the first major acting awards show held since the pandemic began, a strange and subdued ceremony in which stars accepted awards on Zoom. But unwelcome new methods (the telecast required more than 100 live feeds), and the end of former Emmys juggernauts Game of Thrones and Veep, ushered in a celebration of new series and talent: Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek swept the comedy awards, HBO’s Succession dominated in drama and the evening’s most-nominated show, HBO’s prescient, eerie Watchmen, cleaned up in the limited series category:
Related: Watchmen, Succession and Schitt's Creek dominate virtual Emmys
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 922 to 272,337, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday.
The reported death toll remained unchanged at 9,386, the tally showed.
Australia’s coronavirus hotspot of Victoria reported on Monday its lowest daily rise in infections in three months, although state Premier Daniel Andrews said there were no plans yet to ease restrictions sooner than expected, Reuters reports.
Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state and home to a quarter of its 25 million people, reported 11 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the smallest one-day jump since 16 June. It also reported two deaths due to the virus.
“This is not just a good day. This is a great day,” Andrews told reporters in the Victorian capital, Melbourne.
But the premier said his government would not accelerate a timetable for easing restrictions, which were imposed after daily case numbers topped 700 in early August.
“The formal position is clear,” Andrews said.
“If circumstances change, if we find ourselves ahead of schedule, not for one day, but in a manifest sense, common sense always guides us,” he added.
Melbourne has been under one of the toughest lockdowns, including nightly curfews, but the state government has said it will let construction sites, manufacturing plants, warehouses and childcare facilities in the capital reopen on 28 September if the average number of cases over two weeks is below 50. The average in Melbourne is now below 35.
Here’s the full story on New Zealand easing restrictions, with the Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington:
Many New Zealanders will on Monday night taste freedom from all Covid-19 restrictions for a second time during the pandemic, after Jacinda Ardernremoved all domestic rules for much of the country.
Related: Relief as much of New Zealand eases out of coronavirus restrictions
Thousands of Israeli protesters gathered Sunday in Jerusalem to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first such demonstrations since the start of a new nationwide coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.
Authorities in Israel, which has seen one of the world’s highest per capita rates of coronavirus infections in the past two weeks, imposed a new nationwide lockdown on Friday.
Victoria Beckham cancelled her planned “salon-style” catwalk show just a few days before London fashion week, fearing that although permitted under current guidelines, a show “didn’t feel appropriate”.
Instead, she presented her new collection to small groups of three visitors at a time, in the same Hoxton art gallery where she had planned to hold the show. Monogrammed silk “VB” face masks were presented to each visitor, to ensure chic social distancing was maintained at all times:
Related: Victoria Beckham cancels catwalk show as 'not appropriate'
The Guardian US tech reporter Julia Carrie Wong discusses the rise of QAnon, a wide-ranging and baseless internet conspiracy theory that has been festering on the fringes of rightwing internet communities for years. In recent months its visibility has exploded amid the social unrest and uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic:
Related: The growing influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory – podcast
From an article on what 200,000 US deaths mean, in the New Yorker:
According to one estimate, each person who dies of covid-19 leaves behind an average of nine surviving family members. If this is right, then there are now at least 1.8 million Americans mourning the loss of kin—parents, husbands, wives, children, siblings, grandparents—and millions more who are mourning with them.
In less than a year, covid-19 has killed four times as many Americans as died from the opioid crisis during its deadliest year. It has killed more Americans than those who perished in every armed conflict combined since the Second World War.
The New York Times reported on 12 August 2020 that the US toll had likely already passed 200,000 as excess deaths – or the number of deaths that have happened in a given period compared to the same period a year earlier – showed that 60,000 more people had died than the number officially linked to Covid-19.
On 29 March, Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading US government infectious diseases expert, warned that the toll could get as high as this – at the time, 2,188 Americans had died from the virus:
Related: Fauci warns coronavirus could kill as many as 200,000 Americans
The official death toll in the US is likely to pass 200,000 today. It is the highest toll in the world – and more than 60,000 deaths higher than the next worst, which is Brazil’s. According to Johns Hopkins University, the toll currently stands at 199,474.
It took five months for the virus to kill the first 100,000 Americans and just over three months for the next 100,000. Here is our story from May:
Related: US passes 100,000 coronavirus deaths as states relax lockdown measures
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday announced the return of professional football as part of a loosening of restrictions following a fall in the number of coronavirus cases, AFP reports.
But the West African country’s land and sea borders remain closed, and its beaches, bars, cinemas and night clubs will also stay shut for the time being, he said in a televised address.
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, further eased restrictions on the country’s largest city, Auckland, and completely removed domestic restrictions on the rest of the nation, after Covid-19 case numbers continued to fall.
A community outbreak in Auckland – after New Zealand earlier eliminated the virus in June – had prompted a second lockdown in August, which has now been eased further. From 11:59p.m. on Wednesday, social gatherings in Auckland are now limited to 100 people, rather than the current limit of 10.
Face coverings are mandatory on public transport and on any planes going to or from Auckland.
Ardern said that from 11:59p.m. on Monday, the rest of the country would fall to so-called level 1 restrictions – meaning there are no rules in place except for strict border restrictions.
There has been no community transmission of the virus outside of Auckland.
“Our actions collectively have managed to get the virus under control,” Ardern said.
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
There were no new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand on Monday, health officials said.
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern will shortly reveal whether moderate restrictions on the largest city, Auckland, will be further eased, and whether domestic restrictions on the rest of the country will be jettisoned altogether.
The country has recorded a total of 1,464 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 25 deaths.
There are 62 active cases in New Zealand, 33 of them transmitted in the community and the remaining 29 diagnosed in managed isolation facilities for travelers returning to New Zealand.
Three people are in hospital.
Mexico’s health ministry on Sunday reported 3,542 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country, bringing the total to 697,663, and 235 new deaths, for a cumulative death toll of 73,493.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell has said the real number of cases in the country is significantly higher.
Hi, Helen Sullivan here.
I recently wrote about being separated from my husband for five months because of the pandemic. Now, Guardian readers have told us their own stories:
Related: 'Quite a year': couples on being separated by the Covid pandemic
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
The state of Victoria in Australia is reporting a steady downward trend in daily coronavirus cases, putting the it on course to ease more restrictions by next week.
The two-week average rise in cases in Melbourne, the state capital, dropped below 35 on Monday, on track to meet a target of below 50 cases by 28 September when the authorities have said they may relax restrictions in the city.
Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, is on an extended hard lockdown until 28 September, but authorities lifted some restrictions last week allowing residents to leave their homes for longer periods for exercise and shortened a nightly curfew.
Mainland China reported 12 new Covid-19 cases on 20 September, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Monday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement all new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas. It also reported 25 new asymptomatic infections, up from 21 a day earlier, though China does not classify these symptomless patients as confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in mainland China now stands at 85,291, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
A very pandemic Emmy Awards will be starting soon – follow the latest on our live blog:
Related: Emmys 2020: TV's biggest night of the year goes virtual – live
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
Australians and New Zealanders have long pinned their hopes on an eventual trans-Tasman bubble that would allow travel between the two countries to resume without a fortnight in government-run quarantine at either end.
But the chief executive of Air New Zealand has told an Australian newspaper he doesn’t expect the “bubble” to be in place for at least six more months.
Greg Foran, who heads New Zealand’s flag carrier airline, made the comments to the Sydney Morning Herald, adding that he “certainly do[es] not believe we will see anything across the Tasman this calendar year.”
“It’s hard to believe it would be before March next year and could well be longer,” he said.
The prime ministers of both countries have frequently been asked about the proposed “bubble” since the idea was first floated, but neither would commit to a timeline before the coronavirus is brought under control.
There are 909 active cases of the virus in Australia and Melbourne remains in lockdown. New Zealand has 71 active cases.
Heather Stewart and Josh Halliday report:
Britain’s most senior government scientists will make a direct appeal to the public on Monday, warning that the coronavirus trend is “heading in the wrong direction” and “a critical point has been reached”.
Related: UK at 'critical point' over Covid-19, top scientists to tell public
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest as the US nears the devastating milestone of 200,000 dead.
Continue reading...