Demonstrations have continued across Italy as hundreds of people gathered to protest against measures imposed by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus. After four days of protests, supporters of the rightwing group Forza Nuova gathered in Piazza del Popolo where they clashed with riot police. The government has introduced a relief package for businesses affected by the restrictions, which include a 6pm curfew for bars and restaurants and the closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus
France expected to impose four-week national lockdown
Emmanuel Macron reportedly planning move after record number of new Covid cases
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to impose a new four-week national lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19, according to French media.
The announcement would follow record numbers of new cases in France that have put pressure on hospitals, and a startling rise in coronavirus deaths.
Continue reading...Covid hospital cases in UK ‘could pass spring peak in November’
Government adviser suggests new lockdown measures needed to curb rise
The number of coronavirus patients in UK hospitals could pass the spring peak by the end of November without further lockdown measures, a leading government scientific adviser has warned.
Sir Mark Walport, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said it was “not unrealistic” that there would be 25,000 people in hospital with Covid by the end of next month – higher than the April peak.
Continue reading...If Biden wins what would the first 100 days of his presidency look like?
If he succeeds in defeating Trump, the Democrat will have to urgently tackle the pandemic and rebuild global relationships
If Joe Biden wins the 2020 US election against Donald Trump next week, the new president-elect will face enormous pressures to implement a laundry list of priorities on a range of issues from foreign policy to the climate crisis, reversing many of the stark changes implemented by his predecessor.
Related: From climate to China, how Joe Biden is plotting America’s restoration
Continue reading...Trump says Covid numbers ‘way down’ as US passes 226,000 deaths – video
President Donald Trump says Covid-19 cases in the US are 'way down' despite nearly half a million people contracting the virus in the country over the last seven days, according to a Reuters tally. Speaking one week out from the election at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, Trump made a baseless prediction that the media would say the country was doing 'extremely well' one day after the election
Continue reading...PM names new high court justices as Porter say war crimes investigation ‘detailed and extensive’ – politics live
Melbourne lockdown lifted as Victoria records two Covid cases and two deaths. Senate estimates looks at Australia’s response to Doha airport incident. Follow live
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Students at the University of Sydney have occupied a building on campus that houses the vice-chancellor’s office, in a protest against cuts to staff in medical sciences.
Approximately 50 students are in the building right now, chanting and asking for the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, to meet with them.
USyd students are currently occupying the universities administration building, where senior management, including Michael Spence, have their offices. Students are refusing to leave until the university commit to reversing all staff and course cuts. #Auspol pic.twitter.com/dnEBFPXg7l
Daniel Andrews has released a statement on the Melbourne Cup:
I have today advised the Victoria Racing Club that connections of horses competing at the Melbourne Cup Carnival will not be permitted to attend the course.
The government has determined that next week is not a suitable time for gatherings of that nature.*
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Germany to move to partial Covid lockdown; Turkish death toll passes 10,000
Angela Merkel agrees new restrictions from Monday; Turkish health minister describes ‘scary’ rise in cases; coronavirus records tumbling across Europe
- Germany to bring in new rules after record surge in cases
- EU leaders urged to aid transfer of patients between countries
- China sees highest cases in two months
- US adds nearly 500,000 cases in a week; Europe faces more lockdowns
- UK coronavirus updates - live
I’m handing over now to my colleague Jessica Murray, who will cover the Macron address. It’s been a day of worrying numbers all over Europe, and severe new measures in an attempt to bring the pandemic under control. Here’s a summary of the day’s main events.
•The number of new cases recorded across Europe and beyond continued to grow, with new highs in cases or deaths in many countries, including Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Iran, and Russia.
The French public is preparing for Emmanuel Macron’s address at 8pm local time (about 20 minutes from the timestamp on this post), in which he is expected to announce a raft of new measures to combat the spread of coronavirus.
With many doctors calling for a nationwide lockdown, France 24 reports damning comments from Frederic Valletoux, president of the French Hospital Federation:
The government didn’t take into account what the first wave was and didn’t learn all its lessons... this wave will be much more devastating for the hospital system. Hospitals won’t manage if we don’t take drastic measures.
Continue reading...The graphs that show Australia’s achievement in stopping second-wave Covid outbreak
A visual comparison of the country’s epidemic curve compared with other nations
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The Australian state of Victoria has achieved a remarkable reduction in Covid-19 case numbers after a lengthy period of restrictions.
To put this achievement in context – Australia has done what very few countries have achieved in effectively suppressing a second-wave outbreak from a high point of more than 700 new cases a day. Victoria has now recorded only two cases in three days and lockdown restrictions are being eased.
Continue reading...Satellite imagery of Aden indicates scale of pandemic in Yemen
Academics’ analysis of burial plots points to excess deaths level in crisis-ridden country
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.
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau offers blunt assessment of global pandemic: ‘It really sucks’
PM’s message a stark contrast to dismissive or overly optimistic tone set by some other world leaders, such as Donald Trump
As countries around the world contemplate fresh lockdowns, spiraling caseloads and the inexorable surge of new Covid-19 deaths, leaders have at times struggled to capture the frustration and despair brought on by the crisis.
Related: A Trump win or a disputed result are Canadians' worst fears
Continue reading...Obama mocks Trump: ‘He’s jealous of Covid’s media coverage’ – video
Former US president Barack Obama mocked Donald Trump at an election rally for Joe Biden in Florida. Obama criticised his successor’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, noting that Trump had complained about the amount of news coverage it had received even as the US death toll continues to climb. 'He’s jealous of Covid’s media coverage,' Obama said.
The former president also criticised Trump for his personal lack of coronavirus safety, saying that he had turned the White House into a 'hot zone' in the wake of two coronavirus outbreaks among the president and his senior staff. 'Florida, we can’t afford four more years of this,' Obama added. 'We cannot afford this kind of incompetence and disinterest.'
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau: Covid pandemic ‘really sucks’ but better days are coming – video
Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau has said the Covid pandemic 'really sucks' but said 'we do get to control how bad it gets' as the second wave continues to wash over the country. Speaking from Ottawa, Trudeau admitted that the virus could jeopardise family gatherings over the Christmas holidays.
The country'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
- The world's election: A Trump win or a disputed result are Canadians' worst fears
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UK daily Covid deaths rise to 367 – highest figure since late May
A further 22,885 cases also reported in last 24 hours, taking total past 900,000
A further 367 people have died in the UK in the last day, the highest daily increase in five months and 50% higher than the daily increase last week.
The figure is more than six times the daily death toll of 54 announced on 23 March when the national lockdown began. It confirms fears about the escalating second wave of the pandemic and brings the total of those who died within 28 days of testing positive to 45,365.
Continue reading...China loses trust internationally over coronavirus handling
YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project shows most people believe China was not transparent
China appears to have comprehensively lost the international battle for hearts and minds over its handling of coronavirus with most people believing it was responsible for the start of the outbreak and was not transparent about the problem at the outset.
The findings come from the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, a survey of 26,000 people in 25 countries, designed with the Guardian.
Continue reading...UK coronavirus live: Covid-19 death toll passes 60,000
Total number of deaths from Covid-19 across UK reaches 61,116; 55 MPs sign letter to PM expressing fears that government’s ‘levelling up’ for the north is being abandoned
- UK coronavirus death toll exceeds 60,000
- Oxford Covid vaccine works in all ages, trial suggests
- Johnson asked for ‘public-friendly’ data on lockdown exit route
- Coronavirus – latest updates
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My colleague Mark Sweney reports on one of the economic winners of the pandemic: publishing.
Bloomsbury has reported its most profitable first half since 2008, he writes, with profits surging 60% to £4m in the six months to the end of August. Revenues grew 10% to £78.3m. The better-than-expected performance sent Bloomsbury shares 15% higher, to 242p, at midday on Tuesday.
It is a complete surprise because we had as grim a beginning to the pandemic as everyone else in March when 100% of our customers shut down worldwide.
And then we found that early on people showed short attention spans and were watching TV. But then reading reasserted its power and people found they could escape through books, and sales have been booming ever since.
Related: Harry Potter publisher says Covid has weaved magic over book sales
This is Archie Bland, covering UK coronavirus live until 1.30pm.
The latest ONS data reveals an interesting detail on infection rates: people who have been on holiday appear to contract the virus at a similar frequency to those who have not.
Continue reading...Global survey shows widespread disapproval of Covid response
People in most of 25 countries think governments failed to act well or quickly
People in most of 25 countries around the world think governments and leaders failed to respond either well or fast enough to the coronavirus crisis, a new global survey shows.
YouGov’s globalism survey of about 26,000 people in countries from Australia to Sweden, designed with the Guardian and carried out by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project between July and August, before the second wave hit in Europe and elsewhere, showed striking variations in approval for governments’ handling of the pandemic, which has killed nearly 1.1 million people.
Continue reading...‘I got a whole new mindset’: the health secrets of people who got much fitter in lockdown
Many of us have struggled to maintain our fitness in 2020 – but not everyone. Here, four people explain how they improved their sleep patterns, diet and exercise regimes
Before Covid-19, an ordinary evening for Tim Ludford, a charity worker, looked something like this: after-work drinks with colleagues; an Uber home; a takeaway. “Not healthy takeaways, either,” says Ludford, 37, from London. He would polish off a curry for two people before nailing a bag of Maltesers or a packet of biscuits.
Ludford’s relationship with food began to deteriorate after the death from cancer of his father in 2013. “I was unhappy, first of all, and I was bingeing on food and alcohol as a coping mechanism,” he says. “A lot of it was related to my dad, but I was also stuck in a rut and food was an easy way to make myself feel good.” By the time lockdown was introduced, he was severely obese, with a BMI of 40. (A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, according to the NHS.) “Sometimes I’d do crazy things,” he says. “If I was on the way to meet someone for dinner, I’d go to KFC on the way. And then I’d eat dinner as well.”
Continue reading...Eggs Benedict and tattoos: what Melburnians are looking forward to when lockdown ends
Some are packing their next few weeks full of activities, while others just want a chance to decompress
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After a long dark night, there always comes the dawn, and for many Melburnians that dawn is a good strong coffee.
That’s certainly what retiree James Green missed the most. Visiting his local cafe is on the top of his list of things to do on Wednesday when hospitality venues in Melbourne are finally allowed to reopen.
Continue reading...Global coronavirus report: Italian police use tear gas to disperse lockdown protests
WHO tells countries ‘not to give up’ as virus fatigue sets in; street clashes in Barcelona; US daily deaths rise 10% in two weeks
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.
Continue reading...Daniel Andrews gives Covid update as Victoria records zero coronavirus cases and Melbourne lockdown lifted – live
Premier expected to announce more details of city’s reopening after record-breaking Covid-19 lockdown, as federal parliament and Senate estimates return and questions continue over management of Australia Post. Follow latest updates
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- Second day of no cases and no deaths in Victoria
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The rules for household visits will go through share houses, teenagers and who can visit who after a visit.
But they are complicated, so I will wait to go through them and then bring them to you once they are clear.
Back at Treasury estimates, the Labor senator Katy Gallagher is attempting to get either officials or the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, to acknowledge that workers earning less than $80,000 will get less tax relief in 2024-25 than they will get this year because of the one-off extension of the $1,080 offset in the October budget.
Treasury officials say the extension of the offset is a “classic stimulus measure” so it shouldn’t form part of an assessment of the tax scales in future years. They say this year’s budget includes extending the offset (the stimulus measure) and a tax cut through the bringing forward of the stage two tax cuts (a structural change).