More than 68,000 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the US on Friday, the highest number in a single day since July, further confirmation the country is in the midst of a coronavirus resurgence.
Related: American Crisis review: Andrew Cuomo on Covid, Trump … and a job with Joe Biden?
Continue reading...Ticket holders are angry that organisers insist the Global Eclipse festival will go ahead in Argentina, despite the government there banning international tourists
Thousands of people from around the world partying for 10 days in the middle of the Argentinian wilderness sounds like an ambitious endeavour even before Covid-19. But a global pandemic has done little to sway organisers of the Global Eclipse –Patagonia Gathering, who are determined to charge ahead and refusing to refund ticket holders.
Despite Argentina nearing 1 million Covid-19 cases and authorities currently refusing to let international tourists into the country, the electronic dance music (EDM) trance festival is still scheduled for December 2020.
Continue reading...CommonPass aims to create common standard proving a traveller is Covid-free or vaccinated
A new digital “health passport” is to be piloted by a small number of passengers flying from the UK to the US for the first time next week under plans for a global framework for Covid-safe air travel.
The CommonPass system, backed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), is designed to create a common international standard for passengers to demonstrate they do not have coronavirus.
Continue reading...UK adviser suggests short ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown; Angela Merkel asks Germans to stay home; Poland and Malaysia report record rise in cases
Austria has joined the likes of the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine and Malaysia in reporting a record daily number of coronavirus infections. It said today there have been 1,747 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours.
The daily count has this month repeatedly exceeded the peak of 1,050 reached in March during the first wave of infections.
The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, has said his brother has died after being admitted to intensive care with Covid-19.
Despite the efforts of all the staff @LivHospitals ICU my brother sadly died at 10.45 last night We want to thank the dedicated staff risking their lives for us.Thank you all for your messages of love and support Let’s stick together and support each other and win this battle❤️
10 mins ago my sister-in-law a Nursing Sister has told me my eldest brother her husband has got Covid-19 he is in the Royal @LivHospitals in the ICU in a very serious condition. Please watch the video, follow the rules & understand why we all need to fight the enemy #Covid https://t.co/pwlVALVuBF
Continue reading...The Mose flood-defence system’s success will boost a centre-left government enjoying a reputation for quiet competence
Venice’s flood sirens sing, piercing through the early morning fog. Metal bulkheads are in position, securing shops and grocery stores. Wooden walkways sneak through calli and salizade – our streets. Locals sport emergency rubber boots. These are routine acqua alta (high water) preparations. But on 3 October, for the first time in our city’s history, all of it was superfluous. The Adriatic waters that have been both curse and lifeblood to the city were held back. As Tommaso, a Venetian gondolier, exclaimed in dialect familiar to me from childhood (I grew up nearby): “Xe un miracoo!” – It is a miracle.
But far from being proof of divine providence, this modern parting of the waters is the work of Mose, or Experimental Electromechanical Module, an integrated system of coastal barriers and mobile dykes designed to protect the Venice lagoon from exceptional acque alte up to 3 metres above normal sea levels. It has been long in the making: construction – and controversy – started back in 2003, after decades of deliberations and tests following the destructive tide of 4 November 1966, to date the highest on record.
Continue reading...Stretford and Urmston MP urges government to strike deal with local leaders over tier 3 financial aid
Downing Street must urgently strike a deal with Greater Manchester leaders to introduce tougher Covid restrictions before hospitals are overwhelmed, the shadow education secretary, Kate Green, has said.
Deputy mayors and other civic leaders in the metropolitan region said in a joint statement on Friday they were “ready to meet at any time” with the prime minister to agree a way forward over the introduction of a tier 3 lockdown. They say the government’s initial proposals did not provide adequate financial support.
Continue reading...Reports suggest timeframe between recovery and reinfection ‘relatively short’ for those who contracted virus twice
Government science advisers have warned that reinfections with Covid-19 are “to be expected” as the virus spreads, based on what is known about people’s immunity to other coronaviruses that cause the common cold.
Researchers on the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium said it was unclear at what point people who had recovered from the virus became vulnerable to reinfection, but cited emerging reports of second infections that suggested the timeframe was “relatively short”.
Continue reading...Home health caregivers have been key to the Covid response – but they often work for low wages and without overtime, hazard pay, sick leave or insurance
In March, Sue Williams-Ward took a new job, with a $1-an-hour raise.
The employer, a home healthcare agency called Together We Can, was paying a premium – $13 an hour – after it started losing aides when Covid-19 safety concerns mounted.
Continue reading...Trump claims virus will ‘peter out’ in country with most cases and highest death toll
The US passed 8m recorded coronavirus cases on Friday, another unwelcome mark for the country with the most cases and the worst death toll from the global pandemic, approaching 220,000.
Despite there being no sign that the pandemic is under control in the US, on Thursday Donald Trump said that the virus would “peter out”.
Continue reading...Responding to a question at a televised Downing Street press conference, the prime minister wrongly suggested that new coronavirus restrictions meant separated parents might not be able to see their children. This is not only incorrect, but has been so throughout Covid restrictions, with children allowed to move between the homes of separated parents even during the peak of lockdown in March
PM says there will be no deal with EU unless there is ‘fundamental change’ in Brussels
From my colleagues Pamela Duncan and Niamh McIntyre
From tonight over half the population of England will be living in areas classed as “high risk” or “very high risk” under the government’s three-tier system, equivalent to 28.4m people.
All of Lancashire county (Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool council areas) are to move from tier 2 to the higher tier 3 category from midnight, meaning more than 3m people are now living in the highest-risk areas.
Trade negotiations often involve threats to walk away, and dire forecasts, before both side agree to compromise, and Brexit-watchers have been waiting for the UK-EU trade talks to this moment. It came this morning, when Boris Johnson used a TV statement (see 12.29pm) to say that there would no deal without a “fundamental change” in the EU’s approach.
But threats only work if people take them seriously and Johnson’s comments do not seem to have been taken as a sincere statement of intent to talk away. It was telling that, despite being asked twice if he was saying the talks were over, he would not use those words. (See 12.41pm.) If the foreign exchange markets thought Johnson was abandoning hopes of a deal, the pound would have fallen (as it has repeatedly in key moments in the Brexit drama since 2016). But it didn’t. “Market participants see comments from Boris Johnson as mainly political posturing at this stage,” an analyst told Bloomberg.
The pound fluctuates between gains and losses after Boris Johnson says the nation is preparing for a thin, Australia-style trade deal with the EU https://t.co/lzBTCqlY8F pic.twitter.com/YbntZLyFca
There’s no point in trade talks if the EU doesn’t change its position. The EU effectively ended the trade talks yesterday.
Only if the EU fundamentally changes its position will it be worth talking.
What I would say to that is there is only any point in Michel Barnier coming to London next week if he’s prepared to discuss all of the issues on the basis of legal text in an accelerated way without the UK being required to make all of the moves, or if he’s willing to discuss practicalities of areas such as travel and haulage which the PM mentioned in his statement.
Our position is a clear one. Only if the EU fundamentally changes position will it be worthwhile talking.
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Joe Biden said at a town hall event Thursday night that he would announce before election day whether he favors expanding the supreme court.
Biden has repeatedly declined to lay out a stance on the issue amid an ongoing Republican sprint to install a third justice nominated by Donald Trump before the election, in what critics have called a naked power grab.
Related: Biden says he'll lay out stance on expanding supreme court before election
In a new interactive elections timeline, Alvin Chang has explained how various 2020 US election scenarios, including the case of Trump losing but refusing to concede, could play out.
Americans are used to a certain routine with presidential elections – but this year might be different, Alvin writes. If you’re not current on such concepts as the safe harbor deadline and wonder how states select electors, read about it here:
Related: Timeline: how 2020 US election scenarios could play out
Continue reading...First minister says countrywide restrictions are top option being considered
Wales is facing a “circuit breaker” lockdown of two or three weeks to stop hospitals being overwhelmed, as the country reaches what the government described as a “critical point”.
Ministers will spend the weekend coming to a final decision on their next steps, but the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said on Friday a “fire-break” or circuit breaker for the whole country was the option most actively being considered.
Continue reading...As France imposes curfews, even countries that previously managed well are struggling badly
“It’s not a word I’ve heard in a long, long time,” an elderly Paris resident said, leaving her apartment in mask and gloves for an early expedition to the shops. “A curfew. That’s for wartime, isn’t it? But in a way I suppose that’s what this is.”
Europe’s second coronavirus wave took a dramatic turn for the worse this week, forcing governments across the continent to make tough choices as more than a dozen countries reported their highest ever number of new infections.
Continue reading...ONS update also shows that males have higher death rate than females
People of black and South Asian ethnic background have a greater risk of death from Covid than white people, figures have confirmed, revealing such differences are not driven by pre-existing health conditions, but largely down to factors such as living arrangements and jobs.
Since the pandemic began, it has been clear that people of some ethnic backgrounds are at greater risk from the coronavirus than others, with previous data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggesting black people have a four-fold higher risk of dying from Covid than white people.
Continue reading...Results of major trial described as sobering, with drug found not to improve survival rates
Remdesivir, one of the big treatment hopes for Covid-19, has very little effect on preventing deaths, according to a large and comprehensive trial run by the World Health Organization.
The drug, made by the US biotech firm Gilead, has been talked up as a potential cure and was taken by Donald Trump. A trial in the US had previously showed it reduced the length of stay in hospital. But the gold-standard Solidarity WHO trial, which was based on a far larger sample – 3,000 people on the drug, compared with as many who were not – showed remdesivir had little effect on deaths over 28 days.
Continue reading...Covid-19 has spread around the world, sending millions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope. From symptoms and long Covid to vaccines and treatments, the Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains what we now know about the virus that we did not at the beginning of the crisis
Berlin bar curfew suspended after court considers move ‘disproportionate’; Czech Republic records 9,721 new infections, Switzerland sees 3,105 cases
Bosnia’s new Covid-19 infections hit a record high for the third day in a row, with 621 cases on Friday, and authorities warned the healthcare system could collapse if the trend continues.
The country of around 3.3 million people has so far recorded 32,845 cases of the coronavirus with 980 deaths. Currently there are 7,262 active cases, or 1,512 more than a week ago.
“It’s not a word I’ve heard in a long, long time,” an elderly Paris resident said, leaving her apartment in mask and gloves for an early expedition to the shops. “A curfew. That’s for wartime, isn’t it? But in a way I suppose that’s what this is.”
Europe’s second wave took a dramatic turn for the worse this week, forcing governments across the continent to make tough choices as more than a dozen countries reported their highest ever number of new infections.
Related: 'On the brink of disaster': Europe's Covid fight takes a turn for the worse
Continue reading...Palace says medical advice was sought before engagement at Porton Down defence lab
The Queen has carried out her first public engagement outside a royal residence since lockdown but there was criticism over her decision not to wear a mask.
She visited the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) at Porton Down near Salisbury with her grandson the Duke of Cambridge.
Continue reading...Hans Kluge says epidemic could worsen drastically, but latest controls could save lives
Daily coronavirus deaths in Europe could reach four or five times their April peak within months without effective countermeasures, the World Health Organization has said, as nine more countries reported record numbers of new infections.
Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said on Thursday that Europe had recorded its highest weekly number of new Covid-19 cases as the virus again spread rapidly across the continent.
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