Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

FTSE 100 falls ahead of crucial Jerome Powell speech – business live

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Rolling live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as investors anticipate new approach to inflation

Something to sink your teeth into before lunch: more discounts on dining out.

Related: Eat out to help out scheme to be extended by some restaurants

Mark Haefele, chief investment officer, UBS Global Wealth Management, said:

While we expect the Fed to shy away from more radical easing measures, such as explicit controls on government bond yields, we believe Powell will likely outline other dovish measures. These could include a move toward average inflation targeting, giving the central bank more leeway to allow inflation to overshoot the 2% target while keeping rates pegged close to zero.

Maybe the age of the independent, activist central bank head is also coming to an end. Fiscal policy is more powerful and monetary policy needs to work in harmony with it. Monetary policy is being asked to do things (like tackle economic inequality) that it really isn’t suited to. But, here we are, waiting for Jay Powell to turn up at Grafton’s Saloon. He’s already done everything he can, he’s almost out of bullets and he may even have already won the fight, but we have placed our faith in him and desperately want fresh encouragement.

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Ed Davey elected leader of the Liberal Democrats – UK politics live

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Ed Davey declared new leader of the Liberal Democrats; Covid isolation payments could go beyond lockdown areas, says Hancock

Davey’s victory over Moran means the three biggest UK-wide parties are led by white men with seats in London, a fact which may not do much to realise the hopes all three have espoused to speak more effectively for the whole country.

Turning back to coronavirus, new figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show that 75.5% of close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England were reached through the Test and Trace system in the week ending August 19.

That figure is up from 71.6% in the previous week. For cases handled by local health protection teams, 95.6% of contacts were reached and asked to self-isolate in the week to August 19. By contrast, for those cases handled either online or by call centres, 61.6% of close contacts have been reached and asked to self-isolate.

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Victoria reports 113 new cases, NSW nine and Queensland two – as it happened

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Labor grills the Coalition on aged care and the PM discusses the foreign relations bill. This blog is now closed

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

#breaking Sports rorts: 70% of grants from separate fund went to Coalition seats, Greens say #auspol #sportsrorts https://t.co/iej3ex14JO

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‘You can’t get close, yet you can’t stay away’: Latino cultural beliefs clash with pandemic safety

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Tight-knit families, a cornerstone of Latino culture, and economic factors collide to make Covid-19 easily transmissible

Priscilla Garcia checked up on her father after her mother was hospitalized with fainting spells. He wasn’t feeling well, either, so she made him chicken noodle soup with Texas toast, the way he liked it.

“He was so weak and scared here by himself,” Garcia said. “That’s why I came.”

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Rolls-Royce reports record £5.4bn loss as Covid-19 hits aviation

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Several production sites to close after slump in demand for jet engines

The jet engine maker Rolls-Royce made a record loss of £5.4bn in the first half of the year, after the collapse in international travel during the pandemic led to to a slump in demand.

The Derby-based company said it had originally expected to manufacture 450 engines during 2020 but now planned to deliver only 250.

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EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan resigns after flouting Covid rules

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Hogan’s resignation comes after Irish government signalled it wanted him to quit or be sacked

The embattled European trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, has resigned his post after an outcry over his breaches of coronavirus rules during a golfing break in Ireland.

Hogan issued a statement on Wednesday night apologising to the Irish people and the EU commission for causing hurt and embarrassment, ending his attempts to ride out the controversy and keep his post as a key player in Brexit talks.

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UK coronavirus live: Department for Education’s most senior civil servant to step down in wake of exams row

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Jonathan Slater to stand down; Boris Johnson tries to blame ‘mutant algorithm’ for exam results chaos in England; Scotland records first deaths from Covid-19 in over a month

Gatwick airport plans to cut around 600 jobs, which it says is due to the pandemic. Its chief executive Stewart Wingate said:

If anyone is in any doubt about the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the aviation and travel industry then today’s news we have shared with our staff, regarding the proposed job losses, is a stark reminder.

We are in ongoing talks with government to see what sector-specific support can be put in place for the industry at this time, alongside mechanisms which will give our passengers greater certainty on where and when they can safely travel abroad.

A care provider group is calling on the government to reverse an “extraordinary” decision to allow health inspectors into care homes without regular coronavirus testing.

The National Care Forum (NCF) wants Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors to be included in weekly routine testing prior to on-site visits. The group, which represents 120 of the UK’s social care charities, said the current policy is “not credible” and “very counter-productive”.

For months central government and the regulator have been requiring care homes to essentially eradicate the movement of staff and the flow of people, including close family relatives, into homes.

Having done this, care homes are now being asked to let inspectors into homes without knowing whether or not they are Covid-positive.

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Coronavirus live news: Lebanon ‘could lose control of outbreak’; Belgium death toll revised down

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Caretaker PM warns over state of pandemic following Beirut blast; Belgium deaths slightly lower than thought; Iran’s death toll exceeds 21,000

The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, appears to have employed the services of a celebrity personal trainer after admitting he needed to lose weight after contracting Covid-19.

Harry Jameson, who describes himself as an “elite performance coach”, was snapped running alongside Johnson in central London by a photographer from London’s Evening Standard newspaper today.

Germany will end mandatory coronavirus tests for travellers returning from high-risk areas abroad and again focus its testing strategy on people with symptoms or possible exposure to Covid-19 patients, the country’s health minister said today.

Health minister Jens Spahn said that over the summer vacation period the number of virus tests performed in Germany nearly doubled to 900,000 a week in part to identify people who caught the virus during trips abroad, the Associated Press agency reports.

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The Children’s Place cancels millions of dollars of garment orders from Ethiopia

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Largest US childrenswear retailer blames Covid for move, as employees say they are struggling to buy food after wage cuts

The largest childrenswear retailer in the US has cancelled millions of dollars worth of clothing orders from suppliers in Ethiopia because of the coronavirus pandemic, pushing companies into debt and leaving employees facing pay cuts.

The Children’s Place (TCP), which has more than 1,000 stores in the US and 90 around the world and had a turnover of $2bn (£1.5bn) last year, cancelled orders from Ethiopia in March and delayed payments by six months for orders completed in January and February, suppliers told the Guardian.

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Obesity increases risk of Covid-19 death by 48%, study finds

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Comprehensive study suggests vaccine may not work as well for overweight people

Obesity increases the risk of death from Covid-19 by nearly 50% and may make vaccines against the disease less effective, according to a comprehensive study using global data.

The research from leading global experts warns that the risks for people with obesity are greater than previously thought.

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EU trade commissioner under pressure to quit over Covid rules breach

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Irish government says it has lost confidence in Phil Hogan after he flouted quarantine regulations

The Irish government wants the embattled European trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, to quit or be sacked after concluding he flouted coronavirus regulations during a golfing break in Ireland.

The Green party leader, Eamon Ryan, part of the ruling coalition, on Wednesday said the government had lost confidence in Hogan.

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Non-woven masks better to stop Covid-19, says Japanese supercomputer

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Disposable medical face masks beat those made of cotton or polyester in simulation

Face masks made from non-woven fabric are more effective at blocking the spread of Covid-19 via airborne respiratory droplets than other types that are commonly available, according to modelling in Japan by the world’s fastest supercomputer.

Fugaku, which can perform more than 415 quadrillion computations a second, conducted simulations involving three types of mask, and found that non-woven masks were better than those made of cotton and polyester at blocking spray emitted when the wearer coughs, the Nikkei Asian Review said.

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Chile police using Covid-19 quarantine as pretext to crush protest, activists say

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Demonstrations over hunger by people thrown out of work by the pandemic have been met with violent repression

Violeta Delgado was at a protest over food shortages under Chile’s coronavirus lockdowns when the police arrived and fired off a volley of teargas rounds.

Delgado, who was seven months pregnant, says she put her hands up to show she was unarmed, but was struck by a police vehicle and knocked to the ground.

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‘Coming here is a necessity’: demand for food aid soars in US amid job losses

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Nationwide the need for aid at food banks and pantries has surged amid worst unemployment rate in modern times

Neisha Davis cradles brown paper lunch bags in the crook of one arm, while holding on to Demitri, her wriggling baby son, in the other and keeping a careful eye on Naya, her four-year-old daughter, as she runs around the church car park with another little girl.

It’s hectic but the free packed lunches have become a crucial part of their daily nutrition. So everyday at noon the family make the two-mile journey from Homewood, a low income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighbourhood with no grocery stores, to the East End Community Ministry’s pop-up lunch stall in East Liberty.

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Australia coronavirus live update: Sydney quarantine hotel dumped as Morrison spends on defence – latest news

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NSW police say Wentworth Travelodge not up to standards as 400 guests moved. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Scott Morrison made plenty of time to set a test for Anthony Albanese’s leadership in June, when the Victorian Labor branch stacking allegations were revealed - there were interviews and question time attacks and comments about being focussed on jobs while the Labor party was in rack and ruin.

But now that he is facing questions over the Liberals behaviour in Victoria, which implicates one of his own frontbenchers - Michael Sukkar, Morrison is very busy being focussed solely on the pandemic.

These matters have been referred by the Department of Finance and that’s the appropriate response and that’s where... No, I’ve been dealing with the COVID crisis. I’ve been dealing with getting people back into jobs. The matter has been referred to the Department of Finance. I don’t think that Australians would want me distracked by those issues at all.

This is quite the declaration of war within the Queensland Labor party - the CFMEU has announced it is immediately quitting the left faction.

That will have some serious implications for the power balance in the party:

The CFMEU will be withdrawing from the left faction of the Queensland ALP, effective immediately.

Both the Mining and the Construction & General divisions of the CFMEU have decided the union can be a more effective advocate for workers as a voice totally independent of a faction that has lost touch with its core values.

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EU trade chief faces fresh criticism over breaking Covid rules in Ireland

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Phil Hogan gave more detail about his trip but said he was exempt from lockdown restrictions

The embattled European trade commissioner Phil Hogan is facing fresh accusations that he flouted coronavirus regulations during a golfing break in Ireland.

Hogan attempted to douse the controversy and save his job in a media interview on Tuesday evening, but ended up tacitly admitting he had violated quarantine rules, triggering more questions and calls for his resignation.

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Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools

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Prime minister makes another coronavirus U-turn days before return to classrooms

Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in secondary schools after Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before classrooms reopen.

In lockdown areas such as Greater Manchester, which have greater restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, wearing face coverings will become mandatory in school corridors where social distancing is more difficult.

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Why do Covid fatalities seem steady when infection numbers are rising?

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While some scientists believe the virus has become less deadly, others look at the factors that suggest otherwise

Are Covid-19 death rates decreasing?
Most statistics indicate that although cases of Covid-19 are rising in many parts of Europe and the United States, the number of deaths and cases of severe complications remain relatively low. For example, patients on ventilators have dropped from 3,000 at the epidemic’s peak in Britain to 70. At the same time, the number of cases in the UK have begun to rise in many areas.

What lies behind this trend?
Doctors are unsure exactly what is going on. Some suggest that medical interventions are more successful at treating those who suffer complications from the disease. For example, the drug dexamethasone was recently shown to improve survival rates among patients requiring ventilation. Others argue that different factors are involved. One suggestion is that Covid-19 is now becoming a disease of younger people who are less likely to die or suffer serious complications.

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Coronavirus has made every day a struggle to survive amid the squalor of Cox’s Bazar | Farid Alam

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Once I flew kites and dreamed of being a teacher. Now it’s hard to see a better future for me or my family

When I was born in Kutupalong camp, Bangladesh, it was a very different place. I remember as a child laughing and flying kites with my friends. Kites are not flying around our camps any more. There is little laughter.

Just months ago, we lived in a different world. We used to go outside a lot, seeking freedom from our little bamboo and plastic homes. But with Covid-19 we cannot. Often we are told to stay inside. It’s hot and cramped, with nine of us in one room.

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‘They think they’ll be left to die’: pandemic shakes already fragile Venezuela

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Venezuela’s official Covid-19 death toll stands just over 300, but hospital employees suggest the true situation may be far worse

As they are hauled into Maracaibo’s University hospital, pale, wheezing and panicked, a recurring cry emerges from the mouths of coronavirus patients in this bedraggled Venezuelan metropolis.

“Save me!” they plead as they enter A&E, according to hospital staff too scared to give their names. “Please don’t let me die!”

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