Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Second time unlucky: Covid restrictions derail Japan PM’s holiday – again

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Shinzo Abe had planned to visit family during O-bon holiday but political rival Tokyo mayor calls on capital’s residents to stay home

Millions of people who have been forced to cancel holidays due to the coronavirus outbreak might struggle to sympathise, but Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is among those who have had to forego their summer break – and he has a political rival to blame.

Abe, who has been criticised for his handling of a recent rise in Covid-19 infections, was reportedly due to return to his constituency in Yamaguchi prefecture this week as Japan began several days of public holidays.

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Lagos’s poor lament Covid fallout: ‘we don’t see the virus, we see suffering’

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Lockdown has tipped many working-class Nigerians from struggle to crisis

Drawing open the curtains in Alapere, Lagos, unveils a sea of shanty roofs and watery-coloured housing blocks. “We don’t see any virus but we see suffering,” says Juliana Chokpa, a 38-year-old cleaner.

This working-class Lagos community has been reeling from job losses, a collapse in informal services, and rising food and transport costs. The pandemic, Chokpa says, has wrought a swift descent from struggle into crisis.

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Government quietly drops 1.3m Covid tests from England tally

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Exclusive: Double counting raises fresh questions about accuracy of testing figures

The government has quietly removed 1.3m coronavirus tests from its data because of double counting, raising fresh questions about the accuracy of the testing figures.

In the government’s daily coronavirus update on Wednesday, it announced it had lowered the figure for “tests made available” by about 10% and discontinued the metric.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 14 deaths and 372 new Covid cases as NSW awaits Ruby Princess report

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Agriculture minister calls for federal approach to border rules; NSW on alert over community transmission. Follow the latest news and updates

This came through late yesterday from NSW Health:

NSW Health is advising of a new public health alert for Liverpool Hospital and Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club.

Peter Dutton had some things to say about the border closure between NSW and Queensland on the Nine network today:

When you get a premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk making announcements about border closures when Gladys Berejiklian is doing a press conference and she is caught out, the question is asked of her and she knows nothing about it, she hadn’t been contacted by Queensland, well you would imagine she would be a bit miffed. I think it is childish. There is a growing mood here in Queensland at the moment, I have got to say, Ally, of people who say if the doctors are saying close the borders or put in place this regime, fair enough, but there is a lot of politics being played in Queensland at the moment by the state government here in relation to this issue. You see brochures now going out into letterboxes in marginal seats and what not, and Annastacia Palaszczuk is walking a fine line here. People will be cynical if they think these decisions are being made for political reasons and her break down in the relationship with the New South Wales premier, particularly for those people who live in the Tweed or on the Gold Coast, is negatively impacting on those lives and businesses and it is unacceptable.

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris call for nationwide mask mandate – live

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Just hours after Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate, in her home state of California fierce speculation had already begun as to who might replace her in the Senate if she wins a spot in the White House.

Related: If Kamala Harris wins, who might fill her California Senate seat?

From Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem and Julian Borger in Washington:

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties in a historic Washington-brokered deal under which Israel will “suspend” its plans to annex parts of the Palestinian territories.

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Migrant children face hunger over free school meal restrictions

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Children’s groups call for meal provision to extend to families barred from UK state support

Thousands of children from migrant families are at risk of hunger when schools reopen in the UK unless the free meal provision is extended, according to a group of 60 organisations.

The Children’s Society, Action for Children, Project 17 and Unison are among the organisations that have written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, calling on him to extend free school meals to pupils from low-income migrant families classed as having “no recourse to public funds”.

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New Zealand Covid-19 cases all linked to single cluster, with more cases expected

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Cabinet to meet at 3pm to discuss Auckland lockdown as health minister Chris Hipkins says city not yet looking at moving from level three to four

New Zealand is not yet looking at a level 4 lockdown, because the rising number of Covid-19 cases are all related to a single cluster, the health minister has said.

Chris Hipkins told Radio NZ that more than one cluster would have to be circulating for the country to rise to level 4 restrictions, and so far there was no evidence of that, though more cases from the same cluster had emerged overnight.

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What should I do if I have a holiday booked to France? Q&A

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As France is taken off the government’s travel corridor list and new quarantine rules come into play, should UK holidaymakers cancel trips?

The UK government has removed France from its list of travel corridors, leaving hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers scrambling to rearrange their travel plans. A 14-day quarantine on return to the UK from France will come into effect from 4am on Saturday (15 August), leaving a window of little more than 30 hours for travellers to get home if they want to escape the measures.

The UK criteria for removing a country from the list is based on per capita case numbers. If these go above 20 per 100,000, the UK government categorises that country as high-risk. This Wednesday France reached 30.4, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, with significant numbers in recent days: 2,524 new cases were reported on Wednesday, up from 1,397 on Tuesday, and over 2,000 a day last weekend.

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris call for nationwide mask mandate – video

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Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden on Thursday called on all governors to mandate mask wearing to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 165,000 people in the United States. In his second day on the campaign trail with former rival and now running mate Kamala Harris by his side, Biden made the call for a nationwide mandate on masks after a virtual meeting with public health advisers in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

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Trump pushes for schools to reopen as US sees deadliest Covid day since May

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  • Trump: ‘We’ve got to open up our schools and our businesses’
  • US leads world in coronavirus infections and deaths

Donald Trump has vowed to push ahead with the reopening of America’s schools, despite the US suffering nearly 1,500 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number in a single day for three months.

Related: Coronavirus live news: global death toll exceeds 750,000; France reports over 2,600 new cases in 24 hours

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Victoria takes control of three more aged care homes as 278 new Covid cases recorded

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Premier Daniel Andrews reports eight more deaths and the lowest number of new coronavirus cases for more than two weeks

Victoria’s aged care crisis continues, with the department of health taking control of three more aged care homes due to Covid-19 outbreaks, as the state’s premier raises the hardship payments available to those who must forgo income in order to isolate after testing.

Victoria recorded 278 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the lowest number for more than two weeks, with the number of total actives cases also dipping.

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Coronavirus live news: India sees record daily case rise as global deaths near 750,000

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India’s infections grow by nearly 67,000 in one day; Russia vaccine not yet completed its final trials; global deaths climb towards 750,000. Follow the latest updates

Hello everyone. I am taking on the global live feed from London and will be bringing you all the latest updates on what is happening around the globe. Please do keep in touch with me as I work and contact me if you have any questions, news tips or thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.

My colleague Sarah Marsh will take you through the next few hours.

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Coronavirus live news: UK adds France to quarantine list from 4am BST on Saturday

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UK move takes effect as of 4am BST on Saturday; Pandemic has killed three quarters of a million people; Germany case jump shows ‘unsettling trend’; Iraq reports record daily Covid-19 cases

Britain’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France will lead to a reciprocal measure, French junior minister for European affairs Clément Beaune said late on Thursday.

“A British decision that we regret and which will lead to a measure of reciprocity, hoping that things will return to normal as soon as possible,” Beaune said on Twitter at midnight.

Une décision britannique que nous regrettons et qui entraînera une mesure de réciprocité, en espérant un retour à la normale le plus rapidement possible @Djebbari_JB https://t.co/6pA0qDQun6

La France regrette la décision du Royaume Uni et appliquera des mesures de réciprocité dans le champ des transports. J’ai dit à mon homologue @grantshapps notre volonté d’harmoniser les protocoles sanitaires pour assurer un haut niveau de protection des deux côtés de la Manche. https://t.co/bH7LkqD3LB

Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.

I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours. Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com with questions, comments and news from your part of the world.

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Forget doom-laden headlines, the dollar has not gone into terminal decline | Barry Eichengreen

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Too much is being read into the greenback’s recent weakening against the euro

The dollar is in freefall! The global greenback is doomed! screamed recent headlines. Actually, such sensational headlines are “too sensational”, to echo that noted authority on currencies, Miss Prism, in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.

The dollar’s fall in July to a two-year low against the euro was the immediate impetus for these stories. In fact, the dollar’s recent slide is one in a series of readily explicable fluctuations. When the Covid-19 pandemic went global in March, the dollar strengthened on the back of safe-haven flows into US Treasuries, as it does at the start of every crisis. By May, the Federal Reserve, acting as global lender of last resort, had accommodated this mad scramble for dollars by pouring buckets of liquidity into financial markets and the greenback gave back its early gains.

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‘Here we go again’: Auckland fears a long lockdown as coronavirus returns

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Shops start stockpiling and charities helping with financial hardship expect flood of calls as PM warns outbreak will get worse

“I’m not afraid because I’m taking precautions,” says Nadeep Singh, a travel agent in Papatoetoe, the South Auckland suburb that has reportedly sparked a return to lockdown and a pivotal change in the country’s battle with the pandemic.

His business was closed to customers but Singh was working “flat out” – alone in his locked office – getting refunds for clients who are now unable to take the trips they had booked with him.

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New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern warns Covid-19 cluster will ‘grow before it slows’ – video

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New Zealand leader has said Auckland’s Covid-19 outbreak will get worse before it gets better, and warned of extended lockdowns after the country reported the first new cases in 102 days without community transmission. Ardern stressed New Zealand’s approach of going hard early remained their best chance of slowing the spread and urged caution over growing misinformation around coronavirus

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If Britain looked anew, it could learn so much about the arts from Africa | Afua Hirsch

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The UK cultural sector, so obsessed with being ‘world leading’, is standing on the brink. It needs to broaden its gaze

It’s a painful time to tell stories about the arts. This week, hundreds of venues across the UK were lit up in red – not in an inspired display of creativity, but as a cry for help as arts venues find themselves on the brink of collapse.

The protest culminated in the iconic chimney at London’s Tate Modern art gallery being made bright red, and illuminated with the words “Throw Us a Line” – a reference to the 1m jobs at risk in the live events sector following the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown. A report from the digital, culture, media and sport select committee warned last month that the UK now faces the prospect of becoming a “cultural wasteland”.

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Office pods may be the answer to working safely post-Covid-19

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Entrepreneur Xu Weiping is risking a fortune to build 2,000 3-metre square workspaces in east London

Welcome to cube city. Xu Weiping, a Chinese multimillionaire, has a vision for the future of office work in the post-Covid-19 pandemic world: thousands of office pods where each person works in their own self-contained 3m x 3m cube.

Xu reckons the coronavirus pandemic will have such a fundamental impact on the way people work that he is converting 20 newly constructed office buildings in east London into 2,000 of the individual cube offices.

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Bolivia’s solution to surging Covid-19 deaths: a mobile crematorium

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Bolivia considers a pragmatic, if not macabre, option as it struggles to keep pace with Covid-19 deaths

As surging Covid-19 cases across Latin America leave cemeteries and funeral homes struggling to keep pace, engineers in Bolivia have come up with a solution as pragmatic as it is macabre: a mobile crematorium.

The five-metre by two-and-half-metre oven is small enough to fit on to a trailer, and is powered by locally produced liquefied petroleum gas – making it a cheap option for families who cannot afford a funeral service.

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New Zealand PM says Covid-19 outbreak will ‘get worse’ as Auckland cluster grows

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Jacinda Ardern sound ominous tone, with expectation of a long lockdown for the country’s biggest city

Covid-19 may have been circulating in New Zealand’s biggest city for weeks, the country’s top health official has said, as 13 new community cases were confirmed – all linked to the four cases announced on Tuesday.

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the growing cluster in Auckland, now totalling 17, “would get worse before it gets better” in the city of more than 1.4 million people.

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