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Lockdown rule-breakers are using the controversial actions of the prime minister’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, as an excuse, a police and crime commissioner has warned.
The West Midlands PCC, David Jamieson, revealed he had received intelligence that officers are getting “pushback” from members of the public breaching Covid-19 containment measures after Downing Street’s defence of Cummings’ 264-mile lockdown trip.
Penny Mordaunt, a senior government minister, has said there are “inconsistencies” in Dominic Cummings’ account of his actions during lockdown and apologised for how recent days have “undermined key public health messages”.
In an email sent to constituents, seen by the Guardian, Mordaunt said Cummings’ continued position as Boris Johnson’s chief adviser was a “matter for the prime minister” but she also said she could “fully understand how angry people are” and believed there was no doubt he “took risks”.
Longest official mourning period in Spain’s democracy; unrest grows in UK PM’s party over Dominic Cummings lockdown breach; WHO says Americas are new Covid-19 epicentre. Follow the latest updates
There have now been 118,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the 54 nations of Africa, according to the World Health Organization’s regional office for the continent.
So far, about 48,000 people in Africa who have tested positive for the virus have recovered, while 3,500 have died, according to the latest updated from WHO African region on Wednesday morning.
Over 118,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 48,000 recoveries & 3,500 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTgpic.twitter.com/W1hbvugno1
Hi, this is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the live blog now, bringing you the latest headlines and stories, and the best of the Guardian’s coverage, from the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for coverage please drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@gmail.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Tom McCarthy writes that one of the key problems facing American efforts to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis is the population’s aversion to vaccines.
Only about half of Americans say they would get a Covid-19 vaccine if available, according to a poll, as a top US government scientist tempered claims by Donald Trump that the United States would be able to invent, manufacture and administer hundreds of millions of vaccine doses by the end of the year.
Further to our story at 20.29, data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the United States has recorded more than 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, moving past a grim milestone even as many states relax mitigation measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The US has recorded more deaths from the disease than any other country in the pandemic, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, Britain, which has recorded more than 37,000 Covid-19 deaths.
The worst pandemic in a century has claimed victims across the US.
Some groups have been particularly vulnerable, with those over 65 making up a large proportion of the fatalities, though all generations have been affected.
Photographer Jordan Gale was curious to see how New Yorkers would adapt to a post Covid-19 summer. What he found was a combination of resilience, resourcefulness and joy – exhibited through socially distant block parties, community service, and people from all walks of life soaking up the sun
The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, has been forced to acknowledge that his state’s health department was notified of sick crew members on board a live export vessel before it docked in Fremantle, but remains critical of the federal Department of Agriculture for not “backing up” such a significant message with “at least a phone call”.
The admission came after the federal agriculture minister, David Littleproud, defended the actions of his department in response to McGowan’s claim on Tuesday that he discovered sick crew were on the ship Al-Kuwait that day only by word of mouth from dock workers. Littleproud released an email showing a department worker had notified WA Health on Friday about three sick crew members.
In early April, frontline workers including a bus driver, a care home manager and a cemetery worker spoke to the Guardian about their experiences during the coronavirus paramedic. Two weeks later we checked in to hear how they had been coping with the peak of the virus.
Now, another month on, with lockdown restrictions easing, we catch up with the workers to see how things have changed.
With world’s attention on Covid-19, warnings that lack of measures to contain pandemic could lead to culling of record number of pigs
The African swine fever (ASF) pandemic will be even worse this year than in 2019, say experts, warning that the spread of the highly contagious virus, which is fatal to pigs, is unrelenting.
With world attention on the human viral pandemic of Covid-19, concern is growing that countries are not focusing enough on halting the spread of ASF through better biosecurity practices, cooperation on intensive vaccine development, or transparency regarding outbreaks.
Children fly kites between tents in the shadow of barbed wire fences as life continues in Europe’s largest refugee camp. There are 17,421 people living here in a space designed for just under 3,000. Residents carrying liquid soap and water barrels encourage everyone to wash their hands as they pass by, refugees and aid workers alike. While Moria remains untouched by the pandemic, the spectre of coronavirus still looms heavy.
Greece is poised to open up to tourism in the coming months and bars and restaurants are reopening this week. Movement restrictions were lifted for the general population on 4 May but have been extended for refugees living in all the island camps and a number of mainland camps until 7 June.
Boris Johnson faced an extraordinary and growing revolt from within his own party on Tuesday over his refusal to sack his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, for breaching lockdown rules.
On a day of dramatic developments, a junior minister resigned and more than 30 other Conservative MPs called for Cummings to go, many citing inboxes overflowing with hundreds of angry messages from constituents.
Police in Karachi last week allegedly shot at hundreds of unarmed garment workers protesting outside a factory supplying denim for global fashion brands.
Garment workers such as Abdul Basit, 35, claimed to have been charged by police with batons outside a factory which is reported to have fired more than 15,000 workers since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nasir Mansoor from the National Trade Union Federation. He said some workers had been terminated without written notice.
As the US coronavirus death toll approached 100,000, Kayleigh McEnany praised Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic, saying the death toll could have been much higher. The White House press secretary repeatedly cited a scientific report suggesting up to 2.2 million Americans could die of coronavirus if the government didn’t take action to limit the spread of the virus
Hancock announces anti-viral drug remdesivir will be given to some NHS Covid-19 patients; number of Tory MPs call on Cummings to resign as junior minister quits; official UK death toll passes 37,000
There are nearly 300 more confirmed cases of Covid-19 among prison staff than previously thought, the Ministry of Justice has revealed.
Due to a change in reporting of cases among prison staff, and an additional evaluation, there were 873 workers who had tested positive for the coronavirus as of 1pm on Tuesday, compared to 573 recorded as positive in the last update as of 5pm Thursday.
As Governor Andrew Cuomo faced a spirited challenge in his bid to win New York’s 2018 Democratic primary, his political apparatus got a last-minute boost: a powerful healthcare industry group suddenly poured more than $1m into a Democratic committee backinghis campaign.
Less than two years after that flood of cash from the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), Cuomo signed legislation last month quietly shielding hospital and nursing home executives from the threat of lawsuits stemming from the coronavirus outbreak. The provision, inserted into an annual budget bill by Cuomo’s aides, created one of the nation’s most explicit immunity protections for healthcare industry officials, according to legal experts.
Denmark has made it easier for cross-border couples separated from their partners by lockdown to meet again, while Germany is expected to allow travel to 31 European countries from mid-June, as EU countries continued to lift coronavirus restrictions.
People living in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany can now visit partners in Denmark by signing a simple declaration rather than having to provide photos, phone records and other proof of a relationship, the Danish justice minister, Nick Hækkerup, said.
Most employees will continue to work remotely; those who return will be required to wear face masks and practice social distancing
The New York Stock Exchange’s famous Wall Street trading floor opened on Tuesday for the first time in more than two months, having closed in March due to the spread of Covid-19.
Governor Andrew Cuomo rang the opening bell while wearing a face mask, signaling that while New York state may be starting to open up, things will be far from normal for some time yet.
As he releases Quickies, an LP of minature gems, the master songwriter contemplates a pop song’s perfect length – and whether Covd-19 has ended his career
Stephin Merritt has just spent six weeks confined to his Manhattan apartment after contracting coronavirus. He was ill for 10 days, then recovered. He’s usually a crazily prolific songwriter – two of his band’s most celebrated albums, 50 Song Memoir and 69 Love Songs, obviously contain 119 songs between them – but he hasn’t come up with any new numbers since he got ill. The problem is that he can only write songs in bars. And not just any bar – it needs to be “one-third full of cranky old gay men gossiping over thumping disco music”. Plus he needs a glass of cognac, to be slowly sipped, and a corner with a light so he can see his notebook.
Fortunately, before the outbreak, he was able to find a place that fulfilled these conditions and the result is the Magnetic Fields’ latest album. Like most of Merritt’s records, there’s a concept – on this one, titled Quickies, all the songs but one are two minutes 15 seconds or less. However, that’s not an unusual length for a Magnetic Fields tune – as Merritt points out over the phone, one-third of the songs on 69 Love Songs would qualify.