Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Hicks, hubris and not a lot of masks: the week Trump caught Covid

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The US president tested positive after a week in which he behaved with the same disregard for public health rules that has characterised his coronavirus response

Donald Trump’s presidency has been full of plot surprises. But no single tweet has had the same meteor-like impact as the one sent by the president shortly before 1am on Friday morning. It felt like a season finale moment. “Overnight, @FlOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump wrote. He added, in matter-of-fact style: “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”.

The announcement was astonishing. And yet – seen through the timeline of Trump’s recent activities – it appears wholly unremarkable and perhaps even cosmically inevitable. Over the past five days the president has behaved with the same reckless disregard for public health rules that has characterised his response since January to the global coronavirus pandemic.

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What happens if Trump is incapacitated and how would it impact the election?

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Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 – but what happens if he can’t carry out his presidential duties?

Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution the president himself – or the vice-president with the agreement of eight cabinet officers, supported by Congress – can ask the vice-president, in this instance Republican Mike Pence, to take over as acting president.

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Trump joked while people suffered with Covid. Well, is now the time to stop? | Marina Hyde

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Maybe the real victims of the president’s diagnosis are his MAGA disciples who don’t believe the virus even exists

Well, it’s definitely a plot twist. Like a lot of people who sat through Tuesday’s presidential debate, I’m amazed the week has ended with Donald Trump ingesting bleach, and not me.

As you may vaguely have heard, the US president and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus – which feels untimely given that, mere hours earlier, Trump had been declaring: “The end of the pandemic is in sight.” Perhaps this is a one-last-job movie. Alternatively, picture a Wuhan bat staring pensively into the fireplace as its butler suggests not thinking too hard about Trump’s motivations. Some poorly facepainted men just want to watch the world burn.

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Boris Johnson sends best wishes to Donald and Melania Trump after Covid-19 diagnosis – video

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Boris Johnson has wished Donald and Melania Trump a 'strong recovery', hours after the US president revealed he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus

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Malaria campaigns fight off Covid disruptions to deliver programmes

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Almost all planned work against the disease has gone ahead this year, delivering nets, drugs and the world’s first malaria vaccine

More than 90% of anti-malaria campaigns planned this year across four continents are on track, despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research.

The delivery of insecticide-treated nets and provision of antimalarial medicines in the majority of malaria-affected countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas were still going ahead, a high-level meeting organised by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria heard on Thursday.

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Trump throws baseball caps into crowd days before announcing positive Covid test – video

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Two days before announcing he had contracted Covid-19, Donald Trump tossed two campaign baseball caps into the crowd with his bare hands while at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. 

The venue was crowded with hundreds of supporters on Wednesday and Trump, who did not wear a face mask, entered the stage smiling and waving to the crowd before addressing the rally. The president frequently minimised the seriousness of the pandemic in its early stages and has repeatedly predicted it would go away. 

Trump announced he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for Covid-19 in a tweet on Friday

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Fears for Obamacare if Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to supreme court

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Case due before court seeks to strike down landmark Affordable Care Act – which could leave millions of Americans adrift

This month, Congress is expected to begin confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s nominee for the supreme court, Amy Coney Barrett. If confirmed, she could be the decisive vote in a case being heard days after the election, which seeks to strike down the landmark Affordable Care Act – a move that could leave millions of Americans without healthcare in the middle of a pandemic.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women's rights?

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Trump’s positive Covid test was a surprise that many saw coming

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The president has been cavalier throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a month before the election, this changes everything

It is likely to go down as the biggest “October surprise” in the history of US presidential elections. Yet anyone who was paying attention could have seen it coming.

Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus after claiming “it will disappear”, telling the journalist Bob Woodward he was downplaying it deliberately, failing to develop a national testing strategy, refusing to wear a face mask for months, floating the idea of injecting patients with bleach, insisting to one of his many crowded campaign rallies that “it affects virtually nobody” and, at Tuesday’s debate, mocking his rival, Joe Biden: “He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records seven new cases as Queensland opens borders to NSW from 1 November

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The government will announce tax and deregulation measures on Friday, as declining Covid-19 cases offer hope for economic revival. Follow all today’s news

Labor’s Julie Collins has responded to the aged care royal commission’s Covid response report:

I am sure the public will have very little confidence that this government, or the minister, is up to implementing these recommendations by 1 December because what we have seen is that when it came to the royal commission’s interim report, very unusual of a royal commission to actually issue an interim report, the very first recommendation – the first one was to fix the home care wait list.

Here we are 12 months later, [and there are] still [more than] 100,000 older Australians waiting for home care.

Linda Burney was on ABC Queensland radio talking about the people the jobseeker changes were going to affect the most.

It’s your mum, your grandmother, or their friends.

The reduction in the jobseeker allowance is going to disproportionately affect older women, particularly women who are over 60.

And it’s very hard for those women to find a job because you face age discrimination. All those – all those issues, of course, that we are familiar with older people trying to get a job.

Related: 'It's degrading': Australians on the poverty line brace for pain after jobseeker cuts

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Coronavirus live news: Paris faces being placed on ‘maximum alert’ as India nears 100,000 deaths

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Bars and restaurants in Paris face closure from Monday; Turkey condemned for underreporting cases; Scottish National Party lawmaker suspended after travelling by train despite positive test. Follow the latest updates

In the UK, strictly Come Dancing contestant HRVY has tested positive for coronavirus, just over two weeks before the launch of the new series.

The singer and YouTube star, whose real name is Harvey Leigh Cantwell, announced the news on social media, telling fans he does not have any symptoms and is now isolating for 10 days.

Related: Strictly Come Dancing contestant HRVY tests positive for Covid-19

The death toll in India, which has the second-highest number of cases worldwide, is nearing the grim milestone of 100,000. There are currently 98,678 deaths confirmed on the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

India’s deaths are the third-highest worldwide, after Brazil with 143,952 and the US with 207,651.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO approves new rapid Covid test; Madrid to enter partial lockdown

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Health body gives green light to second test that gives results in up to 30 minutes; Spanish capital is Europe’s worst hotspot

France reported 12,148 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the French health ministry said.

Friday’s figure is lower than Thursday’s 13,970 and well below highs of over 16,000 seen last week.

The Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and his wife, Jill, have tested negative for coronavirus, their doctor said in a statement on Friday.

“Vice-president Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden underwent PCR testing for Covid-19 today and Covid-19 was not detected,” Dr Kevin O’Connor said in a statement.

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Elton John voices support for face masks after being accused of breaking rules

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Singer responds after complaint filed over photos of him without face covering on Italian island of Capri

Elton John’s spokesperson has said the singer is “fully supportive of wearing a mask in public” after he was accused of flouting face mask rules during a visit to the Italian island of Capri this week.

Codacons, Italy’s leading consumers’ association, filed a complaint to local and regional authorities, saying John should be fined after photos appeared of him not wearing a mask outside a hotel. The Campania region, of which Capri is part, last week made it obligatory for face coverings to be worn outside as it attempted to stem a rise in coronavirus infections.

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Covid crisis could force extra 2.5m girls into child marriage – charity

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Save the Children predicts worst rise in child marriage rates in 25 years as a result of pandemic

Up to 2.5 million more girls around the world are at risk of being forced into child marriage over the next five years as a result of the impact of Covid-19, according to a report by Save the Children.

The charity predicts the worst surge in rates of child marriage in 25 years, as the pandemic has shuttered schools and pushed poor families further into destitution.

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Covid-19 vaccine alone won’t defeat spread of virus, report warns

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Issues over production, efficacy and public trust mean restrictions may be needed for some time

A successful vaccine for Covid-19 will not conquer the spread of the virus alone, with restrictions on daily life likely to continue for some time, a team of experts have said.

Hundreds of teams of researchers around the world are working to produce a vaccine against the coronavirus, with 11 currently in phase three human trials. The UK government has reserved access to six potential vaccines and has raised hopes that a vaccine could be on the cards by spring next year.

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UK coronavirus live: indoor mixing ban extended to Merseyside, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough

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Government recommends no social mixing between people from different households in these areas; NHS Test and Trace going backwards

Council leaders and MPs from Merseyside have issued a joint statement describing today’s new restrictions as “a step in the right direction”.

But they are also saying the government should publish the scientific evidence showing why the government thinks these measures will be enough.

The measures announced today are a step toward restricting the spread but we need to understand if they are enough to arrest the rise cases across our region.

We're asking for Government to share their scientific evidence and provide us with more substantial financial support. pic.twitter.com/8gV1uJs87n

Graham Morgan, the leader of Knowsley council, says the new restrictions announced for Merseyside this morning may not be enough.

I'm still concerned that these new COVID-19 restrictions won't be enough to stop the spread of the virus here. We're at a critical point & need swift, effective solutions to protect our residents. Our conversations with Government will continue. https://t.co/Z5DZ8azYDl

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Covid-19 live news: Madrid lockdown looms; Italy’s PM proposes extending state of emergency

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Africa approaching 1.5m cases across its 54 countries; Italy could extend government powers to January; record cases high in Ukraine

Sweden has registered its highest daily Covid caseload since June, with 752 new infections recorded on Thursday, though no new related deaths have been recorded.

The Scandinavian country has shunned lockdowns, leaving most schools, restaurants and businesses open throughout the pandemic. Thursday’s rise was the highest since 30 June, when the health agency recorded just over 800 new cases.

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, has said infections in Russia’s capital are rising by about 2,000 a day, and ordered employers to transfer at least 30% of staff to remote work.

Writing on his blog, Sobyanin said the rate of Covid-19 hospitalisations was also rising by around 5,000 per week.

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Madrid region performs U-turn and says it will obey Covid lockdown rules

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Self-governing Spanish region warned by central government that new measures are legally binding

The regional government of Madrid, the area of Spain hardest hit by the second wave of the coronavirus, has said it will obey new lockdown restrictions imposed by the central government but plans to appeal against them in court.

Efforts to tackle the spread of the virus in and around the capital have been hindered by political intransigence as the Madrid region engages in a standoff with the central government.

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