Coronavirus live news: Mallorca closes Magaluf party strip; US sees another new record number of cases

160,000 Catalans back into lockdown; Florida records new daily death toll high; India Covid-19 cases top 900,000

Brazil has suffered 1,233 more deaths and registered 39,924 new cases, its health ministry has said. The country has now recorded a total off 75,366 deaths and confirmed 1,996,748 cases in all, making it the world’s second worst-affected.

As the figures were released, the far-right president, who has repeatedly dismissed the dangers posed by the pandemic, publicly acknowledged a second positive test that suggests he has not recovered. Bolsonaro told reporters he would get tested again in a few days.

Scotland could ask people arriving from England to quarantine, its first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. In an interview with ITV’s Peston programme due to be broadcast in the next couple of hours, she has said:

Scotland would have the ability through public health measures to ask people to quarantine if they came to Scotland. And I’ve said, again, this is not political, it is not constitutional, I’m taking these decisions purely from a public health perspective. We do see prevalence of the virus at a lower level at the moment – although we’re not complacent – than we do in England.

But that’s not something I want to do if we can avoid that. I think the first thing we want to do is work very constructively as we do already with authorities in England to look at good outbreak management and where that requires localised travel restrictions, then rely on that in the first instance.

Well, my calculation is that if we are more successful in driving the virus to very low levels, getting as close as possible to elimination of it before a potential second wave in the autumn and winter, then we will build ourselves a much more sustainable foundation for economic recovery.

So, the judgement is that taking a couple of weeks, and that’s pretty much what we’re talking about here, longer to come out of lockdown, if that buys us a more sustainable recovery in the medium to long term, then that’s the right thing to do.

The sweetest reunion of all #hairdresser #Julie pic.twitter.com/toBnQ4Qmmi

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Coronavirus live news: India Covid-19 cases top 900,000 as 133m re-enter lockdown

Restrictions imposed on Indian city of Bangalore and state of Bihar; Venezuela’s capital Caracas to go into a strict lockdown on Wednesday; Face masks mandatory in France; Follow the latest updates

AFP is reporting on Tokyo being on its highest coronavirus alert level after a rise in new cases - particularly in younger people, in nightlife areas and also in workplaces and in families - as experts said the rising infections were a clear “red flag”.

However, the move to a “red” alert does not mean the city will ask businesses to close or events to be postponed. Even during a national state of emergency in April, there was no “lockdown” in Japan of the type seen in Europe.

AP are also reporting on how virus restrictions in Australia are being reimposed, shutting businesses and curbing people’s social lives as communities try to curb a disease resurgence before it spins out of control.

Residents of Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, were warned today to comply with lockdown regulations or face tougher restrictions. Melbourne’s 5 million people and part of the city’s semi-rural surrounds are a week into a new, six-week lockdown to contain a new outbreak there.

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Competitive hotdog eaters nearing limit of human performance

A maximum of 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes is possible, says sports science study

The four-minute mile and the two-hour marathon were once believed impossible: now a new gauntlet has been thrown down for the world of elite competition. A scientific analysis suggests competitive eaters have come within nine hotdogs of the limits of human performance.

The theoretical ceiling has been set at 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes. The current world record, set by Joey “Jaws” Chestnut earlier this month, stands at 75.

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Coronavirus live news: India puts Bangalore back into lockdown; Hong Kong tightens social distancing

Global cases rise by 1m in five days; 5.4m Americans have lost their health insurance; 6,000 new cases in Russia

Iran reports 179 new virus death as authorities announced a decision to once more shutter some businesses in the capital to contain the virus’ resurgence.

The reimposition of restrictive measures comes after the government had progressively lifted them from April to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

Masks will become mandatory in all enclosed public spaces in France within the next few weeks, President Emmanuel Macron has said in a major Bastille Day interview.

Masks were already obligatory on public transport and recommended in shops, with many store owners refusing to welcome customers not wearing them.

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Does coronavirus spread in the air and how do we stay safe?

Some scientists believe there is growing evidence of airborne transmission of Covid-19

Some scientists are warning there is growing evidence of airborne transmission of coronavirus. But how does it affect the actions we should take to stay safe?

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NSW on ‘extra high alert’ for Covid-19 resurgence as hotel crackdown announced

Premier Gladys Berejiklian details stricter regime for pubs as cluster linked to the Crossroads Hotel grows to 30 cases

New South Wales is on “extra high alert” for a widespread Covid-19 resurgence and will require so-called hygiene marshals to enforce social distancing at every pub in the state.

The crackdown comes after patrons who visited a Sydney hotel at the centre of the state’s largest outbreak expressed concern over relaxed safety practices and the pub’s manager conceded more could have been done to record visitors’ contact details.

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Baby boy infected with coronavirus in womb

French study is believed to be first such confirmed case but doctors say infant has made good recovery

Doctors in France have reported what they believe to be the first proven case of Covid-19 being passed on from a pregnant woman to her baby in the womb.

The newborn boy developed inflammation in the brain within days of being born, a condition brought on after the virus crossed the placenta and established an infection prior to birth. He has since made a good recovery.

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Fauci sidelined as Trump’s White House steps up briefing campaign

The president says the scientist leading the US fight against the virus has ‘made a lot of mistakes’

He is the US scientist who became the figurehead of attempts to combat the country’s coronavirus epidemic, described in some quarters as “America’s doctor”.

Now Anthony Fauci appears sidelined by Donald Trump’s White House after repeatedly contradicting the president’s view about the effectiveness of the government response.

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‘Compelling’ evidence air pollution worsens coronavirus – study

Exclusive: best analysis to date indicates significant increases in infections, hospital admissions and deaths

There is “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases coronavirus infections, hospital admissions and deaths, according to the most detailed and comprehensive analysis to date.

The research indicates that a small, single-unit increase in people’s long-term exposure to pollution particles raises infections and admissions by about 10% and deaths by 15%. The study took into account more than 20 other factors, including average population density, age, household size, occupation and obesity.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO reports record global cases as South Africa reinstates alcohol ban

Cases rise by over 230,000 worldwide in 24 hours; Florida cases increase by record total for a US state; Brazil cases near 2m. Follow the latest updates

Mainland China reported eight new Covid-19 cases as of the end of 12 July, up from seven reported a day earlier, the Chinese national health authority said on Monday.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the new cases were imported infection involving travellers from overseas, the same as the seven cases a day earlier. The capital city of Beijing reported no new confirmed cases for the seventh consecutive day.

The Commission also reported six new asymptomatic patients, those who are infected with the coronavirus but have no symptoms, compared with five a day earlier. China does not consider such patients as confirmed cases.

Total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases for mainland China now stands at 83,602, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

Hong Kong health authorities are continuing to battle its worst virus outbreak yet. It saw a rise in cases in March as people began returning from overseas, prompting increased social distancing measures and restrictions which had started to ease in recent weeks.

On Sunday another 38 new cases were confirmed, including 30 local transmissions. Of the 30, 13 have an unknown source.

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Coronavirus live: Colombia faces calls to put capital into total lockdown

Cases rise by over 230,000 worldwide in 24 hours; EU summit ‘may not agree Covid-19 recovery fund’; 130m ‘may go hungry in 2020 because of virus’

An entire hospital in Mexico’s southern Oaxaca state has been put in quarantine after 68% of its remaining staff tested positive, writes Analy Nuño in Guadalajara.

Doctors and nurses at the Macedonio Benítez Fuentes hospital in the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza held protests last week, calling for a lockdown after 120 of their colleagues were put under isolation after positive tests.

The hospital won’t close – we will still deal with urgent cases, and have already analysed our staffing requirements to attend to the community as our colleagues start to return to work.

China has stepped up a travel warning to Australia, telling its citizens of a risk of being searched “arbitrarily” by law enforcement authorities, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Tensions between the two countries have been escalating on various fronts after Beijing reacted with fury to calls for an independent investigation into the origins and spread of the pandemic, which first surfaced in central China last year.

We urge Australia to change its course and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs in any way, or risk further damage to China-Australia relations.

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As Covid-19 persists around the world, death is not the only outcome to fear | Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz

There are worrying trends about long-term damage, even in those with milder symptoms

There are a lot of unknowns about Covid-19. This makes sense, because despite six months of the most amazing scientific effort of our lifetimes, the coronavirus is a novel disease which means that we are constantly finding out new things about it. Even now, the debate about the most likely method of spread of the disease rages on, in part because the idea of masks has in many places become somehow a political decision rather than a scientific one.

Sometimes 2020 feels like living in the Bad Place (but with less frozen yoghurt).

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Global ‘catastrophe’ looms as Covid-19 fuels inequality

Job losses, homelessness, school closures and acute hunger set to rise dramatically without urgent support, Christian Aid warns

The pandemic has exposed and reinforced deep inequalities across the world, with the true extent yet to be seen, according to a major new report.

The crisis in the poorest countries threatens to escalate into a catastrophe as job losses and food insecurity mount. “The economic, social and political impacts are only starting to unfold,” says Building Back with Justice: Dismantling Inequalities after Covid-19, to be published by Christian Aid later this month.

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Coronavirus: global deaths tally over 560,000 – as it happened

This blog has closed – please keep following our live coverage here

This blog has closed – thanks for following. Coverage continues at our latest coronavirus live blog.

Good morning, good evening, hello, wherever you might be. This is Helen Davidson taking the reins of the blog for the next few hours. Thanks to my colleagues for their coverage.

We’ll be starting a new blog shortly, but in the meantime here is some more news on the vaccine front.

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Coronavirus Australia: Victoria reports 216 new Covid-19 cases and death of man in his 90s

Daniel Andrews says effects of lockdown won’t be reflected for weeks as NSW cases linked to Casula pub

Victoria has recorded another 216 cases of coronavirus and one additional death, a man in his 90s, as the state tries to contain the second wave of the virus that returned Melbourne residents to lockdown.

Thirty of the new cases are linked to known outbreaks and 186 are under investigation, with the state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, saying it was becoming more difficult to quickly trace the source of new infections.

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Global report: Tokyo hits Covid-19 high as Australia limits arrivals

Japan reels from resurgence of virus while Australia restricts admissions to 4,000 a week

Tokyo hit another record daily high number of new cases, Australia is to halve the number of citizens it allows to return each week and Hong Kong’s schools have closed early for the summer as countries around the world struggled to contain fresh coronavirus outbreaks.

Amid growing signs of a resurgence of the virus in Japan, the capital reported 243 new infections on Friday, more than the previous day’s 224 and the first time that more than 200 cases have been confirmed for two consecutive days.

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WHO’s Covid-19 inquiry is a shrewd move in a sea of disinformation

Its findings should illuminate global responses amid conspiracy theories and Trump’s mudslinging

In the world of epidemiology it’s sometimes said that pandemics are lived forwards and understood backwards.

We encounter them head-on, chaotically, trying to fathom the disease in real time even while trying to mitigate its impact. Lessons generally come later as the evidence accumulates.

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Coronavirus live news: Bolivia leader tests positive as Australia limits returnees

Venezuelan Socialist party boss also tests positive; Brazil president Bolsonaro ‘in good health’; record new cases in Australian state of Victoria

Reuters is reporting that a clinical trial in Japan of Fujifilm Holdings Corp’s Avigan drug yielded inconclusive results as a treatment of Covid-19.

The drug, which has been shown to cause birth defects in animal studies, has already been approved as a Covid-19 treatment in Russia and India.

So, welcome to our coronavirus live coverage. For those of you wanting your news straight, here’s a summary of the top lines of the day, with link to key pieces for you to investigate further at your leisure:

The UK has rejected the chance to join the European Union’s coronavirus vaccine programme due to ministers’ concerns over “costly delays”, according to sources.

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Coronavirus: Bogotá to re-enter strict lockdown – as it happened

WHO reports worrying rise; second Venezuelan minister tests positive; Brazil records 1,200 more deaths

This blog is closed – keep following coronavirus news at our new live blog.

US prison officials have announced California will release up to 8,000 people from state prisons to curb the spread of Covid-19 throughout the institutions.

Officials on Friday announced three separate efforts, approved by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that they say will decrease the prison population by 8,ooo by the end of August. The measures mark the largest release efforts the state administration has taken since Covid-19 began to circulate among prison staff and incarcerated people.

Related: California to release up to 8,000 prisoners to curb spread of coronavirus

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Bodies donated to science ‘left to be eaten by rats at Paris centre’

Inquiry to examine claims remains were found strewn around and dismembered

Authorities in France will investigate claims that human corpses donated for science were left to rot and be eaten by rats at a university research facility, the Paris prosecutor’s office has said.

An investigation into “violations of the integrity of a corpse” was handed over to magistrates by prosecutors who handled the initial phase of the investigation after l’Express magazine reported the scandal last November.

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