This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/05/coronavirus-live-news-trump-pressed-on-false-death-rate-claim-as-europe-faces-second-wave

The article has changed 46 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 36 Version 37
Coronavirus live news: France records two-month high in new cases; Spain sees highest daily infections since June Coronavirus live news: France records two-month high in new cases; Spain sees highest daily infections since June
(32 minutes later)
France reports 1,695 new cases, Spain reports 1,772; Greek health officials register highest number of new cases since 22 AprilFrance reports 1,695 new cases, Spain reports 1,772; Greek health officials register highest number of new cases since 22 April
Virginia has launched the first coronavirus contact tracing app in the United States that uses new technology from Apple and Google.
The state is hoping that the app, COVIDWISE, can help it catch new cases faster, though long delays in getting test results must be overcome in order for it to be effective.
Phones with the app exchange Bluetooth signals to keep an anonymous list of close encounters.
The app then allows people who catch the virus to notify those contacts without anyone revealing their identity.
“This is a way we can all work together to contain this virus,” Democratic governor Ralph Northam said. “No one is tracking you. None of your personal information is saved.”
At least three more states are nearing the launch of similar apps, aiming to ease the burden on underfunded manual contact tracing teams.
But the United States remains far behind Europe, where millions of people across 11 territories over the last two months have downloaded smartphone tracker apps using the specialised Apple-Google Bluetooth technology.
A couple of US states previously released contact tracing apps that experts have described as more privacy-invasive because they rely on tracking users’ locations, as opposed to Bluetooth transmissions.
NHS Grampian has had suspended all visits to hospitals in Aberdeen, Scotland with immediate effect, including Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the city’s childrens and maternity hospitals, to protect patients and staff.
While hospitals in Aberdeenshire and Moray were unaffected, NHS Grampian said the ban extended to anyone resident in Aberdeen who was a designated visitor for patients in hospitals outside the city, even if less than five miles from their home.
Caroline Hiscox, the board’s nurse director, said
The price of gold soared to a record $2,047 (£1,538) on Wednesday as investors panicked by fears of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic rushed to buy the yellow metal as a safer place to store their wealth.
The gold price has risen by 34% since the start of the year, and this week broke through the $2,000 an ounce barrier and kept rising, as investors worry about Covid-19, as well as rising geopolitical tensions and the weakening of the US dollar.
Ruth Crowell, chief executive of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), said that in the past week more gold has been traded every day than ever previously recorded – by some distance.
Chief Aritana Yawalapiti, one of Brazil’s most influential indigenous leaders who led the people of Upper Xingu in central Brazil and helped create an indigenous park there, died on Wednesday from Covid-19, his family said in a statement.
His death underscores the threat that Brazil’s indigenous people are facing from the coronavirus pandemic that has spread to their vulnerable communities, infected thousands and killed hundreds.
Aritana, 71, was rushed to a Goiânia hospital two weeks ago in a risky 9-hour drive from the western state of Mato Grosso, breathing with the aid of oxygen tanks so that he could get to an intensive care unit.
He died at the hospital from lung complications caused by the disease.
One of the most traditional indigenous leaders in Central Brazil, Aritana led the people of the Upper Xingu and was one of the last speakers of the language of his tribe, Yawalapiti.
Aritana worked with the Villas-Bôas brothers to create the Xingu National Park, the first vast protected indigenous area in the Amazon where 16 tribes live.
According to Brazil’s largest indigenous umbrella organisation, APIB, 631 indigenous people have died from Covid-19 and there have been 22,325 confirmed cases in the community so far.
The ministry of health reports a smaller number of 294 deaths among indigenous people and 16,509 confirmed cases, because it does not count indigenous people who have left their lands and moved to urban areas.
Half of Brazil’s 300 indigenous tribes have confirmed infections.
Russia is expanding Covid-19 express tests to other major air hubs in Moscow after using them at the country’s busiest airport, Sheremetyevo, in the capital.Russia is expanding Covid-19 express tests to other major air hubs in Moscow after using them at the country’s busiest airport, Sheremetyevo, in the capital.
The portable testing system, which fits in two small suitcases, gives results within an hour and is already being used by some Russian companies and at major events, the Russian Direct Investment Fund saidThe portable testing system, which fits in two small suitcases, gives results within an hour and is already being used by some Russian companies and at major events, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said
Moscow announced the resumption of some regular international flights on 1 August to Turkey, Britain and Tanzania, as the coronavirus crisis eases in Russia.Moscow announced the resumption of some regular international flights on 1 August to Turkey, Britain and Tanzania, as the coronavirus crisis eases in Russia.
The country has also been in talks with other countries to re-launch the flights.The country has also been in talks with other countries to re-launch the flights.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases at 866,627. It says 14,490 people have died from the virus.Russia has the world’s fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases at 866,627. It says 14,490 people have died from the virus.
As part of a wider plan to create coronavirus-free airport hubs, RDIF said on Wednesday the express tests would be expanded to other Moscow’s largest airports, Vnukovo International and Moscow Domodedovo.As part of a wider plan to create coronavirus-free airport hubs, RDIF said on Wednesday the express tests would be expanded to other Moscow’s largest airports, Vnukovo International and Moscow Domodedovo.
It said the testing would be available both for arriving and departing passengers. The service will be rolled out at the airports within a week.It said the testing would be available both for arriving and departing passengers. The service will be rolled out at the airports within a week.
Germany has warned against all non-essential travel to the Belgian province of Antwerp following a coronavirus surge in the region.Germany has warned against all non-essential travel to the Belgian province of Antwerp following a coronavirus surge in the region.
Germany’s public health agency declared the region centered on Belgium’s largest port and second city as a high-risk area, meaning returnees from there can be forced to enter 14 days of quarantine.Germany’s public health agency declared the region centered on Belgium’s largest port and second city as a high-risk area, meaning returnees from there can be forced to enter 14 days of quarantine.
The foreign ministry wrote.The foreign ministry wrote.
Romanian schools will reopen on 14 September on a case-by-case basis, with towns affected by Covid outbreaks likely to hold classes online, president Klaus Iohannis said.Romanian schools will reopen on 14 September on a case-by-case basis, with towns affected by Covid outbreaks likely to hold classes online, president Klaus Iohannis said.
Coronavirus infections in Romania have exceeded 1,000 new cases per day on all but one of the last 15 days, taking confirmed cases to 56,550.Coronavirus infections in Romania have exceeded 1,000 new cases per day on all but one of the last 15 days, taking confirmed cases to 56,550.
Some 2,521 people have died, and Romania has extended a state of alert until the middle of August as well as placing several small towns and villages with spikes in the number of cases under localised quarantine.Some 2,521 people have died, and Romania has extended a state of alert until the middle of August as well as placing several small towns and villages with spikes in the number of cases under localised quarantine.
Iohannis told reporters:Iohannis told reporters:
Towns with a single case per 1,000 people reported in the last 14 days will see all children back in classrooms.Towns with a single case per 1,000 people reported in the last 14 days will see all children back in classrooms.
Those with up to three cases will see only kindergartens and a few grades back, with other classes held online.Those with up to three cases will see only kindergartens and a few grades back, with other classes held online.
Towns with more than three cases will hold classes exclusively online.Towns with more than three cases will hold classes exclusively online.
Iohannis said several hundred towns currently fell under the middle scenario and there are 50 towns in which schools could not reopen.Iohannis said several hundred towns currently fell under the middle scenario and there are 50 towns in which schools could not reopen.
The status of each school would be constantly re-evaluated.The status of each school would be constantly re-evaluated.
The move to close schools at the start of the pandemic has underscored the unequal access to education in Romania for children in rural areas and underprivileged communities.The move to close schools at the start of the pandemic has underscored the unequal access to education in Romania for children in rural areas and underprivileged communities.
On Wednesday, the Romanian unit of charity Save the Children commended the move to reopen schools but urged authorities to see that all students are treated equally.On Wednesday, the Romanian unit of charity Save the Children commended the move to reopen schools but urged authorities to see that all students are treated equally.
“What is essential is that all children return to school safely and with equal access,” it said in a statement.“What is essential is that all children return to school safely and with equal access,” it said in a statement.
France has reported 1,695 new Covid-19 infections over 24 hours, the highest daily increase since 30 May,France has reported 1,695 new Covid-19 infections over 24 hours, the highest daily increase since 30 May,
The country’s total caseload now stands at 194,029.The country’s total caseload now stands at 194,029.
The health ministry also said the number patients in intensive care units in French hospitals for the disease went down by four, at 384, after increasing for two days in a row.The health ministry also said the number patients in intensive care units in French hospitals for the disease went down by four, at 384, after increasing for two days in a row.
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the coronavirus live blog for the next few hours.Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the coronavirus live blog for the next few hours.
Please do get in touch with any suggestions or story tips.Please do get in touch with any suggestions or story tips.
Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com Twitter: @journojess_Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com Twitter: @journojess_
Spain has recorded 1,722 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily count since a national lockdown was lifted in June. The figures, which do not include data from two regions, sharply rose from Tuesday, while one more death was registered, bringing the country’s official death tally to 28,499.Spain has recorded 1,722 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily count since a national lockdown was lifted in June. The figures, which do not include data from two regions, sharply rose from Tuesday, while one more death was registered, bringing the country’s official death tally to 28,499.
Greece’s prime minister blamed “complacency” for the country’s “significant rise” in cases in recent days. Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned tighter measures could be brought in to curb the spread of coronavirus after Greek officials registered 121 new infections on Tuesday, the most since 22 April.Greece’s prime minister blamed “complacency” for the country’s “significant rise” in cases in recent days. Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned tighter measures could be brought in to curb the spread of coronavirus after Greek officials registered 121 new infections on Tuesday, the most since 22 April.
The regional government in the Canary Islands will cover coronavirus-related costs to Spanish and foreign tourists. It is hoped the announcement, which includes health expenses or the extension of holidays in case of a compulsory quarantine while on the islands, will help rescue the tourist season after a spike in infections in Spain.The regional government in the Canary Islands will cover coronavirus-related costs to Spanish and foreign tourists. It is hoped the announcement, which includes health expenses or the extension of holidays in case of a compulsory quarantine while on the islands, will help rescue the tourist season after a spike in infections in Spain.
One of Brazil’s most important indigenous leaders has died of Covid-19. Aritana Yawalapit, 71, who spent decades fighting for the rights of indigenous communities, died in a hospital in the state of Goiânia after a fortnight in intensive care.One of Brazil’s most important indigenous leaders has died of Covid-19. Aritana Yawalapit, 71, who spent decades fighting for the rights of indigenous communities, died in a hospital in the state of Goiânia after a fortnight in intensive care.
Switzerland has imposed a 10-day quarantine on travellers from Spain. It is the latest country to put travel warnings in place for people arriving from Spain, following a surge in new coronavirus infections there. The UK reimposed a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain on 27 July.Switzerland has imposed a 10-day quarantine on travellers from Spain. It is the latest country to put travel warnings in place for people arriving from Spain, following a surge in new coronavirus infections there. The UK reimposed a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain on 27 July.
A new coronavirus outbreak in Vietnam has spread to two more provinces. The country reported 43 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 713. Most of the new infections have been linked to Vietnam’s coronavirus epicentre Danang, but Bac Giang and Lang Son are also said to be experiencing an uptick in cases.A new coronavirus outbreak in Vietnam has spread to two more provinces. The country reported 43 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 713. Most of the new infections have been linked to Vietnam’s coronavirus epicentre Danang, but Bac Giang and Lang Son are also said to be experiencing an uptick in cases.
Reuters has published an interesting roundup of some of the latest scientific studies and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for Covid-19.
Convalescent plasma lowers Covid-19 death risk
Infusions of antibody-rich blood plasma from people who have recovered from the new coronavirus, known as convalescent plasma, can lower the risk of death for hospitalised patients, according to a pooled analysis of data from eight earlier studies of more than 700 hospitalised patients around the world. Researchers found that mortality rates were roughly 13% in patients who received convalescent plasma versus about 25% for those who did not get the treatment.
The current study could not account for differences in factors such as how sick patients were, how much plasma they received, how long they were sick before the received it, and how long doctors followed them afterward.
Exposure to common colds may impact virus severity
In patients with Covid-19, the immune system’s T cells learn to recognise and target the new coronavirus. But some people who were never infected with the virus nonetheless have T cells that also recognise it. Researchers had suspected that in these individuals, past exposure to other coronaviruses, such as those that cause the common cold, had somehow primed their T cells to recognise and attack the new coronavirus, and new research appears to confirm that. In studies of human blood samples collected well before the new coronavirus was discovered, researchers found T cells that were equally reactive against the new virus and four types of common cold coronaviruses. . It is plausible to think that previous exposure to common cold viruses might contribute to variations in COVID-19 severity, researchers said on Tuesday in the journal Science.
Severe Covid-19 may be less deadly in children
Children with coronavirus rarely become critically ill, and when they do, they tend to have better outcomes than adults, based on early data from an ongoing study. The Critical Coronavirus and Kids Epidemiology (CAKE) study involves 65 paediatric intensive care units in 18 countries. In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics, the study team reported on the first 17 children with severe COVID-19 from 10 hospitals in Chile, Colombia, Italy, Spain and the United States. Most required respiratory support, with nearly half needing to be put on ventilators. Symptoms were varied, with fever, cough and gastrointestinal issues common. Overall, one child died, four developed inflammation of the heart and three remain hospitalised.
The investigators hope to have more data soon that will provide additional information on the care and outcomes of these patients, which may become more important as schools reopen around the world.
All Spanish and foreign tourists visiting the Canary Islands will have any potential coronavirus-related costs covered by the regional government, it said on Wednesday, in an attempt to rescue the tourist season after a new spike in infections in Spain.
Such costs include health expenses or the extension of holidays in case of a compulsory quarantine while on the islands.
The move will take effect this week and is the first of its kind in Spain as the tourism-dependent nation seeks to reassure visitors after Britain dealt a blow to the sector by imposing a compulsory quarantine for anyone coming from Spain.
The travel policy will be managed by French insurer AXA and will include health-related repatriations, the Canary Islands regional government said in a statement. It will last for one year and will exclude health conditions that were known of before the traveller concerned came to the islands.
“It will help the economic recovery of the archipelago,” Yaiza Castilla, the regional official in charge of tourism, said in a video published on Twitter.
In a relief for the Canary Islands, Swiss health authorities on Wednesday excluded the archipelago, as well as the Balearic Islands, from its decision to add Spain to its list of countries from which arriving passengers must enter a 10-day quarantine.
Spain reported 1,772 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, marking the biggest daily jump since a national lockdown was lifted in June following a sharp drop in contagion rates.
More than 18.63 million people have been reported to be infected with Covid-19 globally and 701,506 have died, according to a Reuters tally published on Wednesday afternoon.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
One of Brazil’s most important indigenous leaders, Aritana Yawalapit, has died of Covid-19, triggering an outpouring of anger and grief and highlighting the pandemic’s threat to descendants of South America’s original inhabitants.The 71-year-old cacique (chief) - who spent decades fighting for the rights of indigenous communities - died in a hospital in the midwestern state of Goiânia after about a fortnight in intensive care.He fell ill last month at his home in the Xingu, Brazil’s oldest and most famous indigenous reserve.
The death of the Yawalapiti leader sparked an immediate outcry in Brazil, where nearly 100,000 people have now died because of the epidemic and there is growing anger over president Jair Bolsonaro’s botched response.
The victims include hundreds of indigenous people, who are feared to be particularly vulnerable to the virus.
Edmilson Rodrigues, a left-wing politician in the Amazon, tweeted: “What is happening to the indigenous peoples is so enormously sad [and] Bolsonaro is the main culprit for these deaths because he blocked the plan to deal with Covid in the indigenous territories. This is a genocide!”
Luciano Huck, a famous television presenter who is widely thought to have presidential ambitions, tweeted: “Yet another personal tragedy in this national tragedy. Soon Brazil will have suffered 100,000 deaths. It is unbelievable because these deaths could have been avoided - had we tackled the virus with responsibility and coordination.”
Spain today reported 1,772 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase since a national lockdown was lifted in June and beating the previous day’s record rise, Reuters reports:
Amsterdam has begun ordering the use of face masks in crowded areas, including in its red light district.
Last week the Dutch government decided not to advise the public to wear masks, saying their effectiveness against the disease has not been proven and they may weaken adherence to social distancing rules.
The World Health Organization has recommended using masks in areas where it is impossible to maintain social distancing since June
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, ordered the measure in agreement with health authorities as part of an experiment to see whether they may be effective after all, as some scientific studies have found, her spokesman said. Sebastiaan Meijer said:
City workers handed out leaflets to tourists and residents explaining the new rules. Failure to wear a mask could lead to a fine of €95.
Like other European countries, the Netherlands is facing a rise in coronavirus cases after it eased lockdown measures on 1 July. On Tuesday, health authorities reported that new cases had doubled in the past week to 2,588, with clusters among young adults and in major cities.
In the past week Amsterdam has ordered the closure of several bars and one strip club where clusters were detected among staff and recent customers.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, is cutting short a vacation to address the country on Thursday about the rising number of cases.
One of Belgium’s biggest meat processing plants has sent 225 staff home to quarantine after a cluster of coronavirus cases was discovered, the firm and the local mayor said.
Abbatoirs and meat-packing plants have become infection hotspots in other countries, and the big Westvlees facility in Staden, in north-west Belgium, is the latest to come under scrutiny.
The bourgmestre or mayor of Staden, Francesco Vanderjeugd, told AFP that six confirmed cases had been reported earlier in the day and that the number had risen to 18 within hours.
Two of the initial six cases were cross-border workers from France, two came from Staden and two from elsewhere in West Flanders, he added.
According to a Westvlees spokesman, Manuel Goderis, a number of cases of Covid-19 infection were discovered in recent days in the pork-cutting section of the plant, which employs 225 of the more than 800 workers on site.
“We decided not to take any risks and to test all the employees of this production unit and to put them in quarantine,” he said. The workers were tested today and results are expected on Thursday.
Westvlees is one of Europe’s biggest producers of fresh and processed pork. It butchers 1.4 million pigs per year and supplies 140,000 tonnes of meat to clients worldwide.
Belgium has one of the highest per capita rates of Covid-19 in the world and infection rates are again rising after earlier success in bringing the epidemic under control. Out of a population of around 11 million, 9,852 have died.
Quarantine checkpoints are to be put up at key entry points to New York City to ensure that travellers from 35 states comply with its 14-day quarantine, mayor Bill de Blasio has said.
“Travellers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine and will be reminded that it is required, not optional,” de Blasio told a news briefing.
He added that under certain circumstances fines for not observing the quarantine order could be as high as $10,000.
The sheriff’s office, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies, will begin deploying checkpoints at major bridge and tunnel crossings into the city on Wednesday.
“This is serious stuff and it’s time for everyone to realise that if we’re going to hold at this level of health and safety in this city, and get better, we have to deal with the fact that the quarantine must be applied consistently to anyone who’s travelled,” de Blasio said.
The 350,000 students who attend Chicago public schools, the third largest district in the US, will start the school year by taking all of their classes remotely amid the Covid-19 pandemic, school officials said on Wednesday.
The decision to go to all-remote learning came after the city saw an uptick in virus cases in recent weeks that made public health officials concerned about the implications of in-person learning, Chicago Public Schools said in a statement.
The French government has been criticised over its free-for-all Covid-19 testing policy as queues snaked out of some testing centres in Paris and at sites across the country amid a flare-up in infections.
One leading federation of laboratories said an abrupt decree on 25 July to make testing free of charge and without prescription had piled on the pressure at a time many staff go on holiday. Political opponents lampooned a policy in disarray.
“Testing anyone achieves nothing. You have to be targeted,” Didier Pittet, an epidemiologist who heads a government-appointed taskforce monitoring the handling of Covid-19, told Europe 1 radio.
France, like many of its European neighbours, is witnessing a mushrooming of new coronavirus clusters.
The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care rose for a second straight day on Tuesday, reversing a 16-week downward trend. The disease has killed more than 30,000 people in France.
France is now testing around 576,000 people per week, a health ministry spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday, compared with 200,000 when President Emmanuel Macron began easing one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.
The health minister, Olivier Véran, said over the weekend that the strategy was working. “The virus is no longer tracking us, we are tracking it,” he told Le Parisien. The ministry’s spokesman acknowledged “localised problems” but was adamant that France had chosen the right strategy.
But Lionel Barrand, who heads the Syndicat National des Jeunes Biologistes, said the open testing strategy amounted to hunting for a needle in a haystack and put laboratories under strain.
“The government threw sand in our wheels. It sent a lot of people to labs without prior warning,” Barrand told Reuters.