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Coronavirus live news: WHO signals slowing of infections but India cases still soaring Coronavirus live news: WHO signals slowing of infections but India cases still soaring
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Spread of Covid-19 is easing in hard-hit Americas but concerns about south Asia; UK u-turn on masks in schools; Gaza in lockdown. Follow the developments liveSpread of Covid-19 is easing in hard-hit Americas but concerns about south Asia; UK u-turn on masks in schools; Gaza in lockdown. Follow the developments live
Australia will boost defence spending by AU$1b (US$716.80m) to upgrade military facilities and offer additional paid employment to army reservists, as Canberra seeks to soften the economic blow of Covid-19.
In a fresh round of stimulus, prime minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday promised greater spending on defence in a bid to grow the country’s military and support 4,000 jobs.
“Today is again about the JobMaker plan, doing everything we can as we grow out of the Covid-19 recession to ensure that we keep Australians in jobs, and we keep businesses in business,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
While Australia has reported far fewer cases of COVID-19 compared to other developed countries, restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the virus have had a devastating impact on the country’s economy, which will slip into a recession for the first time in three decades.
Australia has so far promised to spend about A$260 billion in stimulus to support its ailing economy.
The additional defence spending will also assist Australia with its commitmewnt to grow defence spending to more than 2% of GDP, a key demand of US President Donald Trump who has accused allies of not pulling their weight.
We mentioned earlier that in Germany, the government has extended for a further year a scheme to top up the pay of workers who have lost hours.
New figures are now out on the country’s Covid infections:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,576 to 236,429, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.
The reported death toll rose by three to 9,280, the tally showed.
Residents in the capital of Xinjiang are being forced to take traditional Chinese medicine, being handcuffed to buildings and ordered to stay inside for weeks as part of a harsh range of measures to tackle coronavirus, according to posts online.Residents in the capital of Xinjiang are being forced to take traditional Chinese medicine, being handcuffed to buildings and ordered to stay inside for weeks as part of a harsh range of measures to tackle coronavirus, according to posts online.
Urumqi, the capital of the semi-autonomous region known for its draconian security measures, has been in a “wartime state” of lockdown for more than a month after a cluster of cases emerged in July, when the outbreak had been mostly contained elsewhere in China.Urumqi, the capital of the semi-autonomous region known for its draconian security measures, has been in a “wartime state” of lockdown for more than a month after a cluster of cases emerged in July, when the outbreak had been mostly contained elsewhere in China.
Since Friday, internet users have flooded social media platforms with complaints about overly harsh measures and extended quarantine at home or in designated locations, even as cases have gone down. The city, which had documented more than 531 cases by mid-August, has not reported any new cases in eight consecutive days.Since Friday, internet users have flooded social media platforms with complaints about overly harsh measures and extended quarantine at home or in designated locations, even as cases have gone down. The city, which had documented more than 531 cases by mid-August, has not reported any new cases in eight consecutive days.
Australia’s federation has come under unique strain during the global coronavirus pandemic.Australia’s federation has come under unique strain during the global coronavirus pandemic.
While, by and large, the eight states and territories have co-operated well to combat the pandemic, border closures between states are now causing significant tensions.While, by and large, the eight states and territories have co-operated well to combat the pandemic, border closures between states are now causing significant tensions.
Before this year, the last time Australia’s states and territories shut their borders to each other was during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919 and 1920.Before this year, the last time Australia’s states and territories shut their borders to each other was during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919 and 1920.
The situation is particularly acute on the border between the country’s two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria. Much of that border is the Murray River, and riverine communities spanning the border have been effectively cut in half, keeping children from schools, employees from their workplaces, and perhaps most critically, doctors and nurses from hospitals.The situation is particularly acute on the border between the country’s two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria. Much of that border is the Murray River, and riverine communities spanning the border have been effectively cut in half, keeping children from schools, employees from their workplaces, and perhaps most critically, doctors and nurses from hospitals.
We’ve spoken a great deal today about potential vaccines undergoing trials around the world. The trials at Oxford University are considered, perhaps, the furthest progressed in the world. And there is hope - all is hope at this stage - that there might be something definitive by the end of the year.We’ve spoken a great deal today about potential vaccines undergoing trials around the world. The trials at Oxford University are considered, perhaps, the furthest progressed in the world. And there is hope - all is hope at this stage - that there might be something definitive by the end of the year.
Health editor Sarah Boseley reports:Health editor Sarah Boseley reports:
Trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine may have gathered enough data to show whether it works and is safe by the end of the year – but it will then need to go through the regulatory process, scientists say.Trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine may have gathered enough data to show whether it works and is safe by the end of the year – but it will then need to go through the regulatory process, scientists say.
Prof Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said it is “just possible” that there may be enough clinical trial data on Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine to put before the regulators this year.Prof Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said it is “just possible” that there may be enough clinical trial data on Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine to put before the regulators this year.
Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has said a vaccine may not be ready until next winter. Pollard suggested they were hoping to go faster.Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has said a vaccine may not be ready until next winter. Pollard suggested they were hoping to go faster.
“I think that Chris Whitty is quite rightly being cautious, that it could take as long as that to first of all demonstrate a vaccine works and is safe and then to go through the processes of regulators looking at that very carefully to make sure everything’s been done correctly,” Pollard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I think that Chris Whitty is quite rightly being cautious, that it could take as long as that to first of all demonstrate a vaccine works and is safe and then to go through the processes of regulators looking at that very carefully to make sure everything’s been done correctly,” Pollard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
South Korea has ordered doctors in Seoul to return to work on Wednesday as they began a three-day strike in protest of several government proposals, including one to boost the number of doctors to deal with health crises like the coronavirus.South Korea has ordered doctors in Seoul to return to work on Wednesday as they began a three-day strike in protest of several government proposals, including one to boost the number of doctors to deal with health crises like the coronavirus.
Trainee doctors have been staging ongoing walkouts, and thousands of additional doctors were due to stage a three-day strike starting on Wednesday.Trainee doctors have been staging ongoing walkouts, and thousands of additional doctors were due to stage a three-day strike starting on Wednesday.
The strikes come as South Korea battles one of its worst outbreaks of the coronavirus, with 320 new cases reported in the 24 hours to midnight Tuesday, the latest in more than a week and a half of triple-digit increases.The strikes come as South Korea battles one of its worst outbreaks of the coronavirus, with 320 new cases reported in the 24 hours to midnight Tuesday, the latest in more than a week and a half of triple-digit increases.
The walkouts on Wednesday forced South Korea’s five major general hospitals to limit their hours and delay scheduled surgeries, Yonhap news agency reported.The walkouts on Wednesday forced South Korea’s five major general hospitals to limit their hours and delay scheduled surgeries, Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier in the week, the doctors reached an agreement with the government to continue to handle coronavirus patients, but failed to find a compromise on the broader issues.Earlier in the week, the doctors reached an agreement with the government to continue to handle coronavirus patients, but failed to find a compromise on the broader issues.
“The government now has no choice but to take necessary legal actions such as an order to open business to not put the citizens’ lives and safety in danger,” health minister Park Neung-hoo said in a briefing. “We urge all trainee and fellow doctors to immediately return to work.”“The government now has no choice but to take necessary legal actions such as an order to open business to not put the citizens’ lives and safety in danger,” health minister Park Neung-hoo said in a briefing. “We urge all trainee and fellow doctors to immediately return to work.”
He said the Korean Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) had rejected several of the government’s offers.He said the Korean Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) had rejected several of the government’s offers.
In a statement, KMA said the medical community was always open to all possibilities in talks with the government, and that the doctors did not want to have to strike.In a statement, KMA said the medical community was always open to all possibilities in talks with the government, and that the doctors did not want to have to strike.
“We sincerely do want to return,” the statement said. “We ask you citizens to listen to our voice so that we can meet our patients as soon as possible.”“We sincerely do want to return,” the statement said. “We ask you citizens to listen to our voice so that we can meet our patients as soon as possible.”
KMA and KIRA members have said they oppose government plans to boost the number of medical students over several years, establish public medical schools, allow government insurance to cover more oriental medicine, and introduce more telemedicine options.KMA and KIRA members have said they oppose government plans to boost the number of medical students over several years, establish public medical schools, allow government insurance to cover more oriental medicine, and introduce more telemedicine options.
The government said its goal to increase the number of medical students by 4,000 over the next 10 years is necessary to better prepare for public health crises like the coronavirus pandemic.The government said its goal to increase the number of medical students by 4,000 over the next 10 years is necessary to better prepare for public health crises like the coronavirus pandemic.
Student doctors, however, said the plan would unnecessarily flood an already competitive market, and that the extra funding would be better spent improving the salaries of existing trainees, which would encourage them to move out of Seoul to rural areas where more health professionals are needed.Student doctors, however, said the plan would unnecessarily flood an already competitive market, and that the extra funding would be better spent improving the salaries of existing trainees, which would encourage them to move out of Seoul to rural areas where more health professionals are needed.
A German scheme that tops up pay for workers who lost work hours because of the coronavirus pandemic has been extended by another year to stave off mass job losses.A German scheme that tops up pay for workers who lost work hours because of the coronavirus pandemic has been extended by another year to stave off mass job losses.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition of conservatives and centre-left Social Democrats agreed on Tuesday to allow the programme to run for 24 months for any firm that applies by the end of the year.Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition of conservatives and centre-left Social Democrats agreed on Tuesday to allow the programme to run for 24 months for any firm that applies by the end of the year.
It also resolved to extend financial assistance to small businesses until the end of the year and relax insolvency laws in an effort to avoid cascading bankruptcies.It also resolved to extend financial assistance to small businesses until the end of the year and relax insolvency laws in an effort to avoid cascading bankruptcies.
The shorter-hours programme, known as Kurzarbeit, sees the German government cover around two-thirds of workers’ wages when employers slash their hours to save costs.The shorter-hours programme, known as Kurzarbeit, sees the German government cover around two-thirds of workers’ wages when employers slash their hours to save costs.
The scheme was widely used during the 2008-09 financial crisis and credited with saving tens of thousands of jobs.The scheme was widely used during the 2008-09 financial crisis and credited with saving tens of thousands of jobs.
The programme is one of the main tools used by Berlin to shield Europe’s top economy from the pandemic-induced downturn, accounting for a key part of the government’s trillion-euro (US$1.1 trillion) coronavirus support package.The programme is one of the main tools used by Berlin to shield Europe’s top economy from the pandemic-induced downturn, accounting for a key part of the government’s trillion-euro (US$1.1 trillion) coronavirus support package.
At the height of the coronavirus lockdowns in April, some 6.8m Germans received money through the scheme, the federal employment agency said.At the height of the coronavirus lockdowns in April, some 6.8m Germans received money through the scheme, the federal employment agency said.
To ease access to the programme, ministers reduced the requirements that companies need to meet in order to qualify for assistance.To ease access to the programme, ministers reduced the requirements that companies need to meet in order to qualify for assistance.
German giants like Lufthansa, Volkswagen and BMW are among the many firms to have tapped into the scheme.German giants like Lufthansa, Volkswagen and BMW are among the many firms to have tapped into the scheme.
Before the pandemic, German unemployment hovered at a record-low level of around five percent. It has since risen to 6.4 percent. And after years of balanced budgets, the German government has said it plans to borrow around 218 billion euros this year to help pay for its pandemic response.Before the pandemic, German unemployment hovered at a record-low level of around five percent. It has since risen to 6.4 percent. And after years of balanced budgets, the German government has said it plans to borrow around 218 billion euros this year to help pay for its pandemic response.
Other European economies, including France and Britain, introduced similar short-time working programmes to battle the economic consequences of the pandemic.Other European economies, including France and Britain, introduced similar short-time working programmes to battle the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Staying in the neighbourhood.... Eleanor Ainge Roy reports from New Zealand:Staying in the neighbourhood.... Eleanor Ainge Roy reports from New Zealand:
New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there are five new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, and significant spread has now been identified at a Mt Roskill church, which is being treated as a “mini-cluster”.New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says there are five new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, and significant spread has now been identified at a Mt Roskill church, which is being treated as a “mini-cluster”.
Contact tracing is now underway for anyone who attended weddings or services at the church.Contact tracing is now underway for anyone who attended weddings or services at the church.
The minister of health Chris Hipkins said the government had distributed 3 million masks to low socio-economic areas ahead of them becoming mandatory on public transport at midnight Sunday.The minister of health Chris Hipkins said the government had distributed 3 million masks to low socio-economic areas ahead of them becoming mandatory on public transport at midnight Sunday.
Masks would also need to be worn in ubers and taxis. The government is also encouraging people to “make their own masks”.Masks would also need to be worn in ubers and taxis. The government is also encouraging people to “make their own masks”.
Auckland’s level 3 lockdown ends on Sunday.Auckland’s level 3 lockdown ends on Sunday.
There are 134 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, all being held in quarantine facilities or hospitals.There are 134 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, all being held in quarantine facilities or hospitals.
Update from Australia... Victoria continues to be the largest source of new infectionsUpdate from Australia... Victoria continues to be the largest source of new infections
Mexico’s health ministry has reported 4,916 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection on Tuesday, and 650 additional fatalities.Mexico’s health ministry has reported 4,916 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection on Tuesday, and 650 additional fatalities.
The new figures bring the total in the country to 568,621 confirmed cases and 61,450 deaths.The new figures bring the total in the country to 568,621 confirmed cases and 61,450 deaths.
But the government has consistently said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.But the government has consistently said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Victoria, in southern Australia, is the site of that country’s most serious outbreak. The city of Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest, remains under a severe lockdown, including a citywide curfew and a five kilometre limit on any essential travel.
A parliamentary inquiry in that state has heard more than 50 inmates and corrections staff have contracted Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said 23 adult prisoners and six staff have tested positive.
Another 19 juvenile inmates, five young people on community supervision orders and four prison staff had also tested positive.
All new prisoners are now tested and required to spend 14 days in protective quarantine.
Australia has announced it will join the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and Norway in supporting the Gavi COVAX Facility Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) to help Pacific and southeast Asian countries access safe and affordable Covid-19 vaccines.
The COVAX AMC is designed to secure Covid-19 vaccines - when one exists - for all countries, not just those that can afford to purchase or manufacture vaccines themselves.
Australia is contributing AU$80m (US$57m) the country’s foreign minister Marise Payne announced.
The AMC is designed to address the acute phase of the pandemic, providing doses for up to 20 percent of countries’ populations in its first phase, ensuring that health care workers and vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, have access.
Pacific countries eligible for COVAX AMC support include Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Kiribati. Eligible countries from Southeast Asia are Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, The Philippines and Vietnam.
Chair of the Pacific Friends of Global Health Board, Professor Brendan Crabb, said a global vehicle designed to ensure that the poorest don’t miss out on access to a Covid vaccine was vital.
There is currently no vaccine for Covid-19. See posts passim today about developments around the world in human trials.
We mentioned earlier the Cambridge University vaccine trials. Oxford, too, is conducting human trials of its potential vaccine.
In Australia, the University of Queensland has begun early trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine on hamsters, yielding “positive indications” about its possible effectiveness in humans.
The findings from the pre-clinical trials have been reported to the International Society for Vaccines by project co-leader and UQ Associate Professor Keith Chappell.
“The neutralising immune response created by our molecular clamp vaccine in animal models was better than the average level of antibodies found in patients who have recovered from Covid-19,” Chappell said in a statement on Wednesday.
In the hamsters trial, the potential vaccine – when combined with MF59 technology developed by Seqirus, a unit of Australian biotechnology group CSL – provided protection against virus replication and reduced lung inflammation following exposure to the virus.
“It also induces a strong T-cell response and showed strong results when it came to data relating to manufacturability,” Chappell said.
While the World Health Organisation says Covid transmission rates are easing across much of the world, they are continuing to escalate in places like India - 18 straight record days of infections, more than 67,000 new cases in the past 24 hours - and southeast Asia. In the US, nearly 1000 people are still dying every day from the virus.
As the world continues to search for an end to this crippling global pandemic, The Guardian’s health editor Sarah Boseley examines six of the most promising candidates for a way out.
US stock markets closed higher on Tuesday night on hopes that the first formal contact between the US and China over their trade agreement would lead to an easing of tension between the superpowers.
The broad-based S&P500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both closed a new highs, although Asia Pacific markets are expected to be more mixed with Sydney seen opening down 0.6%.
It comes despite more desperate corporate news as American Airlines said it would lay off around 19,000 workers on 1 October if US lawmakers fail to vote through new support for the limping sector.
Earlier, Australian airline Qantas had said it would cut almost 2,500 more jobs on top of 6,000 already announced, while Finnair said it would slash 1,000 posts.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for prevention efforts against the novel coronavirus and a typhoon, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday.
An enlarged meeting of the politburo of the Workers Party took place amid a pandemic that is putting additional pressure on the North Korean economy, battered by recent border closures and flood damage.
The meeting assessed “some defects in the state emergency anti-epidemic work for checking the inroads of the malignant virus”, KCNA said in a statement.
North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, but Kim said last month that the virus “could be said to have entered” the country and imposed a lockdown after a man was reported to have symptoms. Later test results on the man were inconclusive, according to the World Health Organisation.
Kim had this month lifted a three-week lockdown in the city of Kaesong after a suspected case of the coronavirus there.
The meeting discussed state emergency measures on preventing crop damage and casualties from Typhoon Bavi, which is expected to hit the country within days, KCNA reported. Heavy rain and flooding have raised concern about food supplies in the isolated country.
The ruling party had said it will hold a congress next year to decide a new five-year plan, after a party meeting noted serious delays in improving the national economy and living standards.
The University of Cambridge is aiming to start clinical trials of its possible coronavirus vaccine in the autumn after it received £1.9m (US$2.5m) in funding from the British government, the university said on Wednesday.
The scientists behind the vaccine said their approach, which uses genetic sequences of all known coronaviruses to hone the immune response, could help avoid the adverse effects of a hyper-inflammatory immune response.
“We’re looking for chinks in its armour, crucial pieces of the virus that we can use to construct the vaccine to direct the immune response in the right direction,” Jonathan Heeney, head of the Laboratory of Viral Zoonotics at the University of Cambridge, said.
“Ultimately we aim to make a vaccine that will not only protect from SARS-CoV-2, but also other related coronaviruses that may spill over from animals to humans.”
No vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which causes COVID-19 has yet been proven clinically effective, though 30 that use a range of technologies are in human trials already.
The Cambridge candidate, DIOS-CoVax2, is DNA based. Computer-generated antigen structures are encoded by synthetic genes, which can then re-programme the body’s immune system to produce antibodies against the coronavirus.
“This could be a major breakthrough in being able to give a future vaccine to huge numbers of people across the world,” said Saul Faust, Director of the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility.
This DNA vector method has been shown to be safe and effective at stimulating an immune response in other pathogens in early stage trials, the university said.
Although it is operating at a later timetable than some other vaccine candidates, the DIOS-CoVax2 shot would not need to be stored at cold temperatures and could be delivered without needles, possibly making the widespread distribution of the vaccine easier.
Sweden’s Public Health Agency says a faulty test kit had returned some 3,700 false positive results, an error discovered by two laboratories during routine quality controls.
On Tuesday, the agency said the PCR kits, which test for an ongoing Covid-19 infection, were made in China by the company BGI Genomics and had been distributed worldwide.
In Sweden, the kits were used by people conducting at-home tests between period March and August, the agency said.
Mostly, “people who had mild symptoms or who didn’t feel any symptoms at the time of the test received false positive results,” the agency said in a statement.
It added that it would contact those affected this week, as well as adjusting Sweden’s official number of cases.
“The faulty test kit has been reported to the Swedish Medical Products Agency. It has been exported by China to many other countries,” the agency said, adding that it has “informed relevant authorities in Europe and the WHO”.
Sweden on Tuesday said it had 86,891 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 5,814 deaths.
The World Health Organisation has suggested the pace of Covid-19 transmission is easing in many parts of the world.
Governments have been ramping up efforts to contain the disease, which has claimed the lives of almost 814,000 people and infected at least 23 million since late last year.
WHO data said fatality and infection rates were easing in most regions, notably in the hard-hit Americas, except Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.
In Africa, WHO regional director Matshidiso Moeti said new cases were declining after the continent passed “what seems to have been a peak”.
But Health Minister Zweli Mkhize of hard-hit South Africa warned that “our biggest worry is whether in fact this is the first surge and there might be another one”, pointing to the latest developments in Spain.
One of the worst affected countries in Europe, Spain is to use 2,000 soldiers trained in tracking to help regions identify those who have been exposed to infected people.
“We can’t let the pandemic once again take control of our lives... we must take control and halt this second curve,” prime minister Pedro Sanchez said.
Although fatality rates have been falling, the WHO said it recorded more than 1.7 million new coronavirus cases and some 39,000 new deaths in the week to August 23.
That represented however a five-percent decrease in new cases globally and a 12-percent drop in new deaths compared with the week before.
Good morning/afternoon/evening, wherever these words find you. My name’s Ben Doherty, I’m in Sydney, helming The Guardian’s rolling coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Correspondence and comments welcome: you can reach me by email ben.doherty@theguardian.com or on twitter @BenDohertyCorro.
A summary of recent developments:
UK prime minister Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools. Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in schools after prime minister Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before students head back to the classroom.
The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling. About 43,000 new cases are being reported daily across the country, down 21% from early August, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Experts credit the development at least partly to increased wearing of masks, even as the outbreak continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the US each day.
Turkey recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases since mid-June. Another 1,502 infections were confirmed on Tuesday, according to government data, taking the official tally over 261,000.
India reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases globally for the 18th straight day. Infections rocketed by another 1.5 million since the start of August, taking India’s total to around 3.1 million, more than in the US and Brazil. The rate of new cases in the country is increasing rapidly, climbing by 60,975 in the latest 24-hour period, according to the federal health ministry.
Gaza entered a 48-hour lockdown after the first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the general population. Four cases of coronavirus were confirmed in a single family in a refugee camp, the first in Gaza that did not involve people quarantined in border facilities after crossing over from Egypt and Israel. Health authorities in the Hamas Islamist-run territory of 2 million people are concerned over the potentially disastrous combination of poverty, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital facilities in dealing with an outbreak.
Two European patients were confirmed to have been reinfected with coronavirus, raising concerns about immunity. Regional public broadcasters said a patient in the Netherlands and another in Belgium had also been reinfected. It follows a report this week by researchers in Hong Kong about a man there who had been reinfected four and a half months after recovering.
The German economy contracted by a record 9.7% in the second quarter, the sharpest decline since Germany began to record quarterly GDP calculations in 1970. The statistics office said it came as consumer spending (10.9% down), company investments (19.6% down) and exports (20.3% down) all collapsed at the height of the pandemic.