Coronavirus live news: 498 more deaths in US as WHO urges countries to focus on contact tracing

A proposed European Union economic recovery package would provide €390bn of grants and €360bn of loans, according to Reuters.

The news agency reports that the proposal submitted to EU leaders on Monday amends the original European commission plans to provide €500bn and €250bn respectively to repair the economic damage done by virus lockdowns across the bloc’s member states.

The document is meant as a basis for a compromise agreement after four days of acrimonious talks on the package, Reuters reported.

It also envisages that national plans to spend the money would have to get the approval of a qualified majority of EU governments. The disbursement would also be linked to governments observing the rule of law, a fact that would be established also by a qualified majority of governments.

The US has suffered 498 more deaths and registered another 63,201 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said. That takes the respective totals to 3,761,362 and 140,157.

Here’s a round-up of the main developments today:

Oxford coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response

Oxford University’s experimental coronavirus vaccine is safe and generated a strong immune response in the people who volunteered to help trial it, researchers have said, raising hopes it could contribute to ending the pandemic. Professor Sarah Gilbert, from Oxford’s Jenner Institute, said they were more than happy with the first results, which showed good immunity after a single dose of vaccine. The results published in the Lancet medical journal are preliminary, with the effect of the vaccine measured by the amount of antibodies and T-cells it generates in the blood of the volunteers – not in any response to the virus itself.

WHO: vaccines must be ‘global good’ not just for rich countries

The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on world leaders to commit to making vaccines a global benefit not reserved for rich countries. And in remarks aimed the US he said: “One of the worrying patterns we see is some countries moving in the other direction.”

WHO: ‘contact tracing is essential’

Tedros also intervened in the US row about testing by stressing the importance of contact tracing for suppressing transmission. “No country can get control of its epidemic, if it doesn’t know where the virus is,” he told a WHO press briefing.

Donald Trump to resume daily coronavirus press briefings

The US president told reporters he would resume holding daily coronavirus briefings starting on Tuesday. He said: “It’s a great way to get information out to the public as to where we are with the vaccines and the therapeutics.”

Third minister in Brazil tests positive

Brazil’s citizenship minister, Onyx Lorenzoni, has tested positive for coronavirus, the country’s third minister to be infected. Lorenzoni, a close ally of president Jair Bolsonaro, credited relatively mild symptoms to an anti-malarial drug touted by the president on social media and at public rallies. “I already feel the positive effects,” said about his regimen of chloroquine.

Denmark allows merchant sailors to come ashore

Denmark will allow merchant sailors stranded at sea since the outbreak of the coronavirus to come ashore and be reunited with their friends and families. Upon landing in Denmark, home to the world’s biggest container shipping group, Maersk, seafarers will be isolated in hotels and airports will establish special transit areas to avoid contact with other people.

France reports up to 500 virus clusters

The authorities in France have reported 400 to 500 active coronavirus outbreak clusters but there are no signs of an imminent “second wave”, according to the health minister Olivier Veran. Many of the clusters involve abattoirs or other contained professional settings such as old age homes, he said. Nationwide the R number indicating the viral transmission rate is 1.2.

EU leaders show signs of compromise on recovery fund

European leaders have shown signs of a possible compromise on €1.8tn coronavirus stimulus package, after more than three days of fractious negotiations. The Dutch prime minster Mark Rutte, one of a group of so called ‘frugals’ demanding conditions on how the cash is spent, said: “It looks a bit more hopeful than at the times where I thought last night that it was over.” The Euro hit a four month high on hopes of a deal.

Global cases pass 14.5m

More than 14.5 million people have tested positive for coronavirus worldwide so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The number of confirmed cases has reached 14,538,115 it said. The death toll is 606,922.

Russian cases rise to more than 777,000

Russia has reported 5,940 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its total infection tally to 777,486, the fourth largest in the world. In a daily readout reported by Reuters, officials said 85 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 12,427. The mayor of the Arctic city of Norilsk announced his resignation after accusing regional officials of massively underreporting coronavirus figures.

Outbreak in Xinjiang spreads to second Chinese city

An outbreak in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang has spread to a second city, one day after authorities announced “wartime” anti-pandemic measures in a district in the city of Urumqi. On Monday, the national health commission reported 22 new cases, five of which were imported. One case was reported in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, in north-western Xinjiang, while the rest were in the capital city of Urumqi. At least 47 people diagnosed with Covid-19 in Xinjiang were in the city of Urumqi.

The prevalence of infections in Spain has increased three-fold in three weeks, Health Ministry data showed, according to Reuters.

Since restrictions on movement were lifted and Spaniards relaxed back into daily life, some 201 new clusters have appeared, with heavy concentrations in and around the Catalan cities of Barcelona and Lleida.

The occurrence of the virus has jumped from eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants at the end of June, when the country’s state of emergency ended, to 27 per 100,000, deputy health emergency chief Maria Sierra told a news conference.

Over the weekend 4,581 new cases were recorded, bringing the total to 264,836, she added. More than 28,000 people have died.

“Where measures have been relaxed is where these clusters appear,” Health Minister Salvador Illa said. “We’re talking about gatherings of extended family and spaces associated with nightlife.”

Describing the situation in Catalonia as concerning, he appealed to residents to respect health measures.

A emergency doctor has become Lebanon’s first medic to die of coronavirus, state media said, as daily infections rise in the eastern Mediterranean country, AFP reports.

Loay Ismail, 32, “died from coronavirus at the Nabih Berri hospital in Nabatiyeh”, southern Lebanon, the National News Agency said.

The Lebanese-Italian Hospital in the nearby city of Tyre where he worked said Ismail contracted the illness “while carrying out his medical and humanitarian duty”.

Firass Abiad, head of the main public hospital treating Covid-19 patients in Beirut, said: “Today we mourn Dr. Loay, our young colleague, who fell while doing his duty, treating a patient with Covid-19.”

“We have taken an oath and are willing to sacrifice all for our patients. Yet this does not take away the heartache or make the loss tolerable,” tweeted the director of Rafik Hariri university hospital.

Lebanon said Monday it has confirmed more than 2,900 cases of the novel coronavirus, including 41 deaths.

The country has gradually lifted lockdown measures and opened Beirut airport to commercial flights at the start of July, after a closure of more than three months.

Over the past two weeks, the daily infection rate has risen, with dozens of new cases announced each day.

In the highest such increase, the government announced 166 new cases on 12 July, including 131 sanitation workers.

Sweden’s health agency said plans to change contact-tracing guidelines so that tracing is done to a larger extent by the individuals infected, Reuters reports.

The new guidance breaks from a strategy adopted by most countries where authorities trace and notify people who have had close contact with a carrier of the disease.

An agency spokeswoman said it was much better that individuals themselves contact people they may have infected, rather than official tracking units which currently have this responsibility.

The existing system worked well when the number of infections was lower but had become less effective as the number grew, she said.

Unlike most tracing systems, the Swedish system is not anonymous as individuals are expected to deliver the news of their infection to anyone they’ve been in close contact with.

Although the number of infections in Sweden has slowed in recent weeks, a total of 78,048 people have been infected since the pandemic began, a figure far outstripping its Nordic neighbours. Sweden’s death toll from the virus is 5,619.

Sweden decided to forego a hard lockdown and keep most schools open, and allow businesses to stay open, throughout the outbreak, a strategy that set it apart from most of Europe.

Brazil’s citizenship minister, Onyx Lorenzoni, has tested positive for coronavirus, the country’s third minister to be infected, Reuters reports

Lorenzoni, a close ally of president Jair Bolsonaro, credited relatively mild symptoms to an anti-malarial drug touted by the president on social media and at public rallies.

“I already feel the positive effects,” the minister wrote on Twitter about his regimen of chloroquine, along with azithromycin and ivermectin, as a treatment against the virus.

Bolsonaro, who is quarantined after he also tested positive for the virus, is taking hydroxychloroquine, a related drug. Both are used to treat malaria, and Bolsonaro has become a full-throated supporter of using them to treat Covid-19, despite the lack of solid proof they work against the disease.

“It is important to remember that the ‘off label’ use of medication is well established in medicine, as long as the patient clearly agrees,” tweeted Bolsonaro on Monday morning, defending the use of hydroxychloroquine for unproven treatments.

Here’s a round up of the main developments today:

Oxford coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response

Oxford University’s experimental coronavirus vaccine is safe and generated a strong immune response in the people who volunteered to help trial it, researchers have said, raising hopes it could contribute to ending the pandemic. Professor Sarah Gilbert, from Oxford’s Jenner Institute, said they were more than happy with the first results, which showed good immunity after a single dose of vaccine. The results published in the Lancet medical journal are preliminary, with the effect of the vaccine measured by the amount of antibodies and T-cells it generates in the blood of the volunteers – not in any response to the virus itself.

WHO: vaccines must be ‘global good’ not just for rich countries

The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on world leaders to commit to making vaccines a global benefit not reserved for rich countries. And in remarks aimed the US he said: “One of the worrying patterns we see is some countries moving in the other direction.”

WHO: ‘contact tracing is essential’

Tedros also intervened in the US row about testing by stressing the importance of contact tracing for suppressing transmission. “No country can get control of its epidemic, if it doesn’t know where the virus is,” he told a WHO press briefing.

Donald Trump to resume daily coronavirus press briefings

The US president told reporters he would resume holding daily coronavirus briefings starting on Tuesday. He said: “It’s a great way to get information out to the public as to where we are with the vaccines and the therapeutics.”

Denmark allows merchant sailors to come ashore

Denmark will allow merchant sailors stranded at sea since the outbreak of the coronavirus to come ashore and be reunited with their friends and families. Upon landing in Denmark, home to the world’s biggest container shipping group, Maersk, seafarers will be isolated in hotels and airports will establish special transit areas to avoid contact with other people.

France reports up to 500 virus clusters

The authorities in France have reported 400 to 500 active coronavirus outbreak clusters but there are no signs of an imminent “second wave”, according to the health minister Olivier Veran. Many of the clusters involve abattoirs or other contained professional settings such as old age homes, he said. Nationwide the R number indicating the viral transmission rate is 1.2.

EU leaders show signs of compromise on recovery fund

European leaders have shown signs of a possible compromise on €1.8tn coronavirus stimulus package, after more than three days of fractious negotiations. The Dutch prime minster Mark Rutte, one of a group of so called ‘frugals’ demanding conditions on how the cash is spent, said: “It looks a bit more hopeful than at the times where I thought last night that it was over.” The Euro hit a four month high on hopes of a deal.

Global cases pass 14.5m

More than 14.5 million people have tested positive for coronavirus worldwide so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The number of confirmed cases has reached 14,538,115 it said. The death toll is 606,922.

Russian cases rise to more than 777,000

Russia has reported 5,940 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its total infection tally to 777,486, the fourth largest in the world. In a daily readout reported by Reuters, officials said 85 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 12,427. The mayor of the Arctic city of Norilsk announced his resignation after accusing regional officials of massively underreporting coronavirus figures.

Outbreak in Xinjiang spreads to second Chinese city

An outbreak in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang has spread to a second city, one day after authorities announced “wartime” anti-pandemic measures in a district in the city of Urumqi. On Monday, the national health commission reported 22 new cases, five of which were imported. One case was reported in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, in north-western Xinjiang, while the rest were in the capital city of Urumqi. At least 47 people diagnosed with Covid-19 in Xinjiang were in the city of Urumqi.

The mayor of the Russian Arctic city of Norilsk on Monday announced his resignation after accusing regional officials of massively underreporting coronavirus figures, AFP reports.

Rinat Akhmetchin, mayor of the Siberian city located 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, announced his departure during a briefing.

His resignation came as Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted that Russia’s virus situation is improving and numbers of cases and deaths are far lower than in many European countries.

Akhmetchin last week sent a letter to regional officials accusing the regional health ministry of “concealing real information about the numbers of those ill from federal agencies”, Siberian news site Tayga.Info reported.

He claimed that there had been 832 confirmed cases in Norilsk while the regional health ministry gave the figure of 293.

He also complained hospitals lacked staff and patients were waiting for hours in corridors, the Siberian news site reported.

On Monday Akhmetchin said that he resigned after regional officials at a meeting put the blame on him for failings.

“I didn’t lie and I never wanted to lie, all the information I gave came from official sources,” said the 55-year-old who has headed the city since 2017.

The regional health ministry said Monday that there have been 436 cases of coronavirus confirmed by testing in Norilsk.

It said the situation in Norilsk “had stabilised” in the last week and there were enough hospital beds.

Norlisk has confirmed 11,528 cases and 260 deaths.

The Norilsk mayor was already under pressure as he faces a criminal charge of negligence over a fuel spill near the city last month that saw thousands of tonnes of diesel leak into soil and waterways.

Donald Trump is to resume daily coronavirus press briefings. Our US politics live blog has the details:

Tedros also called on world leaders to commit to making vaccines a global benefit not reserved for rich countries. And in another thinly vailed attack on the US he expressed alarm about countries taking the opposite approach.

Last month the US bought up virtually all the global stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, in a move that campaigners said had alarming implications for what could happen when vaccines become avaiable.

Speaking at the WHO press conference, Tedros again appeared to aiming his remarks at Trump. He said:

For a fair distribution [of vaccines], the most important element will be political commitment, especially by our leaders. That’s the only way you can get fair distribution.

But one of the worrying patterns we see is some countries moving in the other direction.

When there is no consensus on having this vaccine as a global public good it could actually be owned by those who have money and those who cannot afford it may not have access to the vaccines.

We want a groundswell of political leaders believing in making a vaccine a global public good and this should not be considered as a charity to those who cannot afford it.