Coronavirus live news: France reports highest daily increase in cases in more than a month

Romania has adopted new measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, including shortening working hours for bars and restaurants, and mandatory face masks in outdoor crowded spaces, after a surge in cases.

In the past eight days, the number of infections exceeded 1,000 new daily cases in Romania, bringing the total to over 48,000. The country also reported 2,269 deaths so far.

Masks are already mandatory in enclosed public spaces while restaurants and pubs can serve their clients only outdoors, with no more than four people at the same table.

Local authorities will decide exactly where it will be mandatory to wear masks in the open, prime minister Ludovic Orban explained, mentioning places like markets and train platforms.

All children over five years old will also have to wear a mask, according to the government.

“We are in a critical moment and measures to protect the population are very important right now”, president Klaus Iohannis told reporters.

The spike in numbers comes after the Constitutional Court ruled in June that mandatory hospitalisation violates human rights.

That decision has enabled thousands of infected people to discharge themselves from hospital.

Parliament adopted a new text this month that allows hospitals to keep people who test positive for the virus under observation for at least 48 hours, even if they have no symptoms.

“I’m confident that together we will manage to reasonably control this pandemic. I see re-entering the state of emergency as the last option,” said Iohannis.

An Israeli artist has mocked prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a re-enactment of The Last Supper installed in central Tel Aviv, a day after people protesting against him in the city were beaten.

Artist Itay Zalait said the piece in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, featuring a Netanyahu likeness perched over a long dining table and seated in front of a cake, represents “the last meal of Israeli democracy”.

Netanyahu is “the man who dined his heart (out) when the State of Israel beat a million unemployed people hungry for bread,” Zalait told reporters.

Protests have grown against the veteran premier over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the devastating economic crisis it has caused.

The prime minister has been accused of leading a chaotic virus containment strategy as cases have surged and economically painful restrictions have been reimposed.

Netanyahu says he has tried to strike a balance between protecting the economy and stemming transmission, a challenge faced by leaders across the world.

Crowds of thousands have gathered in Tel Aviv and outside the prime minister’s Jerusalem residence in recent weeks, with some demonstrators demanding Netanyahu’s resignation.

Tuesday’s rallies were smaller than previous demonstrations, but the one in Tel Aviv turned violent.

According to police and video taken at the scene, anti-Netanyahu protesters were beaten by unidentified individuals. A police investigation has been opened.

Responding to images of bloody demonstrators, alternate prime minister and defence minister Benny Gantz said: “A red line was crossed last night, when citizens exercising their right to protest were attacked.”

“I insist that the right to demonstrate be protected,” added Gantz, Netanyahu’s election rival who joined the premier in a centre-right coalition government.

“We must not allow the violence to go unanswered.”

Lebanon has reported 182 new coronavirus cases, its highest single-day infection tally, ahead of fresh lockdown measures that go into effect at midnight.

The new cases bring the total number of Covid-19 infections in Lebanon to 4,202, including 55 deaths, according to health ministry figures cited by the state-run National News Agency.

New nationwide lockdown measures were announced this week following a rise in cases after previous restrictions were gradually lifted.

To stem a larger outbreak, the government ordered a lockdown from 30 July through 3 August, coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The lockdown will then be suspended for two days, with restaurants and cafes allowed to reopen at 50% capacity. Nightclubs, bars, indoor pools and public parks will remain closed.

Restrictions will then go back into force for another five days, after which authorities will reassess whether stricter measures need to be imposed.

Lebanon had gradually lifted lockdown measures starting in May, and in early July it opened the Beirut airport to commercial flights after a closure of more than three months.

But new cases have increased since restaurants, bars, clubs and resorts reopened.

The pandemic struck as Lebanon was already mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, prompting fears that the country’s fragile health system could collapse.

The Lebanese pound, pegged at 1,500 to the dollar since 1997, now sells for more than 7,500 on the black market, sparking soaring inflation.

This has dealt a heavy blow to a country where more than 45% of the population lives below the poverty line and more than a third of the workforce is unemployed.

Cyprus health authorities have reported a three-month high of new Covid-19 infections, 13 cases, including seven from a cluster in the southern port city of Limassol.

The uptick came three days before the Mediterranean holiday island is set to re-open to tourists from Britain, its largest market.

The island’s outbreak had peaked in April with a high of 58 cases, but since the end of that month, daily infections had been in single figures.

Cyprus issued a commercial flight ban on 21 March as part of its lockdown measures, which along with rigorous testing had sent new cases as low as zero a day.

The Republic of Cyprus, which earns more than 15% of its GDP from tourism and welcomed a record 3.97 million visitors last year, has promoted itself as a safe destination and lifted the flight ban on 9 June.

But many of those diagnosed recently had a travel history, the health ministry said.

Four of the cases reported were contacts of a Cypriot couple who returned to the island on 17 July from the Netherlands and later tested postive for the disease.

Among the Limassol cases were two who had returned from the UK and one from a Greek island.

Pakistan’s de facto health minister, Zafar Mirza, stepped down on Wednesday in the middle of the pandemic citing criticism towards government advisers who hold dual nationality.

The resignation has come at a time when Pakistan could see a spike in cases due to two major Muslim gatherings in coming weeks.

Mirza was among several special assistants to the prime minister, or SAPMs, who have faced criticism from opposition parties for being either a dual national or non-elected members of the parliament.

Another of the advisers, Tania Aidrus, resigned citing her dual citizenship. Mirza has not said he held any other nationality other than Pakistan in his asset declaration.

“Due to ongoing negative discussion about the role of SAPMs & criticism on the gov, I choose to resign,” he said in a statement he posted on Twitter. “I am satisfied that I leave at a time when Covid-19 has declined in Pakistan.”

Pakistan has lately seen a downward trend in Covid-19 cases, which critics say is due to low testing, bringing daily infections as low as 1,000 from over 5,000.

The country has registered 276,288 coronavirus infections and 5,892 deaths.

The World Health Organization has recommended Pakistan increase daily testing to above 50,000, but after peaking at 31,000 tests, the South Asian nation is now conducting around 20,000 a day.

Two main events – Eid al-Adha falling at the weekend and Ashura later in August – which see large Muslim gatherings could risk spikes in the virus spread.

The government has warned people against violating public health measures.

The number of new coronavirus infections in France rose by 1,392 on Wednesday, the highest daily tally in a month and a figure likely to fuel fears of a second wave despite officials downplaying such a scenario.

The increase took France’s total number of confirmed cases to 185,196.

In a statement, health authorities said that, leaving aside the continuous decline of people in ICU units, all Covid-19 indicators showed “an increase of the viral circulation”.

The reproduction rate, on an upward trend since the beginning of the month, is now “higher than 1.3”, which marks a rise over 24 hours, they said.

The figure for new cases, the highest since the 26 June total of 1,588, is above the past week’s daily average of 980 and almost double the 715 average seen in May, when France started to lift its lockdown.

Earlier in the day, French health minister Olivier Véran urged the country not to drop its guard against the disease, but said it was “not facing a second wave”.

There were also 15 new deaths linked to the disease, taking the total to 30,238, a figure higher than the daily average increase of nine seen over the last week.

France has the seventh-highest death toll in the world.

Catalan officials have eased the lockdown in and around the northeastern city of Lleida where 160,000 people had been ordered to stay home following a spike in infections.

The city and six nearby municipalities, which lie 150km west of Barcelona, had first been subjected to restrictions at the start of the month after cases started to rise, with a strict stay-at-home order taking effect on 13 July.

But on Wednesday the restrictions were eased after the outbreak was brought under control, with residents now able to travel outside of the area for the first time since 4 July.

Catalan president Quim Torra said:

Measures adopted in recent weeks have reduced the reproduction number of Covid-19 in the Lleida area.. which shows that the outbreak is being brought under control.

Bars and restaurants can now reopen their terraces until midnight and shops can open to customers if they reduce capacity by half.

Spain, where the virus has claimed more than 28,400 lives, has been struggling to contain a surge in new infections, nearly half of them in Catalonia, with the regional government issuing a stay-at-home order to nearly four million residents of metropolitan Barcelona on 18 July.

The situation in Spain has sparked a flurry of travel warnings with France advising against travel to Catalonia and its hugely popular coastline, and Germany following suit, naming Catalonia and two other virus-hit regions.

Britain has gone even further, deciding to quarantine anyone arriving from Spain, in a major blow for the tourism industry.

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.

Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_

• Madrid rowed back on controversial plans to introduce “immunity cards” for people who tested positive for Covid-19. This was intended to be a way of letting non-infectious people lead more normal lives while keeping vulnerable people under stricter measures, but politicians, rights groups and epidemiologists condemned the project as potentially discriminatory and medically unsound.
• US deaths from Covid-19 are approaching 150,000, the highest level in the world and rising by 10,000 in 11 days, according to a Reuters tally. This is the fastest increase in fatalities since the United States went from 100,000 cases to 110,000 cases in 11 days in early June, according to the tally.
• Florida reported a record increase in new Covid-19 deaths for a second day in a row. The state reported 217 fatalities in the last 24 hours, bringing its total to 6,457. Another 9,446 cases were also recorded, bringing its total infections to over 451,000, the second highest in the country behind California.
• Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, has ordered bars and pubs to shut and banned large gatherings from midnight. If follows a Covid-19 outbreak in the city of Danang.
• France extended its Covid-19 furlough scheme for workers in the hard-hit tourism sector. The scheme, known as “partial unemployment”, will be extended for those in the hotel, restaurant, travel, and events sector, “in principle until December”, the government said.

Bolivia’s police forces in La Paz and El Alto have collected since April more than 3,300 bodies of people who died at home or in public places, about 80% of whom are suspected of having been infected with Covid-19, a police chief said.

With health systems overwhelmed, the police have taken on a frontline role collecting the dead, with the number increasing to around three per hour in the past week as infections spread in the landlocked Andean nation of about 11.5 million people.

“The health service and forensic institutes have collapsed due to a lack of personnel, because the number of corpses that are now being collected is very large,” Walter Sossa, director of the special crime force in El Alto, told Reuters.

Bolivia’s official tally of coronavirus infections stands at more than 72,000, with a death toll of 2,700, though as in many countries the actual number of fatalities is thought to be much higher.

Often with little protection, 527 police officers have been infected with the virus, Sossa said, meaning officers sometimes are carrying the bodies of colleagues. Some bodies have been collected on streets and a recent case involved confirming the death of an infant from the virus.

“We are human and we can be infected like any other person. We are also in the first line of work, and so we are more exposed than others,” said Sossa, adding that the bodies of three officers were retrieved on Tuesday.

Spain diagnosed another 1,153 coronavirus infections in the past day, the health ministry said on Wednesday, as the country continues to struggle with a rapidly accelerating surge of new cases.

The cumulative total rose to 282,641 cases, the ministry said. The figure was up 2,031 from the previous day, and includes results from antibody tests on people who may already have recovered.

Reuters is reporting that authorities in the Spanish capital Madrid backtracked on Wednesday over a highly-criticised plan to give an “immunity card” to people testing positive for coronavirus so they can enjoy higher-risk areas like gyms, bars and museums.

Politicians, rights groups and epidemiologists condemned the project, announced by regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, as potentially discriminatory and medically unsound.

But after a weekly cabinet meeting of the Madrid authority, her deputy, Ignacio Aguado, told a news conference that the controversial cards would not in fact be issued.

“This would be a registry of organised, updated information, only to be consulted by the health services so that they can take epidemiological decisions,” he said of the modified plans.

Ayuso, who unveiled the programme on Tuesday as a way of letting non-infectious people lead more normal lives while keeping vulnerable people under stricter measures, was not immediately available for comment.

The US attorney general William Barr will be tested for Covid-19, after coming in close contact with Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert on Tuesday when Barr testified before the House Judiciary Committee, a Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters.

Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec added that Barr already faces routine testing for Covid-19 at the White House.

Berlin’s Tegel airport began large-scale coronavirus testing on Wednesday, as airports across Germany prepared for the advent of free, compulsory testing for many passengers from next week.

Two rooms were set aside for tests, but an airport spokeswoman said a larger space was being prepared, indicating that authorities are preparing for testing to remain a fixture for a long time to come.

“These rooms are of course a bit small, as you can see,” said spokeswoman Sabine Deckwerth. “That is why the large Terminal D in Tegel is being prepared to host a bigger one.”

An increase in the number of infections across Europe has dashed the hopes of airlines and tourist destinations such as Spain for a relatively quick return to mass tourism after months of lockdown.

Airports such as Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest, have been offering tests over the previous weeks, but now preparations are gearing up across the country for the testing of passengers arriving from countries deemed high risk that is due to begin next week.

On Tuesday, Germany’s top public health official scolded the public for their lack of discipline in adhering to social distancing practices and wearing masks that can slow the spread of the highly contagious disease in the absence of a vaccine.

The number of daily new cases almost doubled on Tuesday to 633, with 684 added on Wednesday, giving a total of around 207,000 with just over 9,100 deaths.

Earlier on Wednesday, research minister Anja Karliczek warned the public not to expect a vaccine that could be deployed on a broad scale before the middle of next year.

Florida reported a record increase in new Covid-19 deaths for a second day in a row on Wednesday, with 217 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department.

The state also reported 9,446 new cases, bringing its total infections to over 451,000, the second highest in the country behind California. Florida’s total death toll rose to 6,457, the eighth highest in the nation, according to a Reuters tally.