Coronavirus live news: global cases pass 5.5m as WHO warns of ‘second peak’
Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, has criticised the UK’s decision to focus on the lockdown over other mitigation methods like contact tracing, saying she “doesn’t really understand what the point of the lockdown has been”.
Speaking at the online iteration of the Hay festival, Sridhar said it was “not clear” to her that the UK was in a better position now than it was when the lockdown started nine weeks ago, on 23 March. She said:
You want to enter and exit [lockdown] as fast as possible, not stay in lockdown longer than you need to be … we still have no border checks in place, until those come into place in June. Cases are exploding in Brazil, India, Russia, the US, countries in South America are taking off, and we have no checks on people coming from any countries while people are locked at home, suffering the economic and social consequences.
I think it is frustrating, it has been a very expensive time, but I don’t really understand what the point of it has been. It has helped build NHS capacity but beyond that, lockdown is not a good option.”
She added: “In the UK and the US, we’re hearing it is a capacity issue and I think, it can’t be a capacity issue because I’ve seen this done in war-torn Congo for ebola, in Vietnam, in Thailand, in states in India, in incredibly poor contexts. To say it is a capacity issue does not fit with the reality of being one of the richest countries in the world”.
Sridhar went on to praise New Zealand, South Korea, Greece and Senegal’s handing of the pandemic.
The Faroe Islands are looking splendid today. This is from Kristina Háfoss, an MP on the remote island, who says the country will “probably” demand that visitors are tested for Covid-19 before being allowed on the territory.
Kristina Háfoss (@KristinaHafoss)
Today in the #FaroeIslands – we continue testing & we continue to have no #COVID19 case 🍀
Faroes are reopened, but borders remain almost closed.
Still no decision on when borders reopen – but when they do, we will probably demand #testing of all people who come to the Faroes. pic.twitter.com/YHOOWO9p0e
Hello again. Josh Halliday again here to steer you through the next few hours.
Global airlines have urged governments to keep politics out of coronavirus border controls after Britain and France revealed reciprocal quarantine rules.
France has signalled it will impose equivalent measures after Britain announced a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from mainland Europe, including France, from 8 June.
Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said any border restrictions related to the epidemic should be driven purely by science.
“Tit-for-tat quarantine measures unacceptable,” he told an online weekly news conference. He added later that IATA would not comment on the actions of individual states.
Spain will seek the highest amount possible in transfers from the European Union’s coronavirus emergency funds, government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero has said.
“We will keep fighting so that the transfers are the largest possible and so it doesn’t mean debt for Spain’s government,” she told a news conference following the weekly cabinet meeting.
The European commission will propose on Wednesday its blueprint for the 27-nation bloc’s budget, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework and worth around a trillion euros, and the accompanying coronavirus Recovery Fund.
Hungary’s government expects to end a state of emergency on 20 June, the justice minister, Judit Varga, said on her Facebook page, as the government prepares to submit a bill ending its emergency powers, such as the power to rule by decree.
The emergency powers were granted to the government earlier this year in a bill that contained no end clause.
Cambodia’s strongman premier Hun Sen will be glorified as a “handsome hero” in a soon-to-be-published book chronicling the decisions he has made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The book’s translated English title is Hun Sen: The Handsome Hero Who Went Against the Current to Fight Covid-19, and will be available by late June or early July.
Penned by Hun Sen’s advisers and members of the Khmer Writers Association (KWA), the 270-page book will detail the bombastic leader’s unconventional decisions, and will include his speeches.
Pov Sok, an advisor to the premier and member of the KWA, told AFP:
We want to show in history that Cambodia fought against the deadly disease and that it controlled the situation better than others.
We compiled this book as a history for humanity.
Hun Sen drew headlines in early February for travelling to Beijing in a show of solidarity as China struggled to contain the virus.
“Some people criticised the government but they do not understand about the art of leadership,” Pov Sok said.
Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, wears a face mask at Phnom Penh international airport. Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images
A staunch ally of China, Hun Sen has moved even closer to Beijing in recent years as Cambodia has received billions of dollars in soft loans and investment.
He is also one the world’s longest-serving leaders, maintaining a 35-year grip on power in ways critics say include jailing political opponents and activists.
Cambodia has reported just 124 coronavirus cases and no deaths, although sceptics say the low numbers are due to a lack of testing and contact tracing within the country.
Iran further eased restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 Tuesday by allowing restaurants to accept customers, as it announced another 57 deaths from the virus.
Since the first cases of the virus appeared on its soil in mid-February, the Islamic republic has sought to halt the spread of the virus without imposing lockdowns.
“Restaurants which before this decree were only allowed to distribute food will be allowed to accept customers from today,” deputy health minister Mohsen Farhadi told state television.
Farhadi called on restaurants to respect health protocols to ensure distancing of two metres, a measure he said would reduce client numbers by 50%.
An Iranian man at a restaurant in the capital city of Tehran on the day ‘high-risk’ businesses such as restaurants, cafes and wedding halls are set to reopen. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour reported 57 additional Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities in the country to 7,508.
Jahanpour said 1,787 new cases of infection over the same period brought the Islamic republic’s caseload to 139,511.
“We are seeing a stable process in the majority of provinces,” Jahanpour said, adding that the southwestern province of Khuzestan was still classified “red”, although the number of infected cases was declining.
Red is the highest level on the country’s colour-coded scale of risk in relation to its coronavirus outbreak – the deadliest in the Middle East.
Experts both at home and abroad have voiced scepticism about Iran’s official figures, saying the real toll could be much higher.
London’s Tate – a collection of four art museums in the UK – has cancelled this year’s Turner Prize because of the coronavirus and said it will award £10,000 grants to 10 deserving British artists instead.
Judges would have traditionally announced a short-list for the prestigious competition this month and revealed the winner – and awarded an accompanying £25,000 ($30,800, €28,100) prize – in December.
But Tate Britain said “the tight timetable for preparing the annual exhibition would not have been achievable under the present restrictions”.
“The decision was made to help support a larger selection of artists through this period of profound disruption and uncertainty,” the museum said in a statement.
The 10 joint winners will be selected at the end of June.
Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson said lockdowns aimed at fighting the spread of the virus were causing enormous stress for artists because most galleries have been closed for months.
“We have decided to help support even more artists during this exceptionally difficult time,” he said.
An interesting glimpse of the future of air travel from Hamad international airport in Qatar.
Staff are using advanced thermal screening helmets, which enable contactless temperature checks to screen staff and travellers.
Hamad Int’l Airport (@HIAQatar)
#HIAQatar is using advanced thermal screening helmets, which enable contactless temperature measurement to screen staff and travellers. pic.twitter.com/WReqB2hjRB
Disinfectant robots are roaming the corridors, emitting concentrated UV-C light “known to be effective in eliminating majority of infectious microorganisms”, the airport said on Twitter.
All passengers will be provided with hand sanitisers readily available at key locations and the airport will continue to maintain 1.5m social distancing, with every other seat in waiting areas cordoned off.
JK Rowling will publish a fairy tale called The Ickabog free online so that children can read it in lockdown, with the first chapter to be published at 3pm (BST).
“Over 10 years ago, I wrote a stand-alone fairy tale called The Ickabog,” Rowling said. “Until very recently, the only people who’d heard the story of The Ickabog were my two younger children.”
The Harry Potter author said the mostly handwritten manuscript had been stored in her attic until a few weeks ago and she had done some rewriting in recent weeks. She said:
I’ve decided to publish The Ickabog for free online, so children on lockdown, or even those back at school during these strange, unsettling times, can read it or have it read to them.
We’ll be publishing a chapter (or 2 or 3) every weekday, starting at 3.00pm today and ending on July 10th. You don’t need to register to access the story. You can read it for free on a new website we’ll be launching shortly.
J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling)
Opening the box was like opening a time capsule. Most of the story was handwritten, but bits had been typed up. When I put it into some kind of order (I’m not renowned for my filing skills) I had a patchwork first draft.
She is also launching a competition for children to send in pictures which will be used to illustrate the book when it is officially published in November.
All author royalties from the books will be to donated to “projects and organisations helping the groups most impacted by Covid-19”, Rowling said.
“THIS IS NOT A HARRY POTTER SPIN-OFF,” she emphasised on Twitter, to head off “one possible source of confusion”.
Customers observe physical distancing at a food court in Bangkok, Thailand. Photograph: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP
Russia will hold its postponed second world war Victory Day military parade on 24 June, president Vladimir Putin has said.
“According to experts, the peak can be considered passed,” Putin told the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, ordering him to begin preparations for the parade marking 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany.
“We will do it on 24 June, the day the legendary historic victors’ parade took place in 1945,” Putin said.
Putin had been forced to postpone the massive 9 May parade because of risks from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Russian president said that the situation was stabilising but stressed that all precautions should be taken to hold the annual Red Square parade next month.
Another popular event usually held on 9 May – the Immortal Regiment processions that see Russians across the country carry portraits of relatives who died in World War II – will be held on 26 July, Putin said.
Russian naval bases will also hold traditional naval parades that day, Putin said.
The postponement of the Victory Day parade was a blow to the 67-year-old Russian president, who had hoped to gather world leaders to watch thousands of troops march on Red Square.
The UK Foreign Office (FCO) is currently advising against all but essential international travel for an indefinite period. However, countries across Europe have begun to ease lockdown measures and border restrictions and prepare for the return of domestic and international tourists.
Reciprocal travel deals – as proposed in a leaked European commission document on 12 May – may be struck between countries with similar coronavirus risk profiles. For example, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have formed a “travel bubble” allowing movement between those countries.
A similar idea was proposed by the UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps on 18 May, whereby travel would be allowed to and from countries with an R-number – a key measure of transmission – below one to try to boost confidence in aviation travel. The so-called “air bridges” would permit re-entry without quarantine.
At the UK border, all arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days, or face a £1,000 fine. Arrivals must also provide contact and accommodation information, and the authorities have said they will carry out spot checks.
I’ll shortly be handing over to a colleague for the next hour. In the meantime, here is a summary of the latest global developments on Covid-19:
Confirmed cases worldwide exceed 5.5m. According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, infections worldwide number at least 5,518,905. The death toll stands at 346,700. True death tolls and cases are likely to be significantly higher due to differing definitions and testing rates, delays and suspected underreporting.
WHO warns of ‘second peak’ in areas where Covid-19 is declining. Countries where coronavirus infections are declining could still face an “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to contain the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday. The WHO emergencies chief, Dr Mike Ryan, told an online briefing: “We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now it is going to keep going down and we are get a number of months to get ready for a second wave. We may get a second peak in this wave.”
The UN refugee agency said Covid-19 had pushed its humanitarian work to near “breaking point” in Yemen, a country devastated by five years of war. It said a growing number of families were resorting to begging, child labour and marrying of children to survive. A separate UN agency said it had only received around 15% of the funding required for the $3.38bn (€3bn) aid package for Yemen this year.
Mexico City records thousands more deaths than usual, amid doubt over official Covid-19 toll. This year, Mexico City has issued 8,072 more death certificates than the average for the same period in the past four years, according to a study that suggests the country’s coronavirus death toll could be significantly higher than the official figure of nearly 7,400. The report’s authors found 37% more death certificates were issued in April 2020 than that month’s average during the previous four years. By the end of May they estimated the number may grow to 120%.
The UK death toll passed 47,000, according to new figures from the country’s Office for National Statistics. This figure is higher than the latest figure given by the UK government – nearly 37,000 – because it includes deaths in which Covid-19 is given as a “suspected” cause. The UK government figure only includes deaths of patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Russia reports record one-day rise in deaths. Russia has announced that 174 people with coronavirus have died in the past 24 hours, a record one-day amount that has pushed the nationwide death toll to 3,807. Officials reported 8,915 new cases, pushing its overall case tally to 362,342.
White House brings forward Brazil travel restrictions by two days. The US has amended the timing of its Brazil travel ban to come into force at 11.59pm Washington time on Tuesday. It came as Brazil recorded a daily death toll higher than the US for the first time (807 versus 620). Brazil has the world’s second highest number of infections. In its original announcement, the White House said the travel restrictions would come into force on 28 May.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte did not visit dying mother due to Covid-19 restrictions. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, was unable to visit his dying mother in her final weeks because he obeyed coronavirus restrictions against visiting care homes, his office has said. His mother did not die of Covid-19, although there had earlier been an outbreak of the disease in the home where she was living, Dutch media reported.
UK PM’s aid refuses to apologise or resign over lockdown breach. The British prime minister Boris Johnson’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, has refused to apologise or resign for breaching lockdown rules. Cummings drove 264 miles from London to his parents’ estate in Durham, despite suspecting that both he and his wife had coronavirus. Cummings also admitted to having taken a second trip, to a beauty spot 30 miles from Durham, which he claimed was necessary to check his eyesight was good enough for the longer drive back to London.
WHO suspends hydroxychloroquine trial. The World Health Organization has suspended testing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients due to safety concerns. The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, cited a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems than those who were not taking it. In light of the study, he said, the organisation would pause the hydroxychloroquine arm of its solidarity global clinical trial.
Coronavirus has prevented the scheduled return home of hundreds of Irish troops who have served on UN peacekeeping duties in southern Lebanon.
Around 360 soldiers from the Irish Defence Forces will not see their families until the end of June even though some have been serving in the zone between Israel and their Hezbollah enemies since last December.
The UN has granted special permission to the 115th Irish battalion of United Nations Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) special dispensation to return to Dublin in two groups on 21 and 29 June.
But one member of the Irish parliament and leader of the Aontu party has criticised the delay in bringing the troops back to Dublin.
Dail deputy Peadar Toibin said the soldiers and their families had been “separated for far too long and endured too much – exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Toibin contrasted the troops’ situation with the decision to allow hundreds of foreign workers to fly into Dublin during the coronavirus crisis in order to pick fruit on Irish farms.
When the blue beret peacekeepers finally arrive back in Ireland they will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
Their replacement battalion will also be put into 14-day isolation away from their families before they fly out to Beirut to begin their six month peacekeeping duties in the Lebanese southern border area.
Political leaders in Bavaria, one of the German states hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, have said they will guarantee that people with symptoms can get a virus test within 24 hours.
State premier Markus Söder said people would know after 48 hours at the latest if they are infected. In a press conference in Munich, he said those without symptoms would be guaranteed a test within 48 hours and could expect a result within a week.
My colleague, Kate Connolly, reported yesterday that the German government’s attempts to take a nationwide approach to relaxing lockdown measures appeared to be in disarray after one state leader announced it was going it alone.
Bavaria has recorded 353 coronavirus infections per 100,000 people, the highest rate in Germany, while neighbouring Thuringia – whose leader has unilaterally announced the lifting of some measures in the state – has one of the lowest coronavirus rates: 133 infections per 100,000 people.
