Coronavirus live news: global deaths near 300,000 as WHO says Covid-19 may never disappear
American healthcare company, CVS Health, has said it will roll out more than 50 Covid-19 testing sites at select pharmacy drive-through locations in five US states, and expects to have up to 1,000 such locations across the country by the end of the month.
The company, which owns retail chain CVS Pharmacies, has been operating large-scale testing sites since early April. The new locations will be across Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
CVS and other US retailers such as Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walmart and Target have pledged at a White House conference in March to provide space for drive-through testing sites in their car parks.
The aim is ramp up testing, reduce burden on hospitals and to keep patients in cars to avoid spreading the infection.
The new sites will use self-swab tests that will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in about three days, CVS said, adding that it currently operates large-scale rapid testing sites in coordination with five states, which can process a total of nearly 30,000 tests every week.
CVS plans to process up to 1.5m tests every month with the new sites.
Beginning 15 May, patients who wish to be tested at the sites should register first at CVS.com to book an appointment.
Public Health England say they have approved a Covid-19 antibodies test by Swiss manufacturer Roche in “record time”, but when it comes to patients being able to access antibodies test, the UK trails behind other countries in Europe, writes Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief.
In Germany, many GPs started offering antibody tests to patients this week, as 123 labs across the country now carry out the tests, which are said to take around 20 minutes to analyse. Patients have been told they will usually be informed of their results by the next day.
According to the Association of the Diagnostics Industry, over 300,000 antibodies tests have been carried out in Germany since the second half of April, using not just the test produced by Roche but also those of 13 other manufacturers.
Health minister Jens Spahn announced on 4 May that his government had agreed for Roche to distribute 3 million tests to German healthcare providers by the end of the month, with five million tests per month to follow in the future. The tests were developed at Roche’s biotechnology centre in Penzberg, Bavaria.
Excitement about the significance of these tests has remained limited, however, not just because many doctors and scientists still question their reliability.
Plans for “immunity passports” for those who have developed antibodies, which gained much attention when initially proposed by German scientists, have run into political opposition as opposition parties have questioned the ethics of creating a two-tiered system.
The immunity passports proposal has been crossed out of a new law being voted on in Germany’s parliament today, and will be discussed at the end of the month by the Ethics Council, an independent council of experts appointed by the Bundestag’s president.
Here is a summary of our latest coronavirus world news headlines.
Italian doctors have found a link between Covid-19 and a rare but serious inflammatory disorder that has required some children to undergo life-saving treatment in intensive care units. The mysterious condition emerged last month when NHS bosses issued an alert to doctors.
The number of lives lost worldwide in the coronavirus pandemic is nearing 300,000, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, with 297,197 deaths reported. There are 4,347,015 confirmed infections.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has lifted the state of emergency for 39 of its 47 prefectures, but said it would remain in place in Tokyo, as well as the second-largest urban area of Osaka, until the novel coronavirus is contained. Abe also said he would begin work on a second extra budget as part of his government’s economic stimulus measures.
A French firm’s pledge to prioritise the US with any vaccine has caused outrage. Paul Hudson, chief executive officer of Sanofi, told Bloomberg News that any vaccine invented by his firm would go to the US first since America had done the most to fund the company’s research.
The European commission has said it is monitoring the Hungarian government over coronavirus laws that created a state of emergency with no end date. The commission, the body charged with upholding European Union law, said the absence of a clear time limit on the emergency decree raises “potential concerns as regards legal certainty”.
Burundi expelled a four-person WHO team ahead of elections. In a letter to the WHO’s Africa office, the foreign ministry said the team “are declared persona non grata and as such, must leave the territory of Burundi” by Friday. The letter did not provide a reason for the decision.
Afghanistan has recorded its biggest one-day rise of new coronavirus cases as health ministry warned of a second phase of transmission amid war raging with full intensity across the country. Wahid Majroh, the deputy health minister, has warned the nation that if they continue to break the lockdown there will be another phase of the virus in the war-torn country.
Lloyd’s of London, the world’s biggest insurance market, expects to pay out between $3bn (£2.4bn) and $4.3bn (£3.5bn) due to the coronavirus pandemic, as it warned of a $203bn hit for the entire industry. The Lloyd’s of London chief executive, John Neal, said the pandemic was an unparalleled event.
Federal agents have seized the phone of Republican senator Richard Burr over stock transactions in the early days of the coronavirus crisis. Burr has denied any wrongdoing and said he relied solely on news reports to guide decisions on stock sales.
US-Mexico border factories were pressed to stay open despite the Covid-19 risk. But official efforts to keep the factories shut and contain the spread of Covid-19 have come under intense pressure from companies and US government officials.
Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll report rose above 200 on Thursday for the first time since 8 May, the health ministry reported. The overall death toll from the disease rose to 27,321 on Thursday from 27,104 as 217 people reportedly died overnight, the ministry said, according to Reuters.
“The vaccine against COVID-19 should be a global public good and its access needs to be equitable and universal,” European commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker was reported as saying by Reuters.
His comments came after Paul Hudson, chief executive officer of Sanofi, told Bloomberg News that any vaccine invented by his firm would go to the US first since America had done the most to fund the company’s research. He said:
The US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk. That’s how it will be because they’ve invested to try and protect their population, to restart their economy. I’ve been campaigning in Europe to say the US will get vaccines first.
Ministers in President Emmanuel Macron’s government slammed the move by Sanofi – a French company – as “unacceptable”.
“For us in one word it is very important that, as the virus is a global virus, that we work on this globally,” de Keersmaecker said.
Iran reported 71 more deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, bringing the country’s total death toll from the coronavirus outbreak to 6,854.
In his daily televised statement, Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry spokesman, said that 114,533 people had tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 virus in Iran, of whom 90,539 have since recovered.
He added that 2,758 patients with the virus remained in a critical condition in hospital.
The US embassy has said that hospitals in Tanzania are being overwhelmed by an “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases, writes Emmanuel Akinwotu, the Guardian’s West Africa correspondent.
In a strikingly critical statement released yesterday night, the embassy warned that risk of contracting Covid-19 was “extremely high” in the capital Dar es Salaam and beyond. The statement said:
Despite limited official reports, all evidence points to exponential growth of the epidemic in Dar and other locations in Tanzania …
Many hospitals in Dar es Salaam have been overwhelmed in recent weeks. Limited hospital capacity throughout Tanzania could result in life-threatening delays for medical care, including for those with Covid-19.
The statement gave no evidence yet adds to rising criticism that Tanzanian authorities have not been transparent about the nature of the outbreak in the east African country.
On 29 April, after a sharp rise, Tanzanian authorities recorded 480 cases of Covid-19 and 21 deaths. Since then no figures have been released.
The president John Magufuli has been a vocal sceptic of the pandemic, accusing health officials of exaggerating the crisis. Places of worship, restaurants and bars have been open without restrictions.
Earlier this month Magufuli said Covid-19 test kits were not reliable, claiming that he had submitted secret samples from a goat, a bird and a papaya to the national health laboratory that came back as “positive”. He then closed the lab and suspended its head.
Last week, the Africa Centre for Disease Control director, Dr. John Nkengasong responded to criticism of the test kits by Magufuli, saying, “The tests that Tanzania is using we know they are working very well.” In a briefing to journalists this morning he urged Tanzania to provide “timely” updates on the outbreak.
In a move that brings Britain in line with much of the rest of the world, the UK government has told the public to wear ‘cloth face coverings’ in crowded places where it’s not possible to comply with physical-distancing measures.
But what does this mean? Why not face masks? Outside too? Should anyone avoid wearing a face covering? In this video, the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, answers these and other questions.
Coronavirus UK: should I be wearing a face mask? – video explainer
Ten more deaths from Covid-19 were reported in Romania on Thursday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 1,046 as the government warned people to continue following social distancing rules to head of a second wave of pandemic.
A day before the easing of coronavirus restrictions, Raed Arafat, the head of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU), told local TV station Digi24 that people should not expect to resume normal life.
So far, we introduced firm measures. Bit by bit, the responsibility is transferred to the citizens. If people understand that getting out of the house comes with rules, even if they no longer need that declaration inside localities, that wearing a mask is compulsory, then we stand a chance to go through the second wave easier.
Romania has so far recorded 16,247 cases of coronavirus, with 245 more reported on Thursday. So far, 9,053 patients have recovered.
Another case of coronavirus has been detected in Cyprus’s sovereign British base areas, it was announced today, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian’s Athens correspondent.
A statement released this morning confirmed “one further member of the British forces Cyprus community” had tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. The individual was in self-isolation after displaying what were described as “only mild symptoms.”
“This brings the total number of positive tests within the British bases to 12,” the announcement said.
It was unclear if the person had travelled recently from the UK. Despite commercial air traffic being suspended since 21 March by Greek Cypriot authorities in the war-split Mediterranean island, the UK military is believed to have continued airlifting personnel on transport planes from Britain. The republic’s lockdown regulations are however adhered to on the overseas territories with arrivals from the UK screened for the virus and ordered to self-isolate for two weeks.
The bases – a legacy of Cyprus’ past as a former crown colony – are home to nearly 6,000 British military personnel and their dependents.
Meanwhile, the EU pledged to step up support for the island’s breakaway Turkish-run north. Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen, responding to a request for aid from the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, said the bloc would provide 2.5 million euro for the immediate purchase of medical equipment. Further assistance will also be sent for the support of 25 health workers over the next three months with additional aid earmarked for farmers, she wrote in a letter to Akinci.
“The pandemic has forced humanity to deal with an unprecedented situation so we must all do our part and work together throughout these difficult times,” the EU chief was quoted as saying in the letter.
A moderate, whose five-year term was due to end in April before the coronavirus caused presidential elections to be postponed, Akinci had requested the support at the end of March.
The leader had been slammed by the self-styled state’s hawkish prime minister and other hardline nationalist politicians for previously accepting aid from Greek Cypriots. One MP described it as a backhanded attempt to “make the Greek side look nice.”
Akinci has said he will be competing for a second term when the polls take place October 11th.
After implementing strict lockdown measures, Cyprus, the EU’s easternmost member, has managed to keep a tight lid on the pandemic reporting 905 confirmed cases in the internationally recognised Greek south and some 108 in the north. To date there have been 24 Covid-related deaths in the south and four in the north.
Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll report rose above 200 on Thursday for the first time since 8 May 8, the health ministry reported.
The overall death toll from the disease rose to 27,321 on Thursday from 27,104 as 217 people reportedly died overnight, the ministry said, according to Reuters.
The overall number of diagnosed cases rose to 229,540 on Thursday.
