Coronavirus live news: Mallorca closes Magaluf party strip; US sees another new record number of cases
Here are the latest developments:
Magaluf is closing its party strip of Punta Ballena after footage of drunken British tourists flouting regulations about wearing masks and social distancing while dancing on cars prompted an outcry. The Balearic Islands’ tourism minister also announced the closure of two other notorious party strips.
Spain has recorded 390 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours – the highest single-day figure since 22 May. Most of the new cases are in the northeastern regions of Aragón and Catalonia.
The US has seen 67,000 cases in a single day – the highest number in 24 hours so far, according to theJohn Hopkins university of medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the figure at 60,971.
Iran said today that 140 of its health workers had died of coronavirus and 5,000 have been infected. Amnesty International has estimated that more than 3,000 health workers have died globally, although it says the figure is likely to be a significant underestimate.
The Irish government has postponed the scheduled reopening of pubs, due to happen on Monday, until 10 August because of a spike in coronavirus cases. The Irish Independent also reported that the cabinet is expected to recommend that face coverings become mandatory in inside settings and that foreign travel be discouraged.
Levels of childhood immunisations against dangerous diseases such as measles, tetanus and diphtheria have dropped alarmingly during the Covid-19 pandemic, putting millions of children at risk, United Nations agencies have warned.
The European commission said today that European Union states should bring forward vaccinations against flu to the summer to reduce the risk of simultaneous influenza and Covid-19 outbreaks in the autumn. It also urged states to increase the number of people vaccinated.
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is making face coverings mandatory for shoppers in all its stores from Monday. It said that about 65% of its more than 5,000 stores and clubs are located in areas where there is already some form of government mandate on face coverings and by making it compulsory in all outlets it will bring consistency.
The US has suffered 773 more deaths and registered 60,971 new cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said. That takes the respective totals to 135,991 and 3,416,428.
A Bangladesh hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results to patients at his two clinics was arrested today while trying to fleeing to India in a burqa, police said.From AFP:
The arrest marked the end of a nine-day manhunt for Mohammad Shahed over allegations of giving fake certificates to patients saying they were virus-free without even testing them.
Shahed, 42, was one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities over the past few days in connection with the scam.
Experts warn the false documents has worsened the already dire virus situation in the country of 168 million people by casting doubt about the veracity of certificates issued by clinics.
He was arrested from the bank of a border river as he was trying to flee to India. He was wearing a burqa. His hospitals carried out 10,500 coronavirus tests, out of which 4,200 were genuine and the rest, 6,300 test reports, were given without conducting tests.
Shahed is also accused of charging for the certificates and virus treatments even though he had agreed with the government that his hospitals in the capital Dhaka would provide free care.
A well-known doctor and her husband were also arrested by police and accused of issuing thousands of fake virus certificates at their Dhaka laboratory.
The alleged scams could badly hurt migrant workers seeking to go abroad and whose remittances are key to Bangladesh’s economy, said Shakirul Islam of migrant rights group OKUP.
Italy last week suspended flights to Rome from Bangladesh to stem the spate of coronavirus cases within the community after several passengers arriving from Dhaka had tested positive for Covid-19. Islam claimed. Islam said:
Some of the Bangladeshis who were tested positive in Italy were allegedly carrying negative Covid certificates from Bangladesh. The government must ensure quality of Covid-19 tests in local laboratories for the sake of its overseas job market.
Nearly $19 billion was sent back to Bangladesh by an estimated 12 million migrant workers last year, according to the central bank.
Bangladesh has reported just over 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far. But medical experts say the real figures are likely much higher because so little testing has been carried out.
The impoverished country has restarted economic activities after lifting a months-long virus lockdown at the end of May, even as the number of cases continues to rise.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is enforcing partial coronavirus restrictions in the capital, Manila, for another two weeks, and warned that stricter curbs would be reinstated if the rise in new cases and deaths does not slow down, Reuters reports.
The Philippines this week recorded Southeast Asia’s biggest daily jump in coronavirus deaths and saw hospital occupancy grow sharply, after a tripling of infections since a tough lockdown was eased on 1 June to allow more movement and commerce.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said today.
It was clear during our discussion that if the spread of the virus in Manila will not slow, it is possible that stricter quarantine measures would be reimposed after two weeks.
Confirmed cases in the capital region have more than doubled to 29,015 since June.
Schools are to remain closed, operations of shopping malls and dine-in eateries limited, mass gatherings banned, social distancing enforced on public transport, and children and the elderly urged to stay at home.
Under tighter regulations in force from mid-March to the end of May, public transport was barred, working from home instituted where possible, and only one person per household allowed out for essential goods.
Duterte eased lockdown measures in Cebu from tomorrow after the central city recorded a decline in the number of confirmed cases, although it still accounted for 10% of the 58,850 total infections in the country.
Navotas, a city of 250,000 in the National Capital Region surrounding Manila, will return to lockdown from tomorrow after cases tripled since June, its mayor said this week.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said earlier today the government had “successfully flattened the curve since April” because Covid-19 cases were growing slower, with the rate of doubling of infections now at 8.28 days from 4.8 days in May.
To prevent wider transmission, the government said it would use police to carry out house-to-house searches for patients so they can be isolated and brought to quarantine facilities where they can be properly managed.
The Irish government has postponed the scheduled reopening of pubs, due to happen on Monday, until 10 August because of a spike in coronavirus cases, the Irish Independent reports.
The report says the cabinet is also expected to recommend that face coverings become mandatory in inside settings and that foreign travel be discouraged.
Spain has recorded 390 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours – the highest single-day figure since 22 May. Most of the new cases are in the northeastern regions of Aragón and Catalonia. To date, the country has confirmed 257,494 cases of the disease and 28,413 deaths, according to figures from the health ministry. On Wednesday the health minister, Salvador Illa, said there were 171 small outbreaks across the country, of which 120 were active.
A Republican governor who has backed one of the US’s most aggressive reopening plans, resisted any statewide mandate on masks and who rarely wears one himself, has tested positive for coronavirus, AP reports.
Kevin Stitt said he is isolating at home, the news agency reports. Stitt, a first-term governor, attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month, which health experts have said likely contributed to a surge in coronavirus cases there.
Oklahoma has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19, with nearly 22,000 confirmed positive cases in the state and 428 total deaths. One of Stitt’s cabinet members, David Ostrowe, tested positive for coronavirus in March.
Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt is recognised as President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Tulsa last month Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is making face coverings mandatory for shoppers in all its stores from Monday.
It comes as the US recorded another new high number of daily cases (67,000).
The directive applies to Walmart stores as well as its wholesale Sam’s Club outlets. The retailer said that about 65% of its more than 5,000 stores and clubs are located in areas where there is already some form of government mandate on face coverings and by making it compulsory in all outlets it will bring consistency.
Walmart said staff posted near the entrance to stores will remind people of the requirement and “will work with customers who show up at a store without a face covering to try and find a solution”.
It added:
We know it may not be possible for everyone to wear a face covering. Our associates will be trained on those exceptions to help reduce friction for the shopper and make the process as easy as possible for everyone.
As we have seen in states and municipalities with mask mandates, virtually everyone either brings a mask or readily complies with the requirement, and we anticipate that to happen in other areas as well.
Shoppers wearing face masks are pictured in the parking area of a Walmart superstore in Rosemead, California on Monday Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Day one of direct flights from the UK to Greece has got off to what some are calling an inauspicious start. No sooner had the first air links commenced with flights to the likes of Cephalonia and Corfu when the government announced that concern over rising coronavirus cases was such that prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would be holding an emergency meeting with senior cabinet members to discuss possible enforcement of new restrictions.
The wearing of masks and local lockdowns are reportedly on the agenda with some epidemiologists suggesting that fines may now be in order for those who fail to don face coverings.
Today’s emergency meeting – currently underway – comes amid media reports that all 6,000 British tourists expected to fly into Greece today will be tested upon arrival.
The leading Greek daily, Protothema, wrote:
The result of the mass testing … will determine if Greek borders remain open or not to Britain. If the number and percentage of those found to be positive is low, and is limited to less than 30 to 40 cases, then with constant inspections and epidemiological oversight, the British tourist market will remain open.
If not the centre right government would not hesitate to shut the borders again “calculating that the cost of the risk of the coronavirus spreading is much more important than any benefits to tourism in a year that is considered largely lost.”
Greece has been a rare success story in its handling of the pandemic but since reopening borders on 1 July has seen a sharp uptick in coronavirus cases that is now alarming health officials in the tourist-dependent country.
South Africa’s cases of Covid-19 were set to reach 300,000 on Wednesday, the most in Africa and in the top 10 in the world, despite a swiftly imposed lockdown aimed at preventing infections spiralling as they did in the West.
Africa’s most industrialised nation has 298,292 cases at the last count, and with positive tests now increasing at a rate of more than 10,000 a day, it is all but certain to vault over the 300,000 mark when the ministry releases nightly figures.
At the end of March, President Cyril Ramaphosa took aggressive, early action, shutting shops, ordering people to stay at home and sending the army on to the streets to enforce it – when South Africa had only 400 cases and no recorded deaths.
