Coronavirus live news: Queensland steps up alert; protesters try to storm Reichstag

The world’s biggest gold mine has resumed operations in Indonesia, the company that runs it said Saturday, after workers blocked access to the site in protest at being stopped from visiting their families over virus concerns.

The miners at the Grasberg complex in the country’s easternmost Papua region reached an agreement with the US-based operator Freeport, which said it would resume bus services for workers to return home.

This week more than 1,000 employees demonstrated at the mine’s main entrance over the decision to cancel bus services to the city of Timika in response to fears about the spread of coronavirus infections.

Many workers had been unable to leave the site – a high-altitude open pit that is also a major copper mine – for six months.

Freeport spokesman Riza Pratama said the roadblock had been removed after a long negotiation period.

Several buses departed from the mine late Friday, carrying some workers who had been granted a leave of absence, said local company spokesman Kerry Yarangga.

These bus services will be run with stringent health protocols including Covid-19 testing, Yarangga said.

In May, Freeport said it would reduce the number of staff at the mine, which employed about 25,000 people, after infections rose in the area.

The Grasberg is mine is acutely sensitive. The mine generates hundreds of thousands of tonnes of tailings a day, which wash into the Aikwa river delta and Arafura Sea, killing fish and sea-life, and destroying forests and mangroves.

And Indonesia’s Papua province has been the site of a decades-long independence movement, since the province was claimed by Indonesia in the 1960s. Indonesian exploitation of Papuan resources is a key agitation for independence, and Jakarta’s control of the province has been described as a “slow-motion genocide” of indigenous Papuans. Indonesia regards the province as an indivisible part of its nation.

Some history of Grasberg:

Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 5,974 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infections and 673 additional fatalities, bringing the total to 591,712 cases and 63,819 deaths.

However, Mexico’s government has consistently said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Mexican wrestler Ciclonico – famously masked of course – is helping promote the use of masks across the country.

Spanish police have arrested a man who claims the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax for inciting hatred and violence across several anonymous social media profiles.

The 38-year-old claimed health professionals and the media were behind what he called the “Covid farce” and urged his followers to attack politicians and journalists, police said.

“All this would be solved with a shot to the back of [Spanish prime minister] Pedro Sánchez’s head,” he wrote on one of his accounts.

We are in very dire straits. We are in very desperate times. Our island right now is sick.

Governor of Guam Lou Leon Guerrero

Surging Covid-19 cases in Guam are threatening to overwhelm the island’s healthcare system, while rapidly spreading infections across Papua New Guinea and new clusters in French Polynesia following the resumption of tourism have sparked fears of uncontrolled outbreaks in the Pacific.

The Pacific region is still the least-infected in the world – several countries remain Covid-19 free – but there are troubling surges across countries with fragile health systems ill-equipped for large numbers of infections.

Emerging too, is an early trend of ‘vaccine diplomacy’, with regional powers seeking to exert political influence through promises to help Pacific nations – otherwise likely at the back of the queue – secure access to a vaccine when one becomes available.

Tess Newton Cain and Bernadette Carreon report:

We mentioned India in our earlier blog coverage, but the issue of its easing restrictions – despite surging Covid-19 infection numbers – compels revisiting.

India is a prime example of the tension being felt by governments across the world: the competing imperatives protecting citizens’ health against the economic damage of widespread shutdowns.

And, as ever in the world’s largest democracy, this tension is being played out on massive scale.

AFP reports:

Indian authorities further eased coronavirus lockdown restrictions Saturday even as cases and deaths surged across the country.

India has the world’s fastest growing number of recorded cases, now at 3.5 million, and more than 62,000 pandemic deaths. It is currently the third worst hit country in the world behind the United States and Brazil.

But the government faces pressure to free up the economy as millions have lost jobs since nationwide restrictions were first imposed in March.

The home affairs ministry said that gatherings of up to 100 people would be allowed with face masks and social distancing at cultural, entertainment, sports and political events from next month.

Metro train services will also be allowed to resume “in a graded manner” in major cities.

The coronavirus has badly hit mega cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi, but is now surging in smaller cities and rural areas.

The new government guidelines ordered schools and colleges to remain closed but students can meet teachers on a voluntary basis on school premises if needed.

The government has resisted a mass campaign by students to postpone entrance exams for medical and engineering colleges due to be taken by about two million students next month.

Students say they fear catching the virus in exam halls across the country. Authorities say they are taking special measures for the exams.

The government also said individual states could not impose general lockdowns outside of areas that are considered ‘containment zones’ where clusters of cases have been reported. Several states have imposed tougher measures in recent weeks because of the rise in cases.

The main opposition Congress party has called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to set out a firm plan to stop the spread of the pandemic.

With more than 70,000 cases being added each day, experts say it could be many weeks before the pandemic peaks in the country of 1.3 billion people.

AFP is reporting from Rome:

Three Nigerian migrants attacked staff in a military hospital in Rome after testing positive for Covid-19, the defence ministry said Saturday.

The incident at the Celio military hospital, now turned into a COVID-19 treatment centre, occurred when they saw a Bangladeshi migrant walking out after testing negative and then tried to flee but were stopped.

They are accused of violence, resistance and causing bodily harm.

“The attacks at the military hospital are serious and unacceptable,” Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini said.

The incident was seized upon by Italy’s anti-immigration former interior minister Matteo Salvini who said the government was putting “Italy in danger”.

Migration has for years been a hot-button political issue in Italy, a main EU landing point for people crossing the Mediterranean and arriving in Sicily and sister island Lampedusa.

And in Victoria, Australia’s worst-affected state.

Victoria has recorded 114 new coronavirus cases and 11 more deaths.

The figures, confirmed by the department of health and human services on Sunday, bring the state’s toll from the virus to 524 and the national total to 611.

It follows 94 new cases on Saturday, which was the first day since July 5 that cases were in the double digits.

“Absolutely, this strategy is working,” premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Saturday.

“We’ve all just got to find a way to stay the course.”

Residents in the capital Melbourne are subject to another fortnight of strict stage four restrictions including an 8pm to 5am curfew and Andrews said the benefits from the first four weeks were starting to show.

Regional Victorians are under slightly less strict stage three restrictions for the same period.

Andrews was cautious about rushing to a return to normal, saying the path back to normality will be based on “science and data and evidence”.

One of the first issues to be addressed when restrictions ease could be people living alone who have gone weeks with little human interaction.

“We want to try and support them and indeed every Victorian, with a clear, dedicated, logical but also meaningful plan for opening up, but it is just a little too early,” Andrews said.

Restrictions across Melbourne are due to expire on 13 September but will be reduced gradually rather than removed completely.

Health officials have indicated that recommendations for face masks could remain in place for several more months.

Staying in Australia, the government in the northern state of Queensland has added more locations to a public health alert in the south-east.

The ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster, is reporting there are are now 120 locations under the alert, as identified by contact tracers.

The state reported another four cases yesterday and extended restrictions on gatherings to the Gold Coast.

No more than 10 people were allowed to gather in Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan or the Gold Coast without a Covid-19 safety plan.

The new rules will also come into effect in the Darling Downs from 8am Monday after health alerts were issued for the Southern Hotel and Queens’ Park Markets in Toowoomba.

All Saturday’s cases were linked to a correctional service training academy at Wacol, taking the corrective services cluster to 19 cases.

Good morning, day, afternoon, evening, wherever these words find you. Thanks to my colleagues around the world for their stewardship of the blog.

Ben Doherty here – inside – in a Sydney happily bathed in glorious late-winter sun. I’m with you for the next few hours. Comments and correspondence are, as ever, welcomed. You can reach me at ben.doherty@theguardian.com or by twitter @BenDohertyCorro

A summary of the latest developments:

• France reported 5,453 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday, and the health ministry described the situation as “worrying” following a spike the previous day when the country registered its highest number of cases since mid-March.
• The state of Victoria in Australia recorded 114 new cases of coronavirus and 11 new deaths.
• Brazil has registered another 758 coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 41,350 new cases, taking the nation’s death toll to 120,262 3,846,153 confirmed infections.
• Costa Rica’s government has requested $1.75bn (£1.31bn) in financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the nation’s economy has been reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.
• Thousands of Israelis demonstrated again on Saturday in Jerusalem, demanding the resignation of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces accusations of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.
• The former head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said countries across the world have been “selfish” in their handling of the pandemic.
• Authorities in Istanbul announced curbs on weddings and other ceremonies in Turkey’s largest city as the number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths hit their highest level nationwide in more than two months.
• India will reopen underground train networks and allow sports and religious events in a limited manner from next, despite soaring coronavirus infections.
• The infection rate in New York state has stayed below 1% for 22 consecutive days, governor Andrew Cuomo said.
• The UK recorded 1,108 new confirmed cases over the last 24 hours, the government said on Saturday, down slightly from the figure recorded on Friday.