Coronavirus live news: Russia records highest daily fatalities; German football prepares to restart

Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday ordered a cessation of movement between the country and neighbouring Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. He exempted cargo trucks but said drivers would have to be tested for the disease.

Iran reported 35 new deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday – the lowest number since 7 March despite infections rising –and announced a further relaxation of Covid-19 closures.

“Despite the unfortunate loss of 35 of our compatriots in the past 24 hours, this number is the lowest in the past 70 days,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

The new deaths brought the overall toll to 6,937, he added.

But in an ominous sign, Iran on Friday reported its highest number of new infections in more than a month.

“We are in no way in a normal situation yet,” Jahanpour said.

He said 1,757 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed across Iran in the 24 hours to Saturday, bringing the overall total to 118,392.

Austria’s borders with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary will fully reopen on 15 June, the interior ministry said on Saturday, extending an easing of eastern border controls previously agreed with many of its neighbours to the west.

The announcement follows a previously coordinated step to fully remove barriers on travel between Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 15 Juneonwards and ease restrictions on who is allowed transit in the meantime. Restrictions remain in place for transit from Italy.

“Our goal is to have as much freedom as possible and as few restrictions as necessary,” the country’s interior, foreign and Europe ministers said in a joint statement. “These easings create a bit more normality for people in the border region and make it easier for commuters to lead a smoother everyday life.”

The European Union on Wednesday pushed to reopen internal borders and restart travel, but recommended Europe’s external borders remain closed for most travel at least until mid-June.

My colleague Sarah Marsh will be at the helm for the next hour while I take a lunch break.

If you’re on lockdown, wherever you are, solace can be taken in nature. Lucy Jones writes on the comfort we can take by being curious about our surroundings.

Our lives are made from the things we pay attention to. Slowing down and observing – these are radical things to do in our accelerated age. It is only by being in lockdown that I have seen new treasures that I’d previously have overlooked: the bright pink cones of the larch tree, blankets of blue speedwell, neon red velvet mites. The more we pay attention, the more we see.

The senses can help us notice more. I have heard a cuckoo twice this last week for the first time since childhood, in two different spots. It must be a combination of fewer aircraft and cars, and a craving and alertness for as much life as possible during that precious time outside.

The German finance minister, Olaf Scholz, is working on an aid package worth €57bn to help municipalities cope with plunging tax revenues caused by the coronavirus crisis, shows a ministry document.

Scholz’s aid package aims to help cities and towns stabilise their finances, according to the finance ministry document seen by Reuters. The plan also contemplates extra relief for some heavily indebted municipalities.

“This protective shield should not only bring cities and municipalities through the current difficult situation, but also enable them to do their job even better,” Scholz was quoted as saying in the strategy paper.

The federal government wants the 16 state governments to shoulder half of the costs, with parliament expected to approve the plan before the end of this year, the document said. Under Germany’s federal system, local authorities are in charge of a large chunk of public investments such as building roads and bridges as well as modernising schools and hospitals.

Scholz is expected to present further details of his plan later today. He said earlier this week that plunging tax revenues would not stop the government from unleashing another fiscal stimulus package next month and that the measures should include emergency aid for struggling municipalities.

In March, the German parliament suspended a debt brake and approved an initial rescue package worth more than €750bn to help the economy cope with the fallout of the pandemic. The first package already included a debt-financed supplementary budget of €156bn.

Qatar’s number of coronavirus infections topped 30,000 on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally based on official figures. The health ministry reported 1,547 new cases on Saturday, according to the state-run Qatar News Agency. That took the cumulative total to 30,972, according to the Reuters count. So far the country has recorded 14 deaths attributable to Covid-19.

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, found out there are no exceptions when it comes to physical distancing after she was initially turned away from a cafe because it was too full under coronavirus guidelines.

Mattha Busby has more:

The Covid-19 pandemic is causing major issues in Latin American prisons, with inmates rioting for better protection. We have a report from Clavel Rangel, Joe Parkin Daniels and Tom Phillips.

“I thought the death penalty was illegal in Colombia but we’re all on death row now,” said the man, who gave his name as Nelson and said he was one of 12 inmates in a cell designed for four.

Villavicencio’s prison has become the centre of Colombia’s Covid-19 outbreak, reporting nearly 900 cases – over 7% of the country’s confirmed total. Images circulating on social media show harrowing scenes inside, with dozens of inmates crammed into tight spaces, often without face masks. In late April, authorities discovered a tunnel dug by inmates desperate to escape the infection-ridden prison.

“This virus is spreading like crazy. Someone help us. We’re going to die here,” Nelson said by phone.

Read it in full here:

• A nine-year-old child from Marseille, France, is reported to have died of Kawasaki disease, the rare inflammatory disorder which has been linked to Covid-19. The boy is the first victim of the disorder in France and the second in Europe after a teenager died in London last week. Although Kawasaki disease is said to mainly affect children under five, those diagnosed in France are aged from one to 14. About 230 suspected cases have been reported across Europe.
• Afghanistan’s health ministry has warned of a surge in deaths if the country’s lockdown is not adhered to. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 reached 6,402 amid war raging on across the country. “If people continue to not heed, we will witness a big catastrophe among families,” said Wahid Majroh, the deputy health minister.
• Russia has recorded its highest daily Covid-19 death toll. The country reported 9,200 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Saturday, with 119 deaths over the last 24 hours. The latter figure is the highest daily figure of deaths the country has recorded so far.
• Burundi is pushing on with plans to hold a controversial election on Wednesday despite concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic. It could be the first truly peaceful transfer of authority in the east African nation since independence in 1962.
• The Trump administration has fired the state department’s inspector general, Steve Linick. He is reported to have been investigating the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, for a potential abuse of office.
• Spain has reported lowest rise in Covid-19 deaths since mid-March. Spain’s overnight death toll from Covid-19 was 102 on Saturday, the health ministry has said, marking the country’s lowest 24-hour rise in eight weeks.

Spain’s overnight death toll from Covid-19 was 102 on Saturday, the health ministry has said, marking the country’s lowest 24-hour rise since mid-March. The cumulative death toll rose to 27,563. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 230,698 on Saturday from 230,183 on Friday.

If you are just joining the blog, remember you can email me at nick.ames@theguardian.com or send a direct message @NickAmes82 if you have any tips, observations or feedback.

At least 25 migrant workers have been killed after a truck they were packed into hit another vehicle in northern India during a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

The pre-dawn accident in Uttar Pradesh state was the latest involving some of the millions of migrants left stranded and jobless by the seven-week shutdown, AFP reports.

Scores have died in road and rail accidents and even from exhaustion walking home. The vehicle, carrying about 40 men, women and children, struck another truck also carrying labourers and their families that was parked at a roadside cafe in Auraiya district, local magistrate Abishek Singh said.

The dead were all men, but women and children were among about 30 injured, Singh said. He said the driver of the truck was suspected to have fallen asleep.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, called the accident “extremely tragic” in a Twitter post. He said relief work was in “full swing” at the scene.

Many businesses shut down overnight after the government-imposed lockdown began on 25 March, leaving millions of migrant workers destitute.

Desperate to return to their home states, many have walked hundreds of kilometres or hitched rides on trucks. More than a dozen labourers were killed earlier this month when a train ran over them as they slept on a railway track. Many others have been killed in road accidents. The lockdown is due to be eased from Monday.

Talking of sport, Germany’s Bundesliga restarts in about three hours and 40 minutes. It’s a big topic that cuts right across the board of Covid-19 issues – is it safe, is it moral, is it economically necessary, does it give a green light for top-level sport of all kinds to return globally? Later on I’ll direct you to our live coverage, but for now this is a good primer from Andy Brassell: