Coronavirus live news: UK quarantines arrivals from Spain; global cases pass 16m

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House in the US, has tweeted this video on Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

A look at the impact the pandemic is having on the economy in Australia.

Texas governor Greg Abbott on the battle to contain the virus.

The Guardian’s technology writers around the world discuss the impact of the pandemic on the industry.

Lang Holland, the chief of police in tiny Marshall, Arkansas, believes the threat of the coronavirus has been overstated and only wears a face mask if he is inside a business that requires them.

He does not make his officers wear them either. So the day after Republican governor Asa Hutchinson signed an order requiring masks to be worn in public throughout Arkansas, Holland made it clear his department was not going to enforce the mandate in the Ozarks town of about 1,300, calling it an unconstitutional overreach.

“All I’m saying is if you want to wear a mask, you have the freedom to choose that,” said Holland. “It should not be dictated by the nanny state.”

Holland is among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas and elsewhere who say they will not enforce state-wide mask requirements even within their departments.

The pushback is concerning to health officials, who say a lack of enforcement could undermine what they say is a much-needed and simple step that can be taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“If people undermine that mandate, they undermine the public health benefits of masking in the setting of this pandemic, and that just doesnt make any sense to me,” said Dr Cam Patterson, the chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who had called for a statewide requirement.

More than half the states have issued orders to wear masks in most public settings, with virus cases and hospitalisations on the rise. Polling shows overwhelming public support for such requirements, and even President Donald Trump, who had long been dismissive of wearing masks, last week said it was patriotic to wear one.

Some reaction from British holidaymakers who have been in Spain.

One man from Liverpool who flew back to the UK today said a region-specific approach should have been adopted with the Spanish quarantine measures.

James Sloan, 34, said his family-of-five had been on holiday in Mojacar, more than 400 miles from the nearest Covid-19 outbreak in Barcelona.

He told the PA news agency: “When we flew out to Spain 10 days ago from Manchester there was an outbreak in Leicester, 100 miles away, but that wasn’t seen to be a problem.

“So why is it a problem when our nearest outbreak was 400 miles away from us in Spain?”

His wife works as a self-employed doctor and he said she will lose two weeks’ work while they quarantine. He is hoping to be able to work from home.

He said: “We knew the risk and we aren’t asking for sympathy, but if they are going to keep doing this, they need to think about a different approach because it is going to have a massive effect on people.”

Liz Samandi, 52, a business owner from Leicestershire is due to return from a family break in Majorca on Thursday.

She said it was “frustrating” that people already abroad had been given “no choice” in relation to the new rules.

“I just feel a bit angry as well actually that they’ve done this and not considered the people that are already here,” she added.

The health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Dr. Jesus Grajeda, has died nearly two weeks after being hospitalised with Covid-19.

“I have no words to express all my feelings in this moment, except for profound sadness,” Chihuahua governor Javier Corral wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning, adding that Grajeda had died of heart failure.

With more than 385,000 confirmed cases and nearly 43,500 deaths as of Saturday, Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest death toll from coronavirus.

Latin America is the region most impacted by the pandemic.

The UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps, who is currently in Spain, will have to self-isolate for 14 days upon his return.

Some 500 workers are in quarantine on a large Bavarian farm to contain a mass coronavirus outbreak, German officials said, as they announced free Covid-19 tests for local residents.

A total of 174 seasonal workers have tested positive for the virus since Friday, Werner Bumeder, the district administrator of Dingolfing-Landau, told a press conference.

Most of the seasonal employees come from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, he said, and had been working in close proximity harvesting cucumbers at the farm in the municipality of Mamming.

He stressed the cluster appeared to be limited to “a closed group of people” and had not yet spread to the wider population.

The farm’s 480 employees and managers are all in lockdown on-site, with those who have tested negative staying in separate accommodation from those known to be infected.

The farm itself has been closed off from the outside world with a security team monitoring the quarantine.

Bumeder said the outbreak showed that the farm “did not consistently implement” hygiene regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly virus.

One of the infected employees had to be hospitalised.

Bavarian Health Minister Melanie Huml said authorities were taking the outbreak “very seriously” and were racing to track down anyone who came into contact with the workers.

She said health officials would soon begin mass testing at other agricultural businesses in the region.

The UK has removed Spain from its list of safe countries to travel to after fears were raised that the European country was experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections.

It means those returning from the country will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return to the UK.

– When will holidaymakers have to self-isolate?

The measure came into effect from midnight on Saturday, meaning that from Sunday all returning travellers will have to quarantine themselves for 14 days.

It applies to people returning to any of the four nations of the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

– Why is it being brought in now?

The Government said the move follows a “significant change” over the last week in both the level and pace of change in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Spain. The country has reported more than 900 new daily infections for the past two days.

– What should people do if they are already in Spain?

People currently on holiday in Spain have been encouraged to follow the local rules, return home as normal and check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) travel advice pages on gov.uk for further information. The FCO is not advising those already travelling in Spain to leave. Abta – the UK’s travel trade association – has advised customers in the country to continue their holidays and return as normal.

– What should holidaymakers do if they have a trip to Spain booked?

The FCO is advising against all but essential travel to mainland Spain. Holiday operator Tui has said it will cancel all planned holidays to Spain in response to the announcement and customers will be contacted to discuss options. Abta has advised customers due to travel to the country imminently to contact their travel provider. Meanwhile, airline easyJet said it planned to operate its full schedule in the coming days.

– Does the quarantine apply if the holidaymaker has been to a Spanish island?

Quarantine measures will apply to those returning from mainland Spain, the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Graciosa) and the Balearic Islands, such as Majorca and Ibiza, the Department for Transport confirmed.

– What will happen with travel insurance?

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said it is “likely” that travel insurance will remain in place for holidaymakers already in Spain until they return home. However, those attempting to travel to countries against FCO advice would invalidate their travel insurance.

– What about employers whose employees have to go into quarantine?

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said no worker following quarantine guidance should be penalised by employers, including by being put onto sick pay. He said that if someone is following the law in relation to quarantine and self-isolating, “they can’t have penalties taken against them”.

Moderna Inc, an American biotechnology company, said on Sunday it has received an additional $472 million from the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support development of a coronavirus vaccine.

The firm said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 study of Moderna’s vaccine candidate.