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Saturday 25 July 2020 16:34
Follow the latest updates from the pandemic
Hospital patients and staff will soon be able to find out if they have coronavirus within just one hour under a rapid testing programme being developed by the government.
The tests, which detect the virus from a non-invasive nostril swap, could be vital for restarting NHS services, allowing patients and staff to be quickly assessed prior to surgery or other health care procedures.
The development came as almost 40 countries reported record daily increases in Covid-19 cases over the past week, with the pandemic gathering pace in every global region amid fears of a second wave of infections.
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Catalonia has become the latest region in Spain to crack down on nightlife in an attempt to prevent new coronavirus infection clusters.
The northeast region, which is home to Barcelona, ordered all nightclubs to close for 15 days and put a midnight curfew on bars in the greater Barcelona area and other towns around the city of Lleida – a contagion hotspot.
Spain has reported over 900 new daily infections for the last two days amid fears that the country could be facing the start of a second major outbreak.
A further 767 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK in the last 24-hour period, according to government statistics.
Of these cases, 172 were recorded in labs and NHS hospitals, while 595 were recorded in the wider community.
Although the government has paused its publication of daily deaths while it reviews reporting methods, its data page showed 61 additional deaths on Saturday.
A breakdown of the testing figures can be found below:
The number of people hospitalised with coronavirus in New York has continued to drop to its lowest levels since the pandemic began, the state’s governor has said.
Andrew Cuomo said there were at least 646 people hospitalised in the state on Friday, a new low since 18 March and down slightly from the previous day.
Daily statewide statistics showed New York had more than 750 newly confirmed cases on Saturday, representing about 1 per cent of all tests performed.
However, the true number of cases is likely to be higher as people who are infected but asymptomatic may not have been tested.
New York, once the pandemic’s epicentre, has so far avoided a surge in new cases like those plaguing other states in the South and West.
Mr Cuomo has repeatedly warned New Yorkers that the state could be at risk again if they abandon social distancing, face coverings and other practices adopted to stop the spread of the virus.
India has begun its first human trials for a coronavirus vaccine candidate after recording nearly 49,000 new cases in one day.
The additional infections took India’s total cases to more than 1.3 million on Saturday, with surges seen in a quarter of the country’s 36 states and union territories.
India has also reported 31,358 deaths, including 757 in the last 24 hours – a much lower death rate than the world’s two other worst-hit countries, the US and Brazil.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a teaching hospital in the capital of New Delhi, said it had administered the first dose of a trial Covid-19 vaccine on Friday.
The candidate vaccine, Covaxin, is among nearly two dozen that are in human trials around the world. AIIMS is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research for conducting the two-phase randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of Covaxin.
A German cruise ship has set sail for the first time since the industry was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, with strict precautions for passengers and crew on board.
The TUI cruise ship “Mein Schiff 2” set sail for a weekend cruise in the North Sea on Friday night, the dpa news agency reported.
Occupancy has been limited to 60 per cent so people can keep their distance, with passengers and crew required to stay 1.5 metres (5ft) away from each other or wear protective masks.
Passengers will also not serve themselves at the ship’s buffet.
The ship has sailed from the port of Hamburg towards Norway and passengers will spend the weekend at sea with no land stops before returning to Germany on Monday.
All passengers filled out a health questionnaire before boarding and had temperature checks.
Thousands of Filipinos have been crammed into a baseball stadium, breaking social distancing rules, after people wanting to return to their home provinces flooded a government transportation programme.
Officials had reserved the stadium as a place to test people before transporting them back to their home provinces as part of a programme to help those who had lost their jobs in the capital to return to their families.
Despite planning for 7,500 people to arrive at the stadium from Friday, officials were caught out when another 2,000 people arrived there.
You can find the full story below:
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has said he has tested negative for coronavirus on his fourth test since he was found to have caught Covid-19 on 7 July.
“Good morning everyone,” Mr Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter after reporting that his test was negative.
The far-right leader did not say when he did the new test but he had tested positive for a third time on Wednesday.
Mr Bolsonaro also posted a photo of himself with a box of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine – which he claimed helped to treat his infection, despite scientific evidence indicating it is ineffective against coronavirus.
The Brazilian president had spent many weekends since the beginning of the pandemic mingling with supporters, sometimes without wearing a mask, even as infections soared in his country.
According to the Brazilian government, there was a total of 85,238 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 2.3 million confirmed cases in the country on Friday – although the true number of cases is thought to be much higher.
Scotland has reported no new coronavirus deaths for the ninth day in a row, government figures have shown.
The data, released on Saturday, showed 27 people tested positive for the virus over the last 24-hour period, taking the number of cases to 18,547 since the start of the pandemic.
Two people with coronavirus were in intensive care on Friday night.
The latest figures showed a continued suppression of Covid-19 in Scotland, which will need to be maintained if the regional government is to give the go-ahead for schools to return in August.
Both first minister Nicola Sturgeon and education secretary John Swinney have said that the return of pupils to classrooms will only happen if the virus continues to stay at low levels.
A final decision on schooling is set to take place at the end of next week.
Germany may introduce compulsory coronavirus testing for holidaymakers returning from high-risk destinations, its health minister has said, after the number of new infections in the country hit a two-month high.
Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, told Deutschlandfunk radio that the government wanted to do everything possible to stem the spread of the virus while also respecting people’s basic rights.
“We are also checking whether it is legally possible to oblige someone to do a test, because it would be an encroachment on freedom,” Mr Spahn said.
The minister added that the courts were examining all coronavirus measures to ensure they are proportionate in light of their impact on basic rights.
Mr Spahn and his regional counterparts in Germany’s federal states agreed on Friday that authorities would offer returning holidaymakers free tests on a voluntary basis.
Arrivals from countries designated as high-risk – such as the United States, Brazil and Turkey – will be eligible for immediate tests, while arrivals from other places will be able to get tested within three days.
The number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases increased sharply on Friday to 815, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said – the biggest daily total since mid-May.
The UK could be facing a collapse of its health and leisure infrastructure due to the impact of the coronavirus lockdown, even as pools and gyms have been allowed to reopen for the first time since March on Saturday.
Swim England warned earlier today that only about 20 per cent of pools in England would be opening, with thousands potentially shutting for good if the government does not intervene.
Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England, said that even before the pandemic struck 40 per cent of the country’s ageing pool stock was facing closure before the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, Community Leisure UK, the members’ association that specialises in representing charitable leisure and culture trusts across England, Scotland and Wales, has estimated as many as 1,300 public leisure facilities could disappear by the end of the year, along with more than 58,000 jobs.
Olivia Petter, has some details below on the scenes at gyms, which have reopened for the first time since March today across in England:
Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister has said that wearing face masks is the new “shopping look” in a bid to encourage the public to wear coverings in stores.
Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, posted a picture of herself on Twitter wearing a red mask while shopping on Friday.
It came after Stormont’s health minister said he was “unconvinced” that enough people would wear face coverings in shops without being forced.
The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed to make the measure mandatory by 20 August if 70-80 per cent of shoppers do not comply voluntarily.
A public information campaign to encourage the use of face coverings will be launched.
Health minister Robin Swann said: “I remain unconvinced that the necessary level of compliance will be achieved without some element of enforcement.
“That said, I would be delighted to be proved wrong on that front.
“The onus is on everyone on all of the sides of the debate to work together to achieve our shared objective.”
The prime minister told the BBC that the global pandemic was poorly understood in its early stages.
When asked whether lockdown had come too late, Mr Johnson said: “When you listen to the scientists, the questions that you’ve just asked are actually very open questions as far as they are concerned.”
Our Whitehall editor, Kate Devlin, has the full story below:
France’s coronavirus infection rate has continued a worrying upward creep, with health authorities warning the reproduction (R) rate is now up to 1.3 – clearly above the recommended 1.0 or lower level.
Daily cases have also increased, up to 1,130 on Friday.
In their daily statement, health authorities warned that the country was going backwards in its battle against Covid-19 and infection indicators now resembled those seen in May.
“We have thus erased much of the progress that we’d achieved in the first weeks of lockdown-easing,” health authorities said.
They appealed for a return to “collective discipline”, asking for people to work from home and get tested if they have any suspicions of infection.
Our columnist, James Moore, has called for fines to be used against those who refuse to wear masks in shops, arguing the order is “no more of an imposition” than being told to wear a seatbelt.
James writes:
“The mass wearing of masks could play an important role in containing the spread of a virus which is still with us and has shown a disturbing tendency to roar back even in places where they’ve done a far better job of handling the pandemic than Johnson’s tin pot administration.
“When you don a mask, you’re protecting others as much as yourself. They’re a very visible symbol of safety and that matters.”
You can find his full piece below:
Peter Topping is one of the gym-goers who queued outside their local facility this morning, keen to get back to fitness.
“We were queuing outside for just a few minutes, and the staff briefed people while we were waiting,” Mr Topping told the PA news agency.
“It was brilliant to be back, but hard work after four months off.”
He said the Wentworth gym in Hexham had managed social distancing well, with a separate entrance and exit and other social distancing measures in place.
Malaysia has said a November summit of leaders from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations could still go ahead in its capital, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
New Zealand, which is hosting next year’s APEC summit, has already said it will use virtual platforms to conduct the meeting due to travel restrictions and uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
On Saturday, Mohamed Azmin Ali, Malaysia’s trade minister, said the government had not cancelled the meeting of 21 leaders which is due to be held in November, even though meetings of other officials will be held virtually.
“The cabinet has also agreed not to rule out a format that would involve physical meeting arrangements for the APEC economic leaders’ meetings,” he told an online news conference following talks with fellow trade ministers from the bloc.
Malaysia was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to impose strict lockdown measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Ukraine has reported 1,106 new cases of Covid-19 within the last 24 hour period, the country’s highest daily toll since a record was set on 26 June, a health minister has said.
The sharp increase in new infections came after a gradual lifting of restrictions which began in late-May.
Maksym Stepanov, Ukraine’s health minister, said 205 people had been admitted to hospitals in the last 24 hours.
“It means their lives are under threat and we have to understand that this disease is very serious,” he told an online briefing.
Mr Stepanov has appealed to people to stick to rules aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.
Ukraine’s total number of cases now stands at 63,929, with 1,590 deaths.
Ireland has recorded its lowest number of Covid-19 patients in hospital since the peak of its epidemic, the head of the Health Service Executive has said.
Paul Reid said there were 10 confirmed positive cases in hospital on Saturday, with five patients with Covid-19 receiving treatment in intensive care.
The figures showed a 96 per cent drop from a peak of 140 people in intensive care in April.
“Our thoughts with everyone for a full recovery,” Mr Reid tweeted.
On Friday, health authorities were notified of another 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases but no new deaths.
Hospital patients and staff will soon be able to find out if they have Covid-19 within just one hour under a rapid nationwide testing programme being developed by the government.
Up to 20,000 small, handheld testing devices which can process a sample on-site and detect the virus from a non-invasive nostril swap have been ordered by the government,
The tests are thought to be vital for restarting NHS services, allowing patients and staff to be quickly assessed prior to surgery or other health care procedures.
Our reporter, Samuel Lovett, has more on this story below:
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