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Monday 10 August 2020 20:27
Pubs may be forced to close in areas under local coronavirus lockdowns so that schools can remain open, Downing Street has said.
Boris Johnson has said the UK has a moral responsibility to get children back into the classroom.
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to Scottish exam students who were marked down “because of an algorithm”. She said: “In a very difficult and unprecedented situation, we took decisions that we thought on balance were the right ones.”
French hospitals see first rise in Covid-19 patients since lockdown
The French health ministry on Monday reported the first significant rise in the number of people in hospital due to the new coronavirus since the end of the country’s lockdown, reversing a trend seen since mid-April.
The ministry said the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 had increased by 34 to 5,045 compared with Friday.
It was the first significant increase since the number began falling steadily from a high of 32,292 on 14 April.
The number of people in intensive care also increased again, rising by 13 from Friday to 396.
US reports over 5,000,000 coronavirus cases
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 5,023,649 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 48,690 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 558 to 161,842.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as Covid-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on 9 August versus its previous report a day earlier.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Iran shuts newspaper after it quotes expert casting doubt on official coronavirus death toll
Iran has shut down a newspaper after it published comments by an expert challenging the government’s official figures for coronavirus cases and deaths in the country, Conrad Duncan reports.
The daily newspaper Jahane Sanat quoted Mohammad Reza Mahboobfar, an epidemiologist who the paper said had worked on Iran’s pandemic response, as saying the true number of Covid-19 cases and deaths could be 20 times higher than the number reported by the Health Ministry.
The expert said the virus had been detected in the country a month earlier than 19 February, when authorities reported the first confirmed case, but the announcement was held back.
He claimed authorities had withheld the information until after commemorations for the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and parliamentary elections earlier in February.
“The administration resorted to secrecy for political and security reasons,” he said, adding that officials only provided “engineered statistics” to the public.
Over 46,500 people have died in hospitals, care homes and wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in UK
The government said 46,526 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, as of 5pm on Sunday, including 21 reported in previous 24 hours.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,600 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The government also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Monday, there had been a further 816 lab-confirmed cases.
Overall, a total of 311,641 cases have been confirmed.
Brazil’s coronavirus death toll surpasses 100,000
Brazil’s coronavirus death toll has surpassed 100,000, with the country’s affliction showing no signs of abating as most cities reopen shops and restaurants, Andy Gregory reports.
The nation became the second in the world to reach the grim milestone by official counts, 10 weeks after the United States.
The virus, initially dismissed by president Jair Bolsonaro as a “little flu”, took three months to claim the lives of 50,000 people in Brazil, and just 50 days to kill the next 50,000.
More than three million infections have so far been identified in the country of 310 million inhabitants, with nearly 50,000 new cases registered in 24 hours on Saturday – although the true figures are likely far higher due to insufficient testing.
Brazil’s Supreme Court and Congress, both of which have criticised Mr Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, declared three and four days of national mourning for the 100,000 dead, respectively.
France records 785 new coronavirus cases, down from 2,288
The French health ministry said on Monday it had recorded 785 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, compared to 2,288 on Friday, but it gave no indication of the number of infections over the weekend.
It said that it had registered 10,800 new cases over the past week, but did not provide an updated number for the total cumulative number of coronavirus infections, which on Friday stood at 197,921.
The ministry said that over the past week, 10,800 new cases had been registered but it was not immediately clear what period this referred to and whether infections over the weekend were included in this total.
North Korea’s Red Cross sends thousands to tackle coronavirus and flooding disaster
North Korea‘s Red Cross has sent tens of thousands of people to help with efforts to prevent coronavirus outbreaks and to provide flood assistance in the country, Zoe Tidman reports.
No confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported nationally to date. However, strict quarantine measures have been put in place.
Heavy rain and flooding in recent days have also sparked concern about crop damage and food supplies in the isolated country.
More than 43,000 volunteers have been deployed to help areas with the pandemic and floods, according to an official with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Some are working with health teams on coronavirus prevention efforts, Antony Balmain said.
No further coronavirus deaths in Wales
There have been no further reported deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, health officials have said.
The total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remains at 1,579.
Public Health Wales said the total number of cases in the country increased by 12, bringing the revised total of confirmed cases to 17,463.
The pharmaceutical company Omeros Corp has said its experimental coronavirus treatment has helped six patients recover and get discharged from hospital, sending the drug developer’s shares up by 60 per cent.
The company said it was in talks with the US government for potential funding to speed up large-scale manufacturing for broader availability of the treatment, which is known as narsoplimab.
Omeros said all six patients had underlying conditions and needed mechanical ventilation before treatment.
The small study was done in Italy’s Bergamo, the initial epicentre of the outbreak in Europe, under a compassionate use programme following requests from doctors at the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital.
Narsoplimab is a human monoclonal antibody that targets damage to endothelial cells, which serves as a general marker of both Covid-19 and recovery.
NHS Test and Trace system to reduce national contact tracers by 6,000
The number of national NHS contact tracers will be reduced by a third as part of plans to give greater powers to local authorities to manage coronavirus outbreaks.
In an overhaul of the Test and Trace programme, once described as “world-beating”, the government said it would cut the national team from 18,000 to 12,000 by 24 August.
The change follows criticism over the effectiveness of the national centralised system and its failure to take advantage of local knowledge for tackling outbreaks in England.
Our political correspondent,
Ashley Cowburn, has the full story below:
Football fans in Germany to be banned from stadiums until at least October
A ban on football fans attending stadiums for Bundesliga matches will be extended until at least the end of October due to coronavirus, according to a source for Reuters.
“We need to stay vigilant. In the current situation, spectators in the stadiums would be the wrong signal,” Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, said in a tweet.
Mr Spahn pointed to a rising number of new cases in recent days and warned against taking any avoidable risks which could further increase the infection rate.
The Bundesliga season was the first European league to restart in mid-May after a suspension of more than two months.
Government reports 816 new UK coronavirus cases
A further 816 people in the UK have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24-hour period, according to government figures.
The Department of Health and Social Care reported 76 positive cases from lab and NHS hospital testing (pillar 1) and 740 positive cases from testing in the wider population (pillar 2) on Monday.
Although the government has stopped publicising daily death figures, the
official coronavirus dashboard showed eight additional deaths reported on Monday.
A full breakdown of the daily testing figures can be found below:
Home visits could be used to trace coronavirus contacts
Local authorities may soon be able to visit the homes of people who have been in contact with confirmed coronavirus cases if tracers are unable to reach them over the phone.
Health officials have announced plans to strengthen regional test and trace powers in England, including powers for local authorities to carry out home visits under pilot schemes.
Following criticism of the national system, NHS Test and Trace will provide local authorities across England with a dedicated team of contact tracers for local areas.
If the national team cannot make contact with a person in a set amount of time, local public health officials will be allowed to use data provided by the service to follow up.
“We have always been clear that NHS Test and Trace must be local by default and that we do not operate alone – we work with and through partners across the country,” Baroness Dido Harding, executive chair of NHS Test and Trace, said in a statement.
“As we learn more about the spread of the disease, we are able to move to our planned next step and become even more effective in tackling the virus.”
She added: “After successful trials in a small number of local areas, I am very pleased to announce that we are now offering this integrated localised approach to all local authorities to ensure we can reach more people in their communities and stop the spread of Covid-19.”
Coronavirus reproduction rate in Denmark rises to 1.4
Denmark has seen a new spread of Covid-19 infections in the past week with the reproduction rate rising to 1.4, the country’s health minister said on Monday.
“The virus is moving through our society once again,” Magnus Heunicke told reporters.
In the past week, infections have been confirmed in 67 out of Denmark’s 98 municipalities. The country’s second biggest city Aarhus had the biggest number of new infections.
Last week, the Danish Health Ministry said it would not raise a limit on public gatherings, originally planned for this month, after seeing a spike in Covid-19 infections.
Thai nursery pupils forced to play in individual screened-off areas
Students at a nursery in Thailand can be seen playing separately in small screened-off play areas in a series of remarkable new photos, Rory Sullivan reports.
The images, which were taken on Monday, show the level of health precautions taken by the Wat Khlong Toey School in Bangkok, which welcomed its 250 students back to the classroom in July.
The kindergarten had been closed since mid-March after authorities in Thailand issued a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.
As well as setting up enclosed play areas, the school has set up plastic screens around the students’ desks and has marked out socially-distanced boxes on the floor for pupils to stand in.
There are also now temperature scanners in the nursery’s entrance, with soap dispensers located outside each classroom.
Six more die after testing positive for coronavirus in hospitals in England
A further six people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,419, NHS England said on Monday.
The patients were aged between 65 and 93 and all had known underlying health conditions.
No deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
The region with the highest number of deaths was the South East with four.
There were also two deaths in the North East and Yorkshire but all other regions of England recorded no deaths for the same time period, including the North West, where local lockdown measures are in place around Greater Manchester.
Greece imposes border restrictions
Visitors to Greece arriving from Sweden, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic must soon prove they have tested negative for Covid-19 to gain entry, the government said on Monday.
ightening controls after a recent spike in infections, the government said the requirement would come into force on 17 August.
Using lockdown to help hockey’s next generation
Hannah Martin has been getting up to all sorts in lockdown but reckons a blast from her Ipswich School past tops the lot, writes Will Jennings.
The Great Britain hockey ace has spent the lay-off disseminating expertise to current students at her old school via Zoom, also playing a key role in the Women’s Sport Trust’s ‘Unlocked’ campaign and helping Flyerz Hockey keep active.
Holbrook-based Martin spent the majority of lockdown in Addington with her boyfriend, Sam, staying fit through a hybrid of picturesque bike rides through the Yorkshire Dales and pounding the pavements in the White Rose county.
Irish meat plant suspends operations
Co Offaly meat processing plant Carroll Cuisine is suspending operations as a way of contributing to efforts to control the spike of Covid-19 cases in the Midlands.
In a statement, Kieran Carolan, chief executive of Carroll Cuisine, said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of all our people and our wider communities is an absolute priority for us at all times.
“We have been working closely and co-operatively with the HSE and, while positive case levels among our staff are low, we believe that the best approach is to take this break in operations over the days ahead until we can evaluate the results of comprehensive tests which were undertaken for our staff on a precautionary basis yesterday in co-operation with the HSE.
“Through the independent testing that we also conducted and completed last week, a total of nine employees from our workforce of 330 to date have had positive tests for Covid-19 and are self-isolating.”
Face-masks now mandatory in parts of Paris
Parisians and visitors to the French capital now face a £31 fine if they are caught without a face mask in certain popular areas.
One location covered by the measure is the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin, among the city’s most popular outdoor spots for lunch .
Wearing a face mask outdoors also is required at the city’s open-air markets, at popular tourist sites like Notre Dame Cathedral and Montmartre district neighborhoods, on several typically crowded streets and in parts of the Paris suburbs, authorities said.
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