Global cases pass 25m – as it happened

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30 Aug 202018.55 EDT

Summary

Jedidajah Otte

Here the latest key developments at a glance:

• Coronavirus cases in Colombia surpassed 600,000 on Sunday as deaths from the virus approach 19,400, ahead of the end to more than five months of lockdown.
• Brazil registered 566 additional coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours and 16,158 new cases, the health ministry said on Sunday evening.
• The UK recorded 1,715 daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, the highest level since 4 June.
• Not all classrooms in France can safely reopen on Tuesday, the country’s education minister acknowledged on Sunday, as a persistent rise in coronavirus infections jeopardises the government’s push to get 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class this week.
• Jordan reported 73 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak, bringing its total infections to 1,966, with 15 deaths.
• Piers Corbyn, the brother of former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has become one of the first people in the country to receive a £10,000 fine under new coronavirus laws restricting public gatherings of more than 30 people.
• Ghana will reopen air borders to international travel from 1 September after closing them in March to limit the spread of the virus.
• New York state governor Andrew Cuomo harshly criticised US president Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic on Sunday, and accused his administration of being “still in denial mode”.

That’s all from me, my colleague Alison Rourke will take over shortly.

Brazil registered 566 additional coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours and 16,158 new cases, the health ministry said on Sunday evening.

The nation has now registered 120,828 deaths attributed to coronavirus and 3,862,311 confirmed cases.

Sundays tend to have relatively low coronavirus numbers in Brazil because of delays in testing by the nation’s state governments, Reuters reports.

Coronavirus cases in Colombia surpassed 600,000 on Sunday as deaths from the virus approach 19,400, ahead of the end to more than five months of lockdown.

The Andean country has 607,938 confirmed cases of the virus according to the health ministry, with 19,364 reported deaths. Active cases number 136,702, Reuters reports.

President Ivan Duque declared a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the virus in late March.

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The measure will end on Monday when the country begins a month-long “selective” quarantine.

Many sectors have already gradually reopened. Under the new measures restaurants can function at 25% capacity but large events such as concerts remain banned.

Intensive care units in Bogota are at about 73% capacity, according to local health authorities. The capital is home to more than a third of Colombia’s cases.

Piers Corbyn, the brother of Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the UK’s Labour party, has become one of the first people to receive a £10,000 fixed penalty under new coronavirus laws restricting public gatherings of more than 30 people.

The weather forecaster and climate change denier was arrested and fined for his part in organising Saturday’s demonstration in central London against lockdown restrictions.

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The 73-year-old said he was arrested on the stage set up in Trafalgar Square at the end of the event, while protesters marched off down Whitehall.

My colleague Damien Gayle has more.

Ghana will reopen air borders to international travel as of 1 September after closing them in March to limit the spread of the coronavirus, president Nana Akufo-Addo said in a speech to the nation on Sunday.

Land and sea borders will remain closed, he said.

According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, Ghana has so far recorded 44,205 infections, and 276 deaths.

United Airlines said on Sunday it is permanently eliminating change fees on tickets for US travel effective immediately, the latest effort by a US airline to try to stimulate bookings hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Chicago-based United is among the major US airlines that began implementing temporary waivers of change fees this year to give passengers more flexibility with their travel plans given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

Now it is making the policy permanent for all standard Economy and Premium cabin tickets and also applying it to any ticket already booked through the end of the year.

The standard change fee – charged to passengers who change their tickets – for domestic flights was $200.

In a video message to customers, chief executive Scott Kirby said getting rid of fees is often a top request from passengers.

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The move matches Southwest Airlines’ long-standing policy of not charging fees for ticket changes, Reuters reports.

Rivals American Airlines and Delta Air Lines traditionally do charge for changes.

Along with United, they were booking record revenues before the pandemic crushed demand, thanks largely to fees for things like checking luggage or choosing a seat.

In another change, beginning 1 January, United will allow customers to list for stand-by for free on a different flight on the same day of travel with the same departure and arrival cities if a seat is available.

Jordan reported 73 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak, the health ministry said.

The country’s total number of confirmed infections now stands at 1,966, with 15 deaths, since the first case surfaced in early March, according to the health ministry.

Jordan has seen a jump in daily numbers over the last 10 days, prompting authorities to toughen a nationwide overnight curfew, which now starts at 11pm rather than 1am, and to introduce a one-day lockdown in the capital Amman on Friday.

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Officials have also delayed the resumption of regular commercial flights from Alia international airport, which was expected to happen this month, hampering prospects of a rapid recovery for its debt-burdened economy.

Prime minister Omar al Razzaz said on Sunday that, while the government would continue to take specific moves when necessary to curb the spread of Covid-19 by isolating certain districts and cities, it did not envisage a return to the sweeping lockdown that stifled the economy.

The government sealed its border crossing with Syria earlier this month following a Covid-19 outbreak involving truck drivers arriving from its northern neighbour, Reuters reports.

Police broke up an overnight illegal rave in a forest in eastern England on Sunday, days after the British government introduced tougher measures to target “serious breaches” of Covid-19 restrictions, including £10,000 ($13,000) fines.

Dozens of officers, some holding protective shields, faced off with the revellers in Thetford Forest but despite a few scuffles, the party was largely dispersed peacefully.

There did not appear to have been any arrests and the police dismantled the sound system.

Before a three-day bank holiday weekend, the government had said “those facilitating or organising illegal raves, unlicensed music events, or any other unlawful gathering of more than 30 people may face a 10,000-pound fine”.

“I understand people shouldn’t gather in groups of above 30 but people are itching to socialise and have a night out,” said one reveller who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“People don’t want violence,” the man added.

“We’ve come here to socialise and then clear up after ourselves.”

The police have had to break up several illegal raves in other parts of England as the government tries to balance opening up the economy by loosening restrictions on socialising with protecting the public’s health.

Not all classrooms in France can safely reopen on Tuesday, the country’s education minister acknowledged on Sunday, as a persistent rise in coronavirus infections jeopardises the government’s push to get 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class this week.

Like many governments around the world, including the UK, France wants to reopen all schools on Tuesday to reduce the learning gaps between rich and poor students that were worsened by the virus lockdown this spring, and to get parents back to work and revive the ailing economy, the Associated Press reports.

With several thousand new infections now reported in France every day, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the education minister, told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that some classes will remain closed when the nationwide reopening begins on Tuesday, but as few as possible.

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With less than 48 hours to go before the first French school bells ring, he said openings and closures were being decided by a day-by-day analysis based on the health situation of each territory.

French doctors published an appeal on Saturday saying that the government’s anti-virus measures for schools are not strict enough.

They urged masks for children as young as six and a mix of online and in-person schooling.

Currently, French schools are set to resume largely as normal, but with masks required all day for everyone 11 and over and some restrictions on movements and gatherings.

In contrast, other European countries like Denmark and many school districts in the US are undergoing a full school day revamp that includes smaller classes, more teachers, more separation between students and classes and a mix of in-class and online learning.

Mexican airline Interjet said on Sunday it will increase the number of routes and frequency of its domestic flights starting in September, including boosting travel options to the country’s northern states and popular tourist destinations.

Interjet, one of Mexico’s three biggest airlines with a portfolio of more than 50 routes, said it will enforce health and safety measures and also offer its passengers free rapid Covid-19 tests and N95 masks.

In July, Interjet received a $150m (£112m) capital injection to help it through a major restructuring in a bid to offset the crisis in the airline sector as the coronavirus pandemic choked global travel.

The number of deaths in the US caused by coronavirus rose by 1,006 to 182,149 people, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Sunday.

The CDC reported 44,292 new infections as of 4pm ET on Sunday versus its previous report a day earlier, bringing the countries total number of confirmed cases to 5,934,824.

The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

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France reported 5,413 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday, slightly down from the 5,453 recorded on Saturday.

The health ministry said the cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths rose to 30,606 from 30,602 reported on Saturday.

The number of people in hospital with the disease was 4,535 versus 4,530 the day before and the number in intensive care rose to 402 from 400.

“In mainland France, the progression of the Covid-19 epidemic is exponential. The strong growth dynamics of transmission is very worrying.” the ministry said in a statement.

A fishing boat carrying nearly 370 migrants landed overnight on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the country’s news agencies said on Sunday, fuelling anger from local officials over a recent rise in illegal arrivals, AFP reports.

Italy has been struggling in recent months with daily arrivals of hundreds of migrants leaving from North Africa to its southern shores, a task complicated by security measures imposed by the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Local Lampedusa mayor Toto Martello called for a general strike on the island from Monday to protest the national government’s “frightening silence” on the issue.

“Lampedusa can no longer cope with this situation. Either the government takes immediate decisions or the whole island will go on strike,” Martello told ANSA news agency.

“We can’t manage the emergency and the situation is now really unsustainable.”

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The boat carrying 367 people, which was in danger of sinking due to high winds, was escorted by the Italian coast guard and police to the island’s port, ANSA news agency said.

Those onboard included 13 women and 33 minors.

They were met at the port by a demonstration organised by the far-right, anti-immigrant League party.

The migrants, whose nationalities were not known, underwent temperature checks before they were taken to an emergency reception centre on the island which now houses some 1,160 people, ten times its planned maximum capacity, Martello told ANSA.

About 30 other small boats, mostly from the Tunisian coast, had already reached the island since Friday carrying a total of around 500 migrants, the Italian press reported.

Nello Musumeci, the right-leaning leader of sister island Sicily, wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he would ask the government for a meeting on the “humanitarian and health crisis”.

“Lampedusa can’t do it anymore. Sicily cannot continue to pay for the indifference of Brussels and the silence of Rome,” he wrote.

Musumeci issued a decree last week ordering the closure of migrant centres in Sicily to curb the spread of coronavirus, a move that was rejected by the Italian courts.

More than 1,000 people have been tested for Covid-19 following an outbreak being linked to a bingo night in Staffordshire, England.

There are 16 known cases linked to the event at Silverdale Working Men’s Club on 16 August, according to Staffordshire County Council.

It said anyone who tests positive is being told to self-isolate, while the contacts of those who test positive are being traced.

As part of the council’s test and trace efforts, it is urging anyone who visited certain venues in Silverdale or Newcastle on specific dates to get tested as soon as possible.

The venues are:
- Silverdale Working Men’s Club between 16 and 21 August
- The Bush pub between 20 and 22 August
- The Vine pub between 20 and 23 August
- The George and Dragon pub between 20 and 22 August
- Newcastle (King Street) Working Men’s Club on 22 August
- The Kiln on 22 August
- The Crown on 22 August
- Yates in Newcastle on 22 August
- The Roebuck pub on 23 August
- The Bilash restaurant on 24 August
- The Arnold Machin between 26 and 27
- The Westbury Tavern in Clayton between 26 and 27 August

Staffordshire County Council said testing continues over the bank holiday, with appointments available online or by turning up at a mobile testing unit in Knutton or walk-through centre in Newcastle.

All of the venues listed have carried out risk assessments and, with measures in place, can continue to open and welcome customers, the council added, PA reports.

Dr Richard Harling, director of health and care, said: “What we are seeing from test and trace activity is a widening network from the original bingo event as people met with friends and family and went out socialising.

“More than 1,000 people have already been tested, but we need everyone who was at any of the venues on the given dates to get tested.

“This is vital in our work to identify people who may have the virus and help contain the spread of infection even further.”

The UK recorded 1,715 daily confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to government data on Sunday, the highest level since 4 June.

One person had died within 28 days of testing positive for the disease, it said.

The government said 41,499 people in total had died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,200 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, PA reports.

Overall, 334,467 cases have been confirmed.

New York state governor Andrew Cuomo harshly criticised US president Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic on Sunday, and accused his administration of being “still in denial mode”.

Writing on Twitter, Cuomo decried the absence of a national strategy for testing and mask rules, which has put the onus of coming up with solutions on governments of individual states.

After New York was initially the worst-hit area in the country, new infections and deaths have dropped sharply after mass-scale testing was introduced.

Of the 100,022 tests reported yesterday, 698 were positive (0.69% of total), making Saturday the 23rd consecutive day with an infection rate of below 1%.

Total hospitalisations fell to 429 and 8 further people in the state died with Covid-19.