Spain denies it is facing second wave; Africa cases hit 1 million – as it happened

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Here is a quick recap of the latest updates from the past few hours:

• Africa passes one million confirmed virus cases. Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed one million, but global health experts say the true toll is likely several times higher, reflecting the gaping lack of testing for the continent’s 1.3 billion people.
• Travellers returning to UK from Belgium, the Bahamas and Andorra to quarantine from Saturday. In a tweet, transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “Data shows we need to remove Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas from our list of coronavirus Travel Corridors in order to keep infection rates DOWN.”
• US lifts global health coronavirus travel advisory. The US has lifted a global health advisory imposed in March that advised US citizens to avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• A rise in the Covid-19 infection rate in Ireland is a “serious concern”. Ireland has seen a spike since last Thursday and has identified a number of clusters of infections in meat plants and accommodation for asylum seekers.
• Coronavirus cases in Greece pass 5,000 as new infections spark “wake-up week”. The national public health organisation announced 153 cases over the last 24 hours, raising the total to over 5,100. There have been 210 deaths so far.
• French universities will reopen in September. Institutions will reopen after nearly six months but students will be encouraged to wear face masks and social distance.
• US top infectious disease expert forced to hire security to protect family. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, told CNN the pandemic has brought out “the best of people and the worst of people, and, you know, getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security”.
• Brazil decree to provide $356 million for coronavirus vaccine. Jair Bolsonaro has issued a decree to provide 1.9bn reais ($356m) in funds to purchase and eventually produce a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers.

That’s all from me, I’m now handing over to my colleague in Australia Martin Farrer.

New York City has opened new traveller checkpoints to register visitors and residents returning from nearly three dozen states who are required to quarantine for 14 days, an initiative that drew swift criticism from privacy advocates.

The checkpoints, targeting busy entry points like Penn Station, are more of an awareness campaign than a blockade, intended to preserve the city’s progress reducing its Covid-19 infection rate and forestall a second wave as the coronavirus ravages other states.

Authorities said this week a fifth of all new coronavirus cases in New York City have been from travellers entering the city from other states.

The random checks are similar to an effort already in place at airports and includes offers of free food delivery, and in some cases even hotel stays, for people who must quarantine.

Teams began stopping travellers arriving in the city by train on Thursday, requiring they complete a state Department of Health traveller form and warning they could face fines as high as $10,000 for failing to quarantine.

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The checkpoints don’t involve the police, but the city’s Sheriff’s Office, which enforces civil law, said it would pull over motorists at random on city bridges.

“If were going to hold at this level of health and safety in this city and get better, we have to deal with the fact that the quarantine must be applied consistently to anyone who’s travelled,” mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Despite the spectre of fines, the checkpoints are more educational than punitive, and officials acknowledged the effort relies on voluntary compliance.

“Were not going to be in everyone’s apartment monitoring them,” de Blasio said. “Even if we’re not going to be able to reach every single person with a checkpoint, I think its going to help really get the message across.”

The campaign was criticised for sowing confusion and raising questions about how travellers’ personal information would be retained.

It’s not clear how long the registration checkpoints will remain in place.

De Blasio said the city will use the approach for “as long as we think makes sense and as extensively as we think makes sense”.

6 Aug 202018.04 EDT

Amanda Holpuch

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, has had to hire security to protect himself and his family after receiving death threats in response to his work to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, told CNN that the pandemic has brought out “the best of people and the worst of people, and, you know, getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security”.

Donald Trump’s administration has consistently downplayed the public health threat of coronavirus, but Fauci has just as consistently rejected those efforts.

Since the early days of the pandemic, Fauci has provided blunt assessments of the crisis in media appearances and in remarks at the White House, which have been less frequent in recent months.

Fauci said:

I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it and don’t like what you and I say, namely in the world of science, that they actually threaten you.

The NHS will be inflicting pain, misery and risk of death on tens of thousands of patients in the UK if it again shuts down normal care when a second wave of Covid-19 hits, doctors’ and surgeons’ leaders are warning.

They are urging NHS bosses not to use the same sweeping closures of services that were introduced in March to help hospitals cope with the huge influx of patients seriously ill with Covid.

Prof Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England said:

The NHS must never again be a Covid-only service. There is a duty to the thousands of patients waiting in need and in pain to make sure they can be treated.

The leader of Britain’s doctors warned that hospitals should not leave patients “stranded” by again suspending a wide range of diagnostic and treatment services.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of council at the British Medical Association said:

We cannot have a situation in which patients are unable to access diagnostic tests, clinic appointments and treatment which they urgently need and are simply left stranded.

If someone needs care – for example for cancer, heart trouble, a breathing condition or a neurological problem – they must get it when they need it.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has issued a decree to provide 1.9bn reais ($356m) in funds to purchase and eventually produce a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers.

Brazil’s acting health minister Eduardo Pazuello said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is the most promising in the world to fight the virus and the technology will be acquired by Brazil, which is facing the worst outbreak outside the United States.

Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have surpassed one million, but global health experts say the true toll is likely several times higher, reflecting the gaping lack of testing for the continent’s 1.3 billion people.

While experts say infection tolls in richer nations can be significant undercounts, large numbers of undetected cases are a greater danger for Africa, with many of the world’s weakest health systems.

The World Health Organization calls the milestone a pivotal point for Africa as infections in several countries are surging.

The virus has spread beyond major cities into distant hinterlands where few health resources exist and reaching care could take days.

African nations banded together early in the pandemic to pursue badly needed testing and medical supplies and advocate for equitable access to any successful vaccine. Swift border closures delayed the virus spread.

But Africa’s most developed country, South Africa, has strained to cope as hospital beds fill up and confirmed cases are over a half-million, ranking fifth in the world.

The country has Africa’s most extensive testing and data collection, and yet a South African Medical Research Council report last week showed many Covid-19 deaths were going uncounted.

Other deaths were attributed to other diseases as people avoid health centres and resources are diverted to the pandemic.

The WHO’s Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said:

It’s all a warning for Africa’s other 53 countries of what might lie ahead.

While dire early predictions for the pandemic have not played out, we think its going to be here at a slow burn.

Just two African countries at the start of the pandemic were equipped to test for the virus.

Now virtually all have basic capacity, but supplies are often scarce. Some countries have a single testing machine.

Some conduct fewer than 500 tests per million people, while richer countries overseas conduct hundreds of thousands. Samples can take days to reach labs.

Even in South Africa, turnaround times for many test results have been a week or longer.

“We are fighting this disease in the dark,” International Rescue Committee expert Stacey Mearns said.

In addition, Africa has just 1,500 epidemiologists, a deficit of about 4,500.

African nations overall have conducted just 8.8 million tests since the pandemic began, well below the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Preventions goal of 13 million per month.

Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said estimating the true number of cases on the continent is very tricky. Some 70% of infections are asymptomatic, he said.

But some experts are making their best guesses.

Africa likely has at least 5 million infections, said Ridhwaan Suliman, a senior researcher at South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

He believes the true number in South Africa alone is at least 3 million.

The country has conducted far more tests than any other in Africa, more than 3 million, but in recent days about 25% have come back positive.

Because of shortages, South Africa largely limits testing to health workers and those showing symptoms.Experts see South Africa as an indication of whats to come elsewhere.

Sema Sgaier, an assistant professor of global health at Harvard and director of the Surgo Foundation, thinks the number of infections across Africa could be more than 9 million.

The US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation puts the number at more than 8 million. And Resolve to Save Lives, led by Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates it could be 14 million.

The decision to exclude all but elite runners from this year’s London Marathon means a gang of veteran participants will miss the chance to complete their 40th race.

Known as the Ever Present, the group have competed every single year since the world famous event’s inaugural year in 1981.

Starting off as a band of 42, over the years the Ever Present have been whittled down to just 10, with same planning to make their 40th marathon their last.

But now their plans are in disarray and they are still deciding if and how they will be able to take part this year.

Former primary school head teacher Micheal Peace told the PA news agency: “We are disappointed with the news but in the grand scheme of things there are worse things happening in the world.

“I think we realised that a mass participation event just wasn’t going to happen at this time of year so it wasn’t a great shock, just a bit of a disappointment.”

He said the Ever Present were considering taking part in the virtual race, and that some were also considering meeting up to run a 26.2 mile route together.

Charles Cousens, 78, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, was unconvinced by the idea of a virtual race conducted via a running app.

He told PA: “I’m nearly 80 - I don’t even have a watch that tells the time, let alone an app.”

Cousens, who had been working as a barber right up until shutdown, said:

We will just have to go with the flow but after 39 years this was all I needed, this was going to be my last one.

He said he hadn’t made up his mind whether he would try and take part in the marathon in 2021, or whether the Ever Present would try and put some kind of event together to mark his final race.

This year’s marathon on 4 October will see the world’s best marathon athletes running an enclosed loop course around St James’s Park.

No spectators will be permitted as the runners complete their 19.8 laps of the park, although it will be broadcast by BBC Sport.

US president Donald Trump has intensified his attacks on China for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, as his health secretary headed to Taiwan for a visit sure to irk Beijing.

Trump, whose public approval ratings have fallen amid continued Covid-19 infection rates and economic woes, sought to shift the focus to Beijing, claiming again, without evidence, that it may have intentionally let the virus spread globally.

The Republican president, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in national polls ahead of the 3 November election, said it was a “disgrace” that Beijing had limited the spread of the virus at home but allowed it to reach the rest of the world.

“What China did is a terrible thing ... whether it was incompetence or on purpose,” he said, reviving a refrain that has strained ties between the world’s two largest economies and raised questions about a US-China trade deal signed in January.

Biden on Wednesday said the deal was “failing” after Commerce Department data showed the US-China trade deficit widened 5% to $28.4bn in June.

Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at yanking back supply chains from China for key ingredients and supplies used to make medicines and medical equipment, said Peter Navarro, a key adviser and China hawk.

Trump’s health secretary, Alex Azar, is due to visit Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, starting Sunday and reaffirm the US partnership with the Asian country, prompting China to threaten “strong countermeasures.”

Azar will be the highest-level US official to visit the island in four decades.

Washington broke off official ties with Taipei in 1979 in favor of Beijing but is now moving to sell Taiwan at least four of its large sophisticated aerial drones.

Alongside transport secretary Grant Shapps’ announcement that travellers from Belgium, the Bahamas and Andorra will have to self-isolate from Saturday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its travel advice to warn against all but essential trips to the three countries.

Brunei and Malaysia have been added to the government’s travel corridor list, following a decrease in confirmed cases of coronavirus, meaning arrivals from these countries no longer need to quarantine.

Figures released on Thursday show Belgium has suffered a consistent increase in cases in recent weeks, rising to 27.8 new cases per 100,000 people.

This towers over the UK’s latest rate of 8.4 per 100,000, and is higher than Spain’s 27.4 level around the time when the UK introduced travel restrictions there.

Belgium’s prime minister, Sophie Wilmes, was last week forced to put a halt to the nation’s Covid-19 exit plan by introducing drastic new social distancing measures in the hope of avoiding a new national lockdown.

Contacts outside every household were limited to the same five people for a month, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

In Andorra, new cases per week have increased five-fold since mid-July, while in the Bahamas the weekly case rate peaked at 78.6 last week, up from 3.1 in the middle of last month.

The UK’s move to add Spain onto the quarantine list on 26 July sparked a diplomatic row with the nation and caught out holidaymakers who had already flown over, including Shapps himself.

It also angered transport bosses who have called for increased testing to reduce the isolation period.

Luxembourg was added to the UK’s red list on 31 July.

Shapps said he “cannot rule out” other countries being included on the list, as officials keep overseas infection rates under close observation.

The Foreign Office says it keeps its own travel advice “under constant review”.

Spain’s health ministry has denied the country is facing a second wave of Covid-19 infections, despite a spike in cases of the virus in recent days.

According to the Spanish government’s own figures, over the past seven days there have been 19,405 new coronavirus cases registered, an average of 2,772 per day.

A week earlier the rate was an average 1,913 cases per day and the week before that the daily figure was 1,460.

“I wouldn’t speak of a second wave,” unless transmission rates were out of control, said Fernando Simon, head epidemiologist at the health ministry.

“It is not clear that the increase in detected cases isn’t simply due to the increase in testing,” he added.

The worst-hit areas are Catalonia, with more than 5,100 cases diagnosed in the past week, and neighbouring Aragon with 4,100 cases.

Austria on Thursday announced it would issue a travel warning for mainland Spain, becoming the latest country to do so.

Switzerland had already said on Wednesday it would add mainland Spain to its list of countries seen as having heightened risk of Covid-19 transmission and thus requiring travellers from there to undergo a quarantine.

Germany last week added three northern Spanish regions to its list of high-risk destinations, while France and Britain have also taken steps to limit travel from the country.

Despite the rise in the number of cases in Spain, Simon assured that there was no risk of the hospital system buckling under pressure.

Nevertheless regional authorities, such as those in Catalonia and Aragon, have ordered new partial lockdown measures.

Passengers from Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas will be required to self-isolate at home or another specified address for 14 days on arrival in the UK from Saturday.

In a tweet, transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “Data shows we need to remove Andorra, Belgium and The Bahamas from our list of coronavirus Travel Corridors in order to keep infection rates DOWN.

“If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days.”

Speaking about the changes to the quarantine list, Scottish justice secretary Humza Yousaf said:

The governments of all for nations have agreed to these changes based on a shared understanding of the data.

This is another important step in our efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, and adhering to the quarantine is a vital aspect of this.

Imposing quarantine requirements on those arriving from another country is not a decision made lightly - but suppressing the virus and protecting public health remains our priority.

Greece has recorded more than 5,000 coronavirus cases after a spurt in new infections that sparked a “wake-up week”.

The national public health organisation announced 153 cases over the last 24 hours, raising the total to over 5,100. There have been 210 deaths so far.

The highest amount of daily cases announced was 156 on 21 April, following a mass outbreak at a migrant hotel near Athens.

Late on Thursday, the civil protection agency announced emergency restrictions on the small holiday island of Poros near Athens.

These include a night curfew for all restaurants and bars to 17 August, and a ban on fairs and open markets, after over a dozen cases were reported on the island.

A ban on gatherings of over nine people was declared on Poros, even inside homes, and masks have been made obligatory both outdoors and indoors.

Greece on Wednesday announced a “wake-up week” on Covid-19, tightening restrictions after the steady rise in mostly domestic infections.

Officials have blamed the increase on overcrowding in clubs and social events.

Only 10% of cases in Greece can be traced to foreign arrivals, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, the government said Greece’s land borders would close at night to travellers, except one crossing with Bulgaria. Petsas said:

We have located three sources of concern: very regular crossings from Balkan countries by ethnic Greeks and residence permit holders... social gatherings, including clubbing youths, weddings and baptisms, and public transport.

The public protection agency last week said masks must be worn in all indoor public areas, and visits to retirement homes and other institutions hosting vulnerable groups are restricted until 15 August.

A limit of 100 guests was also set for weddings, baptisms and funerals, and summer fairs were cancelled.

Mitsotakis has already ruled out a general lockdown after gradually reopening the economy in May and starting to accept foreign arrivals in June to salvage part of the tourism season that is vital to the economy.

French universities will reopen in September after nearly six months but students will be encouraged to wear face masks, the ministry of higher education has announced.

Universities in France closed on 16 March as part of the new coronavirus restrictions. Schools gradually reopened on 11 May but the country’s 74 universities have remained shuttered.

“The wearing of masks in classrooms is highly recommended,” the ministry said, asking universities and leading higher education institutions “to let in a greater number of students while respecting health regulations”.

“We are working in tandem with these establishments to put in place measures .... to protect teachers, personnel and students from the virus,” higher education minister Frederique Vidal said.

She said social distancing would be observed with a metre maintained between each student in classrooms. Facemasks will be mandatory in libraries.

Closed spaces will be aired twice a day and pedestrian traffic will be regulated in busy areas, it said.

A rise in the Covid-19 infection rate in Ireland is a “serious concern” but the country has not yet seen a significant resurgence in infections outside of identified clusters, a leading health official said.

Ireland, which for several weeks had one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, has seen a spike since last Thursday and has identified a number of clusters of infections in meat plants and accommodation for asylum seekers.

The reproduction value, or the number of people who become infected from each positive case, has increased to 1.8 from 1.3 a week ago, professor Philip Nolan, the chairman of the country’s Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said.

A reproduction number of almost 2 is a serious concern, and although we have not yet seen a significant increase in community transmission, there is a significant risk this could develop over the coming days and weeks.

Ireland reported 69 cases on Thursday and the average infection rate has more than doubled in recent weeks to around 50 per day.

It also reported five deaths on Thursday after six days with no deaths.

Acting chief medical officer Ronan Glynn said half of all recent cases had come from three adjoining counties - Kildare, Laois and Offaly - and that a cluster of 60 cases from the counties were set to be added to Friday’s numbers.

He warned people from those counties to be particularly careful and said he could not rule out specific restrictions being imposed on those three counties.

The US has lifted a global health advisory imposed in March that advised US citizens to avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The State Department said in a statement:

With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice.

US airline stocks rose on the announcement.

The State Department issued updated country-travel specific alerts, including “Level Four: Do Not Travel” advisories for about 30 countries, including India, Russia, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, Iran, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Honduras and Libya.

The State Department also issued numerous new “Level 3: reconsider travel” advisories, including for countries in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Armenia, the Philippines, Laos and Australia.

The United States has barred most non-US citizens from many parts of the world from traveling to the United States, including from the EU and China.

China has been on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” advisory since June.

Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray taking over the coronavirus live blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any suggestions or story tips.

Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_

• The Dutch prime minister called on tourists to avoid busy parts of Amsterdam. Mark Rutte said the Netherlands doesn’t need to undergo a second lockdown, despite a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases, but implored tourists to avoid busy areas of the capital and for youths to adhere to social distancing in order to avoid one.
• Economic recovery around the world could come faster if any Covid-19 vaccine is made available to all as a public good, the World Health Organization director-general said. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “vaccine nationalism” would not help the world recover from the pandemic, rather global solidarity in sharing vaccines and other tools would lessen the damage and hasten economic recovery. “No country will be safe until we are all safe,” he said.
• Belgium is set to become the latest country added to England’s quarantine list. It has suffered a resurgence of the virus, with the country passing 70,000 Covid-19 cases this week. The surge means arrivals will have to isolate for 14 days. The Foreign Office is expected to change its travel advice for Belgium at the weekend.
  
• Spanish authorities placed a northern town into confinement following a surge in cases. The northern region of Castilla y León has ordered the town of Aranda de Duero and its 32,000 residents back into confinement for a fortnight after 230 cases of coronavirus were detected in the area.
• Daily cases in Germany rose above 1,000 for first time in three months. In response to the recording of its highest rate of infections since May, the government moved to tighten the testing regime for travellers returning from risk regions. From Saturday travellers returning to Germany from risk regions will face mandatory coronavirus tests.

France reported 1,604 new Covid-19 infections over 24 hours, the total staying above the 1,600 threshold for the second day running, health ministry data showed on Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry also said the number of patients in intensive care units for the disease was on the rise again, at 390 versus 384 on Wednesday.