Beijing says outbreak 'extremely severe'; French police fire teargas at protest – as it happened

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In the UK, elderly spouses caring for each other and parents caring for disabled children are twice as likely as the general public to have used a food bank since lockdown, research has shown.

The report, which experts said should “shock the nation”, found that more than 100,000 people doing unpaid caring for older, disabled or seriously ill relatives had been forced to use food banks since start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figures paint a worrying picture of carers, especially those aged between 17 and 30, being under intolerable pressure. Almost 229,000 told researchers they have had someone in their household go hungry during lockdown.

Christie, who is in her 30s, cares for her 76-year-old mother who has epilepsy, physical needs and struggles with her mental health.

Here are this week’s Covid-19-related developments throughout the Pacific Islands, with Dan McGarry in Port Vila and Tess Newton Cain:

The total number of Covid-19 cases across the Pacific stands at 314, with new cases reported this week in New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.

New Zealand is under increasing pressure, both internally and from across the region, to consider Pacific countries as part of its proposed travel ‘bubble’, alongside, or even in place of, Australia. The foreign minister, Winston Peters, initially rejected including Pacific island nations, but later backtracked.

There are growing concerns in some Pacific countries that measures designed to safeguard public health are being used to undermine civil rights and democratic principles.

Pacific countries plead for inclusion in ‘trans-Tasman bubble’ as travel restrictions easeRead more

The Samoa Observer argues the prime minister is using emergency powers to push his own ideological preoccupations by seeking to ban all commercial activity on Sundays.

In Papua New Guinea, the new – but retrospective – public health emergency bill may be the subject of a constitutional appeal by the opposition. The government stands accused of wasting millions of kina in the early days of the crisis and the bill would make oversight of government expenditure more difficult.

A three-country study by Plan International Australia has shown supplies of pads and tampons have dropped, and prices increased, during the coronavirus pandemic, leading women to have to decide between their sanitary needs and food:

HI, Helen Sullivan with you now.

Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

Brazil has had its worst day for new confirmed cases, recording 34,918 in 24 hours to bring its overall total to 923,189 total infections.

The health ministry said the country has also suffered 1,282 deaths since the last update on Monday, bringing the number of confirmed fatalities there to 45,241.

In nominal terms, Brazil is the second-worst hit country in the world in both respects.

French nursing unions have called for a national strike to ask for better working conditions and to demand the government keep its promise to overhaul France’s hospital system in response to the pandemic.

Police fired teargas after being pelted with objects by a small minority that overturned a car during the demonstration led by healthcare workers.

In England, the Premier League resumes later this week. It is a welcome return for fans and players alike, many of whom have found the football-shaped hole in their lives just one of the eerie aspects of the pandemic, Paul MacInnes writes. But the virus means this is far from a return to normality, more a compromise intended to fend off legal and financial disaster for the national sport.

• Steroid found to help prevent deaths of sickest coronavirus patients. A cheap steroid has become the first life-saving treatment in the Covid-19 pandemic, described by scientists as “a major breakthrough” and raising hopes for the survival of thousands of the most seriously ill.
  
• Beijing outbreak ‘extremely severe’, say authorities. Authorities in Beijing have described the city’s coronavirus outbreak as “extremely severe” as dozens more cases emerged and travel from the city was curtailed.
• Australia accuses China of spreading ‘fear and division’ as diplomatic tensions escalate. Australia’s foreign minister has accused China of spreading disinformation while declaring Canberra would take a more active role in global bodies.
  
• French police fire tear gas at healthcare protest. French police fired tear gas after being pelted with objects during a Paris demonstration led by healthcare workers demanding more investment in the health system, AFP journalists have reported.
• Virus ‘hunger pandemic’ threatens Latin America says UN. The coronavirus crisis is pushing 40 million people into food insecurity in South and Central America and the Caribbean, the UN has warned.
• Spain says British visitors may face quarantine. Britain’s inbound travel restrictions and high coronavirus infection rate mean that as Europe reopens for continental travellers, visitors from the UK risk being shut out, with Spain the latest country to say arrivals may face quarantine.
• Global oil demand could hit record growth rate next year, IEA warns. The world’s oil demand could climb at its fastest rate in the history of the market next year, and may reach pre-crisis levels within years, unless new green policies are adopted, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
• Germany appeals to nation to download coronavirus app. The German government has appealed to its citizens to download a newly available coronavirus warning app as it launched what it insisted was its most sophisticated tool yet for tackling the pandemic.
  

The Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte has sought to reassure Europe that forthcoming post-pandemic recovery funds will be spent wisely to revive the battered economy after a crippling lockdown, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported.

The leader of Europe’s third-largest economy told AFP Italy’s share of the €750bn (£671bn) recovery plan agreed by the European commission would be the impetus to fix longstanding problems at home.

Economists say entrenched structural problems have put the brakes on progress for decades. They include Italy’s burdensome public bureaucracy, sub-par infrastructure, including slow adoption of digital technology, and widespread tax evasion. Conte said:

It’s an opportunity for us to design a better Italy, to work on a serious, comprehensive investment plan that will make the country more modern, greener, and more socially inclusive.

Italy is reeling from the economic effects of its lockdown. Conte added:

I often say it’s not a handout to benefit the current government, it’s an investment we must make in Italy and in Europe for our children and grandchildren.

In the UK, the prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed the biggest breakthrough yet in treating patients has been made by a team of British scientists after the biggest controlled trial of treatments in the world. Dexamethasone, a cheap steroid, is widely available for use in the NHS already.

France’s death toll has risen by 138 to 29,547 people, as the health ministry included weekly data for the death toll in nursing homes.

The number of people who died in hospitals increased by 38 to 19,090 on Tuesday, compared to 29 on Monday and an average of 25 over the past seven days.

The ministry also reported that in the past seven days 73 people died of the virus in nursing homes, more than double the 34 reported a week ago and 23 reported two weeks ago.