Coronavirus live news: Brazilian cases pass 1.5m – as it happened

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We are wrapping up the live blog, but will continue the coverage from a new live blog you can find here.

Here’s the coronavirus news for Friday:

• There are now 11m confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide
• The US reported a daily global record of more than 55,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as infections rose in the vast majority of states and America’s top public health expert spoke of a “very disturbing week”. Thursday’s tally topped the previous single-day record of 54,771 set by Brazil on 19 June.
• The US will be on a “red list” of high-risk countries that people in England are advised not to visit for non-essential reasons because of its continued high level of coronavirus cases, the UK government said. Travel restrictions will be relaxed in England for more than 50 countries including nearly all EU countries, British territories, and Australia and New Zealand.
• The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, stood by his decision to allow pubs, bars and restaurants to reopen in England on a Saturday despite concerns from the public that it could put extra strain on the police and the health service. In a radio interview, the prime minister suggested that the day of the week for reopening would not make a difference.
• Cases of coronavirus are surging in South Africa, a month after the country lifted most of the restrictions brought in with one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. On Thursday, authorities reported the country’s biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases, adding 8,728 confirmed infections and taking the total count to 168,061.
• The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iraq increased sevenfold in June, the International Rescue Committee said as it urged a redoubling of efforts to contain the spread of the disease in the country. By 1 July there had been 53,708 infections detected in the country, up from 6,868 on 1 June. The ministry of health said that hospitals are almost at full capacity.
  
• A fresh state of emergency was declared in Belgrade, with a number of restrictions restored after a new increase in coronavirus infections in the Serbian capital. Local authorities across the country had already declared emergencies in several other municipalities where a rise in coronavirus cases had threatened to disrupt the functioning of the health system.
• The Philippines reported its highest single-day increase in coronavirus infections, with 1,531 new cases detected in the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 40,336. The country’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 1,280, after 12 more deaths from the disease.
• The European commission gave conditional approval for the use of antiviral remdesivir in severe Covid-19 patients following an accelerated review process, making it the region’s first therapy to be authorised to treat the virus. The move comes just a week after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its go-ahead for the drug, produced by Gilead Sciences.
• Life in Russia is unlikely to return to normal until next February at the earliest, the country’s health minister said. Many restrictions have already been eased, but with thousands of new cases still being reported every day, and a death toll approaching 10,000, some measures remain in force, including a ban on international flights, extended on Thursday until August.

There are now 11 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, according to the data collected by John Hopkins University.

Nine News is reporting a train passenger in Sydney has been transported to hotel quarantine after showing symptoms of Covid-19

Hi, I’m Josh Taylor and I will be taking the live blog through to 9am Melbourne time on Saturday.

In Australia, all eyes are currently on Victoria, where the state is experiencing a second spike in cases. We will get an update on the number of new cases identified overnight sometime later this morning, but yesterday there were 66 cases of coronavirus in Victoria.

The number of cases has started to stabilise, but health officials will need to see if the trend continues for a few days before they can claim the spike is coming under control.

In the meantime, suburbs in 10 postcodes in Melbourne’s north and west remain in lockdown, and more could be added to the list if cases in those areas continue to go up.

There is mass testing being conducted to find more positive cases, however, over 10,000 people in the state have refused tests for reasons including that they believe the coronavirus pandemic to be a conspiracy.

In the UK, dozens of people have taken part in a candlelit vigil outside Downing Street to remember those who have lost their lives and to mark the upcoming 72nd anniversary of the NHS.

The People’s Assembly teamed up with Health Campaigns Together, Keep Our NHS Public and We Own It to organise the socially distanced vigil.

About 50 NHS staff and campaigners carried one lantern to represent every 1,000 people who have died with Covid-19.

The procession began at St Thomas’ Hospital and proceeded across Westminster Bridge before heading to Downing Street, where doctors and health workers read out all the names of their NHS colleagues who have died during a 20-minute candlelit vigil. Ramona McCartney, national organiser at the People’s Assembly, said:

It was very sombre and emotional. We are coming up to the 72nd anniversary for the NHS and there will be celebrations. But we think it’s really important to throw attention to the ways in which the government has mishandled the situation and lots of people have lost their lives unfortunately.

To see the NHS staff reading out the names, it was very moving.

It was a real moment of reflection and bearing light to an absolute tragedy that could have been avoided.

Figures from last month show more than 300 NHS and social care workers have died during the UK’s epidemic.

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Brazil has suffered 1,290 more deaths and registered 42,223 new cases in the past 24 hours, its health ministry has said, bringing the respective totals to 63,174 and 1,539,081. It is the second-worst outbreak in the world behind the United States.

An indigenous group in the Ecuadorean Amazon has taken two police officers and a state official hostage to demand authorities return the body of a community leader who according to the government died of Covid-19, Reuters reports.

The interior minister Maria Paula Romo said the man died of Covid-19 and was subsequently buried in accordance with international protocols for handling corpses amid the pandemic.

“Police officers cannot be considered a bargaining chip in this or any circumstance,” tweeted Romo, publishing photos of the officials sitting in a wooden building surrounded by community members, some carrying traditional spears.

Members of the Shuar Kumay community insist that Alberto Mashutak did not die of Covid-19 and that they should be allowed to give him a traditional burial, said lawyer Marcos Espinoza, who represents the community.

A little more than a fortnight ago, people in the Australian state of Victoria were planning trips away as the school holidays approached, and looking forward to again being able to gather in pubs and restaurants with their friends – albeit with social distancing measures and hygiene protocols in place.

Now, Melissa Davey and Matilda Boseley write, it is divided. While most people in Australia are enjoying these increased freedoms, 300,0000 residents across 10 postcodes – encompassing 36 suburbs – are back in lockdown, only allowed to leave their homes for exercise, healthcare, work and study if those activities can’t be done from home, and childcare.

Key developments in the coronavirus outbreak around the world today include:

• The US reported a daily global record of more than 55,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as infections rose in the vast majority of states and America’s top public health expert spoke of a “very disturbing week”. Thursday’s tally topped the previous single-day record of 54,771 set by Brazil on 19 June.
• The US will be on a “red list” of high-risk countries that people in England are advised not to visit for non-essential reasons because of its continued high level of coronavirus cases, the UK government said. Travel restrictions will be relaxed in England for more than 50 countries including nearly all EU countries, British territories, and Australia and New Zealand.
• The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, stood by his decision to allow pubs, bars and restaurants to reopen in England on a Saturday despite concerns from the public that it could put extra strain on the police and the health service. In a radio interview, the prime minister suggested that the day of the week for reopening would not make a difference.
• Cases of coronavirus are surging in South Africa, a month after the country lifted most of the restrictions brought in with one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. On Thursday, authorities reported the country’s biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases, adding 8,728 confirmed infections and taking the total count to 168,061.
• The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iraq increased sevenfold in June, the International Rescue Committee said as it urged a redoubling of efforts to contain the spread of the disease in the country. By 1 July there had been 53,708 infections detected in the country, up from 6,868 on 1 June. The ministry of health said that hospitals are almost at full capacity.
  
• A fresh state of emergency was declared in Belgrade, with a number of restrictions restored after a new increase in coronavirus infections in the Serbian capital. Local authorities across the country had already declared emergencies in several other municipalities where a rise in coronavirus cases had threatened to disrupt the functioning of the health system.
• The Philippines reported its highest single-day increase in coronavirus infections, with 1,531 new cases detected in the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 40,336. The country’s Covid-19 death toll has reached 1,280, after 12 more deaths from the disease.
• The European commission gave conditional approval for the use of antiviral remdesivir in severe Covid-19 patients following an accelerated review process, making it the region’s first therapy to be authorised to treat the virus. The move comes just a week after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its go-ahead for the drug, produced by Gilead Sciences.
• Life in Russia is unlikely to return to normal until next February at the earliest, the country’s health minister said. Many restrictions have already been eased, but with thousands of new cases still being reported every day, and a death toll approaching 10,000, some measures remain in force, including a ban on international flights, extended on Thursday until August.

Spain has suffered 17 more deaths in 24 hours, Agence France-Presse has reported. It is the country’s highest daily Covid-19 toll since 19 June. The update comes as many Spaniards were gearing up to go on holiday and as the country preparing to reopen its frontiers on Saturday to travellers from 12 other countries outside the European Union.

Spain had already opened its borders to EU nations on 21 June, as well as residents of the passport-free Schengen zone.

Its neighbour Portugal has said it is “absurd” that the UK is maintaining a quarantine regime for its citizens, despite the latter nation having greater numbers of both cases and deaths. The Portuguese foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said:

We hope that this decision, which seems to us profoundly unfair and wrong, from the British authorities is corrected as soon as possible.

It is a sad moment in bilateral relations ... because countries that are friends treat each other differently.

Portugal’s prime minister tweeted: