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UK daily coronavirus infections pass 1,000; Greece posts highest single rise – as it happened

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People wearing a face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus wait to board a ferry in the port of Piraeus, near Athens.
People wearing a face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus wait to board a ferry in the port of Piraeus, near Athens. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP
People wearing a face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus wait to board a ferry in the port of Piraeus, near Athens. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

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US passes 5m Covid-19 cases as Joe Biden says pandemic 'breaks heart'

Richard Luscombe, Tom Lutz and Joanna Walters report for the Guardian:

The US on Sunday passed the grim milestone of 5m coronavirus cases, as Donald Trump’s executive orders seeking to break a political impasse over further economic relief were denounced by a Republican as “unconstitutional slop” and Joe Biden accused the president of issuing little more than “excuses and lies”.

Recriminations have been flying in Washington since talks on further aid for the unemployed and for states struggling with a public health crisis collapsed on Friday.

Trump intervened on Friday and Saturday, holding press conferences at his luxury golf club in New Jersey, cheered on by well-heeled members crowding close together, a jarring setting amid a pandemic and recession:

Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.

I’ll be bringing you the latest coronavirus news from around the world for the next few hours. Please do get in touch with news from your part of the world if we’ve missed it.

You can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or send an email to helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

British prime minister Boris Johnson said reopening schools in September was a social, economic and moral imperative and insisted schools would be able to operate safely despite the coronavirus pandemic.

His comments follow a study earlier this month which warned that Britain risks a second wave of Covid-19 in the winter twice as large as the initial outbreak if schools open without an improved test-and-trace system.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said restarting schools was a national priority.

Schools would be the last places to close in future local lockdowns, he was quoted by another newspaper as telling a meeting on Thursday.

Schools in England closed in March during a national lockdown, except for the children of key workers, and reopened in June for a small number of pupils.

“Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible,” Johnson wrote.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson plays with toys as students look on during a visit to The Discovery School in Kent, Britain on 20 July, 2020. Photograph: Reuters

The economic costs for parents who cannot work if schools are shut are spiralling, and the country faces big problems if children miss out on education, the prime minister warned.

“This pandemic isn’t over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become complacent. But now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so,” Johnson wrote.

The headteachers’ union has criticised Johnson’s push and warned that schools will teach pupils on a “week on-week off” basis if there is a resurgence of the coronavirus, and are drawing up a number of contingency plans, according to the Telegraph.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Johnson has ordered a public relations campaign to ensure schools open on time.

New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday that the infection rate in the state is now at its lowest since the start of the outbreak.

We need to protect the extraordinary progress New Yorkers have made.

Today’s infection rate of 0.78% is the lowest we have seen since the pandemic began.

What we are doing is working. We need to stay smart and stay cautious.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 9, 2020

According to the New York Times, infections in the US are now rising fastest in the states of Virginia, Illinois, Hawaii, South Dakota, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as well as in Puerto Rico.

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Brazil has registered 23,010 new coronavirus infections to Sunday, taking the overall official tally in the country to 3,035,422.

The health ministry also announced 572 new deaths, bringing the total Covid-19 death toll to 101,049.

Staff members wearing protective gear in the stands before the Gremio v Fluminense match on 9 August, 2020 in Arena do Gremio, Porto Alegre, Brazil, following the resumption of play behind closed doors amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Diego Vara/Reuters

The UK’s official Covid-19 daily death count could be scrapped following an investigation into Public Health England’s method of counting the toll, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

The conclusions of the investigation, which was ordered by health secretary Matt Hancock after it emerged officials were “exaggerating” virus deaths, are expected this week, the newspaper said.

One recommendation could be to move to a weekly official death toll instead, a government source told the Telegraph.

Britain paused its daily update of the death toll last month and the government ordered a review into how Public Health England reports coronavirus deaths, after academics said the daily figures may include people who died of other causes.

Academics in a blog post had warned that the way the government health agency calculated the figures was skewed as patients who tested positive for coronavirus, but are successfully treated, will still be counted as dying from the virus “even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later”, Reuters reports.

England’s death figures vary substantially from day to day due to this reason, the academics had argued.

In contrast, the other parts of the United Kingdom do not follow the same approach.

There is a cut-off threshold of 28 days in Scotland after a positive test, after which a patient is not automatically considered to have died from the virus.

Britain, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, reported more than 1,000 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, its highest daily increase since June, taking the total number of cases past 310,000.

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Belarus police fired stun grenades and began detentions in a crackdown on protests that erupted as president Alexander Lukashenko was set to claim another election win on Sunday in the face of the biggest challenge in years to his grip on power.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Minsk while protesters clapped, shouted “victory” and honked their car horns in solidarity with the opposition.

Police blocked off streets and at least 10 people were detained in one spot in Minsk, a Reuters witness said, while local media reported detentions and clashes between police and protesters in the capital and other cities.

The internet and social media networks experienced disruption.

The government said in a statement that no protesters had been injured.

A former Soviet collective farm manager, the authoritarian Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994 but has battled a wave of anger over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy and his human rights record.

Opposition supporters protest after polls closed in Belarus’ presidential election, in Minsk on 9 August, 2020. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images

State-approved exit polls showed him winning 79.7% of the vote while his main opponent Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who emerged from obscurity a few weeks ago to lead rallies against him, received 6.8%.

Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995.

Wedded to a Soviet-style economic model, Lukashenko has struggled to raise incomes and living standards in recent years.

He also faced anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he dismissed as a “psychosis” while suggesting drinking vodka and playing ice hockey as remedies.

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French passengers sue Costa Cruises over virus ship ordeal and for manslaughter

Around 850 French passengers who were onboard a coronavirus-riddled cruise ship that was turned away from numerous ports in March have filed a collective suit in Paris with 180 complaints, including manslaughter, against Costa Cruises, their lawyer said on Sunday.

The class action, which includes complaints from the families of three passengers who died of Covid-19, accuses the Italy-based cruise giant of negligence and various faults during their trip on the Costa Magica.

From 6 to 13 March the ship was refused to dock in most of the Caribbean islands it visited, including Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Barbados and Saint Lucia.

In the absence of stopovers, the crew encouraged the passengers to use the ship’s shops, spas, restaurants and casino without sufficiently putting health measures in place, or informing them there were suspected infections onboard, the complainants said in their suit.

The staff members on the ship “were at fault, the passengers had almost no information and only found out from local media that there were cases on the ship,” lawyer Philippe Courtois, who represents the collective of some 850 French passengers, told AFP.

Courtois also criticised the “extremely light” virus measures on the ship.

“It was meant to be a dream cruise, but it ended in an ordeal,” he said.

Costa Cruises, which is part of the Carnival group, has suspended its trips worldwide until 15 August due to the pandemic.

All arrivals coming to Germany from high-risk areas are subject to compulsory coronavirus testing since Saturday, amid a rise in the country’s infections.

On Sunday morning, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 555 new infections, markedly lower than on the previous three days, which saw infections topping 1,000 for three days in a row.

If you have arrived in Germany since Saturday, I am keen to hear about your experience.

If you have updates on the pandemic from any other place in the world, I’d also love to hear from you, you can message me on Twitter @JedySays or email me.

A total of nine students and staff members at a Georgia high school that made national headlines after a photo shared on social media showed its hallways packed with teenagers, many of them not wearing masks, have tested positive for the coronavirus, my colleague Tom Lutz reports.

North Paudling High School principal Gabe Carmona wrote Saturday that six students and three staff members returned positive tests in a letter obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/fzdidaAABM

— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) August 4, 2020

Hannah Watters, a sophomore at the school who was initially suspended for posting the photo to Twitter, has since had her punishment revoked, CNN reported.

Elsewhere in Georgia, the AP reports that school officials in a nearby metro Atlanta county said 12 students and two staff members across a dozen schools tested positive for the virus during their first week back at school. The Cherokee County school system reported that more than 250 students with potential exposure had been sent home to quarantine for two weeks.

As our Ed Pilkington wrote today, Georgia is one of 21 states across the US that have been placed by the White House coronavirus taskforce in the “red zone”, indicating the disease is now so prevalent that immediate restrictions must be imposed to avoid dire consequences.

A large study on the transmission of coronavirus in schools, involving about 20,000 pupils and teachers in 100 institutions across the UK, will confirm that “there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted” there, according to a leading scientist, the Sunday Times reports.

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of the government advisory group Sage, said: “A new study that has been done in UK schools confirms there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools.

“This is the some of the largest data you will find on schools anywhere. Britain has done very well in terms of thinking of collecting data in schools.”

The study is being carried out by Public Health England and is expected to be published later this year.

Teacher Francie Keller welcoming the pupils of class 3c in her classroom in the Lankow primary school to the first school day after the summer holidays in Schwerin, Germany, on 3 August 2020. Photograph: Jens Buettner/AP

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 4,974,959 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 54,590 cases from its previous count a day prior, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,064 to 161,284.

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as Covid-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4pm ET on 8 August.

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

Summary of recent events

  • Britain’s economy will be officially declared in recession this week for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, as the coronavirus outbreak plunges the country into the deepest slump on record. The country recorded more than 1,000 new infections on Sunday, for the first time since late June.
  • Greece has recorded 203 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday, the highest daily rise since the start of the outbreak in the country.
  • There have been no new deaths from coronavirus in Wales since Saturday’s tally, meaning the total death toll remains at 1,579. The number of cases increased by 26.
  • Ministers have rejected a call from the children’s commissioner for England to bring in routine coronavirus testing in English schools.

Despite international tourism facing its worst crisis since records began, Saudi Arabia has agreed with Europe’s biggest hotel group Accor for the group to expand and operate a resort at the $20 billion Al-Ula tourism project in the kingdom’s northwestern region, the Royal Commission for the project said on Sunday.

Al-Ula, the site of an ancient civilisation in a remote northwestern corner of the country, is part of plans by the world’s top crude exporter to diversify its economy away from oil and open up after decades of seclusion, Reuters reports.

The agreement will see Accor operate an expanded Ashar Resort under the Banyan Tree brand, with 47 new units bringing the resort’s total capacity to 82 high-end villas, along with a spa and several gourmet restaurants, a commission statement said.

The project is located in the Ashar valley, 15 km (9 miles) from the Kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra.

In April, Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister said the sector could see a 35-45% decline this year due to measures taken by the government to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Visitors in front of Qasr al-Farid tomb at the Madain Saleh antiquities site in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia on 31 January, 2020. Photograph: Ahmed Yosri/Reuters

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes such as the segregation of men and women in public and the requirement that women wear all-covering black robes, or abayas.

Al-Ula’s development is part of a push to preserve pre-Islamic heritage sites in order to attract non-Muslim tourists and strengthen national identity.

It plans an official opening to the world as a year-round destination in October 2020.

The kingdom closed its borders to foreign “umrah” pilgrims and to tourists from at least 25 countries in late February.

In March, it barred all travel in and out of the country.

Saudi Arabia has reported 287,262 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, and 3,130 deaths so far.

Binational couples separated by coronavirus travel and immigration restrictions will soon be granted a ‘laissez-passer’ - a special exemption that allows the partner from the high-risk country to be reunited with their partner in France, the daily Sud Ouest reports.

Since travel restrictions and lockdown rules were introduced in France in March, some couples have been living a long-distance relationship in two different countries.

Secretary of state for tourism and French people Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne announced on Saturday that a derogatory procedure would allow binational couples to meet again.

From Monday, a laissez-passer can therefore be issued in consulates for one of the spouses to join the other in France.

They “must present themselves at the consulate with documents attesting to common activities, their identity documents, proof of residence in France for the French spouse, a return ticket”, Lemoyne said.

A couple sit by the river Seine at dusk in Paris, France. Photograph: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images
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Greece records highest single day rise in infections

Greece has recorded 203 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak in the country, a government official said.

The latest jump in cases brings the total number of infections in the country to 5,623 since its first infection surfaced in late February, Reuters reports.

UK's new daily infections surpass 1,000 for first time since June

Britain’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 1,062 on Sunday, going over 1,000 for the first time since late June.

As cases rise in the country, new local lockdowns are implemented in some areas and worries over a second wave of infections are rife.

Official data showed Sunday’s reported cases are 304 higher than the 758 new cases reported on Saturday.

In mid-June, the World Health Organization advised that England’s coronavirus lockdown should not be further lifted until the government’s contact-tracing system has proven to be “robust and effective”, after widespread criticism of the first results of the government’s new tracking operation.

Non-essential shops began reopening in England and Northern Ireland in mid-June, and in Wales and Scotland later that month.

Hotels, pubs and restaurants in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland followed suit in July, though customers were only allowed back inside Welsh pubs and cafes in the first week of August.

A couple wearing protective face masks pass a promotion funded by Calderdale Council, an ad bike display advising people on how to slow the spread of the coronavirus, in Halifax in northern England on 9 August, 2020, as local lockdown restrictions are reimposed due to a spike in cases of the novel coronavirus in the town. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

As confirmed coronavirus cases in the US have hit 5 million on Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the world’s most powerful nation to contain the virus has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe, the Associated Press reports.

Perhaps nowhere outside the US is America’s bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe’s epidemic.

The Italian government was unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world’s highest official death tolls at 35,000.

But after a strict nationwide, 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.

“Don’t they care about their health?,” Patrizia Antonini, a mask-clad woman asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome.

“They need to take our precautions. [...] They need a real lockdown.”

People relax on the beach in Miami Beach, Florida amid the coronavirus pandemic 28 July, 2020. The US corornavirus tally reached 5,000,603 cases on Sunday morning and 162,430 deaths - both totals by far the highest of any country in the world. Photograph: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didnt have when the first Covid-19 patients started filling intensive care units.

Yet, more than four months into a sustained outbreak, the US reached the 5 million mark, according to the running count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Health officials believe the actual number is perhaps 10 times higher, or closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of all those who are infected have no symptoms.

“We Italians always saw America as a model,” said Massimo Franco, a columnist with daily Corriere della Sera.

“But with this virus we’ve discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent.”

Italian health minister Roberto Speranza hasn’t shied away from criticizing the US, officially condemning as wrong the decision of the Trump administration to withhold funding from the World Health Organization and expressing amazement at president Donald Trump’s virus response.

After Trump finally donned a mask last month, Speranza told La7 television: “I’m not surprised by Trump’s behavior now; Im profoundly surprised by his behavior before.”

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