Almost 300,000 new infections on Friday, led by US, Brazil and India; Boris Johnson warns of second UK lockdown; Victoria braced for more restrictions in Australia. Follow all the developments live
In Australia, the state of Victoria is mulling further restrictions to curb the rise in case numbers. The state has recorded more than 1,300 new infections over the past two days, including a record 732 cases from Thursday.
The state government is yet to announce new measures, but options could include the lockdown of certain industries where outbreaks among workers have been common, such as abattoirs, or a wider shutdown of all but essential industries, modelled on steps taken in New Zealand.
Two major drug companies will supply the US government with 100m doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine, the Trump administration said on Friday, as the nation’s top health agency predicted that fatalities would rise in the coming weeks.
The agreement calls for the US government to pay French drug maker Sanofi and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline up to $2.1bn to supply it with enough vaccines for 50 million people, with the option to buy another 500m doses.
New measures around Manchester introduced with ‘heavy heart’; Spain records highest Covid-19 cases since lockdown lifted; US GDP contracts 32.9%. Follow latest updates
Spain’s health ministry’s emergencies coordinator, Fernando Simon, says the country is not experiencing a second wave of the virus, despite a fresh surge in infections in the country.
“I don’t know if there will be second waves in the future. This does not look to me to be it. If it was, we would be in a very different situation that we are now,” he told a news conference.
The World Health Organization has warned that spikes in coronavirus transmission in a number of countries were being driven by young people “letting down their guard”.
“Young people are not invincible,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva on Thursday.
We call on young people to take precautionary measures: #handhygiene, physical distance, wear a mask, stay home if you’re feeling unwell, avoid crowded places & mass gatherings, to protect yourselves & others from #COVID19. Play it safe & help end this pandemic. pic.twitter.com/5U7eQi1BZj
California state lawmakers are considering a plan to continue a $600 weekly unemployment benefit for state residents if Congress does not extend the emergency funding this month.
“We have millions of Californians that are on a financial cliff,” said Phil Ting, a Democratic state lawmaker from San Francisco. “They really need that money to pay rent, to buy food, to pay for everyday living expenses.”
The number of new coronavirus infections in France rose by 1,392 on Wednesday, the highest daily tally in a month and a figure likely to fuel fears of a second wave of the disease despite officials downplaying such a scenario.
The increase took France’s total number of confirmed cases to 185,196. In a statement, health authorities said that, leaving aside the continuous decline of people in ICU units, all Covid-19 indicators showed “an increase of the viral circulation”.
