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WHO daily cases set new record at more than 350,000 – as it happened

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Fri 9 Oct 2020 19.58 EDTFirst published on Thu 8 Oct 2020 18.38 EDT
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A man wearing protective mask pulls his suitcase in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain.
A man wearing protective mask pulls his suitcase in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Juan Carlos Hidalgo/EPA
A man wearing protective mask pulls his suitcase in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain. Photograph: Juan Carlos Hidalgo/EPA

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I’ve just got some clarification on the “positive test result” reported for Goodna, near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, reported earlier by Queensland’s chief health officer.

That result was from a wastewater test, not a test of an individual, and was likely linked to a known cluster from that area.

Queensland reports new case of coronavirus

In Queensland, Australia, the state has reported one new case of Covid-19 of a man who was in day 10 of being in hotel quarantine.

The state’s chief health officer, Jeanette Young, says that testing of sewage near Townsville has returned a positive result, and is now warning anyone there to watch symptoms closely and get tested.

“We know we haven’t had cases in Townsville for quite some time ... months,” she said.

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The next presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden planned for 15 October now won’t go ahead, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates in a statement to Reuters.

The CPD said both campaigns had announced “alternate plans for that date”.

“It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22,” the commission said in an emailed statement.

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A federal judge has refused to block New York’s plan to temporarily limit the size of religious gatherings in Covid-19 hot spots.

US district judge Judge Kiyo Matsumoto issued the ruling on Friday after an emergency hearing in a lawsuit brought by rabbis and synagogues that argued the restrictions were unconstitutional. They had sought to have enforcement delayed until at least after Jewish holy days this weekend.

The rules limit indoor prayer services to 10 people in areas where the virus is spreading fastest. In other areas with slower spread, indoor religious services are capped at 25 people.

The restrictions apply in six designated virus hot spots statewide, in parts of New York City, Rockland and Orange counties, and part of Binghamton. Nonessential businesses and schools have also been shut down in some of those areas.

Ruling from the bench, the judge said the state had an interest in protecting public safety.

Rabbis, leaders of synagogues and the national Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel sued, arguing that governor Andrew Cuomo was “singling out” Jews amid the ongoing Sukkot festival and this weekend’s Simchat Torah, which marks the annual cycle of reading the Torah.

“That targeting of a religious minority on the eve of its holidays is reason enough to reject all of defendant’s arguments and allow plaintiffs to celebrate their holidays this weekend as they have for over 2,000 years,” the groups argued in a Friday court filing.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn also sued in a challenge to the restrictions.

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Victoria reports 14 new coronavirus cases and no deaths

Graham Readfearn
Graham Readfearn

Victoria has reported 14 new coronavirus cases and no deaths in the past 24 hours.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is expected to give a further update this morning in what will be his 100th consecutive day of fronting up to the media.

Melbourne has been in a hard lockdown since early July as the state experienced a second wave of the coronavirus.

While restrictions have eased in regional areas of the state, in the city a five-kilometre movement restriction for only essential travel and gathering bans remain.

That lockdown will stay unless the city’s rolling 14-day average drops to five cases or less, with only five cases of community transmission over that same time. The average right now is 9.4.

On Friday the state recorded 11 cases and no deaths.

In NSW, that state recorded five new local cases on Friday but these were all linked to a known cluster. A health alert was issued late Friday when a nurse at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney tested posted. The nurse “had limited contact with a very small number of colleagues”, health authorities said.

The opening of state borders continues to create political tension in Australia.

Queensland, which has only four people currently with the virus, is relatively open, and has its border closed to most of New South Wales and all of Victoria. The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morriso,n have both been trying to pressure Queensland to open up.

Queensland is in election mode, with polls closing on 31 October.

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US Department of Health and Human Services has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca Plc for development and supply of the company’s Covid-19 antibody treatment, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, a similar class of drugs that was administered to President Donald Trump.

The agency will provide nearly $486 million to AstraZeneca for two Phase 3 clinical trials as well as a large-scale manufacturing demonstration project and supply of AZD7442 doses in the US.

Brazil nears death toll of 150,000

The death toll in Brazil from coronavirus has reached a total of 149,639 compared to 148,957 yesterday, the country’s health ministry said.

Brazil has also registered 5,055,888 cases, up from 5,028,444 yesterday.

Stuart MacFarlane
Stuart MacFarlane

In Australia, a Sydney nurse at St Vincent’s hospital has tested positive for coronavirus. It is believed the nurse provided specialised care to a single patient and had limited contact with a small number of colleagues.

NSW Health says people who attended Westfield Parramatta at times on 6 and 7 October are considered casual contacts of the nurse and should monitor for symptoms.

1/2 @NSWHealth is alerting the public that a newly confirmed case of #COVID19 is a nurse at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney. It is believed the nurse provided specialised care to a single patient, & had limited contact with a very small number of colleagues.

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 9, 2020

2/2 Anyone who attended the below venues is considered a casual contact and must monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they develop. After testing, they must remain in isolation until a negative test result is received. Read more: https://t.co/QPaDrRiwwt pic.twitter.com/DsXIiXM7lf

— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) October 9, 2020

An open letter in the UK that made headlines calling for a herd immunity approach to Covid-19 lists a number of apparently fake names among its expert signatories, including “Dr Johnny Bananas” and “Professor Cominic Dummings”.

The Great Barrington declaration, which was said to have been signed by more than 15,000 scientists and medical practitioners around the world, was found to contain numerous false names, as well as those of several homeopaths.

US President Donald Trump said he could have become very ill and might not have recovered from Covid-19 without experimental drugs, a far worse outlook than what his doctors were telling the American people.

“I was asking the doctors today ... and I said, How bad was I?’ They said: You could have been very bad. You were going into a very bad phase,’” Trump told Rush Limbaugh during his radio show.

“It looked like it was going to be a big deal and you know what that means, right? That means bad because I’ve lost five people,” he added, referring to acquaintances who have died.

Trump said that after contracting the virus, he was “not in the greatest of shape.” He added that “I might not have recovered at all” without treatment with experimental drugs.

His comments on the seriousness of his coronavirus contrast with generally upbeat public statements about his condition that his doctors released after his diagnosis and while he was hospitalised.

The White House said Trump’s being admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last week was precautionary and his symptoms were mild.

Trump is expected to hold first rally since his diagnosis on Monday in Florida.

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Two migrants died after entering Panama through the border with Colombia, one from coronavirus, Panamanian authorities said.

The National Immigration Service said both migrants, one from Mauritania and the other from Haiti, entered Panama in early October and both died on Thursday.

The Mauritanian Sall Abdulaye Mamdou, 28, was taken to a government outpost in the Darien region without vital signs. A test for Covid-19 came back positive.

The cause of death was not provided for Bana Saint Halaine of Haiti, 50, who entered Panama with a group of fellow Haitians.

Panama had previously reported the deaths of two other migrants during the pandemic.

There are some 2,000 migrants in government camps in Darien and another 500 in a camp near the Costa Rica border. The majority are Haitians halted in their journey to the United States by the pandemic.

Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE said they have started a rolling submission to Health Canada for their experimental Covid-19 vaccine.

The companies said under the rolling submission they would submit safety and efficacy data from trial of their Covid-19 vaccine to Canada’s health ministry when it becomes available.

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden poses with supporters after speaking at the East Las Vegas Community Center about the effects of Covid-19 on Latinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

A summary of today's developments

  • The World Health Organization has reported a new daily high in Covid-19 cases. The global tally reached more than 350,000 cases on Friday, surpassing a record set earlier this week by nearly 12,000 infections.
  • The number of coronavirus infections in France jumped over 20,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, health ministry data showed. The ministry reported 20,330 new infections, taking the total to 691,977 since the start of the year. In the past two days the ministry had reported more than 18,000 daily new confirmed Covid-19 cases.
  • UK prime minister Boris Johnson will make a statement on Monday setting out new coronavirus outbreak restrictions, the PA news agency understands. Johnson will use the occasion to outline a new “tiered” approach to how local Covid situations will be treated.
  • The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, warned the country had reached a “tipping point” as it battles a second wave of the coronavirus. In revised modelling, the federal anticipates cumulative deaths could reach between 9,690 and 9,800 by 17 October, with 188,150 to 197,830 infections.
  • Daily infections in Italy have topped 5,000 for the first time since March. On Friday, the country recorded 5,372 new Covid-19 cases, the first time more than 5,000 infections have been recorded in a single day by the country since 29 March.
  • Spain has declared a state of emergency to keep Madrid in partial lockdown measures. Health minister Salvador Illa said the restrictions would remain in place in the capital for a fortnight after 63 people died from Covid-19 in the region in the last week.
  • Poland has reported a record daily rise in infections for the fourth day in a row. The country recorded 4,739 new cases on Friday, ahead of masks becoming mandatory in all public places from Saturday.
  • Europe has recorded 100,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time. Infections in the continent passed 100,000 on Thursday after a steady rise over the past week. The UK, Russia, Spain and France have reported over 10,000 cases each in the last three days.
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