Coronavirus live news: France cases rise by 54% in a week; Germany labels three Spanish regions high-risk

Greece has announced another extension to the end of August of a controversial lockdown on its overcrowded migrant camps as infections in the country pick up.

The lockdown on camps introduced in March will now be extended until August 31 “to prevent the emergence and dispersal of coronavirus cases,” the migration ministry said in a statement.

Greece, with 203 Covid-19 deaths, has so far not been as badly hit as many other European countries – and there have been no deaths in the migrant camps, AFP reports.

But the presence of more than 26,000 asylum seekers on the five Aegean islands – in camps with capacity of under 6,100 – has caused major friction with local communities.

The reopening of Greek airports and borders to tourism, accompanied by the removal of lockdown restrictions for the general population, has led to an increase in cases.

Muslims, wearing protective masks as a precaution against infection from coronavirus today gathered for the Eid al-Adha prayer inside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, recently converted back to a mosque, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul.

India’s Bihar state is battling the twin treat of the coronavirus and devastating monsoon floods, AP reports.

The floods have swamped large parts of the densely populated state and displaced more than 300,000 people as of Friday.

Every year the state faces flooding by rivers originating in neighbouring Nepal that affects millions, but doctors and experts said the bigger worry this year is the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

So far, Bihar has recorded 48,197 cases including 282 deaths.
Thats a far lower death toll than other densely populated states that are witnessing a sharp rise in cases, but with experts warning of multiple peaks in India, Bihar could be facing an uphill task to halt the virus.

The World Health Organization recommends one doctor for at least 1,000 people, but in Bihar, the ratio is about one for every 17,000.

The state is also falling short on testing and has only recently increased daily testing capacity from 10,000 to over 14,000.

People who had visited Italy accounted for more than a quarter of the first reported cases of the new coronavirus outside China, according to a new study that found most initial infections were linked to just three countries, AFP reports.

Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used publicly-available data to trace the early spread of Covid-19 to dozens of affected countries in the 11 weeks before the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic.

They found that 27 percent of all the first reported cases were people with travel links to Italy, while 22 percent had been to China and 11 percent had travelled from Iran.

The study, which was published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases this week, found that overall three quarters of the first cases in affected countries were linked to recent travel.

Other initial cases were travellers from Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Researchers examined online reports from health ministries and other government agency websites, social media feeds, and press releases for information on first cases and early outbreaks.

Spain plunged into recession in the second quarter after its gross domestic product tumbled by 18.5% due to the pandemic, official figures showed on Friday.

In the first quarter, growth had fallen by 5.2%, the Institute of National Statistics said (INE). A recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of a contraction in GDP, AFP reports.

The first of estimate by INE is broadly in line with the forecast by the Bank of Spain which had seen a contraction in the economy of 16-22% for the period between April to June at the height of the lockdown when all non-essential activities were halted.

The restrictions imposed under the state of emergency, which began in mid-March, were only gradually lifted in May and June.

The business, transport and hotels sector were all badly hit, with a 40% drop compared with the first quarter.

And tourism, a pillar of the Spanish economy which accounts for 12% of GDP, suffered with a 60% drop in revenues compared the same period in 2019.

Here is the Guardian’s report on Boris Johnson’s postponement of lockdown easing in England.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced he will reverse a decision to relax a range of lockdown measures due to come into force in England on Saturday, including cancelling plans to allow a full range of beauty treatments.

The further easing of lockdown restrictions in England that were due on 1 August for higher risk settings, including allowing small wedding receptions and the reopening of bowling alleys, skating rinks and casinos, has been postponed for at least two weeks, he said.

Indoor performances will not resume, pilots of crowds in sports centres will not take place, and wedding receptions of more than 30 people will not be permitted, he added.

His announcement follows that to tighten restrictions in parts of the north of England as part of targeted measures.

Full details from his press conference can be found here:

A new test powered by artificial intelligence (AI) could be capable of identifying coronavirus within one hour, according to new research.
Its developers say it can rapidly screen people arriving at hospitals for Covid-19 and accurately predict whether or not they have the disease, the Press Association reports.
The Curial AI test has been developed by a team at the University of Oxford and assesses data typically gathered from patients within the first hour of arriving in an emergency department – such as blood tests and vital signs – to determine the chance of a patient testing positive for Covid-19.
Testing for the virus currently involves the molecular analysis of a nose and throat swab, with results having a typical turnaround time of between 12 and 48 hours.
However, the Oxford team said their tool could deliver near-real-time predictions for a patient’s Covid-19 status.
In a study running since March, the researchers have tested the AI tool on data from 115,000 visits to A&E at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH).
Study lead Dr Andrew Soltan said the tool had accurately predicted a patient’s Covid-19 status in more than 90% of cases, and argued that it could be a useful tool for the NHS. He added that the researchers now hope to carry out real-world trials of the technology.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said today that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, AP reports.
The Hong Kong government is invoking an emergency regulations ordinance in delaying the elections. Lam said the government has the support of the Chinese government in making the decision.
Hong Kong has seen a surge in infections since the beginning of July.
The postponement is a setback for the opposition, which was hoping to capitalise on disenchantment with the current pro-Beijing majority to make gains.
Pro-democracy lawmakers have accused the government of using the outbreak as an excuse to delay the elections.

In India, a vendor sprays sanitiser as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus on ‘rakhis’ (sacred thread) at his shop ahead of the annual Hindu festival ‘Raksha Bandhan’, in Hyderabad

The Raksha Bandhan festival is marked by a simple ceremony in which sisters tie sacred threads known as ‘rakhi’ on their brothers’ wrists as a prayer for their prosperity and happiness.

Japan has signed a deal to secure 120m doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine, the German pharmaceutical group BioNTech, which is developing the drug with US pharma giant Pfizer, said today.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, with BioNTech saying the terms were based on the timing of the delivery and volume of doses, AFP reports.

But an agreement announced recently between the labs and the US put the price of 100m doses of the potential vaccine at almost $2bn.

First deliveries to Japan are planned for the first half of 2021, added the Mainz-based company.

More than 200 candidate vaccines are being developed around the world with roughly two dozen at the stage of clinical trials with human volunteers.

In Texas, hurricane season means preparing for one natural disaster in the middle of another, Erum Salam reports from Houston.

On a recent weekend in Houston, hundreds of people thronged a local Home Depot, buying plywood, bags of sand and gallons of water. They were getting supplies – not for a quarantine DIY project – but rather purchasing materials to protect their homes during hurricane season.

It is a yearly ritual in Texas, but 2020 is different. Not only is America facing an unusually active hurricane season – Texas has been hit once already – but the coronavirus pandemic looms over the state’s preparations.

Covid-19 definitely presents a challenge. Hurricane shelters need good ventilation, and to be able to enforce social distancing.

Portugal’s economy contracted 14.1% in the second quarter from the first three months of this year as it imposed lockdowns to slow the spread of coronavirus, the national statistics agency said today.

With gross domestic product having fallen by 3.8% in the first three months of this year, Portugal has met the technical definition for a recession of two consecutive quarters of a drop in quarter-on-quarter GDP, AFP reports.

“Reflecting the economic impact of the pandemic, the Portuguese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a strong contraction in the second quarter of 2020,” Statistics Portugal said in a statement.

It said domestic demand, both in private consumption and investment, were the main drivers of the drop in GDP.

Portugal is also heavily dependent upon tourism, and Statistics Portugal pointed out that “non-residents tourism (was) almost … interrupted” by the restrictions on international travel and lockdowns.

Portugal’s government expects a 6.9% drop in GDP for the entire year, while the central bank sees a fall of 9.5%.