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Thu 8 Oct 2020 18.41 EDTFirst published on Wed 7 Oct 2020 18.37 EDT
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Yangon, Myanmar
Volunteers spray disinfectant around the locked down monasteries of Thayet Taw Complex to curb the spread of coronavirus in Yangon, Myanmar. Photograph: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA
Volunteers spray disinfectant around the locked down monasteries of Thayet Taw Complex to curb the spread of coronavirus in Yangon, Myanmar. Photograph: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA

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Brazil has registered 27,750 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 5,028,444, the health ministry said. Reported deaths rose by 729 to 148,957, the second highest death toll in the world.

Madrid must impose travel restrictions or face state of emergency, Spanish government says

Madrid must enforce travel restrictions ordered by the health ministry to limit coronavirus outbreaks or the national government will impose a state of emergency that would force it to comply, the Spanish government said late on Thursday.

The government will hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Friday morning to decree the state of emergency if Madrid does not impose the restrictions or request intervention, the government said.

Following a health ministry order, Madrid authorities reluctantly barred all non-essential travel to and from the city and nine surrounding towns last Friday to curb the spread of Covid-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots.

A Madrid regional court on Thursday annulled the measures ordered by the national health ministry, ruling the government had overstepped its mandate and the restrictions interfered with fundamental human rights.

Declaring a state of emergency - the same legal framework that underpinned Spain’s tough lockdown during the first wave of the virus - would grant the national government the powers to restrict movement.

According to a government statement, the prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told Madrid’s regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso that she must either enforce the restrictions, request a state of emergency or the central government would unilaterally impose one.

The government said:

In any of the three cases the measures would be exactly the same as those already being applied, the only thing that would change would be the legal instrument.

Ayuso said regional officials would discuss alternatives on Friday morning. She said in a statement:

We hope to agree on a solution that benefits citizens and provides clarity.

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Summary

As Australia wakes up, here are the main developments from the last few hours:

  • Romania suspends flights to and from high-risk countries to stem a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections. Travellers from 49 high-risk countries will need to self-isolate for 10-14 days upon arrival, except those travelling for less than three days, who must have a negative coronavirus test. On Thursday, the government suspended flights from the countries on the list, except European Union states, the UK, the UAE and Qatar.
  • Madrid court strikes down a government order imposing a partial coronavirus lockdown on the Spanish capital. The court ruled in favour of the Madrid region in a standoff with national authorities just before a long holiday weekend. The Madrid regional court called the restrictions an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights without the legal mandate to support it”.
  • WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases. The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
  • Paris hospitals move into emergency mode amid rise in Covid-19 patients. Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, cancelling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
  • Trump says he will not take part in virtual presidential debate. Donald Trump has refused to participate in next week’s debate with Joe Biden after it was announced the event would be held virtually due to the president’s coronavirus diagnosis.
  • Medical journal condemns Trump’s handling of pandemic. One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has lambasted the Trump administration’s “dangerously incompetent” handling of the pandemic and called for them to be voted out of office, as US coronavirus cases continue to soar.
  • Madrid court rejects partial lockdown as ‘harmful to basic rights’. Madrid’s top regional court has rejected a partial lockdown imposed on the capital and nine nearby towns to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus.A court statement said the measures “impacted on the rights and fundamental freedoms” of the 4.5 million residents affected by the closure.
  • Italy tops 4,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since mid-April. Italy has registered 4,458 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the first time the country has exceeded 4,000 cases in a single day since mid-April.
  • Orthodox New Yorkers condemn Cuomo over new Covid shutdowns. New rules putting parts of New York City back into lockdown amid a rise in fresh coronavirus cases have been met with protests as Andrew Cuomo was accused of using “dangerous and divisive” language against Orthodox Jews.
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A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the upper midwest and the Plains emerge as one of the US’s most troubling hot spots, AP reports.

The three states now lead all others in new cases per capita, after months in which many politicians and residents rejected mask requirements while downplaying the risks of the disease that has now killed over 210,000 Americans.

“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Melissa Resch, a nurse at Wisconsin’s Aspirus Wausau hospital, which is working to add beds and reassign staff to keep up with a rising caseload of virus patients, many gravely ill.

Just yesterday I had a patient say, ‘It’s OK, you guys took good care of me, but it’s OK to let me go’. I’ve cried with the respiratory unit, I’ve cried with managers. I cry at home. I’ve seen nurses crying openly in the hallway.

The efforts to combat the quickening spread of the virus in the midwest and Plains states are starting to recall the scenes that played out in other parts of the country over the past several months.

“What worries me is we haven’t learned our lessons,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He cited data, compiled by the company Premise, showing mask usage at 39% in Wisconsin and 45% in the Dakotas, both below the national average of 50%.

People let down their guard. They said, It’s not us. It’s big cities. But eventually, like any other virus, it’s going to spread. Nobody lives in a bubble in this country.

In North Dakota, which does not require residents to wear masks and whose 770 new cases per 100,000 residents are the highest in the country, 24 more deaths were reported Wednesday, triple the state’s previous single-day record.

“The reported number of deaths today is heartbreaking,” said state health department spokeswoman Nicole Peske, adding:

Unfortunately, the deaths and the increase in cases in long-term care are a direct reflection of what’s happening in the community.

In Wisconsin, health officials plan to open a field hospital next week at the state fairgrounds to prevent health care centres from being overwhelmed by virus cases, even as state Republicans challenge the Democratic governor Tony Evers’ mask mandate in court. Evers said:

We hoped this day wouldn’t come, but unfortunately, Wisconsin is in a much different, more dire place today, and our health care systems are beginning to become overwhelmed.

The state surpassed 3,000 new virus cases for the first time on Thursday, more than 200 above its previous daily record, set earlier this month.

South Dakota set records Thursday for active cases, hospitalisations and new deaths, with 14. A small hospital that serves the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe transferred two virus patients out of state after administrators at 14 other facilities said they were diverting patients.

That contradicted assurances by the governor Kristi Noem, a Republican whose plan for combating the virus has focused on increasing treatment capacity rather than preventing infection. Noem, who has insisted since the spring that the spread of the disease was inevitable, has come under growing criticism.

The state Democratic Party chairman Randy Seiler said:

It is the height of arrogance and ignorance for her to claim her inaction is a badge of honour.

Despite the rising numbers, Kathleen Taylor of Redfield, South Dakota, said she sees a lot of apathy in the community of about 2,300. For months, the town had been largely spared by the pandemic. But now, she said, she knows 14 people who have tested positive.

I watch the governor tell people how marvellously we are doing and how relying on people’s own sense of responsibility has worked. Then I go into town and I see maybe three people wearing masks and nobody distancing.

Iowa on Thursday reported over 1,500 new confirmed cases over the previous 24 hours and a record 449 people hospitalised. A report issued by the White House coronavirus task force said the state has seen high transmission of the virus over the past month, with “many preventable deaths.”

The report came a day after the Republican governor Kim Reynolds urged residents not to let the virus dominate their lives, echoing the words of the president Donald Trump. Reynolds, who has rejected health experts’ repeated recommendations that people be required to wear masks, bristled Wednesday when asked why she hadn’t done more to reduce virus spread.

We are doing a lot, and I’m proud of what we’re doing, but you know what? Any death is one too many, and it’s heart-wrenching to see the numbers, but I have to balance a lot.

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Romanian authorities have said they will suspend flights to and from high-risk countries to stem a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.

The number of infections in Romania rose by a record 3,130 in the past 24 hours, and the government has closed theatres, cinemas, indoor restaurants, bars and gaming halls in the capital Bucharest, with similar measures enforced by other cities.

Travellers from 49 high-risk countries will need to self-isolate for 10-14 days upon arrival, except those travelling for less than three days, who must have a negative coronavirus test.

On Thursday, the government suspended flights from the countries on the list, except European Union states, the UK, the UAE and Qatar.

A woman wears a mask for protection against Covid-19 while going into a subway station in Bucharest. Photograph: Andreea Alexandru/AP

More than 80% of people who tested positive in a national coronavirus survey in the UK had none of the core symptoms of the disease the day they took the test.

The finding has prompted fears among scientists that future Covid-19 outbreaks will be hard to control without more widespread testing in the community to pick up “silent transmission”, particularly in universities and high-risk workplaces such as meat processing facilities.

Researchers at University College London said 86.1% of infected people picked up by the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 survey between April and June had none of the main symptoms of the illness – a cough, or a fever, or a loss of taste or smell the day they had the test.

Three quarters who tested positive had no notable symptoms at all, the scientists found when they checked whether people reported other ailments such as fatigue and breathlessness on the day of testing.

The Guardian’s science editor Ian Sample reports:

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A Madrid court struck down a government order imposing a partial coronavirus lockdown on the Spanish capital, ruling in favour of the Madrid region in a standoff with national authorities just before a long holiday weekend, Reuters reports.

Under the health ministry’s order, Madrid regional authorities on Friday barred residents from leaving the area, including nine satellite towns, without a valid reason, and imposed other measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots.

Regional government chief Isabel Díaz Ayuso had opposed the order, saying it would ravage the economy, also arguing the ministry had no power to impose such curbs on a region.

The Madrid regional court sided with her in its ruling, calling the restrictions an “interference by public authorities in citizens’ fundamental rights without the legal mandate to support it”.

The restrictions imposed in Madrid, with its usually bustling restaurants and bars, had not yet been fully enforced as no fines could be levied on people violating the restrictions until the court had issued its decision. The government can appeal.

Welcoming the court’s decision, Ayuso nevertheless urged Madrilenos to stay home over the upcoming Hispanic Day weekend that usually sparks mass holiday travel across Spain.

She promised to release a set of “sensible, fair and balanced” rules on Friday, meaning capital residents may still face more restrictions in a country where the government forecasts GDP will fall 11.2% in 2020.

During a televised address, she said:

Madrid’s businesses can’t carry on like this ... Nobody understands the rules, nobody knows what is going on.

Under the law, the Spanish government can limit fundamental rights by imposing a state of emergency, as it did nationwide for three months starting in March, but it is up to the regions, which control health policy, to request such measures on a more local scale outside of an emergency.

The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who described the situation in Madrid as “concerning”, told reporters in Algeria his government would study the court ruling and decide how to proceed after a meeting with the Madrid authorities.

The region had 741 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the two weeks to 7 October, according to the World Health Organization, making it Europe’s second densest Covid-19 cluster after Andorra.

Spain reported 12,423 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the national tally up to 848,324, the highest in western Europe. Reported deaths rose by 126 to 32,688.

A man wearing a face mask in front of the Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid. Photograph: Diego Radames/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
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Good evening from London! I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or any tips to share.

Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_

Summary

Here’s a quick run through of the latest coronavirus developments across the glove over the last few hours.

  • WHO reports record one-day rise in global coronavirus cases. The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Thursday, with the total rising by 338,779 in 24 hours.
  • Paris hospitals move into emergency mode amid rise in Covid-19 patients. Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, cancelling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
  • Trump says he will not take part in virtual presidential debate. Donald Trump has refused to participate in next week’s debate with Joe Biden after it was announced the event would be held virtually due to the president’s coronavirus diagnosis.
  • Medical journal condemns Trump’s handling of pandemic. One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has lambasted the Trump administration’s “dangerously incompetent” handling of the pandemic and called for them to be voted out of office, as US coronavirus cases continue to soar.
  • Madrid court rejects partial lockdown as ‘harmful to basic rights’. Madrid’s top regional court has rejected a partial lockdown imposed on the capital and nine nearby towns to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus.A court statement said the measures “impacted on the rights and fundamental freedoms” of the 4.5 million residents affected by the closure.
  • Italy tops 4,000 daily coronavirus cases for first time since mid-April. Italy has registered 4,458 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the first time the country has exceeded 4,000 cases in a single day since mid-April.
  • Orthodox New Yorkers condemn Cuomo over new Covid shutdowns. New rules putting parts of New York City back into lockdown amid a rise in fresh coronavirus cases have been met with protests as Andrew Cuomo was accused of using “dangerous and divisive” language against Orthodox Jews.

That’s it from me Jessica Murray today, I’m now handing over to my colleague Lucy Campbell.

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