Coronavirus news – live: Australia commits to free vaccine for all citizens as data shows depression rates double in UK
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus is being spread largely by young people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are unaware they have been infected.
Takeshi Kasai, regional director for WHO Western Pacific, told a virtual briefing on Tuesday that young people driving the spread pose a risk to more vulnerable groups.
Meanwhile, Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison has announced it will manufacture a coronavirus vaccine and give it to its citizens free.
AstraZeneca’s experimental jab is considered a leader in the global race for an effective vaccine.
A major state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company has claimed its coronavirus vaccine will be commercially available by the end of the year.
SinoPharm has two vaccines in trial and an annual manufacturing capacity of 220 million doses, said its chairman, Liu Jingzhen.
Leicester health chief urges public to continue to follow guidance
Leicester's director of public health Ivan Browne has urged the public to continue to follow the guidelines after lockdown restrictions were eased in the city.
"Unless you've already formed a social bubble or are shielding and therefore now allowed to form a bubble, you shouldn't have other people in your house or garden if you don't live with them, even if they are family.", he said.
"During August we'll be continuing to knock on doors to offer free tests, so please take a test if you are offered one, and if you have symptoms, stay at home and get a test as soon as you can.
"I'd like to thank people for their hard work so far, and ask that they continue to follow the guidelines so we can reduce transmissions and get the city back to normal as far as is possible."
Ireland significantly tightens virus restrictions as cases spike
Ireland has significantly tightened its nationwide coronavirus restrictions to rein in an increase in cases, urging everyone to restrict visitors to their homes, avoid public transport and for older people to limit their contacts.
A spike in cases over the last three weeks after Ireland had one of Europe's lowest infection rates for several weeks, pushed the country's 14-day cumulative cases per 100,000 population to 26 and led to the first local lockdown last week.
"We're absolutely not at a stage where we can return to normality. We are at another critical moment," Prime Minister Micheal Martin told a news conference, saying the new measures would stay in place until 13 September.
Matt Hancock announces successor to PHE
Matt Hancock has formally announced the creation of the National Institute for Health Protection to replace Public Health England.
He wrote in a tweet: "Today I am announcing that we are forming the National Institute for Health Protection.
"This will have a single & relentless mission: protecting people from external threats to this country’s health, bringing the UK’s world-class science and scale into one coherent organisation."
Government risks ‘major misstep’ in shuttering PHE during pandemic, experts warn
Matt Hancock is risking a “major misstep” by axing Public Health England in the midst of a pandemic which lacks justification and could demoralise officials working to protect the country, experts have warned.
As the health secretary unveiled a new national health body, critics claimed the government was attempting to “shift the blame” after years of cuts to public health budgets and scapegoat the organisation over the response to the Covid-19 crisis.
Mr Hancock said the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP) will have a “single and relentless mission” to protecting UK citizens from external threats to the country’s health, including infectious diseases, pandemics and biological weapons.
More below:
Nancy Pelosi says Democrats willing to cut relief bill in half
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Democrats are willing to cut their coronavirus relief bill in half to get an agreement on new legislation with the White House and Republicans.
"We have to try to come to that agreement now," Ms Pelosi said in an online interview with Politico.
"We're willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now. We'll take it up again in January. We'll see them again in January. But for now, we can cut the bill in half."
It was not clear whether her remarks spelled out a new position for coronavirus aid negotiations with the White House. The Democratic-led House passed legislation with over $3 trillion in relief in May. This month, Democrats offered to reduce that sum by $1 trillion, but the White House rejected it.
Non-elite football to allow spectators
Non-elite football clubs will be allowed to admit fans to games once the season restarts, the deparment for culture, media and sport has confirmed.
The definition includes any team below the national league level.
France sees new cases maintain at March-May levels
The French health ministry has reported 2,238 confirmed new coronavirus infections, less than recent daily highs but still at levels last seen during the March-May lockdown imposed to stem the spread of the disease.
On Monday, when the number of reported cases typically falls sharply due to a lag in weekend test results, the ministry had reported just 493 new cases, after over 3,000 each on Sunday and Saturday and over 2,500 per day last Wednesday through Friday.
The seven-day moving average of the case count, which smooths out daily reporting irregularities, has now been above 2,000 for five consecutive days, a level that was last seen around the middle of April.
Despite the jump in infections, the number of people in hospital fell again by 102 to a new low of 4,823 and the number of people in intensive care slipped by four to 380, reflecting a preponderance of younger people among new cases who are more likely to be asymptomatic or not to fall seriously ill.
Both numbers had been on an uninterrupted downward trend since the peak of the pandemic in the first half of April, but that downtrend has slowed in the past two weeks.
Americas in grip of mental health crisis amid lockdowns
The pandemic is causing a mental health crisis in the Americas due to heightened stress and use of drugs and alcohol during six months of lockdowns and stay-at-home measures, the World Health Organization's regional director said.
The pandemic also has brought a related problem in a surge in domestic violence against women, Carissa Etienne said in a virtual briefing from the Pan American Health Organization in Washington.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a mental health crisis in our region at a scale we've never seen before," she said. "It is urgent that mental health support is considered a critical component of the pandemic response."
Ms Etienne called on governments to expand mental health services and prioritise mental health as part of their response to the pandemic.
WHO chief calls for end to 'vaccine nationalism'
Countries putting their own interests ahead of others in trying to ensure supplies of a possible coronavirus vaccine are making the pandemic worse, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
“(Acting) strategically and globally is actually in each country’s national interest - no one is safe until everyone is safe,” he told a virtual briefing calling for an end to “vaccine nationalism”.
He said he had sent a letter to all WHO members asking them to join the multilateral COVAX vaccine effort.
Lebanon orders business to shut down in wake of blast, case surge
Lebanon's interior ministry has ordered businesses across the country to shut down for two weeks and enforced an overnight curfew from Friday after a rise in coronavirus infections.
The decision allows for clearing rubble, making repairs and giving out aid in neighbourhoods demolished by the Aug. 4 blast in Beirut. The airport will remain open, with travellers having to take a PCR test before boarding.
Lebanon has registered record numbers of daily infections that have crossed 400, with its tally on Monday standing at 9,337 cases and 105 deaths since February.
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