Coronavirus news: Boris Johnson ‘blind’ to risk of lifting lockdown as more cities being monitored for spikes ahead of ‘Super Saturday’
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Labour has urged Boris Johnson to extend the government’s furlough scheme, telling the prime minister it could be the “last chance to save millions of jobs".
It comes as more towns and cities are monitored for coronavirus spikes that could see them placed under local lockdowns. Ministers have faced criticism for the handling of the surge in cases in Leicester, which was put into the UK’s first local lockdown on Tuesday.
Australian authorities, meanwhile, will lock down about 300,000 people in suburbs north of Melbourne for one month from today after two weeks of double-digit rises in new Covid-19 cases.
US gun sales soar to record levels
Nearly four million background checks were carried out in June, according to the FBI, setting a new monthly record.
The figures - the highest since the system was created in November 1998 - suggest gun sales are soaring amid the coronavirus pandemic and protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Background checks are a key guide to gun sales, albeit each check could be for the sale of more than one gun.
UN Security Council calls for global truce - after three months of talks
The UN Security Council has finally adopted a resolution calling for a global truce amid the coronavirus pandemic, after a long-running dispute between the United States and China.
The resolution, drafted by France and Tunisia, and backed by UN chief Antonio Guterres on 23 March, urges "all parties to armed conflicts to engage immediately in a durable humanitarian pause for at least 90 consecutive days" to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Negotiations on the resolution were stymied by a standoff between China and the United States over whether to urge support for the World Health Organisation. The United States did not want a reference to the global health body, while China did. In the end the resolution does not mention the WHO but referers to another resolution that does.
"We have really seen the body at its worst," Richard Gowan, International Crisis Group UN director, said of the council. "This is a dysfunctional Security Council."
Brazil death toll passes 60,000
A further 1,016 deaths have been reported in Brazil, bringing the total to 60,610.
The health ministry said the number of confirmed cases had risen by more than 45,000 over the last 24 hour period, to 1,447,523.
Texas reports record daily rise in cases
Another 8,076 cases were reported in Texas today, the highest daily increase since the pandemic started.
It brings the total in the state to 168,062, according to the health department.
US withdrawal from WHO 'will harm public health'
The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO) will harm the health of “people around the world”, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute director, Dr Ashish K Jha.
On 29 May, President Donald Trump announced that the US would be terminating its relationship with the WHO and would redirect “those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs”.
Peruvians come out for end of 106-day lockdown
Blocks-long lines formed at bus stops, food markets and shopping centers in Peru's capital Wednesday as people left their homes en masse to go to work or shop as a 106-day coronavirus lockdown ended in many parts of the country.
For the first time in months, food vendors offered breakfasts for 50 cents from street carts covered in clear plastic in Lima's historic center. Vendors hawked face shields and disinfectants outside crowded public markets. City workers cleaned statues with jets of water.
President Martin Vizcarra said the goal of easing the lockdown is to "reactivate the economy" and generate jobs, with the World Bank projecting a 12 per cent drop in GDP in 2020.
He said if the virus returns in force "the most severe measure would be to resume quarantine, but it would be the last option."
Millions of people lost their jobs during the lockdown, with many turning to selling goods in the street. An estimated 70 per cent of Peru's workforce is employed in the informal economy.
However health minister Victor Zamora told the newspaper La Republica the lockdown that began on 16 March saved 145,000 lives and prevented more than a million people being admitted to hospital.
"It would have been a real massacre without quarantine," Mr Zamora said.
Associated Press
A customer's temperature is measured at a store in Lima (AFP)
Nurseries in deprived areas hardest hit by pandemic, charity warns
A third of nurseries in the most deprived areas of England may be forced to close permanently due to coronavirus-related financial difficulties, a report warns.
Many parents are worried that their child's social and emotional development and wellbeing has been negatively affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, a survey suggests.
The Sutton Trust is calling on the Government to urgently provide an £88 million support package for the early years sector to "protect the early learning prospects of a generation of children".
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "The coronavirus crisis is having a devastating impact on the early years sector, with many nurseries and pre-schools facing closure.
"This will inevitably have a long-lasting impact on children's early development. Parents will struggle to find a place for their child. This will affect their ability to go to work. Now is the time, when the world has been turned upside down, to prioritise support for children and families."
A survey found that a third (34 per cent) of early years settings in the most disadvantaged areas said they were unlikely to still be operating next year, compared to 24 per cent in the most affluent areas.
The poll, of 6,300 early years providers in England, also suggests that 69 per cent of those in deprived areas expect to operate at a loss over the next six months and 42 per cent anticipate making redundancies.
Trump claims he looks like Lone Ranger while wearing a mask
The US president has long resisted wearing a mask in public, saying it was his personal decision not to follow the guidance.
However he told Fox News on Wednesday that he was "all for masks", adding: "I think masks are good".
"I had a mask on," he continued. "I sort of liked the way I looked. OK. I thought it was OK. It was a dark black mask, and I thought it looked OK. It looked like the Lone Ranger."
Colombia cases pass 100,000
Colombia reported more than 4,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus today, a record daily increase which brings the total to 102,009.
The death toll stands at 3,470.
Meanwhile the mayor of the country's capital Bogota said the city should prepare for a stricter lockdown as hospital intensive care units reached 70 per cent capacity.
Leicester experts say government's sharing of information was 'inadequate'
Academics and clinicians from the University of Leicester have criticised the level of data made available to local authorities regarding Covid-19 infections.
An "inadequacy of information sharing" meant action could not be taken at a local level earlier in Leicester, while reimposing lockdown represents a "failure of timely intervention", according to the group.
Leicester was forced back into tighter measures after a flare-up of cases in the city, which now has the highest coronavirus rates in England.
In a letter to The Lancet journal, the group of academics and clinicians wrote that the spike of regional infections had exposed "key problems" that need to be "urgently addressed".
"In particular, the opportunity to escalate interventions locally has been stymied by the inadequacy of information sharing," the letter says.
The letter's signatories report that news of the city's outbreak came as a surprise to local health organisations, who were only able to access data relating to tests carried out in NHS and Public Health England (PHE) laboratories.
However testing of the wider community indicated an ongoing spike but was "not communicated in a timely manner" to local authority and health organisations.
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