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Mattha Busby and Caroline Bannock report:
As the UK faces a potential second wave of the coronavirus, care homes across the country have started to restrict visits to protect their elderly residents.
But the limits are causing heartache for relatives, some of whom have spoken of their grief at not being able to visit family members, even in the final days of their lives, with some only allowed one visitor for half an hour a fortnight.
In Norfolk, Anna Hemp and her family are mourning the loss of her grandfather Alan Sigsworth, 91, who died on Saturday from natural causes, with only one member of his family able to see him for a 30-minute period before his death, which a doctor had warned could happen within days:
Cases are continuing to soar in Brazil. Figures on Monday show 4,345,160 cases in the country, a rise of more than 15,000 in 24 hours. The number of deaths was 132,006, a jump of 381.
A new national lockdown could be imposed in Wales within weeks unless people follow the updated rules on social gatherings, the country’s health minister has said.
Vaughan Gething also revealed that the Welsh government was investigating a range of measures for Wales including imposing curfews to try to control the spread of the virus.
My colleagues Steven Morris and Severin Carrell have the full story:
Updated
Jordan reimposes some restrictions following record rise in cases
Jordan will suspend schools for two weeks from Thursday and close places of worship, restaurants and public markets as part of renewed restrictions after a record rise in coronavirus cases in the last few days, Reuters reports.
The decision taken after a cabinet meeting came as the kingdom struggles to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the pandemic, government spokesman Amjad Adailah said, adding:
We are living through exceptional circumstances.
The health minister Saad Jaber said the government was seeking to avoid the kind of tight nationwide lockdown imposed in the spring that brought the virus under control with low daily case numbers among a population of 10 million.
In televised remarks, Jaber said:
These measures are harsh as they are, but we hope they will reduce infections and prevent a large outbreak that would lead to a total shutdown that would have catastrophic consequences.
But restrictions were lifted in June and 2 million students went back to schools and international flights resumed this month, and infections have jumped since Friday to a new peak of more than 200 a day.
The government reported 252 new cases on Sunday in its highest daily tally since the virus surfaced in early March. The country has now recorded 3,528 cases of infection and just 25 deaths.
The prime minister, Omar al Razzaz, said he hoped Jordan could avoid a total lockdown that the fragile, aid-dependent economy could ill-afford. The economy is now expected to shrink about 5% this year, which would be the biggest contraction since 1990.
Officials blame large social gatherings and weddings, which are now banned, for the fast transmission of the virus and have enforced 14-day prison term for violators of the ban. More than 4,000 shops have been closed for breaching health rules on wearing face masks.
Jaber said:
The irresponsible behavior of some by having condolences gatherings and weddings has affected everyone.
Updated
Panama has lifted a five-month-old coronavirus measure that restricted women from going out one day and men the next, the Associated Press reports.
The rules limiting when people can could go out for essentials proved controversial because it led to harassment and discrimination against transgender people.
The health minister, Luis Antonio Sucre, urged caution despite the lifting of the rule, which had been in place since March.
“Today we are beginning a new stage,” Sucre said, “in which men and women can go out when they wish. We have to be very careful, we have to remember that the pandemic is not over.”
Panama has had 101,745 reported cases and 2,166 deaths.
Similar measures were also tried in Peru as a way to reduce the number of people on the street and slow the spread of the virus.
Updated
French health authorities have reported 6,158 new Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, sharply down from Saturday’s record high since large-scale testing began of 10,561 and Sunday’s tally of 7,183.
The Monday figure always tends to dip as there are fewer tests conducted on Sundays.
The seven-day moving average of new infections, which smoothes out reporting irregularities, stood at 8,324, a record for a 28th day in a row, versus a low of 272 on 27 May, two weeks after the country ended its two-month-long lockdown.
The number of people in France who have died rose by 34 to 30,950. The cumulative number of cases now totals 387,252.
It comes as authorities in Bordeaux and Marseille announced strict new measures to limit public gatherings in an effort to rein in a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases that risks overwhelming the two cities’ hospitals.
The prime minister, Jean Castex, on Friday announced no new national restrictions and instead delegated the task to regional officials and health authorities. The country was not uniformly affected and they were better placed to act, he said.
Updated
The Chinese city of Ruili will test all people there after authorities reported two new coronavirus cases imported from neighbouring Myanmar, state media reported late on Monday.
Ruili is part of Dehong prefecture in China’s south-western province of Yunnan. The city asked residents to quarantine at home, according to state television CCTV.
Updated
The head of the Beirut Bar Association warned today that a coronavirus outbreak in crisis-hit Lebanon’s largest and most overcrowded prison amounted to a “humanitarian time bomb”.
Security authorities on Saturday announced 22 coronavirus cases at the Roumieh prison, just outside Beirut, including 13 detainees and nine guards. They said the prisoners had been transferred to an isolation unit inside the jail.
“The virus inside the Roumieh prison is tantamount to a humanitarian time bomb,” Beirut Bar Association head Melhem Khalaf told AFP.
The prison houses more than 4,000 prisoners, around three times its intended capacity, and has long been infamous for the poor conditions in some of its blocks.
Footage allegedly smuggled out of the prison and shared widely on social media shows several men lying on thin mattresses just feet apart from each other along a narrow corridor.
Summary
Here are some of the key developments from today.
- At least 14 refugees have tested positive for Covid-19, according to officials on Lesbos where efforts are underway to move thousands of people left homeless by devastating fires, in what had once been Europe’s biggest migrant camp in Moria, into a new facility.
- US president Donald Trump held a Nevada campaign rally at an indoor venue on Sunday despite public health professionals’ warnings against large indoor gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. People in the crowd were seated close together and many did not wear masks.
- The World Health Organization reported a record single-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Sunday, as the tally surged by a further 307,930 infections in just 24 hours.
- Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi left hospital on Monday 11 days after being admitted with coronavirus, describing it as “perhaps the most difficult ordeal of my life.”
- The imposition of a second lockdown in Israel has left the country staggering, with fears that three weeks of shuttered businesses and restricting people to their homes could devastate livelihoods.
- Queues formed outside schools across Italy on Monday as 5.6 million pupils returned to classrooms for the first time in over six months. Schools in 12 Italian regions reopened in what prime minister Giuseppe Conte said was a “big test for the state”.
- The French prime minister, Jean Castex, has instructed the authorities in Marseille, Bordeaux and the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to detail extra measures to halt the spread of Covid-19 by the end of Monday.
- The World Health Organization expects Europe to see a rise in the daily number of Covid-19 deaths in October and November, the head of the body’s European branch has told AFP.
- Public Health England said that as of 9am on Monday, there had been a further 2,621 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. Overall, 371,125 cases have been confirmed.PHE also said a further nine people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday. This brings the UK total to 41,637.
- Russia has reported 5,509 new coronavirus cases today, pushing its national tally to 1,068,320, the fourth largest in the world. Authorities said 57 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 18,635.
- An American woman has been accused of spreading coronavirus around a Bavarian town by allegedly drinking in pubs and bars despite being told to quarantine after showing coronavirus symptoms.
- Authorities in the Indonesian capital Jakarta reimposed a partial lockdown on Monday and vowed to strictly isolate anyone testing positive for Covid-19 as infections soared in the metropolis.
- Spain has logged another huge leap in Covid cases, reporting 27,4o4 new infections since last Friday and bringing its total to 593,730.
According to the latest figures from the health ministry, 116,464 cases have been diagnosed over the past two weeks and there have been 207 deaths over the past seven days.
Updated
People in England’s 10 worst-hit coronavirus hotspots were unable to get tests on Monday, leading to claims of a “shambles”.
Those trying to arrange a test in the areas with the highest infection rates were told that none were available at walk-in centres, drive-through facilities or for home delivery.
One official said there was capacity and swabs available at testing centres, but that a backlog in laboratories meant people were being told that no tests were available.
Read the full report here:
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