Coronavirus - 5th November

Summary for Thursday, 5th November

• A new four-week lockdown has begun in England, with people told to stay at home and non-essential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close
  
• Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to make a statement in the Commons at around 11:30 GMT on economic support for businesses and individuals
  
• The Bank of England is to pump an extra £150bn into the economy while UK interest rates are held at 0.1%
  
• An inquiry is under way by the UK’s human rights watchdog into why lower-paid health and social care workers from ethnic minorities are at greater risk from Covid-19
  
• The US recorded more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday – a record one-day increase
  
• As many as 17 million minks are to be culled in Denmark after a mutated version of the coronavirus that can spread to humans was detected on mink farms
  

Good morning, and welcome to today’s live coverage of the pandemic, on the day that England’s lockdown begins. Here’s a quick summary of the main headlines:

• Police have warned that people who commit “egregious” breaches of England’s new lockdown rules will face stiff fines. Non-essential shops, pubs and gyms have been ordered to close and households are banned from mixing indoors or in private gardens, unless in a support bubble
  
• The Bank of England is injecting an extra £150bn into the UK economy amid fears of a second downturn due to the resurgence of Covid-19
  
• Care Minister Helen Whateley has defended rules on visits to care homes which suggest floor-to-ceiling screens, visiting pods or window visits
  
• Bosses of the Premier League and English Football League are being called before MPs in an attempt to break the “deadlock” over a financial rescue package for smaller clubs hit by the pandemic
  
• The UK’s human rights watchdog has begun an investigation into why lower-paid health and social care workers from ethnic minorities are at greater risk from coronavirus. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said it will examine "long-standing entrenched racial inequalities" which leave them disproportionately affected
  
• Health officials in Northern Ireland have advised that pubs and restaurants should remain closed for another two weeks, the BBC understands
  
• Staff at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital - one of the hotspots for Covid-19 admissions in Wales - they are "broken" and "exhausted" by the wave of infections, according to an intensive care doctor there
  
• Santa is moving online as the pandemic forces grottos to close. Businesses have switched to offering video calls with Father Christmas, direct “from the North Pole”
  
• And Captain Sir Tom Moore - whose fundraising walk gripped the nation during the pandemic’s first wave - has launched a new campaign to get other people walking and help support people who feel “lonely and frightened” in lockdown
  

What's happening around the world?

• As the US waits to see the final result of the presidential election, the country reported more than 100,000 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a record high. More than 1,100 coronavirus deaths were also recorded
  
• More than 17 million mink in Denmark could be culled after a mutant version of coronavirus was detected in farms producing fur. Five cases of the strain which can be transmitted to humans have been found in the country’s mink farms, with 12 people infected
  
• Indonesia, south-east Asia’s largest economy with the region’s highest infection rate, has fallen into recession for the first time in 22 years. Authorities predict that 3.5m people could lose their jobs
  

Shops, pubs and gyms close as England's lockdown begins

England's new four-week lockdown has started, with people told to stay at home and non-essential shops ordered to close, along with pubs and gyms.
Households are not allowed to mix indoors or in private gardens - unless a single adult has formed a support bubble with another household.
Police have warned that those who commit the most "egregious" breaches of the rules will face tough fines.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the lockdown, voted for by MPs yesterday, would "expire automatically" on 2 December.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to make a statement in the House of Commons later outlining what economic support will be available to businesses and jobs during the lockdown.
He is expected to confirm employees on furlough will receive 80% of their salaries if their workplaces have been shut down, and likely to guarantee furlough funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland if the devolved administrations bring in their own lockdowns.
Read more here.

What's different about this lockdown?

England has gone into a second lockdown, which started at midnight. There are lots of similarities to the first lockdown that started in March - with households being told not to mix, and pubs, bars and restaurants closing their doors.
But there are also some key differences this time around.
They include the fact schools and universities are staying open, that people can meet another person outside and their child if they're under school age, and that dentists are staying open. And this time, you're allowed to sit on benches outside, which were taped off in many areas during the first lockdown.
Here's a look at what's different about this lockdown.

The papers: 'Sunak under pressure on furlough'

The US election leads many of the newspaper front pages, but the Daily Telegraph also features a story saying Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure from business leaders to extend the furlough scheme into the new year to prevent job losses.


The Daily Express carries a warning from Health Secretary Matt Hancock about the pressures hospitals are under, as England begins its lockdown. "We can't let Covid break our NHS" is the headline.


A story on the front of the Guardian says Tory MPs are in a "rage" over the lockdown in England, describing the Commons vote as "bruising" for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and reporting that several MPs say they will not be able to support any extension beyond 2 December.


In the Scotsman, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon defends legislation under consideration which would introduce regional travel bans. She denies such a ban was "state over-reach".


And the Daily Star casts an eye over what shoppers are supposedly panic-buying. It features a front page picture of one woman's shopping on the conveyor belt, which almost entirely consists of tortilla chips.

Minister warns of crackdown on 'tiny minority' who break rules

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland pledged to use the lockdown time to improve test and trace

As the four-week lockdown in England gets under way, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he backs a police pledge to "deal severely” with those who break the rules.
"The fines system is clear, it is already working," he said. “The majority of people do brilliantly but we have to deal with that tiny minority who do not wish to support other people.”
People caught breaking the coronavirus regulations face a £200 fine for every breach, doubling on every subsequent offence up to a maximum of £6,400. Anyone found to be organising large gatherings can face a fine of £10,000.
Buckland also told BBC Breakfast that the government would use the four weeks to “redouble our efforts” to improve the test-and-trace programme, particularly improving the turnaround time for results.
He said it would also be preparing for the availability of a vaccine. Those at greatest risk would be prioritised, he said, "so we can avoid a stop and start scenario where we’re having to go in and out of lockdowns”.

'Perspex bubble' not the answer for care home residents

Campaigners and care home bosses have criticised the lack of information on new rules for visitors, saying they had only seen a press release rather than any detailed guidance as England's second lockdown begins.
But Julia Jones, from dementia rights organisation John’s Campaign, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it was "terribly, terribly sad" that many relatives would be "pathetically grateful" even for visits behind floor-to-ceiling screens as the guidance suggests.
“When people are in the later stages of dementia, when people love each other, when people are approaching the end of their lives, they need to hold hands – they don’t need to be in a Perspex bubble," she said.
Sam Monaghan, chief executive of charity care provider MHA, said routine testing of at least one visitor per resident was a better solution, adding that regular testing of staff and residents was "really lessening" the impact of the virus in care homes in the second wave.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland defended the guidance, saying he expected it to be "very much the beginning of a process where, with sensible ideas and local initiatives, we can come up with sensible ideas for seeing our loved ones".
You can read more about the guidance here.

Captain Sir Tom Moore launches walking campaign

Captain Sir Tom Moore has launched a new campaign to coincide with England's lockdown to get people walking, supporting those who feel "lonely and frightened" during this time.
He raised £33m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday.
Capt Sir Tom said: "We are in a difficult situation but we'll get through it if we all join together."
The challenge encourages people to log their walking on social media using the hashtag #WalkWithTom over the next week.
Capt Sir Tom hopes to raise money for his foundation, which aims to combat loneliness and support those facing bereavement.
Read more here.

Swedish PM self-isolating after possible Covid contact

Stefan Lofven said he has no symptoms and is working from home

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is the latest world leader to be self-isolating after a possible Covid-19 exposure.
Lofven posted on Facebook to say someone in his circle had come into contact with an infected person. Although his contact had tested negative, the prime minister and his wife were still staying at home on the advice of their doctor.
"I'm working remotely. We feel good and have no symptoms," Lofven said, adding that he and his wife would be tested as soon as possible.
Sweden, which came under scrutiny for its decision to avoid imposing a lockdown during the first wave of the pandemic, has experienced a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks as the virus spreads rapidly across Europe.

Spring lockdown saw rise in mental distress

The spring lockdown caused a rise in mental distress with reports up 8% compared with the same period in previous years, the director of health protection at Public Health England says.
PHE is launching an Every Mind Matters campaign to highlight the mental health support available as England enters a second lockdown, with restrictions also in place across many other areas of the UK.
Professor Yvonne Doyle told Radio 4's Today programme: "These are common mental disorders that may come and go and there are things people can do about it themselves - there is a lot of help available.
"I think it is important to stress that these symptoms of anxiety, they are almost normal in a situation where everybody is out of their routine and it is very difficult for everybody.
"So the important thing is to acknowledge that people will feel anxious, that the feelings will pass and that there is help available and that quite a lot of that will be helpful for people to access themselves."
If you are looking for mental health support, these groups may be able to help.

In pictures: Quiet streets and stations as England's lockdown begins

Busy stations such as Waterloo in central London were much quieter than usual


But some passengers still made their commute by Tube or train


On a foggy morning, Oxford Street was almost deserted


Streets were empty in Newcastle City Centre


And just a handful of cars were passing by on the M5 in Worcestershire at 08:45 GMT

Jordan records record death toll ahead of election

The government does not want to postpone Tuesday's election despite the health risks

Jordan has reported a record daily death toll from Covid-19, as it struggles with a serious resurgence of the disease ahead of a parliamentary election next week.
The health ministry recorded 62 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the overall total to 1,029. The number of infections meanwhile rose by 4,658 to 91,234.
The kingdom, which has a population of 10 million, kept a lid on its outbreak at the start of the pandemic by imposing a strict nationwide lockdown.
However, it has seen a steep rise in cases since the end of September. It reported more than 60,000 new infections and 768 deaths in October, and it currently has the highest per capita mortality rate in the Arab world, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.
The government has sought to stem the spread of the coronavirus by imposing night-time and weekend curfews, restricting gatherings to 20 people, and imposing financial penalties on those not wearing face masks.
It has decided not to postpone Tuesday’s election and it will not impose a four-day “comprehensive” curfew until after the results are announced on Wednesday afternoon, despite concerns that waiting could make the outbreak worse.

US records 100k cases in one day

There were more than 100,000 new cases of coronavirus in the US on Wednesday, in a record one-day increase.
The figure, reported by the Covid Tracking Project, is accompanied by a steep rise in hospital admissions - suggesting that it is not solely due to increased testing.
More than 1,100 deaths linked to coronavirus were recorded on Wednesday.
More than 50,000 people across the US are currently in hospital with coronavirus - an increase of about 64% from early October.
Average daily death rates in the country have also been increasing again.

Summary from The Guardian:

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

• England entered its second national lockdown, placing 56 million people under new coronavirus restrictions for at least the next four weeks. Despite a bruising vote in which the prime minister Boris Johnson’s strategy was rejected by dozens of his own MPs, the stay-at-home order was approved in parliament on Wednesday by 516 votes to 38.
  
• Indonesia fell into its first recession in over 20 years. Indonesia’s virus-hit economy contracted in the third quarter, plunging it into its first recession since the archipelago was mired in the Asian financial crisis more than 20 years ago. Activity in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy slumped 3.49% on-year in July-September, the statistics agency said Thursday, with tourism, construction and trade among the hardest-hit sectors. The data marked the second consecutive quarter of contraction after a 5.3% decline in April-June.
  
• China bars entry to travellers from Britain and Belgium. Mainland China has barred entry to some travellers from Britain and Belgium and set strict testing requirements on visitors from the United States, France and Germany, Reuters reports, as it reimposed border restrictions in response to rising global cases.
  
• Sydney Mardi Gras will go ahead but will look very different. Sydney’s iconic Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of revellers and international tourists, will not march through the city’s centre in 2021.Instead, the 43rd edition of the parade on Oxford Street, which has been celebrated annually along the strip since 1978, will move to the nearby Sydney Cricket Ground, in a scaled-back, Covid-safe event.
  
• India reported over 50,000 cases for first time in 10 days. India reported a daily jump of 50,210 coronavirus infections, taking its total to 8.36 million, the health ministry said on Thursday. This was the highest daily jump in cases since 25 October, according to a Reuters tally, and the first time over 50,000 cases were reported in the 10 days since then. Cases in India have been dipping since hitting a peak in September, but experts warn that the Diwali festival season could lead to a spike. Deaths rose by 704, with total mortalities now at 124,315, the ministry said.
  
• Russia, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Latvia and Estonia see record daily case rises. At least six European nations have seen record case rises in the last 24 hours. Russia, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Latvia and Estonia each confirmed their highest new infections to date. Russia, which has the fourth-highest cases in the world, added over 18,000 new infections on Wednesday, bringing its total to 1,680,579, according to Johns Hopkins University. Swiss authorities announced a record 10,043 coronavirus cases in Switzerland in the last 24 hours.Austria’s daily tally of new coronavirus infections climbed above 6,000 for the first time on Wednesday to a new record of 6,211, data from the health ministry showed.Poland hit a daily high of nearly 24,700 coronavirus cases as the government introduced new restrictions on shops, schools and culture institutions through November. And finally, the Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia say they have both registered a record daily number of coronavirus infections since the start of the outbreak.
  
• The US set a record for daily new cases average one day after election. Daily new coronavirus cases in America have increased 45% over the past two weeks to a record seven-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths are also on the rise, up 15% to an average of 846 deaths every day. There were more than 91,000 new cases recorded on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins. The university counted nearly 99,000 US cases on 30 October.
  

US sets record for daily new cases average one day after election

Sam Levin - The Guardian
The US has set a new record for average daily confirmed Covid-19 cases, with surging infections and hospitalisations as the country remains on edge waiting for a winner to be declared in the presidential race.
Daily new coronavirus cases in America have increased 45% over the past two weeks to a record seven-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths are also on the rise, up 15% to an average of 846 deaths every day.
There were more than 91,000 new cases recorded on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins. The university counted nearly 99,000 US cases on 30 October.
Read more

India reports over 50,000 cases for first time in 10 days

India reported a daily jump of 50,210 coronavirus infections, taking its total to 8.36 million, the health ministry said on Thursday.
This was the highest daily jump in cases since 25 October, according to a Reuters tally, and the first time over 50,000 cases were reported in the 10 days since then. Cases in India have been dipping since hitting a peak in September, but experts warn that the Diwali festival season could lead to a spike.
Deaths rose by 704, with total mortalities now at 124,315, the ministry said.

China bars entry to travellers from Britain and Belgium

Mainland China has barred entry to some travellers from Britain and Belgium and set strict testing requirements on visitors from the United States, France and Germany, Reuters reports, as it reimposed border restrictions in response to rising global cases.

Indonesia falls into first recession in over 20 years

Indonesia’s virus-hit economy contracted in the third quarter, plunging it into its first recession since the archipelago was mired in the Asian financial crisis more than 20 years ago, Reuters reports.
Activity in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy slumped 3.49% on-year in July-September, the statistics agency said Thursday, with tourism, construction and trade among the hardest-hit sectors.
The data marked the second consecutive quarter of contraction after a 5.3% decline in April-June.
Indonesia last suffered a recession 1999 during a regional currency crisis that helped force the resignation of long-term dictator Suharto less than a year earlier.
However, the depth of the current decline was easing, the agency said adding it pointed to stronger figures in the last quarter of the year.

More now on Indonesia falling into recession:
Indonesia’s central bank cut interest rates several times this year in a bid to boost the struggling economy, while the government has unveiled more than $48 billion in stimulus to help offset the impact of the virus, which forced a large-scale shutdown that hammered growth.
Several million Indonesians have been laid off or furloughed as the vast country, home to nearly 270 million people, battled to contain the crisis.
Covid-19 infections have topped 420,000 and more than 14,000 deaths, putting Indonesia among the worst hit Asian countries.
However, the true scale of the crisis is widely believed to be much bigger in Indonesia, which has one of the world’s lowest testing rates.
President Joko Widodo has been widely criticised over his government’s handling of the pandemic as it appeared to prioritise the economy.
Boosting annual growth above five percent had been a key priority for Widodo in his second term, which began late last year.
On Monday, the president signed into law a package of pro-business bills aimed at cutting red tape and drawing more foreign investment as he pushes an infrastructure-focused policy.
But the controversial legislation has sparked mass protests in cities across the nation, as activists warned it would be catastrophic for labour and environmental protections.

Police warn public to expect tougher crackdown on Covid lockdown breaches

Vikram Dodd and Josh Halliday - The Guardian
England’s police have warned the public to expect tougher action against Covid rule-breakers after the home secretary told them to “strengthen enforcement” ahead of England’s second lockdown.
Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said those blatantly and deliberately flouting the regulations should expect punishment.
A police source stressed this did not mean officers would start “policing people’s private lives” but officers would be quicker to fine or close premises in clear and wilful breach of the new regulations.
Read more here

Russia reports more than 19,000 new cases

Russia reported 19,404 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, close to a record high that included 5,255 infections in Moscow and took the national tally to 1,712,858.
Authorities also reported 292 virus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 29,509.
The Kremlin has said there are no plans for a broad lockdown for now and that targeted measures are enough because Russia is better prepared than it was at the beginning of the pandemic, Reuters reported.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said pupils at secondary schools from Class 6 (age 12) upward would continue online classes for two more weeks until Nov. 22. They began remote learning three weeks ago.
“The coronavirus situation in Moscow began to get worse again at the start of this week, as we can see from the number of patients and hospitalisations,” Sobyanin said on his website.

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In Cambodia, prime minister Hun Sen has become the latest world leader to be affected by the virus after he and four members of his government were forced to quarantine after a meeting with the Hungarian foreign minister.
Peter Szijjarto did not wear a mask for his meeting with Hun Sen and the four cabinet ministers, photos show. Nor did Hun Sen or Cambodian foreign minister Prak Sokhonn, who greeted his visitor with a handshake.

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Coronavirus infections in Switzerland rose by 10,128 in a day, data from Swiss health authorities showed on Thursday.
The total confirmed cases in Switzerland and the neighbouring principality Liechtenstein increased to 202,504 and the death toll rose by 62 to 2,337.
Hospitalisations rose by 399 as the government deployed army personnel to help the hard-pressed healthcare system cope with the surge in admissions.

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New coronavirus cases in Austria rose by a record 7,416 in the past 24 hours, the newspaper Kronen Zeitung has reported, adding that 41 more deaths had been counted.
The tabloid has accurately reported the figures before their official publication in the past.
It said the number of people being taken into hospital had risen dramatically again.

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Italian regions angry over partial lockdowns

Angela Giuffrida - The Guardian
The leaders of Italian regions set to go into partial lockdown on Friday have lambasted the government’s new tiered system, which has categorised some areas with the lowest rates of Covid-19 in the country as high-risk ‘red zones’, while more protests against restrictions are planned in the coming days.
The southern region of Calabria, which registered 245 new infections on Wednesday, will join the worst hit Lombardy region, as well as Piedmont and Aosta Valley, in partial lockdown from Friday, meaning people will only be able to leave their homes for work, health or emergency reasons and bars, restaurants and non-essential shops – apart from hairdressers – will have to close.
Nino Spirlì, the acting president of Calabria, said he would appeal against the decision, arguing that the lockdown was unjustified. “This region does not deserve an isolation that will be fatal to it,” he said.
Campania, next to Calabria, is currently recording the second-highest daily caseload in the country but has been put in the lower-risk yellow zone, as has Lazio, the region surrounding Rome.
Meanwhile, Puglia, also in the south, and Sicily are in the medium-risk orange zone, meaning bars and restaurants will have to close and people will be banned from moving beyond their towns or cities.
“The decision to relegate Sicily to the orange zone is absurd and unreasonable,” said Nello Musumeci, the island’s president.
Antonino Giarratano, a member of the scientific committee for Sicily, said: “How is it that Liguria, Campania and Lazio, where we know from the press that there is a crisis with hospital beds, aren’t in the orange zone?”
The leaders of Lombardy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley have also demanded clarification on how the tier system was decided. Lombardy president Attilio Fontana said putting the region in the red zone was a “slap in the face” to its citizens and that the decision was based on data that is 10 days old.
The restrictions, which will be in place until 3 December, are said to have been determined by the rate of Covid-19 transmission, the number of infections and people with symptoms and the availability of hospital beds.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said intensive care capacity would be at risk in 15 of Italy’s 20 regions within a few weeks unless new measures were enacted.
Italy registered 30,550 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 352 fatalities.
The number of people hospitalised across the country stood at 22,116 Wednesday, of whom 2,292 are in intensive care, more than double the number on 24 October.

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The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has extended the coronavirus furlough scheme, providing 80% of the pay of temporarily laid-off workers, until the end of March.
“To give people across the UK certainty over the winter, I can announce today that the furlough scheme will not be extended for one month – it will be extended until the end of March,” Sunak told parliament.
Earlier on Thursday, the Bank of England said it was increasing the size of its government bond purchases by a further £150bn ($196bn), helping the government to fund the surge in public spending.
As well as the furlough extension, Sunak increased support for self-employed people and raised guaranteed funding for the UK’s devolved administrations by £2bn to £16bn.
Sunak said he would review the furlough policy in January.
Read more

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Ukraine registered a record 9,850 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the health minister said, up from a high of 9,524 reported a day earlier.
Total infections so far stood at 430,467 with 7,924 deaths by Thursday, Maksym Stepanovsaid.
The daily tally of coronavirus infections rose in late September and remained consistently high throughout October, prompting the government to extend lockdown measures until the end of this year.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said later on Thursday the number of new cases could jump to 15,000 a day by the end on November and to 20,000 daily by the end of the year.
Stepanov this week said the coronavirus situation in Ukraine was close to catastrophic and that the nation must prepare for the worst.

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Sweden, whose pandemic strategy of avoiding lockdowns has gained international attention, reported a record increase in new Covid-19 cases on Thursday as health officials said it was seeing a marked rise of patients in intensive care.
Sweden registered 4,034 new coronavirus cases, the latest in a string of records set in recent days amid a resurgence that has struck the country later than many other parts of Europe, but which now appears to be rapidly gaining momentum.
The Health Agency has said the outbreak was likely more severe during the spring when Sweden periodically suffered some of Europe’s highest per capita death tolls though limited testing at the time had meant many infections went undetected.
“There is continued increase in the number of cases in all regions except one,” said Karin Tegmark Wisell, the head of the microbiology department at the agency.
“We are now also beginning to see a fairly significant increase on the number of intensive care patients.”
The intensifying outbreak has seen Sweden tighten the mostly voluntary recommendations on which it relies across much of the country and Tegmark Wisell said the percentage of positive tests had climbed to 9.7% last week from 5.6% the week before.
On Thursday, 90 Covid-19 patients were receiving intensive care at Swedish hospitals, 19 more than on Wednesday, while a further 661 were being treated in other modes of care.
Sweden registered five new deaths, taking its death toll during the pandemic to 6,002. Sweden’s death rate per capita has been several times higher than its Nordic neighbours but lower than some larger European countries, such as Spain and Britain.

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Coronavirus knock-on effect hitting vital health services in Africa, says WHO

The coronavirus pandemic is having a knock-on effect on other vital health services in Africa as countries are forced to redirect already stretched resources, a regional head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The continent of more than a billion people has been spared the worst consequences of Covid-19, with relatively lower death rates and infections than seen elsewhere.
Africa has recorded at least 1.8 million cases, with 43,700 deaths, according to the WHO.
“A preliminary analysis by WHO indicates Covid-19 is hitting other health services really hard,” said Matshidiso Moeti, Africa director for the WHO.
Lockdowns imposed by countries to halt the spread of the virus in May, June and July contributed to a more than 50% drop in services monitored by WHO.
From January to August, an extra 1.3 million children aged under one missed their first doses of the measles vaccine, compared with the same period last year, Moeti said.
In Nigeria, for example, more than 362,000 pregnant women missed their ante-natal care between March and August.
In August, there were 310 maternal deaths in health facilities, almost double the number recorded at the same time in 2019, she added.
“So while Covid-19 is not overwhelming African health facilities in the way ... first predicted ... it is really stretching already resourced-limited health systems,” Moeti said.
Moeti said immunisation campaigns against measles and polio had restarted but more needed to be done to protect the gains made in previous years in improving access to health services and outcomes on the continent.

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Airbnb said it would restrict bookings in England as the country entered its second national lockdown on Thursday, adding only those with legal exemptions could use the platform to book long-term stays.
Government guidance says that overnight stays and holidays away from a person’s primary residence are not allowed under the new lockdown, with limited exceptions.
The lockdown is scheduled to end on 2 December, but ministers have suggested it could be extended.
Airbnb blocked British bookings on its platform for the vast majority of customers in April, after prime minister Boris Johnson introduced a national lockdown to contain the first wave of infections, and on Thursday the company said it was re-introducing restrictions.
“We’ve heard from hosts who want to help everyone follow the rules and stay safe. That is why we are again introducing temporary booking restrictions on Airbnb,” said Patrick Robinson, the director of public policy at Airbnb.
“We will closely monitor government guidance and keep the policy under review and we look forward to when hosts can safely reopen their doors to guests.”
Under the policy, guests booking legally exempt stays will still be allowed. There are legal exemptions for work trips, or temporary accommodation for those who are homeless, vulnerable, moving house or attending a funeral.

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A UAE court has sentenced two people, including a television journalist, to two years imprisonment over a “fabricated” report on the Covid-19 deaths of five members of one family, state media has reported.
An investigation into the report, aired on the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, quickly determined that it was false, authorities said in August.
“This incident negatively affected society, afflicted members of the community and left them in a state of confusion and fear of the outbreak,” prosecutors said at the time.
According to official news agency WAM, “the Abu Dhabi federal court of appeal sentenced two defendants to two years in prison after convicting them of broadcasting a fabricated story about the death of five members of the same family from Covid-19”.
The channel’s correspondent, who is a resident in the United Arab Emirates, will be “expelled” at the end of his sentence, it added, without specifying his nationality.
The other defendant was not named, but newspaper reports said he was the interviewee in the story, which was widely shared on social media. His nationality was not specified either.
The United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, has recorded more than 138,000 coronavirus infections, including 508 deaths.
The country, which prides itself on having managed the crisis decisively and effectively, regularly calls on the media to rely on official information and not spread “fake news” about the pandemic.
Abu Dhabi Media, a government agency that owns several channels, including the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, was not available for comment when contacted by AFP.
Reporters Without Borders ranks the UAE 131st in its 180-country World Press Freedom Index, saying journalists face long jail terms for offences like “defamation, insulting the state or posting false information with the aim of damaging the country’s reputation”.

Europe now region hardest hit by virus infections

Europe has become the region with the highest number of registered cases of Covid-19, according to a tally by AFP on Thursday based on health authority data.
The continent’s 52 countries have a combined total of 11.6 million cases including more than 293,000 deaths, ahead of Latin America and the Caribbean which has reported 11.4 million cases with 407,000 deaths.
Europe has again become the centre of the pandemic in recent weeks after experiencing a lull during the northern hemisphere summer.
Since the beginning of October, the region has had the highest number of new infections daily in the world.
Last week, 277,000 new cases a day were recorded, more than half of the total number of cases worldwide of 517,000 daily.
And the pandemic continues to accelerate across the continent, with the number of cases detected last week 20% higher than the previous week.
In terms of deaths, the pace is even faster, with almost 50% more new deaths - 21,500 last week, compared with 14,403 the week before.
The countries in the region with the most new cases in the last seven days are: France (44,000 cases daily on average, up 11% over the previous week), Italy (28,600, up 43%), the UK (22,400, up 2%), Spain (21,100, up 13%) and Poland (20,000, up 46%).

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Paris bans night-time food and drink deliveries to tackle worsening Covid-19 crisis

Paris will ban delivery and takeaway services for prepared food and alcohol between 10pm and 6am local time from Friday to limit the spread of the coronavirus, police said.
The police prefecture also said in a statement that the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks in public spaces would be banned at night from 6 November.
President Emmanuel Macron imposed a new lockdown last month, forcing non-essential shops, such as those not selling basic foods or medicines, to close, and making people use signed documents to justify being out on the streets.
But a week into the lockdown, France still registers more than 40,000 new virus infections per day and intensive care units across the country are under stress as more than 4,000 ICU beds are now occupied by Covid-19 patients.
Restaurants, closed under lockdown rules, are allowed to serve takeaway and to deliver, but the prefecture said that at night-time lots of customers and food couriers are congregating, despite the need to limit social interaction.
“When you get people who are not playing by the rules of the game, and are therefore putting at risk the health of a large number of people, that is when you need to put in place new restrictions,” the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said on BFM TV as she warned of restrictions on selling takeaway food and drink.
A French government source said this week they had noted in Paris “clandestine parties, raves, private dinners”, and felt stricter measures were needed.
On Wednesday, France reported 40,558 new Covid-19 cases and a further 385 deaths, taking the country’s total death toll from Covid to 38,674 while the total number of confirmed cases stands at about 1.5m.

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Premier League likely to scrap pay-per-view for second lockdown

The Premier League is likely to scrap the controversial pay-per-view method for matches later this month.
A definitive decision was not taken at a shareholders' meeting on Thursday, but the £14.95 fee for some matches - which led to significant protests among fan groups - is expected to be dropped.
Clubs will instead look to devise a new solution that will come into force from 21 November, after the international break, and cover the Christmas period.
It is understood that the model used in September, where all games were shown live by the Premier League's broadcast partners - Sky Sports, BT Sport, the BBC and Amazon Prime - is the most likely option.
Fans have not been allowed to attend matches in England's top flight since coronavirus halted matches in March and, with the country going into a second lockdown, hopes of supporters returning have faded.

17:07

UK government briefing begins

The UK government press conference on coronavirus has started, with Boris Johnson taking to the lectern at Downing Street.
He is joined by the chief executive of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens.
We will bring you all the updates and analysis from our correspondents here, so stay tuned.

Germany and Sweden added to UK quarantine list

Travellers returning to the UK from Germany and Sweden from 04:00 GMT on Saturday must self-isolate for two weeks, the transport secretary has announced.
The two countries are the latest to be removed from the travel corridor list for the whole of the UK.
While holidays are currently banned for people living in England and Wales, work trips are still permitted.
So what are the current quarantine rules for travellers?

Round-up of today's key developments

It's been another busy day, here's a recap of the day's main headlines:

• Boris Johnson has stressed that people in England should stay at home, adding that the second national lockdown would make a "real impact" on the virus
  
• Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced the furlough scheme for workers will be extended until March 2021
  
• The government has been criticised for the way it presented data to justify England's second lockdown by the official statistics watchdog, who said there needed to be more transparency
  
• Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says tougher restrictions in the country are starting to have an effect
  
• Elsewhere, Greece has announced a second lockdown will come into effect from Saturday and remain in place for three weeks
  
• And France has reported its record number of daily infections with 58,046 new cases over the last 24 hours
  

See you tomorrow

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, that's all from us today.
We'll be back in the morning with more updates from the UK and around the world.