Health News at Your Fingertips

In Australia, the state supreme court of Victoria has dismissed a legal challenge to the state’s curfew during its coronavirus lockdown.

The legal challenge had been brought by a local cafe owner, who argued that the curfew went too far, and breached her human rights and implied rights under the Australian constitution.

But it has been dismissed, according to reports from local media.

Victoria and its state capital of Melbourne, was under Australia’s longest and strictest lockdown, due to skyrocketing cases there earlier this year. The state has now gone three days in a row without a new case, and some restrictions have eased.

Hi all, it’s Naaman Zhou here, taking over the blog for the next few hours. Thanks to Helen Sullivan for her work on it today.

Mexico’s health ministry has just reported ,430 new confirmed coronavirus cases cases and 142 additional deaths, as reported by Reuters.

That brings the total in the country to 929,392 cases and 91,895 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed case.

The one-month lockdown for England announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this weekend could be extended as Britain struggles to contain a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior cabinet member told Sky News on Sunday.

Reuters has this report:

After resisting the prospect of a new national lockdown for most of last month, Johnson announced on Saturday that new restrictions across England would kick in after midnight on Thursday morning and last until 2 December.

The United Kingdom, which has the biggest official death toll in Europe from Covid-19, is grappling with more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day and scientists have warned a worst-case scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded this winter.

Asked if a lockdown could be extended beyond early December, senior cabinet minister Michael Gove told Sky News: “Yes.”

“We can definitively say that unless we take action now, the (health service) is going to be overwhelmed in ways that none of us could countenance,” Gove said.

Several cabinet ministers hinted England’s lockdown could extend to next year, with the government considering a brief relaxation over the Christmas period, according to The Times.

The cabinet ministers said they believed it would be “very difficult” to end the lockdown if coronavirus-related deaths and hospital admissions were still rising, the newspaper reported.

More than 300 Brazilians gathered on São Paulo’s main commercial thoroughfare on Sunday to protest state Governor João Doria’s support for mandatory Covid-19 immunization and testing the potential vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac.

Doria has previously spoken in favor of making immunizations mandatory, once vaccines are available, sparking a spat with President Jair Bolsonaro who vows it will be voluntary. The Supreme Court’s chief justice has said the court will ultimately decide on the issue.

A number of vaccines are obligatory in Brazil, including for example Hepatitis B which is given to newborns. Brazil has had great success with large vaccination campaigns in the past, eradicating polio in the 1980s for example.

In São Paulo, the Sinovac vaccine is being tested as part of phase III clinical trials with support from the Doria government.

Brazil’s federal health ministry announced last month it would buy 46 million doses of the vaccine, contingent on regulatory approval, in a deal supported by state governors. But a day later right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil would not buy the vaccine.

Bolsonaro has bashed China intermittently since the campaign trail in 2018, over the Asian countries growing investments and influence in Brazil.

Brazil has the third-worst outbreak of coronavirus globally, with 5.5 million cases, after the United States and India, according to a Reuters tally.

In case you missed this earlier:

Nigel Farage plans to rebrand the Brexit Party as an anti-lockdown party called Reform UK, the party leader has announced in an article in the Telegraph where he says “it is time to redirect our energies”.

The plans to change the name are subject to approval of the Electoral Commission. None of the party’s candidates won a seat in the 2019 general election.

The number of people who have suffered coronavirus-related deaths worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic is nearing 1.2m, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The toll currently stands at 1,198,942.

The United States, with 230,87, has the highest number of deaths worldwide. With 159,884 deaths, Brazil’s toll is the second highest.

A reminder that William’s father, the Prince of Wales, contracted coronavirus in March and he quarantined with mild symptoms separately from the Duchess of Cornwall, who tested negative, for 14 days.

The royal couple reunited just days before their 15th wedding anniversary in April. In his first public engagement after recovering from mild symptoms, Charles revealed he lost his sense of taste and smell when he had coronavirus.

He spoke of his personal experience with Covid-19 when he met frontline NHS staff and key workers in person with Camilla in mid-June.

The BBC reports that, according to unnamed Buckingham Palace sources, Prince William tested positive for coronavirus in April, at the same time has his father, Prince Charles.

The BBC reports that, according to the Sun newspaper, Prince William “kept his diagnosis private to avoid alarming the nation”.

Kensington Palace, the office and home of Prince William, refused to comment officially.

Prince William did not tell anyone about his positive test result because “there were important things going on and I didn’t want to worry anyone”, according to the Sun.

He was treated by palace doctors and followed government guidelines by isolating at the family home Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, the paper added.

Prince William reportedly carried out 14 telephone and video call engagements during April.

According to the WHO guidelines cited by Dr Tedros, he should quarantine for 14 days. The guidelines state:

WHO recommends that all contacts of individuals with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 be quarantined in a designated facility or at home for 14 days from their last exposure.

A contact is a person in any of the following situations from 2 days before and up to 14 days after the onset of symptoms in the confirmed or probable case of COVID-19:

• face-to-face contact with a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19 within 1 meter and for more than 15 minutes;
• direct physical contact with a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19
• direct care for an individual with probable or confirmed COVID-19 without using proper personal protective equipment; or
• other situations, as indicated by local risk assessments.

As we bring you the latest on the WHO chief going into quarantine, a reminder that you can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan with any tips, comments or questions.

According to Tedros’ Twitter bio he is currently in Geneva, Switzerland (home to the WHO headquarters), which happens to have announced on Sunday that it will impose a partial lockdown on Monday after reporting more than 1,000 new cases on several days.

The new measures will see bars, restaurants, close-contact services and non-essential shops closed from 7pm on 2 November. Schools will remain open.

The measures will remain in effect until 29 November.

Cinemas, museums, concert halls, gyms, swimming pools and ice rinks will also be shuttered, the cantonal government said in a statement on Sunday.

Here is what we know so far about the WHO chief going into quarantine:

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that he had been identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19, but added that he was feeling well and did not have any symptoms.

Tedros said in a tweet that he would be self-quarantining “over the coming days”.

He added in subsequent tweets that, “It is critically important that we all comply with health guidance. This is how we will break chains of #COVID19 transmission, suppress the virus, and protect health systems,” and that, “My @WHO colleagues and I will continue to engage with partners in solidarity to save lives and protect the vulnerable. Together!”.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

I’m in Sydney, where it is Monday morning on 2 November 2020, which means we’re a day out from the US election.

I’ll be bringing you the latest coronavirus news from that country and many others for the next few hours on this, our dedicated Covid blog. For our US election blog (and if you could do with a series of spikes in your blodd pressure), head here.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that he had been identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19, but added that he was feeling well and did not have any symptoms.

Tedros said in a tweet that he would be self-quarantining “over the coming days”:

• Iran’s true death toll is likely to be at least three times higher than the reported figure, the head of Iran’s medical council has said.
• Brazil’s health minister has been discharged from hospital. He was admitted to hospital with coronavirus and dehydration two days ago.
• There have been a further 23,254 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 21,915 new cases registered on Saturday.
• Donald Trump’s campaign rallies may have led to 30,000 additional confirmed cases of Covid-19, and likely resulted in more than 700 deaths overall, according to a Stanford University paper posted online this weekend.
• Greece has reported a further 1,678 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total to 40,929. It comes after a record daily increase of 2,056 was announced on Saturday.
• Geneva will impose a partial lockdown on Monday after the Swiss canton reported more than 1,000 new cases on several days.
• France reported 46,290 further coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total to over 1.4 million cases. Infections rose by 35,641 the previous day.
• Slovakia tested almost half of its entire population yesterday, as part of a two-day mass testing programme designed to bring coronavirus under control without implementing further lockdown measures. Of the 2.58 millio people tested, 1% were positive and will have to quarantine.
• Russia’s daily tally of coronavirus cases hit a record high of 18,665, taking the national total to 1,636,781. Meanwhile, Iran has marked its highest daily increase in its coronavirus death toll, with 434 recorded on Saturday.