Health News at Your Fingertips

A further 137 people have died after testing positive for the coronavirus in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 32,992, according to NHS England figures.

The number of deaths of patients with Covid-19 by region are as follows:

East of England – 11

London – 7

Midlands – 40

North East & Yorkshire – 35

North West – 32

South East – 6

South West – 6

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.

A total of 1,034,914 people have tested positive.

A further 162 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported on Sunday, bringing the total to 46,717. There were 326 on Saturday.

There have been 58,925 deaths were Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, registered up to 16 October.

It is important to note that Sunday figures are often lower due to delays in reporting over the weekend.

The latest figures come as England prepares to enter a national lockdown on 5 November, which will last until 2 December.

Scotland will introduce its new five-tier system on 2 November, and the current Wales-wide ‘firebreak’ lockdown will end on 9 November, while Northern Ireland’s restrictions will end on 13 November.

Iran will restrict travel to the cities hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, amid a record high of daily coronavirus deaths.

The measure takes effect at Monday midday and will last until Friday, according to a state broadcaster.

Under the new restrictions, residents will be unable to leave and non-residents to enter, based on vehicle plate numbers. Public transport is exempt.

The measures apply to the capitals of 25 provinces considered “red” – the highest level on Iran’s colour-coded risk scale – and includes the capital Tehran, which has more than 8 million residents.

The order will be backed by fines for those who violate it.

It follows measures which were imposed on Saturday in the cities, which forced the closure of some public spaces and businesses.

Brazil’s health minister, who was hospitalised with coronavirus and dehydration two days ago, has been discharged from hospital.

Eduardo Pazuello tested positive for coronavirus on 21 October. Roughly half of president Jair Bolsonaro’s 23-member cabinet has been infected with coronavirus, with the president and his wife contracting the disease in July.

Although Bolsonaro has sought to downplay the severity of the disease and opposed strict lockdowns, Brazil has experienced the second deadliest outbreak of coronavirus. The country has recorded more than 5.5m cases, and lost 159,884 lives – second only to the US.

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.

Earlier, it was reported that the country’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths had hit a record high of 434. The deaths, announced by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari on state TV, take the official toll to 35,298 in the Middle East’s worst-hit country. She also said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 7,719 to 620,491.

However, the head of Iran’s Medical Council, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, doubted the accuracy of the official toll and warned that Iran had reached a “catastrophic mortality rate”, according to the Students News Agency ISNA.

The official death toll is only based on the number of registered patients,” Zafarghandi said. “Through field surveys in hospitals and cemeteries, our Council has obtained a figure at least three times higher than the official death toll.”

The medical council is a non-governmental organisation that is responsible for licensing doctors in Iran.

Here’s a summary of the key developments in the coronavirus pandemic over the past few hours:

• 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 2.58m people tested, 1% were positive and will have to quarantine.

• In the US, public health expert Dr Fauci, who regularly speaks at White House briefings along with president Trump, said democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was taking the virus seriously and focusing on public health, while Trump was “looking at it from a different perspective …” and prioritising the economy. The White House has accused him of “playing politics”.

The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called for an end to “the violent and irrational behaviour” of a minority of people after a weekend of angry demonstrations in cities around the country against further lockdown restrictions.

Last week, the Spanish government announced a six month state of emergency which would allow them to implement further measures to limit the spread of the virus.

Madrid saw the largest demonstrations last night, with thirty-two people arrested and 12 injured. There were also protests over the weekend in Barcelona, Málaga, Vitoria, Valencia, Santander and Burgos.

Read the full report here from Sam Jones, who is in Madrid.