Coronavirus: at a glance
Coronavirus latest: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
by Kevin RawlinsonKey developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
UK PM resists calls to sack aide over lockdown breaches
Boris Johnson again stands by his chief aide, despite his admission that he breached the lockdown. The UK’s prime minister seeks to move the public discourse on after days of damaging revelations about Dominic Cummings’ conduct. But his judgment is questioned by some.
While he says he understands people’s anger, Cummings refuses to apologise and says he does not regret what he did.
After weeks of seeking to avoid scrutiny, and in a highly unusual move, the unelected adviser uses No 10 as the backdrop for a personal press conference called, it is said, to give him a chance to explain his reasoning. For weeks, Downing Street had declined opportunities to substantively address questions about Cummings’ adherence to lockdown instructions.
Cummings claims drive was to test his eyesight
Seeking to explain his decision to drive his wife and young son to a local beauty spot from his parents’ residence, where he had taken the family during the lockdown, Cummings says he was unsure his eyesight was up to the drive to London and wanted to test it out. The prime minister later insists he believes the excuse to be plausible.
The police and crime commissioner for Durham, Steve White, asks for an investigation to establish the facts around Cummings’ time in the area during the lockdown. The force earlier said it had received “further information and complaints from members of the public and we are reviewing and examining that information”.
WHO drops hydroxychloroquine from Covid-19 trial
The World Health Organization says it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine – the malaria drug Donald Trump said he was taking as a precaution – from its global study into experimental treatments after safety concerns.
Some UK shops to be allowed to reopen
Johnson says he is allowing outdoor markets and car showrooms to open because their open nature means they represent a lower risk than indoor places.
Global total of cases reaches more than 5.4m
Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker has counted a total of 5,467,945 confirmed infections. The death toll stands at 344,731.
Spain revises death toll down by nearly 2,000
Health authorities’ reassessment brings the total number of deaths recorded to 26,834. A new system of gathering data had allowed them to identify cases that were counted twice and exclude deaths wrongly attributed to the virus, said Fernando Simón, the health ministry’s emergencies coordinator.
About 15,000 Rohingya refugees under quarantine in Bangladesh
Officials reported the figure in the country’s vast camps as the number of confirmed infections among them rose to 29. Health experts have long warned that the virus could race through the cramped settlements, housing almost a million Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, and officials restricted movement to the area in April.