Coronavirus live news: India nears 3m cases, Australian state of Victoria reports 208 new cases | World news

Agence France-Presse has the following update on the global spread of the coronavirus, which has now led to more than 800,000 deaths worldwide:

Western Europe, particularly Spain, Italy, Germany and France, has been hit with infection levels not seen in many months, sparking fears of a fully-fledged second wave.

And in Asia, South Korea became the latest country to announce it would boost restrictions to try to stem a new outbreak, after largely bringing the virus under control.

Across the world, the number of deaths has doubled to just over 800,000 since June 6, with 100,000 fatalities in the last 17 days alone, while more than 23 million cases have been reported.

Latin America is the region the most affected, while more than half the global fatalities have been reported in the hardest-hit US, Brazil, Mexico and India.

South Korea reported its highest daily rise in novel coronavirus cases since early March on Sunday, as outbreaks continued to spread from a Seoul church and from political demonstrations its members had attended, Reuters reported.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) confirmed 397 new infections as of midnight Saturday, up from the previous day’s 332 and marking more than a week of daily three-digit rises.

That brings South Korea’s total to 17,399 infections of the new coronavirus with 309 COVID-19 deaths, it said.

From Sunday, the government imposed second-tier social-distancing rules in areas outside Seoul, banning in-person church meetings and closing nightclubs, buffets and cyber cafes.

Health authorities say they may eventually deploy the toughest stage 3 social-distancing rules, where schools and business are urged to close, if the rate of increase in new infections does not slow soon.

In England, fines of up to 10,000 for those organising illegal raves will come into force ahead of the bank holiday as authorities clamp down on unlawful gatherings, PA Media reports.

Officers have responded to a surge in unlicensed music events in recent weeks amid warm weather and an easing of lockdown restrictions. Tougher measures targeting those breaching coronavirus regulations on large gatherings will come into effect on Friday, ahead of an August bank holiday weekend.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said that new fines were to be introduced for those hosting raves when he announced a further easing of England’s lockdown last week.

People facilitating or organising illegal raves, unlicensed music events or any other unlawful gathering of 30 people or more may face a 10,000 fine. Participants can continue to be issued with fines of 100, while those who have already been fined will see the amount double on each offence, up to a maximum of 3,200.

The moves come on another busy weekend for police in regard to unlawful gatherings.
Birmingham Police said they attended more than 70 unlicensed street and house parties on Saturday night, while police in Huddersfield broke up an illegal rave involving some 300 people.

The Metropolitan Police received information on more than 200 events across London in a single weekend, responding to more than 1,000 illegal events in the capital since the end of June.

Police in the Australian state of Victoria have fined 199 people for breaching coronavirus restrictions, according to Australian Associated Press.

Of the people fined in the 24 hours to Sunday, 73 were in breach of the 8pm to 5am curfew in metropolitan Melbourne, 20 were pinged for failing to wear a mask when leaving home and 14 were picked up at vehicle checkpoints.

Five men found inside a vehicle in Airport West told police they were “just out chilling”.

A man was also seen leaving a petrol station in Glen Eira after curfew. He told police he had been buying chocolate for a friend with diabetes who had low blood sugar. “When asked to produce chocolate he admitted to lying and produced cigarettes he had just purchased,” police said in a statement on Sunday.

Police conducted 3,869 spot checks on people at homes, businesses and public places across the state. Some 316,136 spot checks have been conducted since 21 March.

The Australian Capital Territory has recorded no new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, meaning the tally of infections remains at 113. Of these infections, 110 have recovered.

There are no Covid-19 patients in Canberra hospitals. In total, three deaths have been recorded.

South Africa’s retail industry is feeling the pain from the coronavirus pandemic on two fronts – store closures during lockdown and the sharply reduced purchasing power of households, reports Agence France-Presse.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy, went into strict lockdown at the end of March, with people only allowed to shop for essential items such as food, medicine and winter clothing. It is also the African country that has been hardest hit by Covid-19, with more than 600,000 cases and at least 2,500 deaths.

Restrictions have been gradually rolled back since June. Alcohol and tobacco sales were allowed to resume this week and, generally, business is now almost back to normal.

Nevertheless, retailers are reeling from the economic effects of months of suffocating restrictions.

South Africa’s Massmart – majority-owned by US giant Walmart – said on Thursday that it expected half-year losses to widen by as much as 42% as a result of the nationwide lockdown.

Massmart was already in dire straits before the pandemic and closed a 23-store electronic retail chain and 11 wholesale outlets shortly before the lockdown came into effect.

“Retailers that were already taking the strain” in an economy that was contracting even before the outbreak have found themselves vulnerable to the virus fallout, said Casperus Treurnicht, portfolio manager at Gryphon Asset Management.

China reported 12 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, all from overseas, state media has reported.

Here’s some more detail on the comments from England’s chief medical officer, who has said it would be “foolish” to plan for winter on the basis of having a coronavirus vaccine.

He warned that going into winter there would be “real problems” with Covid-19 and said the country should plan on the basis of no vaccine being available. Whitty added: “I would obviously be delighted if it came earlier, but I’d be quite surprised if we had a highly effective vaccine ready for mass use in a large percentage of the population before the end of winter, certainly before this side of Christmas.

A lot of people are doing a huge amount scientifically, logistically to make sure that’s a pessimistic statement, to try and see if we can get a vaccine at extraordinarily fast speed, but we have to check it works and we have to make sure it’s safe.

So I think if we look forward a year, the chances are much greater than if we look forward six months.

We should plan on the basis we will not have a vaccine and then if one does prove to be effective and safe and available, we’re in a strong position to be able to use it.

Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus deaths have now passed 60,000, Reuters has reported.

Mexico’s health ministry on Saturday reported 6,482 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 644 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 556,216 cases and 60,254 deaths. The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases

There are some signs of hope: new cases have eased since reaching a record daily number at the start of August. Earlier this week, the government said the outbreak is now in “sustained decline”.

The Melbourne set of The Masked Singer has been shut down after several crew members tested positive for the coronavirus.

“The entire production team, including the masked singers, the host and panellists are now in self-isolation,” the Network 10 program posted on Twitter late on Saturday night.

“They are all being monitored closely and are in constant contact with medical authorities.”

The reality show hosted by Osher Günsberg involves masked celebrities competing against each other in a singing competition. The panellists include Dannii Minogue and comedian Dave Hughes.

The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 208 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, and 17 deaths, health authorities have confirmed. More detail on the cases and deaths will be provided in a press conference later today.

In England, a report has found that nursing homes – where many coronavirus deaths occured – were pressured into accepting patients with Covid-19, while simultaneously being refused treatment for residents by hospitals and GPs.

A report by the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) found homes were told hospitals had a blanket “no admissions” policy at the height of the pandemic. The QNI, a charity which focuses on the improvement of nursing care of people in their own home, found care home residents were regularly refused treatment in April and May.

One in four homes said it was difficult to get hospital treatment for patients, while a third said they had had difficulty accessing GPs and district nurses, according to the report, published by the Independent.

One nurse said: “The acute sector pushed us to take untested admissions. “The two weeks of daily deaths during an outbreak were possibly the two worst weeks of my 35-year nursing career.”

One nurse reported being told to change the status of all the home’s residents to “do not resuscitate” but said staff had refused to comply.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Rebecca Ratcliffe.

The number of global coronavirus cases has now passed 23,110,732, while 802,610 deaths have been recorded. The US has the highest number of recorded cases (5,664,736) and deaths (176, 317), followed by Brazil and India.

In Australia, Queensland is expected to announce two new infections. We will bring you that news as soon as we have confirmation of it.

In other developments:

• India announced on Saturday that the country has hit the milestone of one million tests per day. Globally India has been reporting the biggest daily rise in cases for 18 consecutive days. The disease has is now spreading across the country’s southern states after plateauing in the capital and Mumbai.
• US president Donald Trump accused members of an alleged “deep state” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), without providing evidence, of working to slow testing of Covid-19 vaccines until after the November presidential election.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) said children aged 12 and over should wear masks to help tackle the corornavirus pandemic under the same conditions as adults.
• England’s chief medical officer has said it would be “foolish” to plan for winter on the basis of having a coronavirus vaccine.
• Thousands of Israelis again took to the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday to protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• Ireland has reported 156 new coronavirus infections, the fourth highest daily tally since early May.