US cases pass 7m; Australian PM says countries must share vaccines – as it happened

This blog is closing now but thanks for reading. You can keep following developments in the pandemic at our new live blog with Melissa Davey here:

Here is some of the reaction to the resignation of Victoria’s health minister Jenny Mikakos less than an hour ago, including from the former state liberal party leader Matthew Guy and former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

We still haven’t been given a time for the daily press conference from the premier, Daniel Andrews.

In her statement Mikakos said while she is “deeply sorry for the situation Victorians find themselves in” it also says “in good conscience, I do not believe that my actions led to them”.

View image in fullscreen

It follows comments from Andrews to the hotel quarantine inquiry on Friday that he regarded Mikakos as “accountable for the program” that ultimately led to Victoria’s virus second wave.

Meanwhile in Queensland:

After increasing pressure on the Victorian government and its health minister, Jenny Mikakos, due to failures of the state’s hotel quarantine program, Mikakos resigned on Saturday morning.

It follows a six-week inquiry into the state’s hotel quarantine program for returned international travellers, with infection control failures in the program ultimately sparking Victoria’s second wave. Much of the state is now under strict lockdown restrictions, and borders to other Australian states remain closed or heavily restricted.

While most other states and territories opted to use police officer or Australian Defence Force [ADF] staff to implement the hotel quarantine program, Victoria used private security contractors who were poorly trained in infection control, the inquiry previously heard. The premier and health minister have been under pressure to explain why ADF and police were not used.

As Guardian Australia reporter Josh Taylor wrote on Friday;

In his long-awaited appearance at the hotel quarantine inquiry, Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said he regarded his health minister, Jenny Mikakos, as “accountable for the program”.

The premier’s written statement provided to the inquiry on Friday said Mikakos and jobs minister Martin Pakula were responsible for informing cabinet about the program, and the pair provided a submission on the model for the program to the crisis council of cabinet on 8 April.

“The CCC [crisis council of cabinet] was provided with regular reports by Minister Mikakos containing data relevant to Victoria’s response to the public health emergency, key insights from the data, as well as other updates, including in relation to the program,” the submission read.

The premier stopped short of saying who was behind the decision to use private security guards, but the claim potentially puts Andrews at odds with health minister Jenny Mikakos.

The health minister’s statements to the inquiry on Thursday said she was not aware security guards were used in the program until the outbreak at the Rydges Hotel in late May.

Mikakos released a statement to the inquiry after Andrews’ submission was released denying she had misled the inquiry.

The premier told the inquiry it was “very disappointing” that the decision on private security guards was supposedly made by a “collective” of officials, with no one taking responsibility.

In her resignation letter to the premier on Saturday, Mikakos wrote; “I am disappointed that my integrity has sought to be undermined”.

“I have today written to the Governor of Victoria to resign my commissions as a minister effective today.”

Mikakos also intends to resign from parliament.

As Australia wakes up, here are some key developments from the past few hours.

View image in fullscreen

• The global death toll from Covid-19 could double to 2m before a successful vaccine is widely used, and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic, an official at the World Health Organization says.
• The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has addressed the 75th UN general assembly, praising it for establishing an inquiry into the global response to coronavirus and saying: “There is also a clear mandate to identify the zoonotic source of the Covid-19 virus and how it was transmitted to humans.”
• The Australian state of Victoria, which has been battling a second wave of the virus since June, has recorded another day of low new case numbers, with 12 cases and one death overnight. The numbers add to hope that the state is on track to lift tough restrictions, including a curfew, by 26 October.
• The number of confirmed Covid cases in the US has passed 7m. It means it took the US less than one month to jump another 1m cases, with 6m recorded on 31 August. Earlier this week, the US surpassed 200,000 deaths.
  
• Meanwhile in the UK, the University and College Union said face-to-face teaching at universities should be halted until the government fixes test-and-trace failures and curbs the spread of Covid. It follows hundreds of students in Manchester being told to self-isolate on Friday after 127 tested positive.
• Rio de Janeiro’s carnival has been postponed for the first time in 100 years, with the death toll in Brazil rising to 140,537. Brazil has the second-worst death toll worldwide with 139,000, and the third-most cases, with 4.6 million.
  

This week in Australia, the Queensland government announced it would expand the border zone further into New South Wales to include councils taking in Byron Bay and other northern communities. There has been pressure on the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palasczuk, for weeks to ease border restrictions, but the state is keen to avoid cases in Victoria and NSW from entering.

View image in fullscreen

On Saturday the premier tweeted that the “solid health response” had kept Queenslanders safe.

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, is standing firm on his calls for the independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus and urged all nations to share a vaccine once it is proven.

Morrison’s pre-recorded speech on the virtual stage on Saturday morning to the 75th United Nations general assembly, praised the World Health Organization for establishing an inquiry into the global response to coronavirus, AAP reports.

“There is also a clear mandate to identify the zoonotic source of the Covid-19 virus and how it was transmitted to humans,” he said.

“This virus has inflicted a calamity on our world and its peoples. We must do all we can to understand what happened for no other purpose than to prevent it from happening again.”

View image in fullscreen

The inquiry resolution backed by 145 countries in May does not mention China, instead committing to an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation.

China eventually supported the European Union motion. Ties between the two nations have since been fraught, with tariffs being imposed on some goods and Australian journalists being evacuated from China.

Morrison urged other leaders to share a coronavirus vaccine if they discover one. He has previously said if Australia found a vaccine, it would be shared across the world.

“This is a global responsibility and it’s a moral responsibility for a vaccine to be shared far and wide,” he said. “Some might see short-term advantage or even profit. But I assure you to anyone who may think along those lines, humanity will have a very long memory and be a very, very severe judge.”

AFP reports that on Friday the American credit rating agency Fitch Ratings left Britain’s debt rating unchanged at AA- and the outlook at negative, after downgrading both in March on fears of economic damage from Covid-19.

The affirmed negative outlook “reflects the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on the UK economy and the resulting material deterioration in the public finances, with Fitch forecasting the fiscal deficit to materially widen this year and government debt set to increase to well over 120% of GDP over the next few years,” it said.

View image in fullscreen

Fitch saw Britain’s deficit climbing to 17.7% of GDP this year from 2.2% in 2019, an increase well above that seen during the 2008-10 global financial crisis, which the agency blamed on the slowdown in economic activity and government measures to fend off the pandemic.

The deficit is predicted to drop back to about 12% of GDP by next year and below 10% of GDP in 2022.

The forecast comes after the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced a raft of new restrictions in England earlier this week, mirrored to varying extents in other UK nations, to try to curb a rise in coronavirus cases.

The numbers in Victoria remain in the low double digits, with 12 new cases announced by the health department on Saturday morning. One person died.

Over the past week Victoria has recorded its lowest daily numbers since June, with new cases under 20 on five days including today. On Monday, just 11 new Covid-19 cases were announced.

Melbourne’s 14-day rolling average is now 23.6, and regional Victoria’s is 0.8, while the death takes the state toll to 782 and the national death toll to 870.

Here is a list of the latest Victoria case locations and outbreaks.

Melissa Davey here in Melbourne, Australia taking over the blog from Nadeem Badshah. We are expecting the daily case numbers for Victoria to come through shortly, with much of the state still under stage four lockdown, which means a 9pm-5am curfew and strict restrictions on travel.

On Friday, the state’s premier Daniel Andrews made his long-awaited appearance before the hotel quarantine inquiry, which is examining how infection control protocols were breached, spreading the virus beyond the hotels housing returned international travellers. The virus then spread into the broader community, triggering a second wave.

After six weeks of inquiry hearings, it is still not known who made the decision to use security guards instead of the police or the Australian Defence Force, which assisted in securing travellers in the quarantine hotels in other states.

The premier, health minister Jenny Mikakos, jobs minister Martin Pakula and police minister Lisa Neville have all denied being involved in the decision. Victoria Police chief commissioner Shane Patton, his predecessor Graham Ashton, chief health officer Brett Sutton and multiple senior public servants have also pleaded ignorance.

Andrews said he was disappointed no one in his government knows who made the fateful decision.

“There’s just no one who says it was them. Are you aware of that?” counsel assisting the inquiry Rachel Ellyard asked.

“I am,” the premier replied.

“Do you know who it was?”

“No, I don’t.”

The death toll in Brazil has risen to 140,537 from 139,808 yesterday, the country’s health ministry said.

The country has also registered 4,689,613 confirmed cases, up from 4,657,702 on Thursday.

Boris Johnson will urge world leaders to overcome their differences and unite in the battle against coronavirus as he outlines measures to prevent future pandemics.

The UK prime minister is set to tell foreign counterparts at the United Nations General Assembly that the “notion of the international community looks tattered” after the Covid crisis.

He will call for states to “reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts”, as he announces a plan, developed with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wellcome Trust, to help stop future pandemics.

The proposals include developing a global network of “zoonotic hubs” to identify dangerous pathogens before they jump from animals to humans, as well as improving manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines.

Other measures include designing a global pandemic early warning system, improving the ability to collect and analyse samples and distribute the findings, and agreeing common protocols on information sharing to PPE supplies around the world.

Johnson is also proposing states reduce trade barriers on Covid-critical products, such as soap, to help the global response, and he will commit 500 million in aid funding for the Covax vaccines procurement pool to help poor countries access a coronavirus jab.

In a pre-recorded speech to be played on Saturday afternoon, the Prime Minister will say: “After nine months of fighting Covid, the very notion of the international community looks tattered.

“We know that we cannot continue in this way. Unless we unite and turn our fire against our common foe, we know that everyone will lose.

“Now is the time therefore, here at what I devoutly hope will be the first and last ever Zoom UNGA, for humanity to reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts.

“Here in the UK, the birthplace of Edward Jenner who pioneered the world’s first vaccine, we are determined to do everything in our power to work with our friends across the UN to heal those divisions and to heal the world.”

Romilly Greenhill, UK director of The One Campaign, which fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, said: “This is powerful leadership from the British Government at a moment when it could not be more important.”

Saturday’s Guardian front page.

A selection of some of Saturday’s UK front pages, starting with the Telegraph.

A challenge laid down to US President Donald Trump.

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco questioned the French Open’s Covid-19 testing protocols after having to withdraw from the tournament due to a positive result, which he deemed was false.

Verdasco, 36, pulled out of the final Grand Slam of the year in Paris on Thursday, alongside Canada’s Milos Raonic and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

The Spaniard said he had returned a negative result on several occasions before he arrived in Paris, including at this month’s Italian Open in Rome, where he lost in the qualifiers.

The world number 58 criticised the French Open’s testing procedures after he was denied a re-test.

“In August, I passed the COVID-19 asymptomatically,” he said in a statement on Twitter

“Since then I have done multiple PCR tests, with negative results... I tested negative again a few days ago in the test I took before going to Hamburg...

“My team and family travelled to Paris on Tuesday... they all tested negative except me. I explained my history and situation to try to request another test...

“The Roland Garros organisation refused to do another test, even taking into account all these circumstances, and that there were enough days to repeat the tests before the competition and the draw ceremony. Still, I was disqualified.”

Verdasco said he had undergone two Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests and an antibody test since his withdrawal from the French Open and returned a negative result in all three tests.

“I want to communicate my total frustration and outrage with the organisation of Roland Garros for taking away my right to participate even without giving me the opportunity to take another test with a new sample to confirm that the result of the first could be an error,” he said.

On Wednesday, Bosnian Damir Dzumhur said he was taking legal action against the French Open organisers after he was barred from entering the qualification round after his coach Petar Popovic tested positive for the virus.

The French Open, moved from its usual late May slot due to the coronavirus pandemic, begins on Sunday.

A tweet from Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau on potential vaccines.

Colleges and universities in the US have now counted more than 130,000 coronavirus cases on campus, most of those since the return for the fall semester.

More than 35 colleges have reported at least 1,000 cases, The New York Times reported.