China says Beijing coronavirus outbreak under control: Live | Coronavirus pandemic News

• • New confirmed cases of coronavirus remained stable in Beijing as officials said situation is under control.

     

 

• • German biopharmaceutical company CureVac started clinical trial for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

     

 

• • In Honduras, President Juan Orlando Hernandez became the latest world leader to be hospitalised after testing positive for the coronavirus.

     

 

• • More than 454,000 people have died as a result of the new coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 8.4 million people have been confirmed to have the coronavirus around the world and more than four million have recovered.

     

 

Here are the latest updates:

Friday, June 19

09:30 GMT – UK lowers coronavirus alert level

The United Kingdom’s chief medical officers have agreed that the COVID-19 threat level should be lowered one notch to “epidemic is in general circulation” from “transmission is high or rising exponentially”.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre recommended the COVID-19 alert level should move from Level 4 (A COVID-19 epidemic is in general circulation; transmission is high or rising exponentially) to Level 3 (A COVID-19 epidemic is in general circulation).

“There has been a steady decrease in cases we have seen in all four nations, and this continues,” the chief medical officers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland said.

“It does not mean that the pandemic is over. The virus is still in general circulation, and localised outbreaks are likely to occur.” 

09:00 GMT – Coronavirus already in Italy by December: study

The coronavirus was already present in two large cities in northern Italy in December, over two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.

Researchers discovered genetic traces of Sars-Cov-2, as the virus is officially known, in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement seen by AFP news agency.

Italy’s first known native case was discovered mid-February.

08:30 GMT – China’s Clover begins human trials of coronavirus vaccine

A potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals using GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine booster is now in early-stage testing in humans, the companies said.

Initial safety data from the trial, which is enrolling about 150 adults and also investigating the vaccine in combination with Dynavax’s adjuvant, is expected in August this year, Clover said.

08:00 GMT – India’s Modi says yoga a ‘protective shield’ against coronavirus

India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extolled yoga as a way of building a “protective shield” of immunity against the coronavirus, as his nation battles a surge in infections.

Modi, a keen yoga practitioner who has long espoused the benefits of the ancient Indian practice, gave the advice in a YouTube message ahead of International Yoga Day on Sunday.

Read more here.

07:45 GMT – Russia reports nearly 8,000 new coronavirus cases

Russia on Friday reported 7,972 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide case tally to 569,063 since the crisis began.

The national coronavirus response centre said 181 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 7,841. 

06:45 GMT – German drugmaker Curevac starts coronavirus vaccine trial

German biopharmaceutical company CureVac on Thursday started its first clinical trial for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

The trial, which is being conducted at the University of Tuebingen, includes more than 100 test subjects aged between 18 and 60.

The first trial results are expected in two months, according to German news website Focus Online.

Scientists are trying to ascertain human tolerance towards the vaccine, as well as the human body’s immune response to it, according to the professor in charge of the trial, Peter Kremsner.

The news comes just three days after the German government announced it was acquiring a $337m stake in CureVac.

06:20 GMT – Thailand: 25 days without confirmed domestic transmission 

Thailand reported five new coronavirus cases, all of which were found in quarantine, making it 25 days without a confirmed domestic transmission of the virus.

The new cases were Thais returning from Saudi Arabia, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the government’s COVID-19 task force.

Thailand has recorded 58 deaths related to COVID-19 among some 3,146 confirmed cases, of which 3,008 patients have recovered.

06:00 GMT –

Hello, this is Hamza Mohamed in Doha, Qatar taking over from my colleague Zaheena Rasheed.

05:53 GMT – Beijing outbreak ‘under control’

New confirmed cases of coronavirus remained stable in China’s capital on Friday after a public health official declared Beijing’s latest outbreak under control.

The city recorded 25 new cases, up by just four from Thursday, out of a total of 32 cases reported nationwide.

“The epidemic in Beijing has been brought under control,” Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press briefing on Thursday.

“When I say that it’s under control, that doesn’t mean the number of cases will turn zero tomorrow or the day after,” he cautioned. “The trend will persist for a period of time, but the number of cases will decrease, just like the trend that we saw (in Beijing) in January and February.”

Local authorities are restricting the movement of people in the capital and stepping up other measures to prevent the virus from spreading further, following a series of local infections.

Classes in the city have also been suspended and reopening plans for sports and other events are on hold. More than 360,000 tests for the virus have been carried out in recent days, according to city health authorities.

05:17 GMT – China publishes genome data from latest Beijing outbreak

China has published the genome data for the coronavirus behind the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing, the website of state-backed National Microbiology Data Center showed.

The move came as Chinese health officials said the virus found in Beijing’s Xinfadi market came from Europe, but was older than the current strain circulating on the continent.

Zhang Yong, an official at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the large number of samples found at Xinfadi indicates the virus “has been around for some time”.

“If it had only just arrived in the city for a short period of time, there may not have been so many positive samples found; however, we need more data before making an informed decision about its origin,” he was quoted as saying by the Global Times.

The virus could have arrived in imported frozen food or may have been lurking in dark, humid areas which had not been properly disinfected, he added.

04:58 GMT – Singapore lifts most restrictions

Singaporeans can wine and dine at restaurants, work out at the gym and get together in groups of no more than five people after most lockdown restrictions were lifted on Friday.

The city-state has one of the highest infections in Asia with 41,473 confirmed cases, mostly linked to foreign workers’ dorms. The government says the infections have declined, with no new large clusters emerging.

Cases outside the dorms were also stable despite a partial economic reopening two weeks ago.

Malls, gyms, massage parlours, parks and other public spaces reopened on Friday, with strict social distancing and health safety rules. Classes also resumed, except for singing. Minor bans remain including on contact sports and mass religious congregations.

Entertainment venues such as cinemas, karaoke rooms and bars are still shut while big events including trade fairs and concerts are banned.

04:50 GMT – South Korea on ‘cusp of erasing gains in virus fight’

South Korea reported 49 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, of which 26 came from the capital Seoul and the nearby port city of Incheon.

Six locally transmitted cases were also reported in Daejeon, some 160 km south of Seoul, stoking concerns that community spread may accelerate outside the Seoul area, the Yonhap news agency reported, describing South Korea as being “on the cusp of erasing gains in virus fight”.

The country has been reporting around 30 to 50 new cases per day since late May, inspiring second-guessing on whether officials were too quick to ease social distancing guidelines in April after the country’s first wave of infections waned.

“It is worrisome that cluster infections have been reported outside Seoul, and we will speed up the testing of potential cases and contact tracing, to stem further spread,” said Son Young-rae, an official with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

03:46 GMT – Brazil sees return of football at empty Maracana stadium

Brazilian football resumed after a three-month hiatus on Thursday night, with Flamengo beating Bangu 3-0 at an empty Maracana stadium in the first game of the restarted Rio de Janeiro state championship.

The match marked the return of Brazil’s state leagues, most of which were halted in March as the novel coronavirus spread.

Most of the other state championships, which are usually played between January and April before the national leagues take place in the second half of the year, have not yet set a date for resuming.

The resumption in Brazil has caused controversy, with two top clubs, Botafogo and Fluminense, saying they will not turn up for scheduled games this weekend.

03:04 GMT – Japan lifts all domestic travel curbs

Japan lifted all coronavirus-related curbs on domestic travel, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling on people to go sightseeing or attend concerts and other events to help the nation’s economy bounce back from a pandemic recession.

Japan began lifting its pandemic lockdown in May as coronavirus infections fell. The latest easing on Thursday comes after the end of an emergency declaration that allowed people to return to work and for bars and restaurants implementing social distancing measures to reopen.

“I would like people, while observing social distancing, to go out on sightseeing trips. We would like you to make an effort to engage in social and economic activity,” Abe said in an address to the country late on Thursday.

In addition to ending the domestic travel advisory, Japan is also allowing up to 1,000 people to gather at indoor and outdoor events. Japanese professional baseball teams will also restart games on Friday, although spectators will be locked out.

02:25 GMT – UN seeks urgent funding to transport pandemic aid

The United Nations food agency is warning that without immediate funding its global transport system will have to stop delivering thousands of tonnes of masks, gloves and other critical equipment to 132 countries by the third week of July.

Amer Daoudi, the World Food Programme’s director of operations and COVID-19 response, told a video press conference that the Rome-based agency needs $965m to sustain its transport services through 2020.

But so far it has received about $132m – only 14 percent – even though “the COVID-19 virus is not slowing down” and “the entire humanitarian and health community is relying on WFP’s logistic services now more than ever,” Daoudi said.

02:06 GMT – Mexico posts record number of new infections

Mexico reported another record one-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases – 5,662.

The country now has 165,455 confirmed cases and 19,747 confirmed deaths.

01:34 GMT – Honduras president stable, fatigued after hospitalisation

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is in a stable condition and being treated for pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19, one of his doctors said Thursday.

Dr Cesar Aaron Carrasco at the Military Hospital told Reuters News Agency that Hernandez’s condition had improved since he was admitted on Wednesday with difficulty breathing, fever and fatigue.

“In the two days that he’s been hospitalised an improvement in his situation has been observed,” Carrasco said. “He’s in a good general state, recovering.”

Carrasco said the president no longer laboured in his breathing, but still suffered fatigue when walking. He said it was unclear how long Hernandez would remain hospitalised.

00:53 GMT – Further lockdowns not needed in US, Fauci tells AFP

The United States does not require more widespread lockdowns to get its COVID-19 outbreak under control, a leading government expert told the AFP news agency, amid concerns about an uptick of cases in some 20 states, including California, Florida and Texas.

“I don’t think we’re going to be talking about going back to lockdown,” Anthony Fauci said when asked if states that are seeing a surge in their caseload should reissue stay-at-home orders.

“I think we’re going to be talking about trying to better control those areas of the country that seem to be having a surge of cases.”

Stressing the need for localised approaches, Fauci said one thing that bothered him was the public’s lack of compliance to authorities’ recommendations about wearing masks.

“We have a country where even when the recommendations are to wear a mask, a recommendation that I’ve been involved in making, there are some groups that actually do the recommendations very strictly and they adhere to it,” he said.

“And then … you see pictures of people in bars and in congregations without that. So again, it’s a mixed bag. Some people are doing it fine and some are not.”

00:18 GMT – Nursing homes represent more than 1 in 4 coronavirus deaths in US

In the US, nursing home residents account for nearly one in 10 of all the coronavirus cases and more than a quarter of deaths, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data.

The analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that nearly half of the more than 15,000 nursing homes have reported suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of June 7. About one in five facilities – or 21 percent – have reported deaths.

Nationwide, nursing homes reported nearly 179,000 suspected or confirmed cases among residents and 29,497 deaths.

00:01 GMT – Brazil nears 50,000 coronavirus deaths and 1 million cases

New statistics from Brazil’s Health Ministry shows the country fast approaching one million confirmed coronavirus cases and 50,000 deaths.

With the world’s worst outbreak outside of the US, Brazil now has 978,142 confirmed cases and 47,748 deaths, up 1,238 from Wednesday, the ministry said.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives.

You can find the key developments from yesterday, June 18, here.