Protests in Rome against Covid-19 restrictions – latest updates

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Protests in Rome against virus restrictions

Hundreds of people have shown up in the centre of Rome to demonstrate against the Italian government's measures to counter the spread of Covid-19.

Italy's known death toll stands at 35,534.

The day's new cases dipped slightly from the previous 24-period, but so did the number of swab tests performed to detect the coronavirus. 

The nation's overall rate of transmission of the virus by infected persons has also been creeping upward.

With nearly 1,700 more cases, Italy now has confirmed 276,338 coronavirus infections in the pandemic.

UK logs 1,813 new cases

The United Kingdom has recorded 1,813 new daily confirmed cases of Covid-19, versus 1,940 on Friday, health officials said.

Daily case numbers were about 1,000 a day for most of August, but have started to increase in recent days. Britain's testing capacity has also increased since the peak of the first wave earlier this year.

Friday's figure was the highest since May 30. 

Turkey reports over 1,600 new cases

Turkey has registered over 1,600 new virus cases and more than 900 recoveries.

In a tweet, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 1,673 more infections have raised the country’s overall count to 278,228.

He said 984 more patients recovered over the past 24 hours, taking the total to 250,092.

The death toll increased by 56 to reach 6,620, the minister added.

France expects more severe cases in next five days

France must stay vigilant as more people will be hospitalised in intensive care units in the next two weeks, reflecting a flare-up in Covid-19 infections in recent days, Health Minister Olivier Veran has said.

Veran however ruled out the need for a new nationwide lockdown, telling BFM television that France had other means to fight the virus, including testing.

"I cannot envision a general lockdown. The lockdown was a lid on an overflowing cooking pot," he said.

Slovakia reports record spike in cases

Slovakia has reported a spike of 226 cases of the virus, the biggest one-day rise in the central European country since the start of the pandemic.

The jump comes as neighbours in the region have also seen record rises in virus cases after the summer holidays and as students return to school. Officials are seeking to avoid large-scale lockdowns similar to those seen at the start of the outbreak, which hammered economic activity.

The Czech Republic recorded 798 new cases, its biggest daily rise so far, while Hungary reported a record 510 new cases.

Slovakia's death rate from the Covid-19 illness remains one of the lowest in Europe at 37 fatalities. Of a total of 4,526 total cases of the new virus, 2,797 patients have recovered.

India crosses 4 million coronavirus cases with record surge

India's total coronavirus cases have surged beyond 4 million with a record rise, making it the third country in the world to surpass that mark, following the United States and Brazil.

India added 86,432 cases of the new virus in the last 24 hours, a global daily record, according to data from the federal health ministry.

The jump to more than 4 million cases comes only 13 days after India reached 3 million cases, accelerating sharply from the more than 100 days it took to increase by the previous 1 million.

Germany's confirmed cases rise more than 1000

The number of confirmed virus cases in Germany increased by 1,378 to 248,997, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

The reported death toll rose by 2 to 9,324, the tally showed. 

South Korea posts fewest cases in three weeks

South Korea recorded 168 new cases as of midnight, posting the lowest daily tally in three weeks after imposing stricter social distancing rules to blunt the second wave of infections.

The total infections rose to 21,010, with 333 deaths, according to the data published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Friday’s new cases were the lowest since a major outbreak emerged from a Christian church whose members attended a large political rally on August 15.

Australia's virus hot spot chafes under lockdown

The Australian state of Victoria has reported 76 new virus infections and 11 deaths, as trends in Australia’s hot spot for the disease continued to gradually improve after nearly five weeks of a hard lockdown in the state’s capital Melbourne.

State premier Daniel Andrews is due to outline plans on Sunday for easing Melbourne’s stage 4 restrictions which shut large parts of the economy, required everyone to stay home except for essential business, and imposed a night-time curfew.

Victoria’s daily new cases were below 100 on most days this week, down from a peak of 725 new infections on August 5, but remain higher than health officials had hoped five weeks into a six-week hard lockdown.

Mexico records 6,196 new cases, 522 more deaths

Mexico's health ministry on Friday reported 6,196 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 522 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 623,090 cases and 66,851 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. 

Brazil reports 50,163 cases, 888 deaths

Brazil recorded 50,163 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as well as 888 deaths from the disease, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

Brazil has registered nearly 4.1 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 125,502, according to ministry data.

UN President: 'Inclusion is key' for vaccine

The president of the United Nations General Assembly is warning that a vaccine for Covid-19 must be made available to everyone who needs it because if just one country is left out the world will still face a crisis from the coronavirus.

As the world looks to a vaccine and a post-Covid-19 world, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande also warned that “inclusion is key, because without inclusion the suffering of those who are already left behind, will continue — and we cannot guarantee peace in that kind of a context.”

He said statements from those developing vaccines have said they intend to make them widely available which is important.

“I believe that there will be protocols and agreements to guarantee affordability and accessibility to the product when it is available,” he said.

French officials report nearly 9,000 new cases

Coronavirus cases in France increased to nearly 9,000 in the last 24 hours, health officials said on Friday.

The 8,975 new cases were the highest number of infections since France successfully grappled with the spread of the coronavirus during a strict two-month lockdown. There were some 1,800 cases less a day earlier.

The rise likely reflects an increase in tests, along with the return to work and end of vacation when many French may not have observed social distancing. Hospitalisations, including in ICUs, remained relatively stable.

But active clusters increased to 444, with 53 new clusters reported in the last day.

Total deaths in France have reached nearly 30,700.