Peter Wells in New York
Florida became the fifth US state to reach 16,000 coronavirus deaths, with nearly 100 new fatalities on Friday, as the state reported its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus in just over a month.
A further 98 deaths were attributed to coronavirus, authorities revealed this morning, down from a four-day high of 144 on Thursday, and compared with 118 on Friday last week.
That took the overall death toll in the state to 16,030. Only New York, Texas, California and New Jersey have reported more fatalities.
Adjusted for population, Florida’s total number of fatalities equates to about 74 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a Financial Times analysis of Covid Tracking Project and US Census Bureau data. That ranks it 10th among US states, slightly ahead of Illinois, but behind Arizona.
Over the preceding 24 hours, a further 3,449 people tested positive for coronavirus, up from 3,356 on Thursday and compared with 2,908 on Friday last week.
The latest figures may represent the largest daily increase since 3,573 cases reported on September 19, putting aside the nearly 5,600 infections on Sunday that were catching up for the lack of a daily report on Saturday. Florida’s health department did not issue a report on Saturday because its reporting system was held up by a set of duplicate results from a private laboratory. Friday was also the first time since that September date the Sunshine State has reported more than 3,000 new infections for two days in a row.
Authorities reported 84,507 tests conducted over the preceding 24 hours, up from about 69,900 on Thursday and nearly 9,000 more than Friday last week.
Of the latest batch of tests, the positivity rate for those who tested positive for coronavirus for the first time eased to a four-day low of 4.38 per cent from 5.18 per cent yesterday.
Valerie Hopkins in Budapest
Slovenia reimposed restrictive measures on Friday afternoon as the central European country of 2m people experiences a rapid increase in Covid-19 infections, with 843 in a 24-hour period.
The new rules divide the country into red, orange and green zones which dictate the level of restrictions. Residents of red regions, where the number of newly infected people in the preceding 14 days exceeds 140 per 100,000 people, are forbidden from traveling to other regions. Currently, seven of the country’s 12 regions are red, including the capital Ljubljana.
In the red regions, all large indoor and outdoor gatherings are banned, and it is compulsory to wear masks outdoors in addition to indoors. Gyms, fitness centres and restaurants will be closed for at least two weeks.
From Monday, all learning for students in the 6th grade and higher will be conducted remotely.
Elsewhere in the region, Croatia experienced its third day in a row of record cases recorded in the preceding 24 hours, and its first day with more than 1,000 new infections. One top health official said that if the trend continues the hospitals could reach maximum capacity by the end of November.
In Hungary, the daily mortality record was broken for the third time this week, with 33 deaths and 1,293 new infections in the preceding 24 hour period.
Neighbouring Romania, population 18m, also registered the third consecutive day of more than 4,000 new infections.
Arthur Beesley in Dublin
Ireland’s top health officials have advised prime minister Micheál Martin to impose a new national lockdown for six weeks to curb Covid-19, less than a fortnight after the government rejected a similar request to place the country under the most severe restrictions.
Leaders of the three-party coalition will meet on Saturday to discuss the demand from public health chiefs, who have said they are deeply concerned about the “rapidly deteriorating” disease trajectory nationally. The government has been urged to move to level 5 restrictions, the highest on the scale, in a move that would close large parts of an economy still struggling after the spring shutdown.
“We’re giving this very active consideration, the advice,” Mr Martin told reporters in Brussels after the EU summit. “The situation is very serious and we will need further action in relation to this.”
The latest demand to go to the tightest restrictions comes only 11 days after the government rejected a previous push from health chiefs to go to level 5.
Infections have only intensified since then, prompting the government to tighten restrictions this week by banning house visits throughout the country.
Most of Ireland is under level 3 restrictions but the government on Wednesday imposed tougher level 4 curbs on business in three counties on the border with Northern Ireland, where the disease is surging.
Ireland reported 1,205 new infections on Thursday, the highest in a single day since the pandemic started, and three further deaths. It was the second successive day in which the daily record for the number of new cases was broken.
“Cases notified over the past week have increased by 82% compared with the previous 7 days, from 3,514 to 6,382 cases,” Tony Holohan, the chief medical officer, said.
On Friday, the authorities in Northern Ireland reported a record 1,299 infections in a single day and two further deaths. Pubs and restaurants close for four weeks on Friday, except for takeaway services, under new restrictions settled this week by Northern Ireland’s devolved government.
Naomi Rovnick in London
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has taken his toughest stance so far against regional leaders who oppose his tiered coronavirus controls, threatening to intervene after the mayor of Greater Manchester refused to accept the strictest level of restrictions.
Andy Burnham, the Manchester mayor, said on Thursday that the government’s plans for putting the area into tier 3, which bans social mixing and closes pubs and bars, were “flawed and unfair” and did not come with the necessary financial backing to preserve people’s livelihoods.
Opening a press conference on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson said:
I urge the mayor to reconsider and engage constructively.
If agreement cannot be reached i will have to intervene.
Our efforts will be so much more effectve if we work together.
Mr Johnson said that, if current infection rates continued in Greater Manchester, there would be more coronavirus patients in intensive care in the region than “at the peak of the first wave.”
He added that the lowest paid workers would get a top up to their universal credit benefits as well as the two thirds of their wages.
Mr Burnham, however, is holding out for increased wage subsidies for workers at businesses that would be forced to close. He wants them to receive 80 per cent of their pay, instead of the 66 per cent currently proposed by chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Mamta Badkar in New York
US industrial output unexpectedly declined in September, falling for the first time in five months as manufacturing slid and demand for air conditioning fell as the weather cooled.
Industrial production, a gauge of output from factories, mines and utilities, fell 0.6 per cent last month from August, when it rose a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. That confounded economists’ expectations for slight increase to 0.5 per cent and was the first drop since April when coronavirus lockdowns were still in effect.
Although production has recovered more than half of its February to April decline, the September reading was still 7.1 percent below its pre-pandemic February level.
Manufacturing output fell 0.3 per cent, driven by a decline in autos and computer and electronics. That left it 6.4 per cent below levels seen before the pandemic.
The output of utilities dropped 5.6 per cent, as “demand for air conditioning fell by more than usual”.
Meanwhile, mining production rose 1.7 per cent in September, boosted by higher oil and gas extraction. However, it remained 14.8 per cent lower than the same period a year ago.
“This is something of a splash of cold water after the retail sales numbers, though remember than the retail sector is more than three times bigger than manufacturing, as a share of GDP,” said Ian Shepherdson, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. He added:
We doubt these declines mark the start of a sustained downward trend. We’re inclined to believe the survey evidence suggesting that the manufacturing recovery continues, albeit at a much less explosive pace than in the early summer.
Chris Tighe
The Tees Valley area is set to avoid moving into the highest tier of local lockdown restrictions as the number of cases across the region begins to flatten, Tees Valley Conservative mayor Ben Houchen said.
In a statement following a meeting between Mr Houchen, council leaders and senior Downing St officials, the mayor said the government had confirmed it was not proposing to move Tees Valley from its current high alert level 2 to the very high level 3 category. The government had taken the decision due to a flattening in the number of cases across Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton on Tees, Hartlepool and Darlington.
Mr Houchen has close contact with senior ministers and the ear of Number 10. He has been instrumental in building support for the Conservatives in the Teesside area, helping the party to win “red wall” seats like Redcar in the December general election.
His statement has wider significance since the leaders of councils in the rest of north-east England, plus North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, have been resisting tier 3 imposition because, they argue, previously imposed restrictions are beginning to work and should be given more time.
Anna Gross in London
Every 10 people infected with coronavirus will infect on average 13 to 15 people, according to government scientists’ latest estimates.
The latest estimate for the R value in the UK – the average number of new cases generated by an infected individual – is 1.3 to 1.5 over the past few weeks, according to the latest report by the Government Office for Science, up from 1.2 to 1.5 the week before.
The R number was found to be highest in the South West of the country, at 1.3-1.6, followed by the East, North West and South East.
The growth rate – the speed at which new infections are rising – was estimated to be between 4 and 7 per cent, down from 4 to 9 per cent the week before. This was also found to be highest in the South West of the country, at 6 to 10 per cent.
Mamta Badkar in New York
US retail sales growth accelerated in September rising by the most in three months even as uncertainty about additional stimulus measures has raised concerns about the economic recovery.
Retail sales rose 1.9 per last month from August when they climbed a 0.6 per cent, the Commerce Department said. That compared with economists’ expectations for a 0.7 per cent increase.
A surge in sales of autos, clothing and sporting goods helped boost September’s figures.
So-called control sales, which strip out more volatile items such as food, petrol and building materials, rose 1.4 per cent, ahead of expectations for a 0.2 per cent rise, and following a 0.3 per cent slide in August.
“Consumers have built up a huge amount of savings (and thus fuel for spending) helped by the already generous transfer payments from March thru July,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
Still concerns have grown as Congress and the White House remain at an impasse over a fresh stimulus package, after the $600 a week in extra jobless aid that was approved in March expired at the end of July.
Economists have become cautious about the fourth quarter and in particular the crucial holiday shopping season for retailers as household incomes are poised to slip in the absence of new fiscal stimulus.
Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell has been arguing for additional aid and warned that too little support for the American economy would create “unnecessary hardship for households and businesses” and far more dangerous than offering excessive help.
Additionally, the sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina and other parts of the could further slow the recovery.
Retail sales were up 5.4 per cent from the same period a year ago.
Myles McCormick in New York
Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oilfield services company, reported its third quarterly loss in a row as this year’s crude price crash continues to reverberate through the sector.
The company has scrambled to respond to the severe drop off in demand for its services since oil prices collapsed in April — cutting a fifth of its workforce and exiting its North American fracking business in a bid to save costs. Despite its efforts, depressed drilling activity coupled with continued Covid-19 restrictions pushed it to a net loss of $82m in the three months to September.
Olivier Le Peuch, chief executive officer, said that while oil demand was picking up again, any near-term recovery “remains fragile owing to potential subsequent waves of Covid-19 that could pose a significant risk”.
“Overall internationally, we view the next two quarters as a period of transition for our industry at the trough of this cycle,” he said.
Oilfield services groups were hit hard by the crash, as demand for their work dried up. While oil prices have recovered to around $40 a barrel, they are still about a third below their level at the start of the year, and drilling activity remains low — with the North American rig count down by more than 60 per cent compared with last year.
Schlumberger reported third quarter revenues of $5.3bn, down 2 per cent on the previous quarter and 38 per cent lower than in the same period last year. The figure was shy of analyst expectations for $5.4bn in a Factset poll. Its net loss of 6 cents per share compared with analyst expectations for a profit of 3 cents a share.
The group’s North American business was especially battered, with revenue down by almost 60 per cent compared with a year earlier, as operators idled rigs and slashed capex in the wake of the worst oil-price crash in decades.
Schlumberger also reported a $273m charge to cover severance payments, after announcing in July it would cut 21,000 jobs as part of its cost-cutting drive.
Robert Wright in London
The Welsh government is considering a two or three-week nationwide “firebreak” lockdown as coronavirus infections spread through the country, said its first minister.
Mark Drakeford said average infection levels were more than 100 per 100,000 people and the reproduction number had hit 1.4. The reproduction or R number is the average number of secondary infections produced by one infected person.
“Our critical care units are full and this week there has been a marked increase in the number of deaths reported by Public Health Wales,” Mr Drakeford said at his weekly press conference. “Unless we get coronavirus back under control, there’s a real risk that our NHS will be overwhelmed. If that happens then even larger numbers of people will die as a consequence and no-one wants to see that.”
No decision has yet been taken on the firebreak, Mr Drakeford said, but ministers and officials would work on the issue over the weekend.
Any such break will mean asking people to stay at home as they had done in the spring, Mr Drakeford said, but for weeks rather than months.
“These are incredibly difficult decisions and we have not yet come to a final decision about whether a firebreak would be the best way to take,” Mr Drakeford said.
Anna Gross in London
An estimated 336,600 people had Covid-19 in England in the week to October 8, equating to around 1 in 160 people, according to the latest analysis by the Office for National Statistics. This is up from 1 in 240 people the week before.
The highest rates of infection were seen in older teenagers and young adults, although rates of infection also increased in adults under the age of 70.
The regions of England with the highest rates of infection were the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and the North East.
The ONS estimated there were roughly 27,900 new cases per day in England, based on over 200,000 swab tests taken over the latest two-week period.
In Wales, the rate of infection was found to be considerably lower, with 1 in 390 people estimated to have Covid-19.
Alice Hancock in London
Pret A Manger, the UK sandwich chain, has announced another swath of redundancies after government regulations to prevent the spread of the virus hit the chain’s slowly recovering trade.
The company said on Friday that a further 400 jobs were at risk across its UK stores, on top of the 2,890 that it has already let go, and that six more shops would close.
Clare Clough, Pret’s UK managing director, said: “It’s absolutely right that we take steps to stop the spread of the virus and tackle the new wave of infections. Sadly, the result of the rise in infections and the necessary shift in public health guidance mean that our recovery has slowed.”
The city-focused food-to-go chain, which is owned by the Luxembourg-based consumer goods group JAB Holdings, has been acutely affected by the pandemic as its usual commuter customer base has pivoted to work from home.
In order to stem its losses it has turned to initiatives such as retail ranges, hot food delivery and a coffee subscription. This week it announced a partnership with the motorway service station operator Moto to take advantage of the increasing number of people using their cars as opposed to public transport.
The first Pret shop at a Moto service station will open in December.
Pret has been more affected than rivals due to its exposure to London, which accounts for around 60 per cent of its stores and where footfall has remained at historic lows. In August it said that trading had crept up to two-thirds of last year’s levels but it has had to close 30 stores and many sites are trading on reduced hours.
It has put its central London headquarters up for sale and is looking to move away from the heart of the capital.
“We are doing everything we can to support our team members and to prevent further job losses at Pret,” Ms Clough said.
Guy Chazan
The German state of Bavaria plans to lift a travel block on people arriving from coronavirus hotspots once the ban expires at midnight on Friday.
Meanwhile, a Berlin court has overturned a curfew imposed by the city authorities which forced all restaurants and bars to close at 11pm. Restaurant owners complained the measure was excessive.
The ban in Bavaria had prevented travellers from areas in Germany with high levels of coronavirus infection from staying in hotels and other accommodation in the German state, unless they could provide a negative Covid-19 test result.
Other states had also imposed the ban, causing widespread consternation among Germans who in many cases were forced to cancel their half-term holidays.
In the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, the ban was overturned on Thursday by a local court. But some states, such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, were sticking with the ban.
Martin Arnold
The recent rebound in eurozone exports has stalled, after rising in August by the smallest monthly amount since the coronavirus pandemic hit, even as trade with China picks up.
The region exported €156.3bn in the month, a seasonally adjusted increase of 2 per cent from July, but about 12 per cent below last year’s levels, Eurostat data showed on Friday.
One bright spot for the eurozone, which is the biggest exporter of goods and services in the world, is trade with China, which has bounced back close to pre-pandemic levels, unlike most other major trading partners.
Eurozone imports rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent from July to August, but they remain down 13.5 per cent from the same month last year. As businesses brace themselves for Brexit disruption, the bloc’s trade surplus was €14.7bn, slightly above last year’s level.
Trade between eurozone countries rose for the fourth consecutive month in August, but it remains 4.6 per cent below the level of a year ago.
Highlighting how hard global trade was hit by the fallout from the pandemic, total exports from the eurozone in the first eight months of the year were down 12.4 per cent from the same period in 2019.
In that period, only exports of food and drink and chemicals from the eurozone have grown from the previous year, while the bloc’s biggest source of exports – machinery and vehicles – fell 17.6 per cent and exports of other manufactured goods dropped 15.6 per cent.
Breaking news
Andy Bounds in Huddersfield
Lancashire, which lies north of Liverpool and Greater Manchester, has agreed to shut pubs and enter the very high alert level of the UK government’s three-tier lockdown system after negotiating a deal with ministers.
It doubles to 3.1m the number of people living under the tightest rules, after Liverpool city region entered tier 3 on Wednesday.
Pubs can only stay open if they can operate as restaurants, and there is a ban on household mixing indoors or out. It affects 1.5m people, including those in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, and aims to bring down rising rates of coronavirus and hospital admissions.
The move piles pressure on other areas in the north of England, such as Greater Manchester and the north-east, which are holding out for more financial support.
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, argues that the extra measures will do little to reduce infection levels.
James Shotter in Warsaw
Poland reported its worst daily Covid-19 death toll, while the Czech Republic clocked up another record number of infections, as the pandemic grips central Europe.
Poland’s latest 24-hour period registered 132 Covid-19 related deaths and 7,705 cases, its second highest daily count, the health ministry said on Friday. That brings its total number of cases to 157,608 and 3,440 deaths.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, which has the fastest growing pandemic in the EU, reported 9,721 daily cases, its worst figure since the start of the pandemic, and 24 deaths. Almost half the country’s 149,010 cases have come in the past two weeks, and almost a fifth in the last three days.
The surge in cases has begun to take its toll on the health systems in both countries.
The Czech Republic said on Thursday that the army would begin building a 500-bed field hospital in Prague this weekend to make space for more patients. Germany has also agreed to take some Czech Covid-19 patients to help relieve the pressure on the system.
Meanwhile, Poland unveiled more stringent restrictions on Thursday. In the worst-hit areas there will be limits on public gatherings and the number of people who can be in shops at one time, shortened opening hours for restaurants and cafes, and universities and schools will work remotely.
Camilla Hodgson in London
European equities regained some ground after a sharp sell-off in the previous session that was prompted by record coronavirus caseloads in many countries and moves to impose stricter restrictions as the pandemic tightened its grip.
The region-wide Stoxx 600 rose 0.8 per cent, Germany’s Dax gained 0.5 per cent and London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.4 per cent in early trading on Friday.
On Thursday, the Stoxx slumped 2.1 per cent and bourses in London, Paris and Frankfurt followed suit as daily infections in the region climbed and the UK and France introduced stricter regional lockdown measures. The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic have also unveiled tighter virus-related restrictions this week.
The sell-off reflects beliefs that “the easy phase of the recovery has now passed” and that the growth outlook for the final quarter of the year is “tilted to the downside,” said Hugh Gimber, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management.
In the US, futures contracts suggested the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 would edge up by about 0.1 per cent at Wall Street’s opening bell. Both indices ended Thursday lower, by 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, but are on track to close the week higher.
In the Asia-Pacific region, shares had a mixed session as the coronavirus crisis appeared to worsen. Japan’s Topix was down 0.9 per cent and China’s CSI 300 fell 0.2 per cent, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1 per cent.
Sarah Provan
Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager, reported net inflows of $1.7bn with its funds under management rising to $113.1bn at September 30, from $108.3bn three months earlier. The $100m share buyback programme that it unveiled last month is going ahead “at the maximum permitted pace”, it said in a statement on Friday. The group’s funds range from complex computer-driven strategies to real estate and direct-lending vehicles and its performance is seen as a bellwether for the hedge fund industry.
Jupiter Asset Management reported £1bn in third-quarter outflows as its funds, without its recent purchase of rival Merian Global Adviser, were flat. The fund manager said its assets under management came to £55.7bn in the three months to September 30. Merian Global Advisers added £16.6bn to its assets. The value of Jupiter Asset Management’s takeover of Merian fell from £419m to £240m, it was reported in July, since the deal was announced six months earlier after both asset managers suffered significant investor outflows.
Lookers said its third-quarter performance was better than it expected as it reported a 13.6 per cent rise in new retail and used car sales from the same period a year earlier. On a like-for-like basis the UK car dealer sold more than 42,000 new retail and used cars, as consumers released pent-up demand after two months of lockdown and as many took to the car rather than use public transport. “This was underpinned by our significant outperformance of the UK retail new car market, robust like-for-like growth in both used car sales and aftersales revenues,” it said in a statement on Friday. “It also reflected the strengthening of used car margins and the cost saving and other benefits of our restructuring programme.” The group expects an underlying pre-tax loss in the first half. Trading in the third quarter showed pre-tax income “significantly ahead of last year”, to largely offset the first-half loss. Lookers in August delayed publishing its 2019 annual results twice as it widened an audit probe into potential fraud in its previous accounts. “The fourth quarter will benefit from the full impact of the group’s restructuring activity,” it said.
Nick Gresham will stand down immediately from Superdry as chief financial officer after just over a year in the job permanently. He was named interim CFO in May last year and took the role on permanently three months later. “A search for a permanent replacement will start while interim arrangements are put in place,” the retailer said in a statement on Friday. “He has played an important role in putting the company in a stronger position than it was before he joined and helped to steer Superdry through the impact of the Covid pandemic,” said chief executive Julian Dunkerton.
The retailer, known for its colourful clothing, in its latest earning report showed a sharp fall in sales and deeper losses for the full year as Covid-19 lockdown measures put more pressure on the struggling fashion chain. Full-year sales fell by nearly a fifth in the year to April.
Alice Hancock
JD Wetherspoon, the UK pub chain, has slumped to a loss for the first time since opening in 1984 and pointed to an “unpredictable” future for pubs as trading restrictions to curb infection rates hit sales.
The 872-strong pub company reported a £34m loss in the year ending in July, down from profits of £102.5m last year. Revenues fell by almost a third to £1.2bn, while its operating margin was squeezed from 7.3 per cent in 2019 to 0.6 per cent this year.
Tim Martin, the group’s chairman, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the UK government’s efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, said that the three-month lockdown had “gone on longer than necessary” and that authorities had since introduced “an ever-changing raft of ill-thought-out regulations”.
Trading in the 11 weeks since the end of July had, as a result, remained at 15 per cent below last year’s levels, the group said. “The outlook for pubs over the remainder of the current financial year is even more unpredictable than hitherto,” Mr Martin added.
Profits have grown steadily at the budget pub group since it reported a £7m loss in its opening year. The raft of regulations to control the pandemic has forced it, like many pub operators, to cut staff including 108 at its head office and up to 450 jobs at its airport pubs.
Lauren Fedor and Courtney Weaver in Washington
Donald Trump refused to denounce a conspiracy theory peddled by far-right group QAnon as the president and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden participated in separate televised town halls on Thursday night with less than three weeks until the election.
Mr Trump and Mr Biden took questions from voters on two different television networks, NBC and ABC, during appearances that were scheduled in the same time slot — an unprecedented set-up that came about after the president pulled out of the second live debate.
Mr Trump initially said he did not know about QAnon — a pro-Trump group of conspiracists that has been labelled a terror threat by the Federal Bureau of Investigation — which believes powerful Democrats are running a secret paedophilia ring.
The president gave combative answers during terse exchanges with the NBC moderator, Savannah Guthrie, who questioned him on the opaque timeline leading up to his Covid-19 diagnosis and his refusal to release his tax returns.
Read more here
Gary Jones in Hong Kong
The Formula One Vietnam Grand Prix has been cancelled this year over uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, according to a statement by Vietnam Grand Prix Corp.
The organiser said on Friday that having already postponed the event, which had initially been planned for April but rescheduled for November, it would now be cancelled completely.
“We are unable to welcome the most exciting and prestigious motorsport series on the planet to Vietnam in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Le Ngoc Chi, chief executive of Vietnam Grand Prix Corp.
“This was a very difficult decision for all of us to make but ultimately it was the only solution after carefully reviewing all safety criteria as well as the efficiency under current conditions.”
The race, over a 5.6km street circuit in the capital Hanoi, would have been the first of its kind in the south-east Asian country. All tickets sold would be refunded, the organiser said.
Vietnam’s virus case tally is currently at 1,124, with 1,030 having recovered and 35 deaths, according to the country’s health ministry. It has not reported any new community transmission cases since September 2.
Christian Shepherd in Beijing
Some Chinese cities are seeking applications from the public to receive experimental Covid-19 vaccines, as China expands a controversial emergency use programme that has already administered hundreds of thousands of doses.
Health authorities in Jiaxing, a city of nearly 5m people in the eastern province of Zhejiang, on Thursday said that two doses of an experimental vaccine from Sinovac, one of China’s leading Covid-19 vaccine developers, would be provided to some “key priority groups” for Rmb400 ($60).
The official WeChat post reminded applicants that the drugs had yet to be approved for sale and that recipients would need to sign a consent form before receiving a dose.
Some medical professionals have questioned the safety and ethics of China’s decision to administer the drugs to large swaths of the population before the conclusion of phase-3 trials that test effectiveness, the globally recognised final hurdle before commercial sale.
Those concerns have been intensified by reticence from Chinese officials and companies to release details about the programme. Confusion mounted this week as mixed messages were sent over who was now eligible to receive vaccines under the latest phase of the programme.
State-run China National Pharmaceutical Group, or Sinopharm, which is developing two vaccines that use an inactivated Sars-Cov-2 virus to spark an immune response, on Tuesday denied reports that it was taking bookings for the vaccines in Beijing and Wuhan.
An online platform to express interest in receiving a vaccine launched by Sinopharm in September was no longer accessible on Friday. When accessed by the Financial Times last month, the platform said that 64,500 people had already registered an interest and 15,611 have already been approved to receive a dose.
In September, some Chinese provinces began preparing to expand the emergency use programme, with officials being instructed to draw up lists of individuals who should be included.
An official internal directive seen by the FT suggested that a wide range of workers deemed essential to a city’s operation would be considered for inoculation in order to avoid resurgence of the virus during the winter months.
Gill Plimmer and Tabby Kinder
The UK health department handed a £280,000 consulting contract to the family business of a top City executive who had been given an unpaid public sector role running coronavirus testing centres, the Financial Times has learnt.
The deal will add to growing concerns over the value for money, lack of transparency and potential conflict of interest regarding £10bn contracts awarded by government departments to private companies without competition as ministers scrambled to set up projects to tackle the pandemic.
Debbie White, former chief executive of collapsed outsourcer Interserve, was recruited by the Department of Health and Social Care in March to co-ordinate a network of testing centres across the UK as the pandemic gathered pace. The role was described as voluntary and came less than a year after Interserve collapsed into insolvency.
Documents reviewed by the FT — which have been kept private since March — show that a family business set up by Mrs White and her husband Peter was given the £280,000 consulting contract by the DHSC as she took on her unpaid role.
Read more here
Song Jung-a in Seoul
South Korea’s job market worsened in September, with the country losing 392,000 jobs, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take a toll on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The country’s jobless rate rose to 3.6 per cent last month from 3.1 per cent a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea, as the travel, food service and retail sectors were hit hard by the virus outbreak.
The number of employed people fell for the seventh consecutive month in September, the longest period of decline since the 2009 global financial crisis. Temporary workers lost 303,000 jobs while youth unemployment rose by 1.6 percentage points to 8.9 per cent as the government strengthened social distancing measures last month due to a surge in coronavirus cases.
But government officials expect the job market outlook to improve this month as social-distancing measures were eased amid the slowing trend in new virus infections.
This week, the government reopened high-risk facilities such as clubs, karaoke bars, buffet restaurants and large cram schools, while more students will be allowed to return to school from next week.
South Korea on Friday reported 47 new coronavirus cases, the lowest number in more than two weeks, increasing the total caseload to 25,035. But health officials remain on alert amid sporadic cluster infections, following the country’s long holidays earlier this month.
Donato Paolo Mancini in London
Pharmaceutical group Roche has said that authorities will have to use less accurate antigen testing as well as the gold-standard polymerase chain reaction test to identify potential cases of Covid-19 if they are to start to cope with the second wave of infections.
“If you look at the curves going up everywhere, relying on PCR alone will not work,” Thomas Schinecker, head of diagnostics at the Swiss company, told the Financial Times.
PCR testing assesses whether the genetic material of a virus is present, while antigen tests look for a protein that is present on the outside wall of a virus.
PCR tests are more accurate but Mr Schinecker said antigen tests could help detect positive cases when people are at their most infectious and their likelihood of spreading the virus at its highest.
The Roche antigen test currently on the market uses material collected from throat and nose swabs, though executives said that in the coming months they hoped to be able to launch a version that works using saliva.
Read more here
Gary Jones in Hong Kong
Personal hygiene is vital in the fight against Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, but billions of people do not even have access to places in which to wash their hands, the UN Children’s Fund said.
According to new estimates released by Unicef on Thursday, 40 per cent of the world’s population — or 3bn people — do not have a hand-washing facility with water and soap at home. Nearly three-quarters go without in the least developed countries.
October 15 has been designated internationally as “Global Handwashing Day” since 2008.
Kelly Ann Naylor, Unicef’s associate director of water, sanitation and hygiene, said it was “unacceptable” that vulnerable communities were unable to use the simplest of methods to protect themselves.
“The pandemic has highlighted the critical role of hand hygiene in disease prevention,” Ms Naylor said. “It has also stressed a pre-existing problem for many: hand-washing with soap remains out of reach for millions of children where they’re born, live and learn.”
The situation is especially alarming in schools, Unicef said, estimating that 43 per cent globally — 70 per cent in the least developed countries — lack a single hand-washing facility with water and soap.
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
The Australian state of Victoria reported its lowest number of coronavirus cases in four months on Friday, with just two new infections discovered.
Victoria’s health department reported two cases down from six a day earlier and the lowest since early June. It also recorded no new deaths linked to Covid-19.
The state is gradually winding down lockdown measures after an outbreak in the city of Melbourne forced authorities to impose restrictions on movement in July.
Melbourne’s 14-day rolling average of cases fell to 8.7 from 8.9 a day earlier.
Lockdown measures will be eased further when the rolling average drops below five and there are less than five cases with an unknown source over a 14-day period.
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
Asia-Pacific equities dipped on Friday after US and European stocks fell on rising coronavirus infections.
In Japan, the Topix was down 0.4 per cent, the Kospi in South Korea edged up 0.1 per cent and the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 per cent.
Investors fear economic recovery will stall as infection numbers climb going into the northern hemisphere’s winter. European countries have reimposed restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus, while US cases have reached new highs in some states, including Wisconsin.
The S&P 500 ended 0.2 per cent lower on Thursday while the Stoxx 600 declined 2.1 per cent and the FTSE 100 shed 1.7 per cent.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 per cent.
Tom Mitchell in Singapore
China’s National Bureau of Statistics will reveal if the country’s economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic remains on track when it releases its estimate for third-quarter gross domestic product growth on Monday.
The IMF revised upwards its full-year projection for Chinese growth to 1.9 per cent this week. By comparison, the IMF expects the US and Indian economies to contract 4.3 per cent and 10.3 per cent this year respectively.
Here are five things to look out for as President Xi Jinping’s administration attempts to complete an economic recovery that few people thought possible at the beginning of the year.
Read more here
Peter Wells in New York
The US reported more than 63,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, its biggest one-day jump since July, with half of the country’s states reporting at least 1,000 new infections.
A further 63,172 people tested positive, according to Covid Tracking Project data on Thursday, up from 56,797 on Wednesday and compared with 55,352 on Thursday last week.
It was the biggest one-day jump in cases since July 31, when more than 67,000 were reported, and now brings the seven-day average of new infections in the US to a two-month high of 53,283.
A record 25 states reported increases of more than 1,000 new cases, according to a Financial Times analysis of Covid Tracking Project data. Leading the way were Texas (4,726, including new and historical cases), Wisconsin (4,040, which compared to the 3,747 reported by the state’s health department) and Illinois (4,015).
Several states revealed record jumps in cases, including Indiana (1,943), Montana (723), North Dakota (706) and New Mexico (577), as well as presidential battleground states such as Wisconsin, Ohio (2,178) and Michigan (1,943), according to Covid Tracking Project data.
The health department in North Carolina, another battleground state and where Donald Trump held a rally earlier in the day, said a record 2,532 people tested positive for coronavirus over the past 24 hours.
A further 951 deaths in the US were attributed to coronavirus, up from 811 on Wednesday. That is the biggest one-day increase in fatalities since 986 on Thursday last week.
The number of people currently in US hospitals with coronavirus, at 37,308, is the highest since late August.
Recent case counts may not be comparable with periods earlier in the pandemic due to increased testing capacity in the US. Similarly, recent death rates for states may be lower than earlier in the crisis due to greater knowledge, improved treatment and preparation for the disease.
Peter Wells in New York
The number of people in Texas hospitals with coronavirus reached its highest level since August on Thursday, adding to concerns about a recent rise in new infections.
Authorities reported there were 4,263 current hospitalisations related to Covid-19 across the state, up from 4,131 on Wednesday. That is the highest number since August 29, when there were 4,273 patients in hospitals.
Hospitalisations have risen by about one-third since hitting a three-month low of 3,081 on September 20. As with hospitalisations, the trend in new coronavirus infections has crept higher in recent weeks, spurring concerns that the downward trends in those metrics towards the end of summer may have stalled or gone into reverse.
A further 4,615 people tested positive over the past 24 hours, authorities revealed this afternoon, up from 4,564 on Wednesday and compared with 3,786 on Thursday last week.
Authorities continue to add older cases, stemming from backlogs of tests at commercial laboratories, to the state-wide total, although these are excluded from the latest figures. There were 111 such historical infections from five counties revealed today, with 97 of these coming from the region around Houston.
Texas has averaged about 3,800 cases a day over the past week, the highest level since early September. That rate is up from a three-month low of about 2,800 a day hit in late September.
A further 95 deaths were attributed to coronavirus, matching Wednesday’s increase and compared with 104 on Thursday last week.
The state has averaged about 68 deaths a day over the past week, which, more encouragingly, is the lowest level since early July.
Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe
Alcohol will no longer be served within the House of Commons from Saturday, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said.
His comments follow the announcement earlier today, that London will enter into tier 2 restrictions over the weekend.
Under new rules, residents will be banned from socialising indoors with anybody outside their household or support bubble, while people will be encouraged to avoid public transport.
In a statement, Sir Lindsay said: “Following the government’s decision to move London into the tier 2 Covid alert category, I have asked the parliamentary authorities to introduce measures to bring the House of Commons into line with the national picture.
“As MPs represent different constituencies in different tiers – with the very highest level ordering the closure of pubs – I have decided to stop the sale of alcohol across the House of Commons-end of the estate from this Saturday.”
He added: “This means it will not be possible to buy an alcoholic drink from any of our catering outlets for the foreseeable future — whether food is served or not.”
Earlier this week, Sir Lindsay warned that parliamentarians, many of whom travel between Westminster and their constituency each week, could become “super-spreaders”. As a result, he encouraged older MPs and those with health conditions, to put their health first and to avoid risk where possible.
Kerin Hope in Athens
Greece has placed the northern region of Kozani under a two-week lockdown aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus following a steady rise in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in recent weeks.
The public health organisation EODY announced the region was rated Tier 4, the highest level under a new European risk assessment system adopted this week by Greece.
The lockdown in Kozani and its surrounding villages is the first under the new EU system, though several tourist resorts were placed under temporary curfew in July and August after reporting small Covid-19 clusters. Greece emerged from a six-week lockdown in May after successfully flattening the infection curve.
With over 200 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the past 14 days, Kozani exceeds the EU’s criterion for new infections and test positivity, and community transmission is increasing, according to Nikos Hardalias, the deputy minister for civil protection.
Another 22 cases were reported on Thursday, while 550 people were quarantined.
Movement in and out of Kozani, a coal-mining region that is home to a university with 15,000 students, is banned. The university will move to online teaching but schools will remain open, Mr Hardalias said.
Restaurants, cafes and bars, shops and hairdressing establishments and gyms will remain closed, while supermarkets and pharmacies will work longer hours. Wearing masks will be compulsory both indoors and outside.
Greece saw a sharp increase in cases last month as holidaymakers returned from the islands, where restrictions on overcrowding were largely ignored during August.
The Covid-19 treatment remdesivir has no substantial effect on a patient’s chances of survival, a clinical trial by the World Health Organization has found, delivering a significant blow to hopes of identifying existing medicines to treat the disease.
Wisconsin reported a record jump in cases on Thursday as it battles to bring a surge in infections under control. A further 3,747 people tested positive, the state health department revealed, up from 3,107 the day before.
California reported its biggest daily jump in coronavirus deaths in a week and an increase in new cases that hovered around its average of the past seven days. A further 118 fatalities were attributed to coronavirus, more than doubling from 58 on Wednesday.
North Carolina reported a record one-day jump in cases, reflecting a recent surge in daily infections. A further 2,532 people tested positive, almost double the 1,267 reported on Wednesday.
United Airlines has begun testing travellers to Hawaii for the coronavirus, a measure it hopes can be replicated to reopen international routes. The Chicago airline is offering the tests to passengers flying from San Francisco. If passengers receive a negative test result they can bypass the island state’s 14-day quarantine.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, has had to abandon a EU leaders’ summit after coming into contact with a positive Covid-19 case. Ms von der Leyen said she was negative for the virus but would be entering a precautionary quarantine.
Poland has announced a series of restrictions on businesses, schools and recreational activities. Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive, said the measures would include limiting the opening hours for restaurants and bars, and closing gyms and swimming pools.
Florida reported one of its biggest one-day jumps in new coronavirus cases in a month. A further 3,573 infections were revealed by authorities, up from 2,883 on Wednesday.
The French government has announced a further €1bn of aid to employers affected by the pandemic, to compensate for the damage to restaurants and other businesses that will be caused by a six-week curfew in Paris and eight other big cities from Saturday.
Boris Johnson’s attempts to introduce tighter regional lockdowns to control a surge in coronavirus cases have hit a wall after Greater Manchester refused to agree to the measures. The government has the power to impose restrictions, closing pubs and other businesses, but is reluctant to do so without local support.
Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, has cancelled all campaign travel until the end of Sunday after two people involved in the presidential campaign tested positive for Covid-19 with less than three weeks to go until election day.
Scotland plans to introduce a system of lockdown tiers similar to that in England and tighten up rules on wearing face coverings indoors amid a continued surge in numbers of coronavirus infections and admissions to intensive care units. The tiered system is to come into force from October 26.
New requests for US unemployment aid unexpectedly rose last week to nearly 898,000, amid concerns that the labour market’s comeback has stalled as the White House and Democrats continue to clash over a new stimulus deal ahead of the presidential election.
Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, has confirmed that London, along with seven other areas, would be moved up to tier 2 in England’s three-level system of coronavirus restrictions, banning gatherings between separate households indoors.
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