Global report: don’t count on vaccine, US scientist warns, as cases pass 5m

Brazil reports nearly 20,000 infections in one day; Trump says he’ll stop taking hydroxychloroquine in two days; Lufthansa in rescue talks

A top US scientist has said that people should not count on a Covid-19 vaccine being developed any time soon, as global infections passed 5 million after surges in Latin America, including Brazil, which has recorded nearly 20,000 new cases.

William Haseltine, the groundbreaking cancer, HIV/AIDS and human genome projects researcher, has said the best approach to the pandemic is to manage the disease through careful tracing of infections and strict isolation measures whenever it starts spreading.

Related: Coronavirus cases and deaths over time: how countries compare around the world

Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak, has officially banned eating wild animals. A notice on the municipal government’s website said it was now prohibited to eat, hunt or breed wild animals, including terrestrial animals deemed protected, as well as those that exist in the wild or are bred. The new rules, to be in effect for five years, also bar the consumption of rare and endangered aquatic animals.

The German airline, Lufthansa, confirmed it was in talks with the government over a $10bn rescue that would see the state take a large stake in the carrier.

More than 100 people have tested positive for the coronavirus at a slaughterhouse in western France, the regional health authorities said on Wednesday.

Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday registered 2,248 new coronavirus infections and an additional 424 fatalities, a record one-day death toll since the start of the pandemic. It brings cases to 56,594 and 6,090 deaths in total.

Californian authorities have said they will roll out guidelines for the resumption of production of Hollywood movies and TV shows on Monday, but Governor Gavin Newsom warned that Los Angeles County was likely to be excluded from the first phase. Because of the challenges of social distancing on sets, Hollywood is expected to be among the last industries to come back.

Australian state and territory leaders bickered on Thursday over whether to reopen internal borders, a major step to rejuvenating the country’s $50bn domestic tourism industry, as part of measures to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Bars and pubs in New Zealand reopen on Thursday but capacity will be more than halved to meet social distancing guidelines.

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