Coronavirus live news: Russia to start vaccine trials on 40,000 people; Europe reporting 26,000 new cases a day

Russia to start mass testing of vaccine next week; WHO warns about high average of new cases in Europe; Africa CDC reports drop in new cases

France has reported 4,711 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, a new post-lockdown record and a level last seen during the height of the epidemic in France.

During lockdown, France saw a peak of 7,578 infections per day on 31 March, but since then there have been only a few days with the number of new infections per day rising above 4,500.

Vietnamese police have arrested four men accused of defrauding more than 5,000 Americans trying to buy Covid-19 protective equipment online out of nearly $1m, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The arrests of the four, aged between 22 and 36, were made following a joint investigation by the ministry and US Department of Homeland Security.

Madagascar’s health minister has been fired as part of a government reshuffle, a month after he butted heads with the president for seeking outside help for coronavirus.

The Indian Ocean island-nation saw Covid-19 cases surge in July as hospitals raised concern about lack of beds, leading health minister Ahmad Ahmad to write a letter asking international agencies to send medical equipment.

The Republic of Congo will reopen air borders next Monday that it closed in late March to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, officials said.

Land, river and sea borders will remain closed, except for the transport of cargo, which has been authorised.

The coronavirus crisis has created towering challenges for humanitarian operations worldwide, the Red Cross said, though adding that the pandemic had also spurred authorities to open more prisons to its inspections.

Peter Maurer, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told reporters in Geneva that his organisation’s operations had been reduced to 85% of previous capacity.

EU state aid regulators have cleared a 62m ($73.5m) loan guarantee from the Romanian government to the airline Blue Air, saying it was in line with the bloc’s state aid rules.

The package includes a 28m guarantee to compensate the carrier for damage caused by coronavirus-linked travel restrictions, and a 34m guarantee providing urgent liquidity support to help cover losses incurred since the outbreak.

The New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, has doubled down on his commitment to reopen schools for in-person learning next month, a day after the city’s teachers’ union said his reopening protocol was insufficient to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The mayor and schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, released a “Back to School pledge” outlining the features of their reopening plan, including that all schools will have a 30-day supply of personal protective equipment at all times and will close if the percentage of positive Covid-19 tests in the city is 3% or more on a 7-day average.

Travellers arriving in the UK after 4am on Saturday from Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago will have to quarantine for 14 days, transport secretary Grant Shapps said.

Data shows we need to remove Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors to keep infection rates DOWN. If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

The Czech government has scaled down its plans on reinstating a requirement to wear face masks in public from the start of September to slow an expected surge in Covid-19 infections, following a backlash from the public and businesses.

The Czech Republic was among the first countries outside Asia to order citizens to cover their faces in public in March.

We perceive opposing opinions. We have to look for a compromise – we are not deaf and blind.

It is a question of what is ideal from the epidemiological point of view and what is the reality, the impact on individual groups and so on.

Johnson & Johnson aims to test its experimental coronavirus vaccine in up to 60,000 volunteers in a late-stage trial scheduled to start in September, according to a US government database of clinical trials.

Shares of the company rose marginally on Thursday, paring their earlier losses, after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

Spain has recorded 3,349 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, down from 3,715 reported the previous day and bringing the country’s cumulative total to 370,867.

The ministry said 122 people had died from the coronavirus over the past seven days. The seven-day death toll reported on Wednesday was 131.

Northern Ireland has tightened restrictions on the number of people allowed to meet indoors and outdoors, as it struggles to rein in a surge in new cases of Covid-19.

Outdoor gatherings are now limited to 15 people, reduced from 30, while indoor gatherings in private dwellings are now limited to six individuals from two households, from 10 previously, health minister Robin Swann said.

Sweden has agreed to take part in the European Union’s deal with pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca to secure a supply of a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is discovered.

The deal means Sweden, a country of 10.3 million people, would get about6m doses of the vaccine in an initial phase, and 2m more in a later phase.

Within two weeks we will have three more (vaccine) agreements to consider, and after that there will be another three or four in a month or two. We are negotiating with everyone to make sure we are covered.

Moroccan authorities have slapped tight controls on movement in Casablanca and Marrakesh, the North African country’s economic and touristic capitals, following a surge in coronavirus cases.

Several districts of the two cities were to be sealed off, and opening hours shortened for restaurants, coffeehouses, businesses and public parks.

Italy has reported another sharp rise in Covid-19 infections, as the country registered 845 new coronavirus cases, 203 more than Wednesday.

Such numbers recorded within 24 hours had not been seen since 16 May.

Eswatini will roll out an ambitious post-coronavirus economic recovery plan, the government has said, as it hit back at claims King Mswati III was draining state coffers to fund a luxury lifestyle.

The $1.7bn (£1.2bn), 18-month scheme aims to revive the long-ailing economy of Africa’s last absolute monarchy with the help of the private sector.

The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg urged the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to be “brave” in the fight against the climate crisis as she sought to breathe fresh life into a climate movement overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 17-year-old travelled to Berlin to meet Europe’s most powerful leader exactly two years since she first skipped school to demand more climate action, kicking off what would become the global Fridays for Future strikes.

We want leaders ... to be brave enough to think long-term.

We want leaders to step up and take responsibility and treat the climate crisis like a crisis.

With coronavirus cases surging and less than two weeks of the school holidays left, parents, teachers and opposition politicians in Spain are angry and critical about the government’s plans for reopening classrooms.

Latest government data showed daily infections peaked at 7,609 on Friday – the highest level since late March – before dropping to 3,715 on Wednesday.

Thailand has sought to allay fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, after a woman tested positive having cleared quarantine nearly two months ago on returning from overseas.

Thailand has gone 87 days without domestic transmission but news that a woman tested positive for Covid-19 in Bangkok on Tuesday, having returned from abroad on 24 June, has triggered concern of a fresh outbreak in a country so far spared the level of contagion elsewhere.

Nigeria is considering partnerships between state governments and private firms to ramp up testing and tracing of coronavirus cases after international flights resume this month, the head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said.

Nigeria will reopen its airports for international flights from 29 August. They have been closed since 23 March to all but essential overseas flights to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa’s most populous country.

Singing is no more risky than speaking when it comes to the possibility of spreading Covid-19, British scientists have said, adding that volume is the most important risk factor.

Last week, the British government changed its guidance to allow professionals and non-professionals to resume singing rehearsals and performance, bringing the required social distancing into line with usual Covid-19 rules and removing the need for extra mitigations.

The study has shown the transmission of viruses in small aerosol particles generated when someone sings or speaks are equally possible with both activities generating similar numbers of particles.

Our research has provided a rigorous scientific basis for Covid-19 recommendations for arts venues to operate safely for both the performers and audience by ensuring that spaces are appropriately ventilated to reduce the risk of airborne transmission.

England’s test-and-trace scheme reached 71.3% of identified contacts of new Covid-19 cases in the latest week, a fall on the previous week.

In the week to 12 August, 4,803 people were transferred to the test-and-trace system following a positive Covid-19 test, of whom 78.8% were reached and asked to provide contacts.

A family of tourists was kicked off a Mediterranean cruise after leaving their organised excursion to sightsee on their own, violating the ship’s new anti-Covid regulations, the company said.

The MSC Grandiosa, part of the fleet of privately owned MSC Cruises, was the first major cruise line to take to the Mediterranean after a long lockdown due to coronavirus.

“We now have a name for the disease.” These were the words of the director of the World Health Organization (WHO) in a historic announcement on 11 February 2020. Back then, there had only been 393 cases of a mysterious new respiratory illness outside China, and in most places life continued as normal. “Covid-19. I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine,” he continued. Little did we know that this oddly technical-sounding phrase would become not just a household name, but an era-defining one.

On the same day, the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, which researches the family of viruses that includes Sars, Mers and some strains of the common cold, rushed out a paper. It redesignated the pathogen that had until then been called 2019-nCoV, the “n” standing for “novel”. The new name was “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2”, or Sars-CoV-2.

Related: Pando, Miss Rona and Covid Toe: how the language of a disease develops – shaped by fear and prejudice

Mass testing of Russia’s first potential Covid-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people and will be overseen by a foreign research body when it starts next week, backers of the project said.

These were the first details on the shape and size of the upcoming late-stage trial of the vaccine given by its developers, who are aiming to allay concerns among some scientists about the lack of data provided by Russia so far.

Belgian schools will reopen on 1 September when the academic year starts, with children above 12 years old and teachers required to wear masks, prime minister Sophie Wilmes has.

“The goal is to avoid a second wave, we see today that the situation is stabilising and improving,” she told a news conference. “It is very important that children go to school.”

The short-term home rental company Airbnb has imposed an indefinite global ban on all parties and events at places listed on its platform as it tries to enforce social-distancing norms due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Instituting a global ban on parties and events is in the best interest of public health,” Airbnb said in a statement, adding that the party ban applies to all future bookings.

A lack of tourists is driving the ravens at the Tower of London to boredom and causing them to fly away.

Legend has it the monarchy and the Tower of London will fall if its six resident ravens leave the fortress.

Related: ‘Bored’ ravens straying from Tower of London as tourist numbers fall

Average daily cases of coronavirus in Africa fell last week, a “hopeful sign” for the continent’s fight against the disease, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The continent-wide daily average was 10,300 last week, down from 11,000 the week before, Dr John Nkengasong said, adding that officials were greeting the news with “cautious optimism”. He said:

We have begun to bend the curve slowly.

It is very, very early. We are dealing with a very delicate virus that spreads very quickly, but it’s important to recognise those slight tendencies that are positive.

It’s a good thing that suggests that we are doing the right things on the continent.

We take this news with cautious optimism because we really want our population to continue not to show what we call prevention fatigue.

The number of people registered as unemployed in Portugal edged up 0.2% in July from the previous month, but was 37% higher year-on-year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Institute of Employment and Professional Training said.

The figures released on Thursday showed the increase in unemployment numbers has slowed sharply, from a sobering 14.1% month-on-month rise in April to 4.2% in May and 0.6% in June.

Vietnam’s tally of coronavirus infections has passed the 1,000 mark, after 14 new cases were reported.

More than half of the total confirmed cases are linked to an outbreak that began late last month in the central coastal city of Danang, the health ministry said.

Greta Thunberg and other members of the Fridays For Future movement are speaking to reporters now after a meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, marking two years since Thunberg started the school strikes.

You can watch the news conference live here:

A bar in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district has installed fish bowl-like screens designed to protect against coronavirus transmission, aiming to lure back clients worried about the risks of Covid-19.

Estée Lauder has reported a 32% fall in fourth-quarter sales on Thursday, as travel restrictions and store closures imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus dampened demand for its high-end beauty brands.

The MAC brand owner also said it would cut 1,500 to 2,000 jobs globally, including point-of-sale employees. It also estimated that it would close 10% - 15% of its freestanding stores.

China is facing demands to explain why a state-backed firm claimed it had vaccinated dozens of staff against the coronavirus before sending them back to work at a mine in Papua New Guinea.

The China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) - which controls a major nickel mine in the country - warned local authorities that 48 staff who returned from China this month may test positive for the virus because they had received a vaccine.

I am demanding an explanation from the Chinese ambassador as to how this has happened.

I have written to the Chinese government through the Chinese ambassador - to explain how these 48 employees of this state company were vaccinated.

The British government is under fresh pressure over its botched policy for grading exams cancelled during the coronavirus lockdown, as a new set of results showed a surge in top marks.

Schools minister Nick Gibb admitted he was warned weeks ago about the risks of using an algorithm to moderate assessments made by teachers, which the government abandoned this week after an uproar.

Related: Minister admits he was warned about concerns over exams algorithm

The coronavirus pandemic has reignited debate in Germany about cutting the working week to four days to help preserve jobs during and after the economic shock.

But the idea remains highly controversial.

Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, I’ll be running the global coronavirus blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any story suggestions or personal experiences you’d like to share.

Germany’s public health agency on Thursday declared the Croatian counties of Šibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia, which are popular with tourists, coronavirus risk regions, according to Reuters.

Croatia is the country with the third-highest number of infections among people returning to Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), after Kosovo and Turkey.

Chaos and confusion reign as Spain’s 8 million school students prepare to return to class for the first time since the lockdown was enforced on 14 March, writes Stephen Burgen in Barcelona.

Since then their education has continued through an often patchy combination of online classes and home schooling.

European countries are registering an average 26,000 new cases of coronavirus every day, the director general of the World Health Organization’s Europe office has said, as he warned of a potential resurgence of the pandemic.

In a briefing on Thursday morning, Hans Kluge said that while the “epicentre” of the pandemic had moved to the Americas, the European region still accounted for 17% of the global total of coronavirus cases. He said:

The risk of resurgence has never been far away. In the last two months, new cases have been steadily increasing every week in the Region. There were 40,000 more cases in the first week of August, compared to the first week of June, when cases were at their lowest.

Every day now the European Region reports an average of over 26,000 new [coronavirus] cases. This is due in part to the relaxation of public health and social measures, where authorities have been easing some of the restrictions and people have been dropping their guard.

Such options might include heightened hygiene and physical distancing in school settings for all, and the introduction of targeted measures quickly and effectively to suit local circumstances; open schools where virus levels are low; adjust school schedules and limit pupil numbers where cases are more widespread; and consider keeping schools closed temporarily in areas where community transmission is high.

To my daughters, to adolescents and teenagers everywhere, to all of you at that exciting, adventurous point in your lives – thank you for the sacrifices you have made to protect yourselves and others from #COVID19.

No youngster wants to miss a summer. But I am very concerned that more and more young people are counted among reported cases.

Hans Kluge is giving a World Health Organization Europe area briefing. You can watch in this player and (shortly) in the player at the top of the blog.

Watch LIVE as @hans_kluge and experts from WHO/Europe provide an situation update on #COVID19 in the European Region. https://t.co/rc8CoVQJXz

Health authorities in Tokyo reported 339 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the first time in five days that the figure has risen above 300, according to the Japan Times.

So far 18,607 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the Japanese capital, 347 of whom have died. Thirty-two people remain in a serious condition.

Indonesia reported 2,266 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, according to Reuters, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 147,211.

Data from the health ministry showed an additional 72 deaths, taking total fatalities to 6,418.

The Philippines has reported 4,339 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total so far in the country to more than 178,000.

In a Facebook post, the department of health also reported 88 more deaths, taking the total death toll from the outbreak to 2,883.

The coronavirus death toll in Russia passed 16,000 on Thursday, with 110 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.

The country’s coronavirus crisis response centre registered 4,785 new cases, bringing its nationwide tally of infections to 942,106, the world’s fourth highest caseload.

Film and TV directors in the UK are being encouraged to seek inspiration from classic romances such as Casablanca and ditch depictions of sex altogether when planning intimate scenes under new guidelines for directing during the Covid-19 crisis, writes Lanre Bakare, the Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent.

Directors UK, the professional association for screen directors in Britain, suggested some creative alternatives to avoid sex scenes with physical interaction while social distancing is required, in an update to its Directing Nudity and Simulated Sex guidelines, which are focused on safe working during the pandemic.

Related: Filmmakers told to ditch sex scenes to protect actors from coronavirus

Ukraine registered 2,134 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, a new daily record for infections in the country, Reuters quoted the health minister, Maksym Stepanov, as saying on Thursday.

Stepanov said the new data surpassed the previous single-day record of 1,967 reported the previous day.

As plans advance for reopening schools in England and the US, new research has complicated the picture by apparently showing that children could be a greater risk for spreading coronavirus than previously thought.

Infected children were shown to have a significantly higher level of virus in their airways than hospitalised adults in ICUs for Covid-19 treatment, researchers say.

I was surprised by the high levels of virus we found in children of all ages, especially in the first two days of infection. I was not expecting the viral load to be so high.

You think of a hospital, and of all of the precautions taken to treat severely ill adults, but the viral loads of these hospitalised patients are significantly lower than a ‘healthy child’ who is walking around with a high Sars-CoV-2 viral load.

Kids are not immune from this infection, and their symptoms don’t correlate with exposure and infection.

During this Covid-19 pandemic, we have mainly screened symptomatic subjects, so we have reached the erroneous conclusion that the vast majority of people infected are adults.

The authors do show that children who presented with respiratory symptoms during this pandemic, and who tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, displayed viral loads comparable to adult hospitalised patients, especially in the first two days of symptoms.

Interestingly, of the children presenting with symptoms, only around 28% of children tested positive, and of these, more than 60% were over the age of 11, 26% were obese (with less than 10% in the non Sars-CoV-2 group), and exposure to the virus was by either mum or dad (77%), supporting a larger role for adults in the transmission of this virus.

For readers who are interested in the UK coronavirus situation, our UK coronavirus blog is now live. Today’s big news is the publication of GCSE results for 16-year-olds.

Related: UK coronavirus live: students await GCSE results after controversy – live news

Related: Markets slide as fears over Covid-19 economic recovery grow - business live

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, is due to announce the outcome of the latest review of the country’s lockdown later today, with no major changes to coronavirus restrictions expected.

The Scottish government is legally required to formally review the measures every three weeks. Sturgeon will give a statement to MSPs at Holyrood later today.

Hello, this is Damien Gayle, guiding you through the latest updates from the world coronavirus outbreak for the next few hours.

If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for coverage, drop me a line either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.

Thanks for your company. I’m handing over to my colleague in the UK, now Damien Gayle.

I reported earlier that Germany had recorded 1,707 new cases. That is the highest number of new daily infections since 18 April, according to Our World in Data, when the country recorded 3,609 cases. It takes total German cases to 228,621.

Chinese state media has defended Wuhan residents after photos and video of a huge pool party went viral this week, saying complaints by foreigners were “sour grapes”.

Thousands of people celebrated at a water park music festival in Wuhan this week, crowded in front of the stage, shoulder to shoulder.

VIDEO: Crowds packed out a water park over the weekend in the central Chinese city of #Wuhan, where the #coronavirus first emerged late last year, keen to party as the city edges back to normal life pic.twitter.com/SJFBmx5sU8

As I mentioned earlier, South Korea has recorded seven straight days of new cases in triple figures, and authorities have warned of a grave situation, with infections seeding across the country.

Many cases are linked to the cluster at the Sarang Jeil church in northern Seoul, which has grown to 623, according to the Yonhap news agency. The church is run by a radical conservative preacher whose followers have also attended anti-government protests in central Seoul in recent weeks, seeding infections there too, it’s believed.

Related: Global report: South Korea fears fresh nationwide outbreak

India has recorded its highest daily total of new cases, with 69,672 infections. This is the fourth highest daily total reported globally, only exceeded by the US on three occasions in second half of July.

Thursday’s India case toll takes the total cases in the country to 2.84 million, data from the federal health ministry showed. Total deaths stand at 53,886. India is the worst-hit country in Asia and third only behind the United States and Brazil in terms of numbers of infections.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,707 to 228,621, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.

The reported death toll rose by 10 to 9,253, the tally showed.

Three quarters of New Zealanders intend to get immunised against coronavirus when a vaccine becomes available, new research has found.

The research, undertaken by Massey University, puts New Zealanders ahead of the UK, US and Germany in their willingness to to be vaccinated against the disease, at 74% of the population.

Related: Three quarters of New Zealand public intend to get Covid vaccine, study finds

We are getting a bit more detail on South Korea’s new cases today, which number 288. The Yonhap news agency reports that 166 of them are related to the Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul. That takes that cluster to 623, as of Wednesday afternoon. Of those, health authorities said 588 cases were from the greater Seoul area. Yonhap reports that this cluster has also spread to at least 114 locations, including other religious facilities, hospitals and call centres.

China has reported seven new cases of Covid-19, all of which the national health commission says were imported (3 in Jiangxi, 1 in Tianjin, 1 in Shanghai, 1 in Shandong) Cases, 1 in Sichuan). There were no new deaths and no new suspected cases, it said.

Chinese mainland reports 7 new #COVID19 cases, all from overseas, the fourth consecutive day with no new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases.

more: https://t.co/FxsW8E1Wmp pic.twitter.com/WUWxG7VrBY

In the US, the Sacramento Bee has an interesting story saying that there is a shortage of firefighters this summer because hundreds of prison inmates in Lassen county who are usually deployed to help in the effort are locked down because of Covid-19.

According to the report, “only 30 of the state’s 77 inmate crews are available to fight a wildfire in the north state”, citing prison officials.

California’s incarcerated firefighters have for decades been the state’s primary firefighting “hand crews,” and the shortage has officials scrambling to come up with replacement firefighters in a dry season that is shaping up to be among the most extreme in years. The state is hunting for bulldozer crews and enlisting teams that normally clear brush as replacements.

Related: California wildfires live: thousands forced to evacuate as fires rage across state

South Korean health officials are struggling to contain an outbreak in the capital, Seoul, as new cases levelled off but remained in triple digits on Thursday, Reuters reports.

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 288 new cases as of midnight Wednesday, marking at least a week of triple digit daily increases.

Still in New Zealand, and Ashley Bloomfield has been nominated for New Zealander of the year, as has the PM, Jacinda Ardern. But there’s also been a surprise nomination of a cat called Mittens. You can read our full story below.

Related: Celebrity cat called Mittens in the running to be New Zealander of the year

The NZ health minister, Chris Hipkins says 99% of staff in quarantine hotels have been tested, as have 99% of those in border-facing roles such as customs and immigration.

Hipkins said there had been “no unseen transmission” outside the border, apart from “the mystery Rydges case”.

Ashley Bloomfield said New Zealanders who have no symptoms turning up for testing is “putting huge pressure” on health facilities. He urged people with no symptoms to stay home, and not line up for a test.

The health minister Chris Hipkins said the signs of slowing numbers are encouraging but “this is not the time we can afford to relax”.

New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Bloomfield has been giving his daily update. He said there are five new cases to report, all related to the community outbreak in Auckland.

Four cases are in Auckland, and one is in Tokoroa, 200km south. Six people are in hospital receiving care, with one in intensive care.

Just while I am on the US, we have previously reported that Los Angeles county has the most Covid cases of any county in the US. That figure stands at 224,105 cases.

The county looks like it may also be on track to record the most deaths in the US. Currently, it’s in third place behind Queens (NY, 5977) and Kings (NY, 5,639). LA county has 5,340 deaths. However LA county’s infection total is more than three times that of Queens (68,596) or Kings (63,167).

Florida’s coronavirus death toll hit 10,000 on Wednesday as the state continues to struggle to get the ongoing pandemic under control.

Almost six months since Florida’s first case was identified, the state reported 174 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,067.

Related: Florida's coronavirus death toll hits 10,000

Italy recorded 642 new infections in a day on Wednesday, hitting a new record since May when the country cautiously emerged from one of the longest lockdowns in the world after more than 30,000 Covid-related deaths, writes Lorenzo Tondo.

Seven more people have died with the virus. The overall tally of cases has now risen to 255,178. The death toll now stands at 35,412.

Italy is at a crossroads right now. If we do not apply containment measures and the numbers continue to rise, localised lockdowns will be required.

Related: Italy at a crossroads as fears grow of Covid-19 second wave

Spain’s health ministry said 3,715 coronavirus infections were diagnosed in the 24 hours to Wednesday, a new single-day record since the country emerged from a three-month lockdown in mid-June.

With 136 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the past two weeks, Spain tops the European chart of the highest cumulative incidence. Its one of the main indicators closely monitored by epidemiologists.

France on Wednesday recorded new coronavirus cases at the fastest daily rate since May, official figures showed, as the country prepared for the return from summer holidays.

Almost 3,800 infections were confirmed:

Joyce is asked when he thinks the US may be open again for Qantas to fly to:

The US is like – we’ve always assumed that let’s get the domestic borders open first, get the rules set around them and then potentially have the bubbles, country by country, when we have a similar level of exposure to the virus, so New Zealanders, they are an example and that should potentially open up relatively fast compared to the other countries around the world.

The US, with the level of prevalence there is probably going to take some time.

Joyce says in addition to the international collapse of air travel, the company has been badly hit by internal border closures in Australia’s states. Travel is currently limited from the country’s two most populous states of Victoria and New South Wales, due to local transmission of coronavirus cases. Victoria has been the hardest hit and on Thursday reported 240 new cases and 13 deaths.

Joyce highlighted the uncertainty over Australia’s internal borders:

At the moment, there are no rules around how borders are going to close and going to open. And it’s very clear that, from a health and safety point of view, that has to be the priority.

And nobody has an issue with the international borders being closed - that’s protected Australia.

#COVID19VicData for 20 August 2020. 240 new cases of #coronavirus (#COVID19) were detected in Victoria yesterday. Sadly we report 13 deaths from the virus. More information later today. pic.twitter.com/fiQChvG3Oh

Just before we get in to our main headlines on coronavirus, we have some breaking news from Australia, where Qantas has announced its profits have dropped by 91%. It’s CEO, Alan Joyce, announced the “worst trading results in history”.

We start by saying this is clearly not a standard set of results for the Qantas Group.

It’s been shaped by extraordinary events that have made for the worst trading conditions in our 100-year history.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Alison Rourke. Before we kick off, here’s a summary of the top lines so far.

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