Global report: Donald Trump calls 200,000 US coronavirus deaths ‘a shame’

US president says it could have been 2.5 million deaths; Japan considers easing border controls; WHO announces record weekly cases

President Donald Trump has said the 200,000 US deaths from coronavirus were “a shame” in response to a reporter’s question about the milestone in the country’s fight against the pandemic.

As Trump was departing for an election campaign event in Pittsburgh he told the media: “I think if we didn’t do it properly and do it right, you’d have 2.5 million deaths.”

In Scotland, hundreds of students have been told to isolate after a suspected Covid-19 outbreak in a hall of residence. NHS Tayside is investigating a single positive Covid case and a small number of suspected cases linked to private student accommodation Parker House in Dundee.

The weekly number of new recorded infections worldwide was last week at its highest level ever, the WHO announced. With a new seven-day high of just short of 2 million new cases recorded, the latest tally represents a 6% increase on the previous week as well as “the highest number of reported cases in a single week since the beginning of the epidemic”, the UN health agency said.

In the UK, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, introduced new restrictions for England that could last six months following a surge in cases in recent weeks. The raft of new measures include telling the public to continue working from home, a 10pm curfew for hospitality venues, and limiting weddings to 15 people.

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