Coronavirus live news: Brazil cases surge past 600,000 as country’s death toll passes Italy

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged the country to remain calm Thursday as Mexico registered the second straight day of escalating coronavirus death numbers that rivaled those coming out of Brazil or the United States, AP reports.

The Health Department announced 816 more confirmed Covid-19 deaths, one day after officials reported a toll of 1,092 deaths, which was more than double the highest previous toll reported in a single day. Officials said an additional 1,033 suspected Covid-19 deaths were awaiting confirmation, suggesting daily tolls would remain high. Newly confirmed coronavirus cases also continued to rise by record amounts, with 4,442 reported Thursday.

Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell sought to allay fears over the new numbers, saying that daily deaths had peaked 17 May. He said many of the Covid-19 deaths reported this week actually occurred in May but were not tallied until now because of backlogs in reporting or testing.

But with total deaths standing at 12,545, he acknowledged the pandemic could wind up costing as many as 35,000 lives in Mexico, local media reported.

Experts said the reason for this week’s sudden jump in deaths was attributable to a number of factors, including confirmation and inclusion of deaths stretching back as far as 25 days. But the country is also passing through the pandemics most critical moment with a dramatically increasing number of confirmed and suspected infections.

South Africa has dehorned dozens of rhinos in three popular game parks, aiming to prevent armed poachers taking advantage of empty parks to kill them for their horns.

The exercise in Pilanesburg National Park and the Mafikeng and Botsalano game reserves – all northwest of Johannesburg – leaves the rhinos with horn rumps too small for poachers to bother with, Nico Jacobs, helicopter pilot and founding member of non-profit Rhino 911 told Reuters.

As Jacobs flew a helicopter over Pilanesburg last month with Reuters journalists, they spotted a lioness eating the carcass of a rhino that had been poached days earlier. Experts fear the absence of tourists may already have spurred a poaching spike.

On Monday, scientists published a study showing that humans are causing mass extinction on a scale unseen since a meteor wiped out the land dinosaurs 65 million years ago, the sixth large-scale extinction in Earth’s history.

Decades of hunting and habitat loss have reduced Rhino numbers to about 27,000 today, according to the International Rhino Foundation. A poaching surge has wiped out thousands in the past three years.

Rhino horn sells for $60,000 a kilogram, more than cocaine or gold. In East Asia, it is used in medicinal potions, despite containing the same key component as human fingernails.

Dehorning is controversial, especially as it makes male rhinos vulnerable in fights. But they are not essential for survival, and, like fingernails, they grow back.

Brazil’s total COVID-19 death toll blew past that of Italy on Thursday, as the Health Ministry reported 1,437 deaths in the last 24 hours and 30,925 additional coronavirus cases.

The Latin American nation has now reported 34,021 deaths from the coronavirus, trailing only the United States and the United Kingdom.

Patients with high blood pressure admitted to hospital with coronavirus infections are twice as likely to die as those without the condition, researchers said on Friday.

For in-patients with the virus who had stopped taking medication for high blood pressure, the risk of dying doubled again, they reported in the European Heart Journal.

“It is important that patients with high blood pressure realise that they are at increased risk of dying from Covid-19,” said senior author Fei Li, a cardiologist at Xijing Hospital in Xian, China.

For the study, researchers in China and Ireland retroactively examined cases admitted to Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan between 5 February and 15 March.

Nearly 30% – 850 patients – had a history of hypertension, another term for high blood pressure. 4% of those patients died, compared with just over one percent of the 2,027 patients without hypertension.

After adjusting for age, sex and other medical conditions, the researchers calculated that having high blood pressure increased the risk of dying two-fold.

Mexico’s health ministry reported a record 4,442 additional cases of the novel coronavirus in the country on Thursday, and 816 more deaths, bringing the total to 105,680 cases and 12,545 deaths.

Argentina extended on Thursday a mandatory lockdown in Buenos Aires, the capital, and some other parts of the country until 28 June, as confirmed coronavirus cases continue to rise, surpassing 20,000 earlier in the day.

The three-week extension of the lockdown, which had been due to expire June 7, will impact the capital city, the province of Buenos Aires and some other areas that account for the highest concentration of confirmed infections, President Alberto Fernandez said during a press conference. The rest of the country will move to a phase of “mandatory and preventive social distancing.”

The next phase will include new permissions, including outdoor exercise during certain hours in the city of Buenos Aires, which has the highest concentration of cases, officials said.

Argentina recorded 929 new infections on Thursday, one of the highest daily counts since the pandemic began. The country has 20,197 cases, mostly in the city Buenos Aires and the province of Buenos Aires. The death toll is at 608.

“Our results are still good, but we have not yet overcome the problem,” Fernandez said.

Argentina has been under mandatory lockdown since March 20, though officials already relaxed restrictions in some areas of the country. Argentina has a commercial flight ban until 1 September, one of the world’s strictest travel measures during the pandemic.

China reported five new Covid-19 cases and three new asymptomatic infections for June 4, the health commission said on Friday.

The National Health Commission said all five of the new cases were imported, involving travellers from overseas. For 3 June, China had reported one confirmed case and four asymptomatic cases.

China does not count asymptomatic cases, people who test positive for the coronavirus but do not exhibit Covid-19 symptoms, as confirmed infections.

The total number of infections in China stands at 83,027. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

Charlotte Graham McLay reports from Wellington:

As health officials announce each new day of no new Covid-19 cases, social media explodes with New Zealanders celebrating the news.

“That feeling like you got away with something that seemed impossible and you can’t quite believe it even though you want to believe it,” wrote one, on Twitter. “But for an entire country.”

Twenty-two New Zealanders have died of Covid-19, ; thousands have lost their jobs and the nation’s largest export sector, tourism, lies in tatters. But as New Zealanders look to the hundreds of thousands of deaths recorded in other countries, there is a sense that the rest of the world faced a different pandemic, the disastrous scale of which never fully arrived here.

Now, providing there are no new and unexpected cases to marr the country’s 13-day streak of zero fresh instances of Covid-19, scientists say they expect to be able to declare next week that the virus has been eliminated from New Zealand – making it the first country among the OECD group of wealthy nations, and the first country that has recorded more than 100 cases to make such a statement, analysts said.

The antiviral drug remdesivir has been recommended for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in Australia, by the national taskforce bringing together the country’s peak health groups.

The National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce said Australian doctors treating adults with moderate, severe or critical Covid-19 should consider using the drug to aid recovery times. The antiviral drug is the first medication to be recommended as a considered treatment for patients treated in hospital after contracting coronavirus.

Originally developed for the treatment of Ebola, clinical trials have shown remdesivir may improve recovery time for people with moderate to critical Covid-19 symptoms. The taskforce’s executive director, Associate Professor Julian Elliott, said while it was early days it was a significant step forward.

“This is the first information we have that a drug has a beneficial effect as a treatment for Covid-19,” he said.

“The preliminary data published so far from two clinical trials indicate that it can reduce the time for someone to recover from Covid-19.

“However, we do not yet have definitive information that remdesivir will reduce the risk of dying from the disease.”

The thousands of people protesting the death of George Floyd have a “civic duty” to be tested for the coronavirus and help New York avoid a spike in new cases as it slowly restarts its economy, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

There’s widespread concern that people packing in tightly for demonstrations, sometimes without faces coverings, could lead to more Covid-19 cases. Cuomo was particularly concerned about daily mass demonstrations in New York City, which is poised to relax some restrictions amid an intense, monthslong effort to tame the outbreak.

“If you were at a protest, go get a test, please,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing. “The protesters have a civic duty here also. Be responsible, get a test.”

An estimated 20,000 people have demonstrated in New York City alone, the governor said, as he expanded the state’s testing criteria to include people who attended recent protests across the state. Around 30,000 have protested across the state.

“New York City had the highest number of protesters,” Cuomo said. “We have to be smart.”

South Africa has recorded 3,267 coronavirus cases in 24 hours, the biggest increase since the pandemic hit the country.

The country now has a total of 40,792 infections, the health ministry said. It saw a rise of 56 deaths, bring the total to 848.

More than half of the cases are in the Western Cape region where health services are under pressure.

South Africa is the sub-Saharan African country hardest hit by the pandemic. President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 27 ordered South Africans to observe a lockdown aimed at slowing the disease’s spread.

The move sharply limited people’s freedom of movement while slowing an economy already in recession. But Ramaphosa has gradually eased the lockdown measures and allowed most of the economy to restart.

Hello and welcome to today’s live global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, I welcome your questions, comments and tips on Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com.

South Africa, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases on the continent, has recorded a record increase in confirmed infections, with more than 3,000 in 24 hours. More than half of all cases are in the Western Cape province. The country imposed a strict, nationwide lockdown that included the banning of alcohol and cigarette sales, but has since eased restrictions.

Meanwhile in New York, where an estimated 30,000 people joined demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, governor Andrew Cuomo has urged protestors to get tested for coronavirus. “I’m not a nervous Nellie, I’m just looking at the numbers,” he said. “Many wear masks. But there is no social distancing. Police are in their face … If you were at a protest, get a test, please.”

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

• South Africa sees record rise in coronavirus cases. South Africa has recorded 3,267 coronavirus cases in 24 hours, the biggest increase since the pandemic hit the country. Africa’s biggest industrial power now has a total of 40,792 infections, the health ministry said. It saw a rise of 56 deaths, bring the total to 848. More than half of the cases are in the Western Cape region where health services are under pressure.
• New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, urged protestors to get tested for coronavirus, saying several days and nights of demonstrations in the state after the killing of George Floyd could accelerate the spread. He noted that an estimated 30,000 people have protested in the state.
• Turkey announces weekend lockdown in 15 cities. Turkey will impose a weekend lockdown in 15 cities as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the interior ministry said.In a statement, the ministry said bakeries and certain shops could operate during the lockdown.Turkey has had 167,410 Covid-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
• The UK unveiled a $2bn (£1.5bn) fund aimed at ensuring poorer countries can access doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine. The announcement was made at the third Gavi vaccine alliance replenishment summit, a virtual pledging event that raised $8.8bn.
  
• The UK’s transport secretary, has announced that face coverings will be mandatory on public transport in England from 15 June. Grant Shapps added that people can be refused permission to travel if they do not comply and could be fined.
• Low Covid-19 figures for Africa are “broadly accurate”, the World Health Organization’s director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, has said. There were concerns that low levels of testing, poor infrastructure and a lack of cooperation from some governments may be disguising the true extent of the disease’s spread.
• US pandemic jobless claims passed 42 million after another 1.9 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. The pace of layoffs has slowed dramatically from its peak of 6.6m at the start of April as states begin to relax quarantines. Last week was the ninth consecutive week of declines.