Coronavirus live news: US deaths near 150,000 as Italy extends state of emergency

Back to the subject of vaccines, Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has said that other developed countries would not be able to pay less for its vaccine than the United States, Reuters reports.

The US government agreed to pay nearly $2bn to buy enough of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech SE to inoculate 50 million people at a price of $39 for a two-dose treatment course.

But Pfizer boss Albert Bourla said on a conference call on Tuesday night: “All the countries that are developed right now will not receive a lower price for the same volume commitment than the US.”

Pfizer executives added said they expect people will need to receive continued vaccinations for a number of years to maintain herd immunity globally, either because immunity may diminish over time or the virus will mutate.

Pilgrims were quarantined Tuesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca ahead of the dramatically downsized hajj as Saudi authorities strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage, AFP reports.

Up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will participate in the annual ritual starting Wednesday, according to hajj officials, a tiny fraction of the 2.5 million international pilgrims that attended last year.

Those selected to take part in this year’s hajj were subject to temperature checks and placed in quarantine as they began trickling into Mecca at the weekend.

State media showed health workers sanitising their luggage, and some pilgrims reported being given electronic wristbands to allow authorities to monitor their whereabouts.

Workers, clutching brooms and disinfectant, were seen cleaning the area around the Kaaba, the structure at the centre of the Grand Mosque draped in gold-embroidered cloth towards which Muslims around the world pray.

Hajj authorities have cordoned the Kaaba this year, saying pilgrims will not be allowed to touch it, to limit the chances of infection.

They also reported setting up multiple health facilities, mobile clinics and ambulances to cater to the pilgrims, who will be required to wear masks and observe social distancing.

Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:

New Zealand’s national airline, Air New Zealand, has frozen all new ticket bookings to Australia until 28 August.

In a statement, the airline said the hold was due to Australian government restrictions on the number of passengers arriving in the country. The limits were introduced to alleviate pressure on quarantine facilities, and mean airports like Brisbane can only accept 70 passengers per day, while services bringing Australians back to Sydney are limited to as few as 30 travellers per flight.

International passenger arrivals into Melbourne are not permitted until 8 August.
Cam Wallace, a spokesman for the airline, said that while the Australian government restrictions are in place until 8 August, the airline is placing a longer freeze on future bookings to “help prevent disruptions” to travelers’ journeys should the restrictions be extended.

Air New Zealand’s current trans-Tasman flights are from Auckland to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, with flights to Melbourne only carrying cargo.

Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, is not taking new trans-Tasman bookings until the end of October.

Moderna Inc is planning to price its coronavirus vaccine at US$50 to $60 per course higher than other vaccine makers have agreed to charge governments, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The price would apply to the United States and other high-income countries, according to the report.

Moderna was not immediately available for comment.

You can see how close we are to a coronavirus vaccine with the Guardian’s tracker below:

Florida reported another record one-day rise in coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, and cases in Texas passed the 400,000 mark, fueling fear that the United States is still not taking control of the outbreak and adding pressure on Congress to pass another massive economic aid package.

Public health experts are becoming concerned about the levels of infection in states such as Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky, while the surge in Florida along with Texas, Arizona and California this month has strained many hospitals.

The increase in cases has forced a U-turn on steps to reopen economies after the end of lockdowns put in place in March and April to slow the spread of the virus.

Florida has had 191 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day rise since the start of the epidemic, the state health department said:

US officials say Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November.

Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort reaching American and western audiences, US government officials said on Tuesday. They spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence:

Hello and welcome to today’s coronavirus liveblog. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest news from around the world for the next few hours.

Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

More than 149,000 people have died of coronavirus in the US, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 4.3m cases of the virus have been recorded in the country, by far the highest number worldwide.

At a White House Press briefing late on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump blamed surging infections on the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd Protests, despite epidemiologists not conclusively linking the protests following the police killing of George Floyd to the huge spike in cases, my colleague Maanvi Singh reports.

The surge in cases across the US came as cities reopened businesses and indoor venues, where the coronavirus transmits more effectively. Last week, Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force co-ordinator recently linked the surge in cases to the Memorial Day weekend, which saw businesses opening up and people travelling again.

Meanwhile Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has extended the country’s state of emergency until October, meaning he will continue to have the power to impose a lockdown and other safety measures without needing the approval of parliament.

Conte told the Senate that the extension was “inevitable” despite the infection rate falling significantly.

• The WHO says Covid-19 pandemic is “one big wave”, not seasonal. It warned against complacency in the northern hemisphere summer since the infection does not share influenza’s tendency to follow seasons.
• Air travel is not expected to recover until 2024. Global air travel is recovering more slowly than expected and it will take until 2024 to return to pre-pandemic levels, the trade association for the airline industry has said.
• Italy extended its state of emergency until October. This means the prime minister will continue to have the power to impose a lockdown and other safety measures without needing the approval of parliament.
• Over half people living in Mumbai slums have had Covid-19, according to a city-commissioned study. Blood tests on 6,936 randomly selected people found that 57% of slum-dwellers had virus antibodies.
• Covid-19 infection rate higher among California Latinos. Latinos make up 39% of the population in the US state, but account for 56% of Covid-19 infections and 46% of deaths, prompting new outreach and data collection efforts as cases surge.
• Spain insisted it was still a safe destination for tourists despite tackling 361 active outbreaks and more than 4,000 new cases. Several countries have nonetheless imposed quarantines on people returning from Spain, including its biggest tourist market, Britain.
• An urgent track and trace operation is under way in Berlin after a couple tested positive for coronavirus after returning from Manchester. Fifty people who have had contact with the couple since their return are in quarantine, of whom 13 have so far tested positive.