Coronavirus live news: Manila eases lockdown as Japan considers allowing visitors from selected countries | World news

Traffic jams and crowds of commuters returned to the Philippine capital on Monday, as the metropolis relaxed antivirus measures in a high-stakes gamble to slowly reopen the economy while fighting the coronavirus outbreak, AP reports.

Commuter trains, taxis, ride-sharing cars, special shuttle buses and motorcycles rumbled back on the road in metropolitan Manila but were only allowed to carry a fraction of their capacity as a safeguard.

Public transport was still limited by the relaxed rules and many commuters waited for hours to get a ride despite the government’s deployment of buses.

Classes remain suspended for the next two weeks. Barber shops and beauty salons can open next week at a third of their capacity.

The Philippines remains a Southeast Asian hot spot for Covid-19, with more than 18,000 infections and 957 deaths.

In the UK, the Queen has been pictured riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle – her first public appearance since the coronavirus lockdown began.

Windsor is said to be the Queen’s favourite royal residence and she has been photographed over the weekend riding one of her ponies, a 14-year-old Fell Pony called Balmoral Fern.

The 94-year-old regularly rides in the grounds of Windsor and has been a passionate horse lover and breeder of thoroughbred racehorses throughout her reign.

Wearing a colourful headscarf and smartly dressed in a tweed jacket, jodhpurs, white gloves and boots, the head of state enjoyed the sunny weather that has been a contrast to the sombre mood of the lockdown.

The last public picture of the Queen was taken as she was driven away from Buckingham Palace to her Windsor Castle home on 19 March.

One of the Queen’s dorgis – she has two named Candy and Vulcan – could be seen next to her as they both looked out of the car window.

The Queen carried out official duties the day before her planned departure, but held her weekly audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the phone rather than face to face as usual.

The Queen has made two televised addresses to the nation during the lockdown, the first a speech to reassure the country that coronavirus would be overcome and those in isolation “will meet again”, and another on a similar theme to mark VE Day.

She has been joined by the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle and it is likely a small group of household staff have been isolating with her.

Asia’s factory pain deepened in May as the slump in global trade caused by the coronavirus pandemic worsened, with export powerhouses Japan and South Korea suffering the sharpest declines in business activity in more than a decade, Reuters reports.

A series of manufacturing surveys released on Monday suggest any rebound in businesses will be some time off, even though China’s factory activity unexpectedly returned to growth in May.

China’s Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit 50.7 last month, marking the highest reading since January as easing of lockdowns allowed companies to get back to work and clear outstanding orders.

But with many of China’s trading partners still restricted, its new export orders remained in contraction, the private business survey showed on Monday. China’s official PMI survey on Sunday showed the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy intact but fragile.

Japan’s factory activity shrank at the fastest pace since 2009 in May, a separate private sector survey showed while South Korea also saw manufacturing slump at the sharpest pace in more than a decade.

Taiwan’s manufacturing activity also fell in May. Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines saw PMIs rebound from April, though the indices all remained below the 50-mark threshold that separates contraction from expansion.

Official data on Monday showed South Korea extending its exports plunge for a third straight month.

Asia’s economic woes are likely to be echoed in other parts of the world including Europe, where economies continue to suffer huge damage in factory and service sectors.

Hong Kong has confirmed its first locally transmitted coronavirus cases in more than two weeks, fuelling concerns over its spread as restrictions on movement are relaxed, Reuters reports.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Sunday it was investigating two confirmed cases of coronavirus, taking the number of cases so far to 1,085. Four people have died of the disease in Hong Kong.

The global financial hub last reported a locally transmitted case on 14 May, when a 62-year-old man with no travel history was confirmed with coronavirus.

The two new cases involved a 34-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man. Neither had a travel history during the incubation or infectious period, CHP said. Contact tracing was under way, it added.

The woman is a night-shift worker at a Kerry Logistics warehouse in Kwai Chung district where she labels food items imported from the United Kingdom, broadcaster RTHK reported.

Two co-workers, who fell ill about a month ago, tested positive for Covid-19 and authorities are investigating if the warehouse where one of the patients works represents a new cluster of infections, RTHK reported, citing CHP.

About 25 staff in the warehouse and three medical staff who dealt with one of the patients are being quarantined for 14 days, RTHK reported.

Australia’s three decades of uninterrupted prosperity are coming to an abrupt end as the global coronavirus pandemic crashes one of its most lucrative sources of income: immigration, Reuters reports.

The country has been successful in managing the outbreak and reopening its AU$2tn (US$1.33tn) economy, thanks in part to an early closure of its borders.

But the policy has led to a halt in mass immigration – a key source of consumer demand, labour and growth – in an economy which is facing its first recession since the early 1990s.

Net immigration, including international students and those on skilled worker visas, is expected to fall 85% in the fiscal year to June 2021, curbing demand for everything from cars and property to education and wedding rings.

The drought in international student arrivals, who in recent years made up about 40% of the migrant intake, is expected to hit the AU$37bn education sector, Australia’s second largest services export after tourism.

A fall in new arrivals could also dampen the construction boom in Australia’s all important housing sector, which has been fuelled by migrants in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 333 to 181,815, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

The reported death toll rose by 11 to 8,511, the tally showed.

Japan is considering re-opening its borders to travellers from selected countries which have low levels of coronavirus infections, as it begins to ease restrictions put in place earlier this year to control the outbreak, Reuters reports.

As schools, cinemas, sports clubs and department stores reopened in the nation’s capital Tokyo on Monday, media have reported that the government is also planning to allow travellers from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand into the country in the coming months. There was no immediate comment from the foreign ministry.

16,751 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Japan as of early Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, with 898 deaths. Since February, Japan has banned entry by foreigners to limit the spread of the virus from overseas visitors.

The government is considering allowing business travellers from the four countries to enter if they test negative for Covid-19 in two separate tests conducted upon departure from their home country and arrival in Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed sources.

Once permitted into the country, visitors’ movements would be restricted to areas including place of stay, company offices and factories, the newspaper said, adding that use of public transportation would be banned.

North Korea will reopen schools this month after shuttering them over the coronavirus pandemic, reports said Monday.

Pyongyang has not confirmed a single infection but has imposed strict rules, including closing its borders and putting thousands of its people into isolation.

The new school term – initially scheduled to start early April – has been repeatedly postponed, although some universities and high schools were allowed to resume classes in mid-April, AFP reports.

“Education authorities have been asked to furnish thermometers and hand sanitisers at every gate of schools and classrooms and offices, while workers at schools and nurseries have been advised to stick to anti-virus principles,” Yonhap news agency reported.

Analysts say the North is unlikely to have avoided infections from the virus, which first emerged in neighbouring China and went on to sweep the world, and that its ramshackle health system could struggle to cope with a major outbreak.

The number of coronavirus infections worldwide has risen to more than 6.1 million, with around 370,000 dead across 196 countries and territories.

In Moscow, Russia, the regulated walks and exercise unleashed a flood of mockery on social media, with political commentator Alexander Golts calling them “sheer lunacy”.

Critics quipped that life in Moscow was beginning to imitate dystopian fiction such as the novels of Aldous Huxley and Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Comedian Maxim Galkin, who has nearly eight million followers on Instagram, released a sketch in which Putin and Sobyanin discuss a “breathing schedule” for Moscow residents (in Russian):

The five-minute parody has been viewed nearly six million times over the past few days.

When the restrictions are relaxed, dry-cleaners, laundry services and repair workshops will be allowed to reopen, while restaurants, cafes and cinemas will remain closed for now.

Moscow authorities also said that no mass gatherings would be allowed during the city-wide quarantine that will remain in place until at least 14 June.

Shopping malls and parks are set to reopen in Moscow on today (Monday) as the Russian capital eases coronavirus restrictions despite having the world’s third-largest caseload, with 405,843 infections.

The relaxation of the confinement orders in Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak with a population of more than 12 million, comes after President Vladimir Putin announced the epidemic had passed its peak in the country, AFP reports.

Under lockdown since 30 March, residents of Europe’s most populous city were until now only allowed to leave their homes for brief trips to shop, walk dogs or travel to essential jobs with a permit.

While Muscovites welcomed the opportunity to return to parks and malls after weeks of being cooped up at home, many ridiculed the Moscow mayor’s “experiment” aimed at regulating people’s walks and exercise.

As a two-week test measure, Sergei Sobyanin said residents of Moscow will be allowed to take walks according to a staggered schedule based on their home address.

Sobyanin said on his blog he feared that without limits on walking, people would throng the streets in scenes reminiscent of May Day outpourings in Soviet times.

Podcast: The coronavirus crisis in Britain’s prisons

As Britain faced an unprecedented lockdown, the situation for the 80,000 people in prison was even more stringent. David Adams was recently released from jail and describes how prisoners were confined to their tiny cells for more than 23 hours a day:

Hi, Helen Sullivan taking the reins now. I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours.

A reminder that you can (and should!) get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com.

In case you missed it, global deaths from Covid-19 currently stand nearly 372,000. The US passed the grim landmark of 100,000 last week, but the UK, which has 276,000 infections, is approaching 40,000. As of Sunday 38,571 had died from Covid-19.

Senior public health officials have made a last-minute plea for ministers to scrap Monday’s easing of the coronavirus lockdown in England, warning the country is unprepared to deal with any surge in infection and that public resolve to take steps to limit transmission has been eroded.

The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) said new rules, including allowing groups of up to six people to meet outdoors and in private gardens, were “not supported by the science” and that pictures of crowded beaches and beauty spots over the weekend showed “the public is not keeping to social distancing as it was”.

On Saturday and Sunday, parks and seafronts were packed as people anticipated the lifting of restrictions on what has been dubbed “happy Monday”. Car showrooms and outdoor markets will also be reopened, millions of children will return to primary schools and the most vulnerable “shielded” people will be allowed out for the first time since lockdown began in March, all as long as physical distancing is maintained.

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I’m sure many of you have been following the unrest in America with widespread protests across the country. You can follow our live coverage here, but the pictures of large crowds gathering will certainly alarm those tasked with fighting the virus, with growing concerns the proximity of so many people on the streets may lead to a surge in cases.