Coronavirus live news: Saudi Arabia closes borders to hajj attendees as global Covid-19 cases pass 9m | World news

As global coronavirus infections topped nine million on Monday, the World Health Organization has again warned that the pandemic is accelerating.

Cases are still rising around the world, especially in Latin America with Brazil now registering more than 50,000 deaths. And there are fears of new clusters in Melbourne and Lisbon as well as renewed outbreaks in Beijing and other parts of Asia.

“The pandemic is still accelerating,” WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual health forum organised by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Monday. Earlier in the week Tedros issued a similar warning to reporters in Geneva.

Tedros said the greatest threat facing the world was not the virus itself, which has now killed over 465,000 people and infected nine million, but “the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.”

“We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world,” he said. “The politicisation of the pandemic has exacerbated it.”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 503 to 190,862, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.

The reported death toll rose by 10 to 8,895, the tally showed.

Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land said on Tuesday it will reopen its parks on 1 July with visitor numbers restricted as a coronavirus countermeasure.

Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea were closed in late February as coronavirus cases rose in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures, with businesses gradually reopening in recent weeks.

Visitors will need to book in advance with temperature checks on entry, enforcement of mask wearing and spaced seating at attractions, Oriental Land said.
The Nikkei earlier reported the reopening.

The White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has said the trade deal with China is “over”, linking the breakdown in part to Washington’s anger over Beijing’s not sounding the alarm earlier about the coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s over,” Navarro told Fox News in an interview when asked about the trade agreement. He claimed the turning point came when the US learned about the coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the phase one deal on 15 January.

“It was at a time when they had already sent hundreds of thousands of people to this country to spread that virus, and it was just minutes after wheels up when that plane took off that we began to hear about this pandemic,” Navarro said.

According to the World Health Organization, China shared the genetic sequence of the coronavirus for countries to use in developing specific diagnostic kits on 12 January.

Nearly 260 million children had no access to schooling in 2018, a United Nations agency said in a report Tuesday that blamed poverty and discrimination for educational inequalities that are being exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, AFP reports.

Children from poorer communities as well as girls, the disabled, immigrants and ethnic minorities were at a distinct educational disadvantage in many countries, the UN’s Paris-based education body UNESCO said.

In 2018, “258 million children and youth were entirely excluded from education, with poverty as the main obstacle to access,” the report found.

This represented 17% of all school-age children, most of them in south and central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The disparities worsened with the arrival of the coronavirus crisis, which saw over 90% of the global student population affected by school closures, the report said.

And while children from families with means could continue schooling from home using laptops, mobile phones and the internet, millions of others were cut off entirely.

“Lessons from the past – such as with Ebola – have shown that health crises can leave many behind, in particular the poorest girls, many of whom may never return to school,” UNESCO’s director general Audrey Azoulay wrote in a foreword.

In Australia, data released by the national statistics agency showed the value of imports in May was down 9% from April and down 18% from May 2019, as the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak continue to be felt, AAP reports.

The import of cars and SUVs has declined significantly during the pandemic and is at the lowest value in nine years, while oil imports are at their lowest value in 15 years.

The value of imports in May was $21.9bn, down 9% from April and down 18% from May 2019.

Petroleum imports in May were at their lowest level since February 2005, the ABS said.

Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:

There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, both returning travelers who were diagnosed in quarantine facilities during routine testing.

Both were men aged in their 20s; one flew to New Zealand from the United States on 18 June, while the other arrived from India on 19 June, health officials said at a news conference in Wellington that is continuing.

That means there are 10 active diagnosed cases of the coronavirus in New Zealand, all of which have emerged over the past week. After a stringent, early lockdown of the country, New Zealand had previously recorded almost a week earlier this month where there were no known active cases in the country.

But Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, and health officials had long warned the country’s battle with Covid-19 was not over as the number of New Zealanders returning from overseas – often from countries where the virus is rampant – started to increase.

All 10 of the current active cases are returning travelers; eight were diagnosed while in government-managed quarantine after arriving in the country, while two high-profile cases – travelers returning from Britain – were not diagnosed until after they were wrongly allowed to leave isolation without a test.

Only New Zealanders, their families, and essential workers are allowed to enter the country. They must spend 14 days in government-managed isolation at a hotel. During that time they are now tested twice for the coronavirus – a policy now set in stone after earlier failures to test some of those leaving quarantine.

There have been 1,165 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, with 22 deaths. All of the confirmed cases except the 10 currently active in quarantine have recovered. The country has no domestic restrictions in place except border controls, and people have gone back to daily life.

China reported 22 new coronavirus cases for June 22, 13 of which were in the capital Beijing, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

This compared with 18 confirmed cases a day earlier, 9 of which were in Beijing. Authorities are restricting movement of people in the capital and stepping up other measures to prevent the virus from spreading following a series of local infections.

Another seven asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, those who are infected but show no symptoms, were reported for June 22, the same as a day earlier. China does not count these patients as confirmed cases.

Here’s what we know about Trumps’ visa temporary suspension on green cards and some other visas:

The Trump administration is temporarily suspending the entry of certain foreign workers to the United States in a move painted as freeing up jobs while the economy reels from the coronavirus pandemic, despite strong opposition from many businesses.

The presidential proclamation, issued on Monday, will extend a ban on green cards issued outside the US until the end of the year and adds many temporary work visas to the freeze, including the H-1B visas, which permit employers to hire foreign workers with specialized knowledge and are used heavily by technology companies and multinational corporations.

The administration cast the effort as a way to preserve US jobs amid the economic downturn. A senior official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity estimated the restrictions will free up to 525,000 jobs for Americans.

In leafier, greener, altogether more oxygenated news, Barcelona’s El Liceu opera house reopened on Monday with a concert to an audience of 2,292 potted plants. The event took place a day after Spain’s three-month state of emergency came to an end:

The idea was the work of Spanish conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia, who said the inspiration came from a connection he built with nature during the pandemic: ‘I watched what was going on with nature during all this time. I heard many more birds singing. And the plants in my garden and outside growing faster. And, without a doubt, I thought that maybe I could now relate in a much more intimate way with people and nature’.

The known number of cases of coronavirus has passed 9 million. According to Johns Hopkins University, which keeps a tally of official statistics, 9,036,002 cases have been reported.

The United States is the world’s worst affected country by case numbers, with more than 2.3 million cases alone.

Overall and deaths are likely to be higher due to time lags, differing testing rates and definitions, and suspected underreporting in some countries.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will bar arrivals from abroad to attend the hajj this year due to the coronavirus, allowing only a limited number of Saudi citizens and residents to make the pilgrimage with social distancing measures enforced.

“This decision is taken to ensure Hajj is performed in a safe manner from a public health perspective while observing all preventative measures and the necessary social distancing protocols to protect human beings from the risks associated with this pandemic and in accordance with the teachings of Islam in preserving the lives of human beings,” the ministry that oversees pilgrimages said in a statement.

The number of coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia has exceeded 160,000, with 1,307 deaths, following a rise in new infections over the past two weeks.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims typically visit the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long hajj. Official data show Saudi Arabia earns around $12bn a year from the hajj and the lesser, year-round pilgrimage known as umrah.

The kingdom halted international passenger flights in March and asked Muslims in March to put hajj plans on hold until further notice. International arrivals for umrah pilgrimages have also been suspended until further notice.

Earlier this month, Malaysia and Indonesia both barred their citizens from travelling to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage, citing fears of the coronavirus.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest news from around the world for the next few hours.

I’d love to hear from you – get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan and via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

As global coronavirus cases passed the 9 million mark, Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will bar arrivals from abroad to attend the hajj this year due to the coronavirus, allowing only a limited number of Saudi citizens and residents to make the pilgrimage with social distancing measures enforced.

The announcement means this will be the first year in modern times that Muslims from around the world have not been allowed to make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which all Muslims aim to perform at least once in a lifetime.

• The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has passed 9 million. According to Johns Hopkins University, which keeps a tally of official statistics, 9,036,002 cases have been reported. The United States is the world’s worst affected country by case numbers, with more than 2.3 million cases alone.
• The US Covid-19 death toll passed 120,000. Tthe coronavirus death toll in the US has reached 120,340, according to the latest figures from John Hopkins University. This latest grim milestone comes as health officials are raising alarms about “surging” cases in the southern and western US. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Florida have passed 100,000, while Covid-19 admissions at a chain of eight hospitals in Houston have tripled over the past month to 1400. An alarming 20% of Covid-19 tests in Arizona are coming back positive. The number of newly confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US has reached 26,000, up from 21,000 per day two weeks ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
• Two further Trump staffers tested positive for coronavirus. Two more staff members of US president Donald Trump’s campaign who were in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for his rally on Saturday have tested positive for the coronavirus, after the campaign announced on Saturday hours before the rally that six members of the campaign’s advance staff had tested positive.
• The US suspended certain work visas and green cards until end of year. The government of the United States will suspend certain categories of non-immigrant work visas through the end of the year and extend an existing ban on certain green cards, as part of a move to protect US workers amid the economic devastation tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
• South Africa now has over 100,000 infections, the highest on the continent, while the number of deaths inched towards 2,000. Despite the grim death toll, data shows that the mortality rate in South Africa is at 2%, while 52.6% of virus patients have recovered. The worst-hit area is Western Cape, the coastal province accounting for 1,458 of the country’s deaths and more than half of its infections.
• Black Americans four times as likely as whites to be hospitalised with Covid-19. US government data released on Monday showed Black Americans were around four times as likely as whites to be hospitalised for Covid-19, highlighting significant racial disparities in health outcomes during the pandemic.
• Museums, galleries and cinemas will reopen in England from 4 July. Museums, galleries and cinemas in England will be allowed to reopen from 4 July, alongside pubs, restaurants and hairdressers, the British prime minister Boris Johnson will announce on Tuesday in a decisive but potentially risky easing of lockdown measures in England.
  
• Some coronavirus restrictions will be reimposed in Lisbon, Portugal to help control outbreaks. Costa said measures to be introduced from Tuesday included a restriction on gatherings of more than 10 people and orders for cafes and shops to close at 8pm in the capital.
• India reported a record number of new coronavirus cases and a death toll of more than 400 people in the past 24 hours, Reuters reports. The 15,000 new cases brought India’s total to more than 425,000, behind only the United States, Brazil and Russia, according to data from the federal health ministry.