In the UK, people who have recovered from Covid-19 are being urged to donate their blood plasma as part of an urgent appeal to help the NHS treat those who fall ill during a potential second wave.
The call follows news that the number of appointments booked each week as part of the ongoing NHS Blood and Transplant convalescent plasma collection has dropped by almost half in the past month. There are fewer eligible donors due to the fall in new infections during lockdown:
China reports 43 new cases including 28 in Xinjiang
The number of new Covid-19 cases in China’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang are continuing to fall, with 28 reported on Monday, AP reports. China reported 43 new cases nationwide, seven of the imported and eight in the northeastern province of Liaoning.
No new deaths were reported, leaving China’s total at 4,634 among 8,428 cases. All the new cases in Xinjiang were in the regional capital and largest city of Urumqi, which has been at the center of China’s latest major outbreak since cases were first detected there in mid-July.
The region has reported a total of 590 cases, all but four of them in Urumqi, where authorities have conducted mass testing, cut down on public transport, isolated some communities and restricted travel outside the city.
Yet, while mainland China’s latest outbreak appears to have peaked, authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong are struggling to contain a new wave of infections, with more than 200 new cases added over the weekend.
Here is the latest on the Stage Four restrictions in Melbourne.
Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the restrictions have been brought in to get community transmission – cases where the source of the transmission cannot be determined – under control. Andrews said government modelling showed that without these measures, stage three restrictions would need to last six months.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to announce further restrictions to businesses this afternoon:
Two cruise ships hit by coronavirus weeks after industry restarts
Covid-19 has been detected on at least two cruise ships – one in the Arctic and one in the Pacific – just weeks after cruising holidays restarted.
At least 40 passengers and crew from the MS Roald Amundsen have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and authorities are trying to contact trace hundreds of passengers from two recent Arctic voyages the ship took.
Four crew members on the MS Roald Amundsen were hospitalised on Friday when the ship arrived at the Norwegian port of Tromsø, and later diagnosed with the respiratory illness. Tests showed another 32 of the 158 staff were also infected:
Vietnam’s coastal city of Danang plans to test its entire population of 1.1 million people for coronavirus infection, the governing authorities said on Saturday, as 40 new cases linked to the tourist hot spot were reported across the country, taking total infections to 586, with three deaths, Reuters reports.
Most of the new cases are linked to hospitals in Danang city, where the first locally transmitted infection in more than three months was detected last week.
The Health Ministry said on Saturday that up to 800,000 visitors to Danang have left for other parts of the country since 1 July, adding that more than 41,000 people have visited three hospitals in the city since.
Local medical officials in Danang have conducted 8,247 coronavirus tests in the city since 25 July, when the latest cluster was first detected. Testing capacity will be increased to 8,000-10,000 per day, the governing authorities said.
Vietnam has detected new coronavirus cases in other cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with links to Danang.
Meanwhile, authorities of the capital city, Hanoi said late on Saturday it had carried out around 49,000 tests since Thursday after the city ordered mass testing for all people who recently returned from the popular coastal city.
New Zealand PM says trans-Tasman bubble ‘some time away now’
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
The governments of New Zealand and Australia have been talking for months now about the eventual possibility of a trans-Tasman travel “bubble”, in which travelers would be able to move between the countries without spending the requisite time required in quarantine at each end.
But the events in the Australian state of Victoria are a significant impediment to those plans happening any time soon, Jacinda Ardern told Radio New Zealand on Monday.
“This is a major setback for trans-Tasman travel because we have always said we have to be very, very assured that any quarantine free travel we have with any country needs to ensure that it doesn’t come at a risk or a cost to us,” she said. “And so obviously this is going to be some time away now.”
When asked by RNZ whether she had ruled out such a travel bubble this year, Ardern said she hadn’t “put a timeframe on it.”
There is no known community transmission of Covid-19 in New Zealand; all diagnosed cases are contained in quarantine hotels among returning travellers. In contrast, Victoria has moved to its strictest period of lockdown so far.
Updated
US cases in July were double any other month
The US reported 1.87 million cases in July alone, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
This figure is more than twice the figure for April, which was the last highest at 860,000 new cases. May saw 690,200 new infections, while June saw 820,000 cases reported:
US infections are approaching 5 million, with 4,657,693 currently confirmed, which amounts to a quarter of the global total of nearly 18 million.
Deaths in the country stand at 154,834, or a fifth of the global total of 687,067.
The British love affair with home crafting shows no sign of abating, according to Hobbycraft, which has reported a 200% boom in online sales since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Hobbycraft, whose bestsellers include a giant set of 1,000 craft pieces for £6 and soap-making kits for £15, said there had been “exceptional levels of customer demand” during lockdown as customers confined to their homes looked to find their inner craftsperson.
It is moving its popular craft demonstrations and workshops online as part of its adjustment to the post-coronavirus world.
The company, which has 99 stores on high streets and retail parks including five that opened last year, said total revenue increased by 8.9% to £193.6m for the year ending 16 February – before the Covid-19 crisis. Online sales grew by 19% over the same period:
Greater Manchester declares major incident after rise in Covid-19 cases
A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester in response to increases in coronavirus infection rates across “multiple localities”.
The decision to up the readiness of emergency and public services to react to the escalating Covid-19 transmission rate in the region comes after the government announced new lockdown restrictions for parts of north-west England on Thursday.
Gold command meetings of senior figures from the police, local authorities and other agencies to discuss the pandemic have been taking place over the weekend.
Major incidents are often declared as a result of a terror attack or natural disaster and mean a region can access extra national resources if necessary, with the police able to draft in the army if they need support:
