UK Coronavirus Update Live – The Latest News As Greece Was Added To The Welsh And Scotland Quarantine And Glasgow Undergoes New Lockdown Measures The Independent

Hundreds of Libraries Could Close Amid Coronavirus Crisis, Activists Warn

Hundreds of libraries across the UK could be closed amid the economic devastation brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, activists warned.

The Library Campaign charity said the decade of austerity, in which 773 centers were closed, could “pale” in comparison to what follows the Covid-19 crisis.

“The councils are going to cut everything they can get because the situation is very serious,” said Laura Swaffield, president of the group. The independent.

Our reporter, Colin drury, has the full story below:

Germany won’t need a second national lockdown, says health minister

Germany will not need another national lockdown during the winter to keep the coronavirus under control despite the increase in infections, the country’s health minister said.

The number of new cases in Germany has accelerated in recent weeks, raising fears of a second wave after infections and deaths initially remained relatively low.

Jens Spahn said that experts and politicians were learning more about the virus every day and that a blanket lockdown, like the one seen in March, would not be necessary again.

“We certainly won’t need to do this across the country,” Spahn said, adding that regional authorities could handle the outbreaks.

“We can go into fall and winter with confidence.”

He added that there would be no need to reintroduce bans on visiting nursing homes, while social distancing and the wearing of masks had “controlled” transmission in stores.

“We are learning where the dangers are greatest, sadly when we socialize and celebrate together,” Spahn said.

EU states could buy potential vaccines through WHO scheme, officials say

European Union states could purchase potential coronavirus vaccines through a procurement plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the EU Commission said.

In a move that appeared to be a change of position, EU governments could obtain vaccines from companies that are not negotiating with Brussels, such as US companies Merck, Inovio and Novavax.

All those companies are in talks for the WHO plan, called COVAX, but so far they have not been reported to be involved in negotiations with the Commission.

The EU states have pledged not to enter into parallel negotiations with the same vaccine manufacturers with which they are negotiating at the EU level, but this “does not exclude the possibility of participating in negotiations with other vaccine companies through COVAX, “said a spokesman for the EU Commission. .

This would represent a policy change after the EU executive advised the 27 EU governments not to purchase vaccines through the WHO scheme in July, deeming it slow, costly and legally incompatible with the parallel procurement program of the European Union.

The WHO plan aims to secure 2 billion doses of a vaccine for 20% of the world’s most vulnerable people by the end of 2021.

The move also followed criticism that the EU was effectively undermining the WHO initiative, despite projecting itself as a champion of multilateralism and as a supporter of equitable access to vaccines for all.

So far, the EU has reached an advance purchase agreement for Covid-19 vaccines with AstraZeneca and has said it is in talks with Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Moderna and CureVac.

Fauci rejects Trump’s attempt to distort coronavirus death figures

An attempt by Donald Trump to distort official data on the death toll from coronavirus in the US has been dismissed by the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said officials had attributed 6 percent of the deaths recorded by Covid-19 only to the coronavirus, but this did not mean that the other 94 percent of the deaths were not due to the virus.

“If you look at the people who have died from Covid disease, the point the CDC was trying to make was that a certain percentage of them had nothing but just Covid,” said Dr. Fauci. Good morning america.

“That doesn’t mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies from Covid didn’t die from Covid-19; they did.”

Our reporter, Gino Spocchia, has the full story below:

Jeremy Hunt says he’s relieved he didn’t become prime minister

Boris Johnson’s former conservative leadership rival Jeremy Hunt has said he “dodged a bullet” by losing in the final race to become prime minister last year.

The former secretary of Foreign Affairs and Health said he was relieved not to lead the country given the scale of the coronavirus crisis.

“It has been a very difficult year for anyone who is prime minister, dealing with a pandemic [that is] completely unprecedented, ”said Mr. Hunt.

Our reporter, Adam Forrest, has the full story below:

Pope Francis holds his first public audience for six months amid a pandemic

Pope Francis held his first public weekly general audience in six months, announcing a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon.

Almost everyone in the audience of roughly 500 people in the courtyard of St. Damasus of the Vatican Apostolic Palace wore masks and sat in seats arranged to ensure social distancing for the ceremony.

“After so many months, we resumed our encounters face to face and not screen to screen, face to face, and this is beautiful,” said Pope Francis to applause at the beginning of the audience.

The Pope held an audience with a public crowd for the last time in early March.

After that, the coronavirus pandemic forced him to hold virtual audiences broadcast from the official papal library via television or the Internet, an experience he described as akin to being “caged.”

He blessed the children from a distance as he passed on his way to a dais to pronounce his address.

Pope Francis also kissed a Lebanese flag handed to him by Lebanese priest Georges Breidi and bowed his head to silently pray for the country, which is still reeling from last month’s deadly port explosion.

He announced that Friday, September 4, would be a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon and said he would send his secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, number two in the Vatican’s hierarchy, to Beirut that day to represent him.

He invited members of other religions to participate.

“Lebanon cannot abandon itself,” Francis said, calling on politicians, religious leaders and the international community to commit with “sincerity and transparency” to help the country.

Opinion: ‘After the coronavirus, countries should not forget the commitments they signed in the Paris Agreement’

Countries around the world have an obligation to put the climate emergency at the center of their stimulus spending for the coronavirus, said the Marshall Islands’ environment minister.

In an article for The independent, Christopher Loeak He said governments must continue to honor the commitments they signed in the 2015 Paris Agreement while recovering from the pandemic.

Even as the world grapples with the current Covid-19 public health emergency, responsible leaders are looking forward with plans for a speedy recovery. Stimulus spending from the coronavirus should put the climate emergency at its center. By ‘building back better’ to ensure the long-term sustainability of our planet, we have an obligation not to waste this opportunity. “

You can find his complete piece below:

Our reporter, Colin drury, has more details below on the controversy over the easing of the blockade in Greater Manchester:

Sturgeon defends ‘difficult’ decision on local restrictions in Glasgow

Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has defended the decision to impose new local lockdown restrictions on Glasgow and some surrounding areas, insisting that it was “not an option” to do nothing.

The measures, which have been in place over the next two weeks, mean that people living in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire have been told not to visit other people’s homes.

Sturgeon said he understood that people in the area were “frustrated” but urged them to view the move as a “wake-up call.”

“I know how difficult this is all. I hate having to make these decisions and everyone hates the impact of them, ”he tweeted.

“My plea is that we treat yesterday’s events as a wake-up call and take seriously our individual responsibilities to stop the spread of #COVID.”

The new restrictions, which went into effect at midnight Tuesday, will be reviewed every seven days.

They were unveiled after the latest daily figures showed 66 new positive cases of coronavirus were recorded in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

Deaths above the five-year average during the second week, but Covid-19 is not to blame, says ONS

A total of 9,631 deaths were recorded in England and Wales in the week ending August 21, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 474 above the five-year average of 9,157.

It was the second week in a row that weekly deaths were above the five-year average.

However, the ONS said the increase was not driven by Covid-19 deaths, which remain low.

Of the deaths recorded in the week through August 21, 138 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, very slightly down from 139 the previous week.