Coronavirus latest: Florida reports smallest daily rise in cases since June

Today's top news: Eurozone feeds into recovery fears as industrial output growth slows. India's economy to shrink 9% this year, ratings agency says. WHO records the highest global daily case count with the US, India and Brazil the countries worst hit.

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Total Covid-19 cases

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World

Confirmed

28,975,685

Deaths

916,193
Updated at 9/14/2020, 2:13:51 PM BST
9/14/2020, 8:11:19 PM

Wall Street higher as Nasdaq regains ground

Colby Smith in New York and Camilla Hodgson in London

US stocks rose as tech investors brushed themselves off after the volatility of the past two weeks and traders reacted to positive developments towards a Covid-19 vaccine.

The blue-chip S&P 500 index climbed 1.3 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed nearly 2 per cent higher. Apple gained 3 per cent ahead of new product launches expected on Tuesday, and electric carmaker Tesla — one of the year’s hottest stocks — was close to 13 per cent higher after a wild run in recent sessions.

The tech sector has suffered a sell-off in recent weeks that has knocked the S&P and Nasdaq from their early-September highs.

Anik Sen, head of global equities at PineBridge, called the recent pullback a “healthy repricing” and said those setbacks were actually a positive.

“It just allows the market to develop broader participation, which is very healthy for the asset class as a whole,” he said.

Some traders were buoyed by the announcement that US software group Oracle had struck a deal regarding the US operations of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok — raising hopes that this might be enough to resolve the White House’s security concerns and a key sticking point in US-China relations.

Sentiment was also lifted by the announcement that Oxford university and AstraZeneca were set to resume a clinical trial of their proposed coronavirus vaccine candidate, having paused it after a participant fell ill.

Elsewhere in markets, the yield on the US 10-year rose 0.01 percentage points to 0.676 per cent. Meanwhile, the dollar index, a gauge of the buck against a weighted basket of peers, slid 0.3 per cent to 93.07.

9/14/2020, 6:54:38 PM

Florida reports smallest daily rise in cases since June

Peter Wells in New York

Florida reported fewer than 2,000 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its smallest daily increase in just over three months.

A further 1,736 people tested positive over the past 24 hours, state authorities revealed this afternoon, down from 2,423 on Sunday and compared with 1,838 last Monday.

It was the smallest daily increase since June 11, according to a Financial Times analysis of Covid Tracking Project data.

Monday figures tend to be lower than other days of the week owing to weekend delays in reporting. The weekend effect may have been pushed further forward last week owing to the Labor Day public holiday last Monday.

Deaths rose by 36, up from 8 yesterday and compared with an increase of 22 a week ago.

The percentage of Florida residents who tested positive for Covid-19 fell to 3.91 per cent from 4.24 per cent yesterday, the lowest level in at least two weeks. 

A total of 50,968 tests were conducted over the past day, down from 62,316 yesterday and compared with 46,388 a week ago.

9/14/2020, 6:53:21 PM

California reports smallest jump in case and deaths in days

Peter Wells in New York

California reported its smallest increase in coronavirus deaths in six days on Monday, while new cases rose by fewer than 3,000 for the first time in five days.

A further 56 people died, state authorities revealed this afternoon, down from 78 yesterday and compared with 17 last Monday.

Over the past 24 hours, a further 2,855 people in California tested positive for the disease, down from 4,625 on Sunday and compared with 3,091 a week ago.

Monday figures tend to be lower than other days of the week owing to weekend delays in reporting, although that typical trend may have been altered last week because of the Labor Day public holiday.

California is also reporting its lowest positivity rate and level of hospitalisations in more than five months.

The state’s test positivity rate over the past fortnight fell to 3.7 per cent from 3.8 per cent yesterday, the lowest level since state authorities began reporting data in April. That rate has remained under 4 per cent for three days running in another encouraging trend for the state.

The number of patients in California hospitals with Covid-19 fell by 28 over the past day to 2,841. In the past few days, the number of current hospitalisations fell below the 4,047 on March 29 when the state began reporting the data.

9/14/2020, 5:28:49 PM

UAE approves use of Covid vaccine for its frontline workers

Simeon Kerr in Dubai

The United Arab Emirates has approved the use of a coronavirus vaccine for frontline workers in the Gulf state.

Authorities said the “emergency approval” for those at risk from the virus had been granted following six weeks’ testing with the developer, without identifying the vaccine. Results of a third phase of trials involving 31,000 people of 125 nationalities had shown that the vaccine produced antibodies and only minor side effects among volunteers.

In mid-July, China-based pharmaceuticals firm Sinopharm said it had initiated a phase 3 clinical trial to assess its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, in conjunction with the government.

The UAE is facing a new surge in coronavirus cases, peaking at a record one-day tally of 1,007 on Saturday. On Monday, the number of new cases reported was 777.

9/14/2020, 4:59:47 PM

Macy’s reconfigures Thanksgiving Day Parade in response to the pandemic

Peter Wells in New York City

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is reducing its number of participants, doing away with its multitudes of balloon “handlers” and going virtual as the iconic New York City event is reconfigured for the coronavirus pandemic.

Known for its giant balloon characters and as a herald for the holiday season, the parade will “be a different kind of event” this year, mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday morning.

Macy’s said some of its changes would include reducing the number of participants in the parade by 75 per cent and “splitting the remaining participants over two days”, forgoing the traditional 2.5 mile route and banning parade participants under the age of 18.

The retailer said the traditional “Giant Balloon Inflation public event” that takes place on Manhattan’s Upper West Side the night before Thanksgiving will not go ahead this year, and the 80 to 100 handlers who have traditionally helped fly the giant character balloons will be replaced by “an innovative, specially rigged anchor vehicle framework of five specialty vehicles”.

All participants will be appropriately physically distanced and will be required to wear face coverings, Macy’s added.

Macy’s indicated last month the parade would be modified this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. New York City’s Fourth of July Fireworks this year, an event also sponsored by the retailer, was reconfigured as smaller displays of fireworks across the five boroughs in an effort to prevent large crowds that would have jeopardised physical-distancing guidelines.

New York City, an early hotspot for the virus in the US, has averaged about 140 new coronavirus cases a day over the past week, according to health authorities, compared with a peak rate in April of more than 5,300.

9/14/2020, 1:39:54 PM

US stocks boosted by deals and vaccine hopes

Camilla Hodgson in London

US stocks advanced on Monday on hopes that a big tech deal could help ease tensions between Washington and Beijing and news that one coronavirus vaccine trial was back on track.

The S&P 500 blue-chip index rose 1 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.5 per cent. That follows a recent sell-off for the technology sector, which knocked both benchmark indices from their records and had the Nasdaq Composite notch its steepest weekly drop since March.

“We expect the latest bout of market fragility to pass and expect markets to refocus on the positives,” said Mark Haefele, UBS’ chief investment officer for global wealth management. He pointed to improved economic data and the likelihood that a revised fiscal stimulus bill will eventually pass US Congress.

The gains on Wall Street followed the announcement that US software group Oracle beat Microsoft for the US operations of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok. Oracle shares rose 6 per cent. Meanwhile, Gilead Sciences agreed to buy Immunomedics in a $21bn deal.

Investor sentiment was also boosted as Oxford university and AstraZeneca were set to resume the international clinical trial of their proposed coronavirus vaccine candidate, having paused it after a participant fell ill.

Elsewhere in markets, the yield on the US 10-year was down 0.01 percentage points to 0.653 per cent. Meanwhile, the dollar index, a gauge of the buck against a weighted basket of peers, slid 0.4 per cent to 92.93.

9/14/2020, 1:16:21 PM

Saudi Arabia set to relax travel restrictions

Ahmed Al Omran in Hofuf

Saudi Arabia will start easing coronavirus-imposed movement restrictions on Tuesday by allowing “exceptional categories” of citizens and foreign residents to travel, the interior ministry said.

The kingdom plans to end all restrictions on travel by air and sea on a date after January 1, 2021, more than six months after the government banned international flights to limit the spread of Covid-19.

The exempted groups include employees in the public sector, military personnel, diplomats and their families, non-profit and private sector workers, businessmen, patients who require medical care abroad, as well as sports teams and students studying in foreign countries.

Gulf Cooperation Council citizens and foreigners with a valid residency or visitors’ visa can enter the kingdom starting on September 15 provided they have tested negative for Covid-19 within 48 hours, the ministry said in its statement.

Saudi Arabia has reported 326,258 cases and 4,305 coronavirus-related deaths in total, an update from the health ministry showed on Monday. The number of daily confirmed cases has fallen below 1,000 since August 28.

9/14/2020, 1:03:45 PM

UK faces downward revision in GDP forecasts

Valentina Romei in London

The UK is one of the few advanced economies facing a downward revision for 2020, widening the gap with those that are expected not to shrink as much as early predictions forecast.

Private economists revised down the forecast for UK gross domestic product for 2020 to minus 10.07 per cent, down 0.19 percentage points compared with their forecast submitted last month, said Consensus Economics, a company that averages leading economists’ expectations.

Rising cases, the end of government support to jobs in the autumn and slowing economic growth weigh on the UK’s recovery.

In contrast, the growth forecast for Germany was revised up by 0.26 percentage points to minus 5.86 over the same period. That reflects better than expected data and less disruptive measures to limit the spread of the virus.

Growth for the US was revised up by a similar amount: 0.24 percentage points. The world's most important economy is now expected to shrink by 4.93 per cent, less than half the speed of the UK.

Across G7 and western European countries, economists have grown less pessimistic about Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland which are expected to shrink significantly less than the UK.

The economists however have become more pessimistic about Spain, where a rise in infections risks derailing the fragile recovery. Similar to the UK, economists downgraded their growth expectations by 0.20 percentage points to minus 11.9 per cent.

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9/14/2020, 12:46:32 PM

Scotland urges Westminster for clarity over testing backlog

Mure Dickie in Edinburgh

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has called on the Westminster government to be more forthcoming about the scale and nature of a backlog in coronavirus testing.

Outlining what she called her “very serious concerns” that delays were affecting the timely reporting of infections across the UK, including in Scotland, Ms Sturgeon added:

We need the UK government to share the full scale and nature of the issues they are facing and the impact that they are having in Scotland in order that we can collectively and very quickly find solutions.

Most coronavirus tests in Scotland are conducted as part of a UK-wide system, but the first minister suggested the Scottish government was not being given access to information about a widely reported backlog of test results.

The Westminster government had sought to limit access to regional mobile test centres over the weekend, including in Scotland, because of the backlog, Ms Sturgeon said at a coronavirus briefing on Monday.

UK health department documents leaked to The Sunday Times showed a backlog of 185,000 tests on Friday, with some tests being sent to Italy and Germany for processing.

Ms Sturgeon said Jeane Freeman, Scotland’s health secretary, had “managed to resist” proposals at the weekend to limit access to slots at mobile and regional testing centres in Scotland and that these retained full capacity, but that the delay in turning around results was causing very serious concerns.

The Scottish government on Monday reported that there had been 70 positive tests for Covid-19 the previous day, down from 244 reported on Sunday --- but Ms Sturgeon suggested the “massive reduction” was likely to be caused by testing problems rather than a fall in infections.

9/14/2020, 12:30:11 PM

Delta to use loyalty programme to back $6.5bn debt raise

Claire Bushey in Chicago

Delta Air Lines is using its loyalty programme to back an attempt to raise $6.5bn in bonds and loans as the coronavirus pandemic weighs on travel demand.

The Atlanta airline said it plans a private offering for senior secured notes and a senior secured term loan, with its lucrative SkyMiles programme as collateral.

Airlines remain on the hunt for capital as the pandemic crisis suppresses demand for air travel. Delta is the third US airline to pledge its frequent flier programme as collateral for a debt raise. United Airlines led the way in June, followed by low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines last month.

Airline loyalty programmes generate fees from banks that buy miles to reward their customers. Their profit margins eclipse the airline's core, but capital-intensive, business of flying passengers.

SkyMiles has more than 100m members, Delta said. The airline has formed a separate company for the loyalty programme, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta. The mileage subsidiary will then lend funds from the debt raise to the airline.

The loyalty programme would have generated, on a pro forma basis, $6.1bn in cash sales and $2.4bn in net cash from operations in 2019, Delta said.

9/14/2020, 10:54:31 AM

Pakistan poised to welcome children back to school

Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad

Pakistan’s prime minister promised to make sure schools follow public health rules as students prepare to return on Tuesday after closing for six months in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid-19.

"Tomorrow we will welcome millions of children back to school," said Imran Khan in a tweet on Monday. "We have worked to ensure that school operations are aligned with public health safety rules on Covid-19."

The reopening of schools in the south Asian country with a population of about 220m has boosted morale at a time when government officials and analysts claim the spread of coronavirus infections is slowing.

“We are now seeing another major milestone in our country’s success in combating coronavirus,” said a host on a local TV channel announcing the reopening of schools.

Senior government officials and politicians have claimed victory, while the rate of infection has been alarmingly high in neighbouring rival India.

According to official statistics, Pakistan has diagnosed about 300,000 cases of individuals infected with Covid-19, of whom 6,300 have died.

By comparison, India has diagnosed just over 4.8m infected with coronavirus and 80,000 virus-related deaths.

Critics have, however, noted that Pakistan has carried out about 3m Covid-19 tests while India has completed 57m tests, or 19 times more than Pakistan. Doctors at large hospitals though have reported a significant reduction in new cases of patients with symptoms of coronavirus relative to three or four months ago.

9/14/2020, 10:53:23 AM

French economy set to contract less than feared

David Keohane in Paris

France's economy is set to shrink less than expected in 2020 after bouncing back as lockdown measures aimed at stemming the Covid-19 pandemic were eased.

The rebound from early May means that the eurozone's second-biggest economy is on course to shrink 8.7 per cent this year, but less than the 10.3 per cent the central bank had forecast in June.

The economy is set to expand 7.4 per cent in 2021 and 3 per cent the following year, meaning a recovery in output to pre-Covid 19 levels by the first quarter of that year.

"We are one to two quarters ahead on the pace of the recovery, and France will get back to pre-Covid level a little before the European average," said central bank governor François Villeroy de Galhau told newspaper Le Monde on Monday.

"Three sectors in particular did better than expected: the automobile sector, which has improved significantly, accommodation and food services - albeit at a still low level - and construction," he added. "This sector is at 100 per cent of normal in August, with a number of players even above the pre-crisis level of activity."

The central bank estimates that economic activity is back to just 5 per cent below normal levels. It does not expect much to change in September, assuming France does not face another lockdown, and has pencilled in a rebound of 16 per cent in the third quarter, compared with the 13.8 per cent contraction seen in the quarter before.

The bank estimates unemployment will peak at 11.1 per cent in early 2021 before declining to below 10 per cent the year after.

9/14/2020, 9:50:23 AM

Eurozone industrial output grows at slower rate in July

Valentina Romei in London

Growth in eurozone industrial production slowed in July, driven by a faltering expansion in Germany and adding to concerns about the region.

Output rose 4.1 per cent in July compared with the same month last year, data released on Monday by Eurostat showed. This is slower than the monthly expansion in June, which was revised up to 9.5 per cent.

Despite the monthly increase and the better than initially estimated June data, the regional output was still 7.7 per cent below the same month last year.

Rising infections in most countries add to the fears the pace of the region's recovery will slow before output has reached pre-pandemic levels.

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The figures are “consistent with our view that the economic recovery in the eurozone will be much more gradual”, said Tomas Dvorak, eurozone economist at Oxford Economics.

“High-frequency data show that the rebound of activity in the eurozone is weakening in response to the resurgent numbers of Covid-19 infections, highlighting the risk the virus still poses for the economy,” he said.

Capital goods, which are used to produce other goods, rose 5.3 per cent, driving the monthly increase. However, production of consumer goods grew 4.7 per cent in July, a sharp slowdown from 21.2 per cent growth recorded in the previous month.

Growth slowed more rapidly in Germany as car production weakened. The monthly increase in industrial output of 2.4 per cent in July was down from 10.9 per cent in the previous month.

9/14/2020, 9:21:47 AM

Amazon to recruit 100,000 more workers in fourth hiring spree this year

Harry Dempsey in London

Amazon is hiring another 100,000 workers in the US and Canada, in its fourth such recruitment spree this year, as it races to keep up with a surge in online shopping fueled by social distancing restrictions and lockdowns.

The extra jobs will comprise of full and part-time positions in the US as well as in Canada, as it opens 100 warehouse and operations sites this month, the world's largest online retailer said on Monday.

The roles, which will expand Amazon’s fulfilment or warehouse and logistics networks, will take the number of employees excluding contractors at the group to close to 1m. At the end of June, Amazon put its headcount at 876,000 worldwide.

Amazon has been ramping up the size of its workforce since Western economies began implementing coronavirus lockdowns and social distancing restrictions in March. The group said in March and April that it would hire 175,000 staff, while this month, it said it will create 33,000 jobs in its corporate and technology teams.

Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, insisted that the rapid workforce expansion would not come at the expense of staff training or health.

“Our expansion also comes with an unwavering commitment to safety,” Mr Clark said.

“In addition to fast and efficient delivery for our customers, we’re providing a safe and modern environment for our employees and partners.”

9/14/2020, 8:00:00 AM

Valneva unveils details of vaccine agreement with UK

Clive Cookson in London

Valneva of France has released financial details of its agreement to supply the UK with Covid-19 vaccine once it has been able to produce one, planned for next year.

The French company will provide 60m doses during the second half of 2021 for €470m, with an option for up to 90m further doses in subsequent years to 2025, which could be worth a further €900m. The agreement was initially announced on July 20.

Valneva is not a frontrunner in the race to mass produce Covid-19 vaccines. It expects to start clinical trials in December and, if these succeed, to start supplying the product next year.

The company says its candidate is based on the “proven and well established” technology of inactivated virus, rather than the more experimental viral vectors or genetic vaccines that are further advanced in clinical studies from companies such as AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer.

The deal is the UK government’s first vaccine purchase for which financial details have been made public.

The vaccine, made from inactivated live coronavirus, will be manufactured at Valneva’s Scottish plant in Livingston.

9/14/2020, 7:43:02 AM

India's economy to shrink 9% this year, S&P says

Benjamin Parkin in New Delhi

India's economy will contract 9 per cent this year, according to ratings agency S&P, as the escalating coronavirus crisis inhibits efforts to rebound from a strict lockdown imposed in March.

The agency revised its estimated contraction for the year ended March 2021 from 5 per cent to 9 per cent, joining a range of analysts with increasingly bearish outlooks on what had until recently been the world's fastest-growing large economy. Moody's and Goldman Sachs each expect double-digit economic contractions this year.

India went into one of the world's strictest lockdowns early in the pandemic with only a few hours notice, devastating businesses and destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of citizens – from salaried middle-class workers to poor labourers in the informal sector.

But this did little to stem the spread of the virus. India is now averaging more than 90,000 new coronavirus cases a day, with its official tally of 4.8m infections closing the gap on first-placed US. Confirmed deaths from the virus have risen to around 80,000.

The country's inability to control the virus is expected to take a deep toll on consumers, businesses and the economy. "As long as the virus spread remains uncontained, consumers will be cautious in going out and spending and firms will be under strain," S&P said.

The agency now expects the pandemic to result in lost output of 13 per cent over the next three years.

9/14/2020, 6:00:25 AM

India’s parliament to sit for first time since lockdown

Amy Kazmin in New Delhi

India is convening Parliament on Monday for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed a strict coronavirus lockdown, as the spread of the virus accelerates.

Lawmakers are due to sit for a brief two-week session in which Mr Modi’s government hopes to push through 38 bills, including legislation reforming agricultural markets, amending the companies act and overhauling the regulatory framework for Indian traditional medical systems and homeopathy.

The session comes as more than 1,100 Indians are dying every day from coronavirus, pushing the total confirmed death toll to nearly 80,000 people. India is now detecting more than 90,000 new cases every day, more than any country in the world, and pushing India’s total caseload to more than 4.8m infections.

As part of its preparation for the carefully organised legislative sessions, all parliamentarians were required to be tested for coronavirus, and five are suspected of being infected.

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Paramilitary forces patrol outside India's parliament on Sunday

Many legislators have already decided against attending the two-week sitting.

Plans for India’s first parliament session since March have been controversial as Mr Modi’s government wants to scrap the Question Hour, in which legislators can demand answers from the government.

Opposition parties are demanding a formal debate on critical issues facing the country, including the rapid spread of coronavirus and tensions along the disputed border with China.

However, it is not known if the administration will allow such a discussion, or whether it will stifle it, citing limited time due to the pandemic.

9/14/2020, 5:50:19 AM

Dubai warns against breaking Covid-19 regulations

Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Dubai has closed several commercial establishments for flouting regulations as the authorities seek to stem a surge in coronavirus cases.

The Gulf’s business hub on Sunday shut four tourism outlets, a restaurant and a swimming pool after inspecting compliance with measures designed to stop the spread of Covid-19, such as enforcing physical distancing.

Dubai police on Saturday arrested an individual who posted on social media bragging about breaking quarantine after having tested positive.

The authorities have warned residents to follow regulations, such as wearing a face mask, as most recent infections have occurred through gathering.

Amid a large number of tests, the United Arab Emirates on Sunday reported a record 1,007 new cases on Saturday, which fell back to 640 on Sunday.

9/14/2020, 5:41:11 AM

Covid-19 debt binge creates new ‘zombies’

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Joe Rennison in London

The onset of coronavirus — and the drastic policy response from central banks — has produced an army of companies limping along in the twilight between the living and the dead.

A decade of low interest rates had already sustained a rising number of companies that were able to borrow cheaply and amble on with operating profits that fell short of the interest needed to pay their lenders.

Now, the bond binge that followed the depths of the Covid-19 crisis in March has accelerated that trend, giving rise to a new generation of these so-called corporate zombies.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 5:23:25 AM

Cathay to transfer 40% of fleet to storage outside Hong Kong

Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said it will move 40 per cent of its fleet out of the semi-autonomous Chinese city for storage as the airline said it expects a “long and uncertain road to recovery”.

“Given that we will be operating just a fraction of our services in the foreseeable future, we will continue to transfer some of our passenger fleet – approximately 40% – to locations outside of Hong Kong in keeping with prudent operational and asset management considerations,” the airline said in a statement.

It is often cheaper for airlines to store their fleets at aircraft storage facilities, often in deserts as dry conditions are preferred for long-term storage.

The airline has been forced to repurpose passenger aircraft to carry cargo in the cabin and parked its grounded aircraft at Hong Kong International Airport after the pandemic hit travel demand.

Cathay Pacific operates 152 aircraft, Cathay Dragon operates 48 and budget airline HKExpress has 24 aircraft, according to the company’s first-half results.

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“We are weathering the storm for now, but the fact remains that we simply will not survive unless we adapt our airlines for the new travel market,” said Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer. “A restructuring will therefore be inevitable to protect the company, the Hong Kong aviation hub, and the livelihoods of as many people as possible.”

Cathay is burning cash at a rate of HK$1.5bn ($194m) to HK$2bn a month despite reducing costs, Mr Lam said.

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried 35,773 passengers in August, down 98.8 per cent compared with a year earlier.

Looking ahead to September and October, Cathay said that it had not seen “any solid signs of immediate improvement.”

Cathay operated at just 7.8 per cent of its normal capacity in August, but said the airline said it is encouraged by the fact Hong Kong is in discussion with 11 countries to create “travel bubbles”.

Hong Kong has restricted arrivals into the city to residents and imposed strict quarantines in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus.

9/14/2020, 4:57:36 AM

Hospitals push back as Delhi orders Covid-19 bed quotas

Amy Kazmin in New Delhi

The government in Delhi has ordered private hospitals to reserve the majority of their intensive care unit beds for the city's coronavirus patients, as it wrestles with a new surge of cases while pushing ahead with its economic opening.

The city has detected more than 4,000 new infections every day in recent days, a sharp rise from a few weeks ago, when it had fewer than 1,000 new cases each day.

Delhi’s major private hospitals have been ordered to reserve 80 per cent of their ICU beds for patients suffering from coronavirus.

Private hospitals treating coronavirus patients have also been permitted to expand their bed capacity by up to 30 per cent.

However, private hospitals said reserving beds for coronavirus patients could lead to difficulties for other critically ailing patients suffering from other diseases, and the Association of Healthcare Providers of India have indicated they plan to appeal against the official edict.

Despite Delhi’s accelerating caseload — and the growing squeeze on health care resources — local authorities are pushing ahead with the opening of ever more businesses.

On Sunday, local authorities announced that the city’s gyms and yoga studios could reopen, though they were instructed to ensure social distancing to the fullest extent possible.

About 6,000 gyms operated in Delhi before the pandemic began, providing about 100,000 people with employment.

9/14/2020, 4:35:36 AM

UK employers to shed 500,000 jobs in autumn

Delphine Strauss in London

About half a million jobs are likely to be lost in the UK this autumn, far higher than job losses at the peak of the last downturn, a new analysis of recent dismissal notifications shows.

Figures obtained from the government show that companies notified the Insolvency Service of around 380,000 staff at risk of dismissal between May and July, according to the Institute for Employment Studies, a research group.

Actual job losses, which usually take place around two months after a notification, are likely to be higher because companies cutting fewer than 20 staff do not have to notify the Insolvency Service.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 4:12:03 AM

Trump faces backlash over Nevada gathering

James Politi in Washington

US president Donald Trump has faced a backlash from local officials in Nevada as well as criticism from Joe Biden, his challenger for the White House, after holding his first indoor campaign rally since June in defiance of the state’s restrictions on large events.

Steve Sisolak, the Democratic governor of Nevada, wrote on Twitter that Mr Trump had “blatantly disregarded the emergency directives and tough choices made to fight this pandemic” on Sunday as he held a crowded indoor event at Xtreme, a manufacturing business in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb.

“This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbours before themselves. It’s also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we’ve made, and could potentially set us back,” Mr Sisolak said.

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Mr Trump’s rally violated the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, and contradicted Xtreme’s own policy of limiting meetings to “no more than 10 people in large areas”, leading the city of Henderson to warn the company that it might face penalties.

Mr Biden’s campaign, which has avoided large rallies due to the pandemic, said the episode showed that Mr Trump was still not taking coronavirus seriously, nor did he have a plan to stop it.

But Mr Trump’s campaign, which was heavily criticised for holding the last indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, rejected the attacks.

“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the first amendment to hear from the president,” it said.

https://twitter.com/GovSisolak/status/1305324316746162176

9/14/2020, 4:04:06 AM

Court blocks Colombia's plan for Avianca loan

Gideon Long in Bogotá

A Colombian court has blocked a plan under which the government would lend the country’s biggest airline Avianca $370m to weather the impact of coronavirus.

The court made its ruling after a complaint from a member of the public who said Avianca’s financial woes pre-dated the pandemic and it would be reckless for the state to lend money to a company that might not be able to repay it. The decision is not definitive but means the loan is frozen for now.

Avianca responded by saying the loan was “critical to sustain Avianca's operations, maintain connectivity throughout Colombia and help support the country's economic recovery”.

It said it remained “confident that the Colombian courts will authorize the Colombian government to move forward with funding in a timely manner”.

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A man holds a sign reading "We reject [President Iván] Duque's $370m gift to Avianca" during a protest earlier this month

The government agreed to help Avianca last month, prompting criticism that it was propping up a private company that, although Colombian in origin, is controlled by United Airlines and Kingsland Holdings.

One of the airline’s competitors, Viva Air Colombia, said the government had been overly generous to Avianca.

The second-largest airline in Latin America behind Chile’s Latam and the second-oldest in the world behind Dutch carrier KLM, Avianca entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in May saying it was facing the biggest challenge of its history.

Its revenue crashed by more than 80 per cent after the government closed Colombia to air traffic in the wake of the pandemic.

There are still no commercial flights in and out of the country although carriers restarted limited domestic flights this month.

9/14/2020, 3:51:32 AM

Vital T cells less active in Covid-19 infections than in flu

George Russell in Hong Kong

T cells, key components of the human immune system that fight viral infections, are activated by the coronavirus at a much lower level compared with influenza or glandular fever.

The response by the body's T cells to Covid-19 infection was as low as a tenth that of other viral infections, a team from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne found.

“What we found is those key immune cells weren’t stimulated optimally for rapid proliferation and expansion,” said lead author Jennifer Habel, a University of Melbourne doctoral candidate and Doherty researcher.

“If a vaccine was able to prime the immune system of killer T cells and then boost them a short time later, the response is likely to be much more robust to fight SARS-CoV2," said University of Melbourne immunologist Katherine Kedzierska, using the scientific term for the virus.

“Knowing the specific T cells and proteins to target will inform the design of an effective vaccine,” Prof Kedzierska said.

This research was undertaken in collaboration with James Cook University in Queensland, the University of Tasmania and Monash University and the Alfred hospital in Melbourne. Researchers examined 22 Covid-19 samples from patients who experienced asymptomatic, mild or moderate illness.

The research was published at the weekend in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US journal.

9/14/2020, 3:30:43 AM

BP warns of oil demand peak by early 2020s

Anjli Raval, David Sheppard and Roula Khalaf in London

UK energy major BP has warned of a peak in oil demand within the next few years, signalling that the coronavirus pandemic is ushering in an earlier than anticipated decline for the fossil fuel era.

The company, in its annual energy outlook published on Monday, modelled three scenarios for the world’s transition to cleaner fuels that all see oil demand falling over the next 30 years.

In the “business as usual” case, oil demand rebounds from the Covid-19 hit then plateaus in the early 2020s. In two other scenarios, oil demand never fully recovers.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 3:10:41 AM

Korea reopens Seoul eateries as new caseload ebbs

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Song Jung-a in Seoul

Restaurants and cafés in the greater Seoul area reopened on Monday as South Korea eased business restrictions on eateries, indoor sports facilities and cram schools, amid slowing new virus cases.

Health authorities on Sunday decided to relax anti-virus measures for some business facilities in the densely populated capital area, home to nearly half the country’s 52m population, as new local infections fell below 100 for the first time in nearly a month.

However, high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars will remain closed while schools will maintain remote learning this week.

"While relaxing the social distancing guidelines, the government will apply strict and targeted quarantine steps at high-risk facilities," health minister Park Neung-hoo said in a briefing.

"We are still in a critical situation," he added. "The downward pace is slower than expected, compared to that of the first wave in spring."

The country on Monday reported 109 new Covid-19 cases including 98 local infections, bringing the total caseload to 22,285.

South Korea continues to grapple with sporadic clusters of infections and many untraceable cases but health authorities also had to consider economic losses suffered by small merchants and self-employed people.

9/14/2020, 2:46:38 AM

Asia shares rise as Oracle strikes TikTok deal

Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong

Asia-Pacific shares climbed on reports that Oracle had struck a deal for the US operations of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok, raising hopes of a resolution to a flashpoint in relations between Washington and Beijing.

Japan’s Topix index rose 0.8 per cent in early trading on Monday while South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.5 per cent and China’s CSI 300 of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks gained 0.6 per cent.

Traders were emboldened following reports that Chinese tech group ByteDance had reached a preliminary “technical partnership” agreement with US software group Oracle for TikTok’s American operations.

In Tokyo, shares in SoftBank rose as much as 10 per cent after it agreed to sell Arm Holdings to US chip company Nvidia for $40bn. Its disposal of the UK-based chip designer underscores the Japanese conglomerate’s shift towards becoming a global investment powerhouse.

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Futures markets tipped Wall Street’s technology-focused Nasdaq Composite to rise 1 per cent when trading begins later on Monday and the S&P 500 to add 0.8 per cent.

Adding to markets’ positive hue on Monday was news that Oxford university and AstraZeneca were to resume the international clinical trial of their proposed coronavirus vaccine candidate after pausing it a week earlier due to a participant falling ill.

“Expect continued focus on tech this week, though risk sentiment overall may be boosted on weekend news that AstraZeneca would resume phase 3 vaccine trials in the UK,” said Tapas Strickland, director of economics at National Australia Bank.

Investors are also this week looking ahead to important central bank decisions, including those by the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England.

9/14/2020, 2:32:45 AM

Changes forced by lockdown create opportunities

Chris Giles in London

The coronavirus crisis has given many of the UK’s small businesses a “once in a generation” opportunity to adopt digital technology and permanently improve their productivity, according to the government-backed organisation aimed at improving corporate performance.

Although business pressures from Covid-19 will cause many small companies to fail and will harm the economy, Be the Business said the shock of lockdown and remote working has persuaded many small companies of the benefits of basic digital technology.

After extensive research into companies’ attitudes towards technology adoption, the agency said this was the silver lining to the destructive effects of coronavirus.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 2:17:28 AM

Top Australian doctor condemns anti-lockdown protests

George Russell in Hong Kong

One of Australia's top doctors on Monday urged anti-lockdown protests to abandon their public displays of anger.

"The passions are clearly high but what I would say to people who feel like they need to protest, is the light is getting bigger," said Nick Coatsworth, one of the country's deputy chief medical officers.

"We have a democratic right to protest but don't put at risk the gains that Victorians have made for Australia in the past weeks," he said.

Dr Coatsworth said there were still too many "mystery cases" in Melbourne, Victoria's state capital and Australia's second largest city.

There were 99 cases with no identifiable source in metropolitan Melbourne as of Monday morning.

"That is the biggest threat to restrictions easing," Dr Coatsworth told the Channel 9 Today Show. "I think what we'll see, though, is that those numbers will also come down."

He said fewer than 10 unknown cases was the goal. "They'll need to head down into something that's clearly manageable ... so single digits for the mystery cases would be a very reasonable target."

9/14/2020, 1:59:59 AM

UK faces backlog of nearly 200,000 tests

Anna Gross and Sarah Neville in London

Government testing laboratories across the UK are facing a backlog of nearly 200,000 Covid-19 tests and are having to send some samples abroad to help reduce the stress on the system, amid growing concern about the lack of a robust test and trace programme.

There was a backlog of 185,000 tests on Friday, according to Department of Health and Social Care documents leaked to The Sunday Times, with some tests being sent to Italy and Germany for processing.

“The technology is there, the testing is there, they’re just not using it,” said Kelly Klifa, co-founder of Testing For All, a not-for-profit company making affordable Covid-19 tests.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 1:29:41 AM

WHO reports record one-day coronavirus tally

Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong

The World Health Organization recorded 307,930 new coronavirus cases globally on Sunday, its highest one-day figure since the pandemic began.

The tally was higher than that recorded on September 6 when 306,857 cases were reported around the world.

The US, India and Brazil continue to drive the surge in cases. India, which recently overtook Brazil to be the second worst-hit country in terms of total caseload, reported 94,372 new infections.

Brazil reported 43,718 new cases of coronavirus.

In terms of the worst-hit region, south-east Asia came in second-highest behind the Americas with more than 101,000 new cases, according to the WHO.

9/14/2020, 12:58:34 AM

US Covid-19 hospital admissions fall below 30,000

Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong

The number of people receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19 in the US on Sunday fell below 30,000 for the first time since June 22.

Figures from the Covid Tracking project showed 29,816 people were undergoing hospital treatment for the effects of the virus on Sunday.

The number of new coronavirus cases came in at 38,543 on Sunday, against 45,000 cases for Saturday. Weekend figures tend to be lower than those recorded during the week.

There were 532 new deaths, down from 1,018 a day earlier. The US has now recorded 186,162 deaths linked to Covid-19.

9/14/2020, 12:36:10 AM

XR sees funding return after Covid-19 hibernation

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Extinction Rebellion protesters block a road in London on Thursday

Leslie Hook and Anna Gross in London

Extinction Rebellion, the climate protest movement that brought London to its knees a year ago, is calling on the UK government to consider new climate legislation, as it wraps up its first public demonstrations since lockdown.

The climate group, known as “XR”, has emerged from its Covid-19 “hibernation” with 10 days of protests around the UK, including blockading several printing presses and repeated demonstrations outside parliament.

The much smaller size of the protests this year also reflects a movement that is trying to find its feet again, after the impact of the pandemic, the racial justice movement, financial difficulties, and leadership conflicts.

Read more here

9/14/2020, 12:15:07 AM

Asia-Pacific stocks start the week with gains

Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong

Asia-Pacific stocks rose on Monday as investors awaited the result of the Federal Reserve’s meeting later in the week.

In Japan, the Topix was up 0.5 per cent, the Kospi added 1 per cent in Seoul and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent.

Investors will be looking for signs of any extra steps the Fed will take to help shore up US economic growth.

Those moves in Asia came after the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 per cent on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6 per cent after a challenging week for technology shares.

There was positive news in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Over the weekend, Oxford university and AstraZeneca resumed a coronavirus vaccine trial that had been put on pause after a participant fell ill, dispelling fears that the trial could be held up for a significant period.

9/13/2020, 11:58:18 PM

Victoria eases some restrictions on movement

George Russell in Hong Kong

The state of emergency in Australia's second-largest city has been extended to October 11, as Victoria's government announced 35 new coronavirus cases on Monday amid signs the surge was abating.

Melbourne relaxed its social distancing rules from midnight on Sunday night, but a 9pm curfew remains in force.

Residents can exercise for two hours over a maximum of two sessions. Playgrounds and outdoor fitness equipment will reopen.

Rural centres will apply looser restrictions, with up to five people from a maximum of two households allowed to gather in outdoor public places.

Outdoor pools have been opened in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and other major population centres.

"Thanks to Victorians following the rules, getting tested and staying home, we’re getting closer to Covid normal," said state health minister Jenny Mikakos.

Victoria reported 41 new cases on Sunday and 37 on Saturday.

Police arrested dozens of anti-lockdown demonstrators in central Melbourne at the weekend after a protest, pictured, turned violent.

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9/13/2020, 11:36:42 PM

Trinity Challenge aims to protect against future pandemics

Clive Cookson in London

A new partnership between universities, foundations and leading technology and health companies aims to protect the world from future pandemics, by harnessing the power of data and analytics.

The Trinity Challenge, to be launched on Monday, is led by Sally Davies, who was England's chief medical officer until last October and is now master of Trinity College Cambridge.

It includes a prize fund, worth £10m initially, to reward teams that come up with the best ways to identify and stop future disease outbreaks before they become pandemics — and to recover from health emergencies.

Read more here

9/13/2020, 11:19:35 PM

New York kerbside dining now a fixture, says mayor

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New York City intends to expand its outdoor dining programme even after restaurants can serve food indoors from September 30, the mayor's office said.

Seven more eateries — in the Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island boroughs — began kerbside service at the weekend, bringing the total number of locations for the programme to 87.

"The Open Streets: Restaurants programme expands socially distant seating options onto car-free streets along select corridors throughout the weekends," said mayor Bill de Blasio.

“As we prepare for the return of indoor dining on September 30, we’re proud to continue expanding car-free outdoor dining,” he added. "Open Streets: Restaurants has expanded options even further while changing the way we think about our streets. We look forward to continuing to expand it.”

Mr de Blasio said the programme had saved more than 90,000 jobs in the food and beverage and related industries.

9/13/2020, 11:00:18 PM

Israel to re-enter lockdown as Covid-19 surges

Mehul Srivastava in Tel Aviv

Israel will be locked down for at least three weeks, starting on Friday and continuing over the Jewish high holy days, the first significant country to re-enter an economically crippling closure, after failing to curb a second wave of the coronavirus.

Nearly all Israelis will be restricted to within 500 metres of their homes, and all non-essential businesses will be closed, said Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, as new infections per head hovered near the worst levels globally.

“I know those measures will exact a heavy price on us all,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised address, after one of his cabinet ministers resigned over the decision. “This is not the kind of holiday we are used to. And we certainly won't be able to celebrate with our extended families.”

Read more here

9/13/2020, 10:42:02 PM

Welsh government contradicts No 10 on work

Jim Pickard and Daniel Thomas in London

The Welsh government has set a new post-pandemic target of 30 per cent of the workforce working from home, in defiance of UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s “back to work” message.

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has concluded that the shift in work patterns over the spring and summer — caused by the Covid-19 lockdown — has had various positive benefits.

The government in Cardiff said it would seek to drive “changes to Wales’s working culture” to help both productivity and work-life balance.

Read more here

9/13/2020, 10:21:11 PM

Dubai shuts down restaurants over violations

Dubai authorities have shut down four restaurants over violations of Covid-19 social-distancing protocols, the emirate's information agency said on Sunday.

The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing suspended the permits of 14 others and gave 19 other companies a final warning, according to a statement by the Dubai Media Office.

https://twitter.com/DXBMediaOffice/status/1305204022308229123

More than 100 businesses, mostly retailers, have been fined over issues such as employees not wearing face masks, or shops not having physical distancing stickers posted.

Last week, a department store was shut down after holding a sale, which attracted more people than were allowed. The company was also fined Dh5,000 ($1,350).

Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, readmitted tourists in July after the national borders were closed in March.

9/13/2020, 9:58:58 PM

Fidelity warns of risks from stranded seafarers

Attracta Mooney in London

Fidelity International, the $566bn asset manager, has called on companies and governments to urgently address an unfolding crisis in global supply chains as hundreds of thousands of ship workers remain stranded at sea because of the pandemic.

The investment house is contacting 30 companies, including shipowners, airlines and groups that charter ships, to raise concerns about the conditions facing seafarers.

Many countries have prohibited seafarers from disembarking during the pandemic, which Fidelity said was putting the health and safety of workers at risk and piling pressure on global supply chains.

Read more here

9/13/2020, 9:28:44 PM

Most UK adults expect second coronavirus wave

George Russell in Hong Kong

More than 80 per cent of UK adults believe there will be a second wave of coronavirus later this year, according to an opinion poll published at the weekend.

Two-thirds of respondents to the Opinium poll said they favoured the government’s tighter restrictions, which come into force on Monday.

Gatherings in England are limited to no more than six people, whether indoors and outdoors. The new rule does not apply to households or gatherings for work or schooling. Violators face fines of £100, rising for repeat offences up to £3,200.

The poll found that more than half believe the UK is coming out of lockdown too quickly, up from 45 per cent two weeks ago, while the proportion who believe the UK is reopening “at the right speed” has dropped from 31 per cent to 24 per cent.

“A consistent theme of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the public’s safety-first attitude regarding lockdown measures,” said Adam Drummond, head of political polling at Opinium.

“There was strong support for the masks mandate and now strong support for restricting gatherings to six people,” he added. “Whether this translates into increased approval for the government’s handling of the crisis will depend on how effective it is at containing the size of the second wave.”

Opinium Research polled 2,001 UK adults September 9-11.

9/13/2020, 9:23:11 PM

Asymptomatic children passed on Covid-19, study finds

George Russell in Hong Kong

Children are more likely to transmit Covid-19 than previously thought, according to a US study published at the weekend.

Researchers have found at least a dozen cases during a June outbreak in Utah where asymptomatic children passed on the coronavirus in school and childcare.

The research, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed transmission occurred from children with confirmed Covid-19 to an average of 25 per cent of their contacts outside the school or child care centre.

"[Children] likely transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to their contacts, including five confirmed cases in household contacts (three mothers, one aunt, and one child) and two probable household cases (one mother and one child),” the study found.

"One mother who was presumably infected by her asymptomatic child was subsequently hospitalised,” it noted.

CDC recommended the use of face masks for child care staff and children older than 2 years.

"Covid-19 is less severe in children than it is in adults, but children can still play a role in transmission," the research team, led by Adriana Lopez of the CDC Covid-19 Response Team and Mary Hill of the Salt Lake County Health Department, concluded.

9/13/2020, 9:17:44 PM

News you might have missed …

The next head of the World Trade Organization needs recent experience of steering through the coronavirus pandemic, argues Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s candidate to head the body. She is one of eight contenders to succeed the Brazilian Roberto Azevêdo as WTO director-general.

South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa is facing increased pressure to accelerate reforms of the power and telecoms sectors in the continent’s most industrialised economy after the pandemic erased more than a decade of fragile growth. Gross domestic product in the second quarter fell almost a fifth year on year.

As executives in the $600bn reinsurance industry log on to video calls this weekend, they might be forgiven for thinking wistfully about Monaco. They should have been gathering in the glitz of the principality on the French coast, but the pandemic has put the future of the annual Rendez-Vous de Septembre in jeopardy.

In Scoreboard, we ask how the return of the US National Football League starts the clock ticking on renegotiation of its $5bn media rights deals, wonder about the true value of English Premier League clubs following Leeds United’s promotion and explain the rationale behind David Beckham’s bet on an esports team.

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UK fashion retailer New Look is set for another clash with its landlords next week as it prepares to ask for further big cuts in rents with a warning that it could go bust without them. The company has almost 500 stores and employs more than 12,000 people.

Gilead Sciences — in the spotlight for remdesivir, a medicine that received emergency approval for treating Covid-19 — is close to buying Immunomedics for $20bn, as the pharmaceutical group tries to outbid rivals competing to snap up the cancer drug developer. Gilead’s offer is close to double Immunomedics’ value.

Gojek and Grab, south-east Asia's biggest start-ups, have resumed talks on a merger at the behest of shareholders including SoftBank, after the Japanese group’s founder Masayoshi Son threw his weight behind a deal. The discussions restart as the lossmaking rivals haemorrhage money due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca are to resume the international clinical trial of their proposed coronavirus vaccine candidate. Speculation that there might be a significant delay in the much-watched study turns out to have been unjustified. The trial was paused last Sunday when a participant fell ill in the UK.

9/13/2020, 9:08:01 PM

Cargo volumes hold up at Hong Kong airport

Cargo demand has been barely dented at Hong Kong's international airport, even though passenger numbers fell steeply because of the pandemic, data show.

In August, the airport authority said, cargo volume totalled 374,000 tonnes, just 3.5 per cent lower than a year earlier, while freighter aircraft movements saw year-on-year growth of 21.5 per cent to 5,960, up from 4,906.

However, the airport handled only 84,000 passengers and 10,000 flight movements, representing year-on-year decreases of 98.6 per cent and 72 per cent respectively.

For the first eight months of the year, cargo totalled 2.8m tonnes, a 9 per cent fall over 2019, the authority reported.

The airport has handled 8.5m passengers and 114,020 flight movements since January 1, representing declines of 83 per cent and 60 per cent over last year, respectively.

9/13/2020, 9:07:25 PM

NZ quarantine centre worker tests positive

A quarantine centre worker in Auckland tested positive for Covid-19, the health ministry said on Sunday, announcing the first such case in New Zealand in nearly six months.

It is not yet clear how the health care worker caught the virus.

"This case is still being investigated to determine if the infection came from the community or from within the quarantine facility, though at this stage no obvious links to other cases in the community have been established," the ministry said in a statement.

The Jet Park facility has managed 2,532 people in quarantine since it opened in March. Only one other worker has tested positive, soon after the centre opened.

"The health worker was tested last week and returned a negative test," the ministry said.