Coronavirus latest: National and international news

The government must provide vital data more quickly to local authorities to help them deal with Covid-19 spikes in their areas, doctors say.

The comments from the British Medical Association (BMA) follow criticism about the length of time it took to get testing data to officials in Leicester.

The city is the first to experience a local lockdown, after a rise in coronavirus cases.

The government insisted it had been working closely with local partners.

However, the BMA, the union representing doctors in the UK, said ministers needed to be more open and transparent with Covid-19 data and about how regional spikes in infections will be managed in the future.

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned this week that the pandemic was not even close to being over, but in the Czech Republic, a party has been held to give the coronavirus a “symbolic farewell”.

Thousands of guests sat at a 500 metre-long table on the Charles Bridge in Prague on Tuesday sharing food and drinks they had brought from home.

Guests were encouraged to share with their neighbours and there was no social distancing, something people in countries under lockdown will find hard to relate to.

There have been fewer than 12,000 infections in the Czech Republic, a country of 10 million. About 350 people have died.

The event’s organiser said the celebration was possible due to a lack of tourists in the famously charming city.

 

Top disease researcher Dr Anthony Fauci has told the US Senate that he “would not be surprised” if new virus cases in the country reach 100,000 per day.

“Clearly we are not in control right now,” he testified, warning that not enough Americans are wearing masks or social distancing.

During the hearing, he said about half of all new cases come from four states.

Earlier, the New York governor said nearly half of all Americans must self-quarantine if they visit the state.

On Tuesday, cases rose by more than 40,000 in one day for the fourth time in the past five days.

 

Spain and Portugal’s prime ministers on Wednesday officially reopened their joint border to all travellers after a three-month closure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In the presence of Spain’s King Felipe and Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa solemnly opened the border.

All other travel restrictions within the European Union were lifted last week.

 

Locking down entire communities is too blunt an instrument to fight coronavirus flare-ups, politicians from the area affected by Germany’s first local lockdown have complained after a week of reimposed physical distancing measures.

While restrictions continue to be relaxed across the rest of the country, the Gütersloh district in the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia will this week go into a second week of closed schools, nurseries, bars and museum following an outbreak of Covid-19 at a local abattoir.

A lockdown in the neighbouring community of Warendorf, however, has been lifted after mass tests found no sign that the virus had significantly spread across the local population.