Blog readers: get in touch via Twitter @helenrsullivanor email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com. Tips, questions, feedback or fun are welcome.
Thank you to those who have already reached out today.
China says virus pushing US ties to brink of ‘Cold War’
China said Sunday that its relations with the United States were “on the brink of a new Cold War,” fuelled partly by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 350,000 people worldwide and pitched the global economy into a massive downturn.
Fresh tensions between Beijing and Washington emerged as virus restrictions continued to shape and remake lives around the world, and in very different ways.
US President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of a lack of transparency over the outbreak, suggesting the virus may have leaked from a top-security Chinese laboratory.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday that Washington seemed infected by a “political virus” but that Beijing would nevertheless be open to an international effort to find the coronavirus source.
“Some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” Wang said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, located at the Great Hall Of The People, answers to the questions from the press located at the Media Center, during a video press conference on 24 May 2020 in Beijing, China. Photograph: Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images
Only locals will benefit from Spain’s open beaches for the time being. Travel between regions is still forbidden and foreigners arriving in Spain must quarantine for 14 days.
But the government plans to reopen the borders to foreign tourists in July. The lockdown, in force since mid-March, has been among the most severe in the world.
In the first few weeks, Spaniards could hardly set foot outside and their children were kept indoors. Many residents have become impatient over the government’s slow and cautious process of lifting the restrictions.
Thousands of people protested on Saturday by car in major Spanish cities at the call of the far-right Vox party.
Drivers honked their horns, waved Spanish flags and banged on pots and pans to denounce the management of the coronavirus crisis by the left-wing government of Pedro Sanchez.
First Spanish beaches to reopen as lockdown eases
Coronavirus lockdown measures will finally be eased for people in Madrid and Barcelona from Monday, while elsewhere in Spain the first beaches are due to reopen, AFP reports.
Residents in the two cities can now meet in groups of up to 10 people in their homes or on the terraces of bars and restaurants.
The gates of the capital’s parks will also be reopened, and major museums will be able to receive a limited number of visitors.
People walk at Barceloneta beach in Barcelona on 20 May 2020 during the hours that were reserved for the elderly. Photograph: Lluís Gené/AFP via Getty Images
The Madrid and Barcelona regions, the most populated in the country, and a large part of Castile-Leon in the northwest are moving into the first phase of Spain’s four-phase deconfinement programme, following what has been one of the strictest lockdowns in the world.
These regions have been on a slower deconfinement track as they bore the brunt of the pandemic in Spain, which has killed more than 28,700 people to date, one of the world’s highest tolls.
Everyone must continue to wear a mask, which is already compulsory in buildings and on public streets when it is not possible to keep a distance of two metres (six feet).
The rest of the country meanwhile – 22 million out of Spain’s 47 million inhabitants – is moving on to the second phase, which is expected to last until the end of June.
Restaurants may then reopen to a limited number of customers, and outings for walks or sports will no longer be limited to certain hours of the day.
Alison Rourke
Americans defy Covid-19 social distancing rules to celebrate Memorial Day holiday
Americans across the country appeared to abandon social distancing guidelines as they sunbathed on beaches and gathered for pool parties on Memorial Day weekend.
The long weekend traditionally signals the start of the US summer, and despite the country’s Covid-19 death toll approaching 100,000, many revellers dismissed any safety concerns to celebrate.
At the Lake of the Ozarks, made famous by the television series with the same name, hundreds gathered for a pool party to enjoy the warm spring weather. Bar tables installed in the pool were filled with drinks, as people danced and apparently forgot that Covid-19 existed.
Scott Pasmore
(@scottpasmoretv)No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks😳 #loto pic.twitter.com/Yrb4UNM64u
Missouri, where the Ozarks are located, has had 686 deaths from Covid-19.
Updated
Global cases pass 5.4m
There are currently 5,405,029 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The death toll stands at 345,036.
Both figures are likely to be higher, due to differing test rates, definitions and deliberate underreporting.
These are the ten worst-affected countries worldwide in terms of numbers of infections:
- US: 1,642,021
- Brazil: 363,211
- Russia: 344,481
- United Kingdom: 260,916
- Spain: 235,772
- Italy: 229,858
- France: 182,709
- Germany: 180,328
- Turkey: 156,827
- India: 138,536
Updated
Australian children return to shool
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, on Monday deployed hundreds of crowd control staff to enforce social distancing on public transport amid an expected commuter surge as schools and offices reopened and coronavirus cases fell.
Australia has reported just over 7,100 Covid-19 infections, including 102 deaths, well below figures reported by other developed countries.
People cross the road at Annandale Public School in Sydney, Australia, 25 May 2020. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA
With fewer than 20 new Covid-19 cases most days, Australian states are pressing ahead with a three-stage plan to remove most social restrictions imposed by July.
In New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, children returned to full-time face-to-face learning on Monday, allowing many parents to return to offices.
But officials warned locals to expect travel delays, with buses and trains operating at significantly reduced capacity due to distancing requirements. “We’ve got 1.2 million kids on the move,” NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance told Australia’s Channel 9.
“We just need everyone to be patient.”
With international borders likely to remain closed for months, Morrison is also pressing locals to begin holidays locally to help support Australia’s tourism sector.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken to the heads of the country’s six big banks to get their views on the state of the economy and the Covid-19 relief efforts, the Globe and Mail reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returns to Rideau Cottage following a daily news conference in Ottawa, Friday 22 May 2020. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock
This was Trudeau’s first one-on-one dialogue with the CEOs since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the report, which added that the calls took place around the Victoria Day long weekend.
The topics covered included adjustments required in relief efforts rolled out by the government, need for further support and pressures faced by clients of the banks, the report said, adding that the talks were ‘high-level check-ins rather than deep policy discussions’.
Updated
Brazil registers 15,813 new cases, 653 new deaths
Brazil, the world’s second-worst coronavirus hotspot behind the United States, registered 653 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,666, the Health Ministry said.
Brazil has 363,211 confirmed cases, up 15,813 from Saturday, the ministry said.
Physician Fabiano Simplicio attends a woman showing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, during a day of free health checks at the Unidos de Padre Miguel samba school headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 24 May 2020. Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images
New Zealand expected to further loosen lockdown restrictions
The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay reports:
New Zealand has reported another day of no new cases of Covid-19, with the news from health officials coming hours before Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister, is expected to announce further loosening of lockdown restrictions on the country.
After a week of “zero days” for the coronavirus, peppered with the odd day of one new case – most recently on Friday – New Zealand’s total number of confirmed instances of Covid-19 remains under 1,500.
People enjoy socialising with a drink outside at the bars in Auckland’s Wynard Quarter on 21 May 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images
97% of all confirmed and probable cases of the virus have recovered, health officials said in a statement on Monday. One person in New Zealand is in hospital with Covid-19. They are not in intensive care.
Ardern has drawn praise for a strict, swift lockdown of the country in late March, at a time when there were just over 200 cases and no deaths. 21 people have now died of the virus.
She has slowly relaxed restrictions on the country as new case numbers have fallen, and is expected to announce today that her Cabinet has agreed gatherings can be increased to more than 10 people.
She will also outline a plan to take the country from its current status of alert level 2 – out of a possible 4 – down to level 1. There is not currently a timeline in place for that to happen.
Mexican health officials on Sunday reported 2,764 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 215 deaths, bringing the totals to 68,620 and 7,394, respectively.
A sanitary team disinfects the Jamaica Market, which is schedualed to reopen on 25 May, in Mexico City, Mexico. Photograph: Jorge Nunez/EPA
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday that the novel coronavirus could cost as many as a million jobs in the country as many industries considered not essential remain shut, Reuters reports.
The Mexican economy was already in recession before the pandemic struck and different investment banks have forecast contractions as large as 9% for this year with only a gradual recovery next year.
“My prediction is that with coronavirus, a million jobs will be lost,” Lopez Obrador said in a televised speech. “But we will create two million new jobs.”
The job loss number matches the estimate by the country’s business coordinating council.
Lopez Obrador’s government repeatedly said it had the outbreak under control but since posted record numbers for new cases and deaths.
Earlier this week, his government issued guidelines for restarting operations in carmaking, mining and construction in Latin America’s second-largest economy that is linked to the United States and Canada through a free trade agreement.
In April, the finance ministry said in an annual economic report used to guide the budget that the economy could contract by as much as 3.9% this year, adding that the numbers incorporated a “drastic” impact from coronavirus.
Updated
