Curfew imposed in Greece – as it happened

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Here’s a quick recap of the latest developments over the past few hours

• Trump tests negative for virus pre-debate. The White House chief of staff says president Donald Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus ahead of Thursday night’s second and final presidential debate.
  
• EU’s flagship Covid-19 recovery cash will come late -diplomat. States hit hardest by the pandemic will have to wait longer for €750bn meant to help restart their economies, a senior diplomat said, as a fresh rise in infections shuts down business on the continent again.
• Supermarkets in Wales to sell only essentials during lockdown. They will not be allowed to sell items such as clothing and hardware during the Covid-19 firebreak lockdown, first minister Mark Drakeford said, to ensure a “level playing field” as many retailers will be forced to shut.
• Greece will impose a curfew in areas most affected by Covid-19, including Athens. The prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said movement would be banned from Saturday between 12.30am and 5am in locations deemed high-risk.
• The Canary Islands, the Maldives, Denmark and Mykonos were added to England’s travel corridor list. Travellers from those destinations will no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days from 4am on Sunday 25 October. The opposite is true for travellers arriving from Liechtenstein, which was removed from the list.
• France extended a night-time curfew to more regions, affecting two-thirds of the French population. The prime minister Jean Castex said the 9pm-6am curfew would be extended to 38 departments and some overseas territories for six weeks, starting from midnight on Friday.

Stormont ministers have vowed to formulate a new coronavirus strategy that will avoid the need for another lockdown in Northern Ireland.

First minister Arlene Foster said ramping up test and trace capacity, increasing hospital capacity, making businesses Covid-secure and introducing weekly testing regimes for key workers were among steps that could keep the region’s economy afloat in the absence of a vaccine.

“Obviously you could go down the road of having a circuit-breaker, then a break, then another circuit-breaker - we’re saying that we don’t think that is the way to proceed,” said the DUP leader.

Sinn Fein junior minister Declan Kearney said while nothing could be taken off the table, the executive was not envisaging another lockdown. He spoke of the need for a “huge cultural and behavioural shift” to increase compliance with basic anti-infection measures, so that a second round of severe steps could be avoided.

Northern Ireland is in the first week of a four-week circuit-break. Pubs and restaurants are closed, except for takeaway and deliveries, and schools are shut for a fortnight.

Five further Covid-19-linked deaths and 1,042 new cases were announced on Thursday. The death toll recorded by Stormont’s department of health now stands at 634.

There are currently 291 patients with Covid-19 being treated in hospital, 33 of whom are in intensive care.

Foster said while infection rates remained high, there was “early evidence” that recent restrictions were starting to work.

She said Stormont’s medical and scientific advisers were “optimistic” that case numbers will soon begin to fall. “There are early indications our shared efforts are turning the tide,” she said.

Brazil has recorded 33,862 further confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 497 deaths.

The country has registered more than 5.3 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 155,900, according to ministry data.

Supermarkets in Wales will not be allowed to sell items such as clothing and hardware during the Covid-19 firebreak lockdown, first minister Mark Drakeford has said.

Drakeford said it will be “made clear” to supermarkets they are only able to sell products that are classed as “essential goods”.

He said this would ensure a “level playing field” as many retailers will be forced to shut when the 17-day lockdown begins on Friday.

Shops selling food, off-licences and pharmacies can stay open but the likes of clothes stores will have to close.

Drakeford made the announcement at a Senedd committee in response to a question from Conservative MS Russell George who said it was “unfair” to force independent clothing and hardware retailers to close while similar goods were on sale in major supermarkets. Drakeford said:

In the first set of restrictions people were reasonably understanding of the fact that supermarkets didn’t close all the things that they may have needed to.

I don’t think that people will be as understanding this time and we will be making it clear to supermarkets that they are only able to open those parts of their business that provide essential goods to people and that will not include some of the things that Russell George mentioned which other people are prevented from selling.

So, we will make sure there is a more level playing field in those next two weeks.

From Friday all leisure and non-essential retail will be closed including clothes shops, furniture shops and car dealerships. A complete list is yet to be published.

Shops allowed to remain open include supermarkets and other food retailers, pharmacies, banks and post offices.

Under the law, firms conducting a business that provides a mixed set of services will be allowed to open if they cease conducting the service that must close.

George said:

It is deeply concerning that, given we are days away from the lockdown, we are still awaiting the publication of a full list of the types of businesses required to close, as well as guidance on business closures.

At a time of considerable uncertainty, it is totally unacceptable - whether intentionally or not - to create even more concern and anxiety, which is, sadly, what this Government is succeeding at.

The people and businesses of Wales deserve better than being left in the dark. For the sake of people’s jobs and livelihoods, I urge the Welsh Labour-led government to heed our calls and publish a list, without delay.

Irish police have arrested 11 Dublin protesters for breaching coronavirus regulations, as the Republic became the first EU nation to return to national lockdown.

A crowd of around 100 marched through central Dublin on Thursday evening under a banner reading “End the lockdown”, prompting a strong response from specialist riot police and dog units.

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A police spokesman said the demonstrators were informed that they were breaching Covid-19 regulations and “asked to disperse” but that 11 people were detained after “public disorder incidents” in the capital’s shopping district.

EU states hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic will have to wait longer for €750bn meant to help restart their economies, a senior diplomat said, as a fresh rise in Covid-19 infections shuts down business on the continent again.

Last July, EU leaders agreed a landmark stimulus to top up their €1tn joint budget for 2021-27 to revive economic growth ravaged by the pandemic. But the plan must still be ratified by the bloc’s parliament, where some lawmakers want more spending.

“It will not be possible anymore to have the EU budget and the recovery fund in place by 1 January,” said the EU diplomat in negotiations with lawmakers, Reuters reports.

The plan to lift Europe’s economy from its deepest-ever recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic must also be ratified by some member states’ national parliaments.

“Even if an agreement would be struck within the next 14 days... ratification in member states will take between two-and-a-half and three months. And this is the most positive scenario. So we are facing delays,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

If approved, the stimulus scheme would be a mix of repayable loans and grants, crucial to countries such as Spain or Italy where economies suffered badly from the pandemic but governments have little room to spend due to high debt.

While the money to help businesses climb out of Europe’s spring coronavirus lockdown is now not expected to start flowing before mid-2021, a second wave of infection is now pushing the continent into tighter restrictions on daily lives.

Just this week, France has extended curfews to around two thirds of its population and Spain is considering similar action, while Poland started turning its national soccer stadium in Warsaw into a field hospital.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro visited health minister Eduardo Pazuello, who has Covid-19, and made his point that the disease is easy to recover quickly from with the help of the controversial drug chloroquine.

The two men chatted and joked without wearing masks in Pazuello’s hotel room, seen in a video posted on social media by the president, who recovered from a bout of Covid-19 in July.

Bolsonaro, who has minimised the gravity of the coronavirus and opposed lockdown measures by governors and mayors in Brazil, used the meeting to advocate the early use of anti-malaria drug chloroquine, even though scientists say it is no cure and in clinical trials chloroquine and the related drug hydroxychloroquine have failed to show a benefit in treating Covid-19.

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“This is another concrete case of someone who took chloroquine and it worked,” Bolsonaro said. “This is an alternative, when doctors prescribe it.”

Pazuello, an active-duty army general, said he felt tired on Sunday, but went to work on Monday and felt worse that night, with headaches and fever. He was diagnosed with Covid-19 the next day.

With Pazuello, roughly half of Bolsonaro’s 23-member Cabinet have now caught Covid-19, besides the president and the first lady.

US president Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 ahead of the final presidential debate against Democratic nominee Joe Biden before the 3 November election, his chief of staff Mark Meadows said.

Trump was hospitalised with the virus days after his first debate with Biden. Participants were to have been tested for the virus before the 29 September debate.

The White House and Trump have repeatedly declined to say when the president last tested negative before that event.

A painting by British artist David Hockney, sold by the Royal Opera House in London to raise essentials funds for the venue, fetched nearly £13m at auction.

The painting, which depicts the iconic UK institution’s former chief David Webster, had been estimated to sell for between £11m ($14m, €12m) and £18m.

At an evening auction of post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s in London, the work - Portrait of Sir David Webster - went under the hammer for £12,865,000.

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The Royal Opera House announced earlier this month that it had been forced to sell the painting as it faces “the biggest crisis in our history” due to the coronavirus.

“The proceeds will be used to ensure that the world’s greatest artists can once more return to our stages,” its chief executive Alex Beard said at the time.

The world renowned opera house closed its Covent Garden doors in late March as Britain went into a months-long nationwide lockdown as Covid-19 spread across the country.

It reopened in June without live audiences, instead streaming performances online as part of a four-pronged recovery plan which includes redundancies and other cost-cutting.

It has also launched a fundraising campaign among audiences and supporters “to sustain our community of artists”.

But income has fallen by more than half since the pandemic began.

Under pressure from the cultural sector, the government recently released an aid package of £1.57bn ($2.03bn, €1.72bn) but many have branded it insufficient.

The Hockney painting sold depicts Webster - who ran the opera house from 1945 to 1970 - and was commissioned for the building in the 1970s.

The Canadian government and the province of Alberta are launching a pilot programme to test eligible returning travellers for Covid-19, allowing them to leave quarantine once they receive a negative result, Alberta premier Jason Kenney said.

The move could potentially bring relief to the country’s struggling airline and tourism industries, which have lobbied the federal government to ease travel restrictions and a strict 14-day quarantine rule.

Canadian citizens, permanent residents, foreign nationals allowed entry into Canada and essential workers with no symptoms can volunteer to get tested at the Calgary International Airport and one land border crossing starting on 2 November.

Such passengers can then leave quarantine once they receive a negative result, as long as they commit to getting a second test six or seven days after their arrival, participating in daily check-ins and following other public health measures.

Canada has had a mandatory quarantine for all travellers entering the country since March.

“Covid-19 is still here but we’ve come a long way since March,” Kenney said. “We must find ways to bring back safe travel if we’re ever going to get the economy firing again on all cylinders.”

He called the pilot programme “a sign of hope” for the travel industries.

WestJet Airlines, Canada’s number two airline, welcomed the announcement.

“We have been asking for a science-based approach based on multiple layers of testing to help safely ease the quarantine requirements,” said Ed Sims, WestJet president and chief executive.

The EU this week removed Canadians from their list of “safe” travellers as Covid-19 cases rose across the country.

Morocco has reported 4,151 new coronavirus infections, the largest one-day rise on record, with nearly half of the cases in economic powerhouse Casablanca.

The surge in cases came after Morocco eased some restrictive measures earlier this month, allowing children back to public schools in Casablanca and opening more mosques.

There are now 29,118 active cases in Morocco, which has a coronavirus fatality rate of 1.7% and a recovery rate of 82.7%, according to health ministry data.

The country has so far tested 3.13 million people, and has ordered a Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

The government extended an emergency decree to 10 November giving it leeway to restore restrictive measures in areas with high coronavirus infections.

On the back of the pandemic and drought, the government expects its economy to shrink by 5.8% this year.

Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, taking over the blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share

Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_

• Slovakia will impose a partial lockdown from Saturday to 1 November to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, the prime mister Igor Matovic said. People will still be allowed to leave for work, essential shopping and services and for trips to nature near home.
  
• Greece will impose a curfew in areas most affected by Covid-19, restricting movement in several areas of the country including Athens. The prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said movement would be banned from Saturday between 12.30am and 5am in locations deemed high-risk. It comes as two regions in northern Greece, Kozani and Kastoria, are at the highest risk and regional lockdowns have already been announced, followed by other provinces of elevated surveillance in northern Greece and the region of Attica.
• The Canary Islands, the Maldives, Denmark and Mykonos were added to England’s travel corridor list. Travellers from those destinations will no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days from 4am on Sunday 25 October. The opposite is true for travellers arriving from Liechtenstein, which was removed from the list.
• France extended a night-time curfew to more regions, affecting 46 million people - two-thirds of the French population - because of the rapid spread of the virus. The PM Jean Castex said the 9pm-6am curfew would be extended to 38 departments and some overseas territories for six weeks, starting from midnight on Friday. It comes six days after France declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Paris and eight other major cities after daily new infections reached record levels.
• Italy registered 16,079 new infections in 24 hours, its highest daily cases since outbreak began and up from the previous record of 15,199 posted on Wednesday. Lombardy, the hardest hit region, accounted for 4,125 of the new cases, while neighbouring Piedmont was the second-worst hit with 1,550 infections.
• The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, suggested that starting on Saturday, he would like all Poland to be placed under the highest level of restrictions short of a full lockdown. The deputy health minister warned earlier that the country could pass 10,000 new infections for the second day running, more than 12,100 cases and 170 new deaths have been announced.
• Portugal imposed a partial lockdown on three northern municipalities to contain a surge in coronavirus cases. From Friday, around 161,000 residents in the municipalities of Felgueiras, Lousada and Pacos de Ferreira will only be able to leave home for work, school or other essential activities such as buying food and medicine.
• Cyprus will make the wearing of face masks mandatory in all areas and impose a curfew in two districts that have had a steep rise in Covid-19 cases. The health minister Constantinos Ioannou said the use of masks will now be obligatory in all outdoor areas, except while exercising. He also announced an 11pm-5am curfew in the Limassol and Paphos districts, effective from Friday until 9 November.
• Germany issued travel warnings for popular ski regions in Austria, Italy and Switzerland, as it scrambles to contain the spread of the coronavirus as new infection numbers rose above 10,000 a day for the first time.
• The Czech government is likely to ask parliament to extend state of emergency powers that are currently due to run out on 3 November, the health minister Roman Prymula said.
• France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia all reported record daily highs in Covid-19 cases.

And that’s it from me for today! Thank you so, so much to everybody who got in touch throughout the day to share tips and stories from around the world - your contributions add to the reporting on this blog immensely. I’ll now be handing over to my colleague Jessica Murray. Take care.

Slovakia will impose a partial lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus infections, the prime mister, Igor Matovic, said on Thursday.

The lockdown will be imposed from 24 October until 1 November. People will still be allowed to leave for work, essential shopping and services, and for trips to nature near home.