France confirms 6,544 new infections; Spain reports 3,168 new daily cases – as it happened

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Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now. You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours. First and foremost:

If you’re just catching up, here’s a quick recap of the latest coronavirus developments over the last few hours:

• Gatherings of more than six people to be banned in England. Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday after the number of daily positive Covid-19 cases in the UK rose to almost 3,000.
  
• Tour de France director tests positive. The Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, has tested positive for coronavirus. However, all 166 remaining Tour de France riders were cleared to continue racing after Covid-19 tests.
• France records 6,544 new daily cases. The number of new, confirmed cases of Covid-19 in France rose by 6,544 over the last 24 hours to stand at a total of 335,524.
• Three migrant camps near Athens placed in quarantine as concerns mount over spread of virus. Three migrant camps near Athens were placed in quarantine on Tuesday as concerns mounted over the spread of Covid-19 among thousands of asylum seekers living in squalid conditions in Greece.
• Spain reports 3,168 new cases in past 24 hours. Spain’s health ministry reported 8,964 new Covid cases on Tuesday, 3,168 of them diagnosed over the past 24 hours.
• Coronavirus bill has cost UK government £210bn, spending watchdog says. The government response to the coronavirus pandemic is on track to cost £210bn for the first six months of the crisis, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has said.
• Hong Kong eases coronavirus curbs. Hong Kong will expand the size of public gatherings to four people and reopen more sports venues from Friday as the Asian financial hub relaxes strict curbs against a third wave of the coronavirus.
• School disruption could have century-long economic impact: OECD. Disruption to schooling stemming from the Covid-19 epidemic will cause a skill loss that could result in a 1.5% drop in global economic output for the rest of this century, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated.

That’s all from me for now, I’m now handing over to my colleague Helen Sullivan in Australia.

The Welsh government has added three more Greek islands to its quarantine list just hours before restrictions come into force.

From 4am on Wednesday, travellers arriving in Wales from Santorini, Serifos and Tinos will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Health minster Vaughan Gething said in a statement on Tuesday evening that he reviewed the latest assessments by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) before making the decision.

This follows an announcement made on Thursday in which travellers arriving from Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia as well as the Greek islands of Mykonos, Zakynthos, Lesvos, Paros, Antiparos and Crete were told to self isolate from 4am the following day.

This latest measure comes after the Department for Transport announced quarantine measures for travellers arriving in England from the named Greek islands – with the exception of Paros and Antiparos – on Monday.

This forms part of the government’s new regional approach to quarantine policy, in which islands can be added or removed from the quarantine list should infection rates differ from their mainland countries.

AstraZeneca has put a hold on the late-stage trial of its highly-anticipated Covid-19 vaccine candidate after a suspected serious adverse reaction in a study participant in the UK, health news website Stat News has reported.

It quoted an AstraZeneca spokesperson as saying in a statement that the “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data”.

Brazil has recorded 14,279 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as well as 504 deaths from the disease, the health ministry said.

Brazil has registered more than 4.1 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 127,464, according to ministry data.

8 Sept 202017.47 EDT

Owen Bowcott

A crown court judge has refused to extend the custody time limit for keeping a man in prison awaiting trial and accused the UK government of under-funding the criminal justice system during the pandemic.

Amid a growing backlog of cases, Judge Raynor at Woolwich crown court on Tuesday issued a highly critical 24 page ruling on the case of a 19-year-old who has already been held for almost a year. He also contrasted the Ministry of Justice’s “inadequate” efforts with the success of emergency courts in Spain and South Korea.

It is the second time in the past month that the same judge has warned that he cannot repeatedly order defendants to remain behind bars if the justice system is failing to bring them to trial.

At the weekend the government announced it would have to extend custody time limits to cope with delays caused by the partial shutdown of the courts during lockdown. The MoJ also pledged £80m, and an extra 1,600 court staff, and towards more emergency “Nightingale” courts.

Jordanian authorities confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in a refugee camp hosting Syrian refugees since the pandemic was first reported in the kingdom, the UN refugee agency has said.

The two Syrians, who were transferred to an isolation site, tested positive during random testing done by Jordanian health authorities in the Azraq camp, said Rula Amin, UNHCR spokeswoman for the Middle East and north Africa.

There have been several other infections of Syrian refugees living outside the camps, among around 2,500 cases in Jordan since the first was reported on 2 March, Amin said.

Most of the 655,000 United Nations-registered Syrian refugees live in urban centres.

A majority of Syrian refugees who fled their homeland since the start of the nearly decade long conflict in 2011 have remained in Jordan.

Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday as the government seeks to curb the rise in coronavirus cases.

Prime minister Boris Johnson will use a press conference on Wednesday to announce the change in the law after the number of daily positive Covid-19 cases in the UK rose to almost 3,000.

The legal limit on social gatherings will be reduced from 30 people to six. It will apply to gatherings indoors and outdoors – including private homes, as well as parks, pubs and restaurants.

Gatherings of more than six people will be allowed where the household or support bubble is larger than six, or where the gathering is for work or education purposes.

Exemptions will also apply for weddings, funerals and organised team sports in a Covid-secure way.

Johnson is expected to tell the press conference:

We need to act now to stop the virus spreading. So we are simplifying and strengthening the rules on social contact – making them easier to understand and for the police to enforce.

It is absolutely critical that people now abide by these rules and remember the basics – washing your hands, covering your face, keeping space from others, and getting a test if you have symptoms.

Downing Street said chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and the government had jointly agreed that urgent action was needed after the rise in coronavirus cases.

Some 2,420 new lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus were recorded in Britain as of 9am on Tuesday, following the 2,988 reported in the UK on Sunday, which was the largest daily figure since May.

The government hopes that the change to the law will make it easier for the police to identify and disperse illegal gatherings. Failure to comply could result in a £100 fine, which will double on each repeat offence up to £3,200.

Number 10 said Johnson held a virtual roundtable with police forces last week where officers expressed their desire for rules on social contact to be simplified.

The Police Federation of England and Wales urged the government to “play its part” through a public information campaign after “so many changes in legislation”.

The association’s national chairman John Apter said:

With the increase in confirmed Covid cases, it’s no surprise the government has made this announcement.

For policing, these constant changes to legislation are becoming the norm. The pressures on policing have increased significantly over recent months and this latest change will add to this pressure.

My colleagues will support the public through what is going to be a very difficult time. At all times they will also remind people that a breach of these regulations means breaking the law.

However, the government needs to play its part. With so many changes in legislation, an effective public information campaign must be a priority - as there’s been so much confusion for the public and many people don’t know exactly what the law says.

We would urge the public to do the right thing and comply with the new rules, to help protect each other and prevent the further spread of this deadly virus.

The CEOs of nine companies developing vaccines against Covid-19 have pledged to “uphold the integrity of the scientific process” amid concern Donald Trump will pressure regulators to approve a vaccine ahead of the presidential election in November.

“We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our ongoing commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for Covid-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles,” said the CEOs.

The statement was signed by AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer and Sanofi.

Specifically, the companies said they would only seek emergency authorisations for vaccines “after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA,” the Food and Drug Administration.

Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for president, has accused Trump of “undermining public confidence” by regularly raising the possibility a vaccine will be ready ahead of the election on 3 November.

Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, has also guaranteed that only science will decide when a vaccine is ready.

In theory, the FDA has to rely on independent expert committees that oversee clinical trials before they give their green light. The makers themselves must also apply for authorisation.

Among the companies, Moderna and Pfizer are in the most advanced stages of their trials, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked states to have distribution networks ready by 1 November.