Global Covid-19 cases pass 10m – as it happened

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Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now. I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours – please do get in touch with any news, tips, comments or questions of your own.

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Email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com

It’s time for me to hand over to my colleague Helen Sullivan in Sydney. Thanks for following along and writing in. I’ll leave you with a round-up of recent key developments:

• The coronavirus death toll has passed the grim milestone of half a million deaths. The number of people who have died in the outbreak stands at 500,321, according to John Hopkins University tracker. It’s important to note the actual number of deaths is likely to be significantly higher than the tally compiled from government figures.
  
• US health secretary Alex Azar has warned that “the window is closing” on the country’s chance to take action to effectively curb the coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases surpassed 2.5m.
• The mayor of Leicester has argued more coronavirus testing data is needed before deciding whether to implement a local lockdown in the UK city.
• Brazil has recorded 30,476 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 552 additional deaths, the health ministry said on Sunday.
• Sudan is extending a lockdown in the state of Khartoum aimed at curbing the spread of the new coronavirus by one week until 7 July, the government spokesman said on Sunday.
• The United Arab Emirates will not receive passengers coming from Pakistan as of 29 June until a special Covid-19 lab is set up to test them, the civil aviation authority has said.

Brazil recorded 30,476 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 552 additional deaths, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The country has now registered a total of 1,344,143 confirmed cases and 57,622 deaths.

The mayor of Leicester has argued more coronavirus testing data is needed before deciding whether to implement a local lockdown in the UK city.

Peter Soulsby said the information was “key to determining what intervention is needed” to respond to a recent spike in cases.

This follows a report that Leicester could be subject to Britain’s first local lockdown this week.

The city’s mayor said: “More testing and immediate access to the data is key to determining what intervention is needed. Whether that intervention is giving more advice or something more dramatic we don’t yet know.

“If it is decided that a local lockdown is needed the city council currently has no powers to implement this, and there would need to be extensive discussion around the area to be locked down, including whether this extends beyond the city boundaries.”

Soulsby and Leicester city council’s director of public health are due to meet with government officials on Monday morning to discuss the latest data.

The UK prime minister will attempt to kickstart the economy after Covid-19 with a decade-long schools rebuilding plan, PA Media reports.

Boris Johnson is expected to announce the spending plans on Tuesday as he lays the groundwork for the UK to spend its way out of the coronavirus downturn by undertaking a vast building programme. Part of the plans will include a 10-year undertaking to improve school facilities, along with sprucing up classrooms currently in use.

A £1bn cash injection will see construction work start on the first 50 projects as soon as September 2021, Downing Street said. Another £560m will go towards school repairs in this financial year while further education colleges will see £200m of the £1.5bn promised by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, at the spring budget to transform college estates over the next five years fast tracked so work can be brought forward.

However, Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Layla Moran called the announcement “spin over substance”, saying: “The funding is nowhere near the 7bn the National Audit Office has said is needed to repair our schools.”

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said the PM would have to ensure the programme reversed a “lost decade” of low investment in many regions.

The coronavirus death toll has passed the grim milestone of half a million deaths.

The number of people who have died in the outbreak stands at 500,108 according to John Hopkins University tracker.

The actual number of deaths is likely to be significantly higher than the tally compiled from government figures.

The US has the highest death toll at 125,747, followed by Brazil at 57,070. Some 43,634 people have died in the UK.

Sudan is extending a lockdown in the state of Khartoum aimed at curbing the spread of the new coronavirus by one week until 7 July, the government spokesman said on Sunday.

From 8 July there will be a gradual return to normal, though a night curfew will be imposed from 6 pm until 5 am, Faisal Salih told Reuters. Sudan has confirmed 9,258 cases of the coronavirus, including 572 deaths.

Authorities have extended the closure of Khartoum’s international airport until 12 July.

In England, parents and school leaders have criticised the government’s free school meals scheme for being hard to use, with many having difficulties buying food with the vouchers and others complaining about a helpline that costs £21 an hour.

While the government’s U-turn over extending free school meals in England over the summer holiday has been widely welcomed after the intervention of Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, many school leaders said their trust in the system has already collapsed.

Read Mattha Busby’s full report here.

Here’s a round-up of the key developments for those of you just joining us.

• The total number of people to test positive for Covid-19 worldwide has exceeded 10 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. It stands at 10,057,300, while the number of global deaths is at 499,967.
  
• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States has passed 2.5 million. More than 125,000 Americans have died of Covid-19, the highest known death toll from the disease in the world.
• The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has said the state will consider potential stay-at-home orders and suburban lockdowns to contain several coronavirus clusters in Melbourne, after another 49 cases of coronavirus were detected on Saturday – the highest daily number since April.
• Mask-wearing will be mandatory in certain areas of Iran as of next week and virus-hit provinces can reimpose restrictive measures, president Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.
• LGBT+ Brazilians are being disproportionately impacted by Covid-19 job losses, a survey has found. A report by advocacy group #VoteLGBT has found that one in four unemployed gay and trans Brazilians has lost their job recently during the coronavirus outbreak – almost double the nation’s overall rate.
• Sri Lanka officially lifted its nationwide lockdown on Sunday, after a selective curfew was reimposed a month ago during a surge in coronavirus infections. The island nation imposed the lockdown on March 20 and lifted it gradually over the past two months, although a nighttime curfew remained in place.

A quick reminder you can get in touch with me on Twitter @cleaskopeliti.

The United Arab Emirates will not receive passengers coming from Pakistan as of 29 June until a special Covid-19 lab is set up to test them, the civil aviation authority has said.

The decision also applies to transit flights originating from Pakistan, where the number of cases is rising rapidly, the General Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement carried on state media.

Dubai state carrier Emirates had already said it was suspending flights from Pakistan effective 24 June.

Polish president Andrzej Duda won the most votes in the first round of Poland’s presidential election on Sunday, an exit poll found, and will face a run-off vote in two weeks’ time against Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

Duda, an ally of the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS), got 41.8% of the vote, according to the exit poll, falling short of the 50% needed to claim victory in the first round.

Trzaskowski, who is standing for the largest opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform (PO) got 30.4% of votes, the poll showed.

US health secretary Alex Azar has warned that “the window is closing” on the country’s chance to take action to effectively curb the coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases surpassed 2.5m.

The Health and Human Services secretary pointed to a recent spike in infections, particularly in the south and said people have “to act responsibly” by social distancing and wearing face masks especially “in these hot zones”.

For a third consecutive day on Saturday, the number of confirmed US cases rose by more than 40,000. In Arizona, cases have risen by 267% so far in June and jumped by a record 3,857 cases on Sunday, the eighth record-breaking increase this month. Overall, US deaths from Covid-19 have surpassed 125,000 with more than 2.5m confirmed cases, according to compiled by Johns Hopkins University, far more than any other country in the world.

Bryan Armen Graham has more on the situation in the US here.

French prime minister Edouard Philippe claimed victory in the race to become mayor of Le Havre in Sunday’s municipal elections.

He won with 58.8% of the vote, according to TF1/LCI TV.

“We’re happy in Le Havre, we will celebrate this victory,” Philippe said.

France’s constitution allows Philippe to nominate a deputy to his mayoral seat while he remains prime minister, but his victory will raise questions over a possible government reshuffle. Philippe will meet with president Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning for a one-to-one meeting.

The result comes in municipal elections where amid persistent fears of coronavirus contagion, just over a third of voters had turned out by 5pm, three hours before polling stations close, according to the interior ministry.