Trump under fire for coronavirus statements

EPACopyright: EPA

We’re pausing our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic soon.

In case you missed them, here are some of today’s major developments from around the world:

• As President Donald Trump continued his recovery from Covid-19 in the White House, he was criticised by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and others for downplaying the severity of coronavirus
• Top US General Mark Milley and other military leaders went into self-quarantine after a senior Coast Guard official tested positive, deepening the coronavirus crisis in Washington
• The World Health Organization (WHO) warned of pandemic fatigue across Europe, urging countries to “move beyond biomedical science” to overcome Covid-19
• Meanwhile, the WHO’s chief said there was hope that an effective vaccine against the coronavirus will be ready by the end of this year
• Singapore is offering a one-off payment to encourage people to have babies during the coronavirus pandemic
• As cases rise in Europe, Poland announced a record number of daily fatalities, with 58 deaths in the past 24 hours
• Ireland is to re-introduce stricter coronavirus measures from Wednesday, including tighter limitations on gatherings and advising people to work from home unless absolutely necessary
• Bars and cafés in Paris closed for two weeks today as the city’s coronavirus alert reached its highest level.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

It's been another busy day of news in the UK. Here's what's been happening so far:

• Boris Johnson vowed to defeat Covid and build a better country over the next decade in his leader's speech to the Conservative conference, which happened online. He warned the UK could not return to normal after the pandemic, instead, it would be a "catalyst" for major change
• The number of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus has jumped by a quarter in England in a day. There were 478 people admitted to hospital on Sunday - the largest daily figure since early June - up from 386
• The UK recorded 76 more deaths of people, within 28 days of them testing positive for coronavirus. There were also 14,542 new cases recorded
• New coronavirus restrictions for Scotland will be announced on Wednesday - but it will not be another full lockdown, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. But she did not rule out local travel restrictions or the possible closure of pubs and restaurants in some areas
• Households could be banned from mixing in Nottingham after a surge in cases. Director of public health Alison Challenger said rules were likely to be similar to those already in place in parts of northern England
• A group of 400 freelance musicians has played outside Parliament to highlight the plight of the music industry, with a concurrent protest outside Birmingham's Symphony Hall.

Donald Trump has returned to the White House after being treated by medics for coronavirus. Before leaving Walter Reed medical centre for home, he first drove by his supporters, who had gathered outside. So what do people make of his actions?

BBCCopyright: BBC

Scott Pio, a 36-year-old software engineer who lives in Loudoun County, Virginia, was one of those who gathered outside of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to show their support for the president.

Pio applauded the president’s decision to go for a drive and does not think it was a risky move. The president, he says, ventured outside of the gates of the military hospital because he wanted “to show his supporters love for being out there".

Pio adds: “He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t really care about the people who are supporting him.”

BBCCopyright: BBC

Neil Melton, a construction-project manager who lives in Prairie Village, Kansas, says he appreciates the way Trump has been candid about his experience with coronavirus.

“He’s trying to be one-on-one with the American people, and he’s trying to show: ‘Hey, I’m just like you.’’”

At the same time, says Melton, he likes to see the president project strength – such as when he walked to the top of a White House staircase and stood at a balcony and took off his mask.

“People want to see that winning spirit,” says Melton. “They don’t want to live with this Covid lifestyle forever.”

Melton adds: “He wants to show some symbolism: ‘Hey, we can come out of this.’”

BBCCopyright: BBC

“After three days, he was saying: ‘You don’t need to be afraid of it,’” says Stevie Storck of Windsor, Pennsylvania.

She lives on a block with Trump signs (“Make Liberals Cry Again”), and she says people in her community do not always follow public-health guidelines.

People are sometimes cavalier about wearing masks in the post office and in shops, she says, and she is concerned they will be emboldened by the president’s actions.

“The misinformation he spread about the virus is a big danger to our community,” she says. “He’s just furthering that attitude of not taking it seriously.”

Issues with the England's contact tracing system have been reported since it started.

And now, one volunteer has told the BBC what it's been like on the ground.

Colin, a volunteer at the local authority centre in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, told The World at One: “Cases are still coming through to us too slowly, it is often five or six days after they have been tested, which is too long.“

He also said they are only speaking to those people the national system has failed to contact - meaning "we are not able to build up a complete picture, but we can bring a knowledge of the local geography, the businesses that work here, and the way that the community works".

And Colin added: "The problem is that the national system works on the basis of test results, so each positive test is treated as an isolated case, not collated into households.

“If you have got a household of maybe five people, three of whom have tested positive, each of those is going to get a phone call as a case in their own right.“

This, he said, led to one family receiving 75 separate calls - and disconnecting their phones.

BBCCopyright: BBC

I first met Monica Muñoz, who lost her father and grandfather to Covid-19, while reporting on how Latino-Americans have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Today she says she is not offended by Trump's Twitter advice this morning, advising people to "learn to live" with Covid-19 as they have with seasonal flu.

"Today marks three months since my dad passed away. People say that with time things get easier, but I’m not there yet," she says from her home in Texas.

"I agree with President Trump that we cannot be afraid of Covid-19. Life does not stop because of risks.

"We know more about the virus now than we did in the past several months. We have a personal responsibility to take necessary precautions to care for ourselves and protect others.

"We have to continuously inform ourselves about the virus. My dad would always say: Ni modo, la vida sigue (Oh well, life goes on)."

Watch our original piece on Monica's family here:

'We’re still waiting at home for them to come back'

Doctors from three intensive-care units in the Czech Republic have issued an emotional appeal to protect life from Covid-19 to “win this war”.

A Czech hospital shared the message of doctors Hynek Bartoš, Jiří Sagan and Aleš Chrdle in a social media post on Tuesday.

In it, the doctors expressed dismay at the recent resurgence of the virus, which “has returned with even greater potency than before”.

“We don't want to cause panic and horror, but you must listen to us,” the doctors wrote in the viral post.

“On our wards, we are fighting for the lives of people who - if they had not contracted the coronavirus - would have looked forward to another 10-20 years of quality life ahead of them.”

The doctors added that experts, the government and citizens need to do more “if we want to win this war”.

To citizens, they asked for respect for “the fact that Covid-19 is an insidious opponent”, adding that “frequent hand washing, masks and social distancing are the minimum you can do for yourself and others without major sacrifices”.

Coronavirus infections have been rising rapidly since the start of September in the Czech Republic. So far, the country has recorded 85,566 cases and 758 deaths.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

With the pandemic disrupting education for young people around the world, students at the University of Vienna have been given an unusual option to revise.

From this week, they are able to study in one of the city's biggest churches, the Votivkirche.

The Austrian Catholic Press Agency reported last week that the university had agreed to rent the church when it's not being used for religious services, offering students "a quiet place to study and stay between courses".

While the location might not be what students are used to, the church has wifi, heaters and toilets.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

We've heard today how daily hospital admissions are rising in the UK. Here are graphics showing the latest picture.

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Top US General Mark Milley, who oversees the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in quarantine after a military aide to President Trump tested positive for the coronavirus.

Several other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which runs the US military branches, are also self-isolating and working from home.

One of the five military aides that travels with the president - (it’s their job to carry the suitcase containing the nuclear launch codes known as “the football”) - tested positive earlier today.

The newly infected military aide is reportedly a member of the Coast Guard. The Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Charles Ray tested positive, according to a statement released today.

Over the weekend, one of Trump’s military valets also tested positive, US media reported on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the Washington Post confirmed New York Times reports that said White House housekeeping staff who tested positive for the virus weeks ago were told to use "discretion" when publicly discussing their diagnosis.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

A group of 400 freelance musicians has played outside Parliament to highlight the plight of the music industry during the pandemic.

Violinists Nicola Benedetti and Tasmin Little were among the performers who played a short segment of Mars, from Holst's The Planets, in central London.

They then held a two-minute silence, to put pressure on the government to give more support to self-employed artists.

There was also a protest outside Birmingham's Symphony Hall.

The events were organised by the Musicians Union, which represents more than 32,000 performers in the UK.

It says 70% of its members have lost more than three-quarters of their regular work during the lockdown, leaving many in financial hardship.

Freelance musicians, who make up 72% of the sector, are particularly affected. Almost half of them are not eligible for grants under the government's current self-employed income support scheme, the union says.

Read more here.

EPACopyright: EPA

President Trump was discharged from hospital on Monday night, allowing him to return to the White House in typically theatrical style. The president will continue his recovery there.

Here are some of the key moments in Trump’s illness so far:

Friday:

• In a tweet just before 01:00 (06:00 GMT), the president announced he and his wife Melania had tested positive for Covid-19
• The president was moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington

Saturday:

• Trump was given the steroid dexamethasone, which is normally reserved for serious cases of Covid-19, according to medical experts
• The president said he was “starting to feel good” in a tweeted video message from hospital

Sunday:

• Trump’s medical team said the president felt well, remained without a fever and could be discharged from hospital on Monday
• Trump briefly left the hospital by motorcade to wave from his car at supporters gathered outside

Monday:

• Trump's doctors said he was "not out of the woods yet", but was "safe" to complete treatment from home
• Before leaving, Trump tweeted that he will be "back on the campaign trail soon"

Monday evening:

• Trump flew home and removed his mask as he entered the White House to film a message to supporters
• “Don’t be afraid of it,” he said of the virus, as he appeared to take deeper breaths than usual

Tuesday:

• Trump tweeted "feeling great" and said he was looking forward to the next presidential debate on 15 October
• "I anticipate you will hear from him at some point today," said White House Director of Communications Alyssa Farah
• In a memo, White House physician Sean Conley said Trump "reports no symptoms" and "continues to do extremely well"

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has refused to back his deputy's call for Matt Hancock to "consider his position". Instead, he says the health secretary needs to "get on with the job".

Deputy party leader Angela Rayner had been expressing "frustration" when she called on Mr Hancock to quit, said Sir Keir.

"I think Angela was probably expressing a frustration that is deeply felt across the country," he told reporters.

"What I want is for the government to concentrate on the job in hand and for Matt Hancock and others to get on and deliver what they are promising."

Sir Keir also spoke about the test and trace scheme - see his comments in this video.

He said the prime minister should give a "frank acknowledgement there are real problems" with the government’s approach to dealing with coronavirus, claiming the testing regime “just isn’t working”.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Facebook has removed one of President Trump’s posts for breaching its rules on coronavirus misinformation.

In the post, President Trump falsely claimed that Covid-19 is less deadly than the seasonal flu.

“We remove incorrect information about the severity of Covid-19, and have now removed this post,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNBC.

Trump has routinely played down the threat of the virus, telling Americans on Monday they had nothing to fear, after he spent time in hospital with Covid-19.

The president shared a similar post about the flu to his Twitter account on Tuesday. The tweet remains accessible, but Twitter has flagged it for violating its rules about “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19”.

Experts say the mortality rate of Covid-19 it is thought to be far higher than that of most strains of the flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 22,000 people in the US died from the flu during the last flu season from late 2019 into 2020. By comparison, the coronavirus outbreak in the US has killed more than 210,000 people so far this year alone, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

The White House shot down a proposed rule from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would have required vaccines be tested on patients for at least two months before they can be approved for public use.

The rule would have effectively made it impossible for a vaccine to hit the market before the 3 November presidential election.

Trump has said a vaccine could be released any day now, and that it could be available before election day.

Polls show that growing numbers of Americans fear that a vaccine may be released too early under less-stringent "emergency use authorisation" and will not be deemed safe by medical experts.

According to a CNN poll released on Tuesday, 51% of Americans say they would receive a vaccine once one becomes available.

Seven former FDA commissioners last week penned a Washington Post article in which they attacked the Trump administration for “undermining the credibility” of the regulatory agency.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Joe Biden has warned of a vaccine being released too early and before it can be properly studied. The position has led Republicans to attack him as "anti-vax," - a term for people opposed to vaccinations.

The number of new Covid cases admitted to hospital has jumped by a quarter in England in a day.

There were 478 hospitalisations on Sunday, up from 386 the day before.

It is the largest daily figure since early June. There were no admissions in Northern Ireland, while the data for Scotland is not yet available for Sunday - and Wales counts cases differently.

There are now nearly 2,800 patients in hospital in England with Covid. At the peak, it topped 17,000.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

New York is forcing hundreds of schools in Queens and Brooklyn to shut for in-person teaching amid persistently high positive rates in nine neighbourhoods with large populations of Orthodox Jews.

The city's mayor had asked the governor for permission to close non-essential businesses as well, but he declined. According to the local media, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have a longstanding political feud.

On Monday, Cuomo threatened: "I have to say to the Orthodox community tomorrow, if you're not willing to live with these rules, then I'm going to close the synagogues."

The order affects about 200 private schools and 100 public schools for two weeks. It represents the first major reversal to the city's rollback of virus mitigation measures.

The UK coronavirus death figure is a sharp increase from Monday - when there were 19 deaths recorded, and 12,594 new cases.

And they come after a technical glitch which led to there being a high number of cases recorded over the weekend.

It emerged that nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus had gone unreported, delaying efforts to trace contacts of people who tested positive.

Public Health England said 15,841 cases between 25 September and 2 October were left out of the UK daily case figures.

They were then added to reach Saturday's figure of 12,872 new cases and Sunday's figure of 22,961.

PHE said all those who tested positive had been informed. But it means others in close contact with them were not.

Read more about the missing cases here.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Reporters have described the White House as a "ghost town" as many staff members have been told to work from home and journalists who were exposed to the infected press secretary isolate at home.

Trump is back after a highly-choreographed helicopter arrival on Monday evening. He has vowed to return to the campaign trail soon, but has no official events on his public schedule today.

He is considering making a nationally-televised address to the nation, according to reports, even as he continues to fight off illness caused by the coronavirus.

Trump's doctors and outside experts say there is still a risk that his condition can reverse and worsen, as he is only about five days out from his positive diagnosis.

He has downplayed his illness and the danger of the virus, comparing it on Tuesday to seasonal influenza, which experts say is far less lethal than Covid-19. That move has drawn criticism.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration rejected an offer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contact trace the Supreme Court event at the White House Rose Garden which caused several Republicans to become infected.