US coronavirus deaths ‘beginning to rise’

A long-expected upturn in US coronavirus deaths has begun, driven by fatalities in states in the south and west, according to data on the pandemic.

Researchers now expect deaths to rise for at least some weeks, but some think the count probably will not go up as dramatically as it did in the spring.

Elsewhere, South Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases have doubled in two weeks to a quarter of a million, while India has seen its biggest daily spike as its total passed 800,000. Inequality concerns are growing, as health workers seek better protection while some among the wealthy are hoarding equipment at home.

However wealth is no protection. Yesterday Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan — India’s most prominent star, and one of the highest paid actors in the world — has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus.

Globally more than 12 million people have been infected, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. More than half a million have died. In Australia, the beleaguered state of Victoria received some good news with health officials reporting 216 new cases in the past 24 hours, down from the record 288 the previous day. It hopes a new six-week lockdown in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city with a population of five million people, will curb the spread.

And in Latin America, where inequality is sharp and Brazil and Peru are among the world’s five most badly hit countries, the Covid-19 pandemic is sweeping through the continent’s leadership, with two more presidents and powerful officials testing positive in the past week.