Spain in ‘stabilisation phase’ but US sees 2,000 deaths in a day

An inmate was found dead Saturday after a riot and a blaze swept through a Russian prison under a coronavirus lockdown in eastern Siberia, authorities said.

Trouble erupted at penal colony No 15 in Angarsk on Thursday with authorities blaming prisoners, while human rights activists said inmates self-harmed en masse to protest systematic mistreatment.

On Friday, the work yard of the colony was engulfed in flames as riot police cordoned off roads leading to the prison, turning away independent observers. The fire was extinguished by Saturday morning.

“When they cleared the debris, they found the body of an inmate,” said Irkutsk region rights ombudsman Viktor Ignatenko, quoted by Interfax news agency. “It was a violent death.”

The regional penal service issued a statement late Friday saying the situation is “under control” and investigators are on site after “inmates set several buildings in the work yard on fire”.

Armenia has extended the state of emergency by another 30 days. It declared the measures last month to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has so far infected nearly 1,000 people.

Armenia has closed educational institutions, halted all public transportation and barred foreigners from entering.

The former Soviet country, which has population of 3 million, has also said it will postpone a referendum on changes to the constitutional court until after the emergency.

The decision to extend the state of emergency, announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, is expected to be formally approved by parliament next week.

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has decided to extend a nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the Delhi state’s chief minister said on Saturday, without saying how long the extension would be.

Modi earlier in the day held a video conference call with several state ministers. Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, said Modi had “taken a correct decision to extend the lockdown”, without sharing further details.

India’s 21-day lockdown ends on Tuesday but several states had urged Modi to extend it further, even as concerns have risen that the shutdown has put millions of poor people out of work and forced an exodus of migrant workers from cities to villages.

In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power.

Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction.

Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

Thanks everyone who has been sending over emails with news tips and thoughts. It’s very much appreciated. I’ve also had a few cat pictures sent my way (also much appreciated). Please do continue to get in touch as I bring you the latest developments of the day.

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled major retailers and small shops worldwide, but it may also be making a dent in illicit business.

In Chicago, one of the most violent places in the US, drug arrests in the weeks since the city shut down are down by 42% compared with the same period last year.

Some criminal lawyers say part of the reason is that dealers have no choice but to wait out the economic slump.

“The feedback I’m getting is that they aren’t able to move, to sell anything anywhere,” said Joseph Lopez, a lawyer in Chicago who represents drug dealers.

Overall, Chicago’s crime has declined by 10% since the pandemic struck, a trend that is playing out globally. Fewer people are being killed and fewer robberies are taking place.

Still, law enforcement officials worry about a surge of unreported domestic violence, and also what will happen when restrictions are lifted or go on too long.

More than half of a group of severely ill coronavirus patients improved after receiving one of the experimental antiviral drug that Donald Trump offered to ship over for Boris Johnson.

However, the experimental tests on Remdesivir, published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, were carried out on a sample of just 53 patients, with no control group.

The results are the first for Remdesivir used on Covid-19 patients. The Gilead Sciences drug has shown promise against other coronaviruses in the past, and in lab tests against the one causing the current pandemic.

No drugs are currently approved for treating the disease. At least five large studies are testing Remdesivir, and the company also has given it to more than 1,700 patients on a case-by-case emergency basis.

Friday’s results were on 53 of those patients, aged 23 to 82 and hospitalised in the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan. Thirty-four of them were sick enough to require breathing machines.

All were given the drug through an IV for 10 days or as long as they tolerated it.

A health ministry spokesman said the total number of infections now stands at 70,029. One hundred and twenty five new deaths have also been reported in the Middle East’s worst affected country, pushing the total to 4,357.

Kiyanoosh Jahanpour said 3,987 patients were in critical condition; 251,703 suspected patients have so far been tested in Iran since the outbreak began.

France has decided to allow people outside to adopt a pet from animal shelters, despite strict home confinement measures.

The interior ministry announced on Saturday that “tolerance will be granted” for the mercy missions from Thursday after a call from the Animal Protection Society (SPA).

The society shut its 62 centres to the public in line with official decrees to limit contact three weeks ago.

But on Monday the SPA urged a re-think and warned of overcrowding with thousands of animals waiting for a new home.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was looking into reports of some Covid-19 patients testing positive again after initially testing negative for the disease while being considered for discharge.

South Korean officials on Friday reported 91 patients thought to be clear of the coronavirus had tested positive again. Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a briefing that the virus may have been “reactivated” rather than the patients being re-infected.

The Geneva-based WHO, asked about the report from Seoul, told Reuters in a brief statement: “We are aware of these reports of individuals who have tested negative for Covid-19 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and then after some days testing positive again.

“We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases. It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly.”