Coronavirus latest: New York state hospital admissions at record low

An inquiry into Brazil’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis has heard allegations that a public servant was pressured to wave through a vaccine import deal and that President Jair Bolsonaro was alerted to potential irregularities. The Senate committee is examining how the administration has dealt with the pandemic.

Iceland has removed all domestic restrictions and will soon loosen testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers, owing to the country’s high level of vaccinations. Svandis Svavarsdóttir, health minister, said requirements for mask wearing and social distancing and limits on gatherings had been lifted.

Symptoms of adverse mental health conditions were more prevalent among US public health workers dedicating more time to Covid-19 response activities or working long hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers surveyed 26,174 staff between March 29 and April 16. 

Daily cases of coronavirus in Fiji have risen more than seven-fold since the beginning of the month, with a health minister blaming the surge on the highly transmissible Delta variant. Cases have skyrocketed in the last few weeks, rising from 37 on June 1 to 308 on June 24. Fourteen people have now died.

The Latitude music festival will be allowed to run at full capacity this summer after being included in the government’s event research programme. Latitude, founded in 2006, usually hosts about 35,000 people. It is scheduled to run from July 22 to 25, three days after all remaining lockdown restrictions are set to be dropped across England.

The internationalisation of luxury goods kept the sector afloat during the pandemic, according to Christie’s. In 2020, its online auctions included bidders from 90 countries that had not been previously represented, said Neda Whitney, senior vice-president of marketing. They accounted for 40 per cent of bidders.

Vaccine alliance Gavi has said it will provide another $775m to help lower-income countries to prepare to deliver jabs with planning, technical assistance and cold chain equipment, following an announcement that 1.9bn doses will be available by the end of the year. The funds will finance the Covax programme.

Athens is to give the green light after years of delay to an €8bn property plan so central to the Greek economy that it formed part of discussions with eurozone creditors. The Hellinikon real estate development – three times the size of Monaco – is seen as essential to helping Greece recover from the pandemic and recession.