UK police contradict No 10 claims over lockdown warning - as it happened

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Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now. I’ll be taking you through the latest global developments in the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan[at]theguardian.com.

I welcome your questions, comments, tips, and news.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps appeared visibly flustered when answering journalists’ questions on government aide Dominic Cummings’s lockdown breach in March.

Pressure has been mounting for the prime minister’s top adviser to resign or be fired after reports he breached lockdown rules to travel to a family home while sick with Covid-19:

2:52

24 May 202019.11 EDT

Summary: Boris Johnson faces calls to sack chief advisor over lockdown breach and govt "cover up"

Molly Blackall

I’m going to be handing the blog over to my colleagues in Australia. Thank you all for joining me, on what has been at times a nail-biting few hours. A special thanks to all those who got in touch with tips and pointers, it’s always much appreciated.

I hope you’re all able to stay safe and well, wherever you are in the world.

Before I go, here’s a quick summary of some of the key developments over the past few hours:

• New York’s daily death toll falls below 100 for first time since March, as Trump causes controversy with golfing trip.

• India to organise special trains for migrant workers to get at least 3.6 million people who have been stranded in the cities, often walking hundreds of miles, home.

• More than 40 infected a German religious gathering after reopening. Six were hospitalised after the service, which was was held on May 10, a few days after the reopening of places of worship in Germany.

• Spanish death toll falls overtakes France for first time in 10 days. After confirming several hundred deaths on Friday, Spain’s death toll stood at 28,678 on Saturday, 346 more than France. This is the first time the Spanish toll has overtaken the French for ten days, giving Spain the world’s fourth-highest death toll after the United States, Britain and Italy.

• Cyprus beaches reopen, but with social distancing measures in place and limits on water sports, as country records first day of zero new infections.

In the UK...

• New witnesses say UK chief advisor broke lockdown twice. After a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Mirror found police had spoken to Boris Johnson’s chief aide Dominic Cummings after he made a journey of more than 200 miles from London to Durham during lockdown when he had coronavirus symptoms, new findings suggested he made at least two trips from London to Durham, and travelled to tourist hotspots in the north east of England.

• Police contradict UK government claims over chief advisor. After Downing Street flatly denied that Cummings had any contact with police over his trip, Durham constabulary have confirmed that they did speak to Cummings over allegations that he broke the lockdown. This came as a serious blow to the UK government, who had said that “at no stage was [Cummings] or his family spoken to by the police about this matter”.
  

• Calls mount for Cummings to be sacked. The reports have led to a chorus of calls for Cummings to be sacked, including from the leaders of the Liberal Democrats and SNP, while Labour called for an urgent investigation.

Government officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have denied manipulating the country’s figures for coronavirus cases and deaths.

The controversy came as health officials announced the latest Covid-19 figures, reporting 63 deaths out 2,025 cases, mostly in the capital of Kinshasa. So far, 312 people have recovered.

Late on Friday, the government reported that a doctor and a hospital administrator had been arrested and later released over accusations of falsely declared coronavirus cases.

The arrests were made after “a controversy over a patient who died this month”, according to a government news bulletin.

The country’s Council of Ministers met on Friday after President Felix Tshisekedi asked the health minister to investigate rumours of fake patient deaths in connection with coronavirus.

“A negative media campaign is being waged against our country by some foreign media, with the aim of tarnishing its image in connection with the management of Covid-19,” the Council of Ministers said in the minutes of the meeting.

A former political advisor to prime minister John Major and Conservative leader William Hague has criticised the government’s handling of the Cummings controversy.

Daniel Finklestein, now a columnist and Conservative member of the House of Lords, tweeted that suggesting the chief aide was not in breach of lockdown restrictions “diminishes everyone”.

Finklestein suggested a better route was to apologise.

The vaccine being trialled at Oxford University has just a 50% chance of success, project leader Adrian Hill has told the Telegraph.

I’ll update you with more information as and when I get it...

“Muslims worldwide prepared to celebrate Eid under lockdown, with the strictest governments bringing in 24-hour curfews for the holiday – but across the world the slow march is continuing out of coronavirus quarantine.”

For an overview of key stories around the world, check out this global report from Emma Graham-Harrison:

For deeper analysis of the Dominic Cummings story, you can read this piece from my colleagues at the Observer:

The UK’s trace and track system will launch at the end of the week, Reuters are reporting, attributing the announcement to Downing Street.

The statement also said the public will be updated on coronavirus next week, with Reuters suggesting this will include schools and possibly non-essential retail.

Prime minister Johnson will hold a cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss easing lockdown.

“A test and trace system allows us to isolate new infections so that we can control the spread of this virus, which will be vital while coronavirus remains present in the UK,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

The Chinese government is sending a medical expert team to the Republic of the Congo to support the country’s coronavirus response, Chinese state media are reporting.

The British government have said they will “not waste their time” responding to what they describe as “inaccurate allegations” from “campaigning newspapers”.

However, they do not specify what they claim is inaccurate.