Coronavirus live news: Sweden's cases pass 70,000; Tokyo confirms highest new case tally in two months

The father of the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has flown to Greece, despite current advice for British nationals to avoid all but essential international travel.

Greek government officials confirmed on Thursday that author Stanley Johnson had arrived, likely via Bulgaria, in the northern region of Pelion where he has a holiday home, but said there was nothing untoward in his arrival.

Photos on Stanley Johnson’s Instagram account showed him wearing a mask in what appeared to be an airport. Two videos on the same account showed an aircraft coming in to land.

“Arriving in Athens this evening!,” the caption said.

Stanley Johnson was quoted on Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper website as saying he was in Pelion “on essential business trying to Covid-proof my property in view of the upcoming letting season”.

Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said: “We have banned flights, direct flights from UK and Sweden until 15 June. If a citizen from these countries arrives in a different way to Greece, of course they can come.”

Boris Johnson’s spokesman declined to comment on the specific case but when asked whether the prime minister thought the public should follow travel advice, he said: “In relation to Foreign Office advice, that is what it is, it’s advice and it is for individuals to make the judgments themselves.”

The US trade deficit widened in May as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed exports to their lowest level since 2009, strengthening expectations the economy will contract in the second quarter at its steepest pace since the Great Depression.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday the trade deficit increased 9.7% to $54.6bn.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade gap would widen to $53bn in May.

Exports tumbled 4.4% to $144.5bn, the lowest since November 2009. Goods exports plunged 5.8% to $90.0bn, the lowest since August 2009.

The economy contracted at a 5.0% rate in the first quarter, the sharpest decline since the 2007-2009 recession.

Sweden’s number of confirmed Covid-19 crossed the 70,000 mark on Thursday, while deaths rose by 41 to 5,411, health agency statistics showed.

Sweden recorded 947 new cases to put the total at 70,639. Expanded testing has seen daily new cases soar over the past month, eclipsing rates elsewhere in the European Union, but deaths and hospitalisations have tumbled from peaks in April.

The country adopted a softer approach to fighting the new coronavirus, spurning a hard lockdown, which put its pandemic strategy in the international spotlight.

Sweden’s death toll has been many times higher relative to the size of the population than that of its Nordic neighbours, where authorities took a stricter approach, but lower than in some countries that locked down, such as Britain, Italy and Spain.

The end of the coronavirus lockdown in Spain failed to bring a surge in employment as government data showed that the 900,000 jobs lost at the pandemic’s peak had not been regained, while the tourism sector has not yet returned to regular activity, Reuters reports.

The number of people in Spain registering as jobless rose by 0.13% in June from a month earlier, or by 5,017 people, leaving 3.86 million people out of work, Labour Ministry data showed on Thursday.

The number of registered jobless people had risen in May by 0.68%. Overall there were 847,197 more jobless people in June than in the same month a year ago.

A net 99,906 jobs were lost in June.

The hospitality industry is the sector that has lost the most jobs yearly, with almost 300,000 jobs shed.

The opening of bars and restaurants in June helped 20,000 people to find employment in the sector, but it was insufficient to compensate for the massive loss of jobs at the peak of the pandemic.

No tourists travelled to Spain in May for second month in a row because of the lockdown, dragging income by more than 60% in the first five months of the year, the National Statistics Office (INE) said on Thursday.

More on this story here.

Wearing face coverings will become mandatory in shops in Scotland from 10 July, PA Media reports.

At her daily briefing, first minister Nicola Sturgeon also confirmed the 2-metre rule would be retained in the country with exceptions for some sectors, including hospitality, from the end of next week.

More on this story on the UK coronavirus and politics live blog.

African countries have lost almost $55bn in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the African Union commissioner for infrastructure and energy said on Thursday.

Amani Abou-Zeid told a news conference that due to the prolonged lockdown and border closures to curb the spread of the virus, the air industry will be greatly impacted.

“Some airlines in the continent will not make it post-Covid-19,” she said.

It comes as Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Covid-19 was “the heaviest economic hit on sub-Saharan Africa since the 1970’s” and called for a unified international response to support the continent.

Amsterdam’s red light district has reopened with new rules in place for sex workers and clients to curb the spread of infection.

The coronavirus shutdown saw brothels close in mid-March and the Netherlands originally intended to keep them shut until September, but the date was brought forward as coronavirus cases fell.

As with Dutch hairdressers and masseurs who have also started to resume business, sex workers are encouraged to verify that their clients don’t have Covid-19 symptoms.

Precautions will include checking whether the client or any members of their household feel unwell or have symptoms, avoiding face-to-face (i.e. no kissing), and disinfecting everything touched by the client after they leave.

Felicia Anna, chairwoman of the Red Light United trade union, said many sex workers had run into financial trouble during the lockdown and were glad to be able to go back to work.

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Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday the government would consider increasing budget spending by 1.8 trillion roubles ($25.6bn) to fight the coronavirus and support the economy, Reuters reports.

Some economists have said Russia’s regulations surrounding budget spending have hindered its ability to adequately fund anti-crisis measures.

Germany will keep reviewing travel advice for Turkey, foreign minister Heiko Maas told his Turkish counterpart on Thursday, saying any decisions were coordinated with the EU and based on reliable data on infections and the health situation.

Turkey is disappointed that the EU has excluded it, along with the United States and others, from a list of countries recommended for non-essential travel and has called on it to correct its “mistake”.

Speaking to reporters after talks with the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Berlin, Maas said reviews of the situation took place every two weeks.

“Further steps will follow,” said Maas, adding that family visits were excluded from the travel warning. This is crucial for the large Turkish community but Germany is also an important source of tourism for Turkey.

“This is about how we guarantee safe tourism in the corona crisis,” said Maas, welcoming the latest information on the situation given him by Cavusoglu, adding, however, that could not prejudge future decisions.

“After evaluating the situation based on the objective criteria, Turkey should be listed within the safe and secure countries,” said Cavusoglu.