Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis.

FOLLOW THE LIVE UPDATE | All the latest coronavirus and lockdown updates

Covid-19 infections in Europe are back to levels seen in March when the outbreak began its peak phase there, the head of the European Union's public health agency said, meanwhile the British government re-imposed local restrictions on parts of the Greater Manchester area in northern England, the latest in a series of abrupt reversals.

EUROPE

* Turkey is experiencing the second peak of its novel coronavirus outbreak, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

* Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vowed to carry on with political activities ahead of local elections in September after testing positive for Covid-19.

* The first shots of British drug maker AstraZeneca's potential Covid-19 vaccine could be on the market by the end of 2020, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said.

* European Union states could buy potential Covid-19 vaccines through a procurement scheme co-led by the World Health Organisation, the EU Commission said in what appears to be a change in position.

* Germany's national institute for infectious diseases on Wednesday added the Canary Islands to its list of risk regions, citing a high rate of new coronavirus infections in the Spanish autonomous region.

* Greece recorded its first coronavirus case in the overcrowded migrant camp of Moria on the island of Lesbos and the facility has been placed under a two-week quarantine.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Hong Kong said it would relax some restrictions but would cancel the annual firework display to mark China's national day on 1 October for a second year in a row.

* More than 40% of new cases in South Korea are being found in people over the age of 60, health authorities said.

* Japan is considering offering the coronavirus vaccine for free to all citizens, Kyodo news reported on Wednesday.

AMERICAS

* US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday that "serious differences" remain between Democrats and the White House over the coronavirus relief legislation.

* The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued a sweeping nationwide order temporarily halting millions of US renters from being evicted.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* South Africa's auditor general said that some of the money in its R500 billion Covid-19 relief package may have been fraudulently paid to improper beneficiaries.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The European health regulator said it was evaluating Taw Pharma's branded steroidal drug dexamethasone as a potential Covid-19 treatment.

* Treating critically ill patients with corticosteroid drugs reduces the risk of death by 20%, an analysis of seven international trials found, prompting the World Health Organisation to update its advice on treatment.

- Reuters

Britain is putting £500 million ($666 million) into trials of rapid Covid-19 tests and into population-testing for the disease, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Health minister Matt Hancock has said he hopes mass testing using faster Covid-19 tests can be rolled out toward the end of the year, adding that they are key to restoring freedoms after months of Covid-19 restrictions.

The funding will be used to expand existing trials of saliva tests and a rapid 20-minute test in southern England, while a new, community trial in Salford, northwest England, will assess the benefit of population-testing, under which people are regularly tested regardless of whether they have symptoms, so that any cases can be picked up before they have spread widely.

"Innovative new tests that are fast, accurate and easier to use will maximise the impact and scale of testing, helping us to get back to a more normal way of life," Hancock said.

Currently, official health service advice is only for citizens to get a Covid-19 test if they have symptoms, although more regular testing is available for certain professions, such as care workers.

People contacted by the health service's Test and Trace programme in England must self-isolate for 14 days if they have been a recent contact of a confirmed Covid-19 case, but they are not told to get a test unless they have symptoms.

Similarly, travellers from certain countries must enter a 14-day quarantine.

The guidance to self-isolate rather than get a test is because a negative test cannot preclude the possibility of getting symptoms later in the quarantine period, health officials say.

- Reuters

India reported another record daily jump of 83 883 coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking its tally to 3.85 million, just 100 000 behind Brazil, the world's second most affected nation, health ministry data showed.

Asia's worst-hit country has been posting the world's largest daily caseload every day for almost a month, although deaths remain relatively low.

The ministry said 1 043 people died from Covid-19, taking the toll to 67 376.

- Reuters

Half of all refugee children were already out of school before the coronavirus hit, and the UN cautioned on Thursday the pandemic risked deepening a crisis robbing millions of future prospects.

A new report from the UNHCR refugee agency warned that many refugee children, especially girls, who had attended school before the novel coronavirus swept the world would not be able to return.

"After everything they have endured, we cannot rob them of their futures by denying them an education today," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement, calling for action to support refugees' right to an education.

The report, using data from 12 countries that host more than half of the world's refugee children, found that more than 1.8 million of them - or a full 48% of all refugee children of school age - are out of school.

Attendance is particularly lacklustre in secondary school and higher.

Around 77% of the refugee children were enrolled in primary school, but only 31% attended secondary school and 3% were in higher education, the report showed.

While the UNHCR said a shift in methodology made it difficult to compare with data from previous years, it noted the statistics, dire as they look, actually represent a small improvement.

A 2019 report indicated that only one percent of refugees worldwide were in higher education.

- AFP

Joining a new company can be tough at the best of times, with bosses to impress, skills to learn and new colleagues to befriend.

But that task becomes a whole lot harder when the "onboarding" is done during a pandemic that has forced millions to work from home, leaving new hires to judge colleagues on their taste in curtains and conduct on Zoom.

The companies that get it right should have an expanded, grateful workforce, but get it wrong and new hires could find it hard to develop team spirit or a sense of belonging to the firm.

One young trader hired by a major European bank as the British lockdown began said remote working had made corporate culture even tougher to navigate.

"It's not exactly easy for your new boss to explain the specifics of office politics to you without putting their foot in it," she said, declining to be named due to company policy.

"It does feel like it's taking longer to feel loyalty to my new employer than it might have otherwise. I feel loyal to the team but not to the wider bank."

A new joiner at a different, London-based bank said his interviewers had appeared to study his bookshelves and photos while asking questions, and that he does not expect to meet his colleagues in person until next year, although he joined in May.

For Sam Thompson, who joined money saving and investment app MoneyBox, a lack of face-to-face contact did make some early interactions with colleagues feel more transactional. But he appreciated the lengths the company has gone to to make it work.

"We've been getting Deliveroo vouchers and we've been sitting around our computers while talking to one another and having lunch," he said. "It's probably the best induction into a company that I've ever had," said the Quality Assurance Engineer, who has had several jobs in six years in the industry.

Founded in 2016, MoneyBox has taken on 35 new hires during the lockdown to a total headcount of 135. It initially held off from filling roles requiring interaction with multiple teams, such as developers, Jack Johnstone, head of HR and talent, said, but overcame those fears.

Its approach mirrors those of major banks including Standard Chartered, Citi and Deutsche Bank, which have all rapidly redesigned their interview and orientation process.

Citi hired around 3 840 new staff in its Institutional Clients Group Operations & Technology between March and August.

- Reuters

Australia on Thursday reported the biggest one-day rise in Covid-19 cases in more than a week, denting optimism that a stringent lockdown of its second-largest city will soon be lifted.

Authorities said 127 cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the past 24 hours, up on the 109 cases recorded on Wednesday and the biggest one-day jump since 28 August.

The bulk of the cases were detected in Victoria state which reported 113 new cases in the past 24 hours, despite the state capital, Melbourne, nearing the end of a six-week lockdown.

As result, state authorities said Australia's second-largest city - home to five million people - may have to continue with restrictions beyond the planned 13 September end date.

"I can't rule out that we have to continue (with some) rules. I simply can't," state Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.

Victoria in August imposed a nightly curfew, tightened restrictions on people’s movement and ordered large parts of the local economy to close to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported 12 cases, a day after it posted its biggest one-day spike in new infections for two weeks.

Queensland state accounted for the remaining two cases.

Australia has now recorded more than 26 000 Covid-19 cases, while the death toll rose to 678 after a further 15 people in Victoria died.

- Reuters

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