A record 40.5% of all 18-year-olds in the UK have applied to go to university, with numbers rising significantly during lockdown, according to the university admissions service Ucas. It is the first time that more than four out of 10 students (40.5%) had applied by 30 June to go to university and the figures will offer some comfort to universities bracing themselves for the Covid-19 aftershock. At the same point in the admissions cycle last year, the figure was 38.9%, and Ucas points out that between mid-March and the end of June, when the pandemic was at its height in the UK, applications rose by 17%. Applications for nursing are up 15% year on year, and Ucas says that for the first time more than a quarter (25.4%) of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds had applied to university or college by 30 June, the final deadline to apply for up to five courses simultaneously. Nearly 3,000 miners infected in Chile Unions at Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said on Wednesday that nearly 3,000 workers had been infected with the coronavirus, prompting renewed calls for more safety measures at the company’s sprawling operations. Patricio Elgueta, president of the Federation of Copper Workers, an umbrella group for the company’s unions, told Reuters it had tallied 2,843 coronavirus infections among workers as of 5 July. Codelco did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the figure. Some unions and social groups have called on Codelco and other miners to halt operations around the mining hub of Calama, a desert city surrounded by some of Chile’s largest copper deposits. Chile will begin easing lockdown measures in two southern regions on Monday with 800,000 people able to resume some of their activities and those over 75 able to go out once a day. Restaurants, cinemas, theaters and cafes will be allowed to open at 25% capacity. Sporting activities can be carried out without an audience and can include up to 10 people in enclosed spaces and 50 in the open. The new measures will apply in the Los Ríos and Aysén regions in the countrys south. If a new outbreak occurs in either region, the government said tighter restrictions will be considered. The number of people with confirmed infections of the new coronavirus surpassed 300,000 in the South American country, the sixth highest figure in the world. Cases worldwide near 12 million The number of confirmed infections worldwide over the course of the pandemic so gar is nearing 12 million, according the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official government data, with 11,982,883 currently confirmed. The US, the worst-affected country worldwide in terms of number of cases and deaths, accounts for a third of the world’s cases, and just under one in four coronavirus-related deaths globally. There have been 547,722 deaths over the course of the pandemic so far. The true case and death figures are likely to be higher, due to delays in reporting, differing definitions and testing rates, and suspected underreporting in some countries. Here are the countries worldwide with more than 200,000 known infections: US: 3,040,957 (deaths: 132,095) Brazil: 1,713,160 (deaths: 67,964) India: 742,417 (deaths: 20,642) Russia: 699,749 (deaths: 10,650) Peru: 312,911 (deaths:11,133 ) Chile: 303,083 (deaths: 6,573) United Kingdom: 288,510 (deaths: 44,602) Mexico: 268,008 (deaths: 32,014) Spain: 252,513 (deaths: 28,396) Iran: 248,379 (deaths: 12,084) Italy: 242,149 (deaths: 34,914) Pakistan: 237,489 (deaths: 4,922) South Africa: 224,665 (deaths: 3,602) Saudi Arabia: 220,144 (deaths: 2,059) Turkey: 208,938 (deaths: 5,282) France: 206,072 (deaths: 29,936) Trump’s Tulsa rally ‘likely contributed’ to city’s surge in cases US President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday. Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday. Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike. “In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said. Trump’s Tulsa rally, his first since the coronavirus pandemic hit the US, attracted thousands of people from around the country. About 6,200 people gathered inside the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena far fewer than was expected. Dart had urged the campaign to consider pushing back the date of the rally, fearing a potential surge in the number of coronavirus cases. Although masks were provided to rally goers, there was no requirement that participants wear them, and most didn’t, AP reports. Australian city of Melbourne re-enters lockdown Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, has re-entered lockdown, as the state of Victoria struggles to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has seen daily cases rise by over 100 for several days. The curve has flattened, bent, and bounced back up. The jigsaw puzzles have all been completed, and children who were prepared to go along with the first seven-week lockdown being a fun adventure are now anxious. Holidays were cancelled, again. The return to lockdown, announced after Victoria recorded its highest daily increase in cases of the pandemic so far, was met with a mixture of resignation and relief; fury and sadness. The stage three stay-at-home orders that will apply across greater Melbourne and the Mitchell shire ban anyone from leaving their home except for essential shopping, work or school that cannot be done remotely, caregiving and medical appointments, and exercise. US cases rise by world record 60,000 in one day The US has reported the highest one-day rise in new coronavirus for any country since the start if the pandemic, with more than 60,000 new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official figures, as 35 states see growing numbers of new cases from last week. ICUs at 56 hospitals in Florida have reached capacity. California hospitalisations are at an all-time high, and Texas hospitalisations have broken state records for the tenth say in a row, according to the health department. Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest news from around the world for the next few hours. Please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email – helen.sullivan@theguardian.com – with news, questions, tips and suggestions. The US has reported the highest one-day rise in new coronavirus for any country since the start if the pandemic, with 60,000 new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official figures, as 35 states see growing numbers of new cases from last week. ICUs at 56 hospitals in Florida have reached capacity. California hospitalisations are at an all-time high, and Texas hospitalisations have broken state records for the tenth say in a row, according to the health department. Cases worldwide are nearing 12 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, with 11,982,883 currently confirmed. There have been 547,722 deaths over the course of the pandemic so far. Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, has re-entered lockdown, as the state of Victoria struggles to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has seen daily cases rise by over 100 for several days. The US has surpassed three million confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. It said there have been 131,960 deaths among the total of 3,022,899 cases. US President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said. Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. The rally drew thousands of people in June. Vice President Mike Pence urged schools to reopen despite the pandemic, echoing comments from Trump. During a White House coronavirus task force briefing at the US department of education, Pence said, “It’s time for us to get our kids back to school.” But many school officials are expressing doubts about their ability to safely reopen their doors. Trump threatened to withhold funding from schools that don’t reopen. The president also criticised the school reopening guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “very tough” and “expensive.” Jair Bolsonaro vetoed provisions of a law requiring government to provide drinking water, disinfectants and guaranteed hospital beds to indigenous communities amid the pandemic. The Brazilian President, who has tested positive for coronavirus, vetoed 16 parts of the law on efforts to address the coronavirus threat to the indigenous population, but still allowed for provisions on adequate testing, ambulance services and medical equipment. Argentina posted a daily record of cases. Argentina has posted a daily record of 3,604 confirmed cases of Covid-19.The sharp rise, the first time daily cases have surpassed 3,000, took the total number to 87,030, fivefold the number at the start of June, though still well below case loads in Brazil, Chile and Peru.Argentina’s center-left government imposed a strict lockdown in mid-March, which has been loosened in most of the country but was extended and reinforced last month in and around Buenos Aires due to a spike in cases.The country’s death toll from the pandemic stands at 1,694. The Australian city of Melbourne has begun a new lockdown after a surge of infections. Among the restrictions are that visits to other people’s homes are limited to if you are giving or receiving care or if you are in an “intimate personal relationship”. Italian authorities stopped 125 Bangladeshi people from entering the country today after they landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on a flight from Qatar. Yesterday, Italy suspended flights from Bangladesh for a week after 36 people who arrived in Rome on board a flight the day before tested positive for coronavirus. The number of coronavirus cases has passed the 301,000 mark in Chile, according to the Johns-Hopkins University tracker. The figure is currently 301,019, which is the sixth highest in the world after the US, Brazil, India, Russia, and Peru. Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the European Union not to waste time in agreeing a recovery plan to pull the continent out of a historic recession caused by the coronavirus lockdown. Merkel said she hoped to see a deal before the summer break on a proposed €750bn recovery plan. Austria’s government has announced travel restrictions for fellow EU members Romania and Bulgaria after a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in both countries. Greece, which like Austria, has had a low number of infections and deaths compared with other European nations, has also expressed concern about imported cases from the Balkans. Iran’s coronavirus death toll exceeded 12,000 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, with 153 deaths in the past 24 hours, amid a sharp rise in the number of daily infections and deaths in the past week as lockdown measures have eased.