In case you missed it – here is the latest on President Vladimir Putin saying on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move Moscow likened to its success in the Cold War-era space race, Reuters reports. The vaccine, which will be called “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has however not yet completed its final trials. The WHO said it had not received enough information to evaluate the Russian vaccine. The Pan American Health Organization said the vaccine should not be introduced in Brazil, as has been reportedly planned, until phase 2 and 3 trials are completed. Moscow’s decision to grant approval before then has raised concerns among some experts. Only about 10% of clinical trials are successful and some scientists fear Moscow may be putting national prestige before safety. Putin and other officials have said it is completely safe. The president said one of his daughters had taken it as a volunteer and felt good afterwards. “I know that it works quite effectively, forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the necessary checks,” Putin told a government meeting. The Russian business conglomerate Sistema has said it expects to put the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, into mass production by the end of the year. New Zealand PM says it"s too early to say whether election will be postponed Charlotte Graham-McLay Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, says it’s too early to say whether the country’s 19 September election date will need to be postponed. Ardern deferred the dissolution of Parliament, due to happen on Wednesday NZT, to Monday instead, due to a fresh outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the country. Dissolving Parliament means Cabinet can still make decisions but the full Parliament cannot be convened. Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city is in a strict lockdown for three days in an attempt to trace the source of the latest outbreak, at which point Ardern’s government will make its decision about whether the dissolution of Parliament should be deferred further. But she won’t be drawn on any delay to the election. Ardern said Parliament had some flexibility to hold a vote as late as 21 November. An election delayed beyond that would be more complicated. Lebanon sees record cases after blast Lebanon on Tuesday announced a record daily number of over 300 Covid-19 infections and seven deaths from the virus as the country grapples with the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion that rocked the capital and overwhelmed hospitals, Reuters reports. The country’s tally now stands at 7,121 Covid-19 cases and 87 deaths since February, according to health ministry data. Even before the blast there had been a recent surge in infections. The 4 August explosion killed at least 171 people, injured some 6,000 and damaged swathes of the capital, leaving some 300,000 without habitable housing. Hospitals, many of which were damaged and their staff injured, were flooded with wounded. World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jarasevic told a United Nations briefing in Geneva on Tuesday that the displacement of so many people risks accelerating the spread of COVID-19. The WHO on 7 August issued an appeal for $15 million to cover emergency health needs in Lebanon, where the healthcare sector had already been strained by shortages of medical supplies and medicine due to a deep financial crisis. “The emergency in Beirut has caused many Covid-19 precautionary measures to be relaxed, raising the prospects of even higher transmission rates and a large caseload in coming weeks,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an 10 August report. It said at least 15 medical facilities, including three major hospitals, sustained partial or heavy structural damage from the blast. An assessment of 55 primary healthcare centres in Beirut showed only 47% could still provide full routine services. New Zealand PM defers dissolution of parliament due to outbreak Charlotte Graham-McLay Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, has deferred the dissolution of the country’s Parliament until Monday due to the Covid-19 outbreak, with a reassessment due then. Parliament was due to dissolve today at 11am ahead of an election scheduled for 19 September. When Parliament is dissolved, Cabinet retains a mandate to make decisions, but it means the full Parliament cannot be convened. Officials are hoping a strict lockdown of the largest city, Auckland, for the next three days will isolate the source of the new outbreak. Charlotte Graham-McLay Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, has urged New Zealanders who are asked to take a Covid-19 swab to “please get tested”. Ardern is giving a news conference following the news last night that New Zealand has recorded its first cases of Covid-19 within the community in more than 100 days. She announced testing stations for the virus established around Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, where the four new cases were uncovered. Officials were “prepared to test tens of thousands of people in the coming days” the country’s top health official, Ashley Bloomfield said. It is not known where the cases originated from, so officials are relying on increased testing to trace the source. The news has prompted a strict lockdown of Auckland, and lighter restrictions imposed on the rest of the country. New Zealand Covid-19 case travelled to another city over weekend Charlotte Graham-McLay Health officials in New Zealand say one of the country’s new cases of Covid-19 – the first diagnosed in the community in 102 days – was diagnosed in a woman who had traveled to another New Zealand city while she had symptoms. The woman, who lives in Auckland – New Zealand’s largest city – traveled to Rotorua, 228km away, at the weekend, said Ashley Bloomfield, the country’s top health official. The four new cases have prompted a strict lockdown of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. They are all among the same household. The family is still in isolation at home, and officials are deciding whether they will be transferred to a managed isolation facility in Auckland. The cases are a mystery because there had been no known community transmission in New Zealand, and they did not have apparent connections to the country’s border facilities, where travelers returning to New Zealand are in quarantine. Australia suffers deadliest day of pandemic so far with 21 deaths The Australian state of Victoria has recorded 410 new coronavirus cases and a record (for the state and the country as a whole) 21 deaths in the last 24 hours. The previous highest death toll was yesterday, with 19 deaths confirmed. Charlotte Graham-McLay One of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chains has urged calm after shoppers in Auckland flocked to stores on Monday night ahead of an impending lockdown of the country’s largest city. Images and videos on social media showed huge queues outside stores and shoppers – many not wearing masks, as is now advised, and not physically distanced from each other – jostling to enter. The chain Countdown said in a statement that it would impose item limits for shoppers, physical distancing measures, and extra cleaning. “We’d echo the Prime Minister’s comments that there is no need at all for anyone to stock up - we have plenty of food and supplies for everyone and we want everyone to shop as they usually would and consider others,” said Kiri Hannafin, a spokesperson. Summary 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 from around the world for the next few hours. You can get in touch with suggestions, questions, tips and news from your part of the world on Twitter @helenrsullivan and via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com. A week after a massive explosion in Beirut left more than 200 people dead and 300,000 unable to return to their homes, Lebanon has recorded its highest daily coronavirus case rise, at more than 300. Meanwhile in New Zealand, which had celebrated more than 100 days without community transmission, four new cases have been discovered among a family in Auckland, the country’s largest city. New Zealand’s government has responded by introducing Alert level 3 restrictions – people are encouraged to work from home and bars and restaurants are closed except for takeaways – in Auckland and Alert level 2 in the rest of the country, where people can go to work and school, but gatherings may not exceed 100 people. Here are the key developments from the last few hours: Lebanon registered a record daily number of coronavirus cases. As the country grapples with the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion that has rocked the political sphere and overwhelmed hospitals, Lebanon’s totals now stand at 7,121 cases and 87 deaths since February, according to health ministry data. Even before the blast there had been a recent surge in infections. New Zealand’s largest city is to go into lockdown. Restrictions were announced for Auckland after the first community transmission in more than 100 days was detected. All restrictions on daily life had eased in early June when the last remaining Covid-19 case recorded in the community recovered. Auckland residents were told that from midday Wednesday they were not to gather in large numbers and to work from home if possible. The rest of New Zealand will have measures imposed too. The Netherlands plans to introduce mandatory home quarantine for people identified by local authorities as having been in close contact with somebody infected with coronavirus, and for travellers returning from high-risk countries. The Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge said in a letter to lawmakers that mandatory quarantine could be imposed if people refuse to isolate voluntarily. It comes amid rising infection rates in the Netherlands and an unwillingness among some people to adhere to social distancing measures and cooperate with contact tracing. Germany has extended a partial travel warning for Spain to the capital of Madrid and the Basque region amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The foreign ministry said it was warning against any unnecessary tourist trips to both regions because of a rising number of new infections and local restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the virus. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said his country has granted the first regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine. The announcement came after less than two months of human testing. The country’s sovereign wealth fund said the vaccine would be named Sputnik V, in a reference to the cold war space race. The news from Moscow was greeted with some scepticism. Experts highlighted the lack of proper phase-3 testing, with one warning that “collateral damage from release of any vaccine that was less than safe and effective would exacerbate our current problems insurmountably”. The WHO said it had not received enough information to evaluate the Russian vaccine. The Pan American Health Organization said the vaccine should not be introduced in Brazil, as has been reportedly planned, until phase 2 and 3 trials are completed.