Still in the UK, and Archie Bland reports that police received dozens of reports of illegal gatherings over the weekend and began issuing the first fines after new rules in England penalising organisers of illegal raves came into force. Two organisers at a rave in Banwen, West Glamorgan, that attracted an estimated 3,000 people were handed fixed penalty notices for £10,000 on Sunday. Officers remained at the scene in to the night along with about 1,000 people, South Wales police said. Elsewhere, officers in the West Midlands, Essex, Norfolk and West Yorkshire dealt with reports of unlicensed music events and the flouting of lockdown restrictions at house and street parties, though most forces said they would seek to remind people of their responsibilities before imposing fines. The restrictions, in place since Friday, were prompted by repeated incidents of illegal raves during lockdown, which the home secretary, Priti Patel, said represented “the most serious breaches of social distancing restrictions”. Here’s Archie’s full story: Meanwhile, Piers Corbyn, the older brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, received a £10,000 fixed penalty under new coronavirus laws restricting public gatherings of more than 30 people. The weather forecaster and climate change denier was arrested and fined for his part in organising Saturday’s demonstration in central London against lockdown restrictions. He said he was arrested on the stage set up in Trafalgar Square at the end of the event, while protesters marched off down Whitehall. The 73-year-old told the Guardian: “After the rally had finished, I was saying goodbye to people … I was just looking around thinking I had better go now, and then they [the police] just grabbed me from behind. The United Kingdom recorded 1,715 daily confirmed cases on Sunday, the highest level since 4 June. It comes amid concerns about school children returning to classrooms this week for the first time since March. School leaders have told the Guardian of Covid-19 forcing some in England “to juggle pupil and financial safety”. “I cannot plan to have a cleaner on site if I have no idea if I will be able to claim against the fund, so I am balancing safety against financial stability,” Paul Gosling of Exeter Road community primary school in Devon. The government’s coronavirus schools fund, which was introduced to cover the exceptional costs associated with the pandemic, closed on 21 July. A notice on its website says there are plans to open a “second claims window” in the autumn. You can read our full story below: Still in the US and the governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, dished out some scathing criticism of President Trump’s handling of the pandemic on Sunday. “National threats require national leadership. It’s been 6 months without a national strategy on testing or mask mandate,” he tweeted. “Don’t test and if we can’t find the cases — they don’t exist. Great, then let’s cure cancer by stopping screenings. Absurd!” he tweeted, criticising President Trump’s assertion that the US only has more cases because it tests more. The Democratic governor said the state carried out more than 100,000 on Saturday and found 698 positive. “We reported over 100,000 tests yesterday. Highest number to date. Our infection rate remains under 1%. The takeaway? More tests does not equal more cases. And masks work,” he tweeted. Many health officials and at least 33 states have rejected the new Covid-19 testing guidance issued by the Trump administration last week that said those exposed to the virus and without symptoms may not need testing. Public health officials believe the United States needs to test more frequently to find asymptomatic carriers to slow the spread of the disease. The US is fast approaching six million infections, as cases grow in several Midwestern states. According to Johns Hopkins’ figures, cases stand at 5,992,401, with 183,020 deaths. Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have recently reported record one-day increases in new cases while Montana and Idaho are seeing record numbers of hospitalised patients. Many of the new cases in Iowa are in the counties that are home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, which are holding some in-person classes. Colleges and universities around the country have seen outbreaks after students returned to campus, forcing some to switch to online-only learning. Nationally, the numbers of new cases have declined, with the US Centers for Disease Control reporting the seven-day rolling average of new infections has dropped to 41,573. That’s down from the peak of 66,960 in late July. The seven-day average death toll stands at 928. It dropped under 1,000 deaths per day on 22 August. Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Alison Rourke. The United States is approaching six million coronavirus infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The milestone comes amid rising infection in some Midwestern states, including Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. In other coronavirus developments: The UK recorded 1,715 daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, the highest level since 4 June. Coronavirus cases in Colombia passed 600,000 on Sunday as deaths from the virus approach 19,400, ahead of the end to more than five months of lockdown. India set a global daily coronavirus record on Sunday, reporting 78,761 new infections. The US set the previous record on 17 July with 77,638 daily infections. In New Zealand, masks become mandatory from Monday on public transport and flights, as restriction levels in the biggest city of Auckland are reduced, following a cluster that ended the country’s more than 100-day run with no local transmission. Brazil registered 566 additional coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours and 16,158 new cases, the health ministry said on Sunday evening. Not all classrooms in France can safely reopen on Tuesday, the country’s education minister acknowledged on Sunday, as a persistent rise in coronavirus infections jeopardises the government’s push to get 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class this week. Jordan reported 73 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, its highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak, bringing its total infections to 1,966, with 15 deaths. Ghana will reopen air borders to international travel from 1 September after closing them in March to limit the spread of the virus.