Another day, another stock market high. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both registered record closing highs on Tuesday with technology leading the charge while economic data and moves toward stimulus talks in Washington helped fuel optimism. Zoom, the video conferencing site, rose 40% Asian markets are set to follow suit when they open around about now. There have been another eight new cases of the virus in mainland China up to midnight on Tuesday, the health ministry said on Wednesday morning. All of the new Covid-19 cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas, marking the 17th consecutive day with no local infection. The number of new asymptomatic cases fell to 19 from 34 a day earlier. China does not count symptomless infections as confirmed cases. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China now stands at 85,066, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634. US vaccine decision is a "real blow" The US refusal to cooperate on an international Covid-19 vaccine effort with what it calls the “corrupt” World Health Organisation and China has been met with despair by leading experts. The WHO has warned against “vaccine nationalism” that could prevent the distribution of a treatment around the world. It has set up a Covid-19 vaccines global access facility (Covax), along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to accelerate the development and testing of a vaccine and work toward distributing it equally. Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, told the Washington Post that the US not participating in the initiative was a “real blow”. The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health,. It’s about, are you a reliable partner or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself? You can read our full story here and we’ll keep you posted with more reaction. Deaths in Colombia pass 20,000 Confirmed deaths in Colombia due to Covid-19 passed 20,000 on Tuesday, the health ministry said in its daily update, while it has recorded more than 620,000 cases. The Andean country has so far reported 20,052 deaths and 624,069 cases of the novel coronavirus. Active cases stand at 133,155. This week Colombia ended its initial quarantine measures after nearly five months of national lockdowns. South America has been very badly affected by the pandemic, with Brazil the second worst hit country in the world after the United States. Brazil has recorded 42,659 new cases of coronavirus and 1,215 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday night. Brazil has registered a total 3,950,931 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 122,596. Good morning/afternoon/evening Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be keeping you updated with all the developments in the coronavirus from around the world for the next few hours. You can contact me on Twitter at @MartinFarrer or by email at martin.farrer@theguardian.com Here are the main points to get started: The Trump administration says it will not work with other countries to develop and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine. It said it did not want to be constrained by “multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China”. A leading UK oncologist who suggested that Covid-19 could “fizzle out” has been criticised by other experts. Prof Karol Sikora, dean of medicine at the University of Buckingham, made his “positive” prediction on BBC TV before other medics said the rapid rise in worldwide cases meant such an idea was “dangerous”. Hungary has closed its border again as infections continue to drive higher across Europe. The country has imposed tougher restrictions than during the spring lockdown and is now closed to almost everyone except Hungarian citizens and residents until at least next month. They must quarantine on arrival. Schools across Europe started to reopen on Tuesday after being closed for months. Tens of millions of pupils, most wearing face masks, have headed back to class in England, France, Belgium, Poland and Russia. Greece has delayed the reopening of schools by a week to 14 September because of a surge in infections. Holidaymakers returning to Wales from the Greek island of Z.ante are to be asked to quarantine for 14 days. Scotland has announced more local lockdowns, including limits on household gatherings. Also, people returning to Scotland from Greece will have to isolate. Brazil has almost 4 million cases. It recorded 42,659 new cases of coronavirus and 1,215 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday night and now has a total of 3,950,931 cases. The Australian state of Victoria has extended its state of emergency for another six months if it is needed. It recorded 90 cases on Tuesday and six deaths. The United Arab Emirates has recorded over 500 new Covid-19 infections for the second successive day, after a rise in cases in the Middle East financial hub.