More from that Stat News report: Johnson & Johnson emphasized that so-called adverse events — illnesses, accidents, and other bad medical outcomes — are an expected part of a clinical study, and also emphasized the difference between a study pause and a clinical hold, which is a formal regulatory action that can last much longer. The vaccine study is not currently under a clinical hold. J&J said that while it normally communicates clinical holds to the public, it does not usually inform the public of study pauses. The data and safety monitoring board, or DSMB, convened late Monday to review the case. J&J said that in cases like this ‘it is not always immediately apparent’ whether the participant who experienced an adverse event received a study treatment or a placebo. Though clinical trial pauses are not uncommon — and in some cases last only a few days — they are generating outsized attention in the race to test vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. 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Johnson & Johnson vaccine trial paused – report Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine trial has been paused, Stat News reports, due to “an unexplained illness in a study participant.” According to Stat news: A document sent to outside researchers running the 60,000-patient clinical trial states that a ‘pausing rule’ has been met, that the online system used to enrol patients in the study has been closed, and that the data and safety monitoring board — an independent committee that watches over the safety of patients in the clinical trial — would be convened. The document was obtained by STAT. Contacted by STAT, J&J confirmed the study pause, saying it was due to ‘an unexplained illness in a study participant.’ The company declined to provide further details. ‘We must respect this participant’s privacy. We’re also learning more about this participant’s illness, and it’s important to have all the facts before we share additional information,’ the company said in a statement. When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday that the American economists Paul Milgrom and Bob Wilson had won the Nobel prize for economics, both men were fast asleep in their beds in Stanford, California. Eventually the committee managed to get hold of Wilson to tell him the news. But Milgrom was asleep and nobody could contact him. So it was up to Wilson – who happens to be Milgrom’s neighbour – to go to the home of his former student in his pyjamas to relate the happy tidings, that he had won the prize worth US$1m. In the recording, Wilson and his wife, Mary, walk up to the door, Mary clutching her phone. “Paul,” says Wilson, ringing the intercom, and knocking several times. Eventually Milgrom answers: “Hello?”. “Paul, it’s Bob Wilson. You’ve won the Nobel prize,” he says, with economy and restraint. “And so they’re trying to reach you. But they cannot. They don’t seem to have a number for you.” New Zealand sees 18th day in a row with no new community cases Charlotte Graham-McLay reports: New Zealand has recorded its 18th consecutive day of no new cases of Covid-19 spread in the community, health officials said on Tuesday. All 39 active cases of the virus in New Zealand were diagnosed in travelers returning to the country, who remain in quarantine facilities run by the government. One imported case was reported on Tuesday, in a traveler who had entered New Zealand from the United States on 8 October. All returnees must stay for two weeks at the government-run isolation facilities, during which they are tested twice for Covid-19. It is the country’s second streak of being free from the community spread of Covid-19. New Zealand reported just over 100 days of no domestic transmission of the virus, which ended with an outbreak in the largest city, Auckland, in August. The last of the coronavirus restrictions on Auckland were removed last week; only strict border controls remain in place. New Zealand has recorded 1,516 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 25 people have died. No one is currently in hospital with the virus. Peru has opened the ruins of Machu Picchu for a single Japanese tourist after he waited almost seven months to enter the Inca citadel, while trapped in the Andean country during the coronavirus outbreak. Jesse Takayama’s entry into the ruins came thanks to a special request he submitted while stranded since mid-March in the town of Aguas Calientes, on the slopes of the mountains near the site, said the minister of culture, Alejandro Neyra, on Monday. “He had come to Peru with the dream of being able to enter,” Neyra said in a virtual press conference. “The Japanese citizen has entered together with our head of the park so that he can do this before returning to his country”: Here is a video of Trump’s coronavirus boast: Maanvi Singh At Trump’s rally in Florida, the US president is boasting about his recovery from Covid-19. One again, he has made the false claim that he is “immune” to the virus “I feel powerful,” he said. “I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women and everybody – I’ll give a big, fat kiss.” The president has been eager to appear energetic after a recent hospitalisation following his coronavirus diagnosis, repeatedly boasting that he’s “young” at 74 and even claiming, on Fox News that he is a “perfect physical specimen”. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those with mild or moderate coronavirus infections can return to being around others after 10 days, the research on whether or not people can get reinfected is still ongoing. Biden: Trump "turned his back on you" in pandemic Joe Biden told a drive-in rally in Ohio that Donald Trump ‘turned his back on you’ during the pandemic and its economic fallout. Biden questioned why Republicans had time for supreme court hearings but no time to come to an agreement with House Democrats on another economic relief package to help individuals, businesses and city and state governments. Trump has alternately called off Covid-19 relief talks, then pushed for a deal. Late last week, the White House expanded its offer to Democrats, but the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said it was unlikely Congress could pass a bill before the election and House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the White House offer didn’t include enough money. Trump won Ohio by eight percentage points in 2016, but polls have tightened and it is now a key battleground state in the upcoming election: More people from black and Asian backgrounds, as well as over-65s, are being urged to volunteer to help ensure potential coronavirus vaccines work for everyone. Researchers say 270,000 people across the UK have signed up for vaccine studies but thousands more are needed, in particular from groups more vulnerable to Covid. Just 7% of those who have signed up to NHS registers so far are from minority ethnic groups – half the proportion in the overall population. Of those who have signed up, 11,000 are Asian and 1,200 are black. More people aged over the age of 65 or with chronic diseases are also needed: Czech government closes bars and schools The Czech government ordered bars, restaurants and clubs closed from Wednesday and shifted schools to distance learning as it puts new measures in place to curb the fast spread of novel coronavirus cases, Reuters reports. The Czech Republic is experiencing the strongest surge in Europe when adjusted for population as the number of infections detected since the outbreak began has soared to nearly 120,000, from around 25,000 at the beginning of September. Hospitals are starting to feel that strain as the number of patients have doubled since the start of October to over 2,000. The government has been seeking to avoid repeating the strict lockdowns imposed in the spring, which sent the economy into a record contraction. The summer saw a relaxation of restrictions after the country came through the first wave of the pandemic with far fewer cases than western neighbours. From Wednesday, public gatherings would be limited to six people, alcohol consumption in public spaces would be banned and masks would be required at public transport stops. Takeaway orders will still be available until 8pm. Schools, expect for pre-schools, would move to online lessons until 1 November – a measure that companies and especially hospitals have worried would affect staffing. This extends distance learning that had already been in place for secondary schools. The measures will be in place until the start of November, and the government said that while schools would definitely reopen on 2 November, other measures would be relaxed according to the epidemiological situation. The government had already tightened curbs to limit restaurant openings and widen the use of masks. Fauci says holding large rallies ‘asking for trouble’ Maanvi Singh Top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci has told CNN, ahead of the Trump rally in Florida on Monday night that holding large rallies is “asking for trouble”. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN that Americans should be vigilant, as coronavirus cases tick up in many parts of the country. “We’ve seen that when you have situations of congregate settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves,” Fauci told CNN. “It happens. And now is even more so a worse time to do that, because when you look at what’s going on in the United States, it’s really very troublesome.” Trump’s rally crowds have recently flouted masks and social distancing – measures that could slow the spread of the disease. The president has planned to hold rallies in battleground states all weeks, without any new safety precautions. US President Donald Trump tests negative for Covid US President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 and he is not infectious to others, the White House physician said on Monday. In a memo released by the White House ahead of Trump’s rally in Florida, Dr. Sean Conley said Trump had tested negative on consecutive days using an Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW antigen card. He said the negative tests and other clinical and laboratory data “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication.” Conley did not specify how many consecutive days Trump had tested negative for. Summary Hello and welcome to today’s live pandemic coverage with me, Helen Sullivan. I’ll be bringing you the latest from around the world for the next few hours. You can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan. Top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci has told CNN, ahead of the Trump rally in Florida on Monday night that holding large rallies is “asking for trouble”. Meanwhile the World Health Organization has warned that the number of new Covid cases is at its highest level since the start of the pandemic. Speaking at the regular Monday press conference in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organisation’s director general, also called ideas of herd immunity “scientifically and ethically problematic”. Here are the key developments from the last few hours: US President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 and he is not infectious to others, the White House physician said on Monday. In a memo released by the White House, Dr. Sean Conley said Trump had tested negative on consecutive days using an Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW antigen card. He said the negative tests and other clinical and laboratory data “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication.” Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said the president Donald Trump’s campaign team should take down an advertisement that draws on a public statement Fauci made that he says is being used out of context. The ad, released last week, discusses Trump’s effort to recover from Covid-19, as well as his administration’s work to address the coronavirus pandemic. The 30-second spot uses older remarks from Fauci in a way that suggests he was praising the president. Fauci said the ad was “unfortunate and really disappointing”. The Czech government will order bars, restaurants and clubs to close from Wednesday until 3 November and shift most schools to distance learning as it puts new measures in place to curb the fast spread of Covid-19 cases in the country. Public gatherings will also be limited to six people, alcohol consumption in public spaces will be banned, and masks will be required at public transport stops. France reported a three-month high in ICU patients. Health authorities said the number of people treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 surpassed the 1,500 threshold on Monday, for the first time since 27 May, raising fears of local lockdowns in the country. In France, prime minister Jean Castex has urged people to limit gatherings in their homes but said he “cannot regulate” them. He added that the battle against the virus will last “several months more, I think”. In Spain, the government agreed protocols to establish travel corridors between European states and the Canary and Balearic Islands, both of which rely heavily on tourism and have been hit hard by the Covid crisis. Unemployment in the Balearics has risen by 90% since last year as a result of coronavirus. For the second day in a row, Iran has announced the highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus, with 272 new victims, as well as its single-day highest count of new cases, with 4,206. Malaysia announced that it will impose some restrictions on movement in its capital city and in the neighbouring state of Selangor from Wednesday, as the country grapples with a fresh surge of cases. In China, the city of Qingdao in eastern Shandong province announced plans to test each of its nine million residents, after six new cases emerged linked to a hospital treating infections in returning international travellers. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, set out a new, three-tiered system for Covid restrictions to “simplify and standardise” rules in England. The city region of Liverpool was immediately put into the “very high” category, with pubs and bars closed and almost all household mixing banned.