Mexico’s health ministry reported on Saturday 6,025 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 431 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 886,800 and the death toll to 88,743. Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Malaysia records 1,228 new cases Malaysia recorded its highest ever daily total on Saturday, with 1,228 new cases in the preceding 24 hours, surpassing last Sunday’s record of 871 cases. The country has recorded at least 700 daily cases for eight consecutive days. The health ministry said more than 72% of the new cases were in the state of Sabah, the centre of the current spike in cases. Much of the blame for the current surge has been focused on the East Malaysian state, after people spent two weeks campaigning for an upcoming election before returning to other parts of the country, the Straits Times reported. At around the same time there were outbreaks in Sabah’s detention centres for illegal migrants. UK plans to vaccinate NHS staff by Christmas - report The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is preparing to provide vaccinations for frontline staff to start before Christmas, the Mail on Sunday has reported. Citing an email from a NHS Trust chief to his staff, the report said a national vaccination program rollout was being accelerated, with healthcare workers prioritised. Writing to staff earlier this month, the head of a hospital NHS Trust in Warwickshire said they and other NHS organisations nationally had been told “to be prepared to start a Covid-19 vaccine program in early December”. “The latest intelligence states a coronavirus vaccine should be available this year with NHS staff priorities prior to Christmas,” the email said, adding that the vaccine was expected to be given in two doses 28 days apart. The Mail also reported the UK government has pushed through new laws allowing the UK to bypass European medicines approvals and fast track production if a vaccine is ready before the end of December. Hello, this is Helen Davidson here to take you through the next few hours of global updates. Thanks to Calla for everything so far. First, a quick look around the world for the latest top line developments, with more to follow: Italy reported a new daily record of 19,644 new coronavirus infections on Saturday as the government considered further measures to limit the surge in cases. Algeria’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has entered self-isolation after several senior officials displayed coronavirus symptoms, the presidency has said in a statement. Austria has reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases, with 3,614 infections in the last 24 hours. It is a significant increase from the 2,571 announced on Friday. Brazil has registered 26,979 new cases and 432 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours. Coronavirus cases have risen by the record figure of 862 in Luxembourg, while a further three deaths being reported. The Metropolitan police have said they made 18 arrests at today’s anti-lockdown protest in central London. Greece announced a record 935 new infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 29,992. France reported 45,422 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared to 42,032 on Friday. The country has registered a total of 1,086,497 cases. An investigation is underway in the Chinese region of Xinjiang after an asymptomatic coronavirus case was identified in the city of Kashgar on Saturday, the health commission said. It is the first local case in the region since 15 August. The number of coronavirus deaths in the Czech Republic has doubled to 2,047 in two weeks, data from the health ministry showed on Saturday. Angolan protesters defied coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Luanda on Saturday, taking to the streets to demonstrate against the government. Police fired tear gas and beat up demonstrators, some of whom had set up barricades and set fires. The Australian state of Victoria has recorded seven new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours. With that, I’ll hand over to Helen Davidson who will take you through the day. The press conference in Victoria has become a series of reporters putting agree/disagree statements to the premier, and Daniel Andrews rejecting the premise of the question and saying, on repeat: “That is not a question, that’s a statement.” I won’t repeat them here, because there isn’t a lot of information to be gleaned. The gist: reporters are attempting to get Andrews to comment on the frustration felt by business owners, and the broader community, that the roadmap is not being followed and that the end of the lockdown has not been announced on the day the announcement was promised. Andrews is getting frustrated, challenging the premise of questions, and then repeating the line of the day: we have to wait until the test results come back. However the date of opening up has shifted forward. Andrews said he will have “more to say tomorrow and Tuesday” and “we will be opening up before the weekend”. And, after 80 minutes, the press conference is over. Victoria still on track to ease restrictions by 1 November, says premier A clarification from the premier: Just going back to a question James asked. I wouldn’t want anyone watching here to be in any doubt. November 1, absolutely, still well and truly on track to be able to have opening, have opening up before then, by on that day, in fact, earlier than then. We had intended to be able to make announcements today, but it’s just not appropriate while we wait for these test results, to be assuming we know what the results are. We don’t know how many positive cases, we don’t know whether they are going to be linked, but we’re still well on track to announcements and begin the process of opening up before the first. Reporter: Why didn’t you say that an hour ago, as directly as that? Andrews, with a deep sigh: Well ... James, I’m sorry if I have not been as clear as I tried to be, it was a very long night and a very early morning and I have been trying to find an opportunity to come back to the podium, as your question indicated to me I perhaps have not been as clear as I should have been. The Victorian chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton, was asked if it was awkward that his advice was that Victoria could not yet announce details of a reopening, when the former Victorian health minister, the Australian health minister, the NSW premier and the WHO were suggesting it could be reopened. Sutton said: Amongst that list of individuals and organisations, none of them are in the tent. All of the data we have come up with all the understanding we have of each and every case, who the close contacts are, how they are linked, the specific complexities of each household, they are of a united view that as frustrating as this is, this is an appropriate 24-hour period to go through. Reporter: Did you mislead Victorians? Andrews: I did not. A reporter asked Andrews: “You said in your opening remarks that this is not a setback. People when they woke up this morning believed it would be at worst on November one but you are not committing to that so we have gone backwards today.” Andrews: I don’t believe we have. In any event, we have no choice but to wait for these results and they will be here well before November 1. Some results will come through later today and some will come through on Monday, well into the evening. On that basis we will be able to call it and be confident that these are linked cases, not a large number of mystery cases which would speak to the fact that it was much more widespread than we believe it is. Again, we have asked these people to come forward and be tested for a very good reason. They have done that and the lab does take time. It is not a matter of workflow, the test just takes time. We’ll get those tests done as quickly as we can and then analyse the results and update you. Is it fair to call it a “cautious pause” when thousands of [businesses] have been closed for months? But they were not to open today. They were opening Tuesday night at the earliest and we still may be able to make that deadline. It is not appropriate for me to pretend I have a test result I do not have. It is not responsible ... I cannot announce things and I cannot speak to the scope of the opening until we get these test results back and we know exactly the enemy we are facing and the challenge we are facing. Andrews said it was not his strategy that every outbreak should result in a new lockdown, but said Victoria has “an opportunity to essentially get ahead of this virus”. Asked if Melbourne was “just lucky” to already be under lockdown when this outbreak occurred, Andrews said: I don’t think that is right at all. What we would have to do for a long period of time is manage and live with this, but it will be easier, it will be much easier the lower the numbers are at the point you open up. And, as well, the more you know about those cases the more confident you are that you have a public health response around all those people. As it stands now we do not have the complete picture because the labs are processing test. Other tests will be taken through today which will come to us tomorrow. This is nothing more than simply waiting to get the results before ... Put it another way, waiting to get results instead of pretending we know what the results are. We do not and that would not be responsible nor a safe thing to do. And if we are criticised for that, so be it. Daniel Andrews: "We only get one chance to do this properly" A reporter said that NSW had been open for months with daily average cases hovering around 10. “If our contact tracing is as good as they are and we have as much faith in the Victorian community as the New SouthWales government has, why can’t we reopen?” Andrews: I don’t accept the conclusions you are drawing at all ... This is a pause, nothing more than that and it is appropriate that we wait to get those results. The reason we have literally hundreds of people locked in homes at the moment is because of the work that contact traces are doing, so I do not accept that criticism at all. Another reporter asked Andrews to acknowledge that “the way the public is feeling must be a rollercoaster. You have mentioned that you understand that people are frustrated, do not think it has gone past frustration today? Today is a different level for the community in terms of what they thought would happen and what has happened.” Andrews said he knew that it was frustrating. Of course people are frustrated and of course everyone would like these rules to come off as quickly as possible but we only get one chance to do this properly and we intend to wait for those results to come back from the laboratory. Once they have we will be able to make further judgment and then we will be able to update people tomorrow and hopefully make some announcements if not tomorrow then Tuesday and then push on from there. Back to Victoria, where this press conference is still going on. Premier Daniel Andrews was asked to respond to his former health minister Jenny Mikakos’ comment that not going ahead with a planned easing of restrictions today was an example of “paralysis in decision making”. Andrews said: I have nothing to say about those comments. Reporter: “She has been a respected member of your government.” Andrews: I have nothing to say about those comments because I have nothing to say about them. That is a choice I make and it does not make any sense to be interrogated on why I do not say anything. Another reporter asked if it would not have been “less unsettling for Melbournians” if Andrews had stuck to the initial roadmap dates, set out in September, rather than announcing they would be brought forward, then pushing them back again. The reporter called it a “rollercoaster effect”. Andrews: There has not been a rollercoaster. Numbers have come down steadily and we are all about making sure we get them to the lowest level before we open up safely. But what I say to every Victorian is that people have given and done too much for us to ignore the fact that there are thousands of results that have been processed in laboratories as we speak and we need to wait and see those results, we will get them today and tomorrow and hopefully we are able to make, not only announcements but to take the big steps safely around the middle of this week ... We cannot make decisions appropriate to the challenge if we do not have the results and we have not seen them. We don’t know what stories they will tell. Until we get that, which is today, tomorrow and potentially into Tuesday, it is just not safe and responsible for us to say we think we know better. We think that these will all be negative. And if there are some positives they will be linked to known cases. We cannot be certain. What does Andrews think about federal health minister Greg Hunt’s comments, that the only reason you would hold off reopening if you didn’t have faith in the contact tracing system. Andrews says that “is completely wrong”.