Ireland’s parliament to close for a week after health minister tests positive; WHO chief warns of school closures’ effect on children * Sweden records its fewest daily cases since March * Foreign Covid workers in France to be fast-tracked for nationality * Covid cases near 30m; China expects vaccine in November * World map: which countries have the most cases and deaths? * See all our coronavirus coverage 6.00pm BST IRELAND has reported 357 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure since mid-May and up from an average of 203 cases per day over the previous seven days, health department data showed. 5.47pm BST New restrictive measures to contain the spread of coronavirus have been announced in GREECE where alarm bells are ringing over the rise in infection rates in the greater Athens area, home to more than 5 million people. Addressing reporters, the epidemiologist Gkikas Magiorkinis, who sits on the 29-strong committee advising the government, described the urban centre as “the Achilles heel” of a surge that was spreading among people with no known link to one another. Of the 310 cases announced Tuesday, 197 were in the Greek capital. Continue reading...