Covid-19 News: Live Updates – The New York Times

“I am not prepared to accept that Berlin is misused as a stage for Corona deniers, Reich citizens and right-wing extremists for a second time,” said Andreas Geisel, the city official responsible for public safety, referring to a group of extremists that doesn’t accept the legitimacy of the modern German state. Several thousand protesters marched at a similar demonstration in Berlin on Aug. 1.

The city’s move has been criticized by those who think a ban could energize those who already think the state is overreaching on restrictions related the virus and could ultimately lead to more dangerous illegal demonstrations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with state governors on Thursday to discuss new virus rules as the number of cases has grown over the last month. The officials are expected to agree on stricter quarantine rules for people entering the country from “high risk” areas. The government also plans to discontinue free tests for travelers arriving from states not considered high risk for the virus.

Last week the country’s health authority found that nearly 40 percent of new cases came from abroad. On Wednesday, 1,507 new infections were registered. Last Friday, the country registered more than 2,000 infections in a single day, a figure last seen at the end of April. Germany has had at least 237,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 9,285 deaths, according to a New York Times database.

A tribal leader in Malawi has ordered child marriages that took place during lockdown to be dissolved.

A traditional leader in Malawi has ordered village chiefs to dissolve all child marriages that took place during the coronavirus lockdown so that children can return to classes set to start in September, after the illegal but persistent tradition increased during the pandemic in the southern African nation.

Theresa Kachindamoto, the paramount ruler of the Dedza District in central Malawi, said she and others had been advising villagers “to take care of the children so that they can return to school when they reopen because that’s where the children’s future is,” according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Ms. Kachindamoto has informal authority over some 900,000 citizens, and has campaigned for years to end the practice of child marriages, particularly for girls.