Coronavirus live news: Trump says Fauci ‘alarmist’; Hong Kong makes masks

This is not explicitly coronavirus news but it is significant nonetheless.

Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday.

The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and close US ally since 2015, is undergoing medical checks without giving details, Reuters reports.

The de facto ruler and next in line to the throne is the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, widely referred to as MbS, who has launched reforms to transform the kingdom’s economy and end its “addiction” to oil.

The 34-year-old prince’s reforms have been accompanied by a purge of top royals and businessmen on charges of corruption, and a costly war in Yemen, which have all unnerved some Western allies and investors.

His prestige also suffered a blow after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Saudi security personnel seen as close to him.

In the UK, the government has signed new deals which will provide more than 90 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, according to multiple reports.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and Sky News reported the government has secured an agreement for 30 million doses of a vaccine being developed – and currently at phase two trials – by BioNTech and German firm Pfizer.

There has also been an in-principle deal done for 60 million doses of a vaccine that is being developed by France’s Valneva, PA Media reports.

The figure of 90 million is in addition to the 100 million doses of vaccine that are being developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, as well as another at Imperial College London which started human trials in June.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the new agreements would “ensure the UK has the best chance possible of securing a vaccine that protects those most at risk”.

More than 14.5 million people have tested positive for coronavirus worldwide so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which relies on official government data.

The current total stands at 14,507,491. The death toll is 606,173.

Good morning (or afternoon, evening). It’s Josh Halliday here in Manchester, England, to steer you through the next few hours of pandemic news.

That is it for me Helen Sullivan – thanks for following along. I’ll be off tomorrow, as I plan to spend much of the day waving excitedly from the street at my husband, who will be in quarantine in a hotel room somewhere in Sydney, hopefully with a balcony. The…