anchor: local restrictions imposed across europe. the highest number of coronavirus deaths in four months. the u.k. warns of new curbs. >> we are now seeing a second wave coming in. france, spain, across europe. ♪ anchor: this is al jazeera, live from doha. the top health agency in the u.s. reverses controversial advice on coronavirus testing amid allegations of political interference. early voting begins in four u.s.

states. bothth presidential candndidatee campaigning. chinese owned tiktok won't be downloadable in the u.s. from sunday. president trump says he is still open to a deal. ♪ a surge in coronavirus cases has forced several governments to reimpose restrictions. infections worldwide have now topped 30 million. spain is limiting movement around the capital of madrid. the british prime minister is morning that a second wave is inevitable. israel has been forced to impose another nationwide shutdown. the situation in europe. reporter: early on in the pandemic, spain was hit as hard as anywhere in europe. now in the capital, the health systems are under renewed pressure.

covid-19 cases rising. one in five hospital beds is taken up by someone with coronavirus. >> we are saturated with people who need health care and patients that need care. we are doing the best we can. we need more help. we need more resources. reporter: spain is one of many european nations now bringing in localized lockdowns, warning about a second wave of covid. for this bus driver bringing his son and for the test, it's the right approach. >> i understand we need to save the economy and move forward. health is the most important thing. without health, we don't have money. reporter: in the czech republic, 3000 new cases on thursday. only spain and france have seen a bigger jump in the last two weeks. bars are having their opening hours reduced. people will have to wear a face covering in prague. in the u.k., covid cases have doubled in a week. health officials are worried about rises and infections and hospital admissions among all

ages. next week, people in more regions will be told not to mix with other households like 2 million in the northeast of england. hand, you have people going on holidays. into gymseople going and restaurants and pubs. but you can't have your own family to your house. i don't understand it. where's the sense in it? where's the logic? >> we went under lockdown too early. we would not be in this position. reporter: the u.k. government is considering warnings from its scientific advisors that restrictions may have to be imposed across england next month to drive down transmission. >> we are now seeing a second wave coming in. we've seen it in france, spain, across europe. it has been absolutely inevitable, i'm afraid. reporter: in scotland, the first

ministers calling this the most decisive moment since march. a similar path to that being taken by recent weeks in france. our task is to make sure that we interrupt that and we don't end up where we are now. reporter: in london, the city is two weeks behind those regions of england already under local lockdown. he had out of problems experienced by londoners needing a covid test, citing government incompetence. across europe, governments have to act fast. winter is approaching and with it, pressures on public health services. persuading the public to abide by new curbs on their freedom to prove a tough challenge. al jazeera, london. anchor: the top health agency in the u.s. has reversed a guideline on covid-19 testing after widespread criticism.

had saidust, the cdc people did not need to get tested if they came into close contact with an infected person and did not feel sick themselves. that prompted objections from scientists. the revised rules came from trump appointees. let's go to virginia. give us the background of this. the cdc had a very busy week. there has been suggestions that they put pressure on the scientists to really help shore up donald trump's position when it comes to discussing what's happening with the virus. there was an incident involving someone called paul alexander, a part-time public health specialist. he was sending emails to the , ad of communication political appointee at the cdc, criticize scientists that had been there for 32 years, saying that when they were going on to do media interviews, they were

issuing advice solely to embarrass the president. one of those issues he raised was when scientists who had been in the job for 32 years, dealt with many crises over that time, suggested that wearing masks was a good thing to do for the american public. something we know that scientists have talked about extensively. the heads of the cdc talked about that in the last day or so. michael caputo is a political and pointy of the state. he's had an interesting week as well. he posted what was regarded as a facebook grant when he said the scientists at the cdc were sitting around in sweatpants, planning what to do to bring down donald trump next. he added that people should buy ammunition because he felt that there was going to be the possibility of an armed uprising after the election. he admitted that he has health issues. the cdc says that michael caputo is off for health reasons and

will be absent for some time. as for paul alexander, we are told by the cdc that he is no longer in government. anchor: let's talk about this change of advice from the cdc. what do we know about what they are telling people to do now? what was interesting is that the advice on the degree,was, to some pretty clear. it upset him number of scientists. it said that if you had been in contact with someone who had covid but you weren't experiencing any symptoms, there was no need for you to get a test. that was really upsetting scientists. if you are a symptom attic, we need to know. we need tomatic, know. it would be helpful to work out if people were provoking outbreaks elsewhere. they were angry about this and were speaking out to the media. in the last one he four hours, the cdc has changed that advice. they say that if you are around

someone who has covid, even if you don't experience the symptoms, it's a very good idea for you to get tested. a complete 360. this all builds into the narrative that there is pressure on the cdc to try to fit in with donald trump's narrative about the virus. there is no direct evidence that the white house itself was involved. what's clear is that there are political appointees in places like the cdc who don't want to be seen to be getting ahead of the president. they don't want to be seen contradicting him. they want to do the best they can to try to ensure that he has a political victory come november. they are putting pressure on the sitting tests. -- scientists. they are pushing back, changing this advice. it's a rare victory for the scientists at the cdc. anchor: thanks very much.

guatemala's president has tested positive for covid-19. the 64-year-old is now urging his entire cabinet to get tested. he's the fourth latin american leader to contract the coronavirus. city.go to mexico give us more about what we know about this. guatemala's president did confirm over a radio announcement on friday that he is indeed, did indeed test positive for covid-19. he added that he instructed his entire cabinet and staff to be tested, ordering his staff and cabinet to work from home. we should note that this announcement by the president of guatemala coincides with the government reopening its economy, reopening borders, reopening airports with restrictions. the news of the president testing positive for covid-19

has invited criticisms of the guatemalan government's handling of the outbreak in the country. i will one through the latest numbers. evening, 84,344 confirmed cases. 3076 confirmed deaths. compared to other countries in the region with larger populations, that lead the region in terms of contagion and deaths, it doesn't seem like such a massive outbreak. what a mullet does have the highest death toll in central america from covid-19. it is considered one of the worst outbreaks in the region. it has invited criticism. regarding the news of the president testing positive for covid-19, he isn't the first world leader from the region to test positive. and hondurasbrazil who tested positive for covid-19 since the start of the outbreak in the region. anchor: the world health

organization has been warning that latin america has been reopening too soon. give us a broader picture of what's happening across reporter: latin america at the moment. -- across let in america at moment. reporter: generally speaking, when you look at the contagion rate in latin america, especially countries like mexico regionil, they lead the in terms of confirmed deaths related to covid-19. there is indication that the outbreak itself is improving in latin america overall. it is still one of the worst affected regions of the world. what is causing alarm among international health observers are these small pockets of contagion, hotspots in a number of countries, that are showing alarming rates of contagion or evidence of a resurgence of the virus. organizationlth says these countries, they are

showing rates -- death rates that are starting to climb once again. it's ag and warning that potential that these countries in latin america are reopening their economies too soon. i want to note that we are keeping a close eye specifically on the region between -- on the border between colombia and venezuela. international health observers say they've observed and reported a tenfold increase in coronavirus cases within only two weeks. these are alarming rates of contagion in certain parts of certain countries in latin america. the warning here is that we could see a resurgence in a region of the world that has been one of the worst affected by the ongoing pandemic. anchor: up-to-date with the situation across latin america. thanks very much. peru's president has defended himself against allegations of corruption as members of congress decide whether to impeach him.

he told legislators his conscience is clear in the country should not be distracted from its real challenges. he denied interfering in an investigation into government contracts awarded to them as a should was a friend of his. two police officers accused of killing a 46 rolled man have been arrested in columbia and are facing charges of aggravated homicide and torture. the debt sparked protests after a video showed police pinning him to the ground and shocking him with a stun gun. police say the student violated coronavirus restrictions. 13 people were killed. hundreds were injured in several days of protest. allow oiled he will production to resume from friday. qatar's forces in eastern libya imposed a blockade on oil facilities since january. libya has government in tripoli says it won't resume exports. concluded army has

its soldiers wrongly killed three men during a gun battle in kashmir two months ago. initially, the army described the men as pakistani terrorist. families said they were laborers and filed a complaint. indianan solers have sweeping powers to search, siege, andd shoot suspects. the report concluded the soldiers exceeded their legal powers. still ahead, taiwan scrambles fighter planes as chinese military jets approach the island. a senior u.s. official is visiting ty fay. >> this was a place with no rules. they can do whatever they wanted. ashor: a man tortured by -- the u.n. condemns attacks on up to 7000 people. ♪ ♪

meteorologist: the remnants of sally still producing flooding across eastern sections of the united states. it is eventually going away from the east coast. it should be a much drier day. not so in the gulf. this is the next tropical storm. this will bring fairly heavy rain to coastal areas. across the east, a clear picture. good rain pushing into the pacific northwest. temperatures are deigned -- down in seattle. windnly downside is the increasing. more red flag warnings in place. with the wind coming in from the shore, it will push that smoke much further across eastern sections of the united states. on sunday, a clear picture apart from the gulf coast. texas will see strong wind and heavy amounts of rain. into the caribbean, we are watching this. this is a major hurricane on its way towards bermuda.

elsewhere, a case of scattered showers and thunderstorms. heavy downpours in southern sections of mexico. that system heading towards the coast of texas. very heavy rain will be there. elsewhere, scattered showers and thunderstorms. ♪ ♪ anchor: you're watching al jazeera. a reminder of our top stories this hour. spain's capital is going back into lockdown after revising coronavirus cases. in the u.k., the prime minister says a second wave is inevitable and another lockdown might be necessary. cdc has reversed a guideline on covid-19 testing after criticism from scientists. anyonere recommended for

who has been in contact with an infected person. has defendedent himself against allegations of corruption. congress is deciding whether to impeach him. he told legislators his conscience is clear and the country should not be distracted from its new challenges. the november presidential election in the u.s. is still more than six weeks away. early voting has begun in four states. people have begun casting their ballots in person in minnesota, virginia, south dakota, and wyoming. putting by mail is underway in some other states. what have people been saying about why they are voting early? speak, president trump is arriving in the northern part of the state. here in minneapolis, the polling has closed at the government center behind me. we talked to a number of people who came out after voting.

they say with covid-19, concern about mail-in ballots, they were taking no chances. they told us they wanted to make sure their votes were in. in some cases, they wanted to campaign and ensure their friends were voting as well. because we are in minneapolis, the most liberal part of the state, the voters we talked to were largely joe biden fans. it's a democratic area. they say they wanted to make sure that all votes were counted early. one of the reasons for that is not just the covid-19 crisis. it's that president trump has been selling fear that mail-in ballots would be problematic. that democrats are overrepresented with mail-in ballots. the president has been discouraging it, saying that the post office couldn't handle it, they might not come in time, there could be widespread fraud. despite the fact that there is no historical evidence to suggest that that is the case. all of the uncertainty, the

possibility of crowds during covid-19, left many voters we talked to saying they wanted to get this boat over. -- vote over. anchor: trump has arrived off of his plane as you were talking about. his crowds are waving placards at the airport. trump loves minnesota. how are the trump and biden campaigns approaching this differently this time? that's right. forgive the siren behind the camera at the moment. this is not a state that normally both campaigns would be paying heavy attention to. minnesota hasn't voted a republican for president since richard nixon in 1972. ronald reagan swept 49 states in 1980. the 50th state was minnesota. that has been the history until last time around. donald trump lost by 1.5 percentage points.

that put a scare in democrats. that's why they are paying attention. one of the places he picked up a lot of votes was in the northern area, a mining area. both of them are campaigning there right now. joe biden wrapped up a couple hours ago. trump picked up a lot of votes from what used to be a heavily prolabor, pro-democratic area. there was a trump rebellion there. a lot of those voters were the older, white voters that had gravitated towards trump. now, both sides are treating this like it's a state that is up for grabs. biden is ahead right now. both sides are working hearted it. the biden campaign tells us that while trump has been suggesting that biden is wearing a mask and not traveling, it will be out hitting a couple of campaign stops each week, focusing heavily on early voting states as they did here today. anchor: thanks very much.

people in the u.s. won't be able to download the social media app tiktok and we chat from sunday night. donald trump is banning them over national secured concerns. tiktok's parent company has tried to finalize a deal to sell its american operations. our white house correspondent reports from washington. reporter: a stern rebuke from the u.s. president. >> we won't do anything to jeopardize security. ♪ reporter: the white house alleges the popular chinese app tiktok and we chat are stealing american users private information, handing it to the government in beijing. friday, the u.s. commerce department announced we chat be banned in the u.s. starting sunday. new restrictions on tiktok will also go into play. a full ban on tiktok could come into effect in november. after weeks of bidding, oracle submitted a proposal to run the

gap in the united states. before it was approved, the u.s. government moved ahead with the band. >> we have great options. we can keep a lot of people happy. the security that we need. we need total security from china. reporter: u.s. social media apps like facebook and instagram are banned in china. tiktok officials say this decision could affect the entire industry. they are vowing to fight the new restrictions in the court. tiktok's general manager in the u.s. is inviting facebook and instagram to publicly join a challenge and support litigation. this is a moment to put aside competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law. we chat has more than 1.2 billion active users. less than 2% are from the united states. on biggest impact could be u.s. companies like walmart,

starbucks, and amazon. they use we chat's e-commerce platform in china to conduct business. this move is part of a bigger fight the trump administration continues to wage with beijing. the u.s. has taken multipl including rejecting chinese sovereignty over disputed parts of the south china sea, blacklisting china's largest tech company huawei, and canceling thousands of chinese grad students'visas. one analyst argues the move by the trump administration could have unintended consequences. >> one of the principles during the cold war is trying to get as much information in the communist countries as we could. leaflets,af lists -- we blasted the radio. we are cutting off one of the main mechanisms we have about telling -- for telling people about democracy. reporter: this latest fight is a risky one for trump.

just weeks until the u.s. election. 20% of tiktok users will vote for the first time in november. trump's move is likely to be unpopular. al jazeera, washington. anchor: taiwan's air force has repeatedly scrambled jets to track approaching chinese warplanes. they are taking part in military exercises during the latest visit to taiwan by a high-ranking u.s. envoy. china's government accuses the u.s. and taiwan of what it calls collusion to stir up trouble. taiwan scrambling its jets after 18 chinese military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone before turning back. in theas done previously taiwan strait, this military exercise by china was its way of showing displeasure at increased diplomatic exchanges between the u.s. and taiwan.

it comes as u.s. undersecretary keith kroc, the most senior state department official in decades, continues his visit to the island. that follows another visit last month by u.s. health secretary alex azar as part of what beijing has condemned as a dangerous trend. whether it's the control china using taiwan as leverage or solicit foreign support, it's all wishful thinking and destined to be a dead-end. those who play with fire will burn themselves. reporter: once again, taiwan is caught in the middle of worsening china u.s. relations. >> increasingly, the u.s. is stepping up to back taiwan for a range of regions. to counter china regionally, mainly. taiwan is a democracy as well as its critical geographic location. an increasingly more important role in u.s. strategy in the indo pacific. we are likely to see an

increasing ratcheting up of tension in the taiwan strait. reporter: diplomacy with taiwan seems to be part of a wider effort by the u.s. to rally an international coalition against what it sees as increasing chinese belligerence. mounting criticism of beijing's actions in xinjiang and hong kong and its response to covid-19 as well as territorial disputes with its neighbors as a growing list of countries sharing an anti-china grievance. china has shown it is ready to push back and with growing military power, it can call upon. al jazeera. anchor: a human investigator looking at possible human rights violations in belarus has warned of another iron curtain descending on europe. an urgent debate has been held over allegations of torture and other abuses following last month's disputed presidential election. one of the victims of violence in minsk has spoken to us. reporter: praying to stop the

violence in belarus, sergei knows what government forces are capable of. he says he was on his way to pray the night after last month's presidential election. he was dragged out of his car by master policeman and crammed into a detention truck. police forced him to crawl on top of other men. he tech -- says torture began. >> i told them again and again i came here to pray. i'm a religious person. they gave me an electric shock. i only wore a t-shirt so it was very painful. and put them on my legs arms. many on my back. the most scary moment was when i understood i was in a zone without any laws. there were no rules except the rule of force. they could do whatever they wanted. reporter: his condition deteriorated so much he felt like he was having a heart attack. police called an ambulance and hospital doctors stabilized his condition. after the president declared an

80% election when, 7000 people were detained and hundreds have testified that they were beaten and tortured. many suffered brain injuries, organ damage, and fractures. in geneva, the united -- united nations condemned the government for the abuses. they say they are monitoring the situation closely. he doesn't believe anything will change. >> this resolution doesn't have any influence on our former president because he's a sick but i'm happy -- to know that some countries took to give opportunities to the opposition council and leader to represent our country. reporter: before the human rightscouncil -- a human defender was detained. her organization fears more arrests. >> it's very dramatic, very hard

time for people here. but we will continue anyway. reporter: you are not going into hiding or anything? >> no. we will be here. we will continue. sure this is illegal activity. we are human rights defenders. we work for society. reporter: international pressure is increasing. stockednt forces have up. many belarusians are fearing more arrests for those who demanded justice. they are increasingly isolated by other countries. a campaign of fear and terror at home. despite the violence, sergei believes the people of belarus will win. even though he fears the road to victory will be a bitter and difficult one. al jazeera, minsk. ♪

anchor: this is al jazeera. these are the top stories. spain's capital is going back into lockdown after revising coronavirus cases. the u.k. prime minister says a second wave is inevitable and that another lockdown might be necessary. cdc has reversed a guideline on covid-19 testing after criticism from scientists. tests are recommended for anyone who has been in contact with an infected person. alan fisher has more. reporter: there is no direct evidence that the white house itself was involved. what's clear is that there are political appointees in places like the cdc who don't want to be seen to be getting ahead of the president. they want to be seen -- they want to do the best they can to try to ensure that he has a political victory come november. so they are putting pressure on the scientists. in many cases, the scientists are pushing back.

changing this advice is a very rare victory for the scientists at the cdc in this case. anchor: wada mall as president has tested positive for covid-19. the 64-year-old is urging his entire cabinet to get tested. culture minister has also contracted it. he's the fourth latin american leaderer to have tested positive for r the virus. whose president has defended himself against allegations of corruption. members of congress are deciding whether to impeach him. he told legislators his conscience is clear in the country should not be distracted from its real challenges. the november presidential election in the u.s. is more than six weeks away but early voting has begun in four states. people have been casting their ballots in minnesota, virginia, south dakota, and wyoming. voting by mail is underway in other states. those are the headlines. the news continues hereon al jazezeera. goodbye.

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