Friday, November 22
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Coronavirus live news: South Korea closes schools days after reopening; global deaths pass 360,000

Coronavirus live news: South Korea closes schools days after reopening; global deaths pass 360,000

School closure comes after spike in cases; Spain approves minimum basic income scheme; Philippines has biggest daily rise in cases

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  • US job losses pass 40m as coronavirus crisis sees claims rise 2.1m in a week
  • Coronavirus Australia live news: Victorians ordered to continue working from home as NSW eases restrictions on weddings and funerals
  • Coronavirus latest: at a glance

The Spanish cabinet has approved a €3bn minimum basic income scheme to help the poorest people in the country, who are among those hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent.

The €3bn scheme, which will provide monthly payments of between €462 and €1,015 to around 850,000 households, comes as tens of thousands of Spanish families struggle to buy food in the wake of the pandemic and charities, foodbanks and neighbourhood associations report huge demand for help with basic items.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we already had a very high poverty rate and were the European country with the third highest level of child poverty.

The pandemic has made things worse for many of our compatriots. And although we have mobilised resources to build a social shield to protect Spanish families from the economic impact of the crisis, it’s obvious that the situation has obliged us to speed up the implementation of this basic income.

Iran recorded its highest tally of new coronavirus infections since early April on Friday, with 2,819 more people testing positive in the past 24 hours, the health ministry reported.

Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry spokesman, said in his daily update that 50 more people had died from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the total death toll from the outbreak to 7,677.

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