Summary
This blog will wrap up shortly. Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced a second month-long national lockdown for England, as the UK surpassed 1m infections on Saturday.
- Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has urged Scots not to travel to England.
- The number of Covid-related hospitalisations hit record numbers in at least 14 European countries this week, as the second wave of the pandemic hit.
- Italy recorded 31,758 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic.
- Austria announced a night-time curfew and the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants on Saturday amid “exploding” coronavirus infections.
- Brazilian health minister Eduardo Pazuello is in stable condition in a hospital after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
The “realistic” prospect of a vaccine in the first quarter of 2021 gives reason for optimism that the spring will be better, British prime minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday.
“I am optimistic that this will feel very different and better by the spring. It’s not just that we have ever better medicines and therapies, and the realistic hope of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year,” Johnson said at a news conference.
“We now have the immediate prospect of using many millions of cheap, reliable, and above all, rapid turnaround tests … that you can use yourself to tell you whether or not you’re infectious and get the result within 10 to 15 minutes,” he added.
Updated
UK prime minister announces second national lockdown for England from Thursday
UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced new restrictions amounting effectively to a month-long national lockdown for England.
The new rules are to come into effect at midnight on Thursday 5 November and will stay in place until 2 December, when the government will “seek to ease restrictions”, Johnson said.
Restrictions will be similar to those introduced at the start of the pandemic in March, however this time courts, schools, and universities will remain open.
All pubs and restaurants have to close, though takeaways and deliveries will be permitted.
All non-essential retail is to close, and the mixing of people inside homes will be forbidden, except for childcare reasons and other forms of vital support.
Manufacturing and construction will be encouraged to keep going.
Travel within the UK will be discouraged, except for work.
Outbound international travel as well as overnight stays away from home will be banned, except for work.
Outdoor exercise and recreation will be encouraged.
Private prayer will continue in places of worship, but not services, while funerals will be limited to close family members only
The new regulations will be published on Monday, and MPs will vote on them on Wednesday.
The new measures come as the Office for National Statistics estimates that 568,100 people in England were infected with coronavirus in the week to 23 October.
UK chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said deaths in England over the winter could be twice as high or more than during the first wave.
The chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, said: “We now have around 50,000 new cases a day, and that is rising.
“If we do nothing, the inevitable result will means these numbers will go up and they will eventually exceed the peak that we saw in spring of this year.”
“I’m afraid no responsible prime minister can ignore the message of these figures,” Johnson said. “There is no alternative.”
Just at the end of July, Johnson had ruled out a second national lockdown.
Updated
Brazilian health minister Eduardo Pazuello is in stable condition in a hospital after being diagnosed with Covid-19, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Pazuello checked into a hospital in Brasilia on Friday for dehydration, having tested positive for the coronavirus on 21 October.
He will stay in the hospital until Sunday, when his condition will be re-evaluated, the ministry said. “There has been no need for supportive measures such as oxygen supplementation,” the statement said.
A day after testing positive, Pazuello met rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro in a hotel room, with a social media video showing the two chatting without masks, Reuters reports. Bolsonaro recovered from a bout of Covid-19 in July.
The president claimed Pazuello’s case was another instance demonstrating that the controversial drug chloroquine helped those with Covid-19 to recover more quickly.
Bolsonaro, who has sought to downplay the severity of the virus, has advocated for the use of the anti-malarial drug chloroquine and related hydroxychloroquine, despite a lack of scientific evidence that they help those with Covid-19.
During the pandemic, two successive health ministers resigned in roughly the span of a month, in part because as physicians, they would not fully endorse chloroquine.
Brazil has the second deadliest outbreak of coronavirus, with 159,477 deaths, after only the US.
Roughly half of Bolsonaro’s 23-member cabinet have caught the coronavirus, as well as the president and his wife.
Updated
A huge festive crowd marched in Taiwan’s capital Taipei on Saturday in an annual LGBT Pride event.
While many Pride events elsewhere moved online this year because of Covid-19, Taiwan has largely kept the pandemic at bay.
Turnout was down from last year, but organisers said it still topped 100,000 on a mostly sunny day in Taipei.
Many participants did not wear protective masks, but others did, some in rainbow colors, the Associated Press reports.
The self-governing island of 24 million people has recorded 555 cases of coronavirus and has not had a locally spread case in more than 200 days.
“While the rest of the world is stuck in the pandemic, we can still organise such a massive event,” said Zoe Tsao, who works in digital marketing. ”This, I think, is great and very precious.”
International travel restrictions did reduce the number of participants coming from abroad this year.
Taiwan became the first and only place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage last year.
The number of Covid-related hospitalisations hit record numbers in at least 14 European countries this week, as the second wave of the pandemic hit, according to AFP data compiled from official figures.
The worst-hit countries have been the Czech Republic, with 62 virus-related hospital patients per 100,000 residents, followed by Romania on 57, Belgium on 51 and Poland on 39.
The figures are based on figures provided by 35 of the 52 European nations, including most of the EU nations.
In total, 135,000 Covid-19 patients are currently being treated in hospitals throughout the 35 countries, compared with less than 100,000 a week earlier.
The countries with the biggest registered increase were Serbia, with hospitalisations up 97%, Belgium (up 81%), Austria (up 69%) and Italy (65%).
Only Montenegro saw numbers drop, after a previous spike.
Updated
According to the PA Media, the UK government’s press conference on new coronavirus measures for England has been pushed back again, this time to 6.30pm.
Updated
Italy records new record rise in cases
Italy recorded 31,758 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic and up from the previous record of 31,084 posted on Friday.
The ministry also reported 297 Covid-related deaths, compared with 199 on Friday.
Updated
Austria introduces curfew and shuts restaurants amid "exploding" cases
Austria announced a night-time curfew and the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants to all but take-away service on Saturday as coronavirus infections approach what the government says is an unsustainable level for its hospital system.
The country had a swift, comprehensive and effective lockdown during its first wave of infections in March but had held off similar action even as daily cases rose to several times the spring peak.
Bars, restaurants and theatres have remained open in an attempt to help economic growth.
But with daily infections having surged to more than 5,600 on Friday – a new record just short of the 6,000 level at which the government says hospitals will be stretched beyond capacity
– the conservative-led government was forced to act, Reuters reports.
“We did not take this decision lightly but it is necessary,” the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, told a news conference, announcing the measures that will take effect from Tuesday and last until the end of November, including a curfew from 8pm to 6am.
There has been a rapid acceleration over the past week, with a 26% jump from Thursday to Friday.
“A barely controllable increase has begun,” health minister Rudolf Anschober told the news conference, adding that infections were “de facto exploding”.
The restrictions fall short of a general lockdown, with shops, industry, kindergartens and primary schools remaining open.
Secondary schools and universities will switch to distance learning, Kurz said.
“Gastronomy” businesses – a term that generally comprises restaurants, bars and cafes – will only be allowed to provide a take-away service and theatres will shut.
Hotels will close to all but business travellers, Kurz added.
Updated
UK infections surpass 1m
The UK on Saturday passed 1m confirmed coronavirus cases, a new milestone.
“Between 31 January and 31 October 2020, there have been 1,011,660 people who have had a confirmed positive test result,” the government said.
Cases rose by 21,915 from the previous day.
The death toll increased by 326, up from yesterday’s 274 new deaths.
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, is expected to announce stricter measures for England today, aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus.
This from Sky’s Beth Rigby:
PM will outline 'tougher national measures' at news conference. At end of four weeks we move back into regional tier system. Cabinet sources say ministers discussed this 'national lockdown' being branded as Tier 4 - but understand PM will not label it as such. 1/
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) October 31, 2020
Updated
Hello, I’m taking over from my colleague Mattha now. As ever, feel free to get in touch if you have relevant updates or comments to share, you can contact me via Twitter @JedySays or email.
I won’t always be able to respond, but tips are still much appreciated.
Updated
A further 208 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 32,855, NHS England has said.
Patients were aged between 26 and 101. All except eight, aged between 47 and 101 years old, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths occurred between October 21 and October 30. Six other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
In Scotland, a further 1,101 new infections and another 24 deaths have been reported. The daily number of cases is down from the 1,281 announced on Friday.
Northern Ireland has reported a further 649 infections, down from its record rise of more than 1,000 announced earlier this month. A further 11 deaths were also reported.
Wales, which is a week into its “fire break” lockdown, has reported another 1,301 new infections. This is down from a record high of 1,414 announced on Wednesday.
Public Health Wales also announced that another 13 people had died from the virus, taking the death toll in Wales to 1,872.
The figures come as the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to set out plans for a month-long lockdown in England.
You can keep up to date with developments via our UK coronavirus blog.
Updated
Coronavirus globally: where are we now?
More than 45 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed around the world and there have been more than 1.1 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The US has the highest number of cases in the world, recording more than 9 million, and has claimed the highest death toll with more than 229,000 deaths - more than double the figure of the second highest country.
India has the second-highest number of cases, with more than 8 million, and Brazil the third-highest with more than 5 million.
You can see a global overview of the pandemic with our coronavirus world map.
Updated
For those of you following updates in England, the prime minister’s press conference has been pushed back from 4pm to 5pm. If you want more information, you can follow our UK live blog here.
In Northern Ireland, a further 649 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and a further 11 deaths have been recorded.
This takes the county’s death toll to 708.
The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated with latest data.
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) October 31, 2020
649 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, a further 11 deaths have been reported. https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/rezWdMrea6
Updated
Hello everyone, I’m Molly Blackall, taking over the blog while my colleague Mattha has a break.
If you spot something you should be reporting on in this blog, please feel free to drop me a message on Twitter. Thanks in advance!
Brazil’s health minister, Eduardo Pazuello, has been admitted to hospital just over a week after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
Pazuello, 57, is the latest in a string of senior politicians to be infected with coronavirus in Brazil, including its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Twelve ministers in Bolsonaro’s government have now been confirmed to have contracted the illness.
Brazil has suffered the second highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the world (160,000) since the epidemic began in February.
Pazuello was reportedly taken to a private hospital in the capital, Brasília, on Friday night suffering from dehydration. Health ministry officials have played down the severity of his condition.
The minister has been self-isolating in a hotel after announcing his diagnosis on 21 October. One day later Pazuello was pictured with president Bolsonaro, with neither man wearing a face mask. Pazuello has said he is taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat his illness, despite the biggest and best-designed trial of the drug concluding that it did not work.
Updated
Austria is preparing to announce new measures aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus amid fears of hospitals being stretched beyond capacity.
Data released by the government on Saturday showed another 5,349 confirmed cases after daily cases hit a record of 5,627 on Friday. The peak of the first wave in March was 1,050.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has said hospitals would be stretched beyond capacity at about 6,000 daily infections, has said an economically damaging second lockdown would be a last resort, but Austrian media reported tough measures were in the works.
“The dramatically rising infection numbers in Austria and many European countries will require restrictions on public life and also affect the domestic economy,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday, adding that it was working on additional economic aid measures to save jobs and keep companies afloat.
Austria’s current anti-coronavirus measures are relatively loose, with bars, restaurants and theatres remaining open.
There were unconfirmed reports on Friday evening suggesting that a curfew from 8pm to 6am was planned, albeit with exceptions allowed for those going to work or simply exercising outdoors.
Restaurants would no longer be allowed to serve guests but could provide take-away service outside curfew hours, theatres and cinemas would have to close and hotels could only accept new guests travelling for work or training, national broadcaster ORF said, citing a draft of the planned government decree.
The influential tabloid Kronen Zeitung said ski lifts would only be open to top athletes and in exceptional cases such as rescues.
Shops and schools would, however, remain open, several media reported, with shops having to limit the number of customers allowed in at one time to one person per 10 sq metres of floorspace.
Updated
The Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has that his cabinet will meet on Sunday “discuss any potential border issues for Wales in light of any announcement by No 10”. He also confirmed the firebreak lockdown in Wales would end on 9 November as planned.
Any announcement by @10DowningStreet will relate to England.
— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) October 31, 2020
The Welsh firebreak will end on Monday, November 9.
Our cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss any potential border issues for Wales in light of any announcement by No 10.
Scots told to avoid England
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has urged Scots not to travel to England.
Writing on Twitter she said: “People should not travel to or from level 3 areas in Scotland and for now, we are asking people not to travel to or from England at all, except for essential purposes.”
4/ Most importantly, we urge everyone to comply with current restrictions, including on travel. People should not travel to or from level 3 areas in Scotland and for now, we are asking people not to travel to or from England at all, except for essential purposes.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 31, 2020
Farrar, also issued a longer statement, explaining why a new national lockdown was necessary as soon as possible in the England.
The Sage member said:
This has been such a tough year already. Tough beyond belief for millions across the country, and across the world. And while we knew that the virus would come back in a second wave, actually seeing it happen is the last thing anyone wanted.
My experience from other virus outbreaks is that the second wave is always harder. Everyone is worn out, healthcare workers in particular. It can feel more hopeless the second time round. We wish it would just go away. But we have to remember it isn’t hopeless and what we do will make a difference.
The sooner we act, the sooner we can start to recover. It will be a very difficult few weeks now and no one can underestimate the toll that will take on people. But the consequences of sticking with the current insufficient restrictions would have been much worse.
I think this year we’ve all learned to appreciate so many little things that we’d taken for granted. I want to go to a football match, I want to go to bonfire night, I want to meet my friends in the pub. But unless we suppress the virus now, it will be a lot longer before it’s safe to do any of this again.
Updated
Johnson to hold press conference at 4pm
Boris Johnson is to give press conference at 4pm after he meets to finalise plans for what is expected to be a month-long lockdown in England.
Coronavirus is “running riot” across all age groups, a government scientific adviser has said ahead of the announcement.
Speaking in a personal capacity on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Prof Calum Semple, a member of Sage, said the country was in a second wave of the virus. “Unlike the first wave, where we had a national lockdown which protected huge swathes of society, this outbreak is now running riot across all age groups,” he said.
Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome trust and also a member of Sage welcomed the government’s apparent U-turn.
“The evidence is stark but this is still a very tough call & the government deserves credit for changing its approach,” he said in a tweet.
This isn’t a decision any Govt would want to make. No one envies the job ministers have right now. The evidence is stark but this is still a very tough call & the government deserves credit for changing its approach in light of a very fast-moving epidemic. https://t.co/AtijSr1y2D
— Jeremy Farrar (@JeremyFarrar) October 31, 2020
Updated
Weddings and wakes banned in Tehran to curb virus spread
Weddings, wakes and conferences will be banned in Tehran until further notice, as Iran, the Middle East’s hardest-hit nation, battles a third wave of Covid-19, police said on Saturday.
The president, Hassan Rouhani, meanwhile announced new restrictions that will take effect on Wednesday in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces for 10 days, according to Reuters.
The new restrictions came as total Covid-19 deaths rose by 386 over the past 24 hours to reach 34,864, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV on Saturday, adding total cases rose by 7,820 to 612,772.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency said Tehran police had extended by one week the closure of businesses including beauty salons, teahouses, cinemas, libraries and fitness clubs.
Police will make unannounced visits to other high-risk businesses, and those that violate health protocols will be shut down, IRNA quoted police official Nader Moradi as saying.
The deputy health minister, Alireza Raisi, said in a televised press briefing that the new restrictions from next week in the 25 provinces and 89 counties will include include the closure of institutions such as schools, universities, libraries and mosques.
Rouhani said in televised remarks that strict health protocols should be observed when holding weddings and funerals in those provinces and counties.
Iranian authorities have blamed a sharp increase in cases on people failing to follow restrictions, and Rouhani said an operations headquarters will be set up to ensure compliance with the health protocols.
Johnson & Johnson has told US regulators it plans to start testing its experimental Covid-19 vaccine in people aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible.
“We plan to go into children as soon as we possibly can, but very carefully in terms of safety,” Reuters quoted J&J’s Dr Jerry Sadoff as saying in a virtual meeting of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunisation practices on Friday.
Depending on safety and other factors, the company plans to test in even younger children afterwards, said Sadoff, a vaccine research scientist at J&J’s Janssen unit.
J&J said in a statement that itwas currently in discussions with regulators and partners about the inclusion of the paediatric population in its trials.
The US Food and Drug Administration has said it is important for drugmakers to test their vaccines in children. Some doctors have raised concerns that the vaccines themselves could trigger a rare, life-threatening condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome in some children.
Pfizer has already begun testing the Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with Germany’s BioNTech in children as young as 12. Their vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA), a new technology that has yet to produce an approved vaccine.
J&J’s uses a cold virus to deliver coronavirus genetic material in order to spur an immune response. The platform - called AdVac - is used in a vaccine for Ebola that was approved in Europe earlier this year and used on more than 100,000 people, including infants, children and pregnant women.
Updated
The first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has urged her compatriots not to “twist” new coronavirus regulations when they come into force on Monday, warning that if people applied their own interpretation of the rules then they “simply won’t work”.
Sturgeon has already told the country the new five-tier system of restrictions represents the best chance of avoiding another national lockdown. In a plea to “frustrated” Scots, she urged them to think about the impact their decisions would have on others at this “critical point in the pandemic”.
She said:
I know that people are tired and frustrated, but at this critical point in the pandemic, I want to remind people that the decisions they make over the coming days and weeks have a real impact on not only themselves but others.
Right now, we rely more than ever on public willingness to adhere to the measures in place.
The new protection levels should enable communities to control outbreaks quickly and effectively and minimise transmission of the virus by following the guidance and supporting each other to comply. But, if we all put our own twist on the rules, they simply won’t work.
We’ve seen how our collective efforts at the start of the pandemic helped to suppress the virus to levels where businesses could open, people could meet up with less restrictions, and we were able to restore some normality to our lives.
We all need to play our part to help protect lives, our mental health, the NHS, jobs and businesses. Stopping the spread starts with all of us.
Updated
Slovakia has begun a programme to screen its entire population for coronavirus in what would be a global first, according to AFP.
About 45,000 medical workers, army and police are being deployed to carry out the tests in the EU member state of 5.4 million people, collecting swabs at around 5,000 testing points.
Socially-distanced queues could be seen forming in the streets of the capital Bratislava even before the points opened at 0600 GMT.
“The world will be watching,” the prime minister, Igor Matovič, said this week.
The programme will use antigen tests, which give quick results. They are not, however, seen as being as reliable as the PCR test for which nasal and throat swabs have to be sent to a lab for analysis.
Participation in the testing is not mandatory, but anyone who is not able to produce a negative test certificate if stopped by police could get a heavy fine.
Anyone who tests positive has to go immediately into quarantine for 10 days.
Slovakia would be the first country of its size to undergo nationwide testing, although mass testing has taken place in entire Chinese cities and smaller European states such as Luxembourg and Monaco.
Updated
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has announced a one-month “action plan” that doubles up on the country’s coronavirus restrictions, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian’s Athens correspondent.
Addressing the nation, the centre right leader said that as of Tuesday the country would be divided into two zones: a high-risk red and orange zone and a less endangered yellow and green zone.
Athens and Thessaloniki, already hard hit by an alarming rise in confirmed coronavirus cases, will be included in the first with restaurants, gyms, theatres, cinemas and museums all being closed as of 6am on 3 November.
Mask-wearing will be mandatory nationwide, in and outdoors, while 50% of the labour force in both the public and private sector will be required to work from home, up from 40% previously. A nationwide curfew will also be imposed between midnight and 5am.
“My address today is what I never wanted to have to do,” Mitsotakis said. “But it is impossible to close my eyes to the harsh reality. I am forced, once again, to place the health and security of Greeks over every other choice.”
Unlike the lockdown this spring, the industry sector and retail outlets will not be affected by the new measures in an effort to keep the economy going. Schools will remain open and travel between regions will also be allowed.
Infections in Greece broke a fresh record on Friday, when health authorities recorded 1,690 new cases, up from 1,211 on Thursday, bringing the total number to 37,1965.
Covid-19 fatalities rose to 620 after the National Organisation for Public Health (EODY) registered a further five deaths. Friday’s infections marked the fourth straight day that confirmed cases have topped more than 1,000, up from a caseload in the low hundreds only weeks ago.
Mitsotakis, like other leaders, is keen to avoid a general lockdown because of the eviscerating effects it will have on an economy that is already one of the weakest in the EU.
Greece has fared relatively well compared with other European countries, but a surge in coronavirus cases has placed “the greatest ever” pressure on the health system and so needed to be addressed, the prime minister said earlier this week.
Updated
US sets world record for daily new infections
The US has set an all-time global high for coronavirus cases recorded in a 24-hour period, with just over 100,000 new infections on Friday eclipsing its previous record of 91,000 the day before.
The daily caseload of 100,233 - according to a Reuters tally - surpasses the 97,894 cases reported by India on a single day in September.
The US has exceeded its previous single-day record of 77,299 cases registered in July five times in the past ten days. The number of daily infections reported in the last two days suggests the country is reporting more than one new case every second.
Despite the overall figure, the US has a rate of about 28,100 cases per million people, which places it about 14th in the world for prevalence.
The latest figures come four days before the US presidential election on Tuesday. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 230,000 people in the country, has dominated the final stretch of the campaign.
Updated
About 20 people have been arrested in Florence, Italy, after protests against coronavirus lockdown measures descended into skirmishes with police.
According to the AFP news agency, riot police were deployed to stop about 200 people gathered in the city centre from entering the Piazza della Signorina.
Fighting broke out in neighbouring streets, with some people throwing molotov cocktails, bottles and stones at police, tipping over rubbish bins and destroying surveillance cameras.
The city’s mayor, Dario Nardella, condemned those taking part. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “We’ve lived a surreal, terrible and painful night in Florence.
“This is not how you protest your grievances, this is not how you voice your suffering. It’s only violence as an end in itself, gratuitous.
“Those who scar Florence must pay for what they have done.”
A few hundred people also protested in Bologna, most of them young men, including football hooligans and some who gave the fascist salute, La Repubblica daily reported. Video images showed the newspaper’s video journalist being harassed and chased away.
“Journalist, terrorist!” the crowd shouted.
Protesters have taken to the streets in the past week in various cities across Italy to criticise a new series of nationwide lockdown measures, including the closure of all cinemas, theatres, gyms and swimming pools and the closing of restaurants and bars at 6pm.
The new measures spurred a wave of demonstrations in Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin on Monday and Tuesday, marked by violence and vandalism, with riot police firing teargas at groups of young people hurling bottles and rocks.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has said he wants to give the latest measures two weeks to take effect before deciding whether a fuller lockdown is needed, as has been ordered in France.
Updated
Fifth day of record infections in Poland
Poland reported a record number of coronavirus infections for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, with 21,897 new cases, as major protests continued after an abortion ruling last week.
The health ministry said that as of Saturday, Covid-19 patients were occupying 16,144 hospital beds and using 1,305 ventilators, compared with 15,444 and 1,254 respectively a day earlier.
The country of 38 million has reported a total of 362,731 coronavirus infections - 9,588 per million people - and 5,631 deaths.
The latests figures come amid mass protests against a ruling by the constitutional tribunal last week that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion in the predominantly Catholic country Reuters reports.
The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has warned that the protests will lead to big jump in new coronavirus cases, but some immunologists say most protesters have been wearing face masks, keeping distance and were out in the open, which reduces the risk of infection.
“Perhaps the governmemt would focus on purchasing tests and stop shifting the blame for its incompetence,” Klementyna Suchanow, a Polish writer and activist from Strajk Kobiet or Women’s Strike, the organiser of the protests, said on Friday.
Updated
A senior UK government scientific adviser has said that family Christmases can be made “relatively safe” if stringent restrictions bring down coronavirus cases.
Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
The idea of a lockdown is to save lives primarily. I think the only real way that we have a relatively safe Christmas is to get the incidence right down because otherwise I think Christmas is very difficult for people - nobody wants to have a disrupted Christmas holiday period where you can’t see your family and so on.
So I think the only way that that can be safely achieved is to bring the incidence right down, and in order to do that we have to take action now and that action needs to be stringent, unfortunately.
Edmunds said tougher restrictions did not have to be national, but that there would be an epidemiological benefit to Cornwall and other areas with lower incidence to reduce case numbers.
“There is a danger that even in the south-west now that hospitals will start to really feel the pressure in the coming weeks,” he said.
He also criticised the current strategy, saying: “The strategy that we’re following at the moment just really guarantees high incidence across the country over the winter.”
Updated
There were 18,410 new cases of coronavirus reported in Russia on Saturday, 4,952 of which were in Moscow, Reuters reports.
The latest update takes the national total number of infections so far to 1,618,116, which is 11,086 per million people.
Authorities also reported 334 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 27,990.
Updated
Indonesia reported 3,143 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the country’s total to 410,088, according to the health ministry website.
There were also 87 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 13,869, Reuters reports.
Indonesia has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in south-east Asia, but infection rates are comparatively low at 1,494 cases per million people, according to a tally kept by the Worldometers website.
Updated
The chairman of the representative body for rank and file police officers in England and Wales has called for clear communication over a possible new national lockdown.
John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents 120,000 officers, criticised the briefing of coronavirus measures to the media, claiming it increased pressure on the emergency services.
His comments come as the government’s latest plans on a new national lockdown, slated to come into force next week, were selectively briefed to the media last night.
To those briefing selective media on a potential national lockdown please understand the impact this has. It creates a media frenzy, causes confusion and ahead of any official announcement encourages some to make the most of their pre lockdown time. This is not a good mix!
— John Apter (@PFEW_Chair) October 31, 2020
This can add immense pressure to the 999 services who are already struggling with the demand they have. Please be more responsible. Clear communication, not corridor briefings.
— John Apter (@PFEW_Chair) October 31, 2020
Updated
Most newspapers here in the UK are leading on the likelihood that a new national lockdown will be imposed next week, news which dribbled out of the government late on Friday evening.
Saturday's Guardian: “National lockdown ‘could save Christmas’” #TomorrowsPapersToday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/y0JVo2Qc1t
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 30, 2020
Saturday's Times: “National lockdown looms” #TomorrowsPapersToday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/yhdE9QDRvT
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 30, 2020
Saturday's Telegraph: “Fourth tier beckons as scientists push PM” #TomorrowsPapersToday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/vydOykvpfn
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 30, 2020
MAIL: National lockdown next week #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/UXqGtWVG6T
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 30, 2020
Saturday's i weekend: “Summit to save Christmas” #TomorrowsPapersToday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/94Rz1dTLMa
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 30, 2020
You can read full details of the story in the Guardian this morning, of course.
Updated
Ukraine announced a new high of 8,752 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Saturday, up from 8,312 cases on Friday.
Total infections stood at 387,481, it said.
Meanwhile, 155 more people died from Covid-19, according to the latest update. That was fewer than Friday but continuing a trend towards increased numbers of deaths that began at the end of August.
Coronavirus is “running riot” across all age groups in the UK, says Prof Calum Semple, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Semple told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “For the naysayers that don’t believe in a second wave, there is a second wave. And unlike the first wave, where we had a national lockdown which protected huge swathes of society, this outbreak is now running riot across all age groups.”
He also said there were many more cases particularly in younger females between the ages of 20 and 40.
Semple said there were three to four times as many women in the age group coming into hospital as men, because they are exposed in hospitality, retail and some educational settings.
Updated
For those just waking up, here is a summary of the recent developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
- Germany has set a new record for new daily coronavirus cases, reporting 19,059 infections. This breaks Germany’s previous highest daily increase of 18,681, set the day before.
- Europe has listed more than 10 million Covid-19 cases to date since the virus first appeared, with the continent’s death tally at about 275,000.
- The US appears to have set a daily record for new infections on Friday, with different sources placing the increase between 94,000 and 100,000 in 24 hours according – just one day after the previous high of 91,000.
- Ukraine also registered a daily Covid-19 record, recording 8,752 new cases, up from the 8,312 new cases announced on Friday.
- France has reported 49,215 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, compared with 47,637 on Thursday. The total number of infections rose to 1,331,984 while the death tally went up by 256 over 24 hours to 36,565.
- Anti-mask protesters were arrested in Melbourne on Saturday, as the state of Victoria - which has eased out of a more than 100 day lockdown in recent days - recorded no new Covid-19 cases. The state of New South Wales recorded four new cases of coronavirus, one of which was transmitted locally.
Hello and good morning from London. This is Damien Gayle taking the reins on the live blog now, bringing you the latest coronavirus-related news and updates from the UK and around the world.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for coverage then please drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Germany sets new infection record
Germany has set a new record for daily coronavirus cases, reporting 19,059 infections.
The country’s previous highest daily increase was 18,681, reported on Friday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Germany also announced 103 further Covid-19 deaths, with its tally rising to 10,452 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ukraine also registered a daily Covid-19 record, recording 8,752 new cases, up from the 8,312 new cases announced on Friday.
In Melbourne, police have arrested protestors objecting to the state’s compulsory mask-wearing law.
A Victoria police spokeswoman told the Guardian that 21 people were arrested for a range of offences including not wearing a mask, breaching public gathering directions, and travelling more than 25km from their homes.
Police formed a ring around the protesters at the gathering at the Treasury Gardens in central Melbourne.
Victoria’s health minister, Martin Foley, responded to reports of the gathering, saying “at the moment protests that spread the risk of the virus are not safe”.
A Covid-hit Slovenia has apparently cooled on its famous daughter, Melania Trump, according to this report from AFP:
In 2016 Slovenia’s media followed the US presidential campaign with bated breath, but now the coronavirus pandemic is dominating headlines and crowding out coverage of whether Melania will stay in the White House alongside her husband President Donald Trump after Tuesday’s US election.
A rare voice of enthusiasm for Trump has been centre-right Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who tweeted his support earlier this month - but even he forgot to mention the family ties to Slovenia.
But unlike Jansa, many politicians in Slovenia have backed Biden or diplomatically avoided taking sides.
Even Srecko Ocvirk, mayor of Melania’s hometown Sevnica, can’t bring himself to utter an endorsement.
“As a Slovenian citizen I elect our country’s president, therefore I can’t comment on the US elections,” Ocvirk told AFP.
In the month since a life-size bronze statue of Melania was unveiled in Sevnica, her face has been covered with a surgical mask.
Here’s a little more detail on the earlier post about Covid-19 vaccines for Pacific nations.
The Australian government will spend A$500m (£270m) on purchasing and distributing Covid-19 vaccines for Pacific countries.
In a move that has since been welcomed by the United Nations Children’s Fund, Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, said the initiative will help the Indo-Pacific region recover more quickly, as many tourism-reliant economies have suffered from travel restrictions.
Payne also said the ensuring pacific countries have access to Covid-19 vaccines will contribute to Australia’s health security and economic recovery.
Over three years, Australia will purchase the vaccines from a range of different manufacturers around the world, and will also provide technical support and advice to health authorities in the Pacific nations it is helping, which will include Timor-Leste and Fiji.
Payne said:
Ensuring countries in our region can quickly recover from the health and economic impacts of this devastating global pandemic is vital to ensuring our shared economic future in the post-pandemic world.
A fast, safe vaccine rollout in the Pacific and Southeast Asia will mean we are able to return to more normal travel, tourism and trade with our key partners in the region.
Fiji’s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, has also welcomed the initiative.
Amid the nationalistic races for a #COVID19 vaccine, Australia has stepped-up with solidarity to ensure Pacific economies are not left behind.
— Frank Bainimarama (@FijiPM) October 31, 2020
Unless our pandemic recovery is inclusive, there won't be one at all. Australia understands that –– so must the rest of the world. pic.twitter.com/deXJOMlI7P
Thanks to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes for handling the blog.
I’m Elias Visontay and I’ll be bringing you updates for the next few hours, from a rainy Sydney.
Western Australia reports one Covid case
The Australian state of Western Australia reported one new coronavirus case overnight.
That case is a child who returned to Perth from overseas and is in hotel quarantine. The child is a close contact of a previous case.
The state currently has 44 active cases.
Updated
Victoria records no new Covid cases
Health authorities in the Australian state of Victoria have clarified that the state recorded no new cases, after an initial positive infection was reclassified.
Days with no cases have become known as “doughnut day” in Melbourne, which only emerged from one of the world’s longest lockdowns this week.
The chief health officer, Brett Sutton, provided the update on Twitter.
Today’s case has been reviewed and rejected. So that’s a 🍩 day. Or 🥯 day for us public health folk.
— Chief Health 🍩fficer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) October 31, 2020
Updated
The health minister in the Australian state of Victoria, Martin Foley, has said the government is not planning to designate a single hospital to quarantine Covid-19 infected people that cannot isolate elsewhere.
The Age newspaper reported on Saturday that the government was in talks over the proposal, which is backed by the Australian Medical Association.
Foley said on Saturday the government was in constant discussions with health leaders but that it did not “have any plans to implement that particular outcome”.
Updated
Health authorities in the Australian state of Victoria are urging people living in the Deer Park area with coronavirus symptoms to get tested.
It follows a positive test reported in the Melbourne suburb on Friday.
The state currently has two active cases not linked to known clusters, in the suburbs of Wantirna/Wantirna South and Heidelberg West.
Authorities are offering testing to all staff and students at Goodstart Early Learning in Bundoora following a previous case linked to the child care centre.
Today’s one positive case is under review as a potential false positive.
Updated
Several United States retail pharmacy chains have agreed to serve as Covid-19 vaccination sites under a federal government plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
A plan by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed companies who have agreed to participate include Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Walmart Inc, Kroger Co and Costco Wholesale Corp, according to the news report, which was summarised by Reuters.
The government would provide the vaccines to the pharmacies free of charge, the Wall Street Journal report said, to help expand and accelerate the public’s access to vaccines as supplies increase.
The pharmacies would be involved in the second phase of the planned vaccine rollout in the United States, the report said, with the first phase targeted at healthcare workers and others at high risk of infection.
The companies involved in the plan and the CDC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Updated
US reports 94,000 cases as Trump downplays pandemic
The United States saw a record number of new coronavirus infections for the second day running Friday, with more than 94,000 cases reported just days before voters decide if Donald Trump should remain in the White House.
AFP reports that the skyrocketing caseload helped push the US tally past 9 million cases reported since the pandemic began, while Europe topped 10 million and France entered a new lockdown.
The increasingly resurgent pandemic is forcing other countries to consider following suit – but Trump has vowed the US will not be among them if he wins a second term on Tuesday.
The US set a daily record for new infections Friday, charting more than 94,000 in 24 hours according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University – just one day after the previous high of 91,000.
Hospitals across the country were bracing as cases soar in nearly every state and winter flu season looms.
But on the campaign trail Trump, who says the virus will “disappear”, remained defiant.
“We just want normal,” he told supporters – many of them unmasked – at an outdoor rally near Detroit as he pushed states to relax public health restrictions and resume daily life.
He again bucked his own administration’s health experts and dismissed the more than 229,000 Americans who have already died of Covid-19, saying: “If you get it, you’re going to get better, and then you’re going to be immune.”
Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who has sought to turn the 3 November election into a referendum on Trump’s handling of the pandemic, has accused his Republican rival of surrendering to the virus.
“It is as severe an indictment of a president’s record as one can possibly imagine, and it is utterly disqualifying,” he said in a statement Friday.
Virus fears have also hit Wall Street, which suffered its worst week and month since March on Friday with another losing session as markets gird for the election.
Updated
Office workers in the Australian city of Melbourne may return to their workplaces before Christmas as Victoria’s Covid-19 numbers remain low.
The state on Saturday reported one new case of coronavirus in a hospital patient, but health authorities think it could be a “false positive”.
AAP reports that the state has 71 active cases of the virus and attention is focusing on business returning to normal.
“If we can see that these chains of transmission are in check, then there is a reasonable chance – a slow and steady – gradual return to the workplace,” the state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said on Saturday.
Workers would not be able to be “packed into offices” and there were some concerning elements, including public transport and elevator use, that needed to be considered, he added.
“If the numbers remain low then those risks become much less in the office space as well,” Sutton said.
“Some [workers] can and should return, but always depending on the numbers. Clearly there’s an economic activity by virtue of return-to-work, especially here in the CBD, and that should be a consideration.”
For some Victorians, “it will be a changed workforce forever”, the expert noted, adding that many employers had already started making long-term arrangements.
“For people who are comfortable and happy and can be supported to work from home, that’s not an unreasonable thing to embed ongoing.”
Updated
The Australian state of Queensland has recorded no new Covid-19 cases on state election day and notched 50 days since its last locally acquired infection.
AAP reports that the continued good news comes a day after premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to leave Sydney on the state’s border blacklist was condemned by Qantas boss Alan Joyce and NSW counterpart Gladys Berejiklian.
The premier announced the reopening of Queensland’s border on Friday to all of regional NSW from Tuesday, but blocked people in 32 local government areas of greater Sydney.
The current restrictions will be eased from 1am AEST on Tuesday.
It means Queenslanders and people who have not been in Sydney and Victoria will be able to travel in and out of the Sunshine State.
They continue to be required to complete border declaration passes, with people who have been in hotspot areas in the 14 days before entry to the state required to quarantine.
Victoria remains a hotspot.
Four virus cases remain active in Queensland.
The current border restrictions will be reviewed at the end of November.
Updated
Colombia records 10,000 new cases, 209 deaths
Colombia has recorded more than 10,000 new cases, as it surpassed more than 31,000 deaths.
The country reported 10,029 new cases and 209 deaths in the past 24 hours, according the country’s ministry of health.
It takes the death toll to 31,135, while there have now been 1,063,151 infections since the start of the pandemic.
China reports 33 new cases
Mainland China reported 33 new Covid-19 cases on 30 October, up from 25 a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Saturday.
Of the new cases, 27 were imported infections originating from overseas, reports Reuters.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that six local infections were reported in the western region of Xinjiang.
The commission also reported 38 new asymptomatic cases, down from 53 a day earlier. China does not count symptomless patients as confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Updated
NSW records four cases, one locally transmitted
The Australian state of New South Wales has reported one locally transmitted case of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
A further three cases were recorded among overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, NSW Health said in a statement.
The locally acquired case is linked to a new cluster at Hoxton Park, which has now reached five infections.
NSW Health said the person attended the Flip Out Prestons Indoor Trampoline Park at the same time as a known case.
The case attends Cabramatta High School, which will be closed over the weekend for cleaning.
Contact tracing is underway.
Authorities are calling on people south west Sydney to come forward for testing, citing a number of recent cases in the area.
Spain sees protests over Barcelona lockdown
Protesters in Spain who deny the existence of Covid-19 and object to restrictions to curb the pandemic’s spread clashed with police in Barcelona on Friday.
About 50 demonstrators threw bricks and fireworks at police and set fire to rubbish containers in the centre of Spain’s second largest city, police said, according to Reuters.
Police repelled the protesters with their batons but did not charge, a spokesman for the Mossos d’Escuadra, the Catalan regional police, said.
One person was injured after being hit on the head by a brick. Two people were arrested.
Earlier, about 700 people staged a peaceful demonstration through one of the city’s main streets.
It follows similar disturbances sparked by those who deny the existence of the pandemic in Bilbao, in Spain, on Thursday and in cities across Italy on Monday.
Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries by Covid-19, imposed a state of emergency this week to try halt the rise of coronavirus infections.
Like other European countries, Spain has resorted to increasingly drastic measures to curb infections, although less stringent than in Germany or France.
Belgium to tighten restrictions
Belgium will impose tighter lockdown rules from Monday, closing non-essential businesses and restricting household visits.
“These are last-chance measures if we want to get the figures down,” said prime pinister Alexander de Croo, warning that the new rules would stay in place for at least a month and a half.
Households will only be allowed to receive one visitor, half-term holidays for schools will be extended to 15 November and those who can adapt their jobs to work from home will be asked to do so.
“It’s a lockdown, but a lockdown that allows factories to operate, that will allow schools to open cautiously, and that will not plunge people into isolation,” said health minister Frank Vandenbroucke.
Belgium, with 11.5 million inhabitants, has the most Covid-19 cases per capita in the world and has as many hospital cases now as at the peak of the pandemic’s first wave in April.
There were 6,187 patients in hospital on Friday, 1,057 of them in intensive care. Over the last week Belgium has recorded more than 100,000 new infections – more than 15,000 per day on average.
Updated
France reports 49,000 cases
France reported 49,215 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours on Friday, compared with 47,637 on Thursday.
The total number of infections rose to 1,331,984. The death tally went up by 256 over 24 hours to 36,565.
Stricter lockdown rules come into effect at midnight. People will only be able to leave their own homes for certain essential purposes, as the country tries to put the brakes on a Covid-19 outbreak that the president, Emmanuel Macron, said risked accelerating out of control. More details here.
Health officials in Australian state of Victoria have said the one new case recorded overnight was a hospital patient who had previously tested negative several times.
The chief health officer, Brett Sutton, described the case as a “low positive”.
Sutton said it was understandable some Victorians were still anxious about leaving their homes, as Melbourne enters its first weekend since one of the world’s longest lockdowns finally ended.
I will say we deserve to enjoy ourselves now. We got to this incredible point where case numbers are very low and we have days of literally no true cases so we should go out, with all the precautions we talked about. But we need to enjoy our lives after three months of really constrained activity.
The press conference is being led by the health minister, Martin Foley, in the first briefing without the premier, Daniel Andrews, in 120 consecutive days.
Melbourne enjoys first post-lockdown weekend
Residents in the Australian city of Melbourne are easing in to their first weekend since the end of one of the world’s longest lockdowns.
Victoria recorded one new case over the past 24 hours, although authorities described the infection as a “low positive”.
Eased restrictions for the city of 5 million mean locals can now dine at cafes and restaurants, or grab a drink at bars and pubs.
However, strict patron limits remain in place and venues have been encouraged to seat customers outside.
Retailers are also open once again, and residents may now invite two adults from the same household into their homes.
The restrictions were eased on Wednesday, with some venues opening their doors to customers from just past the stroke of midnight.
Updated
Australia's state borders slowly open up
Australia’s political fight over Covid-19 border closures is continuing despite moves from some states to ease their restrictions.
Facing pressure from other states and industry, the premiers of Western Australia and Queensland have now both announced they would relax tough border rules preventing residents of other states entering in the coming days.
But business and political leaders have hit out at Queensland’s decision to continue a hard border with the greater Sydney area, despite minimal community transmission in the city.
Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas, labelled the decision “ridiculous”.
“Keeping the doors bolted to places you can’t reasonably call hotspots makes no sense from a health perspective and it’s doing a lot of social and economic damage as well,” he said.
All states continue to keep their borders closed to Victoria, where authorities have just confirmed one new case was recorded in the past 24 hours.
The 14-day rolling average in Melbourne, which just came out of one of the world’s longest lockdowns, is now 2.4. There are only two cases that haven’t been linked to a known outbreak over the past two weeks.
In New South Wales, education authorities will close Sydney’s Cabramatta High School after a student returned a positive test.
Queensland will reopen to regional NSW from Tuesday, while Western Australia has confirmed it will ease hard border restrictions for all states on 14 November.
Updated
Europe passes 10m cases
Europe has listed more than 10 million cases to date since the virus first appeared according to latest health authority data analysed by AFP.
In terms of cases, the continent lags Latin America and the Caribbean (11.2 million) and Asia (10.5 million).
In terms of deaths Europe’s tally of some 275,000 puts it second only to about 399,000 for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Updated
National lockdown expected in England
The United Kingdom government is expected to announce a national lockdown across England next week.
The Guardian has been told the prime minister, Boris Johnson, has bowed to pressure from his scientific advisers for new national lockdown restrictions.
They are expected to be announced early next week.
Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty, who head the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), are understood to have warned the prime minister that the time has come for national action across England.
Sage scientists presented Johnson with evidence at a meeting in Downing Street, where they explained that Covid-19 is spreading significantly faster than their worst-case scenarios.
Read the full story here.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage.
My name is Luke Henriques-Gomes and I’ll be with you for the next few hours.
Europe has passed a total of 10m cases, with nearly a quarter of a million cases being diagnosed each day, compared with around 15,000 at the start of July. France has begun a month-long lockdown, Belgium will adopt tighter restrictions from Monday, clashes in Barcelona erupted over Spanish Covid restrictions and England is expected to announce a national lockdown next week.
In Australia, Victoria – which this week emerged from one of the world’s longest lockdowns in the state’s capital, Melbourne – has recorded just one case and no new deaths. Neighbouring New South Wales has recorded four new cases, three of them in hotel quarantine. It comes amid an ongoing row over borders remaining shut in some states.
The other main developments include:
- England is expected to go into national lockdown from early next week, with the prime minister, Boris Johnson, set to bow to pressure from his scientific advisers to impose tighter restrictions. On Friday the UK has reported 274 more deaths and 24,405 new cases.
- The US has passed 9m coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. The figure stands at 9,007,298, the highest in the world, followed by India with 8,088,851 and Brazil with 5,494,376.
- France has reported 49,215 new confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, compared with 47,637 on Thursday. The total number of infections rose to 1,331,984 while the death tally went up by 256 over 24 hours to 36,565.
- Coronavirus infections in Italy rose by 31,084 on Friday, a jump of over 4,000 in a day, while 199 more fatalities were recorded. Hospital admissions increased by over 1,000 in a day, bringing the total across the country to 16,994, of which 1,746 are in intensive care.
-
Canada needs to adopt a stronger response now to tackle a second wave of the coronavirus that has already killed more than 10,000 people and is growing worse, health authorities have said according to Reuters.
- Australia’s political fight over border restrictions is continuing, with the state of Queensland under pressure for continuing to bar entry to people from Greater Sydney. The state of Victoria has recorded one new case, as Melbourne residents enjoy their first weekend since the end of one of the world’s longest lockdowns.
- Belgium will impose tighter lockdown rules from Monday, closing non-essential businesses and restricting household visits. Households will only be allowed to receive one visitor, half-term holidays for schools will be extended to 15 November and those who can adapt their jobs to work from home will be asked to do so.
Updated
