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Summary
Here is a recap of the main developments from the last few hours:
- Portugal announced an expansion of a nightly curfew and weekend lockdown already in place across more than 100 municipalities to a further 77 areas as it scrambles to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The UK government said a further 563 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the official tally to 50,928. However, separate figures from the UK’s statistics agencies, which take into account all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, put the death toll at almost 67,000.
- The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, issued a 30-day advisory telling residents to stay at home and not to have visitors in the home, including for Thanksgiving. If residents travel out of the state, they must quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative virus test, she said.
- Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has agreed to extend Covid-19 restrictions for between one and two weeks, falling short of stricter measures demanded by Irish nationalist parties. The five-party power-sharing executive agreed the reopening of cafes and close-contact services such as hairdressers will be delayed by a week and the reopening of bars and restaurants serving alcohol will be delayed by two weeks.
- Italy recorded 636 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours – its highest daily figure since 6 April. The number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 compared with Wednesday – up from 32,961 to 37,978. The northern region of Lombardy remains the hardest-hit area.
- France’s lockdown is to last for at least two more weeks, with the number of people in hospital infected by the coronavirus now higher than at the peak of the first wave, the prime minister, Jean Castex, told a news conference. He said that if the current slowdown in the rate of new cases was maintained, France would pass the peak of the second wave early next week but that if the spread of infections began to accelerate he would not hesitate to impose stricter measures.
- Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 40,000 after 457 more fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of people who have died from Covid in Iran, which has the highest death count in the Middle East, now stands at 40,121.
- A senior health department official in Delhi has said that Diwali, starting on 14 November, could be “a super spreader event”. India has so far reported about 8.6 million coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the US – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the US’s 711.
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A controversial French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – is to appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches. Marseille-based Didier Raoult is accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug, which has been trumpeted by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
- Russia, Croatia, Greece were among countries to report respective daily records in the number of infections.
- Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, officials said today. “The curve is flattening,” said Lothar Wieler, who heads the country’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). He said it showed anti-transmission measures were working but warned there was still scope for the situation to deteriorate in coming weeks.
Refusing to allow coronavirus to steal his Christmas, one Bavarian innkeeper has opened a drive-through Christmas market, complete with artificial snow that falls as you come in, Reuters reports.
Some 2,500 Christmas markets are usually held in Germany in the lead-up to the holiday, drawing millions of visitors who sip mulled wine and buy trinkets among wooden huts. But most markets are likely to be cancelled this year due to the pandemic, including Nuremberg’s world-famous “Christkindlesmarkt.”
Five months after Patrick Schmidt condensed the Bavarian “Dult” folk festival experience into a drive-through delight during the first wave of the pandemic, he is now trying to recreate the Christmas market feeling while sticking to guidelines for social distancing.
“It was a spontaneous idea because of the second lockdown. I thought the Dult drive-in also worked so why not a Christmas market drive-in?” he beamed at the market’s opening on Thursday in Landshut, some 60km (37 mile) northeast of Munich. “We don’t just sell a crepe or a pack of roasted almonds, we sell an experience.”
Patrons said the market comes as a welcome boost as the country grinds through a month-long “lockdown light” under which bars, restaurants, theatres and museums have been closed.
“I heard Christmas carols for the first time and I’m slowly getting into the mood,” said Anton Kolbinger, holding cotton candy. “But to get into a real Christmas mood will still take some time.”
Schmidt said he already knows what he wants for Christmas:
My biggest Christmas wish is that the coronavirus is finally brought under control and that next year is half-way normal again. That’s what I hope for.
Updated
People from Black and Asian backgrounds are at substantially greater risk of contracting Covid-19 than white people, according to a study that highlights the disproportionate impact of the disease on different groups in society.
Black people are twice as likely to become infected with coronavirus as white people, and people from Asian backgrounds are one and a half times as likely, researchers found after analysing 50 studies that reported on the medical records of nearly 19 million Covid patients.
The analysis, published in the journal EClinicalMedicine by the Lancet, is the first comprehensive, systematic review of published research and preliminary papers that delve into the burden of coronavirus on different ethnic groups. About half of the papers have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and the rest are preliminary findings.
Beyond the raised risk of infection, the review suggests people from Asian backgrounds are more likely to be admitted to intensive care and may have a greater risk of death with coronavirus than white people. But the researchers cautioned that none of the studies on intensive care admissions had been peer-reviewed and that the increased risk of death was only borderline statistically significant.
The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, has the story:
Nearly 67,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now occurred in the UK, the latest figures from the UK’s statistics agencies show. These are separate from the figures gathered by the UK government, which only take into account deaths from Covid-19 where a person has died within 28 days of a positive test (see 8.05pm.).
According to the most recent reports from the Office for National Statistics, the National Records of Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, a total of 63,317 deaths have so far been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
But since those figures were compiled, a further 3,195 deaths are known to have occurred in England, plus 33 in Scotland, 220 in Wales and 110 in Northern Ireland, according to additional data published on the UK government’s coronavirus dashboard.
Together, these totals mean that so far there have been 66,875 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
Updated
Father Christmas wears a mask and can travel the world thanks to a special permit, Italy’s prime minister said on Thursday, in a bid to ease children’s fears that Santa may also be under lockdown this year.
Giuseppe Conte wrote on Facebook:
Father Christmas assured me that he already has an international travel certificate: he can travel everywhere and distribute gifts to all the world’s children.
He was responding to a desperate letter by five-year-old Tommaso who had pleaded with him not to confine Babbo Natale, as Santa is known in Italy. Conte said:
He confirmed to me that he always uses a mask and maintains a correct distance to protect himself and everyone he meets.
He then suggested to the boy that he put a bottle of hand sanitising gel under the tree, along with warm milk and biscuits. The Italian PM continued:
I’m letting you know that it won’t be necessary to tell Father Christmas that you were good in your letter, because I already told him.
I also found out that you wanted to ask Father Christmas to chase away the coronavirus. Don’t forget to ask for another present.
Italy, the first European country hit by coronavirus earlier this year, has recorded a surge in cases in recent weeks and has topped one million infections in total.
Several types of restrictions have been imposed nationwide and at a local level, depending on the health situation in different regions. But a growing number of medical workers and politicians are calling for stricter measures, and even a second nationwide lockdown.
Whatever the evolution of the pandemic in the coming weeks, the regional affairs minister Francesco Boccia said on Thursday that Christmas would only be celebrated among close family members.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the nation in two videos on Thursday, his first appearance since being hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19 this week.
Sitting in a chair in front of a Ukrainian flag, Zelenskiy said he felt good and the government was working as normal. He also spoke about his administration’s standoff with the Constitutional Court over anti-corruption reforms.
The president, 42, was moved to hospital to self-isolate and not put others at risk, his office said.
Three other top officials, including the finance minister, the defence minister and Zelenskiy’s top aide were also reported to be infected.
“As you know, Covid-19 has not avoided me, but I feel good,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian new coronavirus infections began rising in late September and have remained consistently high in October and November, prompting the government to extend some restrictions until the end of the year.
On Wednesday, Zelenskiy’s cabinet voted to impose a national lockdown at weekends to strengthen steps to curb the rapid spread of infection.
Ukraine has registered a total of 500,865 coronavirus cases and 9,145 deaths as of Thursday.
Portugal expands nightly curfew and weekend lockdown to more areas
Portugal has announced an expansion of a nightly curfew and weekend lockdown already in place across more than 100 municipalities to a further 77 areas as it scrambles to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The situation is serious and more critical than what we experienced in the first wave of the pandemic,” the prime minister Antonio Costa told a news conference.
Residents of affected areas are asked to not leave the house except for work, school or shopping during the week, and must stay home between 11pm and 5am.
At weekends, a lockdown is in place from 1pm to 5am, during which all commercial outlets and restaurants must shut, although there are exceptions for bakeries, pharmacies and neighbourhood grocery shops.
Restaurants will be able to apply for compensation of 20% of their average revenues to make up for income lost over the next two weekends, Costa announced, after workers in areas where the weekend lockdown was already in place protested that it was killing the sector.
AHRESP, an association representing the hotel and restaurant sector, said 49,000 businesses had been wiped out between July and September.
Any municipality with more than 240 new cases per 100,000 people in the space of two weeks must follow the new rules. Seven were removed in the past week as their infection rate fell below the threshold.
A nationwide state of emergency that came into force on Monday and is due to last until 23 November could also be extended if necessary.
Portugal, with just over 10 million people, has recorded a comparatively low 191,011 cases and 3,181 deaths. However, last Saturday the number of daily infections hit 6,640, the highest figure since the pandemic started, albeit with an expanded testing programme.
Costa said:
The least we owe healthcare professionals is to make an additional effort. The rule is simple: We have to stay at home.
UK records another 563 deaths, taking official toll to 50,928
The UK government said a further 563 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday. That brings the official tally to 50,928. Though lower than the 595 deaths reported on Wednesday - the highest daily figure recorded since early May - it is still well above 500 and the seven-day average for deaths is running at 375, compared to 295 a week ago.
Taking into account all deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the UK’s death toll is actually now almost 67,000.
It comes as the UK recorded 33,470 further coronavirus cases - a new daily record, and more than 10,000 greater than the total for Wednesday. The figure is also more than 6,000 above the previous highest daily total. The seven-day average for new cases is now running at 22,524, compared to 22,398 a week ago.
The government’s coronavirus dashboard is here.
Updated
The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, said on Thursday that the third largest city in the US could have 1,000 more Covid-19 deaths by the end of 2020 if residents did not change behaviours and do more to stop the spread of the virus.
Lightfoot issued a 30-day advisory that will begin on Monday, calling upon residents to stay at home and not to have visitors, even for Thanksgiving. If residents travel out of the state, they must quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative virus test, she said during a news conference.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has agreed to extend Covid-19 restrictions for between one and two weeks, falling short of stricter measures demanded by Irish nationalist parties, Reuters reports.
In mid-October, Northern Ireland became the first part of the United Kingdom to reimpose strict Covid-19 constraints, closing schools for two weeks and bars and restaurants for four, but the measures were due to lapse on Friday.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been pushing for a swift end to the restrictions to help small-business owners, but the rival Ulster Unionists and Irish nationalist parties Sinn Féin and the SDLP said high infection rates meant restrictions should be maintained.
Under a compromise between the DUP, the UUP and the non-sectarian Alliance party, the five-party power-sharing executive agreed the reopening of cafes and close-contact services such as hairdressers will be delayed by a week and the reopening of bars and restaurants serving alcohol will be delayed by two weeks.
Sinn Féin voted against the measures, while the SDLP abstained.
“The advice was that we needed a further two-week restriction [on cafes and close-contact services] and that’s what we would have wanted to see,” Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland leader, Michelle O’Neill, told UTV television.
Northern Ireland has reported 825 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, including 15 reported on Thursday. It has had just over 200 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, around three times the rate in the Republic of Ireland, which has fallen sharply since strict measures were introduced.
Updated
Good evening from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. As always, please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share. Your thoughts are always welcome!
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Summary
I’m handing over the blog to my colleague Lucy Campbell now. I’ll leave you with a summary of the latest developments:
- Italy recorded 636 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours – its highest daily figure since 6 April. The number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 compared with Wednesday – up from 32,961 to 37,978. The northern region of Lombardy remains the hardest-hit area.
- France’s lockdown is to last for at least two more weeks, with the number of people in hospital infected by the coronavirus now higher than at the peak of the first wave, the prime minister, Jean Castex, told a news conference. He said that if the current slowdown in the rate of new cases was maintained, France would pass the peak of the second wave early next week but that if the spread of infections began to accelerate he would not hesitate to impose stricter measures.
- Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 40,000 after 457 more fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of people who have died from Covid in Iran, which has the highest death count in the Middle East, now stands at 40,121.
- A senior health department official in Delhi has said that Diwali, starting on 14 November, could be “a super spreader event”. India has so far reported about 8.6 million coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the US – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the US’s 711.
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A controversial French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – is to appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches. Marseille-based Didier Raoult is accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug, which has been trumpeted by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
- Russia, Croatia, Greece were among countries to report respective daily records in the number of infections.
- Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, officials said today. “The curve is flattening,” said Lothar Wieler, who heads the country’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). He said it showed anti-transmission measures were working but warned there was still scope for the situation to deteriorate in coming weeks.
Updated
Greece reported 3,316 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest daily tally since its first infection surfaced in February, according to health authorities data.
The latest jump in infections brings the total number of cases in the country to 66,637.
It also registered 50 deaths, bringing the number of victims since the onset of the virus to 959.
A resurgence in cases since early October has forced Greece to reimpose a nationwide lockdown until the end of the month.
Updated
Donald Trump’s adviser Corey Lewandowski has become the latest member of the outgoing president’s staff to test positive for coronavirus.
Lewandowski recently traveled to Pennsylvania to assist Trump’s efforts to contest the state’s election results. He said today he believes he was infected in Philadelphia and is not experiencing any symptoms.
Lewandowski appeared with Rudy Giuliani at an event on Saturday outside a landscaping company and lobbed unfounded accusations of voter fraud as the race was called for Trump’s challenger, now-President-elect Joe Biden.
Lewandowski was also at the election night party at the White House last week linked to several virus cases.
Numerous White House and campaign officials have tested positive in this latest wave of infections, including Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Updated
France lockdown to last at least two more weeks
The French prime minister, Jean Castex, said there would be no easing of a second Covid-19 lockdown in France for at least two weeks, with the number of people in hospital infected by the coronavirus now higher than at the peak of the first wave.
Castex said that one in four deaths in the country were due to the virus and that while the R number was now below 1, it was too early to contemplate relaxing measures. He told a news conference:
It would be irresponsible to soften the lockdown now. The gains (we are seeing) are fragile.
The prime minister said that if the slowdown in the rate of new cases was maintained, France would pass the peak of the second wave early next week. But he said he would not hesitate to impose stricter measures if the spread of infections quickened once more.
The virus has killed more than 42,000 people in France. Health authorities reported 35,879 new cases on Wednesday, taking the total to 1.86 million, overtaking Russia and making France the worst-affected country in the European region. “The pressure on our hospitals has intensified enormously,” the French prime minister said.
Authorities could ease restrictions for Christmas holidays if conditions allow, Castex said.
Updated
Top Democrats in the US Congress today urged renewed negotiations over a multitrillion-dollar coronavirus aid proposal, but the top Republican immediately rejected their approach as too expensive, continuing a months-long impasse.
The House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, ticked off a litany of grim data about the spread of the coronavirus in the US, with eight straight days of over 100,000 new coronavirus cases being reported each day.
“It’s like the house is burning down and they just refuse to throw water on it,” Pelosi said of Republicans.
She and Schumer told a news conference that President-elect Joe Biden’s victory strengthened the Democratic position, which is to spend at least $2.2tn on another round of coronavirus aid, on top of $3tn Congress has approved since the pandemic began. The Republican president, Donald Trump, has not conceded to Biden.
“We’re willing to sit down and talk; they haven’t wanted to talk,” Schumer said, referring to the post-election session of Congress that lasts until the end of the year.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, speaking to reporters in a hallway a few minutes later, said he preferred previous Republican proposals in the range of $500bn.
“I gather she [Pelosi] and the Democratic leader in the Senate still are looking at something dramatically larger. That’s not a place I think we’re willing to go,” McConnell said.
“But I do think there needs to be another package,” the Republican said. “Hopefully we can get past the impasse.”
In May, the Democratic-majority House approved an additional $3.4tn in coronavirus aid, but it went nowhere in McConnell’s Senate, where Schumer’s Democrats blocked less expensive Republican proposals.
Updated
Germany’s health minister said today that he expected restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic to continue through winter, with life unlikely to get back to normal in December or January even if infections fall.
“I don’t see events with more than 10 or 15 people happening this winter,” Jens Spahn told the broadcaster RBB.
Germany reported 21,866 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 727,553 and jumping back above 20,000 after four days below that figure, while the death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.
The chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the leaders of Germany’s states are due to meet on Monday to review whether partial lockdown measures imposed on 2 November have been enough to slow a steep rise in new infections that risks overwhelming hospitals.
“We all have to be sensible, we have to get down to 50 cases per 100,000 people over seven days,” Merkel said today in response to a question on whether the lockdown would end this month. The figure is currently 139 per 100,000.
Unlike its first lockdown earlier this year, Germany is keeping its schools and daycare centres open so that parents can go to work, limiting damage to the economy, although at least 300,000 pupils and 40,000 teachers are currently in quarantine.
Prof Lothar Wieler, the head of the RKI, said on Thursday that he expected rules to slow the spread of the pandemic in Germany to remain in place for a long while, as a vaccination would take time and there was likely to be an uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in some parts of the country.
The slowing dynamic of infections gave ground for cautious optimism, but it was not yet clear whether this was a stable development, and hospitals were still expected to reach capacity, Wieler added.
Updated
Danish vaccine 'effective against mink Covid strain'
A potential vaccine candidate being developed in Denmark has in early animal trials proven effective against a mutated novel coronavirus strain from mink discovered in the country, a scientist working on the vaccine said today.
Authorities last week embarked on a plan to cull Denmark’s 17 million mink, one of the world’s largest populations, before running into opposition to the cull. It followed concerns that a recently discovered strain found in mink farms and humans could evade future Covid-19 vaccines.
Early studies of the mutated virus strain, known as Cluster 5, showed the virus to have a reduced sensitivity towards antibodies, possibly compromising the efficacy of future vaccines, authorities said last week.
But antibodies from rabbits treated with an early-stage vaccine candidate from Denmark’s State Serum Institute (SSI) successfully beat down the Cluster 5 variant, according to Anders Fomsgaard, lead scientist at SSI, which deals with infectious diseases.
“We couldn’t resist testing the rabbit antibodies we have against Cluster 5, and it works,” he told Danish broadcaster DR.
The vaccine candidate, which is in early stages of development, will soon move to human trials at which it is uncertain if it will have the same effect.
“Whether this also applies to other vaccines and whether it applies to human antibodies, we do not know,” Fomsgaard said.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a risk assessment today there is “currently high uncertainty” about the potential threat posed by the spread of the virus into mink, its mutations, and its consequent spread back into people.
Updated
Italy reports highest daily deaths since 6 April
Italy has registered 636 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours, up from 623 the day before and the highest figure since 6 April, the health ministry said.
The number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 compared with the previous day – up from 32,961 on Wednesday to 37,978.
Infections in Italy since the disease first came to light in February total 1.066m, while 43,589 people have died to date because of the coronavirus.
There were 234,672 coronavirus swabs carried out in the past day, the ministry said, against a previous 225,640.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy’s financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area on Thursday, reporting 9,291 new cases, up from Wednesday’s 8,180
Dr Anthony Fauci says unprecedented “polarisation” has intensified an anti-science feeling in the US and led people to threaten violence against him.
While the top infectious diseases expert commands respect among much of the public, he has received personal death threats as a result of his high-profile statements about the coronavirus pandemic.
The health expert Prof David Heymann, who joined Fauci in a Chatham House webinar, said science had become highly politicised to the point that a mask wearer was seen as a Democrat and a non-mask wearer as a Republican.
Updated
Updated
New infections and hospital admissions have surged in Sweden as the country battles a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that officials had hoped its light-touch, anti-lockdown approach would mitigate, writes Jon Henley, the Guardian’s Europe correspondent.
“We consider the situation extremely serious,” the director of health and medical care services for Stockholm, Björn Eriksson, told the state broadcaster SVT this week. “We can expect noticeably more people needing hospital care over the coming weeks.”
Swedish hospitals were treating 1,004 patients for Covid-19, SVT said, an increase of 60% over the previous week’s 627. Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control suggests the rise in recent weeks may be Europe’s fastest.
New infections are also rising, hitting a seven-day average of more than 4,000 this week against fewer than 500 at the beginning of October. The country recorded 4,635 new infections on Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic Sweden – which at one stage in June had Europe’s highest per-capita Covid-19 fatality rate – has confirmed 171,365 cases of infections and 6,122 deaths. Its death toll per capita is many times higher than its Nordic neighbours, but lower than countries such as Italy, Spain and the UK.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is in discussions with the Russian institute that developed the Sputnik V candidate vaccine against Covid-19 over its potential application for emergency use listing, according to Reuters.
In a statement to the Canadian-owned news agency, the WHO said: “We look forward to receiving the data for their Sputnik V candidate vaccine. If a product submitted for assessment is found to meet the criteria for listing, WHO will publish the results widely.”
By granting the vaccine emergency-use listing, the WHO would effectively be recommending its use to member states.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective at protecting people from Covid-19, according to interim trial results, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund submitted the application for emergency-use listing late last month, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
Updated
All schools and other educational institutions in Bangladesh will remain closed until 19 December, the education ministry has said, as the country fears a resurgence of coronavirus infections this winter.
The announcement is the latest extension of the schools closure imposed across the country on 17 March. A senior ministry spokesman, who was not named, told Reuters: “The decision has been taken considering the second wave ... We can’t play with the lives of our children.”
The government, however, has lifted most other restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Daily infections have shown a rising trend this month, with 1,845 new cases and 13 deaths reported on Thursday.
Bangladesh has so far recorded 427,198 coronavirus infections and 6,140 deaths from Covid-19. That gives the country of 164.7 million people an infection rate of 25,101 per million and a Covid-19 death rate of 37 per million, according to the Worldometers website.
Nazrul Islam, a virologist and member of the national technical advisory committee to tackle Covid-19, said:
The government took the right decision. The coronavirus situation could worsen further in the winter when viral and bacterial diseases increase ... People are eager for the vaccine but nobody is caring about the health rules like wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing.
The government is broadcasting lessons on television for school students, while universities are conducting classes online. Rasheda Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, told Reuters:
There are currently no statistics available on the dropout rate. But we fear the figure could be as much as 40%.
Updated
French doctor to face charges over hydroxychloroquine claims
A controversial French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – will appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches, an order of doctors said today.
Marseille-based Didier Raoult is accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug.
His promotion of hydroxychloroquine was taken up by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro respectively, who trumpeted its unproven benefits in a way, say critics, that put people’s lives at risk.
No clinical trials have yet found in favour of using hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19. Critics say that due to potential serious side effects, treating coronavirus patients with hydroxychloroquine is worse than no treatment at all.
In June, the British-led Recovery trial team said that hydroxychloroquine does nothing to reduce coronavirus mortality.
A group representing 500 specialists of France’s Infectious Diseases Society (SPILF) filed a complaint with the national Order of Doctors of the Bouche-du-Rhone department, which includes Marseille, in July.
They accused Raoult of breaking nine rules of the doctors’ code of ethics. Other doctors and patients have also lodged complaints.
On Thursday, the group of doctors confirmed it had given the go-ahead for a disciplinary hearing after reviewing the complaints against Raoult. A hearing will likely only take place next year.
Raoult’s lawyer, Fabrice Di Vizio, confirmed they had received notice of the decision, but insisted his client would be cleared. If found guilty, Raoult could be fined, warned, or barred from practicing.
Raoult, who heads the infectious diseases department of La Timone hospital in Marseille, said in March that his study of 80 patients showed “favourable” outcomes in four out of five treated with hydroxychloroquine.
But his peers insist there is no scientific evidence to back up the claim.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the scientist on 9 April at the height of the pandemic, when the French were observing strict stay-at-home rules.
Senegalese children resumed classes today after the government closed schools in March in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus in the west African nation.
Up to 4 million primary and secondary school pupils were meant to return to classrooms, but the turnout nationwide was unclear.
Unicef had said last month that only one in three countries in central and west Africa had reopened schools at the due date for the 2020-2021 academic year.
Senegal, a poor nation with a population of about 16 million people, has so far been spared a large coronavirus outbreak.
Health officials have registered 15,744 positive cases to date, with 326 fatalities. Only 31 people are currently being treated for the disease in the country.
Senegal initially declared a state of emergency when the pandemic reached the country in March, closing schools, imposing a curfew and restricting international flights.
The government has since eased or lifted most of the restrictions, with children returning to school the last major antivirus measure to come to an end. About half a million students who were sitting exams were also allowed to return to school late June.
The education ministry spokesman, Mohamed Moustapha Diagne, told AFP a protocol is in place in schools involving compulsory face masks, hand-washing and social distancing.
But there are concerns that many schools lack protective gear and hand sanitisers, despite government promises to provide them.
“We still haven’t received a supply of masks and hydro-alcoholic gel,” said an official at a primary school in the Dakar suburb of Mbao, who requested anonymity.
Most students at the school were not wearing a mask, witnessed an AFP journalist.
Abdoulaye Ndoye, from a Senegalese teachers’ union, also said that many rural schools had not received the promised supplies.
Updated
Austria’s 24-hour tally of new coronavirus infections surpassed 9,000 for the first time today, with the government coming under growing pressure to introduce tougher measures to bring the outbreak under control. The government has previously said 6,000 new daily infections is the level at which hospitals will eventually be overwhelmed.
Earlier this month, the country introduced a partial shutdown until the end of November to slow the spread of the virus. Restaurants, cafes and bars have closed to all but takeaway service while theatres and museums have shut. A nighttime curfew is in place from 8pm to 6am but infections continue to rise.
A total of 9,262 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, data from the interior and health ministries showed. The tally was even higher than the 9,105 reported by newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Oesterreich earlier today.
The previous record was 8,241, set on Saturday. The first wave of infections peaked at 1,050 a day in March.
The Alpine republic’s government has said it will assess the situation tomorrow, 13 days after it announced the curfew and partial shutdown, and might announce a further tightening of restrictions.
A combination of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine from the Canadian drug developer Medicago and Britain’s GSK will enter into large human studies involving more than 30,000 healthy adults, the two companies said today.
The news comes days after the companies said the vaccine candidate produced virus-neutralising antibodies in all volunteers in an early-stage study.
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Fauci calls for solidarity and defends WHO
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease expert, told a Chatham House webinar that statewide and international cooperation was vital to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked what he would do differently if he was in charge of the health response in the US, he said:
Even though there’s a lot of positive aspects and beauty to the system in the US, namely the independence of the different states, what I would like to see is a much more uniform approach across all the states, because we really are all in this together. When you have an infectious disease, it doesn’t matter if you have a country with 50 different states, what happens in one part of the country is going to influence what is happening in another part of the country. Just like when something happens in one part of the world, when you have a respiratory transmittable disease, you can be darned sure it’s going to happen in another part of the world. As we move forward, what I would like to see is that uniformity of response. Everyone pulling together, whether you’re in the US, EU, UK, anywhere, everyone pulling together at the same time.
On the legacy of Covid-19, he said:
I would hope that the world realises what we keep saying whenever we get an outbreak, which is that we’ve got to develop corporate memory and lessons learned for preparation for the next one. There are so many current problems that people have, when you talk about preparing for something that hasn’t happened yet, that’s a difficult water to carry. I hope that the terrible ordeal that we’ve gone together globally will not soon be forgotten. When we talk about the kinds of global health security network, the kind of communication and transparency between nations, the mutual respect and interactions that we have [I hope] really get solidified. There isn’t anything that we can do about the emergence of new microbes, but what we can do is to control what happens when they do emerge. We certainly can do better on how we handle an emergence.
In contradiction to Donald Trump’s opinions about the World Health Organization, he emphasised its importance:
We need to make sure that the international health structures, the WHO, really get strengthened. It’s not a perfect organisation, it has faults that have been pointed out by others, but I think the world does need a global organisation.
He stressed that even once we have a vaccine, coronavirus is not going to disappear:
I doubt we’re going to eradicate this. I think we need to plan that this is something we need to maintain control over chronically. It maybe something that becomes endemic that we just have to be careful of. Certainly it’s not going to be pandemic for much longer, because I believe the vaccine are going to turn that around.
Fauci hinted that positive data from another vaccine was imminent and also that we should soon have a whole load of additional drugs at our disposal to prevent death/serious illness - monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drug combos - but there were no specifics.
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The Irish government is confident that it will be able to drop some of the strictest Covid-19 restrictions in Europe on schedule in December following a sharp fall in infection rates, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said today.
“I think everyone is confident now that we will ease restrictions in December,” Varadkar told parliament.
Rules which have closed all bars, restaurants and non-essential retail and banned non-essential travel more than 5km from home are due to lapse on 1 December, though ministers have said less strict restrictions are likely to remain.
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The final question put to Dr Anthony Fauci was about the ability of the virus to mutate and whether it would affect a vaccine/therapy. He said he believed the extent to which it could mutate to be limited, so it should not be a problem for the vaccine. He said it was more likely to have an impact on therapy.
Dr Anthony Fauci is asked about reinfection. He says it can occur and the durability of immunity is a critical question: “It is definitely finite.”
We may need to revaccinate intermittently, he says, but at the moment we cannot say what the intervening period would be.
Asked about the speed at which the Pfizer vaccine has progressed, Fauci says it is due to “extraordinary science advances”. It is speed based on “technical advances”, not rashness, he says. Fauci adds that doing the trial in the middle of a fierce outbreak made it easier to test it.
Dr Anthony Fauci, speaking virtually at the British thinktank Chatham House, says there has been unprecedented “polarisation” with respect to public health and science in the current pandemic. He says: “I do hope we can turn that around and I think we can.”
Prof David Heymann says the rejection of science seems particularly high in the United States. He says it has become highly politicised such that a mask wearer is seen as a Democrat and a non-mask wearer as a Republican.
Fauci makes clear that there should be wide access to the vaccine, whether you live or die should not depend on where in the world you are.
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Dr Anthony Fauci said what was needed in the United States was “more uniform implementation of public health measures”, such as social distancing and masks.
The top US public health expert said the news about the Pfizer vaccine trials should be encouraging to people. He said:
Please don’t give up, the end is in sight.
He questioned why when the US tried to reopen the country it was done in a “disparate way”. He said there needed to be a uniform response “because we are all in this together”.
David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said it was disappointing to see how the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) had been “marginalised”.
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Pope Francis is offering free coronavirus tests for Rome’s poor and homeless as part of the Roman Catholic church’s World Day of the Poor activities, the Vatican said today.
The swabs are being offered at a clinic near St Peter’s Square which the pope set up several years ago to provide basic medical care to destitute people, some of whom live on the streets in the neighbourhood around the Vatican.
Italy surpassed the 1m infections mark yesterday, leapfrogging Mexico to become one of the top 10 worst-affected countries globally, according to a Reuters tally.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella told reporters that up to 50 coronavirus tests a day were being done and the initiative would continue indefinitely.
Those who test negative receive a certificate to enter a shelter and those who test positive are directed to further treatment.
Many of Italy’s homeless are foreigners who do not have a family doctor with the national health system and Italians who become homeless, because of economic difficulties, are often too embarrassed to return to their family doctors.
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The senior US public health expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, is speaking virtually with the British thinktank Chatham House. You can watch the livestream at the top of the blog.
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Germany: tentative signs infections may be easing
Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, officials said today, crediting anti-transmission measures they warned would have to be maintained through winter and beyond.
“The curve is flattening,” said Lothar Wieler, who heads the country’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
Falling daily new infection figures show “we are not helpless against this virus” and that restrictions such as social distancing and mask wearing can help halt the march of Covid-19, he added.
Germany reported 21,866 new cases of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, according to RKI data.
The key reproduction figure (r) has fallen below 1 to 0.89, meaning that 100 people are passing on the virus to 89 others – a sign that transmission is slowing.
Despite the encouraging data, the RKI chief said the situation could worsen in coming weeks in hospitals, which may “reach their limits”.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating,” he said, stressing Germany’s aim is to bring infection numbers down to a level that the healthcare system can cope with.
Wieler urged Germans to keep social contacts to a minimum, saying the so-called AHA-L measures would still be necessary even if a vaccine is available because it will take time to roll out the jabs.
Under Germany’s AHA-L rule mantra, individuals are urged to maintain distances of at least 1.5 metres (5ft), wash their hands regularly, wear masks in indoor or crowded outdoor places as well as airing out rooms.
‘A long time’
Germany reimposed tough curbs this month to help slow the outbreak, with leisure and cultural centres closing and restaurants and bars only allowed to offer takeaway.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold a new round of talks with regional leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Monday to take stock of the situation and examine if the restrictions should be maintained or toughened.
Taking questions during a citizens’ dialogue, Merkel told a Bavarian hotel manager that if people behaved “reasonably ... we might have a chance” of slowly reopening in December.
But the veteran leader has also begun managing Germans’ expectations for Christmas, saying that she could foresee small family gatherings but no lavish parties.
The health minister, Jens Spahn, said it was clear that the Christmas festive season would be accompanied by restrictions. The virus “takes a long time to brake”, he told regional radio RBB.
“Even if we managed to bring the numbers down now, it doesn’t mean that people can just get going everywhere again in December or January.
“Partying over Christmas like nothing is going on won’t work,” he warned.
For the health minister, parties with more than 10 people this winter are not on if Germany wants to keep the pandemic under control.
With an eye on rising infections in schools, several German states have mooted the idea of lengthening the Christmas vacation to keep the population home and break the chain of transmission.
Merkel has warned that only when 60 to 70% of the population has achieved immunity can Covid-19 be deemed to have been “more or less overcome”.
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Russia is another country to report record high number of coronavirus deaths today, with authorities in Moscow warning they could consider imposing additional restrictions if the situation worsened.
There were 439 deaths linked to the virus reported in Russia today.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said he did not expect the surge in cases in the capital, which reported nearly 6,000 new infections today, to subside any time soon. He said about 12,000 coronavirus patients were currently hospitalised.
The sprawling city of nearly 13 million people has already ordered bars, restaurants and nightclubs to close at 11pm, and moved university and college students to online learning.
“I hope that more restrictions will not be needed, but that will depend on the situation,” Sobyanin said in an interview with state television.
Nationwide, Russian authorities reported 21,608 new infections over the last 24 hours.
Wary of crippling the economy and destroying jobs, they have said they will not reimpose a full lockdown like that seen earlier this year, stressing the importance of hygiene, social distancing and targeted measures in certain regions instead.
With 1,858,568 infections since the start of the pandemic, Russia has the world’s fifth largest number of cases after the United States, India, Brazil and France. Russia has reported 32,032 deaths to date from Covid-19.
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Croatia today reported 3,082 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily number since the global pandemic hit the country nine months ago, although the prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said the overall rate of increase was slowing.
The south-east European nation of 4 million people has registered a total of 75,922 cases of the respiratory disease with 925 fatalities to day. There are now 16,388 active cases.
Plenković appealed to citizens to respect protective measures. He said:
We are in the toughest period of the epidemic, but a good thing we see is that a rise in the number of newly infected is slowing down [over the course of the past week].
Croats are obliged to wear face masks in indoor public spaces and on public transport, while employees are urged to organise work from home wherever possible. But the conservative government has said it will try to avoid a blanket lockdown or a curfew to avoid crippling the economy
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Dozens of hospital workers have held protests at hospitals in Greece, demanding more medical staff be hired as the country struggles to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus that has led to a new lockdown being imposed.
The country’s health system has come under increasing pressure due to an increase in the number of people seriously ill with Covid-19. As of last night, Greece had a total of 1,104 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, of which 496 were set aside for Covid-19 patients. Of those, 335 are occupied.
The government has stressed it has massively increased the country’s intensive care capacity, noting there were a total of just over 500 ICU beds in Greece when it came to power after elections in mid-2019.
In a speech this morning on the government’s handling of the pandemic, the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said:
Every humanly possible effort was made so that we can, in the intervening time between the first wave and where we are today, reinforce the ICUs with beds and personnel. Whatever was humanly possible to be done has been done and continues to be done.
Mitsotakis said that no matter how many ICUs a country has, “and obviously we prefer to have more rather than fewer, a health system cannot cope if we do not hit the problem at the start of the chain. The start of the chain is the uncontrolled spread of the virus mainly through crowding and contact with people we do not know.”
The prime minister said the resurgence of the virus in Greece and the rest of Europe was due to “young people having fun. I’m not saying this as criticism, of course young people are more susceptible to such behaviour. But it’s an observation and it needs to be heard.”
In the initial outbreak of the pandemic in the spring, Greece imposed an early lockdown, a move that was credited with keeping the number of deaths and seriously ill very low. But a resurgence of the virus this autumn has led to a rapidly increasing number of people in ICUs, and a sharp increase in deaths.
As of last night, Greece’s total confirmed coronavirus cases stood at just over 63,300 with 909 deaths in the country of about 11 million people.
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Iran death toll exceeds 40,000
Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 40,000 after 457 more fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours.
The number of people who have died from Covid in Iran, which has the highest death count in the Middle East, now stands at 40,121.
Health ministry data showed the total number of identified cases has reached 726,585. The health ministry spokeswoman, Sima Sadat Lari, told state TV that Iran had identified a further 11,517 new cases over the last 24 hours.
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Hello, this is Haroon Siddique taking over the blog. If you want to get in touch you can do so
via Twitter @Haroon_Siddique
or email haroon[dot]siddique[at]theguardian[dot]com
France’s minister of economy, Bruno Le Maire, said on Thursday the crucial Christmas season for businesses and shopkeepers could be saved, provided people stick to strict guidelines under the current lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“What I wish is that we can save December for retailers ... What will dictate the decision of the prime minister and of the president is the protection of the safety of the French population,” Le Maire told BFM Business radio, according to Reuters.
If the population sticks to current guidelines, “we could have a dynamic December”, he said.
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And that’s it from me. I am now placing you in the hugely capable hands of Haroon Siddique.
Two pieces of sports news.
Firstly, the Football Association has said it has asked the government to consider allowing England to play their Nations League match against Iceland at Wembley “by giving travel exemption to the Icelandic team subject to strict medical protocols”.
Secondly, France 24 is reporting that fans may be asked not to cheer at the Tokyo Olympics to avoid the risk of spreading the coronavirus, a top official said on Thursday.
The comments follow a gymnastics test event in Tokyo on Sunday where mask-wearing spectators, urged not to shout or cheer, confined themselves to polite applause and murmurs of approval.
Tokyo 2020’s chief executive, Toshiro Muto, said fans arriving in Japan may be spared a mandatory two-week quarantine, saying it would be too hard to enforce. But he said officials were also considering urging fans not to shout or talk loudly, to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infections at the postponed 2020 games.
“There’s a possibility that we might ask the (Olympic) spectators to refrain from shouting or talking in a loud voice,” said Muto after a committee meeting.
“When we think of the impact, we believe it is an item for consideration, to reduce the risk of airborne droplets.”
However, Muto added that the “practicality and feasibility” of clamping down on cheering needed to be considered.
While sports competitions around the world have resumed after shutting down for the pandemic, most are taking place behind closed doors.
Fans are allowed at sports events in Japan, usually in limited numbers, but they are advised not to shout and cheer.
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen his longtime adviser Ron Klain to reprise his role as chief of staff, thereby installing an aide with decades of experience in the top role in his White House, AP reports.
Klain will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread across the nation, and will face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate. Klain served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak.
Klain served as chief of staff for Biden during Barack Obama’s first term, was chief of staff to Vice-president Al Gore in the mid-1990s and was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response. He has known and worked with Biden since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign.
The choice of Klain underscores the effort the incoming Biden administration will place on the coronavirus response from day one. Klain also played a central role in drafting and implementing the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan in 2009.
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An informative daily infographic showing the up-to-date coronavirus situation in Australia.
This daily infographic provides a quick view of the current coronavirus (#COVID19) situation in Australia. https://t.co/5vGz9m7zsK pic.twitter.com/tKnlrW1ukK
— Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) November 12, 2020
California is nearing the unwelcome milestone of a million Covid-19 cases, reports AP.
For months, the virus has hammered the economy, disproportionately affected the poor, and upended daily life – and now the state and the rest of the country are trying to curb another surge of infections.
California will be the second state – behind Texas – to eclipse a million known cases. The grim milestone in a state of 40 million people comes as the US has surpassed 10m infections. Eleven counties this week have had to reimpose limits.
The timeline of Covid-19 in the US often comes back to California. It had some of the earliest known cases among travellers from China, where the outbreak began. The death of a San Jose woman on 6 February is the first known coronavirus fatality in the US. That same month, California recorded the first US case not related to travel and the first infection spread within the community.
Health officials have warned against get-togethers as the holidays approach and people spend more time indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.
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Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Thursday the number of Covid-19 deaths is set to rise and it expects an uncontrolled spread of the disease in some parts of the country, reports Reuters.
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Global oil demand is unlikely to get a significant boost from the roll-out of vaccines against Covid-19 until well into 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, a view that is likely to dampen oil price gains since vaccine progress was announced earlier this week.
“It is far too early to know how and when vaccines will allow normal life to resume. For now, our forecasts do not anticipate a significant impact in the first half of 2021,” the IEA said in its monthly report, reported by Reuters.
“The poor outlook for demand and rising production in some countries ... suggest that the current fundamentals are too weak to offer firm support to prices.”
Who’s getting their hands on the #Covid19 vaccine? Not frontline healthcare workers in low- and middle-income economies. It’s also not time to reinvigorate outdated debates about China, Russia and western scientific races.
Interesting article in our Comment section by Clare Wenham, assistant professor in global health policy at the London School of Economics, and Mark Eccleston-Turner, lecturer in global health law @KeeleUniversity
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The Gates Foundation added another $70m of funding on Thursday to global efforts to develop and distribute vaccines and treatments against the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it hoped other international donors would also pledge more.
An extra $50m will go to the Covax Advance Market Commitment (AMC) led by the Gavi vaccine alliance, the foundation said, and another $20m to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) which is co-funding development of several Covid-19 vaccine candidates, reports Reuters.
“We have to ensure that everyone gets equal access to tests, drugs, and vaccines when they are available – no matter where you live in the world,” the foundation’s co-chair, Melinda Gates, said in a statement. “Our pledge today ... means we are getting closer to having the resources needed to help the world fight this virus.”
Along with the World Health Organization, Cepi and Gavi are co-leading a global scheme known as the Access to Covid-19 Tools (Act) accelerator, which aims to speed up development, production and fair access to Covid-19 drugs, tests and vaccines.
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European shares retreated from eight-month highs on Thursday as surging coronavirus infections raised doubts about a quicker economic rebound and overshadowed several upbeat quarterly earnings reports, reports Reuters.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.7% by 08.04 GMT, taking some of the shine off gains of more than 13% this month that had set it on course for its best monthly performance ever.
London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9% as data showed the UK economy grew by a slower than expected 1.1% in September from August, even before the latest restrictions on businesses.
The German engineering group Siemens shed 3.4% even as it reported better-than-expected profit at its industrial business in the final set of results overseen by Siemens’ long-standing chief executive, Joe Kaeser.
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Israeli’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he is working “around the clock” to make a deal with the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, following promising preliminary results from its Covid-19 vaccine trial.
Fearing Israel could be left without an early vaccine, the country’s leader said he had held two phone calls with Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla – one at 2am local time on Thursday – in the hopes of signing an agreement.
Netanyahu said in a statement that the call was “very warm and cordial” but did not announce an agreement had been signed. “The whole world wants to get [Pfizer’s] medicines. We are negotiating with them,” he said.
Interim results from Pfizer this week suggested that its two-shot vaccine, developed with the German firm BioNTech, was 90% effective.
Local media in Israel, a country of 9 million people, reported the prime minister was looking to source about 6m doses. Pfizer has not commented on any deal.
Israel has deals in place with at least two other pharmaceutical firms for vaccines and is developing its own, but officials do not expect to start vaccination drives with those unreleased products for several months.
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AP is looking at whether it is safe to fly during the pandemic. From 1 December, reports the news agency, Southwest Airlines will join United and American in allowing every seat on planes to be sold. JetBlue will scale back the number of blocked seats, and – along with Delta and Alaska – plans to drop all limits some time next year.
The airline industry says it is safe to fly, pointing to a report it funded that found the risk of viral spread on planes very low if everyone wears a mask as planes have good ventilation and strong air filters.
But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that sitting within 6ft of other passengers – sometimes for hours – can still increase your risk of infection. And although airlines are still requiring passengers to wear masks, there is no guarantee everyone will comply. More than 1,000 people who refused to wear masks have been banned by US airlines.
Remember, says AP, that flying also means spending time in airport security lines and gate areas, where you might come into close contact with others.
In an October travel update, the CDC emphasised the importance of wearing a mask and recommended checking whether infections are rising in the area to which you’re travelling.
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The Philippine health ministry has reported 1,407 new coronavirus infections and 11 more deaths, the lowest daily increase in fatalities in nearly three months.
The ministry said total confirmed cases rose to 402,820, while deaths reached 7,721. The Philippines has the second highest Covid-19 cases and deaths in south-east Asia, next to Indonesia.
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Delhi warns Diwali could be 'super spreader event'
A senior health department official in Delhi has said that Diwali, starting on 14 November, could be “a super spreader event [but] the public just doesn’t see the threat”, reports Reuters.
India has so far reported about 8.6m coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the US – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the US’s 711.
Still, the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research says the recent fall in cases nationally could be undone if there is a resurgence in infections around Diwali.
Federal authorities have asked the local government in the capital to prepare resources to handle as many as 15,000 cases a day and test more aggressively.
More than half of the city’s 16,511 Covid hospital beds were occupied as of Wednesday, government data showed, with more than 24,000 other patients isolating at home. There is no separate data for ICU beds.
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Indonesia has signed $1bn loan deal with Australia’s government to be used to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in the south-east Asian country, Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, said on Thursday.
“Everybody, all parts of society, are hurt by this Covid-19 [outbreak] and the role of fiscal policy, together with other instruments, like monetary policy, is very critical during this difficult time,” Sri Mulyani told a streamed news conference.
Indonesia has recorded the highest number of coronavirus infections and fatalities in south-east Asia, with 448,118 cases and 14,836 deaths by Wednesday, according to the country’s Covid-19 task force.
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Italy is experiencing a virus surge with hospitals facing breaking point, according to a report by AP.
The Italian doctors federation called this week for a nationwide lockdown to forestall a collapse of the medical system, marked by the closure of non-emergency procedures. The government is facing tougher criticism than in the spring, when the health crisis was met with an outpouring of solidarity.
As of Wednesday, 52% of Italy’s hospital beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients, above the 40% warning threshold set by the Health Ministry.
Nine of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces are already securely in the red-alert zone, above 50% virus occupancy, with Lombardy at 75%, Piedmont at 92% and South Tyrol at an astonishing 99%.
Lombardy, Italy’s most populous and productive region, is again the epicenter of Italy’s pandemic.
The region’s hospitals are responding by reorganising wards in a bid to avoid shutting down ordinary care, as happened spontaneously during Italy’s first deadly coronavirus spike.
But nonetheless, hospitals in Lombardy and neighbouring Piedmont — designated red zones by the government last week — have closed surgical, paediatric and geriatric wards to make room for COVID patients. Veneto, still a lowest-tier yellow zone, is preparing to cancel all non-urgent procedures this week.
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Turkey has banned smoking in public places across the country to curb the spread of Covid-19, AP is reporting.
The interior ministry said smoking would be banned in busy streets, bus stops and public squares when necessary. It said the nationwide mask mandate in public spaces, which has been in effect for several months, must be followed at all times and smokers were routinely violating the mask rule.
The ministry also said provinces can decide to impose curfews on senior citizens above the age of 65 if they are seeing increases in the number of critical patients. The governors of Istanbul and Ankara have already reintroduced measures this week, allowing senior citizens to leave their homes only between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Turkey has seen a spike in infections since lifting partial lockdowns and reopening businesses in late May. The latest Health Ministry figures show 86 new fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 11,145.
Good morning from GMT - and starting gently with you all, I’ve got news from Reuters that while lockdown may have shut Czech theatres, Prague residents hungry for entertainment have found that watching a live performance can be as easy as grabbing a takeaway
Prague troupe Cirk La Putyka has opened a “Culture Window” at a Prague marketplace building where an audience of up to four outside can watch a five-minute live show of music, acrobatics and dancing inside, while still observing social distancing rules.
The window, which opened on Tuesday for two nights of performances, draws its inspiration from pick-up windows for food orders at restaurants that have also been forced to shut dining spaces due to tighter restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. I’m handing over to my splendid colleague Amelia Hill.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The US confirmed its highest 24-hour infection total to date – with a world record of 136,000 cases recorded in one day. The US also suffered its highest death toll since early May, with 1,984 coronavirus deaths.
- Texas passes 1m cases. Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country.
- Auckland, New Zealand asks people to work from home tomorrow. The department of health has asked all New Zealanders who live or work in Auckland central city to stay home tomorrow after further details emerged of the mystery case of Covid-19, whose point of infection is as yet unknown.
- Athletes arriving at Tokyo Olympic Games will be exempt from isolation requirements. Athletes arriving in Tokyo for next year’s Olympic Games, postponed from 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be exempt from the 14-day isolation period Japan has imposed on anyone arriving from overseas to help stop the virus spreading.
- Cyprus has announced partial lockdowns in the towns of Limassol and Paphos to curb a surge in Covid-19 cases. The local measures, which include a ban on travel into and out of the towns and a nightly curfew, will take effect from Thursday and last until the end of November.
- Sweden’s PM, Stefan Lofven, said his government plans to ban nationwide the sale of alcohol after 10pm in bars, restaurants and night clubs from 20 November in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. Sweden has witnessed record numbers of new coronavirus infections in past weeks, which is burdening the country’s health care system and intensive care wards.
- Spain’s coronavirus death toll surged to over 40,000 with infections passing the 1.4 million mark, while the rate of new cases continued to grow, health ministry data showed. A further 349 people died in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 40,105 in Spain - the fourth-highest within the European Union after the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
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South Africa will open up travel to all countries and restore normal trading hours of alcohol, despite having the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the continent, in an effort to boost the tourism and hospitality sectors, the president Cyril Ramaphosa said.
- Officials and doctors in Pakistan urged people to stay at home as the air quality in Lahore deteriorated to hazardous levels, putting an additional burden on the fragile healthcare system amid a surge in coronavirus deaths and new infections.
- The New York governor Andrew Cuomo imposed a new round of restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus as the infection rate climbed and hospitalisations soared in the state. Taking effect on Friday, Cuomo ordered bars, restaurants and gyms in the state to shut down on-premises services at 10pm nightly, and capped the number of people who could attend private parties at 10.
- Turkey banned smoking in crowded public places to slow a recent surge in symptomatic patients with coronavirus, as the government warned citizens to abide by protective measures. It comes as daily cases surged to 2,693 on Wednesday.
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Greek authorities announced stricter restrictions on movement, extending a curfew nationwide after infections broke fresh records, reporting 2,752 new cases on Wednesday. Four days after the country went into a second lockdown to curb the surge in cases, the government said all circulation would be banned between 9pm and 5am.
- Spain will demand a negative Covid-19 test for all travellers arriving from countries with a high risk for coronavirus from 23 November. Visitors will need to show evidence of a negative PCR test result within the previous 72 hours to be granted entry and officials will be allowed to ask for proof of the test results.
Athletes arriving at Tokyo Olympic Games will be exempt from isolation requirements
Athletes arriving in Tokyo for next year’s Olympic Games, postponed from 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be exempt from the 14-day isolation period Japan has imposed on anyone arriving from overseas to help stop the virus spreading.
Olympic organisers said on Thursday details still need to be worked out, but measures for athletes are likely to include coronavirus testing within 72 hours before arriving in Japan. But they warned decisions on spectators from overseas have yet to be made, saying a 14-day quarantine was “impossible”.
“Athletes, coaches and Games officials that are eligible for the Tokyo Games will be allowed to enter the country, provided significant measures are made before they get to Japan,” Tokyo 2020 Chief Executive Officer Toshiro Muto told a news conference.
Muto was speaking after a meeting between officials from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the national government and Tokyo 2020 organisers on infection prevention procedures during the Games.
He said a decision on foreign spectators would be made next year, depending on pandemic developments.
“By next spring, we will be coming up with a plan for spectators, including non-Japanese spectators,” he said. “It is impossible to set a 14-day quarantine period for foreign spectators, so tests before and upon arrival are needed.”
Japan has held several recent test events, including a four-nation gymnastics meet last weekend, in which spectators have been admitted, but these were limited to residents of Japan.
International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach is due in Japan for a three-day visit next week, at which Muto said he expected details of coronavirus counter-measures would be ironed out.
California nears 1m confirmed infections
California looks set to be the second state — behind Texas — to eclipse a million known coronavirus cases. The grim milestone in a state of 40 million comes as the US has surpassed 10 million infections.
The state currently has 989,400 cases confirmed.
The timeline of Covid-19 in America often comes back to California. It had some of the earliest known cases among travellers from China, where the outbreak began. The Feb. 6 death of a San Jose woman is the first known coronavirus fatality in the U.S. That same month, California recorded the first US case not related to travel and the first infection spread within the community.
On 19 March, Governor Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order, shuttering businesses and schools to try to prevent hospital overcrowding.
The spread slowed, but California faced the same challenges as other states: providing enough protective gear for health workers, doing enough testing and providing timely results, tracking infections and those potentially exposed.
As the state tried to balance public health and the economy, cases rose as it relaxed business restrictions. Eleven counties this week had to reimpose limits.
The virus has struck poor Californians and Latinos especially hard. Latinos make up 39% of the population but account for more than 60% of infections.
In working-class neighborhoods near downtown Los Angeles, one in five people tested positive at community clinics during the pandemic’s early days, said Jim Mangia, president and chief executive of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center.
Many caught the virus in essential low-wage jobs or on public transit and brought it back to crowded homes.
The United States continued to notch up grim records on Wednesday as it battles through the coronavirus pandemic, with a worsening outbreak in the northeast of the country adding pressure on top of an already reeling Midwest, Reuters reports.
New Covid-19 infections of 142,279 were at an all-time daily high for a second day in a row and above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day, according to a Reuters tally.
The number of people hospitalised with the virus also surged, to at least 64,939 by late Wednesday, the highest ever during the pandemic. The death toll rose by 1,464.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was the latest state official to impose a new round of social distancing restrictions on Wednesday, in an attempt to protect a state that was the epicentre of the US outbreak in its early stages.
The US has reported a total of about 10.4 million cases and 241,809 deaths throughout the pandemic.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 21,866 to 727,553, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, the tally showed.
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, said on Thursday it has made 40 million doses of AstraZeneca’s potential Covid-19 vaccine, and would soon begin making Novavax’s rival shot, as they both seek regulatory approval.
Serum said it has enrolled 1,600 participants in India for late-stage trials of AstraZeneca’s candidate, and also plans to seek regulatory approval to run late-stage trials for the Novavax vaccine.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, co-developed by Oxford University, is the most advanced in human testing in India, Serum said.
Time for a soothing break from coronavirus and capitalism.
In Australia, a team of researchers has spotted the elusive bigfin squid in Australian waters for the first time. Two voyages to the Great Australian Bight, one in 2015 and another in 2017, recorded the cephalopod in waters kilometres below the ocean’s surface. Bigfin squid – also known as magnapinna – can measure up to seven metres in length:
Reuters: Alibaba and JD.com said the United States was the top seller of goods to China during the Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza yesterday, which generated about $116 billion in merchandise volume for the pair.
Singles’ Day is usually a one-day sales event, the world’s biggest, eclipsing Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States. Many online companies offer deals at the event.
This year, companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc offered promotions over several days, with sales widely interpreted as indicative of China’s rebounding post-virus economy.
Customers, unable to travel abroad because of the Covid-19 pandemic, snatched up deals from brands including Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Fast Retailing Co Ltd’s Uniqlo.
Auckland, New Zealand asks people to work from home tomorrow
The department of health has asked all New Zealanders who live or work in Auckland central city to stay home tomorrow after further details emerged of the mystery case of Covid-19, whose point of infection is as yet unknown.
The student, a young woman, began displaying symptoms on Monday and continued going to work at her customer-facing job in the central city, despite being tested for Covid-19 and being told to stay home. The woman’s manager told her to come to work, and wear a mask instead - ignoring health advice.
The woman lived alone in a large block of apartments, and all residents there are being asked to stay home until they have all been tested. The woman also took a number of uber’s to her job in the central city, and frequently bought food and takeaways from the CBD while she was symptomatic.
More information will emerge tomorrow on whether Auckland will need to move up alert levels.
An elderly woman living in a care home has become the first person to die of Covid-19 in Gibraltar.
The tiny British enclave on the southernmost tip of Spain has managed to keep its numbers under control by adopting an aggressive track-and-trace policy.
Chinese airlines will need 8,600 new airplanes worth $1.4tn over the next 20 years, Boeing Co said on Thursday.
Boeing’s latest estimate for the period to 2039 is 6.3% higher than the U.S. plane-maker’s previous prediction of 8,090 planes last year, despite the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic.
China will also need $1.7tn worth of commercial services for its aircraft fleet, Boeing said.
In the US, celebrations marking Veterans Day gave way to somber virtual gatherings Wednesday, with many of the nation’s veterans homes barring visitors to protect their residents from the surging coronavirus that has killed thousands of former members of the US military, AP reports.
Cemeteries decorated with American flags were silent as well, as many of the traditional ceremonies were canceled. With infections raging again nationwide, several veterans homes are fighting new outbreaks.
In New York City, a quiet parade of military vehicles, with no spectators, rolled through Manhattan to maintain the 101-year tradition of veterans marching on Fifth Avenue. President Donald Trump took part in an observance at Arlington National Cemetery, while President-elect Joe Biden placed a wreath at the Korean War Memorial in Philadelphia.
More than 4,200 veterans have died from Covid-19 at hospitals and homes run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 85,000 have been infected, according to the department.
That death toll does not include an untold number who have died in private or state-run veterans facilities, including the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts, which had nearly 80 deaths earlier this year. Two former administrators were charged with criminal offenses after an investigation found that “utterly baffling” decisions caused the disease to run rampant there.
American veterans are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age and underlying health conditions, some of which can be traced to exposure to the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange and smoke from burning oilfields in the Persian Gulf.
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Across the Pacific:
French Polynesia, which has one of the highest incidence of Covid-19 per capita outside mainland Europe, has recorded another 345 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the archipelago’s tally to 11,316.
52 people have died in the pandemic. But this number is likely to rise, with 21 currently in intensive care.
French Polynesia had recorded just 62 cases - most in visiting police and military personnel - when it opened its borders in July and abolished mandatory quarantine requirements. But the French territory has since been forced to impose a nightly curfew, and meetings in public have been limited to six people.
While France is in a nationwide lockdown, French Polynesia has been exempted.
The Vanuatu government locked down the main island of Efate after it recorded its first case of Covid-19 on Wednesday, a citizen repatriated from the United States who tested positive in quarantine.
The 23-year old man is asymptomatic and is being held in an isolation ward at Port Vila Central Hospital.
“I want to assure our people that the Government will apply strict protocols and Covid-19 measures to ensure the case doesn’t spread and our country remains safe,” Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman said.
“The situation is under the government’s control.”
The Marshall Islands has declared it is, again, Covid-19, free, after the country’s lone case, at the US army base in Kwajalein, was declared free of the virus.
“We will have our yellow flags back up this week,” the government’s chief secretary Kino Kabua said on Wednesday. Yellow flags are used to designate Covid-free status in the Marshalls.
“He ceased to pose an infectious threat on 8 November 2020 - his 12th day of supervised and secured quarantine - and has been assessed as recovered and no longer an active case of Covid-19 by his primary physician,” a statement from the chief secretary’s office said.
In several regions of Russia, particularly in Siberia, doctors and patients have reported extreme pressure on emergency services.
Russia has the fourth-highest virus caseload in the world with more than 1.83 million registered infections, and over 31,500 deaths. While Moscow remains the epicentre of the outbreak, the regions now account for about three quarters of the country’s overall caseload compared to just under half in the spring.
In late October, a video that was later confirmed by authorities showed bodies piling up in a morgue in the Altai region.
In a small hospital in the Far North, a nurse who asked that her last name be withheld, said she regularly had to take care of around 30 coronavirus patients on her own.
But, nurse Alexandra said, she could only use one respirator mask per day.
“One of my colleagues quit on her first day. She said she couldn’t work in this hell,” she told AFP.
Concerned that the situation may further deteriorate, many medical workers are moving to Moscow or the second city of Saint Petersburg, which offer better salaries and working conditions in virus units.
The chief physician at Moscow’s Inozemtsev Hospital, Alexander Mitichkin, has hired about 300 medical workers from around the country.
“Some will stay here after the epidemic because we all need the best specialists,” he said.
Here is the full story on Brazil ’s health regulator allowing the resumption of late-stage clinical trials for China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine:
Texas passes 1m cases
Texas on Wednesday became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country.
Reuters: Texas, the second-most populous state, has recorded 1.02 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The US has recorded over 240,000 deaths and more than 10.3 million confirmed infections, with new cases soaring to all-time highs of well over 120,000 per day over the past week. Health experts have blamed the increase in part on the onset of cold weather and growing frustration with mask-wearing and other precautions.
Texas reported 10,865 new cases on Tuesday, breaking a record set in mid-July. One of the hardest-hit places is the border city of El Paso; its county has nearly 28,000 active cases and has suffered more than 680 Covid-19 deaths.
Here is the full story on New Zealand’s mystery Covid case:
Stocks in Asia were set to continue their gains on Thursday, buoyed again by continued global stimulus efforts and hopes of a coronavirus vaccine, Reuters reports.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 shares rose 0.29% in early trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures rose 0.56%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.01% higher.
The gains in Asia came after a mixed performance for US stocks. The Nasdaq closed up 2% on Wednesday as investors switched back to technology stocks and away from economically sensitive sectors as they weighed Covid-19 vaccine progress and the likely timing of an economic rebound.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.29 points, or 0.08%, to 29,397.63 and the S&P 500 gained 27.13 points, or 0.77%, to 3,572.66.
The momentum of vaccine hopes and encouraging comments from European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde on continued economic support boosted European shares higher for the third straight session.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.08% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.05%.
The US dollar rose and the safe-haven yen weakened again on Wednesday as markets continued to adjust to higher interest rates and prospects for economic growth.
The Australian dollar was flat versus the greenback at$0.728.
The New Zealand dollar was also muted in early trading after it soared on Wednesday to its strongest in a year and a half as traders scaled back bets that the central bank there would move to negative interest rates.
Updated
Brazil says Chinese vaccine trial can resume after suspension
Brazil health regulator Anvisa on Wednesday allowed resumption of late-stage Brazilian clinical trials for China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, which had been suspended due to a study subject’s death that was registered in Sao Paulo as a suicide, Reuters reports.
Brazilian medical institute Butantan said in a statement it would restart trials later on Wednesday.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, a longtime China critic who has baselessly dismissed the Sinovac vaccine as lacking in credibility, had hailed Monday’s suspension as a personal victory.
Bolsonaro reiterated, however, on Wednesday evening that his government would purchase whatever vaccine is approved by Anvisa and the Health Ministry, which could ultimately include the Sinovac vaccine, if approved.
The decision to suspend the trial - one of Sinovac’s three large late-stage studies - was criticized by the trial organizers, who said the move had taken them by surprise and that there had been no need to stop the study as the death had no relation to the vaccine.
The suspension further inflamed tensions between Bolsonaro and Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, who has pinned his political ambitions on the Chinese vaccine that he aims to roll out in his state as early as January, with or without federal assistance.
Anvisa, in its statement on Wednesday, said the initial information it received about the case, which led to the suspension, had been incomplete and lacked the cause of the “severe adverse event.” It has strongly dismissed suggestions the decision could have been politically motivated.
“After evaluating the new data presented by the sponsor ... Anvisa understands that it has sufficient reasons to allow the resumption of vaccination,” the agency said.
“It is important to clarify that a suspension does not necessarily mean that the product under investigation does not offer quality, safety or efficacy,” Anvisa added.
Sinovac, in a statement said: “We are confident in the safety of the vaccine, fully understand and appreciate Anvisa’s strict supervision and timely resumption of the clinical studies.”
New Zealand identifies one new community case of coronavirus
A new, mysterious case of Covid-19 has been recorded in New Zealand’s largest city, and so far it has no links to the border or anyone that works there.
The person, a university student, became symptomatic on Monday and continued going to their job in the CBD. Authorities believe they may have become infected the previous Saturday, but as yet they are not sure how, or where.
Urgent genome testing is underway to see if the case has links to other domestic or international outbreaks, and the student has been placed in a quarantine hotel.
The announcement caused concern for many Aucklanders, worried that they may face moving up an alert level. Another press conference on the case is scheduled for 5 pm, local time.
Britain is “sleepwalking into a debt crisis” after a steep rise in emergency borrowing by low- and middle-income households to cope with the Covid-19 jobs crisis.
Research by the debt charity Stepchange found that household borrowing and arrears linked to the coronavirus pandemic have soared 66% since May to £10.3bn. The number of people who are in severe debt has risen to 1.2 million – nearly doubling since March – with a further 3 million people at risk of falling into arrears after taking on extra short-term loans.
Phil Andrew, the charity’s chief executive, said: “This report paints a picture of a nation sleepwalking into a debt crisis. Despite a bold initial reaction to the pandemic, the government and financial services sector’s toolkit of responses has not evolved, and the result is a spiralling number of people being plunged into debt due to Covid-19. And the worst is yet to come”:
China reports 15 new coronavirus cases
Mainland China reported 15 new Covid-19 cases for 11 November, down from 17 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Thursday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that one of the new cases was a local infection in Tianjin. The remaining 14 cases were imported infections that originated from overseas, the commission said.
The total number of new asymptomatic cases fell to six from 15 reported a day earlier. China does not count symptomless patients as confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China to date now stands at 86,299, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Denis Campbell and Lisa O’Carroll report:
Thousands of hospital staff will join the drive to vaccinate all adults in England against coronavirus and will be deployed at mass vaccination centres to give the jab to up to 5,000 people a day, NHS officials involved in the plans said.
The NHS intends to use football stadiums, town halls and conference centres in England to inoculate at least 2,000 people each day.
The new facilities will be additional to the 1,560 community-based vaccination centres run by GPs, which will dispense 200 to 500 jabs a day. All the venues will do temperature checks on people before entry allowing space for social distancing and a 15-minute recovery time:
Summary: New York reimposes restrictions as US sees world record 136,000 cases in one day
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan, you can get in touch with me here, and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
As the US confirmed its highest 24 hours total to date – with a world record of 136,000 cases confirmed in one day, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced new curbs on Wednesday.
Restaurants, bars and gyms will have to close at 10 p.m. across New York state, and people will also be barred from hosting private gatherings with more than 10 people.
Cuomo says the new restrictions going into effect Friday are necessary because new coronavirus infections have been traced to those types of activities. Businesses can reopen each morning.
Cuomo spoke as rates of coronavirus infection continued to rise in New York and elsewhere. He said that 1,628 people were hospitalised across the state for Covid-19 on Tuesday and that 21 people had died.
The new closing time applies to all establishments that are licensed by the State Liquor Authority. Only carry-out service will be allowed after that.
Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- Cyprus has announced partial lockdowns in the towns of Limassol and Paphos to curb a surge in Covid-19 cases. The local measures, which include a ban on travel into and out of the towns and a nightly curfew, will take effect from Thursday and last until the end of November.
- Texas became the first US state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases. California is also closing in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast.
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Sweden’s PM, Stefan Lofven, said his government plans to ban nationwide the sale of alcohol after 10pm in bars, restaurants and night clubs from 20 November in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. Sweden has witnessed record numbers of new coronavirus infections in past weeks, which is burdening the country’s health care system and intensive care wards.
- Spain’s coronavirus death toll surged to over 40,000 with infections passing the 1.4 million mark, while the rate of new cases continued to grow, health ministry data showed. A further 349 people died in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 40,105 in Spain - the fourth-highest within the European Union after the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
- Despite having the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the continent, South Africa will open up travel to all countries and restore normal trading hours of alcohol in an effort to boost the tourism and hospitality sectors, the president Cyril Ramaphosa said.
- Officials and doctors in Pakistan urged people to stay at home as the air quality in Lahore deteriorated to hazardous levels, putting an additional burden on the fragile healthcare system amid a surge in coronavirus deaths and new infections.
- The New York governor Andrew Cuomo imposed a new round of restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus as the infection rate climbed and hospitalisations soared in the state. Taking effect on Friday, Cuomo ordered bars, restaurants and gyms in the state to shut down on-premises services at 10pm nightly, and capped the number of people who could attend private parties at 10.
- Turkey banned smoking in crowded public places to slow a recent surge in symptomatic patients with coronavirus, as the government warned citizens to abide by protective measures. It comes as daily cases surged to 2,693 on Wednesday.
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Greek authorities announced stricter restrictions on movement, extending a curfew nationwide after infections broke fresh records, reporting 2,752 new cases on Wednesday. Four days after the country went into a second lockdown to curb the surge in cases, the government said all circulation would be banned between 9pm and 5am.
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Spain will demand a negative Covid-19 test for all travellers arriving from countries with a high risk for coronavirus from 23 November. Visitors will need to show evidence of a negative PCR test result within the previous 72 hours to be granted entry and officials will be allowed to ask for proof of the test results.
- The total number of coronavirus cases registered in Italy since the start of the pandemic surpassed the one million mark, the health ministry said.
- Slovakia’s government will extend its state of emergency powers for the rest of the year to battle a surge in coronavirus cases.
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