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Summary
Here’s a quick recap of some of the main developments from the last few hours:
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England will enter its second national lockdown at 00:01am GMT, placing 56 million people under new coronavirus restrictions. People will be ordered to stay at home as much as possible from Thursday to combat a surge in new infections that scientists say could, if unchecked, cause more deaths than a first wave that forced a three-month lockdown earlier this year.
- Four Italian regions will go into partial lockdown from Friday as the government scrambles to regain control of the coronavirus pandemic. Giuseppe Conte’s government is trying to avoid a full national shutdown and has instead introduced a three-tier system that divides the country’s 20 regions up according to level of risk. The northern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley, along with Calabria in the south, have been placed in the “red zone”, meaning people will only be able to leave their homes for work, health or emergency reasons and bars, restaurants and non-essential shops – apart from hairdressers – will close. People will be banned from travelling in or out of their regions.
- Cyprus announced a new night-time curfew to combat a resurgence of Covid-19 after a rise in cases in recent weeks. A curfew on movement from 11:00pm to 5:00am will start on Thursday and remain in force until 30 November.
- Irinej, the ageing patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox church, the country’s largest Christian denomination, was hospitalised after testing positive for the coronavirus. Irinej, 90, was “routinely tested following an epidemiological assessment,” and remains “without symptoms and in excellent health”, a statement said. His office said he is hospitalised in a Covid-19 hospital in Belgrade.
Londoners appear to have shrugged off the UK’s resurgent Covid-19 pandemic as they flocked to pubs and restaurants on Wednesday night, hours before the introduction of a new month-long lockdown across England.
While the UK’s death toll from the coronavirus rose on Wednesday by 492, the most since mid-May, Soho was teeming with revellers seeking one last night out before lockdown.
People will be ordered to stay at home from 00:01 GMT on Thursday to combat a surge in new infections that scientists say could, if unchecked, cause more deaths than a first wave that forced a three-month lockdown earlier this year.
The UK has the highest official death toll in Europe from Covid-19 and is grappling with more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day. Scientists warned the “worst-case” scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded without action.
Even before Wednesday, data from restaurant bookings service OpenTable showed a surge in demand for London eateries during the run-up to the new lockdown.
Several English police forces used social media to urge people going out on Wednesday night to follow social-distancing rules.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own lockdown policies and enacted tougher restrictions last month.
Brazil reported another 23,976 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and a further 610 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The country has now registered 5,590,025 infections since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 161,106, according to ministry data, in the world’s most fatal outbreak outside the United States.
Irinej, the ageing patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox church, the country’s largest Christian denomination, was hospitalised on Wednesday after testing positive for the coronavirus, his office said.
Irinej, 90, was “routinely tested following an epidemiological assessment,” and remains “without symptoms and in excellent health”, a statement said.
“His Holiness is hospitalised in a Covid hospital in Belgrade,” Irinej’s office said.
On Sunday Irinej attended the funeral of Metropolitan Amfilohije, the most senior cleric of the Serbian Orthodox church in Montenegro, who died from Covid-19.
Throngs of mourners, many without masks, gathered at Amfilohije’s funeral in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, despite a rise in coronavirus cases.
Joanikije, another prominent Montenegro bishop who attended the funeral, was diagnosed with “minor pneumonia,” his diocese said on Tuesday.
Montenegro’s prime minister-designate, Zdravko Krivokapic; Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic; and Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia’s presidency, also attended the funeral in Podgorica.
So far 53,495 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and 850 have died in Serbia, a country of 7.2 million. Montenegro, with a population of 620,000, has so far reported 326 deaths and 20,581 infections.
The Serbian Orthodox church has about 12 million followers, mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia.
Updated
Four Italian regions to go into partial lockdown
Four Italian regions will go into partial lockdown from Friday as the government scrambles to regain control of the coronavirus pandemic.
Giuseppe Conte’s government is trying to avoid a full national shutdown and has instead introduced a three-tier system that divides the country’s 20 regions up according to level of risk.
The northern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Aosta Valley, along with Calabria in the south, have been placed in the “red zone”, meaning people will only be able to leave their homes for work, health or emergency reasons and bars, restaurants and non-essential shops – apart from hairdressers – will close. People will be banned from travelling in or out of their regions.
In Puglia and Sicilia, which have been placed in the orange zone, bars and restaurants will be closed and people will be able to move freely within their towns and cities but not leave them. The rest of the country will be in the yellow zone, meaning there will be no new restrictions apart from those already imposed nationally, such as the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants and complete closure of cinemas, theatres and gyms. All regions will be under a 10pm-5am curfew.
Unlike in the spring, factories will stay open across the country.
Restrictions per region have been determined by the rate of Covid-19 transmission, the number of infections and people with symptoms and the availability of hospital beds.
The measures will be in place until 3 December.
“The virus here, and in the whole of Europe, is racing strongly, and violently,” Conte said.
Cases last week doubled compared to the previous one, the rate of transmission has increased to 1.7 nationally, and in some regions it’s higher. There are no alternatives, to slow the curve we need these restrictions … I understand the inconvenience and frustration, but we have to hold tight.
Conte said intensive care capacity would be at risk in 15 of Italy’s 20 regions within a few weeks unless new measures were enacted.
Italy registered 30,550 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 352 fatalities.
The number of people hospitalised across the country stood at 22,116 Wednesday, of whom 2,292 were in intensive care – more than double the number on 24 October.
Doctors had called for more aggressive restrictions as hospitals become overwhelmed and staff fall sick – 14,000 health workers were infected with coronavirus between September and October, and 184 medics have died since the start of the pandemic.
The worst-affected regions in terms of daily caseload are Lombardy, which on Wednesday registered 7,758 cases, Campania, which for now is in the yellow zone, and Piedmont.
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France registers 40,558 new cases
France registered 40,558 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, compared to 36,330 on Tuesday and a record of 52,518 on Monday, health ministry data showed.
The total number of cases increased to 1,543,321 but the ministry added that the number of new cases reported on Wednesday was a minimum number due to problems with data gathering.
The ministry also reported that the number of people who have died from the virus increased to 38,674, up from 38,289 on Tuesday. It said there were 394 new deaths in hospitals over the past 24 hours.
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Italy’s latest restrictions to try to rein in the coronavirus include a partial lockdown of its richest and most populous region Lombardy around the financial capital Milan, the prime minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday.
Earlier, the government published its new package of measures which toughen up nationwide curbs and divide the country into three zones - red, orange and yellow, according to the intensity of the epidemic.
The zoning depends on a raft of factors including local infection rates and hospital occupancy, with restrictions will calibrated accordingly.
In the critically affected red zones people will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, health reasons or emergencies and bars, restaurants and most shops will be closed.
However, unlike in Italy’s national lockdown in the spring, all factories will remain open.
Speaking at a news conference to illustrate the package which comes into effect on Friday, Conte said the red zones would comprise the large northern regions of Lombardy and neighbouring Piedmont, along with Calabria in Italy’s southern toe and the tiny alpine region of Valle D’Aosta.
Lombardy accounts for around a sixth of Italy’s population and more than a fifth of its gross domestic product.
Cyprus brings in night-time curfew to stem rising cases
Cyprus announced new restrictions on Wednesday to fight a resurgence of Covid-19 after a rise in cases in recent weeks.
A curfew on movement from 11:00pm to 5:00am will start on Thursday and remain in force until 30 November.
Cyprus introduced a broad lockdown in March that brought cases of Covid-19 down to zero or single digits before restrictions were eased. An uptick started in early October.
On Wednesday, the Mediterranean island reported 166 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 5,100. There have been 26 deaths.
The Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades said in a statement:
The daily increase in cases risks spiralling out of control, which other than posing a threat to life threatens the healthcare system, employment and our welfare in general.
Updated
Hello from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, and I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. 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_
Updated
Summary
Here’s a roundup of some of the key global coronavirus developments over the last few hours:
- Poland has announced new restrictions after reporting a daily record of 24,692 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. From Saturday, all education will be conducted via remote learning, while cinemas, theatres, galleries and most non-essential shops will be among the venues forced to close.
- Italy has recorded 30,550 new cases and 352 deaths on the eve of new restrictions being imposed. From Thursday, a national 10pm-5am curfew will come into force, while shopping centres will be closed at weekends. Other measures include the closure of museums.
- Lithuania has announced a three-week national lockdown. The country has seen a surge in new infections in recent days, reporting 639 new cases on Wednesday, three times more than the 205 daily cases reported on 20 October.
- Austria has reported a record daily tally of cases. Infections climbed above 6,000 for the first time in the country on Wednesday to a new record of 6,211, health ministry data showed.
- Denmark is to cull up to 17m farmed mink over fears of a coronavirus mutation. Danish authorities said 12 people had recently contracted the mutated variant of the virus from mink in the north of the country.
Spain death toll reaches 38,118 after revising methodology - a sharp rise from Tuesday
Spain’s death toll from the coronavirus has reached 38,118 after the health ministry revised its methodology for recording infections and fatalities, up sharply from Tuesday’s unrevised 36,495.
The tally of infections now stands at 1,284,408 cases, according to the latest data release, which removes double entries and adds some cases that were not initially diagnosed as Covid-19. On Tuesday, the ministry reported 1,259,366 cases.
Unlike France, Germany and the UK, which have imposed nationwide lockdowns, Spain has adopted a regional response to tackling the pandemic, leading to a patchwork of different regulations.
Murcia on Wednesday joined several other regions including Catalonia in shutting down bars and restaurants, while the northern region of Cantabria banned citizens from travelling across municipal borders.
Health minister Salvador Illa told a news conference it would take two to three weeks for the latest regional restrictions to produce effect, but added that “there is still margin to take additional measures, there are a great many steps we can still take”, without specifying.
Updated
The timetable for delivery of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine candidate has slipped and Britain will receive just 4m doses of the shot this year, the head of the UK’s vaccine procurement programme said on Wednesday.
In May, Britain agreed a deal for 100m doses of the vaccine, developed by Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca, with 30m doses estimated for delivery by September 2020.
Oxford’s trial chief said earlier he was optimistic that late-stage trial results of its efficacy could be presented before the end of the year, and that doses of the shot are already being made.
UK Vaccine Taskforce chair, Kate Bingham, said the target of 30m doses of the vaccine by September had not been achieved, and she estimated that Britain would get 4m doses by the end of the year instead.
“The predictions that were made in good faith at the time were assuming that absolutely everything would work and that there were no hiccups at all,” she told lawmakers.
She said the scale-up in manufacturing usually took years to do but instead was moving at unprecedented speed, adding that the full 100m doses would be delivered next year.
“We’re starting with low numbers of doses – by which I do mean millions of doses, but not tens of millions of doses initially – and then that will then ramp up so that we will end up with the 100m doses ... in the first half of next year,” she said.
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Greece’s prime minister is expected to announce new coronavirus restrictions following a surge in cases.
Although the country has reported fewer infections than most European countries, the number has been gradually increasing since early October.
Greece registered 2,646 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, the highest daily tally since its first case was reported in February, health ministry data showed.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to make the announcement outlining new measures on Thursday, after consulting health experts, his office told Reuters.
Earlier this week Greece expanded a night curfew and shut restaurants, bars, theatres and museums in the most populous areas of the country for one month. Some regions, mainly in the north of the country, have entered lockdown.
Updated
The US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has stressed the need for Congress to approve a new aid bill and to do so by the end of 2020 as lawmakers return to work following the elections.
Saying he hoped that partisanship over such a stimulus bill will subside with voting for president and members of Congress now over, McConnell said that there was a “need to do it by the end of the year”, Reuters reports. He also noted the “possibility” that such a bill “will do more for state and local governments” – a key Democratic demand.
Updated
Italy registers 30,550 new cases and 352 deaths on eve of new restrictions
Italy registered 30,550 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 352 fatalities.
The government has approved new restrictions, due to come into force on Thursday, that includes a national 10pm-5am curfew, the closure of shopping centres at weekends and closure of museums.
In terms of regional restrictions, there will be a three-tier system that divides Italy’s 20 regions up according to level of risk, but it is still unclear which regions will fall into which categories. The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday night, although a time is yet to be confirmed.
Other national measures include distance learning for high school pupils.
Cinemas, theatres, gyms and swimming pools across the country have already been closed, while bars and restaurants must close at 6pm, as per the last decree on 26 October.
The new measures will be in place until 3 December.
Updated
Italy has registered 30,550 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, up from 28,244 on Tuesday.
The health ministry also reported 352 Covid-related deaths on Wednesday compared with 353 the day before.
A total of 39,764 people have now died in Italy because of Covid-19, while 790,377 cases have been reported.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy’s financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 7,758 new cases on Wednesday against 6,804 on Tuesday.
The southern Campania region was the second-worst affected, chalking up 4,181 cases.
Denmark will cull its entire herd of mink due to the risk of coronavirus mutations, the country’s prime minister has said.
The country’s authorities have registered a mutation of the new coronavirus in mink, which has spread to humans, Mette Frederiksen told a press conference on Wednesday.
“The mutated virus in mink may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine,” she said.
Outbreaks at mink farms have persisted in the Nordic country, the world’s largest producer of mink skins, despite repeated efforts from authorities to cull infected herds since June.
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France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin has come under fire for allegedly breaking government lockdown rules that people can only go out to take exercise within a kilometre of their homes.
French daily La Voix du Nord and several other media outlets reported that Darmanin went for a jog with his bodyguards on Sunday along the Roubaix canal well over a kilometre away from his home in Tourcoing in northern France.
People can be fined 135 euros for breaking the rule.
“Double standards?” La Voix du Nord wrote.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said that if Darmanin had “adapted” the rule, it had been for security reasons.
“The interior minister, like all ministers, of course respects the rules. But security services often ask to adapt those rules,” he said.
An interior ministry spokesperson declined to comment but referred to an interior ministry security service source quoted in La Voix du Nord, who said that jogging in the city centre would expose the minister to security risks and that the secluded canal area was safer.
Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has extended the country’s nightly curfew to 3 January as part of a raft of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus after cases surged last month.
“October has gone down as the most tragic month in our fight against Covid-19,” Kenyatta said, adding that the positivity rate had shot up to 16% in the month, four times what it was a month earlier.
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Switzerland’s government will deploy up to 2,500 military personnel to help the country’s hard-pressed healthcare system handle a second wave of coronavirus infections.
It is the second time this year the army has rolled out to support hospitals as they treat and transport patients.
New infections surpassed 10,000 in a day on Wednesday, threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system.
“With the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of cases is rising sharply and with it – with a delay of one to two weeks – the number of hospitalisations and patients in intensive care units. Since Tuesday, 27 October 2020, several cantons have submitted requests for military support,” the government said after a cabinet meeting.
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Lithuania announces three-week national lockdown
Lithuania’s government has declared a three-week lockdown starting on 7 November, to slow the spread of Covid-19.
The country has seen a surge in new infections in recent days, reporting 639 new cases on Wednesday, three times more than the 205 daily cases reported on 20 October. In total, Lithuania has reported 18,092 total cases and 182 deaths.
It comes as many European countries, including France, the UK and Germany, opt for new lockdowns amid a second wave of coronavirus infections.
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Hungary could run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients by the middle of next month under the most pessimistic scenario, prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, has warned.
The country has 32,000 hospital beds set aside for patients with the coronavirus, he added.
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Austria reports record new daily infections
Austria’s daily tally of new coronavirus infections climbed above 6,000 for the first time on Wednesday to a new record of 6,211, data from the health ministry shows.
Tougher nationwide restrictions aimed at bringing infections under control took effect on Tuesday, including a nightly curfew from 8pm to 6pm and the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants to all but take-away service. Theatres, cinemas and museums are also closed until the end of the month.
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Poland will announce more restrictions on Wednesday to halt the spread of the coronavirus, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Michał Dworczyk, said, as daily infections and deaths reached new records.
The country reported 24,692 new Covid-19 cases and 373 deaths on Wednesday and is running out of hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen and medics.
“The situation is serious and today the prime minister will announce further restrictions,” Dworczyk told Catholic radio station Siodma9. The prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and the health minister were due to give a news conference at 1pm (GMT).
Dworczyk said the measures would limit movements and the number of social contacts.
The government has said it wanted to avoid a full lockdown, which could prove disastrous for the economy, but has not ruled out stricter measures if new infections continue to rise.
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Rates of daily new Covid-19 cases in Jordan have risen to among the highest in the world a few months after the kingdom appeared to have eliminated community transmission of the virus and relaxed most public-health restrictions.
As recently as three months ago, Jordan was counted alongside New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam as a coronavirus success story, after going weeks without detecting infections in the community and registering just over 1,100 cases and 11 deaths as of late July.
On Monday this week the country of 10 million people announced it had detected a daily record 5,877 cases – one of the highest per capita rates in the world – with more than 80,000 detected overall. Nearly 970 people have died.
“I believe that we are now witnessing the first wave – what we dealt with in the beginning was cluster cases,” said Ismail Matalka, the former dean of the school of medicine at Jordan University of Science and Technology.
You can read the full report from our Middle East correspondent, Michael Safi, here:
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I’m now handing the blog over to my colleague Amy Walker. Have a nice day!
Hungary’s foreign minister has tested positive for Covid-19 in Thailand, shortly after flying in from a meeting with the Cambodian leader, Hun Sen.
Péter Szijjártó, who has been visiting south-east Asian countries, is asymptomatic but has been sent to Thailand’s Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute. He will be evacuated by plane later today, while the rest of his 12-member delegation, who were not found to be infected, will travel in a separate aircraft.
Szijjártó, 42, had arrived in Thailand following a one-day visit to Cambodia, where he met the prime minister, Hun Sen, 68, as well as the foreign minister, Prak Sokhonn. In photographs of their meetings, Szijjártó and Hun Sen were not wearing masks.
Hungary is seen by Cambodia’s strongman leader as an ally within Europe. During the visit, Szijjártó opened a satellite office of Hungary’s embassy in neighbouring Vietnam and signed economic cooperation agreements.
The Hungarian news agency MTI, reported that that Szijjártó had tested negative before leaving last month for his Asian tour.
Cambodia has escaped the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, recording fewer than 300 cases and no fatalities. Hungary, which has reported more than 2,000 deaths and almost 91,000 cases, recently announced the closure of bars, and a night-time curfew to curb a rise in infections.
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The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford could present late-stage trial results before the year end but it is unclear if it will be rolled out before Christmas, the chief trial investigator for the vaccine said on Wednesday, according to a report by Reuters.
“I’m optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year,” Andrew Pollard said of presenting trial results this year.
When asked if the vaccine would be ready by Christmas he said: “There is a small chance.”
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Malaysia’s health ministry reported 1,032 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the total to 35,425 infections, Reuters reports.
The south-east Asian country also recorded eight new fatalities, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 271.
Updated
Poland expected to announce new curbs amid record new cases
Poland reported a record 24,692 new coronavirus infections and 373 deaths on Wednesday, Reuters reports, amid expectations that the government would announce more restrictions to curb the pandemic.
The health ministry said that, as of Wednesday, Covid-19 patients occupied 18,654 hospital beds and were using 1,625 ventilators, out of available 27,143 and 2,094 respectively.
Updated
Indonesia reported 3,356 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, Reuters reports, taking its total number of cases to 421,731, data from the country’s Covid-19 taskforce showed.
The country reported 113 more deaths, taking total fatalities to 14,259.
As of Wednesday, 353,282 people had recovered from the virus in Indonesia.
Updated
Russia’s daily tally of new coronavirus cases surged to a record high of 19,768 on Wednesday, Reuters reports, including 5,826 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 1,693,454 since the pandemic began.
Russia also reported 389 deaths in the last 24 hours, a record high that pushed the official death toll to 29,217.
Poland will announce more restrictions on Wednesday to stop the spread of the coronavirus, prime minister’s chief of staff, Michał Dworczyk, said.
Reuters reports:
Poland has faced a spike in infections, with the latest record in daily cases - 21,897 - reported on Saturday. The country is running out of hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen and medics.
“The situation is serious and today the prime minister will announce further restrictions, decisions that would limit our functioning, the number of social contacts,” Dworczyk told a catholic radio Siodma9.
He reiterated that the government wanted to avoid a total lockdown.
Poland has already closed bars and restaurants, limited operations of swimming pools, and asked the elderly to stay at home.
The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has warned that the massive protests the country has faced against a near total abortion ban will result in more Covid-19 infections.
Updated
Hi, I’m Aamna Mohdin and I’ll be leading the liveblog for the next few hours. If you want to get in touch, you can email me (aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com)
That’s it from me. Good morning to those of you just greeting the day. And good luck!
logging on pic.twitter.com/qCKKVfhXOD
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 3, 2020
The differences between Trump and Biden supporters — on the virus, the economy, even on football — are stark, AP reports.
As US coronavirus cases rise, claiming more than 232,000 lives, a majority of Biden voters – about 6 in 10 – said the pandemic was the most important issue facing the country. And Biden voters overwhelmingly said the federal government should prioritise limiting the spread of the virus – even if that damages the economy.
But Trump voters were more focused on the economy. About half of Trump voters called the economy and jobs the top issue facing the nation, while only 1 in 10 Biden voters named it most important.
The two groups did not agree on the state of the economy, either. Trump voters remain adamant that the economy is in good shape: About three-quarters call national economic conditions excellent or good. About 8 in 10 Biden voters call them not so good or poor.
Partisanship even seemed to cloud views on football among voters in many states, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. When the coronavirus threatened the Big Ten’s college football season, Trump campaigned on ensuring the games would be played. Not surprisingly, across eight states, voters who approved of the Big Ten playing this year supported Trump over Biden. Those who saw it as a mistake were more likely to back Biden.
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This is quite simply what we do and do not know so far:#Elections2020 #ElectionDay https://t.co/LZqwjQNhbl
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 4, 2020
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals breached 50,000 on Tuesday, the highest level in nearly three months, as a surge in infections threatens to push the nation’s healthcare system to the edge of capacity, Reuters reports.
- Seven US states report record hospitalisations. Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalisations this week.
- India recorded fewer than 50,000 cases for the tenth day. India recorded 46,253 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Wednesday, with cases rising again in some parts including the capital, New Delhi. With 8.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases, India is the world’s second most affected country, behind only the United States. But the spread has slowed down since a September peak, and the country has reported less than 50,000 infections daily for 10 straight days.
- The recovery in China’s service sector activity extended into a sixth straight month in October, an industry survey showed on Wednesday, with hiring picking up to the highest level in a year but overseas demand slipping.
- The border between the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria – the country’s two most populous states – will reopen on 23 November, NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian has just announced.
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UK registers highest daily increase in Covid-related deaths registered in five months. A further 397 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. It brings the UK government’s tally to 47,250. The Tuesday tally each week tends to be higher owing to a delay in reporting deaths over the weekend, but the latest figure is still the highest recorded since 422 people were reported as having died on 27 May. Full story here.
- Europe passed a bleak milestone after reporting more than 11 million coronavirus cases, as Austria and Greece became the latest countries on the continent to impose shutdowns. The continent has now registered 11,008,465 infections and almost 285,000 deaths according to an AFP tally of official sources on Tuesday.
- France’s daily Covid-19 death toll rose by 854 on Tuesday, an increase unseen since 15 April, while the number of people hospitalised for the disease went up by more than a 1,000 for the fifth time in nine days. More here.
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Hungary will close bars and entertainment venues and impose a night-time curfew as of midnight to curb a fast spread of coronavirus infections, the prime minister, Viktor Orbán said. From Monday, those violating rules on wearing face masks risk stiff fines, with offending restaurants and shops to be closed by authorities if necessary.
- The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has ordered extra lockdown measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands, and said the government is also considering curfews and school closures. The new measures, which include a ban on public meetings of more than two people not in the same family, were imposed amid signs the epidemic had reached a second peak. More here.
Updated
India records fewer than 50,000 cases for tenth day after September highs
India recorded 46,253 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Wednesday, with cases rising again in some parts including the capital New Delhi, Reuters reports.
With 8.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases, India is the world’s second most affected country, behind only the United States.
But the spread has slowed down since a September peak, and the country has reported less than 50,000 infections daily for 10 straight days.
Still, infections are rising in some parts of the country, even as active cases decline nationwide.
Besides New Delhi, the southern state of Kerala and West Bengal in the east have seen a rise in active cases in the last month, according to the health ministry. The government has warned that cases could surge during the ongoing festival season, asking people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
Updated
Humanitarian workers fear any further rise in novel coronavirus cases would be disastrous in northwest Syria, where almost 1.5 million people live in overcrowded camps or shelters, often with poor access to running water.
Local and international humanitarian workers are working to contain the virus, but cases are still on the rise.
“In the northwest, confirmed cases have increased six-fold over the last month, with cases also rising in displacement camps and settlements,” Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the UN Security Council last week.
The health authorities in northwest Syria have officially announced 5,075 cases of Covid-19 so far, including 42 deaths.
Of those, more than 860 cases have been recorded among healthcare staff and almost 330 people in the camps, figures showed last week.
US hospitalisations hit three-month high
More now on US hospitalisations:
The number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals breached 50,000 on Tuesday, the highest level in nearly three months, as a surge in infections threatens to push the nation’s health care system to the edge of capacity, Reuters reports.
Nationally, the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients rose over 64% since Oct. 1 to 50,176 on Tuesday, the highest since Aug. 7. The figure is still short of the record 58,370 hospitalisations set on July 22, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalisations are a key metric because, unlike case counts, they are not influenced by the number of tests performed.
Health experts believe the virus is surging because of private social gatherings, colder temperatures driving people inside, and Americans’ fatigue with COVID-19 restrictions that have now been in place for more than six months.
Back to the Other News with a capital N – here’s the latest:
And now for a break from the news, with my colleague Matilda Boseley:
Astralia is known for its strange and deadly wildlife, with plenty of attention given to venomous snakes and bird-eating spiders. But it seems one terrifying aspect of outback fauna has been thoroughly ignored: the wombat’s deadly bum.
When you have a booty that just. won't. quit. 🍑 #WombatWednesday
— CSIRO (@CSIRO) November 4, 2020
Wombat derrières aren't just for show. Fox and dingo skulls have been found outside their burrows. Scientists speculate that wombats use their booty to crush predators.
📹: thewombatdiaries (on IG) pic.twitter.com/Aq6eB3TkTG
The rump of the wombat is hard as rock, used for defence, burrowing, bonding, mating and possibly violently crushing the skulls of its enemies against the roof of its burrow. Although the jury is still out on that one.
The marsupials’ bums are made up of four plates fused together and surrounded by cartilage, fat, skin and fur. Alyce Swinbourne, an expert in wombat bottoms from the University of Adelaide, says wombats will use their backside to “plug” up their burrows, stopping predators entering and protecting softer areas of their anatomy:
Not only have Finns followed the rules, but European Parliament research last week found that 23 percent of respondents in the country said that lockdown had actually improved their lives, making Finland the most positive country in Europe towards the coronavirus restrictions, AFP reports.
One reason is likely to be the relative ease of switching to distance working in the highly digitised society.
“The economy is structured so that it’s not necessary for a large proportion of the Finnish workforce to be in the workplace,” Nelli Hankonen, associate professor of social psychology at Helsinki University, told AFP.
As millions across Europe face new lockdown measures to tackle the resurging coronavirus, Finland is bucking the trend: infection rates are falling, while attitudes to restrictions remain the most positive on the continent.
AFP has this report:
Although much international attention has been focused on next-door Sweden’s light-touch response to the virus, Finland has quietly succeeded in keeping infection levels five times below the EU average, with a lesser hit to its economy and one-tenth the number of deaths per capita of its Scandinavian neighbour.
In the last two weeks, the Nordic country has recorded 45.7 new cases per 100,000 population - the lowest rate in the EU according to the WHO and the only country in the bloc whose rate of new infections has slowed since the previous fortnight.
Officials credit the outcome to factors such as early government action, which included a two-month lockdown in March and a ban on travel in and out of the capital.
Since then, society has largely re-opened and an effective test and trace system was developed, revolving around a smartphone app.
The “Corona Flash” application, downloaded 2.5 million times in a country of 5.5 million people, has escaped the privacy or functionality problems that have hit similar initiatives in countries from the UK to Norway.
Like elsewhere in the Nordics, high levels of trust towards authority in Finland have meant that there has been little resistance to the government’s measures.
Whelp:
Here's one you wouldn't expect: President Trump is doing better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high COVID-19 death rates. pic.twitter.com/IYjbgjM3lu
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) November 4, 2020
China sees sixth straight month of service sector recovery
The recovery in China’s service sector activity extended into a sixth straight month in October, an industry survey showed on Wednesday, with hiring picking up to the highest level in a year but overseas demand slipping.
Reuters: The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.8 from September’s 54.8, the highest reading since June and staying well above the 50-mark that separates monthly growth from contraction.
The services sector, which accounts for about 60% of the economy and half of urban jobs, had initially been slower to return to growth than large manufacturers, but the recovery has gathered pace in recent months.
Domestic demand drove activity, with the survey showing new export business received by Chinese services firms slipping further into contraction in October, at the fastest rate since July.
Twitter has permanently suspended the account of the conspiracy theorist David Icke. A spokesman for the social media platform said Icke had violated its rules regarding coronavirus misinformation, PA Media reports.
The move follows the decision by YouTube and Facebook to terminate Icke’s accounts in early May for the same reason.
The former footballer, 68, has made controversial unproven claims about the virus on several internet platforms, including a discredited theory that it is linked to the rollout of the 5G mobile network.
Famous medics including Dr Christian Jessen and former junior doctor Adam Kay have called on social networks to remove Icke from their platforms.
They are backed by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which claims his conspiracies over Covid-19 have been viewed more than 30m times.
CCDH had called for Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, to permanently ban Icke and his content from their platforms:
Here is what we know so far about the US election. Among other things:
According to a CNN nationwide exit poll, about a third of voters said the economy was most important to them, around one in five said racial inequality and about one in six said the coronavirus pandemic.
National survey AP VoteCast found the electorate’s top concerns were the pandemic and the economy and that around two-thirds of voters were motivated by their view of Trump.
This story will be updated throughout the next few hours:
We'll be updating this summary of what we know – and don't know – throughout the night:https://t.co/LZqwjQNhbl
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 4, 2020
The UK can learn from Victoria how to bring its Covid second wave under control
La Trobe University epidemiologist and associate professor in public health Hassan Vally writes:
The decision to go into coronavirus lockdown is not one that any government takes lightly as there are considerable economic and human costs. However, when virus transmission has spiralled out of control, most experts agree that there is little choice but to go down this path.
As the UK likely begins its month-long lockdown on Thursday, and after the rapid soaring in cases that has occurred over the previous month, it’s perhaps appropriate to look to Australia, and particularly the state of Victoria, for guidance on how best to bring its second wave under control.
Residents of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, were subject to one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns, including a nightly curfew. Those in metropolitan Melbourne were not allowed to leave their home between 8pm and 5am, except for urgent medical care. They could only exercise for one hour per day within a 5km radius of their home. Those who tested positive could expect to be door-knocked by police and Australian defence force personnel and receive fines if they were not at home.
The extraordinary measures worked:
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte also said the country may also impose curfews in areas where infections are still rising, such as the port city of Rotterdam.
The Netherlands for months opted for a far more relaxed policy than its European neighbours, but ended up with one of the continent’s highest infection rates in the second wave of the disease. It began a partial lockdown on October 14 with all restaurants, bars and cannabis-serving “coffeeshops” closing, and mask-wearing made compulsory.
The measures seemed to finally have an effect in recent days with infections falling week-on-week for the first time in two months and cases dropping to 7,776 a day on Tuesday.
But Rutte said there had not been enough progress yet.
“In order to reduce the number of movements and contact, all publicly accessible buildings and through-flow locations both in and outdoors will be closed for two weeks,” he said.
“This includes theatres and cinemas, community centres, museums, zoos and amusement parks.”
The government later announced that sex clubs would also be among the places to close.
Here is what we know about the Netherlands tightening its partial coronavirus lockdown. Museums, cinemas, sex clubs and other public places to close for two weeks, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday, AFP reports.
The closure will affect some of the world’s most popular attractions including Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, home to masterpieces from Dutch masters like Rembrandt.
Despite falling cases in recent days, the Dutch government is also advising against all foreign travel until mid-January and reduced the number of visitors a household may host to two.
“It is not going badly but it is not going well. The number of cases must go down faster,” Rutte told a press conference.
“That is a difficult message... but there is no other way.”
Here is a look at the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins for the ten worst-affected countries worldwide in terms of total cases. Only one of the countries below – Mexico – has fewer than 1m cases:
- US: 9,376,293
- India: 8,267,623
- Brazil: 5,554,206
- Russia: 1,661,096
- France: 1,461,078
- Spain: 1,259,366
- Argentina: 1,195,276
- Colombia: 1,099,392
- United Kingdom: 1,077,099
- Mexico: 933,155
A study of the lungs of people who have died from Covid-19 has found persistent and extensive lung damage in most cases and may help doctors understand what is behind a syndrome known as ‘long Covid’, in which patients suffer ongoing symptoms for months, Reuters reports.
Scientists leading the research said they also found some unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, which may explain why it is able to inflict such harm.
“The findings indicate that Covid-19 is not simply a disease caused by the death of virus-infected cells, but is likely the consequence of these abnormal cells persisting for long periods inside the lungs,” said Mauro Giacca, a professor at King*s College London who co-led the work.
The research team analysed samples of tissue from the lungs, heart, liver and kidneys of 41 patients who died of Covid-19 at Italy’s University Hospital of Trieste between February and April 2020.
In a telephone interview, Giacca said that, while his research team found no overt signs of viral infection or prolonged inflammation in other organs, they discovered “really vast destruction of the architecture of the lungs”, with healthy tissue “almost completely substituted by scar tissue”.
Updated
For our Australian readers:
Dan Murphy opening hours
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 4, 2020
As the pandemic has pushed many companies to allow telecommuting, it has also caused population to flow out of Tokyo - the first time that has happened in years, the latest government data showed.
Reuters reports that the shift could boost Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who made revitalising Japan’s decaying rural regions a core plank of his socioeconomic platform.
In September, 30,644 people moved out of Tokyo, up 12.5% year-on-year, while the number moving in fell 11.7% to 27,006, the data showed.
It was the third straight month the those moving out outnumbered those moving in, the longest run on record, led by people in their 20s and 30s.
UK Covid death toll rises by nearly 400, bringing total to 47,250
The full story on the UK’s latest death toll now:
A further 397 people have been reported as having died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, the highest daily increase in Covid-related deaths registered in five months.
While the Tuesday tally each week tends to be higher owing to a delay in reporting deaths over the weekend, the latest figure is nevertheless the highest recorded since 422 people were reported as having died on 27 May:
Here is how you vote in the US if you have coronavirus:
Photos: #COVID19 positive voters cast ballots curbside in St. Louis on eve of the election. Very, very 2020.https://t.co/bxgBueLzjd pic.twitter.com/9uvSlVWZqv
— Robert Cohen (@kodacohen) November 3, 2020
Border to reopen between Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria
The border between the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria – the country’s two most populous states – will reopen on 23 November, NSW state premier Gladys Berejiklian has just announced.
On Monday, 23 November – the NSW/Victoria border will reopen. We need to keep moving forward as we live with COVID-19. I have confidence that everyone will continue to work hard to keep everyone safe.
— Gladys Berejiklian (@GladysB) November 4, 2020
Updated
Another 18,000 UK high street premises could be left empty in 2020, almost double the number in 2019, as the coronavirus pandemic hammers retailers, restaurants and leisure businesses.
AsEngland prepares to enter a month-long second high street lockdown from Thursday, analysts at the Local Data Company warned “vast numbers” of leisure and hospitality businesses could close up for good.
It would leave 14% of high street, retail park and shopping centre outlets vacant in Britain – the highest level since LDC began its survey in 2013. At present just over 13% of those premises are vacant:
Seven US states report record hospitalisations
While daily infections are rising in all but three states today, the surge is most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest, AP reports.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalisations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed.
The resurgence loomed over candidates and voters, fearful of both the virus itself and the economic toll of any new shutdowns to control its spread.
Iowa hospital officials warned their facilities and staff could be overwhelmed without serious efforts to curtail the virus spread. The state’s seven-day rolling average of positive cases reached 36.4% over the weekend, the third-highest in the nation behind South Dakota and Wyoming, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalisations reached a record 730 on Monday.
Health officials in Nebraska said hospitalisations have doubled in recent weeks, reaching a record 613 on Sunday.
In Missouri, leaders of several rural hospitals raised alarms about bed capacity during a conference call last week with Republican Governor Mike Parson, who drew renewed fire from his Democratic election challenger for his refusal to issue a statewide mask mandate. The state health department reported 1,659 hospitalisations statewide Monday, surpassing by 10 the previous record set a day earlier. Among the five additional deaths was a 13-year-old boy, the first child under 14 to die from the virus in Missouri.
In Colorado, officials said more residents have been hospitalised with the coronavirus than at any time since a peak in April. Flags were flying at half-staff in New Mexico, where death from Covid-19 surpassed 1,000 last week and hospitalizations reached a record 380 on Monday.
How is everyone feeling on this day of days?
logging on pic.twitter.com/qCKKVfhXOD
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 3, 2020
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest updates from around the world for the next few hours. I’ll also bring you pandemic-related news from the US Elections.
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
France’s daily Covid-19 death toll rose by 854 on Tuesday, an increase unseen since 15 April, while the number of people hospitalised for the disease went up by more than a 1,000 for the fifth time in nine days.
The UK saw its highest deaths since 27 May, with 397 people dying in the last 24 hours.
In the US, while daily infections were rising in all but three states, the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest. Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalisations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours.
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UK registers highest daily increase in Covid-related deaths registered in five months. A further 397 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. It brings the UK government’s tally to 47,250. The Tuesday tally each week tends to be higher owing to a delay in reporting deaths over the weekend, but the latest figure is still the highest recorded since 422 people were reported as having died on 27 May. Full story here.
- Europe passed a bleak milestone after reporting more than 11 million coronavirus cases, as Austria and Greece became the latest countries on the continent to impose shutdowns. The continent has now registered 11,008,465 infections and almost 285,000 deaths according to an AFP tally of official sources on Tuesday.
- France’s daily Covid-19 death toll rose by 854 on Tuesday, an increase unseen since 15 April, while the number of people hospitalised for the disease went up by more than a 1,000 for the fifth time in nine days. More here.
- Hungary will close bars and entertainment venues and impose a night-time curfew as of midnight to curb a fast spread of coronavirus infections, the prime minister Viktor Orban said. From Monday, those violating rules on wearing face masks risk stiff fines, with offending restaurants and shops to be closed by authorities if necessary.
- The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has ordered extra lockdown measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands, and said the government is also considering curfews and school closures. The new measures, which include a ban on public meetings of more than two people not in the same family, were imposed amid signs the epidemic had reached a second peak. More here.
Updated
