Summary – case records broken worldwide
- Italy has registered 37,809 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the country’s highest ever daily tally, the health ministry said.
- As Canada battles its second wave of coronavirus infections, public health officials in the country’s western region are growing concerned as cases surge to new daily records. Active coronavirus cases in Alberta have quadrupled in the last five weeks. British Columbia, with 5 million residents, notched up more than 400 new cases.
- France registered a record 60,486 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, following the previous high of 58,046 on Thursday, health ministry data showed.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 117,988 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total caseload to 9,581,770.The number of deaths also increased by 1,135 to 234,264.
- Portugal’s president on Friday declared a state of health emergency that will come into force next week.
Updated
Australian state of NSW reports five new cases of Covid-19
NSW has reported one new case of locally transmitted Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Four cases were also reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,270.
Today’s locally acquired case is a household contact of a confirmed case in Moss Vale. Contact tracing and investigation into the source of the infection continues.
NSW Health is treating 65 Covid-19 cases. One patient is in intensive care and is being ventilated. Ninety-five per cent of cases being treated by NSW Health are in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
Dr Michael Douglas provides a #COVID19 update for Saturday 7 November 2020. pic.twitter.com/T2q5LFhLy1
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) November 7, 2020
Updated
The International Monetary Fund [IMF] on Friday approved a 42-month, US$370m loan program for conflict-ravaged Afghanistan as it tries to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The loan aims to help stabilise the country’s economy, shore up its Covid-19 response and catalyse donor support, the IMF said in a statement.
The government’s economic program was set back by the pandemic, but Kabul has put in place policies to return to growth and reduce poverty, IMF deputy managing director Mitsuhiro Furusawa said in a statement.
However, “should downside risks, including from the pandemic and the security situation, materialize, the recovery could falter and financing needs increase”, Furusawa said.
Under the Extended Credit Facility the government will receive $115m immediately, with the rest coming in instalments following semi-annual reviews of performance criteria covering economic policy and anti-corruption efforts, the IMF said in a statement.
Updated
European deaths pass 300,000
Europe’s number of coronavirus-linked deaths has surged past 300,000 and its number of infections surpassed 12 million, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
The region’s 300,688 recorded deaths is second only to the 408,841 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Worldwide, there have been 1,235,148 Covid-19-related deaths. The United States is the hardest hit country with 234,944 fatalities, followed by Brazil with 161,736, India with 124,985, Mexico with 93,772 and Britain with 48,120.
The US has also recorded more than 120,000 new daily infections, breaking a record set the day before.
Meanwhile, Italy is set to start a nationwide 10pm-5am curfew, as much of the country returns to lockdown with “red zone” regions shuttering non-essential businesses affecting 16m people.
Greece says it will close secondary schools from Monday, as the country enters its second nationwide lockdown.
Updated
Brazil's Covid-19 deaths pass 162,000, with 5.6m cases
Brazil reported 18,862 additional confirmed cases of the virus in the past 24 hours, and 279 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said.
The South American country has now registered 5,631,181 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 162,015, according to ministry data, in the world’s most fatal outbreak outside the United States.
Updated
Victoria records eighth day of zero coronavirus cases and deaths
Another day of 00, with zero cases and zero deaths.
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) November 6, 2020
👏🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩🍩👏 Well done, Victoria💓
Over the coming days, and as we head to COVID normal, heads up that there will be changes to the data reported in this tweet. https://t.co/4BEB35r9Jj
Monday will see the resumption of direct flights from New Zealand – the first international flights into Melbourne since 30 June. Ahead of the resumption of international arrivals, a long-awaited report has suggested improvements to the state’s quarantine program, AAP reports.
Among the hotel quarantine inquiry’s 69 recommendations is that overseas travellers returning to Victoria should be able to quarantine at home, potentially with an electronic ankle or wrist bracelet to track movements and enforce compliance.
Home quarantine candidates would need to have regular Covid-19 tests during the 14-day period and face penalties if found in breach, the report said.
The report describes home quarantine as “at least as effective as a facility-based model” in preventing transmission and avoids the risk of putting people in “physical proximity with others suspected of having COVID-19”.
It also reduces the number of workers required, “thereby reducing the number of people potentially being exposed”. Those unable to quarantine at home will be accommodated at hotels located near hospitals and modified for social distancing and minimal transmission risk.
Police would be on-site 24/7 alongside units dedicated to infection prevention and control, and contact tracing. Staff will not be allowed to work across multiple quarantine sites or in other forms of employment.
Victoria’s second virus wave, which resulted in more than 18,000 infections and 800 deaths, can be traced to outbreaks among staff at the Rydges and Stamford Plaza hotels.
Updated
In the US, a Missouri election judge who came to work despite testing positive for Covid-19 died in her sleep after a 15-hour shift at the polls, the director of her county’s election office said Friday.
The woman worked election day as an election judge supervisor at Memorial Hall in Blanchette Park in the St Louis suburb of St Charles. Officials don’t yet know if the virus was the cause of death. County officials didn’t release her name, citing privacy laws.
She tested positive on 30 October but ignored advice to isolate and worked alongside nine other election judges. More than 1,800 people voted at the precinct. Judges were required to wear masks and were mostly behind a plastic glass barrier.
St Charles County Election Authority director Kurt Bahr said in a phone interview that the woman had previously worked several other elections, as had her sister at a different polling site. It was the sister who called Bahr’s office Wednesday to let him know of the woman’s death.
But Bahr said the sister didn’t know of the Covid-19 diagnosis.
“She was just as shocked,” Bahr said. “The family was unaware she had tested positive. As far as I understand, the only person that knew was the spouse of the judge.”
Bahr said that as an election judge, the woman would have shown up around 5am to help prepare the polling place; worked the entire time the polls were open from 6am to 7pm; then spent about an hour wrapping up. She died in her sleep either late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Bahr said.
Another judge who worked at the Blanchette Park site called Bahr’s office to “try to figure out who it was” that had the illness, he said. “That judge more or less said nobody appeared sick. Nobody had symptoms.”
County health officials are urging the precinct’s other judges to be tested for the virus, St. Charles County spokeswoman Mary Enger said. Contact tracing efforts have begun. Bahr said the county is not recommending testing for those who voted at the precinct because their potential exposure was limited.
Updated
Common cold antibodies could yield clues to Covid-19 behaviour, Nancy Lapid at Reuters writes:
Among people who were never infected with the new coronavirus, a few adults – and many children – may have antibodies that can neutralise the virus, researchers reported on Friday in Science.
Among 302 such adults, 16 (5.3%) had antibodies, likely generated during infections with “common cold” coronaviruses, that reacted to a specific region of the spike protein on the new virus called the S2 subunit. Among 48 children and adolescents, 21 (43.8%) had these antibodies. In test tube experiments, blood serum from both older and younger uninfected individuals with cross-reactive antibodies could neutralise the new coronavirus. That was not the case with serum from study participants who lacked these antibodies.
“Together, these findings may help explain higher Covid-19 susceptibility in older people and provide insight into whether pre-established immunity to seasonal coronaviruses offers protection against SARS-CoV-2,” the publishers of the journal said in a statement. The findings also suggest that targeting the S2 subunit on the coronavirus spike protein might be the basis for a drug or vaccine that works on multiple types of coronavirus.
Updated
In Australia, Victoria has achieved a week without new cases or deaths. It follows the state’s second virus wave, which resulted in more than 18,000 infections and 800 deaths, and resulted in the state being locked down.
But steps towards normal living are about to gain pace with Covid-19 restrictions further easing and flights to resume from New Zealand. The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is expected to announce another relaxation of rules on Sunday, including the removal of the “ring of steel” around Melbourne which currently prevents travel between metropolitan Melbourne and regional areas.
The city’s residents will no longer be confined to a 25-kilometre radius from home and allowed to travel to regional Victoria. Travel freedom will expand again when the New South Wales border reopens to Victorians on 23 November. Andrews said on Friday that his Sunday announcement would include a plan for the rest of the month.
“They will be big steps, they’ll get us much closer to normal than we’ve been for six or seven months, which is very significant,” he said.
Updated
Portugal’s president on Friday declared a state of health emergency that will come into force next week to allow the government to impose further coronavirus restrictions.
In a televised appearance, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he had just signed a decree “relating to a second state of emergency” since the start of the pandemic that will last at least two weeks.
It will be “very limited and largely preventative” but “paves the way for new measures such as restricting traffic to certain times and certain days, in highest risk municipalities,” he said.
The government will hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Saturday to decide what type of measures to introduce.
These could include a nighttime curfew similar to what has been implemented in other European nations, or taking people’s temperature at some locations.
During the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, Portuguese authorities decreed a six-week state of emergency.
Some 7.1 million people are currently living under new restrictions and have been asked to stay home and work remotely as far as possible.
But unlike the first spring lockdown, schools remain open, along with shops and restaurants, though they have to close earlier.
Since the start of the pandemic, Portugal has reported close to 167,000 cases and more than 2,700 deaths.
Europe’s number of coronavirus-linked deaths has surged past 300,000 and its number of infections surpassed 12 million, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
The region’s 300,688 recorded deaths is second only to the 408,841 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Worldwide, there have been 1,235,148 Covid-19-related deaths. The United States is the hardest hit country with 234,944 fatalities, followed by Brazil with 161,736, India 124,985, Mexico 93,772 and the UK 48,120.
The US has also recorded more than 120,000 new daily infections - breaking a record set the day before.
Authorities in Slovakia say they hope a nationwide programme in which two-thirds of the country’s population were tested for Covid-19 in just two days last weekend will halve the number of cases of the virus in the country.
The Slovak testing programme has drawn interest from across Europe, as debates continue about whether or not blanket testing is the best way to fight coronavirus. A Downing Street team travelled to Slovakia last weekend to witness the testing, keen to draw lessons before a mass testing programme due to be launched in Liverpool this weekend.
Slovak officials said the team included two Downing Street advisers and two people responsible for arranging the UK’s large-scale testing programme in Liverpool.
“They are interested in our lessons and in the details and results,” said Slovakia’s deputy defence minister, Marian Majer, who added that Slovakia has offered to send a planning team to London to help with UK preparations if required.
A No 10 spokesperson declined to comment on the visit except to say that “we are constantly seeking to evolve our testing system in order to control the spread of the virus and bring the R rate down”.
Shaun Walker has the story:
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. 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
Here’s a roundup of some of the key global coronavirus developments over the last few hours:
- France, Portugal, Russia, Italy, and Sweden were among the countries to register record daily totals of new Covid-19 infections on Friday. It comes as Europe continues to experience a second wave of the pandemic, and as many countries opt for new national lockdowns.
- Russia recorded nearly 10,000 coronavirus-linked deaths in September. Data from the state statistics service, Rosstat, shows that 9,798 deaths in the country were linked to suspected or confirmed cases of the virus in September, while deaths from all causes were up 23% from the same month last year.
- Aspirin is to to be evaluated as a possible treatment for Covid-19 in one of the UK’s biggest trials. Patients infected by the novel coronavirus are at a higher risk of blood clots because of hyper-reactive platelets, the cell fragments that help stop bleeding. Aspirin is an antiplatelet agent and can reduce the risk of clots, the Recovery trial’s website said.
- The World Health Organisation is looking into biosecurity in countries that have mink farms after Denmark ordered a nationwide cull of the animals. Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19, said the transmission of the virus between animals and humans was “a concern”.
- Since June, Denmark has recorded more than 200 cases of mink-related Covid. The State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found 214 people infected with mink-related versions of coronavirus since June. It is one strain of the mutated coronavirus which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of mink. That strain has, however, been found in only 12 people and on five mink farms so far.
France reports record 60,486 new cases in last 24 hours
France registered a record 60,486 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, following the previous high of 58,046 on Thursday, health ministry data showed.
The ministry also reported 828 new deaths from coronavirus, including 398 deaths in hospitals over the past 24 hours, and 430 deaths in retirement homes over several days.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 117,988 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total caseload to 9,581,770.
The number of deaths also increased by 1,135 to 234,264.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of Covid-19 as of 4pm ET on 5 November versus its previous report a day earlier.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Updated
Portugal’s parliament has approved a new state of emergency starting on Monday to fight the spread of coronavirus, which has put the healthcare system under pressure.
The initial state of emergency was declared in March and lasted six weeks, restricting the movement of people and closing thousands of businesses.
Last Saturday, the government introduced measures, such as the civic duty – a recommendation rather than a rule – to stay home except for work, school or shopping, across 121 municipalities, including Lisbon and Porto.
The new state of emergency approved by parliament on Friday will clear the way for compulsory measures such as restrictions on movement of people, but only if and when needed.
The prime minister, Antonio Costa, told national radio station Antena 1 that the state of emergency would not bring “major changes” to the measures already in place, saying it would give the government “legal certainty” to introduce restrictions if necessary.
On Saturday, the government will hold an emergency meeting to discuss potential new restrictions.
Portugal, with just over 10 million people, has recorded a comparatively low 166,900 cases and 2,792 deaths but it reached 5,550 cases on Friday, the highest daily figure since the pandemic started. Testing has also increased.
A total of 2,425 people are in hospital, with 340 in intensive care units (ICUs) – more than the April peak of 271. The healthcare system, which prior to the pandemic had the lowest number of critical care beds per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe, can accommodate 800 Covid-19 patients in ICUs.
Updated
Russia recorded 9,798 coronavirus-linked deaths in September
Russia recorded 9,798 deaths linked to suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases in September, data from the state statistics service shows.
Of these deaths, coronavirus was recorded as the main cause in 5,199 cases, Rosstat said.
The new data also shows that 170,717 deaths from all causes were recorded in Russia in September, up 22.8% on the same month last year.
Russia reported a record high of 20,582 new coronavirus cases on Friday, including 6,253 infections in Moscow, bringing the national tally to 1,733,440.
Latvia will go into a four-week lockdown beginning on 9 November to slow the spread of Covid-19, which has accelerated in recent weeks in the Baltic nation.
The country reported 367 new cases on Friday, bringing the total number to 7,119 with 87 deaths. It had only 2,086 total cases on 1 October.
Under the new rules, social contact is discouraged and a maximum of 10 people from no more than two households will be allowed to gather inside. Restaurants can serve only takeaway food and shops will limit the number of people inside.
Europe is currently experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections with many countries, including France, Britain and Germany, opting for new lockdowns.
Italy records record rise in cases
Italy has registered 37,809 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the country’s highest ever daily tally, the health ministry said today. The figure was more than 3,000 up on Thursday’s tally of 34,505.
The ministry also reported 446 Covid-related deaths, up one from the 445 the previous day.
A total of 40,638 people have now died because of Covid-19 in Italy, which has registered 862,681 confirmed coronavirus infections since the start of its outbreak.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy’s financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 9,934 new cases today against 8,822 on Thursday. Neighbouring Piedmont region was the second-worst affected, chalking up 4,878 cases.
Updated
As Canada battles its second wave of coronavirus infections, public health officials in the country’s western region are growing concerned as cases surge to new daily records.
For much of the pandemic, high caseloads and fatalities have been concentrated in the two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec.
But in recent weeks, Alberta and British Columbia have shattered their records for daily case numbers, with little sign of respite.
“The fact that we are now reporting 800 new cases is extremely concerning,” Dr Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, told reporters yesterday, adding that she was “very concerned” over hospitalisation levels in the major cities.
Active coronavirus cases in Alberta have quadrupled in the last five weeks and many infected residents have been continuing to work. In Calgary, the province’s largest city, 11% worked while symptomatic and 9% travelled, according to Hinshaw. The growing number of active cases showed that recent restrictions measures introduced 10 days ago were not working, she said.
Neighbouring British Columbia, with 5 million residents, notched up more than 400 new cases, prompting pleas from health officials to avoid social gatherings.
“When it comes to house parties and gatherings, the message is simple. Don’t throw them. Don’t go to them,” said the health minister, Adrian Dix. “The Covid-19 tide is rising.”
Canada’s Thanksgiving holiday, over the weekend of 12 October, has been cited as a key driver of new transmissions across the country. There are currently 32,867 active cases and more than 10,000 people have died from the virus.
Updated
Singapore’s first cruise to nowhere set sail today. The cruises, classed as round trips, are open only to its residents and sail for a few days in waters just off the city-state.
They follow flights to nowhere in some parts of Asia that take off and land at the same airport.
Environmental campaigners have criticised such initiatives. Cruise ships generally use heavy fuel oil, meaning they can be significant polluters.
A 2019 study by Transport & Environment, a campaign group, found that in 2017 Royal Caribbean alone emitted four times more sulphur oxides than all of Europe’s cars combined. Sulphur oxides can cause health problems and acid rain, while harmful nitrogen oxides can also be a byproduct from the industry.
Before boarding the 335-metre (1,100ft) World Dream on Friday, which was operating at half capacity to prevent crowding, passengers underwent coronavirus swab tests before boarding the vessel.
Retiree Ang Sen Hock, 73, said he had no fear about getting infected and had booked several more trips later in the month.
“Not worried. Because earlier this year I was also a passenger on this cruise ship and, coincidentally, there were two suspected cases,” Ang said, while waiting for his test. “But we still boarded and they had special measures.”
The global cruise industry has taken a major hit from the coronavirus pandemic, with some of the earliest big outbreaks found on cruises.
The 1,400 guests are required to carry an electronic contact tracing device and to social distance at all times.
Self-serve buffets have been suspended and Dream Cruises has upgraded medical facilities to include testing and isolation units.
“The idea of just getting out of Singapore, even just for a little bit, a few days, it’s really an attractive thing,” said passenger Robert Gaxiola.
The president of Dream Cruises, Michael Goh, said the crew would respond decisively to any sign of infections. “Passengers will be back into the cabin and the ship will do a deep cleaning and sanitisation,” he said. “Within less than six hours we can be back at Singapore.”
Updated
The Kremlin has said it is early to judge how effective Russia’s coronavirus restrictions are without lockdowns, as the country reported a record daily number of new Covid-19 infections.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the increase in coronavirus cases to a daily high of 20,582 was alarming and that authorities would take action depending on how the situation developed.
Asked if Russia’s measures had been effective in containing the virus without imposing lockdowns, Peskov said: “It is probably too early to talk about this.”
“The trend is alarming, the pandemic is developing,” he added. “The situation is being carefully monitored and analysed, and measures taken collectively ... taking into account the specifics of a given region.”
In recent months Russian authorities have said that harsh restrictions were not needed to contain the surge in coronavirus cases, stressing that hygiene and safety precautions were key.
Anastasia Rakova, deputy mayor of Moscow, said that 1,300 to 1,400 patients were being hospitalised in the city with the coronavirus on a daily basis. She added that 70% of the more than 15,000 hospital beds the city had allocated to Covid-19 patients were currently occupied.
“Unfortunately we cannot say the situation is stable at the moment,” Tass news agency quoted her as saying.
The Russian capital, home to nearly 13 million people, recorded 6,253 new infections on Friday.
With 1,733,440 infections, Russia has the world’s fourth largest number of cases behind the United States, India and Brazil.
Authorities also reported 378 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 29,887.
Updated
New coronavirus restrictions came into force in Italy on Friday but from pavements dotted with coffee drinkers to lines of striking taxi drivers, the picture on the streets was different from the ghostly scenes of the first lockdown, Reuters reports.
The restrictions, which divide the country into three zones according to the severity of the latest outbreak, are less severe than the blanket measures imposed when the pandemic first took hold in March.
Like other countries in Europe, Italy, which reported more than 34,000 cases and 445 deaths on Thursday, has seen an alarming resurgence of the pandemic, but the government has been desperate not to shut down the economy entirely.
“Probably a partial lockdown is better than a total lockdown, for several reasons, mostly for the economy,” said Milan resident Fabrizio Amadori.
In Milan, the fashion and business capital where the strictest limits have been imposed, streets were quieter than normal but a far cry from the near-total silence of the spring.
Clothes shops, including the city’s luxury boutiques, were closed but many schools, offices and businesses including retailers of food and a broad range of staples were open.
In the city centre, clusters of office workers or parents taking their children to school could be seen sipping their morning coffee from paper cups in front of cafes, despite rules against eating outside.
Updated
Sweden registered 4,697 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, health agency statistics show.
The increase compares with a high of 4,034 new daily cases recorded in the country, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, on Thursday.
The health agency has said the peak during the spring probably ran many times higher but went unrecorded due to less testing at the time.
Sweden also registered 20 new deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total to 6,022 deaths. The country’s death rate per capita is several times higher than its Nordic neighbours’ but lower than some larger European countries, such as Spain and Britain.
Updated
Germany’s biggest airline is to start trialling rapid pre-flight coronavirus antigen tests next week, which passengers will need to pass in order to fly.
Only those testing negative or able to provide evidence of a negative test within the previous 48 hours will be allowed to board, Lufthansa said on Friday.
The carrier will use the tests for two daily flights between Munich and Hamburg from 12 November onwards to see how the test procedure can be included in the pre-flight routine.
“Successful testing of entire flights can be the key to revitalising international air traffic,” said Christina Foerster, Lufthansa board member for customer, IT & corporate responsibility. “[We] want to gain insights into the use of rapid tests in asymptomatic groups of people.”
The pandemic has pushed the global aviation industry into crisis, and a recovery to 2019 levels is not expected before 2025.
Airlines worldwide are pressing governments to abandon or ease quarantines and other travel curbs that have worsened the slump, and instead roll out rapid Covid-19 testing at airports.
Antigen tests give results much faster than the widely used PCR swab tests, which are done in a laboratory, but can be less reliable.
Updated
Theatres, cinemas, training centres and swimming pools are to be closed in Norway’s capital, Oslo, to contain the spread of the coronavirus, city authorities have said.
Under the new measures, bars and restaurants will also no longer be able to serve alcohol.
“We are doing a social lockdown of Oslo,” the governing mayor of Oslo, Raymond Johansen, told a news conference. “The numbers are clear. The number of infected cases is rising.”
The announcement comes a day after prime minister, Erna Solberg, announced a fresh round of recommendations and restrictions, including telling Norwegians to avoid travelling domestically and to stay at home as much as possible.
Norway’s 14-day cumulative number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants was 105.3 as of Friday, the third-lowest in Europe behind Finland and Estonia, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
But there are regional disparities and authorities are most concerned about the situation in Oslo and Bergen, the second-largest city.
In Oslo, the 14-day cumulative number of new Covid-19 cases was 192.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, local authorities said, with 5.2% of all people tested for the disease returning positive results.
“1 in 4 people do not know how they were infected,” said Robert Steen, the city’s head of health services.
Updated
Austria’s health minister has warned that the country’s Covid-19 intensive care beds could be full within two weeks because of the “much stronger, more serious” second wave of coronavirus infections.
There was a sharp drop to 6,464 new infections within 24 hours from a record 7,416 the day before, but Rudolf Anschober said the number was still alarming.
“The second wave is much stronger, more serious, more dynamic and more powerful,” he told a news conference. Forty-one people died in the latest reporting period, and 421 were in intensive care.
Since Tuesday, a night-time curfew has been in force with cafes, bars and restaurants closed for all but take-away services. Factories, shops, nurseries and primary schools remain open, while secondary schools and universities have switched to distance learning.
The director general of the National Public Health Institute, Herwig Ostermann, said his projections indicated that, even with these measures in place, 750 of Austria’s 800 intensive care beds reserved for Covid-19 patients were likely to be filled by 18 November.
Tracing the source of a coronavirus infection has become harder and is being achieved in only 27% of cases, said Daniela Schmid, chief epidemiologist at Austria’s Agency for Health and Food Safety.
Updated
Aspirin, a drug commonly used as a blood thinner, will be evaluated as a possible treatment for Covid-19 in one of the UK’s biggest trials looking into a range of potential treatments for the illness.
Patients infected by the novel coronavirus are at a higher risk of blood clots because of hyper-reactive platelets, the cell fragments that help stop bleeding. Aspirin is an antiplatelet agent and can reduce the risk of clots, the Recovery trial’s website said on Friday.
“There is a clear rationale for believing that [aspirin] might be beneficial, and it is safe, inexpensive and widely available,” said Peter Horby, co-chief investigator of the trial.
At least 2,000 patients are expected to randomly get 150mg of aspirin daily along with the usual regimen. Data from those patients will be compared with at least 2,000 other patients who receive the standard-of-care on its own, the website showed.
Other treatments being tested in the Recovery trial include common antibiotic azithromycin and Regeneron’s antibody cocktail that was used to treat Donald Trump’s Covid-19 symptoms.
Updated
The World Health Organization is looking at biosecurity in countries where there are mink farms after Denmark ordered a nationwide cull of the animals because of a widespread coronavirus outbreak among them.
Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19, said the transmission of the virus between animals and humans was “a concern”.
“We are working with regional offices ... where there are mink farms, and looking at biosecurity and to prevent spillover events,” Van Kerkhove told a WHO news briefing in Geneva.
Updated
Germany registers 21,506 new cases
In Germany, the country’s disease control agency has registered 21,506 new infections over the last 24 hours, and 166 new deaths. With the average age of those who have caught the virus on the rise, there are growing concerns about the number of vulnerable people falling ill with Covid-19.
The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care is currently doubling every 10 days, meaning German hospitals could reach a critical point in about a month’s time.
There are some signs that the dynamic of Germany’s second wave is slowing down, however. On Friday morning, the Robert Koch Institute estimated the reproduction number to be 0.79 – the third day in a row in which the R has been below one, suggesting that new infections started to drop off about two weeks ago.
Updated
The World Health Organization is facing renewed pleas to allow Taiwan to participate in a key international meeting amid fears its exclusion could jeopardise efforts to rein in the coronavirus pandemic.
As many parts of the world are reeling from surging numbers of Covid-19 infections and deaths, the WHO is due on Monday to resume its main annual meeting, which was cut short in May.
But while the World Health Assembly is expected to focus heavily on international coordination of the pandemic response, one international actor will not be present.
Taiwan has been excluded from the WHO and a number of other international organisations in the face of pressure from China, which regards the self-ruled democratic island of 23 million people as its own territory. But critics say this does not make sense.
Updated
Poland has reported a record 445 new coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, as the healthcare system battles shortages in hospital beds, equipment and medics. The country also reported 27,086 new Covid-19 cases, close to Thursday’s record of 27,143.
The health ministry said, as of Friday, Covid-19 patients occupied 19,479 hospital beds and were using 1,703 ventilators, of an available 29,407 and 2,238 respectively.
Updated
The Kremlin said on Friday it was too early to judge how effective coronavirus restrictions in Russia had been in the absence of lockdowns as the country reported a record daily number of new Covid-19 infections.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that an increase in coronavirus cases to a daily high of 20,582 was alarming and that authorities would take action depending on how the situation developed.
With 1,733,440 infections, the country of about 145 million has the world’s fourth-largest number of cases behind the US, India and Brazil.
Updated
More than 200 Danish cases of mink-related Covid since June
In Denmark, the State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found 214 people infected with mink-related versions of coronavirus since June.
Its website reported the findings on 5 November. It is one strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of mink. That strain has, however, been found in only 12 people and on five mink farms so far.
Updated
Romania will impose a nationwide nighttime curfew and close all schools for 30 days from Monday after seeing the number of daily coronavirus infections double in two weeks, the government said on Friday.
Romania has some of the European Union’s least developed healthcare infrastructure and is witnessing one of the highest fatality rates in the bloc’s eastern wing.
A record 9,714 infections were confirmed in the space of 24 hours, and about 1,000 patients are in intensive care, twice as many as a month ago. More than 7,500 people have died since the beginning of the outbreak in late February, in a country of 20 million people.
“We have to be very realistic. Tougher and tougher measures are needed to control the spread of the pandemic,” President Klaus Iohannis told cabinet ministers late on Thursday. But he reiterated the need to keep industry running.
More than half of all Spain’s Covid deaths happened in the country’s care homes during the beginning of March and the end of June, according to a government report seen by El País.
The document says that a total of 20,268 people died in homes for older people and people with disabilities between the beginning of March and 23 June this year. Some 10,364 were tested for the virus while the remaining 9,904 died showing symptoms compatible with Covid-19.
The report identifies 30 factors that contributed to the “perfect storm” that ravaged the country’s care homes, including a lack of staff, the highly contagious nature of the virus, and the “mistaken impression” that older people could face the situation alone.
Spain remains the western European country with the most cases of the virus, logging 1,306,316 cases by Thursday evening. It recorded 368 new deaths the same day – the highest daily death toll to date in the second wave. To date, the country has recorded a total of 38,486 deaths.
Updated
The German insurance giant Allianz on Friday reported a slight rise in third-quarter profit, though revenues declined and it did not update its full-year outlook, as the company weathered the challenge of the pandemic.
The Munich-based insurer made a net profit to the end of September of €2.1bn ($2.5bn), up 5.9% year-on-year.
Operating profit declined 2.6% and revenues by 6.1% to €31.4bn.
The results were “solid in an environment that will remain challenging,” chief executive Oliver Baete said in a statement.
Allianz has not published a new profit forecast for the full year. In April, it withdrew its initial forecast of operating profit of between €11.5m-€12.5bn.
Operating profit in its property-casualty unit fell by 2.4% as the negative effects of the pandemic were offset by lower reimbursements on natural disasters.
Updated
Swathes of Italy return to coronavirus lockdown on Friday as the resurgent pandemic continued its march through Europe and reached record levels in the US.
Five coronavirus “red zones” in Italy’s north – plus Calabria in the country’s “toe” – will shutter non-essential businesses, affecting 16 million people.
America recorded the third day in a row with deaths above 1,000, while more than 120,000 infections were uncovered – smashing a daily record set the day before, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy had been badly hit by a first wave, with images of swamped hospitals, makeshift morgues and intubated patients shocking the world.
Experts say the country is now in the grip of a second wave after a sharp uptick in contagion numbers, and regions are again warning that intensive care units are filling rapidly.
A further 445 new coronavirus deaths were recorded across the country on Thursday, along with 34,505 new cases.
Updated
Hungary will try to avoid closing schools as long as possible but some medical operations will have to be rescheduled as hospital beds are filling up with coronavirus patients, prime minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
Based on current predictions, Orban said, Hungary will need 2,240 intensive beds with ventilators for patients by 21 November, and 4,480 intensive beds by 10 December.
“This is around the limit of our capacities … as this implies 30,000 to 32,000 coronavirus patients on hospital beds,” Orbán told state radio.
“We could still manage that but we have made decisions today … that if infections go beyond this limit there should be designated places … outside hospitals if needed, where patients can get appropriate care.”
Orban said a decision about rescheduling some operations will come “within days or within hours” to free up hospital beds. Hungary closed dance clubs and imposed a night-time curfew earlier this week to curb a rapid spread of coronavirus infections.
Trying to minimise further harm to the recession-hit economy, Orbán’s nationalist government has so far refrained from imposing strict lockdown measures.
Updated
Hello everyone. I am taking over the Guardian’s live feed, bringing you the latest global updates on coronavirus. Please do get in touch with me while I work to share any comments, thoughts or news tips. I am available via any of the contact methods below. Thanks so much.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. To borrow a phrase from Jon Stewart, here is today’s moment of zen:
Anderson Cooper just called Trump 'an obese turtle on his back flailing in the sun'
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 6, 2020
And just to take you right back to the least zen week in all of 2020 – which, yes, is saying something – here is when we might know the results of the US election:
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- The United States has again recorded more cases in 24 hours than any country over the course of the pandemic, with 120,000 infections confirmed for Thursday 5 November. The country also recorded more than 1,000 deaths for the fourth time this week, with 1,200 people reported dead in the last 24 hours. The previous record for cases, also held by the US, was 102,000 the day before.
- Globally, the world suffered the highest total one-day death toll of the pandemic so far, with 11,447 people lost in the last day. It also recorded more cases than ever before, partly as a result of rising cases in the US, but also because of Europe’s second wave, and more than 50,000 infections being recorded in India for the first time in 10 days.The global case total was 700,000, taking the world closer to 50m cases – a devastating milestone that we are likely to cross by the end of the week. Cases currently stand at 48,541,340.
- Denmark removed from UK travel corridor, meaning arrivals must self-isolate. The UK’s secretary of state for transport, Grant Schapps, has removed Demnark from the country’s “travel corridor”, which means all arrivals from Denmark will need to self-isolate for 14 days, starting at 4am Friday morning.The reason for the removal is the spread of coronavirus to people from an outbreak among mink on mink farms in the country, Shapps wrote in a statement.
- Slovenia anti-virus shutdown protest turns violent. A protest against Slovenia’s coronavirus shutdown sparked some of the most violent scenes the country has seen in years, as police moved in with teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. The rally of several hundred in the capital Ljubljana, organised by activists calling themselves the Slovenian branch of cyber group Anonymous, started late in the afternoon and led to several injuries and arrests as the protesters clashed with police.
- China bars arrivals from France over virus fears. Beijing on Thursday banned foreign arrivals from France and a host of other countries, the latest in a growing number of entry bans as China closes itself off from a world still battling the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 first emerged in central China late last year, but Beijing has largely brought its outbreak under control through tight travel restrictions and stringent health measures for anyone entering the country.
- WHO urged to invite Taiwan to key meeting. The World Health Organization is facing renewed pleas to allow Taiwan to participate in a key international meeting amid fears its exclusion could jeopardise efforts to rein in the coronavirus pandemic,
- Greece will go back into lockdown from Saturday for three weeks to battle a second wave of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced. Under the measures, Greeks can only leave their homes if they make an official request via mobile phone and then receive authorisation.Only “essential shops” including supermarkets and pharmacies can stay open when the lockdown starts at 6am (0400 GMT) on Saturday, Mitsotakis said.
- WHO warns of ‘explosion’ of virus cases in Europe. The World Health Organization in Europe on Thursday said it was seeing an “explosion” of coronavirus cases in the region and warned of a “tough time” ahead as mortality rates rose.“We do see an explosion.... in the sense it only takes a couple of days to have over the European region an increase of one million cases,” WHO’s regional director for Europe Hans Kluge told AFP.
- The UK death toll from coronavirus rose by 378, taking the tally of people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 to 48,120, government data showed. As of 9am GMT on Thursday, there had been a further 24,141 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, taking the cumulative total of confirmed infections to 1,123,197.
- Colombia’s lower house abruptly ended its session on and asked lawmakers to quarantine after a member tested positive for Covid-19. At least 150 lawmakers could potentially have been exposed, the chamber’s press office said. They have been told to avoid travel to their home regions and remain in Bogota while they wait 72 hours from potential exposure to have a test.
- A dozen US states reported record one-day increases in Covid-19 cases, a day after the country set a record with nearly 105,000 new infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally. The outbreak is spreading in every region of the country but is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita. Illinois reported nearly 10,000 new cases and along with Texas is leading the nation in the most cases reported in the last seven days.Other Midwestern states with record increases in cases on Thursday were Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio. Arkansas, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia also set records for rises in new infections.
- Ireland is on track to get its second wave of Covid-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, a senior public health official said. “The way case numbers are behaving would suggest that case numbers are declining rapidly and that we are on target for the sort of end position we want to be in at the end of the six weeks,” on 1 December, Philip Nolan, the chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, told a press briefing.
Updated
US records 120,000 new cases on Thursday, smashing Wednesday's world record
We now have confirmation: The United States has again recorded more cases in 24 hours than any country over the course of the pandemic, with 120,000 infections confirmed for Thursday 5 November according to Johns Hopkins University.
The country also recorded more than 1,000 deaths for the fourth time this week, with 1,200 people reported dead in the last 24 hours. The previous record for cases, also held by the US, was 102,000 the day before.
There are currently 9,608,922 cases in the United States: the highest infections total of any country worldwide.
The country’s death toll stands at 234,937.
Updated
The British government must scrap plans to deport foreign rough sleepers and relaunch the “everyone in” strategy to protect thousands of homeless people from the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, charities and the mayor of London have said.
As temperatures drop and a new England-wide lockdown threatens to force more people on to the streets through unemployment, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, national homelessness charities and human rights groups are urging the home secretary, Priti Patel, to protect foreign nationals who make up almost half of the capital’s rough sleeping population:
Carmakers around the world have been battered by the coronavirus crisis, with many relying on government help, as it slammed the global economy into reverse and forced people to stay at home.
But Toyota last week reported both global production and sales hit record highs for September, marking the first gains in nine months.
On Thursday, US giant General Motors reported a 72 percent increase in third-quarter profit as it cited strong recoveries in the US and China.
German auto maker Volkswagen also said last week it booked net profit of $3.2 billion in the three months to September, compared with a loss of 1.5 billion euros in the preceding three months.
Toyota’s smaller domestic rival Nissan is scheduled to announce its first-half earnings next week, three months after warning of a massive $6.4 billion net loss for the current fiscal year.
Honda is to announce its interim results later in the day.
Toyota on Friday almost doubled its full-year forecasts, saying sales and production were recovering quickly from the coronavirus pandemic, which has shredded the global auto market this year, AFP reports.
Japan’s top car maker now projects net profit of 1.42 trillion yen ($137 billion) for the fiscal year to March 2021, up from an earlier estimate of 730 billion yen. It said full-year sales are now expected to hit 26 trillion yen, against a previous estimate of 24 trillion yen.
Results for the first half appeared sluggish compared with the previous year, with net profit down 45.3 percent at 629.4 billion yen.
But the signs of recovery were clear in the second quarter, with bottom-line profit at 470.5 billion yen against 158.8 billion yen in the previous quarter, when the pandemic was hitting hard.
Updated
When hotel quarantine resumes in the state of Victoria, Australia, police should be on site 24 hours a day and infection control experts should be “embedded” in each facility, an inquiry set up to examine the system’s previous failings has recommended.
The inquiry’s interim report, released on Friday, also suggests all staff working in quarantine hotels should be properly paid “with terms and conditions that address the possible need to self-isolate in the event of an infection or possible infection” of coronavirus:
China bars arrivals from France over virus fears
Beijing on Thursday banned foreign arrivals from France and a host of other countries, the latest in a growing number of entry bans as China closes itself off from a world still battling the coronavirus pandemic.
AFP: Covid-19 first emerged in central China late last year, but Beijing has largely brought its outbreak under control through tight travel restrictions and stringent health measures for anyone entering the country.
In March, as the virus ripped across the world, China shut its borders to all foreign nationals, although it had gradually eased the restrictions in recent months.
But in a sharp about-turn, Chinese embassies in countries including Britain, Belgium, India and the Philippines said this week that Beijing had decided to “temporarily suspend” entries by non-Chinese nationals.
France was the latest to join that list, with a statement on the Chinese embassy website dated Thursday saying non-Chinese arrivals would be barred from entering the country.
Chinese embassies in Russia, Italy and Ethiopia also announced similar measures.
Beijing defended the new restrictions on Thursday as “reasonable and fair” and said it was “drawing on the practices of many countries”.
China has also recently tightened requirements for travellers from several other countries, making entry much more difficult and sparking complaints that the strict new rules represent an effective ban on entry.
In France, officials are hoping a new coronavirus lockdown will bring down soaring numbers of infections, with new daily cases topping 40,000 over the past week, while Italy has imposed strict new restrictions on freedom of movement in four regions.
Russia has listed a total of nearly 1.7 million infections and more than 29,000 deaths.
WHO urged to invite Taiwan to key meeting
The World Health Organization is facing renewed pleas to allow Taiwan to participate in a key international meeting amid fears its exclusion could jeopardise efforts to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.
As many parts of the world are reeling from surging numbers of Covid-19 infections and deaths, the WHO is due Monday to resume its main annual meeting, which was cut short in May.
But while the World Health Assembly (WHA) is expected to focus heavily on international coordination of the pandemic response, one international actor will not be present.
Taiwan has been excluded from the WHO and a number of other international organisations amid pressure from China, which regards the self-ruled democratic island of 23 million people as its own territory.
But critics insist this does not make sense.
They point to the territory’s remarkable success in combatting Covid-19, with only seven deaths and fewer than 600 infections since the start of the pandemic.
The World Medical Association (WMA), a confederation of national medical associations that jointly represent more than 10 million physicians, called Thursday for that to change.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is proof that cooperation for and with all health care systems in the world is necessary,” WMA chairman Frank Montgomery said in an open letter to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“We believe it is both cynical and counterproductive to continue excluding the health representatives from Taiwan from participating in the World Health Assembly.”
I don’t mean to besmirch this blog’s good name with US election content too often, but in case you’re wondering, this is when we just might know the result (Georgia might be called on Thursday night in the US – if Biden manages to overtake Trump’s narrow margin, we could have a winner):
Five states have yet to be called: Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Several news organizations, including the Associated Press and Fox News’ decision desk, have called Arizona for Joe Biden. The Trump campaign is arguing, however, that call was made too early.
Alaska will end up in the Republican column with near certainty.
The race is extremely tight in Georgia, and could be called on Thursday night. As of 11 pm ET, Trump was leading by just 1,902 votes, meaning both candidates were virtually tied in the state, at 49.4% each. There were an estimated 16,000 votes left to count.
When will we know the US election result?
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 6, 2020
(maybe tonight) https://t.co/wo1MQKiEgM
The Democratic challenger is ahead in Nevada, with only Democratic-leaning late postal ballots left to tally. But by state law, ballots postmarked on election day can be counted as long as they are received by 5pm on 10 November, which means counting in the state could continue through the weekend.
In North Carolina, while Trump is the clear favourite, the state accepts postal ballots until 12 November – although that is expected to make little difference.
Also at 11 pm ET, there were about 250,000 ballots left to count in Pennsylvania, where Biden is trailing by just under 49,000 votes. He’s been winning the mail-in ballot counts by huge margins, and could very well take the state. Pennsylvania officials say they expect most votes will be counted by Friday.
Greece faces new virus lockdown from Saturday
Greece will go back into lockdown from Saturday for three weeks to battle a second wave of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced.
AFP: “It was a difficult decision” but “measures must be taken for three weeks to overcome this second wave”, he told a videoconference on Thursday.
Under the measures, Greeks can only leave their homes if they make an official request via mobile phone and then receive authorisation.
Only “essential shops” including supermarkets and pharmacies can stay open when the lockdown starts at 6am (0400 GMT) on Saturday, Mitsotakis said.
Unlike the previous six-week lockdown that began in late March, he said kindergartens and primary schools will remain open.
Secondary school pupils will be taught remotely, something university students are already doing under recent measures.
“Travellers arriving in Greece, by land and air, will now have to submit a negative PCR test, carried out 48 hours before entering Greek territory,” civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias added Thursday evening.
The new lockdown comes as the daily tally of coronavirus cases continues to grow.
A total of 2,646 new infections and 18 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, up sharply from last week. The virus has killed 673 people in Greece among almost 47,000 infected.
But it is the number of people in intensive care that worries authorities most of all.
The number of patients hospitalised on ventilators has more than doubled in a month, from 82 on 4 October to 169 on Wednesday.
Updated
The full story on Denmark being removed from the UK’s travel corridor now:
US to record 120,000 new cases for Thursday – report
AFP is reporting, citing Johns Hopkins, that the United States will again break the global high for cases reported in 24 hours on Thursday, beating its own Wednesday record by 20,000 cases, with 123,085 new infections confirmed.
#UPDATE More than 120,000 #coronavirus cases reported in the US in the past 24 hours, smashing a daily record set the day before, according Johns Hopkins University.
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 6, 2020
The country reported 123,085 new infections and 1,226 more deaths pic.twitter.com/Gu91px63yY
Johns Hopkins has not yet updated the total in its list of total new daily cases, but it currently lists the US total as 9.6m.
At this rate the US, the worst-affected country worldwide in terms of its infection total and number of deaths, is around 4 days away from having 10m cases.
Slovenia anti-virus shutdown protest turns violent
A protest against Slovenia’s coronavirus shutdown sparked some of the most violent scenes the country has seen in years, AFP reports, as police moved in with teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
The rally in the capital Ljubljana, organised by activists calling themselves the Slovenian branch of cyber group Anonymous, started late in the afternoon and led to several injuries and arrests as the protesters clashed with police.
Several hundred people gathered in front of the Slovenian parliament building, with some attacking police officers who warned them that public gatherings were banned due to the coronavirus shutdown.
The demonstrators threw bottles, firecrackers, stones and smoke bombs at anti-riot police who responded with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannon.
While Slovenia was relatively unscathed by the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, last month the government ordered a second shutdown to try to halt a surge in infections which has seen the total number of cases pass 41,000 in the country of two million.
The measures include a curfew, restrictions on travel and the closure of schools and non-essential shops.
Thursday’s protest was the most violent in Slovenia since a series of demonstrations in Ljubljana and Slovenia’s second city Maribor in 2012-2013 against local and state authorities, who the protesters blamed for an economic crisis in the tiny eurozone state.
Denmark removed from UK travel corridor, meaning arrivals must self-isolate
The UK’s secretary of state for transport, Grant Schapps, has removed Demnark from the country’s “travel corridor”, which means all arrivals from Denmark will need to self-isolate for 14 days, starting at 4am Friday morning.
The reason for the removal is the spread of coronavirus to people from an outbreak among mink on mink farms in the country, Shapps wrote in a statement:
I have taken the swift decision to urgently remove Denmark from the government’s travel corridor list as a precautionary measure given recent developments
Passengers arriving into the UK from Denmark from 4am on Friday 6 November 2020 (today) will need to self-isolate for 14 days by law before following domestic restrictions now in force.
I understand that this will be concerning for both people currently in Denmark and the wider UK public, which is why we have moved quickly to protect our country and prevent the spread of the virus to the UK.
Health authorities in Denmark have reported widespread outbreaks of coronavirus (COVID-19) in mink farms, with a variant strain of the virus spreading to some local communities. The Chief Medical Officer has therefore recommended that, as precautionary measure, all those returning from Denmark should self-isolate for 14 days.
I’ve taken the urgent decision tonight to remove DENMARK from the travel corridor list immediately given developments. Passengers arriving into the UK from DENMARK from 4am on 6 November 2020 will need to self-isolate for 14 days. Read more here 👇🏻 https://t.co/ni9VhL7B67
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) November 6, 2020
Updated
WHO warns of ‘explosion’ of virus cases in Europe
The World Health Organization in Europe on Thursday said it was seeing an “explosion” of coronavirus cases in the region and warned of a “tough time” ahead as mortality rates rose.
“We do see an explosion.... in the sense it only takes a couple of days to have over the European region an increase of one million cases,” WHO’s regional director for Europe Hans Kluge told AFP.
Kluge, who was wearing a mask even as he was interviewed over a webcam meeting, also said the mortality rate could be seen rising “little by little.”
“It’s going to be a little bit of a tough time, we need to be honest on that,” he said.
In spite of the rapidly rising cases, Kluge cautioned that closing schools should be seen as a last resort, especially in light of there being “no reasons to say that schools are a main driver of the transmission.”
“We need to keep the schools open really until last because we cannot afford a Covid-19 lost generation,” Kluge said.
However the regional director also said that the “status quo is not an option” and called for “proportionate targeted measures,” which could be scaled up.
Kluge stressed that governments should take into account two things: “coherence, so people see that we don’t flip-flop, and... predictability, so people know if this threshold is being reached, this is what is going to happen.”
He also called for the widespread use of face masks.
“With general mask wearing and strict control of social gatherings we can save 266,000 lives by February in the whole European region,” Kluge said.
Our new US Elections blog is live, helmed by the incredible Maanvi Singh:
Billions of pounds worth of trade with the European Union will face “significant disruption” on 1 January, regardless of whether a trade deal is agreed, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has concluded.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said crucial IT systems have yet to be tested and transit areas for lorries are not ready as the government attempts to prepare new border controls for the end of the Brexit transition period. The planned controls, which had already been rated “high risk”, have been further hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released today:
US likely to again break global record for new cases on Thursday
It looks Thursday will again see the US break the global record for daily coronavirus cases – for the third time in eight days – with a possible 116,000 new cases reported in 24 hours (beating its own previous record by 14,000 cases).
This is from the Covid-tracking project – the Guardian relies on Johns Hopkins University, which updates a little later, so we’ll have confirmation then. But the two trackers are usually fairly aligned.
Our daily update is published. States reported record numbers of tests (1.5 million) and cases (116k). Hospitalizations continue their sharp rise. The death toll was 1,124. pic.twitter.com/z3gxwP6EaC
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020
Updated
Meanwhile over at the US elections, where Trump has just made repeated false claims about the election in his first public address since the early hours of Wednesday morning:
Anderson Cooper just called Trump 'an obese turtle on his back flailing in the sun'
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 6, 2020
Updated
Uber Technologies Inc said on Thursday demand for its food-delivery service exploded in the latest quarter, but recovery in its global rides business is being held back by its most important market, the United States, Reuters reports.
Uber’s recovery will depend much on the course of the pandemic, with a resurgence in virus infections threatening to keep customers wary about returning outside or planning frequent trips far into 2021.
Ride bookings were dragged down by a slow recovery particularly on the US West Coast, while Europe and the Middle East recovered more steadily, down only 36% from last year.
Uber shares were down 2% in after-hours trading as an adjusted third-quarter EBITDA loss of $625 million was wider than analyst expectations of a $597 million loss, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Non-adjusted earnings per share came in at a loss of 62 cents, compared with a 65-cent loss estimated by analysts.
Gross bookings at Uber’s rides mobility unit recovered from their massive drop in April, but remained down 50% from last year on a constant currency basis. But unlike Uber’s other units, the rides segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $245 million.
Summary:
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and if you’re looking for Covid-19 news as it happens, you’re in the right place.
You can also find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Today is one of the saddest of the pandemic so far.
The United States recorded more cases in 24 hours than any country over the course of the pandemic, with 102,000 infections confirmed for Wednesday 4 November, the most recent one day total on Johns Hopkins (there is always a lag in reporting). The country also recorded more than 1,000 deaths for the third time this week, with 1,097 people reported dead in the last 24 hours. The previous record for cases, also held by the US, was 99,321 on 30 October.
Globally, the world suffered the highest total one-day death toll of the pandemic so far, with 11,447 people lost in the last day. It also recorded more cases than ever before, partly as a result of rising cases in the US, but also because of Europe’s second wave, and more than 50,000 infections being recorded in India for the first time in 10 days.
The global case total was 700,000, taking the world closer to 50m cases – a devastating milestone that we are likely to cross by the end of the week. Cases currently stand at 48,541,340.
- The UK death toll from coronavirus rose by 378, taking the tally of people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 to 48,120, government data showed. As of 9am GMT on Thursday, there had been a further 24,141 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, taking the cumulative total of confirmed infections to 1,123,197.
- Colombia’s lower house abruptly ended its session on and asked lawmakers to quarantine after a member tested positive for Covid-19. At least 150 lawmakers could potentially have been exposed, the chamber’s press office said. They have been told to avoid travel to their home regions and remain in Bogota while they wait 72 hours from potential exposure to have a test.
- A dozen US states reported record one-day increases in Covid-19 cases, a day after the country set a record with nearly 105,000 new infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally. The outbreak is spreading in every region of the country but is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita. Illinois reported nearly 10,000 new cases and along with Texas is leading the nation in the most cases reported in the last seven days.Other Midwestern states with record increases in cases on Thursday were Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio. Arkansas, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia also set records for rises in new infections.
- Ireland is on track to get its second wave of Covid-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, a senior public health official said. “The way case numbers are behaving would suggest that case numbers are declining rapidly and that we are on target for the sort of end position we want to be in at the end of the six weeks,” on 1 December, Philip Nolan, the chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, told a press briefing.
Updated
