Fans wearing face masks enter the stadium to attend the national championship football match between DVTK and Mezokovesd in the DVTK stadium of Miskolc town, Hungary, on May 30, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)
TBILISI / SKOPJE / SANTIAGO / ATHENS / LONDON / PARIS / ALGIERS / WASHINGTON / BERLIN / BRASILIA / AMSTERDAM / BUDAPEST / BELGRADE / RABAT / MEXICO CITY / BUENOS AIRES / ROME / MADRID / BOGOTA / QUITO / OTTAWA / TORONTO / COPENHAGEN / ADDIS ABABA / NAIROBI / KAMPALA / BUJUMBURA / KIEV / PRAGUE / SOFIA / MOSCOW / WARSAW / HARARE -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 said on Wednesday.
The country has 32,000 hospital beds set aside for patients with the new coronavirus, he said.
Gulyas said the number of people requiring hospital treatment for COVID-19 could exceed 5,000 on Wednesday, adding that further hospital beds could be made available by delaying elective procedures.
Hungary reported 4,219 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, its highest single-day tally so far with new infections topping 4,000 for the first time.
The daily death toll also rose to a record high of 90. The number of patients treated in hospitals rose to 4,871, with 355 people on ventilators.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto tested positive for the coronavirus, state news agency MTI reported on Wednesday, adding that the minister, who is onan official visit to Thailand, has no symptoms.
Hungary closed bars and entertainment venues and imposed a night-time curfew as of midnight on Tuesday to curb a rapid spread of coronavirus infections.
Russia
Russia's daily tally of new coronavirus cases surged to a record high of 19,768 on Wednesday, including 5,826 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 1,693,454 since the pandemic began.
Authorities also reported 389 deaths in the last 24 hours, a record high that pushed the official death toll to 29,217.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide topped 47.4 million while the global death toll exceeded 1.21 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Africa tally
The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the African continent has reached 1,813,065, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday.
The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 43,612 as of Wednesday afternoon.
A total of 1,484,042 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, the Africa CDC said.
The most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
Algeria
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has tested positive for COVID-19, but his condition is gradually improving as he receives treatment in a German hospital, the presidency said on Tuesday.
Algerian authorities had previously said Tebboune was in Germany for medical checks when he flew there last week, after saying people in his administration had the coronavirus.
Argentina
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez said on Tuesday the “horizon” was starting to come into sight as the country battles against the coronavirus pandemic, with some signs the peak in cases may be over after rising since the outbreak began.
A rolling seven-day average of new cases has dipped significantly since hitting a high on Oct 21, raising hopes the peak may finally be over for the country.
“We’ve been very concerned to see where the horizon was. The horizon is now starting to come into sight and that is why we have to be optimistic, and that is why we have to be calmer than ever,” Fernandez told reporters. “We have never been this close to ending the disease.”
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported 12,145 new cases and 430 additional deaths, taking the tally to 1,195,276 and the death toll to 32,052.
Belgium
Belgium reported 877 hospital admissions on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of 743 on Oct 28.
The country now has 7,485 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 1,351 in intensive care, both records as well.
Brazil
Brazil reported 11,843 new COVID-19 cases and 243 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
The South American country has now registered 5,566,049 cases and 160,496 deaths in total, according to ministry data, in the world's most fatal outbreak outside the United States.
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa has authorized resumption of a clinical trial of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) experimental COVID-19 vaccine, according to a statement from the government agency on Tuesday.
J&J's trial in Brazil had been suspended since Oct 12 so a safety panel could evaluate an unexplained illness of a participant in its planned 60,000-person Phase III study.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria reported 4,041 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, its highest one-day tally since the pandemic started, official health data showed on Wednesday.
The new cases were up from 2,427 reported on Tuesday in the country of 7 million people. In total, it has recorded 60,537 cases since March, along with 1,412 deaths.
Burundi
The Burundian government said on Tuesday that the country's international airport will reopen on Nov 8, after it was closed for almost eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Incoming and outgoing travelers will have to show a negative result of the test to COVID-19 done 72 hours before their embarkation," Prosper Ntahorwamiye, a spokesman for the government, was quoted as saying in a statement.
All arriving passengers will be screened and quarantined for 72 hours in chosen hotels. Testing and hotel fees will be borne by the passengers.
Those who test positive will be admitted in hospital at their own cost, Ntahorwamiye said.
A woman wearing a face mask walks in a subway station with posters on coronavirus preventive measures in the background, in Toronto, Canada, Nov 3, 2020. (ZOU ZHENG / XINHUA)
Canada
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday warned that people needed to act now to tamp down the spread of a second wave of COVID-19 before it gets out of hand.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Canada has reported a total of 244,636 COVID-19 cases and 10,276 deaths, according to CTV.
Canada’s seven-day rolling average of new cases now exceeds 2,900, federal chief medical officer Theresa Tam said at a news conference. Tam for the first time recommended that people wear three-layer non-medical masks, with a middle filter layer, to help prevent the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Premier Doug Ford said that indoor dining and gyms in the nation's financial capital will reopen on Nov 14, pending confirmation from public health experts on Friday.
Several regions of Ontario, including the national capital of Ottawa, will move into the Restrict category, on Nov 7, Ford said, as long as the province’s public health experts approve.
Chile
Chile's Minister of Health Enrique Paris indicated on Tuesday that the country's COVID-19 outbreak was stabilizing.
According to Paris, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) around the country "has been fewer than 800 for 20 days".
Currently, 727 patients remained in ICUs, including 590 on ventilators and 81 in critical condition, the Ministry of Health said.
It said there were 1,009 newly reported cases and 17 additional deaths, taking the tally to 514,202 and the death toll to 14,319.
Colombia
Colombia's COVID-19 infection tally rose to 1,099,392 after tests detected 6,136 new cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said Tuesday.
The ministry said deaths increased by 177 to 31,847, adding that a total of 993,877 patients have recovered.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic reported 12,088 new COVID-19 cases and another 259 on Tuesday, data from the health ministry showed on Wednesday.
The new figures pushed the the tally of infections to 362,985 and the toll to 3,913 in the nation of 10.7 million people.
The increase in deaths, however, was spread over several days because of reporting issues and was not limited to the past 24 hours.
Denmark
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is self-isolating after Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup tested positive for COVID-19, exposing several cabinet members to the disease.
Aside from Frederiksen, Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod will self-isolate, after attending meetings with Haekkerup last week.
Haekkerup revealed via a Facebook post Wednesday that he had been infected.
In all, 13 out of 20 government ministers are now in self-quarantine awaiting test results, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. A number of opposition lawmakers have also been hit, with one sent to hospital.
Danish news agency Ritzau reported on Tuesday four members of parliament have been confirmed as being infected with COVID-19. Soren Pape Poulsen, the leader of the Danish Conservative Party, is the first party chairman to have tested positive for coronavirus in Denmark, Ritzau reported.
Denmark has reported a total of 49,594 confirmed cases and 728 deaths. On Tuesday, 1,353 new cases and four deaths were reported.
Ecuador
Ecuador's health ministry said Tuesday that 548 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, raising the national caseload and death toll to 170,110 and 8,386, respectively.
The capital Quito remained the epicenter of the epidemic in the country, registering 195 new infections in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Officials in Quito were concerned that gatherings over the weekend to celebrate the Day of the Dead and the Independence of Cuenca, which ended Tuesday, may increase COVID-19 cases.
Cesar Diaz, secretary general of Security and Governance of Quito, said authorities have broken up 166 gatherings throughout the city since Oct 30.
Police officers check documents to ensure that confinement measures are upheld amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Saint Jean de Luz, southwestern France, Nov 3, 2020. (BOB EDME / AP)
France
France's daily COVID-19 death toll spiked by 854 on Tuesday, an increase unseen since April 15, raising the death toll to 38,289, the seventh-highest globally.
The sharp rise of the daily death toll is in part due to the fact the nursing homes fatalities are taken in account twice a week, on Tuesdays and on Fridays.
Meanwhile, the country saw 36,330 fresh infections, taking the tally to 1,502,763, the fifth-highest in the world.
Hospitalizations went up by more than a 1,000 for the fifth time in nine days, totaling 26,265.
The number of persons in intensive care units increased by 148, to 3,878, a six-month high but still some way from an April 8 peak of 7,148.
Authorities could reimpose a night curfew on Paris and possibly the surrounding region in the coming days amid frustration that too many people are ignoring lockdown rules.
Germany
New COVID-19 infections in Germany increased by 17,214 within one day to a total of 577,593, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Wednesday.
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Germany rose by 151 within one day to a total of 10,812 on Wednesday, according to the RKI.
Over the last few days, the infection rate decreased slightly to around one on Tuesday, meaning that on average every person infected with COVID-19 infects one other person, according to the latest daily situation report by the RKI.
However, despite the decreased infection rate, the RKI noted that "since the number of infected persons is currently very high in Germany, the number of new infections per day also remains high."
Germany entered its second COVID-19 lockdown on Monday. The month-long lockdown during November includes far-reaching restrictions on daily life such as tougher contact restrictions and the closure of restaurants and bars.
A two-year old boy watches as his mother undergoes a rapid COVID-19 test in Athens, Greece, on Nov 3, 2020. (THANASSIS STAVRAKIS / AP)
Greece
Greek health authorities reported on Tuesday a record daily rise of 2,166 COVID-19 cases, as new restrictive measures came into effect to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
It was the second time that Greece's daily tally passed the 2,000 mark. The new cases pushed the country's infection tally to 44,246, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) said.
The death toll rose by 13 to 655.
The government has placed Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city, into a general lockdown as of Tuesday morning and it has tightened measures, including the mandatory use of face masks and a curfew from midnight to 5 am.
Italy
Italy on Tuesday reported 353 COVID-related deaths, the highest daily figure since May 6 and up from 233 on Monday, the health ministry said, as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte prepares new curbs to tame the surge in infections and deaths.
Some 28,244 fresh infections were recorded over the past 24 hours, up from 22,253 on Monday. A total of 39,412 people have now died in Italy while 759,829 cases have been registered to date.
Tougher measures will include a nationwide nightly curfew from 10 pm to 5 am and the closure of museums and exhibitions, a draft decree seen by Reuters shows. The decree is expected to be approved by Wednesday and will be effective from Thursday until Dec 3.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on the financial capital Milan, remains the hardest hit area, reporting 6,804 new cases on Tuesday and 117 of the day's fatalities. It is an almost certain target of the toughest curbs in the pipeline.
The government has not yet detailed which regions will be subject to the most stringent restrictions.
A medical staffer wearing a protective outfit walks outside the intensive care entrance for COVID-19 patients at the San Filippo Neri hospital in Rome, Italy, on Nov 3, 2020. (CECILIA FABIANO / LAPRESSE VIA AP)
Kenya
Learning institutions in Kenya are turning out to be the latest hotspots for COVID-19 after nearly a month since the country reopened schools.
As of end October, some 33 teachers, 17 students and seven non-academic staff had been infected with COVID-19, according to the ministries of health and education. At least one teacher has died due to COVID-19 since the resumption of in-person learning on Oct 6.
On Tuesday, 52 students, six teachers and two non-teaching staff tested positive at a school in Busia, western Kenya. It was the highest number of infections recorded at a learning institution since the reopening of schools.
Nationwide, Kenya recorded 492 fresh infections, taking the tally the total caseload to 57,093. The death toll rose by 12 to 1,039.
Mexico
Mexico's health ministry reported on Tuesday 5,250 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 493 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 938,405 and the death toll to 92,593.
Morocco
Morocco reported on Tuesday 4,495 new COVID-19 cases, the largest single-day increase, taking the infection tally to 229,565.
The total number of recoveries increased by 2,088 to 189,909 while the death toll rose by 74 to 3,900, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Netherlands
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday ordered extra lockdown measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Netherlands, and said the government was also considering curfews and school closures.
The new measures include a ban on public meetings of more than two people not in the same family, and the closures of museums, theaters, cinemas, zoos and amusement parks.
The measures go into effect on Wednesday for two weeks. Rutte said other measures will remain in place through mid-December.
On Tuesday, the National Institute for Health reported 64,087 new cases over the past week, the first time weekly numbers have declined since August.
North Macedonia
The government of North Macedonia has adopted a set of new measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
According to Zaev, the government has decided to shorten opening hours of bars and restaurants and ban groups of more than four people after 9 pm.
The prime minister did not say when the new measures will enter into force.
The health ministry reported late Tuesday evening that 913 new cases and 24 additional deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 33,908, along with 21,665 recoveries and 1,049 fatalities.
Serbia
The number of COVID-19 cases in Serbia has exceeded 50,000, the Health Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.
A total of 51,083 cases have been confirmed by testing over 1.3 million people, while 844 people have died, according to the ministry.
In the past 24 hours, 1,878 fresh infections and 11 deaths were registered. There were 1,397 patients in hospitals, including 49 on ventilators.
Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar warned the capacities of hospitals in the capital of Belgrade, where majority of new cases originated, are almost full.
He announced a new temporary hospital will open in the city of Kragujevac on Wednesday.
Spain
Spain posted 18,669 new COVID-19 cases and 238 additional deaths on Tuesday, taking the country's tally to more than 1.2 million and the death toll to 36,945. The country has the second highest caseload in Western Europe after France.
READ MORE: Rising virus cases push Spain's regions to call for tighter curbs
Sweden
Swedes face a new wave of coronavirus restrictions, with the government warning of a grim winter ahead.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said his country is facing a “very serious situation.”
Sweden’s new cases hit a record of 4,062 on Friday. As of Tuesday, a total of 134,532 Swedes had been infected, along with 5,969 deaths.
Uganda
Uganda's Ministry of Health on Tuesday said the country registered 128 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 13,099.
One more death was recorded in the eastern district of Busia, taking the death toll to 115.
UK
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.
"I'm optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year," Andrew Pollard said of presenting trial results this year.
Asked if the vaccine would be ready by Christmas he said: "There is a small chance."
The National Health Service (NHS) in England is getting prepared to start distributing possible COVID-19 vaccines before Christmas in case one of the candidates is ready by the end of the year, the head of the state-run health service said.
The United Kingdom reported 397 additional COVID-19 deaths, the highest daily increase since May, taking the death toll to 47,250, according to official figures released Tuesday. Another 20,018 new cases were also posted, bringing the infection tally to 1,073,882.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to push fresh lockdown rules, which will take effect Thursday, through the UK Parliament on Wednesday, facing down rebels in his own Conservative Party who fear an erosion of civil liberties.
The lockdown is designed to reduce COVID-19 transmission rates to the extent that it can end on Dec 2, chief medical officer Chris Whitty said.
Meanwhile, the government is in talks with US data analytics company Palantir Technologies Inc in an attempt to strengthen its test-and-trace program for COVID-19, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Under the contract being discussed, the new modeling will potentially allow to track the spread of the disease through particular sectors or parts of the country, according to the FT report.
Ukraine
Ukraine registered a record 9,524 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Wednesday, a day after its minister described the situation in the country as verging on catastrophic.
Ukraine's security council said the death toll had jumped to a record 199 from a previous daily high of 173 registered last month.
Total infections stood at 420,617, including 7,731 deaths.
Students sit in a distanced pattern from their classmates in a kindergarten class at School 16, in Yonkers, New York, on Oct 20, 2020. (MARY ALTAFFER / AP)
US
More than 850,000 children in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to a new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.
A total of 61,447 new cases were detected among children between Oct 22 and 29, the highest figure reported since the pandemic began, according to the report. In October, nearly 200,000 fresh infections involved children.
In October, nearly 200,000 of new COVID-19 cases in the US involved children, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association
Altogether, 853,635 confirmed cases involving children have been reported in the US, representing 11.1 percent of the country's overall tally, according to the report. The overall rate was 1,134 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the report.
The US has so far reported more than 9.37 million confirmed cases and 232,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
ALSO READ: WHO leader pours cold water on herd immunity
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday warned New Yorkers to be vigilant as the state’s coronavirus positivity rate neared two percent and hospitalizations were on the rise.
Elsewhere in the country, New Jersey hospitalizations continued to climb, with 1,133 as of Nov 2, the most since the end of June. The number has more than doubled in a month. Daily cases reported also doubled, to 1,832 from 957 on Oct 2.
Zimbabwe
A total of 653 healthcare workers in Zimbabwe have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said, adding that all of them have recovered.
Nationwide, Zimbabwe has recorded 8,389 confirmed cases, including 7,939 recoveries and 245 deaths.
Mutsvangwa said the country was making deliberate efforts to stockpile testing kits in preparation for the reopening of ports of entry and exit as the festive season approaches.
Zimbabwe will gradually reopen its land borders on Dec 1 following an eight-month closure due to the pandemic. In October, international flights were allowed to resume operations.
Georgia
Georgia reported 2,295 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing its national count to 46,817.
A total of 989 of the 2,295 new cases were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health said.
As of Wednesday, 31,170 patients have recovered, while 381 others have died, said the center.
Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.
Austria
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 and interior ministries showed.
Tougher nationwide restrictions aimed at bringing infections under control took effect on Tuesday, including a nightly curfew from 8 pm to 6 pm 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.
Poland
Poland announced further restrictions on Wednesday to halt the spread of the coronavirus and said it would impose a full national lockdown if COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
As daily infections and deaths hit new records, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said most shops in shopping malls, theatres, museums, galleries and cinemas would close.
All school pupils who are not already working remotely will start to do so, while hotels will remain open only for business guests.
“If this plan fails, then in a week or 10 days we will have a national quarantine, which will be very severe,” Morawiecki told a news conference.
Earlier, Poland reported 24,692 new COVID-19 cases and 373 deaths, rattling investors fretting about the economic fallout from the pandemic and sending Warsaw’s main stock index, the WIG20, sharply lower. It was down 1.3 percent at 1317 GMT.
“These records (in infections) are scary, the question is what’s next. Yesterday we received information that a full lockdown cannot be excluded,” a broker based in Warsaw said.
Polish media have reported that the country is running out of hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen and medics.
Poland has already shut bars and restaurants, limited the operations of swimming pools, and asked the elderly to stay at home.
The country of 38 million has so far reported a total of 439,536 COVID-19 infections, including 6,475 deaths, with the fastest growth seen in recent weeks.
Switzerland
The Swiss government on Wednesday authorised deploying up to 2,500 military personnel to help the country’s hard-pressed health care system handle a second wave of coronavirus infections.
This marked 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 health care 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.
It also gave the green light to distribute 350 million Swiss francs ($384 million) in grants and loans to professional and semi-professional sports clubs hit by the pandemic, and said it was ready to consider more help now that big events were taking place without spectators in a bid to slow the disease’s spread.
