MONTERREY / SAO PAULO / KYIV / PARIS / ROME / LONDON / WARSAW / BERLIN / DUBLIN / OTTAWA / SANTIAGO / TRIPOLI / NAIROBI ADDIS ABABA / TBILISI / MINSK / MOSCOW / HARARE / PRAGUE - Austria on Saturday ordered a three-week lockdown in a last-ditch effort to bring surging coronavirus cases under control and relieve the stress on the health service in time for retailers to reopen in the run-up to Christmas.
A nighttime curfew is in place from 8 pm to 6 am this month but shops are open. Those measures have failed to stop infections from accelerating. Daily new cases hit a record of 9,586 on Friday, nine times higher than at the peak of the first wave.
The new lockdown is due to start on Tuesday and end on Dec 7.
The current nighttime curfew will become an all-day requirement to stay at home, with only some exceptions such as for shopping or exercise. Working from home should happen wherever possible, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said,.
Non-essential shops will close, as will service providers such as hairdressers. Secondary schools have already switched to distance learning; primary schools and kindergartens will now follow suit but still provide childcare for those who need it.
Global tally
Coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 53.9 million while the global death toll exceeded 1.31 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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Africa tally
The number of confirmed cases recorded across the African continent has reached 1,948,833 while the death toll has risen to 46,836, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Saturday.
Belarus
Belarus reported 1,167 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking its tally to 112,870, according to the health ministry.
Six more deaths were recorded, raising the death toll to 1,139, it said.
Another 767 patients have recovered, bringing the number of recoveries to 94,337, the ministry added.
Belgium
Hospitalizations dropped by 258 to 6,504 on Sunday in Belgium. That’s down from a peak of 7,489 on Nov 3 and comes two weeks after the country imposed a lockdown to avert a healthcare system collapse.
The number of people in intensive care fell to 1,423, down 34.
Meanwhile, the 14-day virus incidence rate has now dropped to 969 per 100,000.
Another 197 deaths were reported, bringing the toll to 14,303.
Brazil
Brazil registered on Saturday 38,307 new cases of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry said, bringing the tally to 5,848,959.
Deaths rose by 921 to 165,658.
Millions of Brazilians will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in the municipal elections, which has been postponed since October due to the pandemic.
Canada
Canadian Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam on Saturday described the situation in Western Canada, Quebec and Ontario as "worrisome" and said it was straining healthcare resources.
Tam said the latest data showed the number of people with severe cases of COVID-19 continued to rise with a daily average of more than 1,400 people being treated in hospitals over the past week. The latest data also showed a daily average of 280 people in critical care and 55 deaths reported each day over the past seven days.
Tam said western provinces in the country saw a weekly increase in daily hospitalization between 24 percent to 50 percent compared to last week.
Tam's warnings came as Ontario reported 1,581 new cases and 20 more deaths on Saturday, while Quebec posted 1,448 additional cases and 25 deaths.
As of Saturday afternoon, Canada has reported a total of 291,931 COVID-19 cases and 10,891 fatalities, according to CTV.
Chile
The Chilean Health Ministry said Saturday that COVID-19 cases in seven regions of the country have decreased in the past seven days, with fewer cases detected in 10 regions in the past 14 days.
Of the 1,644 new cases reported Saturday, 27 percent were registered through Active Case Searches, said Roberto Dougnac, undersecretary of Assistance Networks.
Chile has now reported 529,676 infections in total. The death toll rose to 14,777 after 39 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic reported on Sunday a further decline in the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths from daily highs seen in early November, but the country remains among the hardest hit in Europe during this second wave of the pandemic.
Health ministry data showed 4,199 new cases were reported on Saturday, down by more than 3,500 from the same day a week earlier, with 132 additional fatalities including revisions to previous days.
The total caseload in the country of 10.7 million now stands at 458,229. The death toll stands at 6,058, a tenfold increase since late September.
Despite the current dip in cases, it still has the highest per capita number of deaths in Europe at 26.7 per 100,000.
Latest data also showed a dip in the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals to 7,200 as the surge in cases slows.
Elon Musk
Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Saturday he "most likely" has a moderate case of COVID-19, as he continued to question the accuracy of the tests.
"Am getting wildly different results from different labs, but most likely I have a moderate case of covid. My symptoms are that of a minor cold, which is no surprise, since a coronavirus is a type of cold," Musk wrote in a tweet.
He did not mention whether the results were from polymerase chain reaction tests, which are more accurate than rapid tests.
"A little up & down. Feels just like a regular cold, but more body achy & cloudy head than coughing/sneezing," the Tesla CEO wrote in reply to a user asking about symptoms.
READ MORE: Musk says he may have COVID-19, calls tests 'extremely bogus'
France
The number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in France rose sharply in the last 24 hours, according to French health ministry data published on Saturday.
France registered 32,095 fresh infections to push the tally to 1,954,599. Deaths in hospitals rose by 359 over the previous 24 hours to reach a total of 44,246 so far.
Police are probing an illegal party that took place at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris, at which up to 400 people met up despite lockdown rules banning large private gatherings.
Police added they had found that at least one of those at the party had tested positive for COVID-19, and urged others who were present to get tested.
Georgia
Georgia reported 3,504 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing its tally to 76,658 with 669 deaths.
Of the new cases, 1,232 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) said.
Germany
Germany will have to live with “considerable restrictions” against the spread of the coronavirus for at least the next four to five months, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview. The number of infections was still far too high and he currently saw “little leeway” for opening restaurants and cinemas.
Coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 16,947 to 790,503 while the death toll rose by 107 to 12,485, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
Germany plans to set up hundreds of centers across the country in December to prepare for mass vaccination against the coronavirus, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said healthcare workers as well as those who demand care, including in nursing homes, will be the first to receive the vaccine once it’s available
Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her weekly video address on Saturday that healthcare workers as well as those who demand care, including in nursing homes, will be the first to receive the vaccine once it’s available. She warned the nation about difficult winter months ahead as the pandemic shows little signs of easing.
Merkel and the 16 state premiers will meet on Monday to review current partial shutdown measures, which include a ban on non-essential travel and the closure of bars and restaurants.
Meanwhile, Germany expects to pay out 22 billion euros (US$26 billion) in COVID-19 relief aid from January through June 2021 to companies and self-employed people, people close to the matter said.
Separately, Germany's November coronavirus aid package to compensate firms affected by lockdown measures will this month amount to 14 billion euros, they said. Initially, the government had expected to pay out 10 billion euros.
Greece
Greek authorities announced on Saturday the closure of nurseries and primary schools until the end of November, tightening a nationwide lockdown after a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Greece registered 3,038 new coronavirus cases on Friday. On Thursday it recorded 3,316 new infections and 50 deaths, the highest daily tolls recorded during the pandemic so far.
Ireland
An unexpected 10 percent rise in the five-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases in Ireland threatens to reverse a recent sharp drop in the incidence rate of the disease to the third-lowest level in Europe, the country's chief medical officer said on Saturday.
The five-day moving average rose to 392 from 354 after the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) reported 456 new cases on Saturday.
"We have seen higher numbers in recent days than we expected based on the encouraging trends of the last three weeks," Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said in a statement. "We are concerned that this progress is at risk. NPHET will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days."
Meanwhile, hospital admissions of COVID-19 cases have continued to fall and hit a near one-month low of 254 on Saturdayns.
Italy
Italy has registered 37,255 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, down from 40,902 on Friday.
The ministry also reported 544 COVID-related deaths, down from 550 the day before.
The northern region of Lombardy, centered on Italy's financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area on Saturday, reporting 8,129 new cases against 10,634 on Friday.
J&J
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will spend about US$604 million expanding its deal with the US government to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, seeking to catch up with rivals who have forged ahead in the race.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will commit about US$454 million in additional money to the Phase 3 Ensemble trial, which seeks to evaluate the efficacy of the company’s vaccine candidate as a single-dose.
J&J has enrolled only a few thousand participants in its 60,000-person trial, partly because it halted the study in October for two weeks over a safety concern. It now expects to have an initial readout of results from the trial early next year, rather than by the end of 2020.
“Combined with our own significant investment, this agreement has enabled our vital research and development and underscores the importance of public-private partnerships to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic,” Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement Saturday.
Kenya
Kenya recorded 14,081 new COVID-19 cases and 253 deaths in the last 14 days, as November turned out to be the deadliest month for the disease in the east African nation since its outbreak in mid-March.
During the month, the country registered one of the highest number of infections in a day at 1,470, as deaths averaged 17 per day.
The number of deaths has risen for the sixth week in a row.
Overall, Kenya has recorded in total 69,273 confirmed cases and 1,249 deaths, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. On Saturday, 1,080 new cases and 21 more deaths were reported.
Vehicles line up at Libya's Ras Ejder border crossing with Tunisia, Nov 14, 2020. (MOHAMED ARHOMA / XINHUA)
Libya
Libyan authorities announced on Saturday the reopening of the country's border crossing with Tunisia after months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Libya and Tunisia announced on Wednesday that the border crossing between the two countries would be reopened and flights will be resumed.
The two countries have agreed on a health protocol, which obligates travellers to have a negative PCR test within 72 hours and sign a written agreement to undergo a 10-day quarantine upon arrival.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Libya now stands at 72,628, including 43,256 recoveries and 995 fatalities, according to the National Center for Disease Control.
A healthcare worker takes a swab sample from a man at a designated COVID-19 testing site in Mexico City on Nov 14, 2020. (GINNETTE RIQUELME / AP)
Mexico
Mexico's health ministry reported on Saturday 5,860 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 635 more deaths, bringing the official tally to 1,003,253 and the official death toll to 98,259.
Health officials have previously said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher than the reported figures.
Poland
Poland reported a record high 548 additional COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said, taking the country's toll above 10,000.
Poland reported 25,571 new cases, lower than a record 27,875 recorded on Nov 7.
The health ministry said that as of Saturday, COVID-19 patients occupied 22,320 hospital beds and were using 2,126 ventilators, out of 35,182 and 2,805 available, respectively.
Russia
Russia on Sunday reported a daily increase of 22,572 new coronavirus infections, taking the nation's infection tally to 1,925,825.
Authorities also reported 352 more deaths related to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 33,186.
UK
Britain reported 26,860 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, down from 27,301 on Friday and the lowest number since Wednesday.
The daily number of new deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test rose to 462 from 376 on Friday, taking the toll to 51,766.
Ukraine
Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Saturday he had tested positive for COVID-19, shortly after announcing the country had posted a record number of new cases in a single day.
Speaking in a televised briefing, Stepanov announced that 12,524 new cases had been registered in the previous 24 hours, up from the record of 11,787 a day earlier.
The number of confirmed infections in Ukraine has now reached 525,176 with 9,508 deaths.
Stepanov, 45, later wrote on the Telegram messaging app: "Despite being careful and following all safety rules, I tested positive for COVID-19 today." He said he would continue working remotely.
Weekend lockdowns will be in force from Saturday to Nov 30. They require the closing or restricting of the activity of most businesses, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals and transport.
US
States across the United States are tightening rules to stem the novel coronavirus, as the nation recorded 160,788 fresh infections on Saturday, the 10th consecutive day the daily tally topped 100,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The count is likely to rise through the US evening.
On the same day, President Donald Trump called for Congress to pass a "big and focused" COVID-19 relief bill.
California added 9,875 cases Satruday, the biggest one-day increase since August, and reported 81 more deaths, a day after joining Oregon and Washington in an appeal for arriving travelers to quarantine.
New York state reported 5,388 new cases, marking the second straight day that the number topped 5,000 - the highest level since the peak of the outbreak in April.
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North Dakota became the 35th state to require face coverings be worn in public, while Virginia announced new curbs starting from Sunday, such as limiting the number of people in social gatherings from 250 to 25 as well as an alcohol sale ban.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee is expected to announce a ban on indoor social gatherings and indoor restaurant dining, the Seattle Times said.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has warned of a possible second wave of COVID-19 sweeping across the country as citizens continued to get less wary of the pandemic.
Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, said ignorance, denial and wishful thinking could lead to more deaths, the Herald newspaper reported Saturday.
The paper reported that Chiwenga, who was addressing a gathering in Bulawayo on Friday, said he was concerned that many people were no longer adhering to prevention measures. He said it had become a common affair to catch sight of some people not wearing masks.
Zimbabwe recorded 69 new infections and two more deaths on Friday, bringing the tally to 8,765 and the toll to 257.
