Italy again sees over 500 Covid-19 deaths in one day – latest updates

November 14, 2020: 

Italy reports 544 fatalities

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.

There were 227,695 coronavirus swabs carried out in the past day, the ministry said, against a previous 254,908.

The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area on Saturday, reporting 8,129 new cases against 10,634 on Friday.

Seven die at Covid-19 intensive care unit fire in Romania

Romanian officials say seven people have died in a fire at a hospital intensive care ward where Covid-19 patients were receiving treatment. 

The emergency services spokesperson for Romania's northern Neamt County, Irina Popa, said the fire on Saturday affected two rooms housing 16 ICU patients before it was put out. 

She says it is believed the people killed "were infected with Covid-19" and the fire was put out.

Popa says an eighth patient was in serious condition from the fire and a staff member received serious injuries.

No other information is immediately available

Deaths rise sharply in France

The number of confirmed new 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 new Covid-19 cases over the previous 24 hours to reach a total of 1,954,599. Deaths in rose by 359 over the previous24 hours to reach a total of 44,246 so far.

Turkey reports 3,116 more patients

Turkey registered 3,116 more Covid-19 patients over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released.

The country's overall count now stands at 411,055, the data showed on Saturday.

A total of 2,298 more patients recovered over the past day, bringing the tally to 351,102, while the death toll rose by 92 to reach 11,418.

Over 150,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted across the country in the past 24 hours, raising the total to over 16 million.

The number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 3,423, with 4.2 percent this week suffering from pneumonia.

UK sees 26,860 new cases, 462 deaths

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 cumulative total to 51,766. 

Austria planning three-week lockdown from Tuesday

Austria is planning to switch from its current night-time curfew and partial shutdown to a full lockdown from Tuesday until Sunday December 6 inclusive, a draft and summary of the government decree seen by Reuters showed.

The 8 pm to 6 am curfew will move to an all-day lockdown and non-essential shops will close, the texts said.

Secondary schools have already switched to distance learning, but schools for younger ages that are still open will do the same while providing childcare when necessary.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is due to hold a news conference outlining new restrictions in the face of surging infections at 4:30 pm.

Greece tightens lockdown, shuts primary schools

Greek authorities have announced the closure of nurseries and primary schools until the end of November, tightening a nationwide lockdown after a spike in cases.

A gradual increase in infections since early October has forced authorities to reimpose restrictions and order a second nationwide lockdown, which expires at the end of November and includes a night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am.

The government tightened the measures further, closing primary schools and nurseries from Monday for two weeks until the end of the lockdown period. Distance learning has already been implemented in secondary schools and universities.

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. 

Malaysia reports 1,114 new cases with two new deaths

Malaysia has reported 1,114 new cases, raising the total to 46,209 infections.

The health ministry also recorded two new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities from the pandemic to 306.

Russia reports record daily increase in new cases

Russia has reported a record daily increase of 22,702 new coronavirus infections, taking the national tally to 1,903,253.

Authorities also reported 391 virus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 32,834. 

Poland reports record high 548 deaths

Poland reported a record high 548 new deaths, the health ministry said, taking the country's total above 10,000.

Poland reported 25,571 new cases, lower than a record 27,875 recorded on November 7.

The health ministry said that as of Saturday, patients occupied 22,320 hospital beds and were using 2,126 ventilators, out of 35,182 and 2,805 available, respectively.

Germany to prioritise vaccinations in care homes

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said nursing home workers and the people they are caring for will be among the first to get access to vaccines.

Merkel said in her weekly video address that staff and residents of nursing homes will “receive priority” as soon as a vaccine is available.

Almost 1 million people in Germany live in nursing and care homes. The country is seeking to buy 100 million doses of a vaccine being developed by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and US partner Pfizer.

Germany’s disease control agency reported a further 22,461 confirmed cases in the 24 hours to Saturday, as well as 178 additional deaths.

Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded 773,556 confirmed cases and 12,378 deaths.

Czech Republic reports 7,357 new cases, deaths rise by 171

The Czech Republic has reported 7,357 new cases as daily infections continued to hold below recent peaks after weeks of tightened measures to combat the spread, Health Ministry data showed.

The country of 10.7 million has faced one of Europe's highest infection rates. Hospitals have been under heavy strain.

The ministry reported 171 new deaths, including 104 on Friday and revisions to previous days, to bring the total to 5,926 - a 25% increase in the last week and a tenfold rise since September 25.

In total, 454,030 people have been infected since the pandemic started, including a three-fold increase just in the past month. Friday's daily total marked the first seven-day period since the first half of October that the country went a week with daily infections below 10,000.

Indonesia reports 5,272 new cases, 111 deaths

Indonesia has reported 5,272 new cases, taking the total number of infections to 463,007, data from its Covid-19 task force showed.

It also recorded 111 additional deaths, taking the total to15,148. As of Saturday, 388,094 people have recovered from the virus in Indonesia. 

Philippines records 1,650 new cases, 39 more deaths

The Philippines' health ministry has reported 1,650 new coronavirus infections and 39 more deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said confirmed cases have increased to 406,337 while deaths have reached 7,791. The Philippines has the second highest number of cases and casualties in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia.

Virus continues surge in New Delhi

India's overall tally of new cases has remained steady, but officials were watching a surge of cases in the capital that comes as people socialise during the festival season.

India's Health Ministry reported 44,684 new positive cases in the past 24 hours and 520 deaths. Of those, 7,802 new cases were reported in New Delhi, with 91 deaths.

India’s has seen 8.7 million infections since the pandemic began, the second-most in the world, but daily new infections have been on the decline from the middle of September. The county has also seen m ore than 129,000 virus deaths.

New Delhi has seen a spike in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other Indian state. The rising numbers coincide with a busy festival season nationwide, with millions celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Saturday.

Ukraine posts record jump in daily new cases

Ukraine has registered a record 12,524 new cases in the past 24 hours, its health minister said, up from a high of 11,787 reported on November 13.

Maksym Stepanov said the new cases had taken the total confirmed infections to 525,176, with 9,508 deaths.

Australia may see first week of no local transmissions

Australia's three most populous states have recorded at least a week with no local transmissions of the new coronavirus, boding well for the country's recovery from the pandemic after a flare-up marred an impressive early response.

Victoria, the epicentre of the resurgence of the virus in recent months, recorded its 15th consecutive day of no new infections and no related deaths, two weeks after the state emerged from one of the world's longest and strictest lockdowns.

This latest data may mean Australia can record its first week of no local transmissions since the start of the pandemic as the rest of the country has not seen any cases for weeks or months.

The country has seen just over 27,700 cases of the new cases since the start of the pandemic, about the daily number of illnesses recorded in the United Kingdom in recent days. Australia has recorded 907 deaths.

Germany's confirmed cases rise by 22,461 – RKI

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has increased by 22,461 to 775,556, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 178 to 12,378, the tally showed. 

Mexico reports 5,558 new cases, 568 deaths

Mexico's health ministry has reported 5,558 new cases in the country and 568 deaths, bringing the official totals to 997,393 cases and 97,624 dead.

Health officials have previously said that the real number of cases is likely significantly higher than the reported figures.

South Korea reports 205 cases

South Korea has reported 205 new cases as of Friday midnight, rising above 200 for the first time since September, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The latest daily tally was slightly up from 191 a day before, taking the country's total number of infections to 28,338, with 492 deaths, according to the KDCA. 

Mainland China reports 18 new cases versus 8 a day earlier

Mainland China has reported 18 new cases, up from eight cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority reported.

The National Health Commission said in a statement that all new cases were imported infections originating from overseas.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 10 from 15 reported a day earlier. All asymptomatic cases were imported, the commission said.

The total of confirmed cases in Mainland China stands at 86,325, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634. 

Britain to pilot Covid tests for care home visitors

Visitors to care homes in parts of England will be able to get tested for Covid-19 under a new pilot scheme aimed at reducing onerous restrictions in time for Christmas, the health ministry said.

With England under lockdown until December, care home visits can still go ahead in certain circumstances, but official guidance states that screens, windows or "visiting pods" should be used to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

"I know how heart-breaking restricting visits to care homes has been, not only for residents, many of whom will feel disoriented and confused by the situation, but also their loved ones who aren't able to simply hug each other to support them in this difficult time," health minister Matt Hancock said.

"Thanks to the expanding testing capacity we have in place we can now begin to trial a new way to allow safer visits to take place and prevent the spread of Covid-19."

Brazil registers 29,070 new cases of coronavirus

Brazil registered 29,070 new cases of the virus, the Health Ministry said, bringing the total to 5,810,652. 

Deaths rose by 456 to 164,737. 

Soccer-Croatia's Brozovic tests positive for Covid-19 

Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic has been isolated from the national team after testing positive for the virus ahead of two Nations League games against Sweden and Portugal, the federation said.

Brozovic's positive test follows that of captain Domagoj Vida, who was taken off at halftime during Wednesday's friendly against Turkey after the team was notified that he had returned a positive Covid-19 result.

The federation added that it had informed the Brozovic's club, Inter Milan, as well as Sweden.

Trump predicts virus vaccine will be widely available as soon as April

US President Donald Trump said he expects a coronavirus vaccine to be available for the entire population as soon as April, amid a crush of new infections of the deadly disease that has pushed daily case counts to record highs.

In his first public remarks in over a week following his election loss to Democratic challenge Joe Biden, Trump also said he expects an emergency use authorisation for Pzifer's vaccine "extremely soon".