Italy records more than 800 new Covid-19 deaths – latest updates

Friday, December 4, 2020

Italy's cases and deaths accelerating

Italy has reported 814 coronavirus-related deaths against a record 993 on Thursday, and 24,099 new infections, up from 23,225 the day before, the Health Ministry said.

Patients in hospitals with the virus stood at 31,200.

WHO says vaccines will not eliminate Covid-19

The roll-out of vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic will not by itself eliminate the deadly coronavirus, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO warned against complacency and what it said was an erroneous belief that because vaccines are on the near-horizon, the crisis is over.

"Vaccines do not equal zero Covid," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual news conference.

UK sees record number of cases

Britain's government has reported the highest daily number of new Covid cases since November 26, after the number of new positive test reports rose to 16,298 from 14,879 the day before.

The country had 504 new deaths reported within 28 days of a positive Covid test.

France reports 627 new deaths

French health authorities have reported 11,221 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 12,696 on Thursday and 12,459 last Friday in a continuation of an almost month-long downward trend.

The total number of infections rose to 2.29 million.

France also reported 627 new deaths from coronavirus, including 282 in hospitals, compared to 324 in hospitals on Thursday. 

Friday's death toll also included 345 new deaths in retirement homes over a three-day period.

The number of people in hospital with the virus fell by another 392 to 26,311 while the number of people in intensive care fell by 132 to 3,293.

Turkey takes new measures

Turkey recorded 32,736 new coronavirus cases, including asymptomatic ones, over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry data has shown.

Although cases are high, Turkey only saw 193 deaths in the past 24 hours.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced new measures on Monday to combat the spread of the virus.

Covid-19 impact forces Britons to food banks

British food banks are seeing more families needing their support as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic forces struggling people to seek help, charities and volunteers say.

Lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have forced businesses to close or lay off staff. 

The rise in those out of work has resulted in more people turning to food banks, which provide emergency food supplies to families in need.

India records 36,595 cases

India's daily virus cases have risen by less than 40,000 for the fifth straight day, with 36,595 new infections reported in the last 24 hours.

India's daily rate has fallen since the south Asian nation reported the world’s highest such tallies through most of August and September, despite a busy festival season last month that experts had warned could trigger a spike in infections.

Its tally is now at 9.57 million, health ministry data showed, and remains the world’s second-highest after the United States, where there have been nearly 14 million infections.

Germany reports 23,449 cases

The number of confirmed virus cases in Germany increased by 23,449 to 1,130,238, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has shown.

The reported death toll rose by 432 to 18,034, the tally showed. 

WHO looks at e-certificates for vaccination

The World Health Organization has said it was considering introducing electronic vaccination certificates, as hopes for an end to the pandemic were boosted after Britain became the first country to approve use of a vaccine.

"We are looking very closely into the use of technology in this Covid-19 response and one of them is how can we work with members states towards something called an e-vaccination certificate," WHO Europe expert Siddhartha Datta told an online press briefing.

Seoul to shut down most establishments at 9 pm

South Korea's capital Seoul will require most establishments to close at 9 pm each day, acting Seoul mayor Seo Jeong-hyup has said, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The measure take effect on Saturday and comes after Seoul alone reported 295 new coronavirus infections as of midnight Thursday.

US sees record of over 210,000 new Covid cases in 24 hours

The United States recorded more than 210,000 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University, in an all-time high for the country since the start of the pandemic.

The number of new deaths over the same period was 2,907, the university said, one of the worst US daily tolls yet according to figures recorded by AFP at 0130 GMT on Friday.

South Korea reports highest Covid-19 cases in months

South Korea has reported 629 new virus cases, the highest number in nine months.

Of the new cases, 295 were from capital Seoul alone, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported.

The new cases took the country’s total to 36,332 for the pandemic, with 536 deaths related to the virus.

After successfully suppressing two previous outbreaks this year, South Korea has been grappling with a fresh spike in infections since it relaxed stringent social distancing rules in October.

Last week, it toughened distancing restrictions in the greater Seoul area and other places.

Mexico reports 11,030 new cases

Mexico's health ministry has reported 11,030 new cases of coronavirus infections and 608 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 1,144,643 cases and 108,173 deaths.

Damage from pandemic will last for years – UN

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the social and economic impact of the virus “is enormous and growing.” 

He said it’s foolish to believe a vaccine can undo damage from the global pandemic that will last for years or even decades.

Speaking to world leaders at the General Assembly’s first and mainly virtual special session on the virus, Guterres accused some countries he didn't name of ignoring or rejecting the World Health Organization’s recommendations at the start of the crisis early this year.

Meanwhile, the UN said people with disabilities are more vulnerable to the virus threat and have a higher risk of being infected.

Handicapped people have difficulties in taking the most important precautions against the virus such as washing their hands, observing social distancing and complying with local healthcare rules.

Moderna vaccine promises at least 3 months immunity

The Moderna vaccine, which the company says was recently demonstrated to have 94 percent efficacy, causes the human immune system to produce potent antibodies that endure for at least three months.

Researchers at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, which co-developed the drug, studied the immune response of 34 adult participants, young and old, from the first stage of a clinical trial.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, they said that the antibodies, which stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from invading human cells, "declined slightly over time, as expected, but they remained elevated in all participants 3 months after the booster vaccination."

Biden will call for 100 days of mask-wearing

US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he's pushed before to stop the spread of the virus.

The move marks a notable shift from President Donald Trump, whose own scepticism of mask-wearing has contributed to a politicisation of the issue. 

That's made many people reticent to embrace a practice that public health experts say is one of the easiest ways to manage the pandemic, which has killed more than 275,000 Americans.

The president-elect has frequently emphasised mask-wearing as a “patriotic duty" and during the campaign floated the idea of instituting a nationwide mask mandate, which he later acknowledged would be beyond the ability of the president to enforce.