UK at 'tipping point' in second coronavirus wave – latest updates

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Britain reports 12,872 new daily Covid-19 cases

Millions of people in northern England are anxiously waiting to hear how much further virus restrictions will be tightened as one of the British government’s leading medical advisers has warned that the country is at a crucial juncture in the second wave.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said the UK is at a "tipping point similar to where we were in March" following a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases.

“But we can prevent history from repeating itself if we all act now," he said. 

"Now we know where it is and how to tackle it — let's grasp this opportunity and prevent history from repeating itself."

Britain recorded 12,872 new daily cases, a fall from the 15,166 cases reported the day before, government data showed.

Britain also recorded 65 new deaths, defined as patients who died within 28 days of testing positive, the latest daily figures showed.

All across Europe including the UK, there have been huge increases in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks following the reopening of large sectors of the economy, as well as schools and universities. Infection levels, — and deaths — in the UK are rising at their fastest rates in months.

US President Trump claims virus 'immunity'

US President Donald Trump has said he is fully recovered from the virus and will not be a transmission risk to others, freeing him to return to holding big campaign rallies during the final weeks of the race for the White House.

"I passed the highest test, the highest standards, and I'm in great shape," Trump, who spent three days in the hospital after revealing he had tested positive in October.

The US reported 19,368 new cases and 96 new deaths, sitting at number one with 7,964,873 for the most total cases.

Turkey reports 1,502 more cases

Turkey has registered 1,212 more recoveries, 59 new fatalities, and 1,502 more patients in the past 24 hours according to the Health Ministry.

Turkey said it will start to report the total number of cases after Ankara was criticized for only releasing figures for patients showing symptoms of infection.

Germans must 'reduce' travel, partying

Germany should continue capping the number of people allowed at gatherings and clamp down on unnecessary travel as the country battles rising infections, an aide to Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

Germany had managed to keep the number of new infections and deaths lower than many of its neighbours but the daily number of new cases has leaped above 4,000 since Thursday, the highest since April.

Sunday's count was below that at 1,485 new cases and 8 new deaths, but that is because test reports tend to be lower at weekends.

France reports over 16,000 new cases

The number of new infections in France was 16,101 in the last 24 hours, down from a record of almost 27,000 the previous day, Health Ministry data has shown. 

The figures took the cumulative total to 734,974 since the start of the year. The number of deaths from the virus increased by 46 to 32,730.

New cases are generally lower on Sunday because fewer tests are taken over the weekend

Slovakia sets virus restrictions amid case surge

Slovakia is imposing new restrictive measures in hopes of curbing a surge in infections.

Starting Thursday, it will again be mandatory to wear face masks outside in all cities, towns, and villages and there will be a ban on public events, including religious services in churches. Exceptions include weddings, funerals, and baptisms with a limited number of participants.

The country reported 1,054 new cases and no new deaths Sunday.

Iran plans to expand face mask mandate beyond capital as cases surge

Iran plans to make mask-wearing mandatory in public in other large cities after imposing it in Tehran to fight rising infections, the health minister said, as the country's nuclear chief became the latest official to be infected.

Mask-wearing became mandatory in public in the capital on Saturday and President Hassan Rouhani announced that violators would be fined, as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.

Iran announced its highest single-day death toll with 251 confirmed dead.

Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said this pushes the total confirmed death toll to 28,544, making it the hardest-hit country in the region. 

A further 3,822 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hour-period, raising total nationwide recorded cases to 500,075

Masks have been compulsory in indoor public spaces since July.

Schools, mosques, shops, restaurants and other public institutions in Tehran closed for a week on October 3 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The city's governor extended the closure on Friday for another week.

Covid hits French Open revenues; 2021 still on

Roland Garros organisers say they've not made a profit from this year's pandemic-hit edition of the French Open that was pushed back from spring to autumn, deprived of 97 percent of its ticket sales and most of its spectators and is wrapping with the men's final of Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal.

As for next year, organisers are still planning to restore the Grand Slam clay-court tournament to its usual May-June slot but admit they have no visibility on whether the pandemic will allow that to happen.

Organisers said that staging this year's September-October edition in the midst of the pandemic, with only 1,000 spectators allowed per day and just 3 percent of the usual amount of tickets sold, caused a hit of 80 million to 100 million euros ($95 million to $118 million) to the tournament's revenues and left it earning about what it cost to hold.

Turkey will declare asymptomatic Covid-19 cases as of next week

Turkey will start declaring the number of asymptomatic Covid-19 cases from October 15, its health minister said in remarks, following criticism that its disclosure of only symptomatic cases hid the extent of infections.

At the end of July, Turkey changed the wording of its daily coronavirus report to show the number of "patients" instead of "cases" . 

At a news conference on September 30, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that the government was only sharing the number of Covid-19 positive cases with symptoms.

Cross sectional screening tests are being conducted at airports, prisons and to people going abroad among others, Koca also said according to the interview with daily newspaper Hurriyet.

Turkey will continue to conduct field screening tests for coronavirus cases, Koca said.

Malaysia reports 561 new cases, 2 more deaths

Malaysia reported 561 new cases, the bulk of them in Sabah state which has already seen a large increase in infections over the past few weeks.

The new cases raise Malaysia's cumulative tally to 15,657 cases, according to the health ministry. There were two new deaths reported, raising the fatality toll to 157.

Russia reports new daily record of cases

Russia reported 13,634 cases in the last 24 hours, a new daily record that brought its nationwide tally to 1,298,718.

The country's coronavirus task-force said that 149 people had died overnight, pushing the death toll to 22,597.

Russia, which has a total population of around 145 million, has recorded the fourth highest number of infections in the world since the start of the pandemic. 

South Korea eases social distancing curbs amid downtrend

South Korea said it will begin social distancing rules on Monday, allowing the reopening of nightly entertainment facilities and sports fixtures, as new cases have been edging lower in recent weeks.

Daily infections of the virus that causes Covid-19 have largely been in the double digits over the past two weeks, down from as many as 440 during outbreaks following a church and a political rally in August. Those prompted authorities to tighten curbs on gatherings and some businesses.

The eased rules mean entertainment facilities such as nightclubs and karaoke bars can reopen and limited audiences will be allowed at sports matches such as the popular Korea Baseball Organization League, as long as they comply with anti-virus guidelines.

But some stricter rules will be kept in the heavily populated Seoul area and high-risk venues including religious gatherings and door-to-door sales businesses, the government said.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 58 cases as of Saturday midnight, bringing total infections to 24,606, with 432 deaths.

Australian state warns non-complying public

The premier of Australia’s Victoria state is stepping up his fight with members of the public who don’t comply with pandemic regulations, saying close contacts of those infected who refuse a test will have to spend 21 days in quarantine.

The state government has announced mandatory quarantine will be extended by 10 days for close contacts if they decide not to be tested on the 11th day of isolation. The change will come into effect at midnight Sunday.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said a “very, very high percentage” of people had submitted to testing but the rule was designed to provide authorities with an even more complete picture.

Victoria reported one more death and 12 new cases on Sunday, ending a three-day stretch without a fatality. The figures take Victoria’s death count from the virus to 810 and the national toll to 898.

New framework for areas badly affected by coronavirus, says UK minister

Britain's government is designing a new framework for those places in England where coronavirus cases are rapidly increasing which should hand more control to local leaders, housing minister Robert Jenrick said.

Ahead of an announcement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday, Jenrick repeated to Sky News that the government does not want to move towards a national lockdown to curb the growing number of Covid-19 cases but will instead enable local leaders to work more closely with the national testing programme.

Indonesia reports 4,497 new cases, 79 new deaths

Indonesia reported 4,497 new coronavirus infections and 79 new deaths, the lowest daily fatality count since September 27, data from the country's Health Ministry website showed.

The new infections brought the total infections tally in Southeast Asia's biggest economy to 333,449, the data showed, while the total deaths rose to 11,844.

Virus-hit Athens kiosk owners fear for their future

Late in September, because of the spike in the number of coronavirus cases, mainly in big towns, the government ordered the kiosks to close from midnight to 5:00am.

The idea was to discourage after-hours bar crowds from gathering at squares to buy liquor from the kiosks, most of which stay open into the small hours.

Only about half of Greece's periptera, the little kiosks selling beer, cigarettes and newspapers in town squares across the country, survived the economic crisis.

Now, those still standing face a fresh threat, from the coronavirus pandemic and adding masks and gels to their inventory might not be enough to see them through.

India cases cross 7 million as experts warn of complacency

India’s confirmed toll crossed 7 million with a number of new cases dipping in recent weeks, even as health experts warn of mask and distancing fatigue setting in.

The Health Ministry registered another 74,383 infections in the past 24 hours. 

India is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country in coming weeks, surpassing the US, where more than 7.7 million infections have been reported.

The ministry also reported 918 additional deaths, taking total fatalities to 108,334.

Some experts say though that India’s death toll may not be reliable because of poor reporting and health infrastructure and inadequate testing.

India saw a steep rise in cases in July and added more than 2 million in August and another 3 million in September. But it is seeing a slower pace of coronavirus spread since mid-September, when the daily infections touched a record high of 97,894.

It’s averaging more than 70,000 cases daily so far this month.

India has a high recovery rate of 85 percent with active cases below 1 million, according to the Health Ministry.

Brazil's virus death toll passes 150,000

Brazil  passed the bleak marker of 150,000 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said, as the rate of coronavirus infections continues to slow in the South American country.

The toll comes as Latin America and the Caribbean marked 10 million cases Saturday and more than 360,000 deaths. The region is the worst hit in terms of fatalities, according to official figures.

With 212 million inhabitants, Brazil has accumulated the majority of the region's deaths: 150,198 from Covid-19 since the first fatality was recorded in March, and 5,082,637 infections, the ministry said.

It is the second highest national death toll in the world, after the United States, which has recorded more than 213,000 fatalities from Covid-19; and the third highest number of infections after the US and India.

Mainland China reports 21 new cases 

Mainland China reported 21 new confirmed cases on October 10, up from 15 a day earlier, the country's national health authority said.

All the new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas, the National Health Commission said in a statement.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed, fell to 23 from 39 a day earlier. All of them were imported.

The total confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China stands at 85,557, while the death toll remained at 4,634. 

Mayors in UK to get more control over test-and-trace

Mayors in the UK will be given more control over a virus test-and-trace system as the national government attempts to secure their backing for tough new lockdown rules that are due on Monday, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The mayors will be able to deploy new local volunteers to knock on doors and ask people to self-isolate, the newspaper said, adding that the plan's details were discussed between Downing Street and the mayors.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a statement to parliament on Monday about potential new lockdown restrictions, after lawmakers were handed more say over Covid-19 rules.

Leaders of major cities in northern England on Saturday asked for more generous economic support for workers and businesses facing local lockdowns, saying the government's current proposals would wreak economic hardship on their citizens.

Berlin nightlife shuts early as virus cases spike in Europe

A curfew closed doors early on German capital Berlin's legendary nightlife in a bid to limit surging infections, while in Latin America and the Caribbean the number of cases passed 10 million.

Bars and restaurants closed at 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) in Berlin under a partial curfew announced until October 31, with the capital following in the footsteps of financial hub Frankfurt where a curfew had already been imposed, but starting an hour earlier.

With more than 400 new cases daily in Berlin, the 11:00 pm shutdown also covers all shops except pharmacies and petrol stations in a bid to prevent sales of alcohol late at night. 

US cases surge to highest level in 2 months

New cases in the US have hit a two-month high with over 58,000 more infections and hospitalisations in the Midwest at record levels for a fifth day in a row.

Ten of the 50 states reported record one-day rises in cases, including the Midwestern states of Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Ohio. Wisconsin and Illinois recorded over 3,000 new cases for a second day in a row - a two-day trend not seen even during the height of the previous outbreak in the spring, according to a Reuters analysis.

The Western states of Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming also reported their biggest one-day jumps in cases, as did Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Nineteen states have seen record increases in new cases so far in October. 

US President Trump no longer at risk of transmitting virus

President Donald Trump is no longer contagious, nine days after being stopped in his tracks by Covid-19, his physician Sean Conley has said in a statement. 

"I am happy to report that in addition to the President meeting CDC criteria for the safe discontinuation of isolation, this morning's Covid PCR sample demonstrates, by currently recognized standards, he is no longer considered a transmission risk to others," Conley said.

Conley who has been accused of a lack of transparency with the public, said it had been 10 days since Trump first began showing symptoms of the virus.

The president was hospitalised one day later, on October 2.

Colombia's virus cases pass 900,000

Colombia's virus cases have topped 900,000, as deaths closed in on 27,700.

The Andean country has 902,747 confirmed cases of the virus according to the health ministry, with 27,660 reported deaths. Active cases number 89,925.

Colombia began more than five months of lockdown in March.

Face masks compulsory in public in Tehran

Iran has made mask-wearing mandatory in public in Tehran with violations punishable by fines as a third wave of the  infections sweeps across the country.

The daily death toll from the virus peaked at 239 this week in Iran, the worst hit country in the Middle East.

The country's health ministry reported 195 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 28,293. There were 3,875 new cases, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV.

Mexico makes nearly $160 mln down payment for COVAX

Mexico’s government has announced that it paid the WHO $159.88 million to secure access to the virus vaccines through the agency’s COVAX plan.

The global health agency’s COVAX Facility is a multilateral initiative running trials on several potential vaccines. The latest payment will allow Mexico to acquire enough doses of a vaccine to immunise up to a fifth of the country’s population of around 125 million people, the foreign ministry said.

The foreign ministry statement added that the government had presented the “risk guarantee” paperwork for another $20.6 million, which it described as part of the contractually required commitments to access the eventual vaccine supply. The statement did not provide additional details on the second payment.

Meanwhile, the country's health ministry reported 4,577 new cases and 135 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 814,328 cases and 83,642 deaths.