US may see 'surge upon surge' of Covid-19 in weeks ahead – latest updates

The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 62 million people and cut more than 1.4 million lives short. Here are the developments for November 29:

Travellers walk through Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, November 29, 2020.
AP

Travellers walk through Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, November 29, 2020.

Sunday, November 29, 2020

'Surge upon surge' of virus expected soon – expert

US top infectious disease expert has said the country may see "surge upon a surge" of the coronavirus over the coming weeks, and he does not expect current recommendations around social distancing to be relaxed before Christmas.

Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," where he made remarks, adding that it's "not too late" for people travelling back home after Thanksgiving to help stop the spread of the virus by wearing masks, staying distant from others and avoiding large groups of people.

The number of new cases reported in the United States topped 200,000 for the first time Friday. 

The highest previous daily count was 196,000 on November 20, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Austrian Defence Minister infected

Austria's Defense Minister has tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming the second member of the country’s Cabinet to be infected.

The Austria Press Agency reported that Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner is doing well and will work from home. She had already been in quarantine for 10 days because she had been in contact with another person who tested positive.

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg tested positive for the virus in mid-October and returned to his ministry later that month after showing no symptoms.

Austria on November 17 deepened lockdown measures in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. They are due to run through December 6.

Infection rates have declined in the Alpine country, but Chancellor Sebastian Kurz cautioned in an interview with Sunday’s edition of the Kleine Zeitung newspaper that Austrians will still have to live with "massive restrictions" after that.

Turkey's reports 185 deaths

Turkey's daily death toll has hit a record high for a seventh consecutive day, with 185 fatalities in the last 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed.

The number of new cases of coronavirus infections, including asymptomatic ones, fell slightly to 29,281. 

For four months, Turkey only reported symptomatic cases, but since Wednesday it has reported all cases.

The total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic in March stood at 13,558.

New York City public schools will begin to reopen with weekly testing

New York City's public schools will begin to reopen for in-person learning on December 7, starting with elementary schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced.

The schools, which make up the country's largest school system, were closed less than two weeks ago after the citywide rate of coronavirus tests coming back positive exceeded a 3 percent benchmark agreed to by the mayor and the teachers' union.

Pre-kindergarten classes will also reopen on December 7. Schools that serve children with special educational needs, known as District 75 schools, will reopen on December 10. De Blasio said middle schools and high schools would reopen at later dates that had not yet been set.

To go into the classroom, students must have a signed consent form agreeing to weekly coronavirus testing or a letter of medical exemption from a doctor, de Blasio said.

He said he planned to have in-person learning five days a week when schools reopen.

Italy reports 20,648 new cases, 541 deaths

Italy has reported 541 coronavirus-related deaths, against 686 the day before, and 20,648 new infections, down from 26,323 on Saturday, the Health Ministry has said.

The first Western country hit by the virus, Italy has seen 54,904 fatalities since its outbreak emerged in February, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain. It has also registered 1.585 million cases to date. 

Daily figures confirmed a decline seen in recent days in the number of new cases.

However, there were 176,934 swabs carried out in the past day, down from a previous 225,940.

While Italy's daily death tolls have been amongst the highest in Europe over recent days, the rise in hospital admissions and intensive care occupancy is slowing, suggesting the latest wave of infections was receding.

UK records 12,155 new cases, 215 deaths

Britain has reported 12,155 new cases and 215 new deaths within 28 days of positive test, government data has shown.

Both measures are down from Saturday when there were 15,871 new cases and 479 deaths. 

Iraqi schools reopen despite Covid-19 outbreak

Students in Baghdad began classes on the first day of the academic year amid coronavirus measures.

The exact number of students who began classes is not known, due to the spread of the virus.

All students, teachers and school staff are required to wear face masks and sterilise their hands at the gates.  

Reported virus cases across Iraq continue on the rise but at a slightly lower rate than in previous weeks.

France must review crowd limits on church attendance

France's State Council, the country's highest court, ordered the government to review a law limiting the number of people in churches during religious services to 30.

The Council said in a statement that the measure was not proportionate to virus infection risks.

Last week, the government announced that a nationwide lockdown in place since October 30 would be unwound in phases.

Austrians to face further "massive restrictions" after lockdown

Austria should expect further heavy restrictions when its current lockdown measures expire in just over a week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Austrian paper Kleine Zeitung.

Austria's nationwide lockdown is due to be lifted on December 7, but it is not yet clear what that will mean for the ski industry – cornerstone of a tourism sector which accounts for some 15 percent of economic output – or overall life in Austria.

Speaking to Kleine Zeitung, Kurz said Austrians would need to contend with further virus restrictions for weeks and months, adding new measures to be announced on Wednesday depended on virus case developments.

Britain at risk of third wave 

Britain is at risk of suffering a third wave of virus infections if it does not get the approach to lockdown restrictions right in the coming weeks, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said

"There's a risk of that (if) we don't get the balance right," Raab told the BBC when asked about a possible 'third wave' resurgence of cases in January and February. 

He said the government was doing everything it could to avoid another national lockdown.

India reports 41,180 cases

India has reported 41,180 new virus cases in the past 24 hours, with the daily toll staying below the 50,000-mark for the fourth week. 

New Delhi also got some respite as it added fewer than 5,000 cases for the first time in a month. The New Delhi government decided that half its employees, barring senior officials, will be allowed to work from home starting on Monday. 

India reported another 496 virus deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 136,696. India’s confirmed cases since the pandemic began are more than 9.3 million, second behind the US.

S.Korea bans year-end parties, some music lessons

South Korean authorities announced a ban on year-end parties and some music lessons and said public saunas and some cafes must also close after virus infections surged at their fastest pace since the early days of the pandemic.

South Korea has been one of the world's virus mitigation success stories but spikes in infections have reappeared relentlessly, triggering alarm in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Authorities reported 450 new infections after more than 500 cases were recorded for three days in a row, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

Czech government to allow shops, restaurants to reopen

The Czech government will allow restaurants and non-essential shops to reopen on December 3, as a wave of virus infections eases, Health Mister Jan Blatny said.

The country will move down one notch to level 3 on its 5-level virus risk scale, which means all shops and restaurants can open but must limit customer numbers to allow for social distancing.

A night-time curfew will be lifted but pubs must close by 10 pm (21.00 GMT). Museums and galleries can open with limited capacity and individual indoor sports activities can resume.

Hong Kong reports 4-month high 115 cases

Hong Kong reported 115 new virus infections, including 109 locally transmitted, the highest in nearly four months, as authorities battle a renewed wave of the virus.

The figure was up from Saturday's 84 and the highest since August 1, when 125 cases were reported. It compares with the July 30 record of 149.

Since late January, 6,239 people in Hong Kong have been infected with the virus that causes the disease, of whom 109 have died of the disease.

Indonesia registers record daily rise in cases

Indonesia reported a record daily rise in virus infections with 6,267 cases, bringing the total to 534,266, data from the country's Covid-19 task force showed.

This was the third record high in a week for the Southeast Asian country.

The data showed 169 new virus deaths, taking the total fatalities to 16,815.

Indonesia has the highest number of virus cases and deaths in Southeast Asia.

Russia reports 26,683 new cases

Russia reported 26,683 new virus cases after the number of daily confirmed infections hit a record 27,543 on Friday.

The new cases took the national total to 2,269,316 since the start of the pandemic.

The coronavirus crisis centre confirmed deaths of 459 virus patients in the last 24 hours, pushing the Russian death toll to 39,527.

Shanghai marathon defies virus with 9,000 runners

Around 9,000 runners – some wearing face masks – took part in the Shanghai International Marathon, Chinese media said, a rare mass event in a year when virus laid waste to most such sport.

Prior to the race officials touted it as an opportunity to show how China – where the virus emerged late last year before unleashing a pandemic – is moving ahead despite the continuing global health crisis.

The prestigious New York, Berlin, Boston and Chicago marathons all fell victim to virus this year, while London and Tokyo were open only to elite runners.

Singaporean gives birth to baby with virus antibodies 

A Singaporean woman, who was infected with the novel virus in March when she was pregnant, has given birth to a baby with antibodies against the virus, offering a new clue as to whether the infection can be transferred from mother to child.

The baby was born this month without the virus but with the virus antibodies, the Straits Times newspaper reported, citing the mother. 

North Korea toughens rules of entry to sea to fight virus

North Korea is further toughening restrictions on entering seawaters as part of elevated steps to fight the virus pandemic, state media said, two days after South Korea said the North had banned sea fishing.

The Korean Central News Agency reported the country is mobilising more anti-virus units and establishing strong steps to “completely remove uncivilised and unhygienic elements that could help make room for the spread of an epidemic” at winter. 

Some experts say the virus can spread more broadly during cold weather when people typically spend more time indoors.

'Catastrophic': Balkan healthcare overwhelmed by virus surge

A skyrocketing virus caseload is pushing hospitals in the Balkans to the cusp of collapse, in chaotic scenes reminding some medics of the region's 1990s wars.

After nearly a year of keeping outbreaks more or less under control, the nightmare scenario that the Balkans feared from the start of the pandemic is now starting to unfold.

In hard-hit Bosnia, one doctor described the distress of having to juggle the care of multiple patients whose lives were hanging by a thread.

S. Korea mulls stricter social distancing amid cases resurge

South Korean authorities will consider tighter social distancing restrictions to clamp down on economic activities after last week saw the fastest spread of infections since the early days of the virus pandemic.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is to meet with health authority officials at 0600 GMT to decide whether virus curbs need to be tightened further to slow transmissions, Yonhap News said.

South Korea reported 450 infections of the new virus after reporting more than 500 new virus cases for three days in a row, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

This third wave marks the highest level of infections in nearly nine months.

South Korea on Tuesday began applying Level 2 social distancing rules, the third-highest in the country’s five-tier system, in greater Seoul area.

Germany reports 14,611 cases

The number of confirmed virus cases in Germany increased by 14,611 to 1,042,700, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

The reported death toll rose by 158 to 16,123, the tally showed. 

Britain secures additional Moderna vaccine doses

Britain has secured an additional two million doses of Moderna Inc’s virus vaccine candidate, the government said in a statement.

Following the latest deal, Britain has access to enough doses of Moderna’s vaccine candidate for around 3.5 million people. Overall, it has access to 357 million doses of vaccines from 7 different developers, according to the statement.

“With a wide range of vaccine candidates in our portfolio, we stand ready to deploy a vaccine should they receive approval from our medicines regulator, starting with those who will benefit most,” Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, said in the statement.

Mexico posts more than 10,000 new cases

Mexico has reported 10,008 new coronavirus infections and 586 additional deaths, health ministry data showed, bringing the official number of cases to 1,100,683 with a total death toll of 105,459.

Health officials have said the real number of both is likely to be significantly higher due to little testing.

China reports 11 new cases

China has reported 11 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for November 28, compared with six cases a day earlier, the health authority said.

All of the new infections were imported cases, the National Health Commission said in a statement. There were no new deaths.

China also reported 10 new asymptomatic patients, compared with four a day earlier.

Mainland China has a total of 86,512 confirmed coronavirus cases, it said.

China's death toll from the coronavirus remained unchanged at 4,634. 

Virus surge leads to curfew in San Francisco

A surge in coronavirus cases will put San Francisco under a curfew beginning on Monday and trigger other restrictions related to the virus, the city announced.

The curfew requires non-essential businesses to close and prohibits members of different households from gathering between 10 pm and 5 am until December 21, Mayor London Breed said Saturday.

San Mateo county outside San Francisco will also be subject to the same rules after the state of California classified both under its most restrictive tier of locations based on the spread of the virus.

In addition to the curfew, certain indoor businesses will be required to either close or reduce capacity beginning on Sunday at noon, Breed said.

Brazil registers 51,922 new cases

Brazil has registered 51,922 additional cases over the last 24 hours and 587 new deaths, the nation's Health Ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 6,290,272 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 172,561 deaths. 

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