2 months ago
4 Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis.
FOLLOW THE LIVE UPDATE | All the latest coronavirus and lockdown updates
FACTBOX | Latest on the worldwide spread of coronavirus
European nations are closing schools, cancelling surgeries and enlisting student medics as overwhelmed authorities face the nightmare scenario of a Covid-19 resurgence at the onset of winter.
EUROPE
* Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia reported record figures of daily infections.
* British PM Boris Johnson resisted a short lockdown for all of England but said he ruled nothing out in the face of calls to shut the country down for two weeks as a "circuit breaker" in order to save lives.
* French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a third of France's population be put under nightly curfew, saying now was not the time for conviviality.
AMERICAS
* Financial leaders from the Group of 20 major economies vowed to "do whatever it takes" to support the global economy and financial stability.
* An extra 10 000 children per month may die this year from malnutrition due to the Covid-19 crisis, the head of the World Health Organisation warned.
* Tougher measures will be imposed in Portugal from Thursday onward to contain record levels of cases.
* US President Donald Trump's 14-year-old son, Barron, tested positive but exhibited no symptoms, after both of his parents contracted the virus, first lady Melania Trump said.
* Mexico plans to vaccinate more than 116 million people, or roughly 90% of its population, by the end of 2021.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Several coronavirus clusters have emerged in Australia's two most populous states, officials said, prompting the biggest, New South Wales, to delay easing some restrictions.
* Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his government has the money to procure coronavirus vaccines but he would need more as he wants to inoculate the country's entire population.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan urged the parliament to act to curb the influence of medical associations and other institutions that have criticised the government's response to the pandemic.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Russia has granted regulatory approval to a second Covid-19 vaccine, according to its register of authorised medicines.
* Rapid antigen diagnostic tests for the novel coronavirus will be a game changer in the fight against the pandemic, the Pan American Health Organisation's director Carissa Etienne said.
* Eli Lilly & Co said other trials of its experimental coronavirus antibody therapy remain on track after a government-run study testing the treatment in hospitalized Covid-19 patients was paused due to safety concerns.
- Reuters
Trump's 'lucky' aides recovering from coronavirus, again spurning masks
Two weeks after the coronavirus spread through the White House, staffers have begun trickling back to the West Wing, saying they only had mild symptoms and again spurning the use of masks despite criticism that they have been careless about the outbreak.
With US President Donald Trump declaring himself immune after his own bout with Covid-19 required hospitalisation, his aides at the White House, his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee are steadily recovering from a sickness that side-lined many of them just weeks before the 3 November election.
Trump returned to the campaign trail on Monday and has trips scheduled all week in an effort to make up for time lost while he received treatment as Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned.
One White House official said most people affected by the outbreak had mild symptoms, and that the White House had been "very lucky."
Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has not returned to the White House since her diagnosis but hoped to by the end of the week, the official said.
Hope Hicks, a senior adviser to Trump whose own diagnosis was the first to be made public in the wave that hit his inner circle at the beginning of the month, is still not back at the White House. She said she is feeling better.
Karoline Leavitt, an assistant press secretary, is back after having mild symptoms. Other press aides such as Harrison Fields, Jalen Drummond and Chad Gilmartin are not.
- Reuters
Brazil registers 749 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday
Brazil has registered 749 additional coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 27 235 new cases, the nation's Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The South American country has now registered 151 747 total deaths and 5 140 863 total confirmed cases.
- Reuters
Berlin mayor says city won't be sealed off again
Berlin's mayor warned against domestic travel restrictions that would cut Germany's largest city off from the rest of the country, saying they would be impractical and dredge up painful memories of previous partitions.
"The city has been sealed off several times in its history, that is not an option," Michael Mueller said at a news conference on Wednesday, after federal and regional leaders unveiled new restrictions to fight the pandemic.
Germany's states had agreed earlier this month that residents of domestic coronavirus risk areas should not be allowed to stay in hotels in other parts of the country to curb surging numbers of new infections.
But the city-state of Berlin was among a few that did not implement the decision.
Berlin became a symbol of the Cold War confrontation between East and West after World War Two, when its western part became a besieged and isolated exclave of democratic West Germany deep inside Soviet-backed East Germany's territory.
- Reuters
'Long Covid' may affect multiple parts of body and mind, doctors say
Ongoing illness after infection with Covid-19, sometimes called "long Covid", may not be one syndrome but possibly up to four causing a rollercoaster of symptoms affecting all parts of the body and mind, doctors said on Thursday.
In an initial report about long-term Covid-19, Britain's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) said one common theme among ongoing Covid patients - some of whom are seven months or more into their illness - is that symptoms appear in one physiological area, such as the heart or lungs, only to abate and then arise again in a different area.
"This review highlights the detrimental physical and psychological impact that ongoing Covid is having on many people's lives," said Dr Elaine Maxwell, who led the report.
Many thousands of people worldwide have linked up on social media platforms and online forums to share their experiences of ongoing Covid-19 symptoms. Some call themselves "long haulers" while others have named their condition "long Covid".
According to UK-based patient group LongCovidSOS, data from a King’s College London-devised symptom tracker app shows that 10% of Covid-19 patients remain unwell after three weeks, and up to 5% may continue to be sick for months.
- Reuters
Mainland China reports 11 new Covid-19 cases vs 20 a day earlier
Mainland China reported 11 new Covid-19 cases on 14 October, down from 20 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Thursday.
The National Health Commission said 10 of the cases were imported infections originating from overseas, compared with 14 a day earlier. One new local infection was reported in Qingdao, where the city government is seeking to test every person this week due to recent cases linked to a hospital treating imported infections.
The commission also reported 23 new asymptomatic cases, up from 18 a day earlier.
- Reuters
Germany sees 6 638 daily virus cases, highest since start of pandemic
New cases of coronavirus infections in Germany have soared to 6 638 in the past 24 hours, official data showed on Thursday, reaching a daily level not seen since the start of the pandemic.
The alarming jump in numbers came just hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the leaders of Germany's 16 federal states to agree tougher restrictions designed to slow the spread of the contagion.
The highest number of new cases previously recorded in one day was 6 294, on 28 March, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre.
- AFP
Russia reports 13 754 new coronavirus cases, daily record high of 286 deaths
Russia on Thursday recorded 13 754 new coronavirus cases and a record high of 286 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 23 491.
With 1 354 163 infections, the country of around 145 million has the world's fourth largest number of cases, behind only the US, India and Brazil.
- Reuters
Czechs to build field hospitals as Covid-19 cases soar
The Czech Republic will start building capacity for Covid-19 patients outside of hospitals, government officials said on Thursday, as the daily rise in new coronavirus cases hits fresh records.
Interior Minister Jan Hamacek told CTK news agency the army would start building an area for 500 hospital beds at a fairground in Prague from Saturday.
The country of 10.7 million has Europe's fastest rate of infections as cases have nearly doubled in October alone, to 139 290. The Health Ministry reported 9 544 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, its highest one-day tally so far.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters it was necessary to start building extra capacity.
- Reuters
Philippines reports 2 261 new coronavirus cases, 50 more deaths
The Philippine health ministry on Thursday recorded 2 261 novel coronavirus infections and 50 additional deaths.
In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases have increased to 348 698 while deaths reached 6 497, next only to Indonesia for the most Covid-19 casualties in the Southeast Asia region.
- Reuters
13 cases, 10 million tests: China swabs city after coronavirus outbreak
Almost 10 million people in the Chinese city of Qingdao have now been screened for the coronavirus, officials said on Thursday, as authorities rushed to quash an outbreak through an ambitious programme of mass testing.
Deputy mayor Luan Xin said more than 9.9 million samples had been collected and 7.6 million results returned, adding that no new cases had been found.
The city has now confirmed 13 cases, Luan told a regular briefing on Thursday, adding that health workers were on track to complete testing 9.4 million residents and another 1.5 million visitors by Friday - just five days after the programme was launched.
The mass testing follows the discovery of a dozen cases linked to the Qingdao Municipal Chest Hospital, which was treating coronavirus patients arriving from abroad.
- AFP
French health minister's home searched in Covid probe: ministry
French police searched the home of Health Minister Olivier Veran on Thursday as part of an inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, his office said.
Veran is one of several current or former ministers being probed over their response to the pandemic following complaints by victims of Covid-19 that they were slow to act to check its spread.
Veran's office was also searched as part of the investigation by a court that hears cases of alleged wrongdoing by ministers in the course of their duties.
Officers also searched the home of the director of the national health agency, Jerome Salomon.
Prime Minister Jean Castex is also under investigation over the pandemic, as is his predecessor Edouard Philippe and Veran's predecessor in the health ministry, Agnes Buzyn.
- AFP
Do you want to know more about this topic? Sign up for one of News24's 33 newsletters to receive the information you want in your inbox. Special newsletters are available to subscribers.

 
 
English (United States)