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European countries, from Denmark to Greece, have announced new restrictions to curb rising coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain is considering new measures to tackle an “inevitable” second wave of COVID-19.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * For an interactive graph that tracks global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
* For a US-centric tracker with a state by state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser. * Eikon users, see MacroVitals cpurl: //apps.cp./cms/? Navid = 1592404098 for case tracking and news summary.
EUROPE * A sudden increase in the number of daily deaths in France from COVID-19 is due to previously unreported cases in a hospital near Paris, according to statements by health authorities. The Health Ministry reported on Friday that the total number of deaths from COVID-19 rose by 154 to 31,249, a four-month high in the daily death toll and triple last week’s levels.
* New cases of coronavirus in Turkey are fueling tensions between doctors who say official figures minimize the scale of the outbreak and politicians who accuse the country’s medical association of undermining efforts to contain it. * Britain will likely need to reintroduce some national coronavirus lockdown measures sooner rather than later, a former government health adviser said on Saturday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that he did not want another national lockdown, but that further restrictions might be necessary as the country faced an “inevitable” second wave of COVID-19.
* Russia reported 6,065 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the first time the daily count has exceeded 6,000 in two months. The national infection count increased to 1,097,251. * The regional government of the Spanish capital, Madrid, ordered the closure on Monday in some of the poorest areas of the city and its outskirts that are home to some 850,000 people.
ASIA-PACIFIC * Victoria, the Australian state at the center of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, reported its lowest daily increase in infections in three months on Saturday, putting it on track to relax a tough lockdown on its capital Melbourne, at the end of the month. .
* India’s parliament session that started this week is likely to be interrupted after 30 lawmakers were found to be infected with the coronavirus, two senior parliament officials said, as the number of cases in the country rose to 5 ,3 millions. * The Philippine Ministry of Health reported 3,962 new coronavirus infections and 100 additional deaths on Saturday, both figures being the highest in five days. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has decided to maintain the 1 meter (three feet) social distance requirement on public transportation to reduce coronavirus infections, rejecting measures to reduce it to 30 centimeters (12 inches), his spokesman said.
AMERICAS * The new leader of Canada’s main conservative opposition party, Erin O’Toole, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, the party said in a statement.
* President Donald Trump said Friday that he hopes to have sufficient doses of a coronavirus vaccine available for all Americans by April. * The Trump administration reversed the guidance on testing for COVID-19 a second time, urging people exposed to people with the virus to get tested even if they show no symptoms.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Morocco signed an agreement with Russia’s R-Pharm to purchase a COVID-19 vaccine produced under a license from Britain’s AstraZeneca, the health ministry said, as its total number of cases approached 100,000.
* Israel entered a second nationwide lockdown at the start of the peak season for Jewish holidays, forcing residents to stay primarily at home amid a resurgence of new coronavirus cases. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Moderna Inc said it was on track to produce 20 million doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, while maintaining its goal of preparing between 500 million and 1 billion doses by 2021. ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Germany would relax insolvency rules under proposals presented on Saturday to help avoid a wave of bankruptcies in Europe’s largest economy, provided companies affected by the coronavirus crisis have a strong business model. * Global equity markets tumbled as investors sought direction after this week’s US Federal Reserve meeting and a surge in coronavirus cases in Europe shook confidence, while gold rose and safe haven purchases they sure raised the Japanese yen.
* Hungary will extend a moratorium on loan payments for some households and businesses until mid-2021, as its finance minister warned the economy could struggle to grow next year unless a coronavirus vaccine is found. (Compiled by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Sarah Morland, and Anita Kobylinska; edited by Philippa Fletcher, Arun Koyyur, and Alex Richardson)
