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Italy has revealed tough new restrictions for Christmas after recording the highest number of daily deaths from coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Figures show there were 993 COVID-19-Related deaths and 23,225 new cases Thursday. The previous record of 919 deaths occurred in March at the peak of the first wave.
Italy was the first Western country to be affected by COVID-19, and from December 21 to January 6, people will only be able to move between the 20 regions of the country for work, medical reasons or emergencies.
People are urged not to invite any guests into their homes during the holiday period, amid fears that the Christmas period could lead to a further increase in new infections. Midnight mass on Christmas Eve is also prohibited.
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A shop assistant in a Christmas shop in Rome, Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte added that movement between cities will also be prohibited on Christmas Day, Saint Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day, and the curfew will be in effect on New Year’s Eve from 10 pm until 7 am
“It is clear that this will be a different Christmas from the others but it will be no less authentic,” he added.
The tightest restrictions in Italy come as the United States battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.
The country set a single-day record for cases and deaths on Thursday, with 211,762 new infections and 2,858 deaths, the highest since the pandemic began.
Hospitalizations for the virus have also exceeded 100,000, more than double the number in early November.
California has imposed stay-at-home orders to go into effect when intensive care units approach capacity in the coming days.
Joe Biden urges American citizens to wear face masks
President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that he will retain Dr. Anthony Fauci as chief medical adviser and a member of his COVID-19 advisory team.
He also said he would be “happy” to receive a vaccine in public to demonstrate its safety and will urge the public to wear masks for 100 days to help reduce the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 275,000 Americans.
Brazil ranks third after the United States and India with the highest number of cases and deaths worldwide, and on Thursday it reported 755 deaths and 50,434 more cases.
The South American country has registered 6,487,084 cases since the pandemic began, while the total number of deaths has risen to 175,270.
South Korea has recorded 629 COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest number in nine months.
It brings the country’s total to 36,332, with another 536 COVID-19 related deaths.
After successfully suppressing two previous outbreaks this year, the East Asian country has been grappling with a further spike in cases since it relaxed social distancing rules in October.
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Elsewhere, Germany has already passed one million confirmed coronavirus cases.
The country reported 22,806 cases overnight, and has now had a total of 1,006,394 infections since the outbreak began.
Despite the growing number of cases, Germany has seen fewer deaths than many other European countries at 15,586, compared to more than 60,000 in Britain.
This is believed to be due to the country’s rapid response to the initial outbreak, massive testing, and a strong hospital system.
Meanwhile, Spain aims to vaccinate 15 to 20 million people by May or June next year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Friday.
