As the number of new COVID-19 cases is rising around the world, many countries are re-introducing tough restrictions to fight the second wave of coronavirus.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 8,755,581 cases, including 226,383 fatalities and 3,460,455 recoveries.
India and Brazil, which come next in the list of the most-affected countries, have reached 7,946,429 and 5,439,641 infections in total, respectively.
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The increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in Russia may come to an end within three weeks, Vladimir Chulanov, the chief infectiology official in the Russian Health Ministry, told Sputnik.
"We expect this second rise [in the number of coronavirus cases] not to last for a long time. Yes, it will last longer than the first one because it is of a bigger scale, in principle. However, it is unlikely to last longer than two or four weeks ... It is likely to long for three weeks, the situation may stabilize then," Chulanov said.
Commenting on a possible threat of the third wave of the epidemic, he said that it was too early to make any forecasts on this issue.
The World Health Organization's (WHO) Emergency Committee will hold on Thursday the fifth meeting to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The fifth meeting of the Emergency Committee (EC), convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding COVID-19, will be held on 29 October. The EC will issue a statement following this, with recommendations to WHO and the Member States,” the WHO said in a statement on late Wednesday.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Turkey has risen by 2,305 to 368,513 within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since April 29, the Turkish Health Ministry said.
Turkey is currently facing the second wave of the pandemic like many other countries.
“Today, 2,305 new cases have been discovered, the total number of those infected has reached 368,513. 77 patients have died today, the death toll amounts to 10,027 people,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter page on late Wednesday.
The number of recoveries has increased by 1,662 to 319,181 within the same period of time.
Moscow has registered 66 deaths of patients infected with COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the Russian capital's death toll to 6,644, the city's coronavirus response centre said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Another 66 patients, who were diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus infection, died in Moscow," the centre said.
In the previous day, 75 people infected with the coronavirus died in Moscow.
Switzerland has imposed an indefinite curfew on bars and restaurants from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting October 29 amid a COVID-19 resurgence, the government said on Wednesday.
Discos and dance clubs have been shut down altogether.
The country has also made the wearing of face masks mandatory in all closed spaces, public transport, public transport stops, on the territory adjacent to restaurants and shops, in the workplace if social distancing cannot be maintained and busy pedestrian zones, as well as in any public place where it is impossible to keep a distance.
In addition, public gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned, except for some political meetings. Private gatherings of more than 10 are also banned. Recreational sporting and cultural activities are only permitted indoors for up to 15 people if a distance can be maintained and if masks are worn. A mask does not have to be worn in large gyms and tennis halls.
The government has warned that additional steps may be taken should the measures prove to be ineffective in curbing the virus. The new measures are nationwide, though cantons can toughen them, if necessary.
Starting on Thursday, the Alpine nation is also altering the rules of adding countries to a quarantine list.
"Under the amended provisions, only countries and areas with an incidence rate that is 60 higher than that in Switzerland will now be placed on the quarantine list," the government said.
Travelers from Russia, thus, no longer have to undergo a quarantine upon arrival. Andorra, Armenia, Belgium and the Czech Republic, as well as three regions of France, namely French Polynesia, Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France, are still on the list.
Restrictions are also being lifted on people traveling to the country for business and medical purposes.
At least 5,325 United Nations employees have contracted the novel coronavirus and 64 of them died, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
“The [number of] cases that I have as of today, United Nations-wide, is 5,325 cases. Sadly, we’ve had 64 fatalities. In the Secretariat here in New York, we had 130 cases,” Dujarric said.
On Tuesday, the United Nations headquarters building in New York had suspended all in-person meetings of the UN General Assembly and its committees scheduled to meet this week. The suspension came after five people were reported to have tested positive for novel coronavirus in one diplomatic mission on the UN Security Council.
In July, the United Nations started to gradually resume in-person gatherings following a lockdown placed in New York in March amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Sweden has registered 1,980 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is an all-time record for the lockdown-free country, the Public Health Agency reported on Wednesday.
The figure pushes the cumulative tally close to 118,000. The previous daily record high of 1,870 cases was reported on October 23.
Another nine COVID-19 patients have died over the past day, taking the death toll to 5,927.
Sweden has been one of only a handful of countries to have not implemented a nationwide lockdown in order to curb the coronavirus disease. The government has not ordered schools, restaurants, and shops to close throughout the pandemic so far, although public gatherings were limited to a maximum of 50 people.
The coronavirus incidence in Germany is very high, and if this continues, the healthcare system will reach its limits in a few weeks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
"We are talking about the fact that the rate of the virus spread is especially high, we see an exponential increase in numbers. ... Today we had twice as many new infections as a week ago, similarly with other important indicators. For example, the number of patients in intensive care has doubled over the last 10 days," Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin following an online meeting with the heads of federal states on countering the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of patients who are on lung ventilation has also doubled in 9 days, she noted.
"Our healthcare system today is still coping with these challenges, but if these rates continue, then we will reach the limits of the capabilities of the health care system within few weeks," the chancellor added.
The German Chancellor added that the country's healthcare system will collapse within a few weeks if the spreading of the coronavirus infection remains at the current level.
Merkel promised to provide financial support to smaller companies hit by a new partial lockdown: they will get up to 75% of their income.
Spain's tuberculosis vaccine will be tested for protection against the novel coronavirus during clinical trials in Argentina, the Efe news agency reported.
The RUTI vaccine, developed by a researcher from Catalonia's Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, is produced by Spanish pharmaceutical company Archivel Farma.
According to the firm, the vaccine, which was originally developed against tuberculosis, is effective against other viral infections, including the coronavirus.
The trained immunity-based vaccine has already reportedly received a greenlight from Argentina's National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices for nine-month double-blind, placebo-controlled trials to determine its effectiveness in preventing medical personnel from being infected with the coronavirus and reducing mortality.
The vaccine will be tested on 369 health care workers from medical centres across Argentina.
German virologists fail to determine when and how a patient contracted the coronavirus in 80 percent of all cases, Germany's Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said on Wednesday.
"I can only draw your attention to the fact that the Robert Koch Institute [subordinate to the German Ministry of Health], which is definitely and undeniably competent, points to that in 80 percent of the cases we do not know and cannot prove when the infection happened," Altmaier said at the German parliament.
Lawmakers asked the minister to address the calls by German food business owners not to shut them down during the new lockdown — a "mild" one, which the German government is expected to announce later in the day — as the majority of such businesses have ensured the proper implementation of the state-ordered preventive measures and neither has been involved in a new outbreak.
According to Altmaier, not shutting down food businesses during the lockdown in November will result in a 10-15 percent reduction in social contacts, whereas curbing Germany's current rate of infection will require "at least a 50-percent reduction."
The minister said the spread of the coronavirus in Germany has reached exponential growth, which means that the higher the toll, the faster it grows.
Over the past day, German health authorities registered the biggest increase yet in the number of new cases per day, totaling almost 15,000. Germany's cumulative toll has now reached 464,239 cases, including 10,183 deaths.
The UK county of Nottinghamshire is set to enter tier three, or alert level very high, of England's three-tiered COVID-19 system on Friday as the authorities look to curb a rapid rise in new cases of the disease in the region, according to domestic media reports.
Both the BBC and Sky News broadcasters reported on Wednesday that the measures will extend across the whole of the county, including the city of Nottingham and the major towns of Mansfield and Newark-on-Trent.
Four local councils in Nottinghamshire – Nottingham, Rushcliffe, Gedling, and Broxtowe - were expected to be placed in tier three, or the highest level, on Thursday, although this decision was delayed as four other councils, including Ashfield, were added to the list.
The UK government will provide a package of financial support measures to help businesses that are forced to close temporarily while the county is placed in tier three measures, the Sky News broadcaster stated.
Tier three measures forbid all household mixing, whether indoors or outdoors, and have led to the closure of pubs, restaurants, bookmakers, and casinos in other regions. At present, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, and Warrington are currently in tier three.
According to the NottinghamshireLive news portal, 550 new cases of COVID-19 were registered across the county on Tuesday, down from the 575 new positive tests recorded on the preceding day.
Across the whole of the United Kingdom, 22,885 new positive tests were registered by the Department of Health and Social Care on Tuesday, taking the country's case total to 917,575. Public health officials also registered 367 new fatalities, taking the cumulative death toll to 45,365.
The Ukrainian cabinet on Wednesday extended the pandemic-induced state of emergency in the country until December 31.
The current state of emergency in the country is in effect until October 31.
"Establish an emergency situation regime for a unified state civil protection system throughout Ukraine until December 31, 2020," the decree, published on the government's website, said.
The document says that the measure is necessary due to "a significant deterioration" of the epidemiological situation related to the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine.
Since May, the country has implemented a system of a so-called "adaptive quarantine." All regions are divided into four types of quarantine zones depending on the number of cases. Each zone has its own restrictive measures.
To date, Ukraine has confirmed over 363,000 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 6,755.
European Council President Charles Michel expressed hope on Wednesday that three or four vaccines against the coronavirus will hopefully be available in the European Union by the end of the year or at the beginning of 2021.
"We hope that by the end of this year and the beginning of the next year, three to four vaccines will gradually become available. The European Commission has signed several contracts on behalf of the EU member states to ensure that we will have access to vaccines as soon as they become available," Michel told the French RTL radio station.
At the same time, Michel said that logistical issues may emerge during the vaccination of the population. The council's president called on the bloc’s member states to make all decisions regarding the vaccination process at the EU level.
Earlier in the month, the council’s president announced that EU leaders would discuss the current COVID-19 situation via a video conference on October 29.
Many European countries have been seeing a spike in daily registered COVID-19 cases in the fall. To curb the spread of the virus, some EU member states have re-imposed lockdown measures.
Coronavirus-related misinformation and disinformation are harming efforts to curb the spread of the disease in "crisis-affected states" such as El Salvador and Afghanistan, a prominent US-based humanitarian organization said on Wednesday.
In a press release, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) expressed its concern over the spread of false information pertaining to the COVID-19 outbreak that was hindering medical professionals' efforts to reduce the rate of infection and prevent deaths.
"The International Rescue Committee is extremely concerned about the spread of COVID-related misinformation across the crisis-affected countries where we work … The IRC is concerned that unless responders are able to engage with communities and gain the trust of populations, this infodemic will imperil an already tenuous pandemic response, impacting the world’s most vulnerable," the IRC said.
The humanitarian organization pointed to an example from El Salvador, where rumours have spread that drinking specific tea leaves or herbs will prevent individuals from contracting the disease. The IRC also said that coronavirus-related misinformation was spreading in Colombia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Syria, and Afghanistan.
The IRC has established the Signpost project, which sees frontline responders and support personnel provide verified information and updates to as many as 1.6 million users in seven languages worldwide.
The World Health Organization and other UN agencies have warned that misinformation related to the coronavirus disease is costing lives.
It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement; hence here’s me keeping it simple — I’ve tested positive for #COVID and would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest 🙏
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) October 28, 2020
The government of Thailand has approved the Thai COVID-19 response center's decision to extend the state of emergency until the end of November due to the continuously unfavorable epidemiological environment, Deputy Government Spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said on Wednesday.
The coronavirus-related state of emergency has been in place in Thailand since 26 March.
"The COVID-19 state of emergency has been extended in Thailand due to the ongoing pandemic and increase in the number of infected people in many countries and the ongoing risk of a second wave in Thailand due to this," the spokesperson said following a cabinet meeting.
This marks already the seventh extension of the COVID-19 state of emergency in Thailand. While the Thai state of emergency entails no particular restrictions for the public, it gives the government the power to quickly pass decisions, should the need arise, in circumvention of bureaucratic barriers.
As of Wednesday, Thai health authorities have confirmed a cumulative total of 3,759 coronavirus cases, including 59 deaths, whereas of all new cases recorded over the past two months only seven were of local transmission.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the European Union would allocate 100 million euros ($117 million) to purchase coronavirus express tests.
European Council President Charles Michel said recently that researches were focused on developing express tests, including those based on saliva analysis, which should help authorities faster detect and isolate coronavirus-positive people.
"We will mobilize 100 million euros in urgent assistance to purchase express tests that we will distribute among EU member states," von der Leyen said.
The Ecuadorian government will need almost $150 million to purchase vaccines against COVID-19, Health Vice Minister of Ecuador Xavier Solorzano said.
"The initial amount is nearly 150 million [dollars] that we need to start [buying the vaccine], but that will guarantee that around 8 million people can be vaccinated, that is about 60 percent of the population," Solorzano told a local radio station on Tuesday.
Ealier, Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said that Ecuador was negotiating with nine COVID-19 vaccine producers to import required doses.
Ecuador has reached an agreement with American Pfizer and German BioNTech for the supply of nearly two million doses in 2021.
The Ecuadorian government also signed a letter of intent with American Covaxx to receive at least two million doses of the vaccine that is currently on the second phase of development.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Ecuador has registered over 163,000 positive cases, including almost 142,000 patients who have recovered and 12,588 people who died from the disease.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Wednesday that 10 billion rubles ($127.6 million) be allocated immediately to Russian regions to assist their coronavirus response.
"As for assistance to the regions, I know that the 10 billion rubles sum has been practically agreed upon, it should be done and it should be done right now ... I am now talking about regional assistance, the money should be allocated for transport services for those in need, for purchasing personal protective gear, for improving the material and technical fitting, for testing, for the fight against COVID exactly, not some other goals," Putin told the Russian cabinet.
The president announced that the Russian government made a decision to provide coronavirus patients with mild symptoms, who could be treated outside hospitals, with free medications.
"The government has already discussed this problem and now it has made a decision to provide our citizens, people [with mild symptoms] who need this help, with free medications and therefore enable them to receive treatment in the in the outpatient setting," Putin said.
Regular medical services have been partially suspended in the Belarusian capital to concentrate the workforce on tackling the coronavirus-related needs, Dmitry Cherednichenko, the deputy head of the Health Committee of Minsk City Executive Committee, said on Wednesday.
"Regular assistance to people with chronic heart disorders has been suspended in Minsk. Regular surgical and gastroenterological assistance has also been temporarily suspended," Cherednichenko said on his Telegram channel.
Regular services in traumatological, gynecological, ophthalmological and oncological medical assistance, as well as assistance to children, will continue being provided as normal, the official said, specifying that such services will only be available in hospitals "not summoned for tackling the coronavirus."
According to Cherednichenko, authorities in Minsk anticipated a second COVID-19 wave and have fully prepared to handle it.
"We purposefully did not dismantle the separating devices [in the hospitals after the first wave], and now all facilities are prepared to continue to work as specialized for COVID-19," the official said.
Minsk's capacity includes 2,068 beds, over 100 ventilators and personal protection equipment in an amount enough for at least one month, Cherednichenko said.
As of Wednesday, the Belarusian health authorities confirmed 94,609 coronavirus cases, including 965 deaths.
Both government and private schools in India's Capital Delhi will continue to remain closed until further notice, Delhi's deputy chief and education minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday.
Previously, the schools in Delhi were ordered to remain closed until 31 October.
Russia has registered 16,202 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 16,550 yesterday, taking the cumulative total to 1,563,976, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Wednesday.
"In the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 16,202 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 4,114 (25.4 percent) were detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response centre said, adding that the case count has reached 1,563,976.
The largest increase was identified in Moscow, where 3,670 new positive tests were registered (down from 4,312 yesterday). A total of 727 new cases were recorded in St. Petersburg (up from 721 yesterday) and 505 cases were confirmed in the Moscow Region (up from 496 yesterday). No new cases were recorded in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.
The response center reported a new record of 346 COVID-19 fatalities, up from 320 yesterday, raising the country’s death toll to 26,935.
A total of 12,361 coronavirus patients were confirmed to have recovered over the past day, down from 12,844 yesterday, bringing the total to 1,171,301.
According to the national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, over 58.7 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 357,652 suspected carriers remain under medical monitoring.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to unveil a series of fresh restrictive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday.
Media outlets recently speculated that the French authorities was mulling the introduction of nationwide lockdown for four weeks among other counter-virus measures.
"In accordance with article 50-1 of the Constitution, I will present Thursday to the elected representatives of the Nation new measures made essential to fight against the second wave of the epidemic of #COVID19," Castex tweeted late on Tuesday.
French authorities will confirm the decision on strategy against the virus during Wednesday's second defense council meeting. Meanwhile, according to media reports, lockdown could come into effect on Thursday and would be more flexible compared to restrictions during the first COVID-19 outbreak in spring.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said he had tested positive for COVID-19.
"One of my staff members contracted coronavirus. At midnight, my test result was announced, it was positive too," Ghalibaf wrote on Twitter.
He said he was currently under quarantine and hoped he could continue to fulfill his duties.
On Tuesday, Iran set two anti-records at once - for coronavirus death toll and infections per day. The Ministry of Health said that over the past 24 hours, 6,968 new cases of COVID-19 infection had been confirmed and 346 people died.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mexico has topped 900,000, with more than 89,000 deaths, a senior health official reported.
“In the past day, 643 new deaths and 5,942 new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the system,” Jose Luis Alomia, director of epidemiology at the Mexican Ministry of Health, said at a press conference broadcast on the agency’s Twitter.
