COVID cases around the globe top 60M

Fears that U.S. Thanksgiving will worsen crisis

PARIS/ BERLIN• Countries around the world agonized over new coronavirus curbs ahead of Christmas and other holidays as global infections surpassed 60 million on Wednesday and U.S. officials pleaded with Americans to stay home over Thanksgiving.

The holiday weekend is expected to fuel a surge of infections in the United States, which leads the world with soaring COVID-19 infections. Deaths from COVID-19 surpassed 2,000 in a single day for the first time since May on Tuesday and hospitalizations reached a record 88,000 on Wednesday as the country recorded 2.3 million new infections in the past two weeks.

“All the Thanksgiving travel ensures no one will catch us, either,” said Dr. Tatiana Prowell of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

“The U.S .` each person for himself ' mindset is killing hundreds of thousands of us. Devastating to watch,” Prowell said on Twitter.

U.S. president-elect Joe Biden joined in the calls for safety, urging people to forgo big family gatherings, wear protective masks and maintain social distancing.

“I know we can and we will beat this virus,” Biden said in a speech delivered in a near-empty Wilmington, Delaware, theatre to a handful of staffers and reporters wearing masks sitting inside socially distanced circles on the floor. Biden did not wear a mask.

“Life is going to return to normal. I promise you. This will happen. This will not last forever,” said Biden, a 78-year-old Democrat.

Hopes for a successful vaccine, boosted by Pfizer, Astrazeneca and Moderna, have given world stock markets a lift.

But an approved vaccine is unlikely to be widely available for months while scientists insist on the continued need for vigilance and politicians consider curbs for Christmas amid a second wave of the pandemic.

In Europe, one million new cases were recorded over just five days, for a total of more than 16 million cases, including 365,000 deaths.

Governments across Europe are struggling to impose restrictions on public life while allowing families to celebrate Christmas without further fuelling outbreaks.

While a national lockdown in England is due to end next week, Germany, Spain, and Italy have all announced restrictions over the holiday period, including limits on house guests.

Germany on Wednesday reported a record 410 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, before its 16 federal state leaders and Chancellor Angela Merkel were due to discuss an extension of restrictions into December and for Christmas and New Year.

Italy reported 853 deaths related to COVID-19 on Tuesday, soaring from 630 the day before and the highest daily toll since March 28.

In France, there were a further 16,282 new confirmed cases, up sharply from the 9,155 new cases recorded on Tuesday and 4,452 on Monday, and taking the total number of confirmed cases to 2,170,097.

The death toll rose to 50,618 — up by more than 380 from the previous day. There were a total of 29,972 patients in hospital with COVID-19, and 4,148 in intensive care units.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday people could start being vaccinated by the end of the year.

“We will very likely, and pending authorization by health authorities, start vaccination of the most vulnerable populations, hence the elderly, as soon as the end of December, early January,” he said in a televised address.

Air France-klm is among airlines gearing up to transport millions of doses of temperature-sensitive vaccines.

“It's going to be a major logistics challenge,” said Air France cargo chief Christophe Boucher.

Macron said France, in its fourth week of lockdown, will start easing its COVID-19 restrictions this weekend so that by Christmas, shops, theatres and cinemas will reopen and people can spend the holiday with their families.

The four nations of the United Kingdom, which have devised their own pandemic policies until now, agreed to relax restrictions for Christmas to allow up to three households to meet at home for five days.

The government will spend $374 billion this year to “get our country through” the pandemic, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned against relaxing lockdowns too quickly.

“We must learn from the summer and not repeat the same mistakes,” she told the European Parliament. “Relaxing too fast and too much is a risk for a third wave after Christmas.”

Lithuania and Norway extended restrictions until mid-december.