Fresh worries in Europe over soaring cases
Germany is facing a “very serious” rise in coronavirus cases, the head of the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre said on Thursday, as the country reported a record 11,287 new infections.
It is still possible to bring the virus under control through “systematic compliance with restrictive measures”, Lothar Wieler said. But “the overall situation has become very serious”, he added.
Germany, like many European countries, has been facing a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases for several weeks. Thursday’s caseload far exceeds the previous record of 7,830 recorded last Friday, and is a steep jump from the 7,595 cases reported on Wednesday.
Faced with the rebound, authorities toughened measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, such as banning large gatherings. Local restrictions have also been imposed - in Berlin, it is now compulsory to wear a mask on certain busy streets.
On Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel asked citizens to cut down on socialising, encouraging them to stay at home instead. “What winter will be, what our Christmas will be, will be decided in the days and weeks to come,” she warned.
At least 392,049 people have been infected in Germany since the outbreak of the virus, with 9,905 deaths reported.
Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday said he will recommend imposing the highest level of highest level of restrictions nationwide, after the country reported a new record of over 10,000 daily cases. Coronavirus infections in Poland have doubled in less than three weeks.
In the US, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals hit 40,000 for the first time since August on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as the nation battles a surge in infections led by Midwest states.
Hospitals have seen a 36% rise in coronavirus patients over the past four weeks and Midwest hospitals are setting new records every day. On Friday, the US recorded 69,478 new cases, the highest single-day total since July 24 and the fifth-highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, US health and human services secretary Alex Azar said the US is likely to have enough safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines available to inoculate the most vulnerable Americans by the end of 2020,
The US government is “cautiously optimistic” that one or two vaccines, likely from Pfizer or Moderna, will be available by the end of the year and can begin to be distributed to Americans, officials said.
UK government extends wage bill support
British chancellor Rishi Sunak on Thursday again extended and expanded schemes to support employees, companies and the self-employed over the next six months, as more areas in England went into the highest alert level following a surge in cases.
The support, which since April included the state picking up varying percentages of the wage bill of employees, the income of the self-employed and various incentives to companies, total nearly £200 billion, Sunak told the House of Commons.