Record number of cases in US

AMERICA has recorded 100,000 new cases of coronavirus in a day – the highest in the pandemic.

A total of more than nine million cases have now been reported in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University, with 21 states experiencing outbreaks.

Meanwhile, Belgium has become the latest European country to announce a return to a national lockdown as figures show it has the highest infection rate in Europe.

Non-essential shops and businesses offering personal services – such as hair salons – will close from tomorrow until the middle of December.

Gatherings in public spaces must be limited to four people and supermarkets can only sell essential goods.

Households are also allowed just one visitor and the half-term school holiday has been extended until November 15. Belgium suffered one of the highest death rates in the world during the first wave. Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said: “The pressure on our hospitals is huge. These are last-chance measures to get the figures down.”

Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke insisted the new measures “will not plunge people into isolation”. He added: “It’s a lockdown, but a lockdown that allows factories to operate, that will allow schools to open cautiously.”

In Slovakia, a scheme to test everyone over the age of 10 for Covid is underway. But armed forces chiefs say there are not enough trained workers to do it.