Coronavirus live news: France lockdown to last at least two more weeks; UK deaths rise by 563
Italy registers 636 daily deaths; French PM says no easing of restrictions as cases remain high; UK cases hit a daily record of nearly 33,500
Summary
Here is a recap of the main developments from the last few hours:
- Portugal announced an expansion of a nightly curfew and weekend lockdown already in place across more than 100 municipalities to a further 77 areas as it scrambles to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The UK government said a further 563 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the official tally to 50,928. However, separate figures from the UK’s statistics agencies, which take into account all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, put the death toll at almost 67,000.
- The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, issued a 30-day advisory telling residents to stay at home and not to have visitors in the home, including for Thanksgiving. If residents travel out of the state, they must quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative virus test, she said.
- Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has agreed to extend Covid-19 restrictions for between one and two weeks, falling short of stricter measures demanded by Irish nationalist parties. The five-party power-sharing executive agreed the reopening of cafes and close-contact services such as hairdressers will be delayed by a week and the reopening of bars and restaurants serving alcohol will be delayed by two weeks.
- Italy recorded 636 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours – its highest daily figure since 6 April. The number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 compared with Wednesday – up from 32,961 to 37,978. The northern region of Lombardy remains the hardest-hit area.
- France’s lockdown is to last for at least two more weeks, with the number of people in hospital infected by the coronavirus now higher than at the peak of the first wave, the prime minister, Jean Castex, told a news conference. He said that if the current slowdown in the rate of new cases was maintained, France would pass the peak of the second wave early next week but that if the spread of infections began to accelerate he would not hesitate to impose stricter measures.
- Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 40,000 after 457 more fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of people who have died from Covid in Iran, which has the highest death count in the Middle East, now stands at 40,121.
- A senior health department official in Delhi has said that Diwali, starting on 14 November, could be “a super spreader event”. India has so far reported about 8.6 million coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the US – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the US’s 711.
- A controversial French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – is to appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches. Marseille-based Didier Raoult is accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug, which has been trumpeted by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
- Russia, Croatia, Greece were among countries to report respective daily records in the number of infections.
- Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, officials said today. “The curve is flattening,” said Lothar Wieler, who heads the country’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). He said it showed anti-transmission measures were working but warned there was still scope for the situation to deteriorate in coming weeks.