Coronavirus: Italy’s cases soar as Western Australia reopens borders

More than 53.3 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded worldwide with more than 1.3 million deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

The following is a summary of the latest developments on the virus around the world:

UK

A further 462 people have died in the United Kingdom within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 51,766.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 67,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

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The Government said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 26,860 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,344,356.

Italy

The southern Italian city of Naples is braced for further restrictions as hospitals risked becoming overwhelmed by new cases, with medics forced to bring oxygen tanks outside to treat desperate patients waiting in their cars.

"The situation in Campania is out of control," the Italian foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said after a video emerged showing an 84-year-old man dead in a hospital bathroom where he had been waiting for a Covid test. "We need urgent restrictions, people are dying." Hundreds of people from Campania have been travelling to neighbouring Lazio in search of urgent medical help as political wrangling continues over whether to impose a total lockdown in the region.

Campania is expected to be upgraded to the “red zone” from Sunday, meaning people will have to stay home unless going out for work, shopping or medical reasons, and bars, restaurants and most shops will close.

Italy’s rate of new confirmed cases reached 650 per 100,000 people. Confirmed cases hit a daily pandemic high of nearly 41,000 and 550 people died of the virus in 24 hours, bringing the country’s known death toll to 44,139. Italy has reported a total of more than 1.1. million virus cases.

Germany

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 22,461 to 775,556, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The reported death toll rose by 178 to 12,378, the tally showed.

German government spokesman Stefan Seibert said measures "were not expected to be relaxed" by next week.

Federal and regional leaders are due to meet on Monday to discuss whether the country’s closure of all gyms and entertainment venues has slowed the disease’s spread, but the health minister, Jens Spahn, said it was too early to say.

Christmas markets, traditional St Martin’s Day parades and Germany’s carnival season, which should have started this week, have all been cancelled, while more than 300,000 school pupils are in quarantine along with about 30,000 teachers.

Portugal

Confirmed cases in Portugal pushed past 200,000 with new daily infections reaching a record high of 6,653 and a new record of 2,799 Covid patients in hospital. A state of emergency due to last until November 23rd is likely to be extended.

"When we reach the peak of the disease, it will still take weeks to see a drop in demand for hospitals and even more weeks to reduce the fatality count," the health minister, Marta Temido, told a news conference.

France

The French prime minister, Jean Castex, on Friday said upcoming regional elections due in March should be delayed until June, a day after confirming the country’s two week-old lockdown would not be eased for at least another fortnight.

While the rate of increase continues to slow significantly, France has the fourth highest number of confirmed cases in the world, at almost 1.9 million, and the number of people in hospital with the coronavirus has reached a new all-time high of 32,638.

Mr Castex said France could start to loosen restrictions from December 1st providing case numbers continue to fall, first by allowing non-essential shops to re-open. But bars and restaurants would not be permitted to resume operating until later still, he said.

Several European countries including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Ireland have reported a slowdown in new infections since introducing strict new measures last month, but hospital services remain under severe pressure.

Sweden

Sweden recorded a record 5,990 new cases on Friday, its highest since the start of the pandemic, the national health agency said, as well as 42 new deaths taking its overall toll to 6,164.

The Scandinavian country, which has a Covid death tally per million inhabitants many times higher than its Nordic neighbours, is battling a second wave that health officials had hoped its light-touch, anti-lockdown approach would mitigate.

Russia

Russia reported on Saturday a record daily increase of 22,702 new coronavirus infections, taking the national tally to 1,903,253.

Authorities also reported 391 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 32,834. Russia, which has the world’s fifth largest number of cases prepared to close restaurants, bars and nightclubs on Friday between 11pm and 6am until mid-January in an effort to contain the pandemic. Officials warned of raids and fines for establishments that do not comply. The capital has also moved university and college students to online learning and recommended that school children, already learning from home, keep travel to a minimum.

Ukraine

Ukraine registered a record 12,524 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, its health minister said on Saturday, up from a high of 11,787 reported on November 13th. Maksym Stepanov said the new cases had taken the total confirmed infections to 525,176, with 9,508 deaths.

Australia

Australia’s three most populous states (Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland) on Saturday recorded at least a week with no local transmissions of the new coronavirus, boding well for the country’s recovery from the pandemic after a flare-up marred an impressive early response. Victoria, the epicentre of the resurgence of the virus in recent months, recorded its 15th consecutive day of no new infections and no related deaths, two weeks after the state emerged from one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns.

Victorians still must wear masks and public gatherings are limited, but more easing is expected in a week. Western Australia, which had its borders closed to the rest of the country for seven months, had them reopened on Saturday. The country has seen just over 27,700 cases of the new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic - about the daily number of illnesses recorded in the United Kingdom in recent days. Australia has recorded 907 Covid-19 deaths.

US

The US set yet another daily record for new coronavirus cases on Friday, topping 184,000, while president Donald Trump promised imminent distribution of a vaccine - except to New York, which he threatened to leave out for political reasons - and the president-elect, Joe Biden, pleaded with Americans to follow basic mitigation measures.

The virus is returning to New York City after it was in effect banished over the summer, with the city’s seven-day average of positive Covid-19 tests climbing to 2.6 per cent on November 11th.

The governor, Andrew Cuomo, urged New Yorkers to "do their part" and "take this seriously" as officials started rolling back some reopenings, prompting fears of more dramatic lockdowns loom and possibly schools closures. Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City schools could end in-person classes as soon as Monday and parents should be considering their options.

The pandemic has risen to crisis levels in much of the nation, especially the Midwest, as hospital executives warn of dwindling bed space and as coroners deploy mobile morgues.

Canada

Residents of Canada's financial capital were asked to avoid leaving their homes except for essential reasons to slow a virus outbreak that has left hospitals at risk of being overwhelmed. Toronto, the country's largest city, and most of its suburbs are being placed in a "control-red" zone under Ontario's Covid-19 framework, premier Doug Ford said Friday. The move means tighter restrictions on most indoor businesses and activities – closing movie theaters and some personal care services and placing tight limits on restaurants and fitness centers.

Mexico

Mexico’s health ministry reported on Friday 5,558 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the country and 568 deaths, bringing the official totals to 997,393 cases and 97,624 dead. Health officials have previously said that the real number of cases is likely significantly higher than the reported figures.

Brazil

Brazil on Friday registered 29,070 new cases of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry said, bringing the total to 5,810,652. Deaths rose by 456 to 164,737.

South Korea

South Korea reported 205 new coronavirus cases as of Friday midnight, rising above 200 for the first time since September, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday. Of the cases, 166 were domestically transmitted and 39 imported. More than 65 per cent of the locally transmitted cases were from Seoul and Gyeonggi province, a densely populated region near the capital. South Korea began fining people who fail to wear masks in public on Friday, when it reported 191 new coronavirus cases, with daily infections continuing to creep higher.–Reuters, Guardian, Bloomberg