12/21/2020

• The E.U. granted authorization on Monday for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for millions of doses to be transferred by Pfizer to the bloc’s 27 member states. Immunization is expected to begin in most countries over the next few days and gather speed in early January.
• The E.U.’s drug authority, the European Medicines Agency, is expected to give its decision on the Moderna vaccine authorization request on Jan. 6.
• The creators of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine Monday signed a memorandum of intent with British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to work together on developing a vaccine, a major boost to Russia’s efforts to advance its vaccines to the global market. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that by working together with AstraZeneca, Russia was following WHO advice to pool COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
• More than 40 countries across the globe have shut down travel from England in response to reports of a more contagious strain of COVID-19 in England, though scientists have yet to determine whether the new strain is indeed more contagious.
• France imposed a 48-hour suspension of freight transit across the English Channel, leaving thousands of truck drivers stranded in their vehicles on Monday as the roads leading to England’s ports were turned into parking lots.
• Saudi Arabia announced a one-week ban on international travel.
• Air passengers from the U.K. arriving in Germany were detained at airports on Sunday night.
• Spain announced that only Spaniards and residents of Spain will be allowed to fly to Spain from Britain, and implemented tighter border checks with Gibraltar, the British territory located at the southern tip of Spain.
• Hong Kong on Monday closed its borders to travelers from Britain.
• Israel is halting air travel to most foreign nationals beginning on Wednesday.
• Peru suspended flights from Europe for two weeks and has put its health and travel authorities on high alert.
• Eight countries, including The Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey, have barred travelers from South Africa, where cases of the new strain have also been reported.
• Qatar received its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, just hours after regulators approved it for use in the Gulf state. Qatari officials say the country will inoculate all residents free of charge.
• Nigeria is advising its sub-regions to limit public gatherings and close bars and night clubs over the next five weeks amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases. Lagos, the country’s largest city, has ordered schools to shut indefinitely, banned concerts, carnivals, and street parties, and asked certain civil servants to work from home.
• Morocco will impose a three-week curfew from 9 PM to 6 AM starting on Wednesday, to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Shops, malls, and restaurants will have to close at 8 PM across the country.
• Seoul, South Korea has banned gatherings of more than five people, though weddings and funerals are capped at 50 people. The restrictions, which will go into effect on Wednesday, will remain in place through Jan. 3. As of Sunday, there were just four intensive care unit beds remaining in the greater Seoul area. The government has ordered private hospitals to free up more than 300 beds to be used for coronavirus patients.
• Authorities in Sydney, Australia have put about a quarter of a million people in the city’s northern beach suburbs into a strict lockdown and restricted gatherings across the rest of the city in a bid to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak.
• Ontario, Canada will enter sweeping COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday that will last until at least Jan. 23. Most stores, aside from pharmacies and groceries, will be closed except for delivery and curbside pickup. Indoor gatherings will be limited to groups made up of household members with the exception of weddings and religious services involving no more than 10 people. The majority of students will shift to online learning after their holiday break, and residents are being urged to avoid all but essential travel.
• Citing poor pay, lack of medical insurance, and inadequate PPE, doctors across Kenya went on strike on Monday as coronavirus cases continued to rise nationwide.
• A 63-year-old coronavirus patient has been arrested in Hong Kong after he escaped from a hospital isolation ward. Hong Kong has strict quarantine and isolation requirements for people who contract the virus and their close contacts.
• Thailand has eased travel restrictions for citizens from 56 countries in a bid to boost the country’s pandemic-hit tourism industry. Visitors will be required to undergo a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine.
• Thai authorities this week plan to test more than 10,000 people connected to a major seafood market after a spike in COVID-19 cases. The cluster around the shrimp market, a hub for migrant workers, marks Thailand’s worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic.
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• Global Cases: 75,704,857      Total Deaths: 1,690,061

12/18/2020

• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for the coronavirus. Several E.U. leaders, including Portuguese prime minister António Costa, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, and European Council president Charles Michel, will self-quarantine after meeting with Macron on Monday.
• The WHO said Thursday that an international team of scientists will visit China next month to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, about a year after it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
• The global scheme to deliver vaccines to poorer countries, called Covax, faces a “very high” risk of failure, potentially leaving billions of people with no access to vaccines until as late as 2024, according to internal documents.
• Once approved, the E.U.’s vaccine rollout will begin on Dec. 27. The rollout will depend on authorization by the E.U.’s drug regulatory authority, the European Medicines Agency, which is set to deliberate approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday. The bloc’s 27 member states have delegated the entire vaccine acquisition, authorization, and distribution process to the European Commission, its executive branch.
• Saudi Arabia began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday in an initial stage of vaccinations that will include people who are older than 65, obese, or immunodeficient, according to the state news agency.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said his government was considering giving each member of the public just one dose of its main coronavirus vaccine, instead of two, in order to get the vaccine to more people quickly.
• China has purchased 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, its first order of a foreign-made COVID-19 vaccine.
• Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Wednesday that he will be the first in the country to be immunized against COVID-19 and that the vaccine, once approved, will be available at no cost to all citizens. Earlier this month, Indonesia received 1.2 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech. The vaccine, called CoronaVac, is still awaiting approval from Indonesia's food and drug agency.
• South Korea is struggling to contain its biggest wave of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. The country reported more than 1,000 new cases for the second straight day on Thursday and saw its largest daily death toll, with 22 deaths.
• South Africa has entered sweeping new COVID-19 restrictions All gatherings are limited to a maximum of 100 people for indoor events and 250 people for outdoor events; the total number of people in a venue must not exceed 50 percent capacity; a national curfew from 11 PM to 4 AM has been extended; and bars and restaurants across the country must close by 10 PM.
• Poland will enter a national lockdown on Dec. 28. All shopping centers, hotels, and ski resorts will be shut, there will be a curfew on New Year’s Eve, and anyone entering the country from abroad will have to quarantine for 10 days.
• Portugal’s prime minister António Costa said the country will enter an overnight curfew from 11 PM to 5 AM on New Year’s Eve that will remain in effect from Jan. 1 to Jan. 3.
• Tokyo raised its alert for medical preparedness to the highest level on Thursday for the first time, as hospital beds across Japan's capital fill up with COVID-19 patients.
• Northern Ireland will enter a six-week lockdown on Dec. 26 amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. Ambulances had to queue outside of all Northern Ireland’s 11 hospitals on Wednesday because emergency departments were at full capacity.
• A new case of community transmission has been confirmed in Sydney, Australia, breaking a 12-day streak of no new reported COVID-19 infections.
• Uruguay will close its borders for three weeks beginning later this month due to a COVID-19 surge that has now reached all of its 19 provinces. The country will be closed to all noncommercial traffic from Dec. 21 to Jan. 10.
• China's aviation authority announced Wednesday it will suspend inbound international flight routes if five or more people on board test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival. An airline will be banned from operating that flight route for up to two weeks if five or more passengers are found to be infected with the virus after landing in China. The suspension period extends to four weeks if 10 or more passengers test positive.
• Global Cases: 72,851,747    Total Deaths: 1,643,339

Previous Updates

• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• London and its surrounding areas will be placed under Britain’s highest level of COVID-19 restrictions beginning Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital.
• Primary care doctors in Britain began patients on Monday. Doses will be delivered to more than 100 vaccination centers in villages, towns, and cities by groups of doctors, the National Health Service said. Roll-out will still be prioritized, with the staff and residents of nursing homes and those aged 80 and over among the first in line as the country expands its program.
• The United Arab Emirates started providing a coronavirus vaccine over the weekend, offering China’s Sinopharm vaccine free to residents of each of its seven emirates.
• Canada began immunizing residents against the coronavirus Monday after receiving its first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine overnight. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has said that up to 249,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would be in Canada by the end of the year. In total, Canada has secured more than 400 million doses of various coronavirus vaccines for its population of just 38 million.
• Singapore on Monday became the first Asian country to approve the Pfizer vaccine, announcing that the first shipment would arrive this month and be given for free to Singaporeans and long-term residents. Singapore has also agreed to buy vaccines from the American drug maker Moderna and the Chinese company Sinovac.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Sunday the country will enter a new lockdown. Starting on Wednesday, nonessential stores, schools, and hairdressers will be required to close, and companies will be encouraged to offer employees an extended holiday break or allow them to work from home. The number of people allowed to meet privately — including over Christmas — will also be further tightened. New Year’s celebrations outdoors will be essentially prohibited, with the sale of fireworks and gatherings in public both banned.
• The Netherlands will lock down for at least five weeks to limit the spread of the virus. The new measures include the closure of schools, gyms, non-essential businesses, theaters, and more until Jan. 19. Medical offices will be allowed to stay open.
• South Africa imposed further COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, closing down beaches on the eastern coast and limiting large public gatherings ahead of the festive season.
• Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdoğan announced Turkey will impose a five-day full lockdown beginning on Dec. 31.
• South Korea is ordering schools to close starting Tuesday, the latest move toward lockdown as the nation witnesses its highest caseloads since the start of the pandemic.
• Two French cities began mass testing residents Monday as part of a campaign to detect and isolate COVID-19 cases ahead of a government plan to lift restrictions for the holidays. The pilot program is taking place in Le Havre on the northern coast and in Charleville-Mézières near the Belgian border — areas recently hit hard by the virus.
• Restaurant and bar owners, hoteliers, waitresses, and other employers and workers have protested in Paris for the right to work again during the pandemic. The French government has indicated that restaurants and bars might be allowed to reopen beginning Jan. 20 if infections don’t surge again.
• Austria wrapped up its first nationwide mass COVID-19 testing on Sunday, turning up about 4,200 asymptomatic infections. Slightly less than a quarter of the country’s population took part in the free screening, available to anyone over the age of six who had not been sick in the past three months.
• The E.U. launched a mobile app on Monday aimed at facilitating safe travel between its 27 member countries, as well as to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, which belong to the bloc’s Schengen zone. The app, called Re-open E.U., is intended to help residents of Europe navigate a patchwork of different national restrictions, as well as quarantine and testing requirements, and was introduced ahead of the busy holiday season.
• Japan’s government will suspend its subsidized travel program, called Go To Travel, which had encouraged residents of Japan to travel domestically to boost the country’s pandemic-battered economy, because of the rising number of cases of coronavirus cases across the country. On Sunday, the number of daily cases surpassed 3,000 for the first time.
• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday that the country intends to establish a travel bubble with Australia in the first quarter of next year. The arrangement would allow people to travel freely between Australia and New Zealand without needing to quarantine for two weeks on arrival. Passengers arriving from New Zealand are already exempt from quarantine requirements in Australia.
• The prime minister of Swaziland appears to be the first head of government to have died of the coronavirus. On Sunday, the country’s deputy prime minister said that Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini had died “while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa.”
• Global Cases: 71,051,805   Total Deaths: 1,608,648
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• A total of four countries have approved the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Britain and Bahrain were the first countries to do so. Saudi Arabia’s food and drug authority approved the vaccine on Thursday, and Canada approved the vaccine on Wednesday.
• On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates approved China’s coronavirus vaccine.
• Uzbekistan said large-scale trials of a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine would begin this week among its population. Phase 3 trials are also planned for Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ecuador.
• Argentina announced it will begin administering doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine later this month.
• The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU’s top drug regulator responsible for assessing coronavirus vaccines, suffered a cyberattack on Wednesday. The EMA is set to announce a decision on approval of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine by Dec. 29.
• António Guterres, the secretary general of the U.N. denounced “vaccine nationalism” on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of ensuring access to the coronavirus vaccine in poor countries as well as wealthy ones.  In about 70 developing countries, only one in 10 residents is expected to receive a coronavirus vaccine within the next year.
• Hospitals in Tokyo were strained as Japan’s capital city reported 602 new cases on Thursday, its first time topping 600 cases in a day. Only around 3 percent of hospital beds were available for severe cases, and 17 percent were available for all patients.
• In Seoul, South Korea, 506 people were unable to be taken to hospitals this week due to hospital bed shortages. Authorities scrambled to build hospital beds in shipping containers to ease strains on medical facilities and plan to step up testing by launching 150 temporary sites across the greater Seoul area.
• ICUs in Stockholm, Sweden reached 99 percent capacity on Wednesday amid warnings that some patients may be refused treatment if hospitalizations continue to increase.
• Spain’s rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases has reached its lowest level since August.
• The French government on Thursday said that it will delay relaxing some COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, because rates of new infections are not falling as fast as expected. The reopening of theaters and museums, which was planned for Dec. 15, will be pushed back another three weeks, and a curfew that will replace the current lockdown will begin earlier than planned.
• Denmark’s government will expand tighter lockdown measures to 30 new municipalities. On Monday, the government announced a partial shutdown of 38 municipalities, including the capital Copenhagen, resulting in the closure of bars, restaurants, and museums.
• Slovakia ordered schools and most shops closed for at least three weeks beginning Dec. 21. The country also banned outside seating at restaurants beginning Dec. 11, only allowing carry-out as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
• High schools and colleges in Wales will move to online learning beginning on Monday.
• Israel on Wednesday reversed plans to impose a night-time curfew meant to prevent a new wave of coronavirus infections, minutes before the start of the Hanukkah holiday.
• An automated machine dispensing coronavirus test kits has been installed at a hospital in the Latvian capital of Riga. Currently, the machine is providing free 24-hour testing to staff at the Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital. The samples stored in the machine will be collected once a day.
• People using Google in Britain to search for vaccine information will be presented with a new knowledge panel tailored to their location, making it easier to  connect people with authoritative sources as health officials  begin the momentous rollout of the first coronavirus vaccine.
• Belarus has said it will temporarily close its land border in late December to curb the spread of COVID-19.
• A passenger on board a Royal Caribbean “cruise to nowhere” was diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing the boat to return early to Singapore.
• Christmas mass in Bethlehem, normally attended by Christian congregations in the West Bank village, will be closed to the public this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• Global Cases: 68,165,877     Total Deaths: 1,557,385
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• An army of health care workers — assisted by tens of thousands of volunteers and the military — will begin rolling out doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Britain on Tuesday morning, aiming to vaccinate more than 20 million citizens in just a few months.
• The E.U.’s drug regulator is expected to make a decision on approving the first COVID-19 vaccine for use by Dec. 29.
• Russia began its national vaccination campaign over the weekend. Even though the vaccine, Sputnik V, has yet to be proven fully safe and effective, health care workers have started to inoculate thousands of people.
• Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said today that the first doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine will arrive in his country next week at 14 distribution centers. The vaccination process won’t start until the country’s national regulator approves the vaccine. Mr. Trudeau said that Pfizer will send 249,000 doses of the six million Canada has purchased by the end of December.
• U.S. sanctions have prevented Iran from paying for and accessing COVID-19 vaccines, Iran’s Central Bank governor said Monday. Iran is participating in the global COVAX plan sponsored by the WHO that seeks equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
• A Chinese coronavirus vaccine manufacturer, Sinovac Biotech, secured $515 million in funding to double production capacity of its coronavirus vaccine as it begins supplying the vaccine to nations like Indonesia.
• French health authorities said on Monday that a decline in the number of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in the country was still far short of the drop necessary to further ease lockdown rules.
• As a deadly wave of COVID-19 cases extends across Europe, several countries are planning to loosen restrictions over the holidays to allow families and friends to gather.
  • In a four-day period beginning Dec. 23, people across Britain can form a Christmas bubble, which will allow members of up to three households to spend time together in private homes or to attend places of worship.
  • In Germany, officials have agreed to extend a partial lockdown to Jan. 10, but loosen restrictions from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, allowing private gatherings of as many as 10 people from any number of households.
  • Spanish officials have decided to allow travel between regions to see relatives and close friends but said that social gatherings around Christmas and New Year’s Day must be limited to 10 people if not from the same household.
  • In France, residents will be under a nationwide curfew from 9 PM to 7 AM beginning Dec. 15, when a national lockdown ends. However, the curfew will not apply from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve.
• Greece is extending its lockdown until Jan. 7, with schools, courts, bars, restaurants, gymnasiums, and ski resorts remaining closed. Travel between regions will remain prohibited, and a nighttime curfew will also stay in place.
• On Monday, Denmark expanded lockdown measures until Jan. 3 in 38 of its 98 municipalities, including Copenhagen, officials said. Beginning Dec. 9, restaurants, museums, movie theaters, and other similar cultural establishments must close. Select grade school students and students at universities will be sent home.
• COVID-19 cases are surging in South Korea, which recovered from an initial wave of cases in the spring and then managed to keep new infections low for several months. Case numbers are reaching their highest point in nine months, with 615 cases reported Sunday. President Moon Jae-in has ordered more intensive contact tracing and testing efforts, including longer hours for testing sites to accommodate a growing number of patients.
• Hong Kong has installed vending machines for COVID-19 test kits in 10 subway stations. The regional government said it will be supplying about 10,000 self-administered test kits to the mass transit authority for distribution to the vending machines daily.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has announced plans for a nighttime curfew during the upcoming Hanukkah holiday. The curfew is set to go into effect on Wednesday, on the eve of Hanukkah. Commercial activities will be banned, and inter-city travel will be limited.
• South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has called on students who attended end-of-year parties to immediately self-quarantine for 10 days.
• Global Cases: 66,422,058        Total Deaths: 1,532,418
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• The WHO is tightening its mask guidelines, telling people who live in areas where the coronavirus is still spreading to wear masks at all times in a variety of public places. The new guidelines specify that those entering stores, workplaces and schools with low ventilation should make sure that they are wearing a mask. The WHO is also asking that people wear masks if they cannot keep a physical distance of at least three feet from others within an enclosed area.
• On Thursday, the U.S. military in Japan reported three new COVID-19 cases, and U.S. Forces Korea reported nine new cases.
• French authorities announced today that a COVID-19 vaccine will be free. Those who are most at-risk will be first to receive it in a three-phase rollout of a widespread vaccination campaign next year. A second wave of vaccinations starting in February will target around 14 million additional people, mostly health care workers and at-risk populations. A third and final round beginning next spring will focus on the broader adult population.
• Britain has granted emergency authorization to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Distribution of the first 800,000 doses will begin next week, with the elderly and nursing home residents receiving first priority.
• 70 vaccination centers will open in Moscow on Saturday with teachers, doctors, and social workers the first in line to receive the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine. City residents will have to register online in advance for time slots to avoid overcrowding. The global police cooperation agency Interpol said Wednesday that the distribution of coronavirus vaccines could be exploited by criminals, with “falsification, theft and illegal advertising of COVID-19 and flu vaccines” posing growing risks.
• Japan’s parliament passed a law Wednesday that would make COVID-19 vaccines free of charge and would strongly urge people to take them.
• Poland has signed a contract for 45 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from companies like Pifzer, BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Johnson and Johnson, which will be free to the public, Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
• Ukraine has lifted weekend lockdown restrictions but is still considering whether to introduce a tighter lockdown at a later stage, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said.
• People are now required to wear face masks in all indoor public spaces in the Netherlands.
• In Belgium, social gatherings are limited to four people and must take place outdoors. But only one lucky guest who is chosen as a “close contact” can be allowed inside the house to use the bathroom. Other visitors are banned from going inside for any reason, including grabbing a drink or food.
• Norway will relax its coronavirus restrictions slightly over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, raising the number of guests allowed to be invited to parties to 10. Currently, a household is allowed to invite a maximum of five guests into their home as long as people stay three feet apart from each other.
• Austria’s ski lifts will open on Dec. 24, but hotels, bars and restaurants will remain closed throughout the holiday season. A second lockdown has failed to dramatically lower coronavirus infection rates across the country, which remain at around 5,000 new cases per day. The country will begin easing lockdown measures on Monday, but bars and restaurants will remain closed until at least Jan. 7 and quarantines will extend to 10 days for arriving travelers.
• All cafes and restaurants in St. Petersburg, Russia will be closed from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3.
• Germany extended its lockdown, which includes the closure of bars and restaurants, to Jan. 10, three weeks after its restrictions were scheduled to expire on Dec. 20.New South Wales, the Australian state that includes Sydney, will lift caps on weddings, funerals, and religious services and allow up to 50 people in gyms and on dance floors (provided they are spaced two square meters apart) after going nearly four weeks without a local infection.
• People traveling to Iceland won’t be subject to quarantine and screening requirements if they have already contracted the coronavirus. The policy applies only to residents of the 26 states in Europe’s Schengen area, since Iceland’s border restrictions bar virtually all other travelers.
• Greece has extended lockdown measures for an additional week.
• Global Cases: 63,965,092        Total Deaths: 1,488,120

• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus warned Monday that the upcoming holiday season could provide opportunities for the spread of COVID-19 and that many people needed to reconsider their plans.
• Ghebreyesus also warned that deaths from malaria due to disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic to services designed to tackle the mosquito-borne disease will far exceed those killed by COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Monday warned that misinformation and mistrust could hinder efforts to distribute a coronavirus vaccine around the world, even as countries scramble to secure doses for their populations.
• Russia has delivered the first known batch of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for civilian use to a hospital just south of Moscow, which said it began vaccinating the local population last week. Coronavirus cases have surged in Russia since September, but authorities have resisted imposing a lockdown and have said that targeted measures are enough to cope with the crisis.
• Russia plans to begin mass trials of its second coronavirus vaccine, EpiVacCorona, on people over the age of 18 on Monday.
• Vietnam has confirmed its first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 in nearly three months.
• England’s month-long lockdown appears to be paying off as new coronavirus infections have apparently fallen by about 30 percent.
• Turkey is imposing its strictest lockdown since the start of the pandemic. BeginningTuesday night, everyone will be required to stay home from 9 PM to 5 AM on weekdays and around the clock on weekends. People older than 65 or younger than 20 will be barred from using public transportation. They are already under restrictions that allow them out of their homes for just three hours a day.
• Beginning Friday, pubs, bars, restaurants, and cafes in Wales must stop selling alcohol and close by 6 PM daily, and movie theaters and bowling alleys must close for at least two weeks.
• Starting Wednesday, Hong Kong will limit gatherings to two people, close karaoke lounges, playgrounds, and swimming pools, and instruct civil servants to work from home.
• Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has banned wedding parties and gatherings of more than 20 people after fifteen people traced back to one person tested positive for COVID-19.
• The state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has imposed stricter social distancing measures  including restricting opening hours and capacities for bars, restaurants, and shopping malls.
• Thai authorities said Monday that they have launched a large-scale contact tracing effort after three recent travelers tested positive for the coronavirus in northern Thailand.
• Children in Iraq have started returning to school for the first time since late February, with social distancing measures in place and schools operating six days a week.
• The WHO delivered 15 ventilators to hospitals in Gaza on Sunday as the Palestinian territory suffers a rise in COVID-19 infections.
• At least six inmates at a Sri Lankan prison were killed and 35 were wounded Monday while protesting the lack of infection-control measures at the facility.
• France’s highest court is ordering the government to rethink a 30-person limit on church services, saying in a statement released Sunday that the restrictions are out of proportion with the potential risks of in-person worship.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has agreed to create 19 storage sites for medical equipment across Germany to avoid future shortages of masks and other PPE seen at the start of the pandemic.
• Oman will resume granting tourist visas to people visiting on trips arranged by hotels and travel companies after they were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Colombia will keep its land and river borders closed until Jan. 16 to stem the spread of COVID-19.
• Taiwan will restrict the number of Indonesian workers coming to the island beginning this week, following a rise in coronavirus infections among migrant workers arriving from the southeast Asian country.
• Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday, Croatia introduced stricter limits on gatherings and public transport, and shut gyms, bars, and restaurants. On Monday, it presented a package of laws that includes fines for anyone violating the new restrictions, and financial aid for struggling businesses. Five ministers in the Croatian government have contracted COVID-19 since a wave of the pandemic hit Croatia in late October.
• Pope Francis has canceled a ceremony that traditionally begins Rome’s Christmas season on Dec. 8 at the Spanish Steps due to coronavirus restrictions.
• Global Cases: 62,363,527          Total Deaths: 1,456,687
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• French President Emmanuel Macron announced a three-stage easing of the country’s month-long lockdown beginning this weekend, with the reopening of “non-essential” businesses such as hairdressers and clothing stores, which will have to observe strict distancing rules and close at 9 PM. Provided infection rates have fallen to about 5,000 cases a day, the lockdown will be formally lifted on Dec. 15, though a nationwide curfew from 9 PM to 7 AM would still be in effect and all private gatherings would be expected to observe strict distancing rules.
• England is cutting the two-week quarantine currently required for people arriving from countries not on Britain’s coronavirus safe list if they test negative for COVID-19 after five days of self-isolation. Travelers will have to pay for the test themselves.
• The Finnish capital of Helsinki is implementing tough new restrictions after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, with high schools, libraries, and swimming pools to be closed and public events banned outright.
• A network of 13 African countries has joined forces with global researchers to launch the largest clinical trial of potential COVID-19 treatments on the continent.
• South Africa is joining the Covax global COVID-19 vaccine distribution scheme, with a committed vaccine purchase for 10 percent of its population of 58 million.
• The E.U. has reached a deal with U.S. biotech firm Moderna for the supply of up to 160 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
• Germany recorded a record number of COVID-19 deaths over 24 hours — over 400 — which has led leaders to reconsider whether to extend virus restrictions over the Christmas holiday season.
• The German government’s international development minister has called on companies that have benefited from the coronavirus crisis, such as Amazon and drug makers, to join the effort to fund vaccine access for the world’s poorest nations.
• The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have claimed it has 95 percent efficacy and will cost less than $10 a dose internationally.
• Colombian first lady Maria Juliana Ruiz tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
• Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is calling for Italians not to ski over next month’s Christmas holidays — and requesting neighboring European countries to agree upon shared ski rules — as Europe grapples with its latest surge in coronavirus cases.
• A senior Chinese official Wednesday acknowledged that there is only a “very low” risk that coronavirus traces on cold-chain food imports can infect people handling those products.
• Life expectancy in Sweden this year is expected to fall because of the pandemic. Statistics Sweden said that preliminary data from the first half of the year suggested that life expectancy had already declined from 84.7 to 84.4 years for women and 81.3 to 80.8 years for men.
• A Malaysian company that makes disposable gloves for protection against COVID-19 has been hit by a major outbreak among its workers, many of whom are foreign laborers who live in crowded dormitories. The outbreak at 28 factories operated by the company, Top Glove Corporation, has infected more than 2,400 workers this month and driven one of Malaysia’s biggest spikes in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
• Global Cases: 59,481,313     Total Deaths: 1,404,542
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• WHO’s special envoy on COVID-19 predicted Europe is likely to face another wave of coronavirus infections before a vaccine is widely available next year.
• State-sponsored hackers from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are engaged in concerted attempts to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets in what security experts describe as “an intellectual property war.”
• Some 10,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Italy this month — a per capita rate more than double that of the U.S.
• Mexico passed the 100,000 mark in confirmed COVID-19 deaths, becoming only the fourth country to do so. Officials say the true death toll is far higher; Mexico’s count only includes test-confirmed deaths.
• The Gaza Strip is facing a shortage of ventilators as coronavirus infections surge in the Palestinian territory, the WHO said Sunday. Home to more than 2 million people, Gaza has minimal health care infrastructure and only 100 ventilators. Of those, 79 are now being used by coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, at least 684 new cases were added on Sunday alone.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday he would lift England’s national lockdown on Dec. 2., as expected, and that England would then return to a regionalized system of restrictions based on three tiers of controls. Under the plan to ease restrictions, gyms, stores, and hair salons will reopen and collective worship, weddings, and outdoor sports will be allowed to resume in all parts of England. But in the worst-affected parts of the country, pubs and restaurants will stay closed except for takeout service.
• Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Spain will begin a comprehensive coronavirus vaccination program in January and expects to have covered a substantial part of the population within six months.
• Pakistan announced Monday that schools across the country will close for six weeks beginning Nov. 26 as the government confronts a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
• Chinese officials announced that 17,719 airport cargo workers, who were sealed inside Shanghai’s main airport after seven COVID-19 cases were linked to one unit, all tested negative for the coronavirus.
• Japanese Prime Minster Yoshihide Suga said Friday the government's travel and dining promotion program will be halted in coronavirus hotspots to curb further infections. Japan's daily coronavirus infections hit a record high for the fourth day in a row on Saturday.
• Hong Kong’s government said on Sunday that it would give cash payments of about $650 to residents who tested positive for the coronavirus, a policy designed to encourage people to get tested.
• The Seoul city government said on Monday that it was closing nightclubs and banning late-night restaurant dining starting Tuesday as South Korea tightened guidelines to battle a surge in coronavirus infections. No more than 10 people can attend outdoor rallies. Restaurant dining will be allowed until 9 PM, and museums, schools, churches, stadiums, and other public facilities must reduce the number of visitors and students they can accept between 20 and 67 percent of capacity, depending on the type of facility.
• Parts of Southern Ontario, including Toronto, entered the strictest phase of Canada’s tiered system of restrictions on Monday. Under the new restrictions, indoor gatherings are not allowed, outdoor gatherings are limited, and in-person dining and in-person retail shopping at businesses other than select stores, including supermarkets, is prohibited.
• Portugal will ban domestic travel and close schools around two upcoming holidays to try to halt the spread of coronavirus ahead of Christmas.
• Victoria, the state once at the center of Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak, has announced a further relaxation of coronavirus restrictions as it continues to report no new cases. The number of visitors allowed in one household will increase from two to 15 per day. Public outdoor gatherings will be allowed at a maximum of 50 people. The number of attendees at weddings, funerals, and religious ceremonies indoors will be increased to 150 people. Movie theaters, galleries, and museums will be allowed to host up to 150 people indoors.
• Daily COVID-19 cases in France at near two-month low.
• The French agriculture ministry said on Sunday that 1,000 minks had been slaughtered at a farm south of Paris after some of the animals tested positive for the coronavirus. Minks are being tested at two other farms.
• Global Cases: 58,425,681     Total Deaths: 1,385,218
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• The U.S. government will extend a ban on non-essential travel at land borders with Canada and Mexico until Dec. 21.
• A panel of experts from the WHO said Thursday that the coronavirus drug remdesivir should not be used for hospitalized patients because there is no evidence that it reduces deaths or the need for ventilators (which is a split from the U.S. FDA, per the above announcement).
• The WHO said Thursday that new daily infection rates in Europe were falling for the first time in months across the region.
• France, which announced a second lockdown on Oct. 28, has seen its seven-day average for new daily cases fall from more than 54,000 on Nov. 7 to 28,500 on Wednesday. Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic are among the countries that have also seen decreases.
• Hospitals across Europe remain packed. Some intensive care units in Switzerland are at full capacity, while in France, intensive care wards have been at over 95 percent capacity for 10 days.
• More than 29,000 people in Europe died last week of COVID-19, equaling one person about every 17 seconds.
• Africa is experiencing a concerning uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases and has now passed the two million mark, the WHO said Thursday. The true number of COVID-19 infections across Africa is feared to be much higher, as testing and health care access remain challenges in many areas.
• Daily infections in Kenya have increased tenfold since September. At least four doctors died on Saturday, leading a major health union in the country to threaten a nationwide strike beginning next month.
• Japan reported over 2,000 new cases on Wednesday, the first time it has crossed that threshold since the pandemic began. Tokyo on Thursday announced that it would go on red alert, the highest level of a four-tier system, as it reported over 500 new cases of COVID-19, setting a record for the second day in a row. The change in alert is a largely symbolic measure meant to remind people to exercise heightened caution to prevent the spread of COVID-19; Japanese authorities do not have the legal powers to enforce lockdowns or restrictions on business operations.
• South Korea entered new COVID-19 restrictions Thursday. Public gatherings of 100 people or more are banned, religious services and sporting events are limited to 30 percent capacity, and high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars must widen distance among guests.
• Austria entered new lockdown measures Tuesday to curb the spread of COVID-19. Under the stricter measures, which will remain in place through Dec. 6, people are only allowed to leave their homes to buy groceries, to go to work if their jobs are deemed essential, to exercise outside, to go to the doctor, or to help people who need assistance.
• Pubs, restaurants, and other hospitality establishments will remain closed until mid-December in Northern Ireland.
• First minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that areas of west and central Scotland would be moved from tier 3 to tier 4 on Friday for three weeks, meaning non-essential shops, hospitality businesses, gyms, and beauty salons must close.
• The lower house of the Czech parliament has voted to allow the government to extend a state of emergency until Dec. 12 as the Czech Republic struggles with one of Europe’s worst outbreaks.
• Azerbaijan has extended coronavirus lockdown restrictions until Dec. 28 after a further rise in the number of infections.
• The Danish Health Ministry announced Thursday that a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus that led to the authorized killing of roughly 2.85 million farmed minks is likely to have been rendered extinct.
• Ireland’s department of health has recommended a cull of mink to stop the risk of the mink mutation spreading to Ireland.
• In Australia, the government in Victoria has closed its border with South Australia as the latter state wrestles with an outbreak of the virus. South Australia did not record any new cases on Thursday but has gone into a six-day lockdown to contain an outbreak of 22 cases in the capital, Adelaide.
• The Pacific nation of Samoa has recorded its first ever case of COVID-19. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said a sailor who had returned from New Zealand on a repatriation flight tested positive in a quarantine facility.
• Global Cases: 55,928,327     Total Deaths: 1,344,003
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• The WHO recorded its highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide over the weekend.
• The EU has announced its intention to authorize a contract with biopharmaceutical company CureVac for the supply of up to 405 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate, pending regulatory approval.
• Belgium has said it intends to make any coronavirus vaccine available to around 70 percent of the population, some 8 million people, free of charge.
• Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, said he has begun talks with Russia about buying the country’s Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel came to an agreement with Germany’s 16 state governors on Monday to recommend stricter virus protocols — but put off a decision on whether to prolong the country’s partial lockdown, which is set to expire at the end of the month.
• France’s Health Minister Olivier Véran said  the country’s second surge of coronavirus cases appears to have passed its peak. French health authorities reported that the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has hit an all-time high, even as the number of new cases across the country reached a more than one-month low.
• Ireland’s COVID-19 rates have started increasing again despite continued maximum level restrictions, sparking concern that complacency and fatigue are increasing infections.
• New Zealand, which has virtually eliminated community transmission of the coronavirus, is making masks mandatory on public transportation in Auckland this week and may soon extend that requirement nationwide.
• COVID-19 has ravaged Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. All five major public hospitals, morgues, and funeral homes are at or near capacity. A COVID-19 field hospital is now in operation, and authorities sent a mobile morgue to the city last week.
• Sweden will reduce the limit on public gatherings to eight people from 300, as part of a new approach that runs counter to the country’s previously lax virus restrictions. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said during a news conference on Monday that the tighter restrictions would last for at least four weeks and were the “new norm” for the country.
• Political rallies have been banned in Pakistan, after the country recorded its highest daily coronavirus infection numbers since July for four days running. Several huge religious and anti-government public rallies have been held in major cities in recent weeks.
• South Korea has confirmed 205 new cases of coronavirus – the first time it has been above 200 since early September – and officials put in place a new law fining those not wearing masks in public.
• The Canadian territory of Nunavut, which until this month had been the only state-level jurisdiction in North America without a single coronavirus case, announced a shutdown of nonessential businesses and schools on Monday, after 26 cases in three communities were recorded in 10 days.
• India’s capital New Dehli is battling a record surge in COVID-19 cases, adding more than 7,000 cases a day as the number of open hospital beds equipped with ventilators is dwindling. India will fly doctors into the region around New Delhi, double the number of tests it carries out, and ensure that people wear masks, in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus in the capital.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered a tightening of state emergency anti-coronavirus systems, as he presided over a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers Party, state news agency KCNA said on Monday. North Korea had tested over 12,000 people and reported no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, as of early November, according to the WHO.
• Chile will reopen to tourists in December after being closed off to non-essential travelers for eight months.
• The WHO has recorded 65 cases coronavirus among staff based at its headquarters in Switzerland, including at least one cluster of infections.
• The prime minister of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ambrose Dlamini, has tested positive for COVID-19.
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday that he was entering self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Johnson contracted the coronavirus this spring and was hospitalized with severe symptoms before returning to work in late April.
• Taiwan, which has reported zero cases of COVID-19 in the past 200 days, hosted a massive, packed crowd at Ultra Taiwan, an annual electronic music festival on Saturday.
• Global Cases: 54,301,156     Total Deaths: 1,316,994
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• Africa's top public health official said the continent of 1.3 billion people has seen an average 8 percent rise in new COVID-19 cases over the past month.
• On Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country in the European region to top 50,000 COVID-19 deaths.
• For the first time since August, New Zealand has identified a case of COVID-19 with no known link to government-supervised quarantine facilities, suggesting possible community transmission.
• Almost two weeks into a second national lockdown, the surge of coronavirus cases in France appears to be slowing. France has reported an average of 25,000 new COVID-19 cases per day since the beginning of the week, which is about half as many as last week.
• Germany is seeing tentative signs that a surge in coronavirus infections may be easing, officials said Thursday.
• The E.U. has increased its support for COVAX, a global fund that aims to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have access to a COVID-19 vaccine. The bloc’s total contribution is 500 million euros. As of now, 184 countries — 92 of them low- and middle-income economies — participate in COVAX, which has a goal to procure 2 billion doses of a vaccine by the end of 2021.
• Hungarian authorities are preparing a temporary six-month import permit to carry out tests and trials of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
• A video showing a man lying dead on the floor of a bathroom inside a packed Naples emergency room incited outrage as it spread across Italy on Thursday, prompting government officials to call for “immediate intervention” as the coronavirus pandemic ripples across the country’s vulnerable south. Italy on Wednesday surpassed one million total coronavirus cases. More than half of those people are still positive and many of them live in Italy’s south, which is poorer and less equipped to handle an outbreak than the wealthier north.
• Lebanon is imposing a new lockdown that will shut many businesses and limit road traffic until Nov. 30 as the country tries to limit a spike in coronavirus cases that has stretched hospital resources.
• Dozens of hospital workers have held protests at hospitals in Greece, demanding the hiring of more medical staff as the country struggles to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, four days after the country went into a second lockdown to curb a surge in COVID-19 cases, authorities extended a 9 PM to 5 AM curfew nationwide.
• Portugal announced the 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.
• As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across Canada, the western province of Manitoba implemented sweeping restrictions on Thursday. The orders closed most stores other than groceries and pharmacies, sports fields and playgrounds, bars, cinemas, and theaters. Restaurants are limited to takeout service and a maximum of five people may gather indoors or outdoors.
• In Northern Ireland, officials announced that 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.
• Sweden will ban alcohol sales in bars and restaurants after 10 PM and require all business that serve alcohol to close no later than 10:30 PM beginning Nov. 20, pending approval from its parliament.
• Turkey has imposed a nationwide smoking ban in public spaces as the country grapples with a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases. The smoking ban is intended to prevent people from pulling down their masks “in areas where our citizens are densely gathered,” including public squares and places like bus stops.
• All kindergartens and day care centers in Hong Kong will close for two weeks as a precaution, health officials said on Thursday, citing a cluster of more than 100 upper respiratory tract infections. So far, no students or teachers have tested positive for the coronavirus, but some have symptoms that are associated with it.
• University students in England will be given a seven-day window next month to travel home before Christmas, with school campuses providing mass testing before they leave.
• All schools and other educational institutions in Bangladesh will remain closed until Dec. 19.
• Senegalese children resumed classes today after the government closed schools in March in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus in the west African nation.
• South Africa will open travel to all countries and restore normal trading hours of alcohol, despite having the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the continent.
• Spain will demand a negative COVID-19 test for all travelers arriving from countries with a high risk for coronavirus beginning Nov. 23.
• The tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Tuesday.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was hospitalized after he contracted the coronavirus this week.
• Pope Francis is offering free coronavirus tests for Rome’s poor and homeless as part of the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor activities.
• Athletes traveling to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics next summer will not be subject to the 14-day quarantine requirement, organizers said Thursday, though they must test negative before and in some cases after they arrive.
• Global Cases: 51,848,261     Total Deaths: 1,280,868
• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• Coronavirus infections in Europe set records this week, overtaking the number of cases in the U.S. per capita, and a top WHO official warned Thursday that death rates on the continent in the winter could be five times more than previous highs if people are not strict about masks and social distancing.
• Multiple European countries – Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Croatia – set records Thursday for the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in a single day as the continent continued to grapple with a resurgence in infections.
• Greece followed in the footsteps of other European countries, including Ireland, France, and Belgium, in announcing a three-week national lockdown starting Saturday following a sharp spike in infections. Travelers entering the country will also be required to present a negative coronavirus test.
• Ireland is on track to get its second wave of COVID-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe.
• The Italian government announced Wednesday that it would lock down a significant portion of the country beginning Friday in an effort to stop a resurgent wave of COVID-19 infections.
• England entered its second national lockdown Thursday, placing 56 million people under new coronavirus restrictions for at least the next four weeks. Under the new measures, people may leave home only for essential reasons, including exercise and seeking medical care, and retail stores and other nonessential businesses have been ordered to close. Pubs and restaurants can remain open only for food takeout and delivery, but schools and universities will remain open.
• New COVID-19 restrictions will begin in London this weekend, with the capital’s alert level increasing from medium to high (Tier 1 to Tier 2). Beginning at midnight on Friday, different households will be banned from mixing indoors and Londoners will be asked to avoid using public transportation. A maximum of six people will be allowed to gather outdoors.
• In France, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced further coronavirus restrictions. The city is already under a strict lockdown but, starting at 10 PM on Friday, certain businesses that sell alcohol for delivery or takeout will be forced to close.
• Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said a hard lockdown will be imposed in seven municipalities in northern Denmark after a mutation of the coronavirus that was found in mink spread to humans. Bars, restaurants, all public indoor sport activities and public transport will be shut in the municipalities concerned, and people are being encouraged not to travel to and from the region. Additionally, the Danish government will slaughter millions of mink at more than 1,000 farms, citing concerns that the COVID-19 mutation that has infected them could possibly interfere with the effectiveness of a future vaccine.
• Curfews for bars and restaurants have been announced in Germany, bars and schools have been shut down in the Czech Republic, and Croatia is mandating masks in public places and limiting capacity in bars and restaurants.
• Taxi drivers in Tokyo have been given the green light to refuse fares from passengers who are not wearing face masks. Japan’s transport ministry approved the rule change this week after 10 taxi companies in the capital voiced concern over the safety of drivers and passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• On Thursday, Australia reached two new deals for COVID-19 vaccines, one for 10 million doses with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and another with Novavax, which would supply 40 million vaccines.
• China has halted the entry of almost anyone traveling from Bangladesh, Belgium, Britain, India, or the Philippines except for Chinese citizens, in the latest move to keep out anyone with even a chance of having COVID-19.
• The leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, told border guards not to allow citizens back into the country out of concern that they would bring COVID-19 with them.
• Singapore and Hong Kong have reached an agreement under which the two cities will form an “air travel bubble” that exempts travelers from both destinations from having to self-quarantine. The agreement, announced Thursday, was hailed as a “milestone” in efforts to resume a sense of normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Colombia’s lower house abruptly ended its session on Thursday and asked lawmakers to quarantine after a member tested positive for COVID-19. At least 150 lawmakers could potentially have been exposed.
• The patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church has been hospitalized after testing positive for the new coronavirus, days after leading prayers at a large public funeral for the head of the church in Montenegro, who died after contracting the virus.
• Global Cases: 47,930,397    Total Deaths: 1,221,781

• Here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• The pandemic in Europe is nearing crisis level. All 20 countries with the highest rates of new cases over the last week are in Europe. Britain, France, Italy, and Spain were among the countries that recorded their highest death tolls in months.
• French President Emmanuel Macron instituted a new nationwide lockdown yesterday. In France, 2,000 new patients are being hospitalized every day, the highest numbers in the country since mid-April.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced new lockdown measures on Wednesday, including closing bars and restaurants, as she vowed to avoid “situations that are extremely difficult.” Hospitalizations in Germany have doubled in the past 10 days and nearly 1,500 patients are in intensive care.
• Fourteen regions across the U.K. will be moved to Tier 2 restrictions, which ban household mixing indoors. The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a critical stage in England, officials said, with case numbers doubling since last month.
• In Belgium, all nonessential hospital work has been postponed to deal with an influx of new COVID-19 patients, whose numbers have nearly doubled in the past week, matching levels seen in the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.
• Croatia has asked former doctors to come out of retirement to help in hospitals, while National Guard troops have flown from the U.S. to the Czech Republic to assist overwhelmed health care professionals there.
• Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that he would announce a one-month action of “targeted restrictions” on Friday aimed at averting a second nationwide lockdown.
• On Thursday, Switzerland imposed tighter controls on social gatherings, closing nightclubs and imposing an 11 PM closing time for bars. Public gatherings are now limited to 50 people, sports and cultural activities to 15 people, and private family gatherings to 10 people. The new measures came as Switzerland recorded its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.
• Spain’s congress of deputies has voted in favor of a six-month extension of the state of emergency that was declared last Sunday. Most regions announced travel restrictions that would prevent about 80 percent of the country’s 47 million residents from visiting other parts of the country.
• E.U. leaders have agreed to fairly distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, once such a vaccine becomes available.
• Indian prime minister Narendra Modi promised to provide any successful vaccine to each of India’s 1.3 billion people, and the country is preparing a database of all government and private health personnel to speed up vaccinations once they become available.
• Singapore is easing restrictions on hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have largely been confined to their dormitories since last spring. Under the new policy, which has been in trials for the past two months, workers who test negative for the coronavirus will be allowed to visit designated recreation centers on their days off starting Saturday. There must also be no active cases in their dorms.
• Finland’s government said on Thursday it would lift its restrictions on opening hours for restaurants serving mainly food but kept stricter rules on bars and nightclubs in place.
• After months of restrictions, international travelers from any country will be allowed into Costa Rica starting Nov. 1, as long as they are not displaying symptoms and have insurance to cover costs of any COVID-19 treatment or quarantine lodging during their stay.
• Saudi Arabia will open the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims from other countries beginning Nov. 1.
• Taiwan has gone 200 days without a locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, far longer than anywhere else in the world. A handful of countries, including New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam, have come close to or surpassed 100 days without any local cases, only to experience new outbreaks.
• Scotland will issue official cards for those exempt from mandatory face-covering rules to make them feel safer and confident in public and when accessing and using public spaces and services. The cards will be issued amid concerns that people with disabilities could be discriminated against if they are unable to wear a mask.
• President Vladimir Putin vowed to avoid a nationwide lockdown on Thursday, despite warnings from Russian officials of a rapidly deteriorating coronavirus situation in parts of the country.
• Global Cases: 44,351,506               Total Deaths: 1,171,255
• Here is the most recent (10/20) edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update and here is the most recent edition of the WHO's Weekly Operational Update.
• The WHO chief warned against “vaccine nationalism,” calling for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine.
• COVID-19 cases are rising at alarming rates in nearly every European country. Officials across Europe are ringing the alarm about demand for hospital beds as the surge in cases leads to new hospitalizations.
• Officials said Belgium’s maximum capacity of intensive care unit beds may be reached in just two weeks. Some Swiss hospitals have reported that they are running out of beds. In the Czech capital, Prague, a new military hospital is being installed with 500 beds.
• Spain and Italy both extended restrictions this weekend to avoid second lockdowns, with Spain entering a new state of emergency and Italy again tightening limits on bars, restaurants, and gyms.
• The Czech government has ordered a 9 PM curfew and will limit retail sales on Sundays, beginning Wednesday, as part of tighter measures adopted to stem a surge in COVID-19 infections.
• Britain has announced wider coronavirus measures which will increase the number of people under England’s highest category of restrictions to nearly 8 million. People from different households are no longer allowed to socialize outdoors, and pubs and bars that do not serve food must remain closed.
• Wales has shut all non-essential retailers, pubs and restaurants in a 17-day lockdown which began on Friday.
• Slovakia may be able to avoid harsher COVID-19 measures because of plans for nationwide testing scheduled to start this weekend, Prime Minister Igor Matovič said.
• Norway will impose tougher measures to following a recent rise in the number of infections, including stricter rules on private gatherings.
• Lockdown restrictions have been extended in Tehran and across Iran, where two-thirds of provinces are now on a coronavirus red alert. Hospitals in many Iranian provinces are running out of capacity to handle COVID-19 cases, health authorities say.
• A partial lockdown on Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor has been extended for a further two weeks as Malaysia recorded its biggest increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
• All 4.7 million residents of a city in China's northwest Xinjiang region are being tested for COVID-19 after a single asymptomatic case was detected on Saturday. Testing of the entire city is expected to be completed by Tuesday. Meanwhile, lockdown measures have been imposed and all schools in the region are closed until Friday.
• Mexico’s true death toll from the coronavirus probably includes tens of thousands of fatalities not in the official count, authorities said Sunday.
• British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday that the government was gearing up to roll out a vaccine in early 2021, amid reports that an experimental candidate developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca triggered a promising immune response in elderly people.
• On Sunday, about 2,000 protesters gathered in Berlin to demonstrate against restrictions imposed by the government to keep infections at bay. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with her governors at the end of the week to assess whether Germany will impose new rules.
• Italians have converged on squares across the country to protest COVID-19 measures that include the 6 PM closure of bars and restaurants and the complete closure of gyms, swimming pools, and movie theaters.
• Melbourne, Australia, will end a strict lockdown of more than three months after the city recorded no new coronavirus cases for the first time since June. Starting Wednesday, restaurants, cafes and bars will be able to reopen, with some social-distancing restrictions and all retail locations will be able to reopen.
• Pope Francis will have to forgo meeting Catholics at the annual Advent and Christmas masses in the Vatican due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Global Cases: 42,966,344Total Deaths: 1,152,604
• Here is the most recent (10/20) edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update.
• As parts of Europe have been hit with a second wave of COVID-19 in recent weeks, hospitals are scrambling to prepare for an onrush of patients at a time when bed and intensive care capacity will already be under strain during the winter flu season.
• New Zealand reported just two new cases of the virus on Thursday, a day after recording its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a single day for more than six months – most of them diagnosed in border quarantine facilities.
• Russian president Vladimir Putin said he is not planning to impose any blanket restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the country reported a record new daily death toll.
• Ireland is set to become the first country in Europe to impose a second national lockdown as cases of COVID-19 surge once again.
• Slovakia will impose a partial lockdown from Saturday to Nov. 1 to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
• Portugal imposed a partial lockdown on three northern municipalities to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.
• Italy’s Lazio region, including Rome, is set to introduce a curfew on Friday from midnight to 5 AM to try to curb its surging COVID-19 infections.
• France will extend its nightly curfew to cover a total of 46 million people, more than two-thirds of its population. Thirty-eight additional areas in France, as well as French Polynesia, will be affected by the change, which takes effect Saturday.
• Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece announced new rules to curb a spike in cases, including making face masks mandatory in public throughout the country and a 12:30 AM curfew in hot spots.
• Spanish Health Minster Salvador Illa is not succeeding at controlling the spread of the virus and will need to take more drastic measures to stop it. His warning came hours after Spain became the first Western European nation to report more than 1 million cases, amid record-breaking numbers of infections in other parts of Europe.
• The Australian state of Victoria will use drones and helicopters to enforce lockdown restrictions during massive sports events this weekend.
• Ethiopia can now jail people for up to two years if they deliberately violate restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
• To help stop the spread of false information about the pandemic, Wikipedia and the WHO announced a collaboration in which the health agency will grant the online encyclopedia free use of its published information, graphics, and videos.
• The E.U. said that it would extend a ban on nonessential travel by visitors from Canada, removing it from a short list of safe countries. Travelers from the U.S. will continue to be banned, and the refreshed list also removed Tunisia and Georgia from the safe countries.
• The Canadian government and the province of Alberta are launching a pilot program to test eligible returning travelers for COVID-19, allowing them to leave quarantine once they receive a negative result.
• Germany issued travel warnings for popular ski regions in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, as new infection numbers rose above 10,000 a day for the first time.
• The foreign minister of Belgium, Sophie Wilmes, was admitted to an intensive care unit after testing positive for COVID-19.
• German health minister Jens Spahn tested positive for COVID-19.
• Tokyo Olympic officials want the world to know they are working on measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic at next year's games, even if they don't know exactly what they will be.
• Global Cases: 41,104,946               Total Deaths: 1,128,325
• Here is the most recent (10/16) edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update.
• A total of 184 countries have now joined the Covax facility, which aims to finance vaccines to be distributed fairly to both rich and poor countries. Ecuador and Uruguay are the most recent countries to join.
• The U.N. said it plans to stockpile one billion syringes around the world by the end of 2021, to be used for the delivery of any future coronavirus vaccine. UNICEF plans to stockpile 520 billion syringes in its warehouses by the end of the year.
• Chinese health authorities investigating a recent COVID-19 outbreak say they have discovered live coronavirus on frozen food packaging, a finding that suggests the virus can survive in cold supply chains.
• Coronavirus cases continue to surge across Europe as leaders scramble to simultaneously slow the pandemic’s spread and compile resources to help treat the many people falling ill.
• French health authorities said the number of people treated in intensive care units for COVID-19 has gone beyond the 2,000 threshold on Monday, a first since May 17.
• At least half of India’s 1.3 billion people are likely to have been infected with coronavirus by next February, helping slow the spread of the disease, according to a member of a federal government committee tasked with providing projections.
• After almost five months of a strict lockdown and dusk-to-dawn curfew, authorities in Kenya last month eased the restrictions meant to curb the spread of the pandemic. But on Sunday, Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said the relaxation of the rules could lead to a second wave of COVID-19. He said the percentage of positive test results had increased this month, after restrictions were lifted, and admissions to intensive care units had increased in recent days.
• A temporary national lockdown will be put into place in Wales.
• Ireland will move to the highest level of COVID-19 restrictions under the government’s five-tier roadmap for dealing with the virus.
• Belgium has imposed a nationwide overnight curfew beginning today.
• Switzerland has made wearing face masks compulsory in indoor public spaces and limited in-person public gatherings to no more than 15 people.
• Italian Prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced new measures over the weekend that allow mayors to close public squares after 9 PM, permitting access only to reach homes or businesses.
• The Polish government announced Monday that it will turn the country’s national stadium into a field hospital capable of treating up to 500 patients at a time. In the past day, more than 7,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Poland, marking a positivity rate higher than 20 percent.
• In Australia, restrictions in Melbourne have been eased, with residents no longer limited in the time they can spend away from home for education or socializing. Restrictions allowing people to travel three miles from home have been increased to 15 miles, and outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people from two households will be allowed. The partial reopening of shops, bars and restaurants will begin on Nov. 2.
• Twenty-five crew members aboard a livestock carrier docked at a port in Western Australia have tested positive for the coronavirus. The ship, the Al Messilah, has 52 crew members, and the authorities warned that further positive test results were possible.
• Restrictions on all nonessential travel at U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico remain in place until Nov. 21, U.S. Acting Homeland Security Sec. Chad Wolf said Monday.
• Public Safety Minister Bill Blair also announced Monday that Canada will extend the border restrictions until Nov. 21.
• Panama is the latest country to offer travelers a COVID-19 test when they arrive at its main airport, a little less than a week after resuming international flights following a seven-month suspension due to the pandemic.
• A “test-and-release” system to cut the quarantine period for international arrivals to the U.K. should be in place by Dec. 1, Transportation Sec. Grant Shapps said.
• South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19.
• Global Cases: 39,944,882               Total Deaths: 1,111,998
• You can view the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update here and the Operational Update here.
• The weekly number of new coronavirus cases in Europe is now at its highest point since the start of the pandemic. The number of confirmed cases in Europe rose by a million to seven million in just 10 days.
• As a thick quilt of smog wrapped itself around New Delhi on Thursday, signaling the start of the fall pollution season, doctors and scientists warned that the deteriorating air quality could make the city’s COVID-19 problems even worse. India currently ranks second in number of coronavirus cases globally, following the U.S.
• Scientists in Chile are investigating a possible mutation of the coronavirus in southern Patagonia, where there has been an unusually contagious second wave of infections in recent weeks.
• Mexico has confirmed its first case of a patient testing positive for both COVID-19 and the flu.
• Young, healthy people should be prepared to wait more than a year to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, the WHO’s chief scientist said Wednesday.
• Prime Minister Jean Castex of France extended to the entire country health restrictions that had so far been imposed only in areas hard-hit by the virus. Starting Saturday, all restaurants will have to follow a strict health protocol that includes keeping registers of customers for contact-tracing and keeping seating to no more than six per table. Private parties will be forbidden in public spaces, and rules to encourage social distancing, such as limiting the number of spectators or visitors in cultural venues or customers in shopping centers, will be enforced throughout the country.
• The U.K. will impose tougher COVID-19 restrictions on London beginning at midnight on Friday. Household mixing indoors will be banned and public transport use discouraged, but businesses will remain open.
• The Israeli government voted Thursday to lift some elements of its lockdown as the country’s number of new coronavirus cases continued to decline. The decision, which will go into effect on Sunday, will permit Israelis to go more than 1,000 meters beyond their homes without the need for a special reason, order takeout from restaurants, visit beaches, send their children to day care centers and kindergartens, and reopen some businesses. Other restrictions, including school closures and bans on the opening of bars, restaurants, malls, and event halls, will remain in place.
• Spain will close bars and restaurants across Catalonia for the next 15 days following a surge in cases, as the country tackles one of the highest rates of infection in Europe. All bars and restaurants in the region will be limited to a takeaway and delivery service for two weeks from Thursday night. Shops and markets will operate at 30 percent capacity, gyms, cinemas, and theatres at 50 percent, and children’s play areas will close at 8 PM.
• Portugal announced new virus restrictions on Thursday, including a five-person limit on public gatherings, after a rise in new cases.
• The Czech Republic will start building capacity for COVID-19 patients outside of hospitals as the country faces the fastest rate of infections in Europe.
• Officials in Singapore and Hong Kong said that they had reached a preliminary agreement to establish a travel bubble between the two Asian financial centers, allowing travelers of all kinds to bypass quarantine. Under the agreement, travelers must test negative for the virus and fly only on designated flights. Officials did not say when the bubble would begin.
• In an interview yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is committed to keeping the border closed until the U.S. gets control of COVID-19.
• Eleven members of the Swiss Guard have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting fears of an outbreak within the small corps charged with protecting the pope.
• Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, went into quarantine for a second time in two weeks after being exposed to the virus.
• Two officials in Qingdao, China, have been fired amid a new virus outbreak there, the city government said on Thursday. The director of the health commission and the president of the Qingdao Chest Hospital are under investigation after six confirmed infections and six asymptomatic cases were linked to the hospital.
• Global Cases: 38,394,169               Total Deaths: 1,089,047
• You can view the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update here and the Operational Update here.
• The Chinese city of Qingdao is testing all of its 9.5 million residents after it recorded the country’s first locally transmitted cases of the virus in almost two months.
• Human trials of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine have begun in the UAE, the Kremlin said yesterday. The trials in the UAE are the second trials of the Sputnik V vaccine abroad, following the launch of trials in Belarus. Scientists around the world are skeptical of the safety and efficacy of the vaccine due to its small trials and rapid development.
• The Dutch government has ordered bars and restaurants to close in an effort to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases. Additionally, there is a ban on alcohol sales after 8 PM, and a limit on the number of people who can attend household gatherings.
• Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced new restrictions on gatherings, restaurants, sports, and school activities to help control the rapidly increasing number of infections.
• As case numbers rise in Europe, the E.U. adopted new guidelines aimed at coordinating members’ varying travel measures. The bloc will now use a single map with a color-coded system to denote the scale of outbreaks: green at the low end of risk, orange in the middle and red at the high end.
• At the end of last week, the number of coronavirus infections in France jumped over 20,000 in one day for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Today, the French healthcare system's chief said hospitals in Paris could fill 90 percent of ICU beds as early as next week.
• Spain declared a state of emergency to help keep Madrid in partial lockdown measures.
• Canadian health officials have said Canadian children can go trick-or-treating on Halloween, despite being in the middle of a second wave of COVID-19, as long as they practice physical distancing, wear masks, and wash their hands.
• In the Czech Republic, where there have been more cases per capita in the last week than almost all other countries in Europe, schools will close Wednesday.
• Eighteen members of Tunisia’s Parliament have tested positive for COVID-19.
• Germany added Munich to its list of coronavirus “red” zones yesterday, triggering new COVID-19 restrictions as the country deals with a rise in cases.
• Global Cases: 37,704,153     Total Deaths: 1,079,029
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his close relatives and other people in his inner circle have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, as Russia races to cement itself as the first country with an effective method of wiping out the disease.
• People who were asymptomatic accounted for 86 percent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 in a U.K. sample population during lockdown, a study showed, meaning the country’s current policy of only testing people with symptoms might miss many cases.
• Hospitals in the Paris region have moved into emergency mode, canceling staff holidays and postponing non-essential operations, as coronavirus patients made up close to half of all patients in intensive care units.
• Defiance of coronavirus rules in rural India is propelling the nation’s virus caseload toward the top spot globally. In many villages, no one is wearing masks, there is no social distancing, and people are refusing to get tested. India currently has 6.8 million cases of the virus, the second highest in the world after the U.S.
• A Madrid court struck down a government order imposing a partial coronavirus lockdown on the Spanish capital, ruling in favor of the Madrid region in a standoff with national authorities. Under the health ministry’s order, Madrid regional authorities on Friday barred residents from leaving the area, including nine satellite town and imposed other measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots.
• The Czech government will close indoor sports facilities and culture venues for two weeks beginning Monday to slow the spread of new coronavirus infections. Restaurants will have to close at 8 PM, and pupils in the upper level of elementary schools will alternate between in-class and distance learning, government officials said.
• Saudi Arabia’s minister of education, Dr. Hamad bin Mohammed Al Shaikh, announced distance learning will continue until the end of the first term of the educational year after evaluating the situation in the past weeks.
• Kenya has begun a phased reopening of schools almost eight months after authorities suspended classes because of the pandemic. The country’s education secretary, George Magoha, announced on Tuesday that public and private schools would reopen for students in grades four, eight and 12 starting Monday.
• Sweden will postpone plans to let more people attend sport events and concerts due to rising coronavirus cases both within the country and around Europe.
• Bars, restaurants, and other businesses in Berlin, Germany will be forced to close between 11 PM and 6 AM, starting this weekend, in an effort to combat COVID-19.
• First minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a nationwide ban on drinking indoors in licensed premises in Scotland for more than two weeks, with a full shutdown of all premises across the central belt where infection rates are accelerating most rapidly.
• Poland will make face masks mandatory in public spaces starting Saturday in response to a second day of record-high case numbers.
• New Zealand moved to lift the last of its restrictions in Auckland after 10 days with no new cases linked to a cluster that first surfaced in August. The government will now allow unrestricted gatherings and trips on public transit without social distancing or masks.
• With coronavirus cases surging in Malaysia to their highest levels since the pandemic began, the prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, has placed himself in quarantine and acknowledged that a recent election campaign was one of the causes of the spike.
• Thailand is pushing back plans to receive its first batch of foreign tourists due to administrative issues, a senior official said, adding to uncertainty about when it will welcome back visitors vital to its economy.
• Japan plans to lift travel bans next month on people going to China and 11 other countries, including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Japan has banned travel to 159 countries and regions.
• Singapore has approved COVID-19-secure cruise holidays to nowhere, in the latest attempt to offer a long-distance travel experience, albeit with no stops, and revive its tourism sector.
• Global Cases: 36,002,827     Total Deaths: 1,049,810
• View the WHO's Weekly Operational Update here and the Epidemiological Update here.
• Britain’s government has launched an investigation into why a technical issue with its test-and-trace program had not been identified sooner. The country reported a jump in COVID-19 cases after a technical issue meant that more than 15,000 test results had not been transferred into computer systems, used by contact tracers, on time.
• The Brazilian military has wrapped up a three-week operation that provided medical care to the Amazon’s Guajajara tribe hit by COVID-19, in response to criticism from Human Rights Watch and the Indigenous Missionary Council that Brazil was not protecting vulnerable indigenous people from the pandemic.
• Around 1 in 10 people worldwide may have contracted the coronavirus, the director of the WHO’s Emergencies Program, Mike Ryan, said Monday, citing the organization’s “best estimates.”
• Iceland announced new coronavirus-related restrictions during the weekend, following a spike in cases in recent weeks despite the island’s early success in limiting the spread of the virus. The government ordered bars, gyms and some other businesses to close and is limiting most gatherings to 20 people, down from prior restrictions that capped events at 200.
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that she will self-quarantine until Tuesday, after being informed that she had “participated in a meeting last Tuesday attended by a person who yesterday tested positive for COVID-19.” 179 European Commission staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
• As confirmed new coronavirus cases have climbed to more than 10,000 per day in Russia, Moscow schools will switch to a distance-learning format just one month after classes resumed.
• All bars in Paris and surrounding areas will close starting Tuesday for a period of at least two weeks amid a resurgence of COVID-19 in France.
• Ireland’s government has rejected a surprise recommendation from its National Public Health Emergency Team to go into lockdown and will instead tighten current COVID-19 restrictions.
• Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will self-quarantine for 14 days after a minister who attended a high-level government meeting to discuss coronavirus developments on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19.
• Iran’s COVID-19 crisis worsened today, with a record number of deaths and new infections, as the capital, Tehran, went into partial shutdown for a week.
• Argentina has the world’s highest rate of positive COVID-19 tests, with nearly six out of 10 testing positive, a reflection of low testing levels and loose enforcement of lockdown rules.
• Authorities in the northwestern Spanish region of Castilla y León have announced that the cities of Palencia and León will be placed in partial lockdown for two weeks beginning Tuesday following a surge in cases.
• New Zealand will lift restrictions on Auckland, its most populous city, from midnight on Wednesday, joining the rest of the nation. Restrictions had been reinstated after a cluster of infections emerged, but after the city reported no new infections for 10 consecutive days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that a second wave there had almost certainly been “eliminated.”
• Global Cases: 35,109,317 cases       Total Deaths: 1,035,341 deaths
• WHO has finalized approval for a second antigen-based rapid diagnostic test, giving it emergency use listing.
• The government of Sao Paulo state in Brazil has asked health regulator Anvisa to register for use the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, governor João Doria said, a major step in what could be one of the first vaccination programs in the Americas.
• South African soldiers deployed to enforce one of the world’s strictest lockdowns have returned to barracks as new coronavirus infections slowed. President Cyril Ramaphosa initially mobilized 2,820 soldiers in late March to help police enforce the confinement measures. But a month later he deployed 73,000 extra troops to help implement the nationwide lockdown.
• Canada will ease some border restrictions next Thursday to allow for more family reunifications, and plans to allow some new international students to attend learning institutions.
• Authorities ordered the lockdown of more than 100 towns and villages across Lebanon after hundreds of people tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days amid a shortage of hospital beds.
• The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a safety review after some patients taking coronavirus drug remdesivir reported serious kidney problems. The EU regulator said it is not clear “whether remdesivir was causing the acute kidney injury but that the issue warrants further investigation.”
• The French government Thursday announced a set of measures it said it was ready to impose to contain a rapid resurgence of COVID-19. For weeks, the country has relied on a regional system to implement restrictions in areas where transmission rates of the virus are high. Yesterday, Health Minister Olivier Véran said Paris could soon join the “maximum” risk category, which would mean another complete shutdown of bars, restaurants, and cafes.
• Madrid’s regional authorities will shortly put the Spanish capital and nine nearby towns under partial lockdown, with immediate effect. With 859 cases per 100,000 people, the Madrid region is the worst COVID-19 hotspot in Europe.
• Face masks will have to be worn at all times outdoors in the Italian capital, Rome, and the surrounding Lazio region, starting this weekend.
• Pakistani authorities have closed more than 100 restaurants and six wedding halls in Karachi over violations of social distancing rules amid a sudden increase in COVID-19 deaths.
• Denmark will cull around 1 million mink after finding further coronavirus infections among the animals at farms that breed them for their fur, authorities said. The Nordic country is the world’s largest producer of mink – small, lithe mammals with brown-black fur used to make coats and scarves.
• Global Cases: 34,161,721 cases       Total Deaths: 1,016,986 death

• The WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update can be found here.
• A new arrangement will allow for around 120 million rapid coronavirus tests to be distributed to low- and middle-income countries over the next six months, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced today.
• Greece on Sunday confirmed the first COVID-19 fatality in one of the country’s increasingly overburdened migrant and refugee camps.
• People who do not self-isolate in England will now face fines of up to 10,000 pounds, or almost $13,000 USD, as the nation battles a second coronavirus wave.
• Government officials in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence ordered bars, cafes, and restaurants to close for 15 days starting last evening. They are currently the only two cities in France under the new order.
• India’s coronavirus caseload has surpassed six million.
• A cruise ship carrying more than 1,500 people was turned back from the Greek island of Milos in the Aegean Sea after 12 crew members tested positive for COVID-19. The Mein Schiff 6, which sails under the flag of Malta, left Crete on Sunday and was off the coast of Milos early on Monday when the test results were released.
• The municipal government in Beijing announced new procedures to allow medical personnel to bypass their bosses in reporting health emergencies directly to hotlines and government agencies. The rules are supposed to protect whistle-blowers’ identities and shield them from any retaliation.
• The next Group of 20 summit meeting, which was scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will take place virtually on Nov. 21 and 22.
• With Zimbabwe’s coronavirus infections on the decline, schools are reopening, along with churches, bars, restaurants, airports and tourist attractions. Strict lockdowns designed to curb transmission are being replaced by a return to relatively normal life.
• A recent surge in infections in Morocco has led authorities to reinstitute strict lockdown measures. Marrakech is at a standstill, while police checks are part of the scenery in hard-hit Casablanca. In the northern city of Tangiers, military vehicles were deployed last month to help enforce measures there. Movement between the city and others was stopped, barring exceptional authorizations.
• Beijing’s Municipal Commerce Bureau called on frozen food importers to avoid importing goods from COVID-19 hotspots.
• A definitive count of coronavirus-related fatalities in Mexico will probably not be available for “a couple of years,” the country’s top health official predicted Sunday. As in most countries, Mexico’s official death toll — over 76,000 as of late last night, the fourth-highest total worldwide — is widely understood to be an undercount.
• Melbourne, the epicenter of the Australia’s largest coronavirus outbreak, will no longer be subject to a curfew after today.
• Kenya will extend its nightly COVID-19 curfew for another 60 days with shortened hours from 11 PM to 4 AM local time, but bars and the sale of alcohol in ordinary eateries will be permitted effective Tuesday.
• Global Cases: 33,034,598     Total Deaths: 996,342 deaths (reports now confirm this number has exceeded 1,000,000)
• There have now over 30 million cases of COVID-19 reported globally.
• Iran's health ministry said 144 people had died and 3,049 had tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.
• British prime minister Boris Johnson is raising the possibility of a new lockdown, including closing restaurants and pubs, as cases surge in a "second wave."
• India has added more than 93,000 new cases a day on average over the last week.
• President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming at least the fourth Latin American leader to be infected during the pandemic.
• Thousands of Hasidic pilgrims who set out to celebrate the Jewish New Year at the grave of a rabbi in Ukraine are heading home after being denied entry from Belarus due to virus travel restrictions.
• New Zealand recorded no new cases of COVID-19 today for the first time in over a month, after an outbreak in Auckland had threatened the progress against the virus.
• President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has extended a national state of emergency until September 2021.
• The U.S./Canada and U.S./Mexico nonessential travel bans have been extended for another month until October 21.
• China’s CanSino Biologics and a military-backed research institute are preparing to start clinical trials of a two-dose vaccine regimen after scientists raised concerns that their current one-dose treatment failed to produce a strong enough immune response. China's Sinopharm announced this week that it would provide emergency doses of one of its two trial vaccines to the United Arab Emirates.
• Yves-François Blanchet, the leader of the separatist Bloc Québécois party in Canada, has tested positive for COVID-19.
• Global Cases: 30,055,710     Total Deaths: 943,433
• U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said today that COVID-19 is the world's top security threat. He went on to call for greater cooperation to develop and distribute an affordable vaccine, and criticized misinformation campaigns that could dissuade people from getting vaccinated.
• Indian company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is the newest customer of Russia’s vaccine, which has been approved by the government but not yet fully been tested for safety and efficacy. Dr. Reddy’s agreed first to cooperate on clinical trials and, if they are successful, to buy 100 million doses.
• Israeli reporters who had covered a large White House event were sent into quarantine upon returning home.
• India recorded its five millionth case yesterday, less than a month after hitting the three million mark.
• As cases in Madrid continue to increase, a health official from Madrid’s regional government warned that the capital was preparing to impose “selective lockdowns” in certain districts.
• After six months, and in an effort to bring back tourists to boost the economy, Nepal is starting to allow mountaineers and trekkers back to the country.
• The mayor of Paris announced that the city’s temporary expansion of bike lanes to facilitate travel during the pandemic would become permanent.
• Global Cases: 29,444,198      Total Deaths: 931,321
• Here is the most recent (9/14) edition of the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update.
• Yesterday, the WHO reported the highest one-day increase in COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic with more than 308,000 new cases.
• Antarctica remains the only continent with zero cases of COVID-19, but that could change as researchers begin to arrive in droves.
• French cities Marseille and Bordeaux have imposed bans on gatherings of more than 10 people after authorities noted a concerning surge of cases in the cities and surrounding areas. Visits to retirement homes will also be more restricted.
• The U.S. has relaxed its travel advisory for China and Hong Kong but is still warning Americans to “reconsider travel." In its updated guidance, the government said China and Hong Kong had resumed most business operations.
• Former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has left the hospital after nearly two weeks. He was previously admitted to be treated for pneumonia caused by COVID-19. He made an effort to warn Italians not to underestimate the gravity of the virus.
• India reported 92,071 new cases today, the fifth consecutive day that new cases exceeded 90,000 in the country.
• British officials set stricter restrictions on gatherings, lowering the limit of people who can meet from 30 to six.
• Dr. Jeannette Young, the chief health officer of Queensland, is under police protection because of death threats amid rising opposition to her pandemic policies. This is not an isolated case. Public health authorities around the world are facing death threats from people who are upset with their proposed restrictions.
• Israel will be returning to a nationwide lockdown for at least three weeks, starting on Friday.
• On Saturday, Canada reported zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time since March 15 (which is the day I adopted my dog in anticipation of a long quarantine).
• Global Cases: 28,918,900      Total Deaths: 922,252
• As cases continue to rise in France, government officials have chosen to focus on increasing testing capacity rather than implementing further lockdown measures.
• India has reported a record 96,551 new cases, pushing the country’s total caseload above 4.5 million. The country has recorded more than 76,000 deaths from COVID-19.
• Myanmar has implemented a lockdown for half of its largest city, Yangon, and halted travel between regions in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.
• North Korea has given a shoot-to-kill order to its deployed crack troops along the border to prevent smugglers from introducing COVID-19 into its population.
• Scientists from Imperial College London said that the prevalence of coronavirus infections doubled every eight days from late August to early September in England.
• Things are so far, so good in Germany after the first month of in-person schooling. Even though 41 schools in Berlin were reported to have been affected in the first two weeks, there have been few transmissions within the schools themselves.
• A new report from UNAIDS shows how countries grappling with COVID-19 are using the experience and infrastructure from the AIDS response to ensure a more robust response to both pandemics. COVID-19 and HIV: 1 moment, 2 epidemics, 3 opportunities—how to seize the moment to learn, leverage and build a new way forward for everyone’s health and rights shows that by identifying the dynamic changes needed, systems can be found that are effective, inclusive, equitable and sufficiently resourced.
• Global Cases: 28,040,853      Total Deaths: 906,092
• Here are the WHO's most recent weekly Epidemiological Update and Operational Update on COVID-19.
• Germany has extended its travel advisory to include all countries outside Europe through September 30. The foreign ministry said it will start to evaluate individual non-European destinations case by case, rather than issue another blanket warning, starting next month.
• China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, said yesterday that the country’s success in suppressing its coronavirus outbreak was a vindication of Communist Party rule.
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain will implement a ban on gatherings of more than six people starting next week in response to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.
• French prime minister Jean Castex is self-isolating after he came into contact with the director of the Tour de France, who has tested positive. Mr. Castex tested negative on Tuesday, but he will isolate until being retested seven days after the contact took place.
• Japan approved a plan to spend more than $6 billion from its emergency budget reserves on coronavirus vaccines.
• India surpassed Brazil to become the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world behind the U.S.
• On Tuesday, India's Health Ministry announced plans to open classrooms for high school students on a voluntary basis, and only with their parents’ approval, starting September 21. The vast majority of schoolchildren will continue to study online.
  • The Taj Mahal will also open for tourism on September 21, with access restricted to 5,000 people per day.
• China’s biggest air show is scheduled to go ahead as planned in November, which is a backtracking of an earlier announcement that the event had been canceled because of the pandemic.
• Amid rapidly surging new virus cases each day, Turkey is requiring masks be worn in all public places, including offices, factories, and open-air places such as parks and beaches.
• The U.N. confirmed the first known cases of COVID-19 among Syrian refugees in a camp in Jordan that houses around 40,000 people who fled fighting in Syria.
• The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been on the front lines of the battle with COVID-19, decided to pull funding and shut down its coronavirus pandemic task force.
• Hong Kong will expand the size of legal public gatherings to four from two on Friday, as the Chinese territory loosens restrictions that it imposed this summer to fight a third wave of infections. More sports and entertainment venues will also be allowed to reopen.
• A UNICEF survey conducted over the summer across 77 countries found that almost 68 percent of countries reported at least some disruption in health checks for children and immunization services because of the pandemic. In addition, 63 percent of countries reported disruptions in antenatal checkups and 59 percent in post-natal care.
• Global Cases: 27,486,960      Total Deaths: 894,983
• An Amnesty International report states that more than 7,000 health care workers have died from COVID-19 globally. Mexico has lost the most, with 1,320 health worker deaths. The U.S. is close behind with 1,077. Britain, Brazil, Russia, and India each have lost about 600 workers.
• Thailand has gone 100 days without a reported case of local transmission, but its success has come at a steep financial cost. The country’s last reported case of community transmission was confirmed on May 24. Hundreds of cases have been found since then among residents returning from abroad, but all have been detected during the required 14-day quarantine periods.
• India reported 83,883 new cases on Thursday, breaking its own global record.
• The Czech Republic reported its highest single-day increase today with 650 new cases.
• Turkish officials said they will be placing restrictions on weddings and other social events amid a surge in new cases. The daily number of cases has reached almost 1,600 in the last week.
• Jamaica plans to go ahead with in-person elections. On election day, all voters will be required to wear face masks and maintain social distancing at polling stations. Moreover, the government has hired 7,000 workers to help maintain other hygienic measures such as sanitizing pencils each time they’re used to fill out a ballot. While Jamaican voters traditionally dip a finger in ink to signal that they’ve cast a ballot, they'll instead be using germ-killing alcohol-based ink.
• The WHO said today that the global effort to develop and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine will reserve 220 million doses for the African continent to ensure it is not left behind. The doses are expected to cover 20 percent of individuals on the continent and would be distributed to each country based on population size. Front-line health-care workers, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions will likely have priority (in that order).
• British Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the country’s COVID-19 testing system is working “well” despite British media reports that people are having to travel up to 100 miles to visit a test center because of shortages or lack of local access.
• Brazil surpassed 4 million cases of COVID-19 today.
• Former prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for COVID-19 after a “precautionary check."
• Global Cases: 25,884,895      Total Deaths: 859,130

• Spain has recorded more than 53,000 new cases in the last week.
• Students in Hong Kong will start school in person on September 23.
• Greece issued a new directive temporarily suspending all passenger flights to the Catalonia region in Spain.
• India now has the world’s third-highest COVID-19 death toll behind the U.S. and Brazil at 64,469 total deaths.
  • India's National Statistical Office said the country's economy contracted by nearly 24 percent in the first quarter of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ended in June, compared with the same quarter the previous year.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that his government has arranged to buy 76 million doses of a vaccine now under development by Novavax, and 38 million doses of a different proposed vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. Canada had already said they planned to buy 20 million doses of a Pfizer vaccine and 56 million doses of a Moderna vaccine
• In New Zealand, officials reported nine new cases today, including four imported cases and five community cases linked to a cluster in Auckland. Today is also the first day when it is mandatory to wear masks on public transportation nationwide in New Zealand.
• Australia reported its highest daily death toll today, most of which were from the past month that had not been recorded earlier. Of the 41 deaths, eight were in the previous 24 hours. The rest were in nursing homes as early as late July, and are only just being counted because of a change in the way they are required to report COVID-19 deaths.
• Global Cases: 25,118,689      Total Deaths: 844,312
• According to new figures by UNICEF, at least a third of schoolchildren globally are unable to access remote learning when their schools are closed.
• Lebanon will loosen its latest virus-related lockdown after outraged business owners said the rules in place since August 21 were untenable and exacerbating the country’s enormous economic suffering.
• The British government said it would start to make payments to people in low-income areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases who have to quarantine but cannot work from home. Payments of up to 182 pounds (about $240) will be made to people who have tested positive for the virus as well as to their contacts if they meet certain criteria.
• Demonstrations in by far-right groups against virus restrictions scheduled for the weekend in Berlin, Germany were canceled after city authorities said that they would most likely break social-distancing rules.
• Doctors in the public hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya have ended their strike over inadequate PPE, lack of insurance coverage, and withheld salaries. The Nairobi county government and the doctors’ union managed to agree to a deal addressing most of the health workers’ concerns.
• South Korea reported 441 new cases today, its highest daily total since early March. The government has criticized doctors on strike and churches obstructing epidemiological efforts, claiming they are making it harder to fight COVID-19.
• In Paris, face masks will be required in all public places beginning tomorrow morning.
• Four prominent Hungarian politicians, including two ministers, have gone into quarantine, and one ranking party official announced he tested positive for COVID-19.
• Authorities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal say they have recorded at least 10 cases of the virus in the endangered Greater Andamanese tribe, one of five vulnerable tribes living on the remote islands.
• Global Cases: 24,021,218      Total Deaths: 821,462
• Europe is bracing for a barrage of job cuts as companies prepare to majorly downsize in an effort to offset COVID-related financial losses. Government-backed furlough programs that have helped keep about a third of Europe’s work force financially secure are set to unwind in the coming months.
• Millions of people in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region in western China, have been unable to leave their homes for 40 days because of a sweeping lockdown to fight a virus resurgence. With the outbreak seemingly under control, but the restrictions still largely in place, many residents say they are being confined to their homes unnecessarily and denied access to critical services like health care.
• Bali, Indonesia’s leading tourist destination, nixed plans to allow foreign tourists starting September 11, and will wait at least until the end of the year before opening to them. Bali’s economy contracted 11 percent during the second quarter, with about 2,700 tourism workers laid off and another 74,000 on unpaid leave.
• Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand extended Auckland's lockdown until Sunday night. The restrictions were originally set to expire on Wednesday, but PM Ardern said the extra time was necessary to ensure that a virus cluster had been brought under control. Eight new confirmed or probable cases were announced on Monday, bringing the total to 101.
• Today, a "made in Italy" vaccine was administered to the first volunteer. The vaccine is produced by ReiThera, a biotechnology company based near Rome but headquartered in Switzerland.
• French health officials said an outbreak of COVID-19 at a nudist camp in the southern resort town of Le Cap d’Agde was “very worrying.” More than 140 people have tested positive in the town and 310 more are awaiting results.
• Authorities in the Gaza Strip announced the first reported community spread of COVID-19, raising concerns that the pandemic could spread widely in the densely populated area.
• The WHO announced that 172 economies are now engaged in discussions to potentially participate in COVAX, a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved. COVAX currently has the world’s largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio - including nine candidate vaccines, with a further nine under evaluation and conversations underway with other major producers. The goal of COVAX is to bring the pandemic under control via equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Read more here.
• Italy recorded more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases in a day for the first time since early May.
• In Germany, several thousand volunteers attended a pop-up concert as part of an experiment to understand how COVID-19 spreads in large-scale stadium events — and how to prevent it. All participants were required to test negative for the virus 48 hours before the event and wear masks throughout the experiment.
• Global Cases: 23,311,719      Total Deaths: 806,410
• Italy imposed its first new restrictions on daily life since coming out of lockdown nearly four months ago, ordering the closure of nightclubs and mandating mask-wearing, even outdoors, in areas with nightlife.
• New Zealand said it would postpone its national election by four weeks as a cluster of new virus cases continues to spread in Auckland, its largest city. After 100 days without any community transmission, New Zealand has recorded 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the past day.
  • On Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that Auckland -- the city at the center of the new outbreak -- will remain under a level three lockdown for another 12 days.
• All 4,066 members of the Sarang-Jeil church in South Korea must be tested for coronavirus after a spike in cases was traced back to a religious service held by the group.
• Iraq recorded its highest-ever daily record of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 4,348 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 176,931.
• The U.K. imposed a 14-day quarantine starting Saturday on all arrivals from France, the Netherlands, Malta and Monaco after increases in Covid-19 cases. France says it will impose reciprocal measures on visitors from the UK.
• South Africa has reported a sharp drop in crime during the first months of COVID-19 lockdowns. Police data from April 1-June 30 shows crimes such as murder down 35.8 percent, sexual offenses down 39.7 percent, and common robbery down 49.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
• Argentina’s President, Alberto Fernández, announced his country’s quarantine measures will be extended with some changes until August 30.
• The U.S. has confirmed the U.S. and Mexico and the U.S. and Canada will extend shared border restrictions through September 21.
• Brazil has reported at least 19,373 new COVID-19 cases and 684 deaths in the past 24 hours. The total number of confirmed  infections now stands at nearly 3.4 million.
• Japan reported its worst drop in GDP on record as the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak dented consumption. Their economy shrank 7.8 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter, the country's Cabinet Office said on Monday. That translated to an annual rate of decline of 27.8 percent, the worst since modern records started in 1980 and the third consecutive quarter of contraction.
• Thailand’s economy, which depends heavily on tourism and exports, shrank by 12.2 percent in the second quarter, its biggest contraction since 1998. Thailand barred visitors from abroad starting in early April to prevent new cases of the virus.
• Global Cases: 21,294,845      Total Deaths:  761,779

• North Korea announced the country’s first suspected case of COVID-19. According to North Korean state media, the case was identified in an individual who had previously defected to South Korea and recently crossed the border back into North Korea. The individual reportedly exhibited symptoms associated with COVID-19, but there are currently no reports that the individual has tested positive.
• Spain is no longer on the U.K.'s travel corridor list and people arriving into England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland from Spain will be required to self-isolate.
• Hong Kong will prohibit dining in restaurants, limit public gatherings to two people, and require mask-wearing in public at all times, reacting to a spike in coronavirus cases.
• COVID-19 cases in Latin America for the first time have surpassed the combined infections in the U.S. and Canada, amid a surge of infections in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina.
• Nearly two weeks after being hospitalized for COVID-19, the health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Jesus Grajeda, has died.
• Belgium is tightening restrictions following an increase in COVID-19 cases. Starting Wednesday, Belgians will be allowed to see a maximum of five people outside of their families. Currently, a Belgian individual can meet 15 people in a "social bubble."
• Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from Danang after three residents tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.
• 15 lawmakers in Zambia have tested positive for COVID-19.
• Global COVID-19 infections surged past 15 million today. The top five countries with the most cases are Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa. However, the disease is accelerating the fastest in the Americas.
• Zimbabwe imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and warned of stiff penalties for people who break quarantine rules.
• Coronavirus deaths in Indonesia hit a record daily high of 139 in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 4,459.
• Hong Kong, Australia, and Japan all announced record numbers of new cases as they battle resurgences of the virus.
• Two ministers in South Africa’s cabinet were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 as the continent’s most-industrialized country counted a total 372,628 confirmed cases and 5,173 deaths.
• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has had another positive COVID-19 test result. It is the third test he has taken since falling ill on July 7^th.
• India recorded at least 40,000 cases on Monday, its highest single-day total.
• The number of new COVID-19 cases reported to the WHO rose by 259,848 in 24 hours over the weekend. This is the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
• The Australian state of Victoria is making mask-wearing mandatory, as cases there spike. The state premier said, "We are going to be wearing masks in Victoria, and potentially in other parts of the country for a very long time."
• Cuba moved into the final phase of reopening after there were no new domestic cases reported on Sunday for the first time in 130 days.
• Hong Kong reported 73 new cases, mostly local transmissions, as new restrictions took effect.
• France has made face masks compulsory in all enclosed public spaces amid new COVID-19 outbreaks.
• The number of COVID-19 infections around the world hit 13 million on Monday, climbing by a million in just five days. Today's WHO report does not reflect this milestone.
• Russia reported 6,537 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall tally to 733,699, the fourth largest case total reported in the world.
• Deaths in Mexico from the pandemic rose above 35,000 over the weekend, leading Mexico to overtake Italy for the world’s fourth-highest death total.
• South Africa will resume a ban on alcohol sales and reinstate a daily curfew to free up hospital capacity as the country's COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
• The WHO has sent a two-person advanced team to China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus and how it made the leap from animals to humans.
• Latin America has overtaken the U.S. and Canada to become the second worst-hit region in terms of deaths from COVID-19.
• The governor of Tokyo has said the Olympics in Japan must go ahead next year as a "symbol of world unity" in the face of the pandemic.
• Scotland reported no new COVID-19 deaths for the fifth day in a row.
• Hong Kong has closed gyms and movie theaters, and has banned gatherings of more than four in an effort to stem a new outbreak.
• The Iranian government, for first time since the pandemic began, ordered citizens to cover their faces in public.
• The Australian state of Victoria has locked down nine public housing towers in Melbourne, telling about 3,000 residents that they must not leave their homes for any reason for at least five days.
• A record number of new COVID-19 cases was reported globally Saturday, with the U.S., Brazil, and India showing the biggest increases.
• Britain is putting 8.4 million pounds ($10.49 million) into a new study to examine the long-term effects of COVID-19 on patients.
• Mexican officials said they will install health checkpoints at various entry points along the northern border this weekend.
• The Israeli government has tightened restrictions, closing bars, gyms, and public swimming pools, curtailing gatherings in restaurants, synagogues, and buses, and canceling summer camps for all but the youngest children.
• About 270,000 people in Spain have re-entered lockdown after the country officially ended its state of emergency on June 21st.
• The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide now exceeds 10 million, and the death toll has passed 500,000, with daily infections escalating in the U.S., India, and Brazil.
• The WHO is planning to send a team to China next week to try to understand the origins of the coronavirus.
• Thailand will lift a ban on international flights on July 1st.
• Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said officials are preparing a list of 15 non-EU countries considered safe for travel based on epidemiological criteria.
• Italy reported its lowest number of daily deaths on Saturday since early March.
• China reported a further decline in new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a total of just 12, including seven cases of domestic transmission in Beijing, where nearly 8.3 million people have now undergone testing in recent weeks.
• Australian health authorities are using what they describe as a world-first saliva test for COVID-19 in Victoria state.
• South Korean health authorities said for the first time the country is in the midst of a “second wave” of COVID-19 infections focused around its densely populated capital.
• In England, a new "no swab" saliva COVID-19 test is being trialed that lets people collect their own sample at home by spitting into a pot.
• France is reopening movie theaters, swimming pools, and holiday centers, and all children up to age 15 are back at school.
• Thailand hopes to ease some COVID-19 restrictions on foreigners entering the country after going for 28 days without recording any domestic transmissions.
• Fiji is planning to create a travel bubble with Australia and New Zealand. The proposal would allow residents to travel freely between the nations, without having to quarantine.
• Beijing canceled 70 percent of commercial flights from two of its major airports in an effort to contain a new outbreak that has infected more than 130 people in the past five days.
• Russia's Health Ministry said today that they have begun clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine.
• Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia is unlikely to reopen its border to international travelers until 2021, but will look to relax entry rules for students and other long-term visitors.
•  Two Australian universities plan to hire a plane to fly in hundreds of foreign students shut out in the middle of their studies by border closures due to COVID-19, a move they hope will start to salvage a major export earner.
• Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Honduras, has tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, he announced that the first lady and two aides have also tested positive.
• Brazilian health authorities said they will now recommend hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 in children and pregnant women. They criticized the U.S. FDA's recent decision to revoke the emergency use of the drug.
• Canada has agreed to contribute over $5 million to the WHO Regional Office for the Americas to support COVID-19 response activities, including increasing access to PPE and other critical supplies. The contribution will focus on supporting marginalized and vulnerable communities in 23 countries in the Americas.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is switching to a "special work mode" after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. The president tested negative shortly after. Under the Ukrainian constitution, the president cannot delegate his powers to anyone, and situations of self-isolation and quarantine were not laid out.
• Japan will ease travel restrictions by letting in up to 250 foreign travelers per day from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• At least 58 members of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei's staff have tested positive for COVID-19. This makes it one of the world’s largest outbreaks to erupt at a nation’s center of elected power.
• Brazil surpassed 800,000 total confirmed COVID-19 cases today. The death toll is now over 40,000.
• Prosecutors in Bergamo, Italy, are planning to question Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tomorrow as part of an inquiry into how COVID-19 was able to cut such a devastating path through the northern province.
• Italy is easing its lockdown measures to allow professional sporting events, such as the Coppa Italia football match, to resume behind closed doors starting Friday. Other establishments can also reopen starting June 25th, including summer camps, kindergartens, betting rooms, and bingo halls.
• The number of cases of COVID-19 in Africa has doubled in the last 18 days. The total is now over 200,000, though it took nearly 100 days to reach 100,000 cases. While the numbers may have risen so significantly in part because of increased testing, the WHO said today that more than half of the 54 countries on the continent were experiencing community transmission. Ten countries were driving the rise in numbers and accounted for nearly 80 percent of all cases, and South Africa has a quarter of the total cases.
• Germany will lift its border controls with neighbors France, Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark on June 15th. New arrivals from Italy will also no longer have to go through border controls, though the two countries do not share a physical border. The controls will be relaxed for travelers arriving from Spain by plane starting on June 21st. The easing of restrictions comes as the country slowly rolls back its strictest lockdown measures.
• Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank just conducted voluntary COVID-19 antibody tests on more than 44,000 employees, their families, clients, and outside medical professionals such as doctors and dentists.
• Poland has shut down 12 coal mines after the country’s health minister said most of its COVID-19 cases had been identified at these “hotspots.” At least two coal mines have more than 1,000 confirmed cases, according to figures supplied by coal companies.
• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening across the globe as the number of new cases on Sunday reached an all-time high.
• At least 18 people who work in Guatemala’s Presidential House have tested positive for COVID-19. Officials are planning to limit access to the Presidential House for 72 hours, and all the workers at the Presidential House will be tested. The Guatemalan president also said he and his vice president will be working remotely.
• Japan recorded no new COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, the first time this has happened since March 6th, around the time when the pandemic saw infection rates soar in the country. A total of 38 new infections were recorded on Sunday, which brings the national total to 17,886 cases and 929 deaths.
• Peru reported 137 new COVID-19-related deaths today, which brings the national death toll to 5,031. The number of cases is up to 183,198, an increase of 4,284 from yesterday. Peru now has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Latin America behind Brazil.
• An ongoing government study in Spain so far suggests that more than 5 percent of the population has coronavirus antibodies.
• France will replace its traditional Bastille Day parade down the Champs-Élysées in Paris with a smaller military ceremony due to COVID-19. The July 14th ceremony will be a scaled down celebration and will include a tribute to health care workers.
• Sweden will ease its travel restrictions starting June 13th to allow those who do not have any symptoms to move around the country.
• The Global Vaccine Summit, hosted by the U.K. government, has raised $8.8 billion for vaccine research.
• Spain's Health Minister said the country will start lifting restrictions on Monday.
• Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that there will be a comprehensive easing of  restrictions starting June 1st. Restaurants and cafes will be allowed to reopen on June 1st, but bars and hookah cafés will remain closed. Additionally, a travel restriction prohibiting entry and exits from major metropolitan areas including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir will be lifted.
• French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said parks will reopen starting this Saturday, and beaches, lakes, sporting facilities, museums, and monuments will reopen on June 2nd. He added that gatherings must be limited to 10 people and the capacity of outdoor spaces will be limited to 5,000 people, under the condition that social distancing rules are enforced. It will be up to local mayors and regional officials to decide if masks should be mandatory for people visiting parks, beaches, and lakes.
• Houses of worship in Jordan will be allowed to reopen under public safety controls starting June 5th. Mosques will initially reopen for Friday prayers on June 5th, and other prayers will be allowed gradually.
• New Zealand now has zero COVID-19 hospital patients. There are still a couple dozen active cases in the country, but those patients are not being treated in a hospital.
• Both chambers of the French Parliament voted in favor of the "StopCovid" app today, despite the contact tracing app being criticized by opposition parties for its infringements on individual freedoms. French digital rights association La Quadrature du Net said that between 60 and 80 percent of the population would need to use the app for it to help mitigate COVID-19.
• According to Spain's top COVID-19 health ministry official, mortality rates in Spain were 55 percent higher than usual between March 10th and May 10th of this year. Not all of those additional deaths can be linked directly to COVID-19, but many of them are likely due to people not wanting to go to hospitals or get medical assistance during the peak of the pandemic.
• Over the long weekend, the number of global COVID-19 cases passed 5 million.
• The WHO Regional Office for Africa has provided training for Tanzanian health workers to equip them with skills for caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients. A total of 160 health workers in Tanzania attended a three-day virtual training session organized by the Ministry of Health and the WHO.
• The WHO Regional Office for Europe along with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that they will continue to repurpose their influenza surveillance systems to also detect the COVID-19 virus.
• Officials in Wuhan have so far tested 6.5 million residents of their 11 million goal. As of this afternoon, only 200 tests have returned positive.
• The WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi have warned that COVID-19 is disrupting life-saving immunization services around the world, putting millions of children – in rich and poor countries alike – at risk of diseases like diphtheria, measles, and polio. Based on data collected by those three organizations and Sabin Vaccine Institute, provision of routine immunization services is substantially hindered in at least 68 countries and is likely to affect approximately 80 million children under the age of 1 living in these countries.
• WHO and the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed a new agreement to strengthen and advance public health services for the millions of displaced people around the world. A key aim this year will be to support ongoing efforts to protect some 70 million displaced people due to COVID-19.
• Global Cases: 16,114,449        Total Deaths:  646,641