World Reports Record Jump In COVID-19 Cases As Outbreak Explodes Across Europe, Midwest: Live Updates

Summary:

• US sees 2nd highest jump in new cases
• Europe’s hospitals overwhelmed amid surge in COVID patients
• Cases in India slow
• Blood plasma treatment proven ineffective
• 8 states reported records

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Record numbers of new COVID-19 cases were reported across Europe on Thursday, which, combined with a surge in US cases, along with Russia, Turkey and a handful of other countries, helped to send global cases to a new daily record: 468,499.

Global cases have reached 41,705,699, while the death toll has reached 1,137,333 as of Friday morning in New York.

(Source: JHU)

Meanwhile in the US, the NYTimes reported that more than 75,000 new cases were reported yesterday, making Thursday’s tally the second-highest since July 29, when the US recorded 75,723 new cases. Europe also posted a new record, driven largely by the 40k+ new cases reported in France, along with record numbers in Germany, Italy and a number of countries in Central Europe.

According to Johns Hopkins, the US total is now 8,411,262.

At least 8 states reported record numbers of new cases yesterday, while 13 have added more cases in the past week than during any other stretch of the pandemic, according to the NYT.

Record numbers were reported in Ohio, in Colorado and Kentucky, as the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states are hit particularly hard by this third wave. In Chicago, the unofficial capital of the Midwest, officials are seeing 645 new cases a day this week. In response, the mayor is imposing a nighttime business curfew will be imposed starting on Friday.

Record daily highs were recorded in at least half a dozens US states, including Ohio and Tennessee, where last  night’s presidential debate was held.

Nationally, deaths were little-changed, though some Midwestern states saw deaths tick higher late this week. But nationwide, the US saw just 856 new deaths, even as more COVID-19 patients are crowding American hospitals than at any point since the middle of the summer. To be sure, a spike in deaths on Wednesday briefly pushed the 7-day average to the highest level in a month.

A regional breakdown shows that most COVID-19 deaths are coming from populous southern states like Texas and Florida.

Source: Bloomberg

In Turkey, which has seen new case numbers rebound to the highest levels since May, warned on Friday about a nationwide increase in the virus, which has been centered around Istanbul, the country’s biggest city.

“The pandemic is on the rise again across the country,” Fahrettin Koca said on Friday in the northwestern city of Bursa before heading to the country’s largest city at the weekend, where the government-led coronavirus science board will also meet. Istanbul has “40% of nationwide cases,” the minister said, without elaborating. “I invite Istanbulites to observe measures, by making sacrifices if necessary,” Koca said.

Turkey has reported more than 2,000 new patients for the past two days, near levels last seen in early May. The number of severely ill people rose to 1,599 on Thursday, the highest since the government started providing the figure in July, according to Bloomberg.

In the Czech Republic, which has been the worst hit European country during the second wave, the number of new cases eased to 14,151, down from the record 14,968 from the prior day. The country has seen a total of 223,065. In neighboring Poland, officials are planning to close restaurants and bars for two weeks and limit public gatherings to five people. Older schoolchildren will return to distanced virtual learning, said Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicki.  Back in the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babis has ordered Health Minister Roman Prymula to quit, and has promised to fire him if he doesn’t. The scandal stems from a meeting the health minister had at a restaurant closed under his national order.

Across Europe, hospitals are filling up with the second wave of patients. In response, Poland has turned its largest stadium into an emergency field hospital. In Belgium and the UK, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has doubled in the past 2 weeks. The Czech Republic, meanwhile, is struggling with a shortage of doctors and nurses as health-care workers fall ill at an alarming rate. 

Source: NYT

Here’s some more COVID-19 news from overnight and Friday morning:

Infusing hospitalized COVID-19 patients with blood plasma from people who recovered from the disease had no effect on whether patients got sicker or died, according to the first completed randomized trial of the treatments, according to Stats News. (Source: Stat News)

Malaysia reports 710 new cases, down from Thursday’s 847. The country has seen its total cases double in the past month, reaching 24,514, with 214 deaths (Source: Nikkei).

Indonesia reports 4,369 cases, down from 4,432 a day earlier, bringing the country total to 381,910. There were 118 deaths, pushing the total to 13,077 (Source: Nikkei).

India reports 54,366 cases in the last 24 hours, down from 55,839 the previous day, bringing the country total to over 7.76 million. Deaths jumped 690 to 117,306. Of the country’s total cases, about 9% are active patients and over 89% have recovered. India’s mortality rate stands at 1.51%, according to health ministry data (Source: Nikkei).

About 433,300 people in England had coronavirus in the week to October 16, equating to 1 in 130 people, according to the latest analysis by the Office for National Statistics. This is up from 1 in 160 people the week before (Source: FT)