UK’s Johnson Mulls “Circuit-Breaker” Lockdown, France To Adopt Hot-Spot Curfews As European Outbreaks Worsen: Live Updates

Summary:

• Boris Johnson says will consider 2-week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown
• France’s Macron expected to announce new measures in Wednesday night interview
• Iran’s cases, deaths continue to climb despite new restrictions
• Philippines records nearly 2k new cases
• Indonesia nears 350k
• India outbreak continues to slow
• South Korea sees new daily cases drop back below 100
• Global cases: 38.2 million; deaths: 1.1 million

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As pressure mounts, UK PM Boris Johnson acknowledged on Wednesday that his government will consider imposing the two-week lockdown that proponents have marketed as a “circuit-breaker” – even as the WHO warns that lockdowns (like the virus itself) imposes the biggest burdens on the poor.

More European countries announced plans to tighten social distancing restrictions yesterday, with the Netherlands imposing a partial lockdown that will endure for at least a couple of weeks, and hard-hit Ukraine closing schools and colleges.

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Despite the punishing lockdowns implemented from Italy, to Britain, to Spain – and beyond – Europe reported more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases last week, a record number and a jump of 34% compared with the week prior. Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections.

Meanwhile, the FT reports that the UK government is looking at a single coronavirus test to try and cut the amount of time travelers spend waiting for their results in half.  MPs launched a “travel taskforce” last week to explore different ways to adopt “COVID-19” testing in a way that will help heal the country’s battered tourism industry.

Across the channel, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to make a television appearance on Wednesday night amid predictions that he will unveil further restrictions to curb a recent surge in coronavirus infections and hospital admissions.

It comes as parts of France saw ICU units at 95% capacity, dangerous levels threatening to unleash higher mortality rates if the virus isn’t contained. The FT reported that Macron could use Wednesday night’s TV interview to announce curfews in the hardest hit areas (presently, that’s in and around Paris and Lyon) while announcing additional restrictions on public gatherings. The PM has said he will try and avoid another lockdown.

As China confronts its first confirmed outbreak in 2 months, more than 4.2 million tests in the northern port city of Qingdao have been completed, with no new cases among the almost 2 million results received. Nearly 9,000 coronavirus victims are in hospital in France, 1,642 of them in the ICU.

Here’s more COVID-19 news from overnight and Wednesday morning.

Iran’s coronavirus-related daily cases and deaths rose to a record as the government imposed restrictions on travelling to and from five big cities that are most infected by the virus. The latest 24-hour death tally increased to 279 on Wednesday, up from the 254 reported on Tuesday, while 4,830 people tested positive. Both those figures were the highest records since the pandemic began. The total number of deaths rose to 29,349, of 513,219 people who tested positive (Source: FT).

Shortly after trials of an Eli Lilly antibody therapeutic that had been submitted to the FDA for emergency use authorization were paused, the company’s CEO said during an interview at a virtual health conference that COVID-19 is likely to become “endemic” in the human population.

Global cases have reached 38,172,523, according to Johns Hopkins data, surmounting 38 million as the world remains on track to top 40 million cases by the end of October. Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll has hit 1,086,918 (Source: Nikkei).

Moscow says Russia will resume flights to Japan, Cuba and Serbia. The government has authorized three flights a week to Tokyo (Source: Nikkei).

Malaysia reports 660 new coronavirus cases and four more deaths, as the capital poses imposed tighter restrictions on movement for two weeks. More than half the new infections are in Sabah, a state under lockdown (Source: Nikkei).

Indonesia reports 4,127 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, bringing its total number of cases to 344,749, data from its COVID-19 task force show. The country has also recorded 129 new deaths, the highest daily increase since Sept. 30 (Source: Nikkei).

The Philippines records 1,910 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the lowest number in more than three weeks, and 78 more fatalities. In a bulletin, the health ministry said the country’s confirmed infections had climbed to 346,536, while its death toll had risen to 6,449 (Source: Nikkei).

India’s official coronavirus infection count rose by 63,509 in the last 24 hours, reaching 7.24 million on Wednesday, according to the health ministry. Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 730 to 110,586, the ministry said (Source: Nikkei).

South Korea confirms 84 new coronavirus cases, down from 102 a day earlier. The country’s total infections have reached 24,889, with 438 deaths (Source: Nikkei).

The World Bank says its executive board approved on Tuesday $12 billion in new funding for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. The financing plan is a part of $160 billion in total funding that the multilateral development lender has pledged to developing countries through June 2021 to help them fight the coronavirus pandemic (Source: Nikkei).