October 23 coronavirus news

As coronavirus cases surge across the US, the country needs to “double down” on public health measures, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday.

Covid-19 cases in the US are nearing a daily record and the death toll is closing in on 224,000.

Fauci said that doesn’t mean shutting down the country.

“Whenever I talk about amplifying and just stressing the public health measures, people think that that means we’re going to shut down,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that. It means there are some fundamental things that you can do.”

Fauci stressed the public health basics: wearing a mask, social distancing, avoiding crowds and frequent hand washing.

“They sound very simple, but we’re not uniformly doing that and that’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing these surges,” he added. “We can control them without shutting down the country.”

People need to avoid gathering in crowds, especially indoors, he said.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci said the country should probably mandate mask use, even if people complain about the trouble with enforcing it.

Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks with CNN on Friday, October 23.

Making the decision to switch all Boston public schools to remote learning starting Thursday following a rise in Covid-19 cases was “probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make since the coronavirus pandemic began,” Mayor Marty Walsh told CNN.

Boston’s seven-day Covid-19 positivity rate had increased from last week’s rate of 4.5% to 5.7% 

Families will be provided with in-home services and locations throughout the district are giving out meals for these kids, the mayor added. The increase in positivity rate took the mayor by surprise, he admits, adding that people are relaxing their coronavirus safety measures.

“We are seeing a lot of house parties, both in and outdoors. We’re seeing 25-30 people there, and that’s a problem. We are seeing people a little lackadaisical with their masks, maybe putting them down around their chin and not having their nose covered. That’s a problem,” he said.

This September 2020 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson shows vials for a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the company.

Johnson & Johnson said Friday the independent monitoring board overseeing its phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial in the United States has recommended resuming the trial, which was paused earlier this month after a participant became ill.

Preparations to resume the trial in the US are now underway, the company said, including submissions for approval by Institutional Review Boards. Johnson & Johnson’s statement did not specify when the trial would begin again. 

Some context: The trial was put on hold Oct. 12 due to a study participant’s “unexplained illness,” the company said. Johnson & Johnson said Friday “no clear cause” was identified for a trial participant’s “serious medical event.”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine trial started Sept. 23 with a plan to recruit 60,000 patients in eight countries, including the United States. In its statement Friday, Johnson & Johnson’s said discussions with regulators around the world are “progressing.”

The trial’s full safety and efficacy results will be shared when the trial concludes, the company said.

During an Operation Warp Speed briefing on Friday, US Health and Human Services Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Paul Mango said they were “very optimistic” the Johnson & Johnson trial would resume “as quickly as possible.”

The resumption of AstraZeneca’s paused coronavirus vaccine trial is good news, Operation Warp Speed officials said Friday.

Some context: AstraZeneca said Friday the US Food and Drug Administration had cleared it to resume its phase 3 clinical trial in the US after it was paused last month when a volunteer in the United Kingdom developed a serious health condition.

The company restarted its trials in other countries but the US arms have been on hold while the Food and Drug Administration examined safety data. 

“This process of rigorous evaluation of the safety for each volunteer, particularly in this trial, was closely followed,” Hepburn said during a briefing.

“This is going to be the most scrutinized vaccine ever produced,” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams added.

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, is seen after a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss vaccines and protecting public health during the coronavirus pandemic on September 9, 2020 in Washington DC. 

While he remains “cautiously optimistic” that the United States could have a Covid-19 vaccine authorized by the end of the year, the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Francis Collins warned on Friday that “it might take longer.”

Collins added that it remains “a good thing” the US has more than one vaccine candidate in development.

“It’s a good thing we have this menu of diverse scientific approaches,” Collins said. “If you were betting the whole thing on one vaccine I’d be a lot more worried.”

Additionally, a potential Covid-19 vaccine will need to have at least 50% effectiveness to be considered for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, Collins said.

“FDA is not going to approve a vaccine that has less than 50% effectiveness,” he added.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca will resume the trial of its experimental coronavirus vaccine in the United States, which has been on hold since September.

The company said the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the restart Thursday after reviewing all of the global safety data and concluding it was safe to resume. The trial had already resumed in other countries.

The trial was paused after a volunteer in Britain developed a neurological condition suffered by one of the participants in its coronavirus vaccine clinical trials around the world.

Government health officials, as well as outside experts, have said the hold is an example of how the safety process is working and protecting Americans from any potentially dangerous vaccines. Regulators wanted to check to make sure any problems could not have been caused by the vaccine. 

The company has been working with Britain’s University of Oxford to develop the vaccine, one of four that started late-stage, Phase 3 trials in the US.

An internal AstraZeneca safety report obtained by CNN last month showed the study volunteer, a previously healthy 37-year-old woman, “experienced confirmed transverse myelitis” after receiving her second dose of the vaccine, and was hospitalized on Sept. 5. The woman was enrolled in the UK arm of the trial, which is run by the University of Oxford.  

The document, labeled an “initial report,” described how the study participant had trouble walking, weakness and pain in her arms, and other symptoms. 

The company said in the release Thursday that results from late-stage trials are expected later this year, depending on infection rates where the trials are being conducted.

A volunteer receives a COVID-19 vaccination from RN Jose Muniz as part of a vaccine study at Research Centers of America on August 07, 2020 in Hollywood, Florida.

The percentage of Americans willing to take a Covid-19 vaccine appears to be falling – and if only half of the country is willing to get vaccinated, Covid-19 could stick around for years, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, warned on Friday.

“When I look at the attitudes that are out there now about this vaccine and about who would be interested in taking it – it’s really, really troubling,” Collins said, speaking at a National Press Club in a virtual event.

Only 51% of Americans said they would try to get a Covid-19 vaccine once one is widely available at a low cost, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS earlier this month, and that percentage has dropped since May.

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Marta Lucía Ramírez, Vice President of Colombia, on May 14, 2019 in Bogota, Colombia.

Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez confirmed she tested positive for Covid-19 on her Twitter account Friday.

“Yesterday I took the #COVID19 test,” she tweeted. “I inform all Colombians that the test result was positive. Thank God, I am in a good state [of health] and I am complying with a thorough quarantine.”

The vice president called on all Colombians to remain steadfast in following the biosecurity measures put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19, adding that the “pandemic is a reality, which can affect us all.”

Colombia has 990,373 confirmed cases and 29,637 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University. This is the third highest case tally in Latin America after Brazil and Argentina.

French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd L) chairs a meeting with the medical staff of the René Dubos hospital center, in Pontoise, in the Val d'Oise, on October 23, 2020, as the country faces a new wave of infections to the Covid-19.

France reported a new daily record for coronavirus infections with 42,032 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to numbers released by country’s health agency on Friday.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in France to 1,041,075, according to French government statistics, and marks the first time the government’s coronavirus case tally has surpassed 1 million. 

France also recorded 298 additional coronavirus deaths, bringing the death toll to 34,508, according to the French Health Agency. 

According to government data, an additional 976 coronavirus patients have been admitted to the hospital, and a further 122 coronavirus patients entered intensive care in the last 24 hours. 

Speaking at a health center this afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron said he expects France will have to live with the virus until at least the summer of 2021.

Macron added that the government aims to implement new restrictions in the most targeted way possible. 

From midnight on Friday, France’s nighttime coronavirus curfew will be extended more widely, with 46 million French people affected, announced French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday. 

To note: According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, France has recorded 1,048,924 coronavirus cases and 34,236 deaths. CNN’s Paris Bureau is working on clarifying the discrepancy between state statistics and the university’s numbers.

The number of Covid-19 cases tied to a church convocation event in Charlotte, North Carolina, now stands at 101, according to a news release from the Mecklenburg County Department of Health. 

In the release, the county said 99 coronavirus cases are in Mecklenburg County and two additional cases in Iredell County are linked to convocation events at the United House of Prayer for All People on Oct. 4 through Oct. 11.

The county says at least three deaths and one cluster of 12 residents at a senior living community are also connected with this outbreak. 

Public health officials have also attempted to contact more than 137 close contacts of the 99 confirmed cases, the release stated. 

A cyclist takes pictures of the public art project “IN AMERICA How could this happen…” on the DC Armory Parade Ground October 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. The art piece, created by local artist Susanne Brennan Firstenberg, will be on display for two weeks with flags planted to represent lives that have been lost to COVID-19. 

There are at least 8,440,895 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 223,381 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

So far today, Johns Hopkins has recorded 33,193 new cases and 349 reported deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arriving at a press conference to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $214 million Friday toward efforts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

Of that money, Trudeau said his administration is providing “up to $173 million” toward Quebec-based Medicago Inc.’s vaccine candidate, and their Quebec City-based factory.

Trudeau also announced $18.2 million for Vancouver-based Precision NanoSystems, and an additional $23 million towards various early-stage vaccine candidates. 

The prime minister said the Canadian government had begun distributing hundreds of thousands of rapid Covid-19 tests to provincial governments. 

The investment comes as Covid-19 cases in Canada are on the rise. 

“Yesterday, Canada had the highest ever number of new cases of Covid-19,” Trudeau said. “We have to get these numbers down. This is serious, and everybody must do their part.”

US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 23, 2020.

President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during an Oval Office meeting on Friday that some significant differences between the Trump administration and Democrats still need to be resolved before reaching a stimulus deal.

Asked for an update on the stimulus talks, Mnuchin told reporters, “The President’s been very clear in his instructions to me. That if we can get the right deal we’re going to do that.” 

The President, speaking from the Resolute Desk for an announcement on the normalization in relations between Israel and Sudan, claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “wants to bail out poorly run Democrat states.” 

“We just don’t want that. We want Covid-related,” Trump said, later adding, “We don’t want to reward areas of our country who have not done a good job.” 

The President also asserted that Pelosi wants to wait until after the election to strike a stimulus deal. “I don’t think she wants the people to get the money before the election,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, Pelosi on Friday continued to express optimism about a potential coronavirus stimulus package, saying negotiators “could be very close.”

“We’re writing the bill, and hopefully we’ll be able to resolve some of the differences,” she said during an interview on MSNBC.

“I think the President wants a bill. I really do,” she said, adding that it’s still possible lawmakers could approve the legislation before the election, depending on how the GOP Senate reacts.

“We could be very close,” Pelosi said. “As I say, we’re close enough to put pen to paper.” 

As the number of active Covid-19 cases in Tennessee continue to rise, hospitals in metro Nashville are reporting a 40% increase in patients admitted for the virus.

In a joint news release, Vanderbilt Health, Ascension St. Thomas, Tristar Health and Meharry Medical College say new cases of coronavirus have increased by 50% over the last two weeks.

Over the same two-week period, hospitals in the Nashville area have experienced a 40% increase in patients admitted for Covid-19, the release stated. 

Hospital officials say a major surge of new Covid-19 cases could threaten their ability to serve patients with many diagnoses requiring hospitalization.

Officials caution that the surge in cases along with the annual flu season would add more strain, potentially overwhelming hospitals. They are strongly urging residents to wear masks, wash hands, and stay socially distant. 

“We must do everything we can to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed and safeguard the reopening of our economy,” Vanderbilt University Medical Center said in the release.

On Friday, Metro Nashville Health Department recorded 32,722 Covid-19 cases. The statewide total as of Thursday was 237,907, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. 

The famed football game between Army and Navy has been moved from Philadelphia to West Point, home of the United States Military Academy in New York.

The 121st edition will still be played on Dec. 12. Attendance limits within the state of Pennsylvania was the reason given for the move.

Both academies are planning on allowing the entire Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets to attend the annual “America’s Game.” 

This will be the first Army-Navy football game played on a home campus since the early 1940s, when the two schools hosted consecutive years during World War II.

Navy leads the all-time series with 61 wins, 52 loses, seven ties. Army has won three of the last four games.

French President's wife Brigitte Macron at the Elysée Palace in Paris on October 8, 2020.

French first lady Brigitte Macron has tested negative after a potential coronavirus exposure, the Elysée told CNN on Friday. She will resume her activities. 

On Monday, the French first lady was identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for coronavirus and she began self-isolating. 

This did not change President Emmanuel Macron’s schedule, the Elysée said. He was not in close contact with the person who later tested positive.

Milan on October 20, 2020 in front of the Duomo shows people walking across and wearing protective face masks.

Italy reported another record high with 19,143 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Italian health ministry on Friday. That’s up from Thursday’s record of 16,079 new coronavirus cases.

Italy also reported 91 coronavirus deaths on Friday.

The governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, has asked the government for a national lockdown and has announced he will close the region “for 30 to 40 days” to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“Said in a brutally clear way, I don’t want to find ourselves in front of military trucks that carry hundreds of coffins,” De Luca said in a video message.

The governor of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, said it is a “dramatic situation.”

One hundred scientists have written an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte asking for “drastic measures” to be taken in the next two to three days.

The Florida Department of Health is reporting 3,689 additional coronavirus cases on Friday and 73 new deaths.

To date, Florida has recorded a total of 771,780 Covid-19 cases statewide and 16,543 deaths, according to data released by the health department. 

On Thursday, the state recorded more than 5,500 cases, its highest single-daily increase in more than two months.

Note: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Former Clark County Democrats Chairwoman Donna West looks on as an observer as Clark County election workers scan mail-in ballots at the Clark County Election Department on October 20, in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

If 95% of Americans wore masks in public, more than 100,000 lives could be saved from Covid-19 through February, a new modeling study suggests.

The study – from the Covid-19 forecasting team at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – notes that, as of Sept. 21, only about 49% of US residents reported that they “always” wear a mask in public.

If mask-wearing remains 49% through February and states continue with removing social distancing mandates, the Covid-19 death toll across the United States could reach about 1 million deaths by Feb. 28, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine on Friday. 

Yet, under the assumption that states shut down when their daily death rate exceeds eight deaths per 1 million people in the population but mask-wearing doesn’t change, the study’s model projections forecast the death toll could reach 511,373 deaths by Feb. 28.

The scenario that 95% of people in each state wear masks – in addition to states reinstating social distancing mandates if their daily death rates exceed eight deaths per 1 million people – resulted in the lowest death toll projection, with 381,798 deaths by Feb. 28, according to the study.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in the United States from Feb. 1 through Sept. 21. That analysis – along with other factors, such as pneumonia seasonality, testing rates and mask use – helped inform model projections for the course of the pandemic through Feb. 28.

The study had some limitations, including that the findings are only forecast projections from models and not definitive of what the future holds.

IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray emphasized during a virtual news briefing on Friday that the institute’s weekly modeling projections provide more updated data than what is provided in the study. However, the study still helps offer insight into how mask-wearing can make a difference.

As of Thursday, the federal government has delivered more than 110 million cloth masks to states and territories to help reopen schools, an official from the US Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

The masks are part of an initiative announced in August to provide 125 million reusable cloth masks for public and private school students, teachers and staff. Distribution was to be focused on low-income students and schools reopening for in-person learning, said Jonathan Hayes, a senior adviser at HHS, during a briefing with reporters on Friday. 

The 125 million masks were split evenly among youth- and adult-sized masks; all of the adult-sized masks have been delivered to states and 77% of the youth-sized masks. State officials were to handle distribution of masks to schools.

“As a reminder, we all need to continue to follow the three Ws – wash your hands, wear a mask and watch your distance,” Hayes said.

View of Plaza Independecia in Ciudad Vieja in Montevideo, on September 10.

Uruguay’s borders will be closed over the county’s summer season as part of an effort to halt the spread of Covid-19, President Luis Lacalle Pou announced during a news conference on Thursday. 

The summer season in Uruguay begins in December and ends in March.

The president also said in-person classes in the city of Rivera will be suspended for 15 days. 

“Because today there are many cases, or several cases, in the education [sector], we have decided to suspend face-to-face classes for two weeks,” he said. 

Additionally, the president said public safety measures will be enforced, and urged the public to avoid large gatherings and parties. “We will be very strict when it comes to the topic of parties,” he said. 

“If Uruguay is almost at the fullness of its freedoms in meetings, economy, in the workplace and culture, it is because there has been a responsible freedom. We give in, it gets complicated, and now there is a global and regional push,” he added. 

Uruguay reported at least 2,701 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 53 deaths as of Friday morning.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a Covid-19 briefing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarter campus in Atlanta, on October 21.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that household gatherings have become a “major vector” of coronavirus spread.  

At last night’s debate, President Trump again said the US is “rounding the turn” in the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday was the highest day for new infections since late July.

Azar said the President is “trying to give people hope” while acknowledging “we are in a very serious moment.” 

Azar was pressed if the administration could take a more aggressive approach to the virus and why Trump continues to hold rallies without social distancing.

“In public health, we focus on mitigation fatigue,” Azar said. “… When you look back, we actually hit that curve at just about the right point to achieve the core strategic objective, which was to flatten and delay that curve. … We’re seeing the impacts here and in Europe from mitigation fatigue.”

Health officials issued a stay-at-home order for all University of Michigan undergraduate students this week amid a spike in coronavirus cases.

“I think there’s a little bit of Covid-19 fatigue going on,” said the university’s president Mark Schlissel. 

The order expires Nov. 3, and Schlissel said that students will go home for a week and return to online-only learning for the rest of the semester. For students who elect to return home now, he said there will be self-isolation and testing requirements to follow. 

“It’s the last three or four weeks, as you see happening all around the nation, that things have started to slip away from us,” he told CNN.

As the University of Michigan Wolverines are set to resume the Big Ten football schedule tomorrow, Schlissel said he didn’t want to “penalize student athletes.” He added that he thinks very limited ticketing and rapid testing will decrease the risk of spreading the virus. 

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A patient infected with Covid-19 sits on her bed in the infectious diseases unit of the Gonesse hospital in Gonesse, north of Paris, on October 22.

France is paying the price for ending the coronavirus lockdown too quickly, said Gilles Pialoux, the head of infectious diseases at Tenon Hospital in Paris.

The country reported a new record for daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, with 41,622 new cases in a 24-hour period, according to numbers released by the French Health Agency.

It will be “really difficult to avoid a (second) lockdown given the circulation of the virus,” Pialoux told BFM Friday.

France is “paying for an end of lockdown that happened too quickly, a summer that was too careless, and a new school year that was not anticipated enough,” he added.

He said local lockdowns or lockdowns “by population group” could be the solution. The doctor added the circulation of the virus among the “20-30 year old” age group was “far beyond” the rest of the population.

Martin Hirsch, the head of Paris Public Hospitals, said the second wave “could be worse than the first one.”

Hirsch told RTL radio on Friday of a “fearsome” situation, calling on all French people to adapt their behaviors to combat the epidemic and prevent intensive care units from being saturated.

A medical worker prepares an injection in a corridor of the infectious diseases unit of the Gonesse hospital before visiting a patient in Gonesse, north of Paris, on October 22.

The five countries with the highest rate of coronavirus infections when measured against population are all in Europe, according to the latest moving averages from Johns Hopkins University analyzed by CNN.

They are the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France. 

In all five countries, the number of new infections has increased rapidly since the beginning of October and continues to rise.

These two countries have by far the highest rate of new Covid-19 infections, but other countries in Europe are seeing steep rises.

The Netherlands’ daily average of new cases at the beginning of October was 2,944; on Oct. 19 it was 8,277. Measured per million of population, that represents an increase from 172 to 483 in less than three weeks. 

Johns Hopkins lists the 20 countries most affected by the pandemic and in recent days Switzerland has been added. Its rolling average of new cases on Oct. 19 was 3,618 – more than seven times higher than the number (504) on Oct. 1. That equates to 423 new cases daily per million residents. 

Rounding out the most affected countries, France had 381 new cases per million residents on Oct. 19.

The United Kingdom has seen a sharp rise in its rolling average this month, from 9,729 new cases to 19,290 per day – which equates to 284 cases per million. 

The picture in Spain is less dramatic but the daily average remains stubbornly high. Despite new measures to restrict movement in the most affected areas, the daily average of new cases has only edged down from 14,690 at the beginning of the month to 13,987 on Oct. 19 – 299 per million.  

While infections per million are lower in other European countries, they are still rising.

Italy, which was one of the worst affected countries earlier in the year, is suffering a new spike. Its rolling average of new cases has risen from 2,208 at the start of the month to 11,341 this week. 

Poland is also among the countries listed by Johns Hopkins – its rolling average has more than quadrupled this month. 

More broadly, according to the Johns Hopkins figures, the rolling averages of new cases in India and Brazil continue to fall, while the US is seeing a gradual but persistent rise. Its rolling average has risen from 43,089 at the start of October to 59,387 this week, representing 179 new cases a day per million population. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addresses a parliamentary session in Madrid on October 22.

During a televised speech on Friday, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez asked residents to limit their mobility to fight the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The situation is serious,” Sanchez warned.

“We must reduce mobility,” he said, adding that he is trying to avoid imposing a national lockdown again.

Sanchez also said that although his country surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases earlier this week, he estimated the “real number” of Covid-19 cases in his country will likely surpass 3 million, according to findings by a nationwide antibody study.

Sanchez said his government and the 17 regional governments have agreed to impose a coronavirus alert system with four levels across the country in order to fight the pandemic. The four levels are low, medium, high and extreme.

The Spanish regions of Castilla and Leon and Valencia announced they are planning to impose a nighttime curfew during the next few days. Andalusia’s region has requested a curfew for the city of Granada.

Earlier on Friday, Madrid’s regional government announced new restrictions that will take effect on Saturday, after a two-week partial lockdown ends.

Social and family gatherings indoors and outdoors will be banned from midnight until 6 a.m., Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Madrid’s regional health chief, announced during a news conference. The measures also include limiting the capacity inside restaurants and bars to 50% and to 75% in terraces, while social gatherings remain limited to six people.

Ruiz Escudero also announced mobility will be restricted for residents in 32 areas in the Madrid region.

The week is ending as it started for the US stock market: investors are holding on to every last bit of hope that a stimulus deal will be reached before the election in just 11 days. Stocks opened modestly higher on the back of this hope.

Meanwhile, earnings season is roaring on. American Express, which missed earnings expectations, was among the morning’s reports.

Here’s where things stand:

First Lady Melania Trump wears a face mask as she attends the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22.

The White House is set to host Halloween festivities with Covid-19 precautions on Sunday.

As CNN has previously reported, this year’s event will require face masks for those over the age of 2, as well as other precautions, such as social distancing and handing out candy with gloves.

First lady Melania Trump’s outlined the following precautions for Sunday’s festivities:

A Colorado Department of Transportation worker pulls on his face covering while staffing a roadblock into a housing area along Highway 7 as several wildfires burn in the state on October 21, in Lyons, Colorado.

More than two dozen states are reporting rising Covid-19 infections, a sign the coronavirus pandemic is worsening across several US regions.

In White House coronavirus task force reports obtained by CNN this week, officials say there are “early signs of deterioration in the Sun Belt and continued deterioration in the Midwest and across the Northern States.”

The data comes as more state leaders have sounded the alarm on increasing infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The national average of new daily cases has climbed to just under 60,000 – a level that hasn’t been seen since the first week of August.

On Wednesday, at least 14 states saw their highest seven-day average of new daily cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. They are:

And at least five states reported their highest daily coronavirus case counts on Thursday. They include:

Meanwhile, more than 41,000 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Hospitals in states like Missouri and Idaho say they’ll soon be facing a crisis if hospitalizations continue to surge.

Deaths are also creeping upward. On Wednesday, the US reported the highest daily death toll in more than a month, with more than 1,100 new deaths. And an updated model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects more than 140,000 Americans will likely die from the virus in the next three months.

Elizabeth Cohen reports:

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Iranians wear face masks as a Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic precaution, in Iran's capital Tehran on October 19.

Iran’s health ministry reported 6,134 new Covid-19 cases over a 24-hour period on Friday, the third time this week the number of daily new cases has hit a new high.

The total number of cases in the country now stands at 556,891. 

Speaking on state TV, Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari also reported 335 new coronavirus-related deaths on Friday. This brings the country’s overall death toll to 31,985.

Lari added that 27 provinces across the country are still categorized to be in red zones.

Wearing masks in public has been mandatory in the capital Tehran for the past week. A restriction announced over a week ago on travel in and out of Tehran province is in place at least through Friday.

Members of the public are seen on Princess Street on October 21, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has set out a new five-tier system of Covid-19 restrictions, saying the nation’s slowing rate of infection allows for “cautious optimism.”

The “strategic framework” will place parts of the country into levels ranging from zero to four depending on infection rates, but “it is possible that the whole country at some point could be placed in the same level,” the first minister said. 

What you need to know about the new tiered system:

This would see nonessential retail close, but people would still be able to meet outdoors in groups of six from two households.

Different parts of Scotland are currently facing restrictions similar to those in levels two and three. The tiered system will come into effect on Nov. 2, subject to review by the Scottish Parliament. 

With 1,401 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, Sturgeon said, “cases are still rising — which is why we cannot be complacent — but the rate of increase seems to be slowing, and that gives us grounds for optimism, albeit cautious optimism.”

Sturgeon added the slowing rate is due to the ban on household gatherings that came into force in September. 

Further support for businesses was also announced. They will be eligible for grants up to roughly $3,900 for every four weeks they are closed or forced to restrict services.

This is over and above support available through the UK wide job support program, that Sturgeon said must “go further,” since Scotland did not see a “single penny of extra funding” from the extended economic aid announced by the UK chancellor on Thursday. 

The business support provided by the Scottish government is the “maximum possible” it is able to provide, said Sturgeon.

People wearing masks because the novel coronavirus pandemic walk in the high street in Leigh, Greater Manchester, northwest England on October 22.

The coronavirus reproduction rate (R number) in the UK has fallen, according to the latest government figures released Friday.

It is now estimated to be between 1.2 and 1.4, meaning that on average every 10 infected people will pass the virus on to between 12 and 14 other people. 

Last week, the R number was estimated to be between 1.3 and 1.5.

These regions have the highest R number:

The North West region has the strictest lockdown.

Vincenzo De Luca, governor of the southwest Italian region of Campania, is urging the government to implement a national lockdown to control the second wave of coronavirus.

“The current data on the infection makes any type of partial measure ineffective,” De Luca said.

Campania encompasses the city of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, areas normally popular with tourists. 

Italy has been reporting an increasing number of coronavirus cases. On Thursday, it registered 16,079 new infections. 

Many European countries are reporting record rises in Covid-19 infections, which overtake what they saw during their spring peaks, as the second wave of the pandemic engulfs the continent.

The situation has turned political in some nations, with calls growing for the resignation of the Czech Republic’s health minister, after he was photographed flouting Covid-19 rules.

Here’s more:

Germany: It recorded more than 11,000 new infections for the second day in a row, which the head of the country’s disease and control agency described as “very serious.” Germany’s health minister said a vaccine could be available for the German population at the start of 2021.

The German government has also issued travel warnings for popular ski resorts in countries including Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Poland.

Czech Republic: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš called on Health Minister Roman Prymula to resign on Friday, after Prymula was photographed leaving a restaurant in Prague without a mask this week – days after he announced a strict lockdown and pleaded with people to stay home.

Sweden: “It’s time for partying in nightclubs to stop,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Thursday as he announced restrictions on nightclubs, limiting capacity to 50 people. The tightening of these restrictions – still lenient compared with other European countries where nightlife has all but ceased – comes as the country sees a spike in coronavirus infections.

Ukraine: Ukraine reported 7,517 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, hitting a new daily high since the start of the pandemic. It also registered 121 coronavirus-related deaths.

Poland: It reported 13,632 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the country’s highest number since the pandemic began. On Saturday, new restrictions come into force, which includes the closure of restaurants except for takeaway and delivery, a five-person rule for outdoor meetings, and restrictions on the movement of people over the age of 70.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that more than 10,000 of the country’s 18,000 hospital beds are currently occupied.

Slovakia: Residents will not be allowed to leave their homes from Saturday unless they have a negative coronavirus test or are carrying out an exempted activity. Slovakia went into an official state of emergency on October 1 when its infection rates started going up. The country reported a record high number of new infections on Thursday of 2,581. 

Russia: The country reported 17,340 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, around 1,000 cases more compared to the previous record daily increase reported on October 20.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says he’s “absolutely shocked” by the actions of Health Minister Roman Prymula and has asked him to resign after it emerged he broke the country’s coronavirus rules.

Prymula was photographed leaving a Prague restaurant on Wednesday night and entering his chauffeur-driven government car without a mask.

Restaurants in the Czech Republic have been closed for sit-down service since October 14. Under the country’s coronavirus rules, people are also required to wear masks in a car, when shared with people from outside their house.

“This is an absolute catastrophe and I am absolutely shocked,” Babiš said Friday.

“Such a mistake cannot be excused,” he said. “We cannot preach water and drink wine. When our healthcare workers fight on the frontlines to save people’s lives, this is inexcusable.”

The Prime Minister apologized to the public adding that the Czech government “cannot afford to lose any more trust.”

The country is currently experiencing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world in terms of new infections per capita. Babiš also apologized during a live news conference on Wednesday for the country’s spiralling rate and new restrictions.

Warning signs during a concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former Pope John Paul II on October 18 in Wadowice, Poland.

Poland reported 13,632 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the country’s highest number since the pandemic began and more than a 50% increase on Monday’s 7,482 cases. 

The Ministry of Health also reported a further 153 deaths related to Covid-19, the second-highest number since the start of the pandemic. Poland now has a total of 228,318 confirmed cases and 4,172 deaths.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that more than 10,000 of the country’s 18,000 hospital beds are currently occupied.

More restrictions: From Saturday, the government said the entire country will be placed in a “red zone” and new restrictions will be implemented.

They include: remote learning for all but the youngest pupils and students; requirement for youths up to 16 years of age to be accompanied by an adult in public spaces between 8 a.m to 4 p.m.; closing restaurants except for takeaway or delivery; a maximum of five people from outside a household allowed to meet in public spaces; restrictions on the movement of people of the age of 70.

Nightclubs where dancing is permitted will be limited to a capacity of 50 people in Sweden, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced Thursday.

The tightening of nightclub restrictions – still lenient compared with other European countries where nightlife has all but ceased – comes as the country sees a spike in coronavirus infections.

Sweden reported 1,614 new cases in the past 24 hours. The record was set on Tuesday with 3,180 new cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Venues that don’t allow for dancing but serve food and beverages for seated customers at a safe distance do not have to limit numbers.

Meanwhile rules on sporting and other events have been relaxed to allow up to 300 spectators where they can be seated at a safe distance. Currently, 50 spectators are allowed. 

The changes will come into effect on November 1. 

Slovakia's Prime Minister Igor Matovic leaves a European Union summit in Brussels, on October 16.

Residents in Slovakia will not be allowed to leave their homes from Saturday unless they have a negative coronavirus test or are carrying out an exempted activity, the country’s government announced at a press conference on Thursday. 

There’s also time exception – people can leave their homes between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. 

All schools will be closed for in-person classes starting Monday, October 26 until Friday, November 27. The only exceptions to this rule are nurseries, kindergartens and lower grade elementary schools (grade one to four which equates to the ages of roughly 6 to 9). 

The list of exempt activities includes: leaving the house to get a coronavirus test, going to work or school, shopping for food in the nearest shop, going to a doctor’s appointment or a pharmacy, undertaking caretaker duties, taking care of animals, pet walking (only within 100 meters of the home), attending a funeral, going to the post office, the bank, insurance company, dry cleaner, car service stations or to spend time in the nature, but only within the person’s immediate region.  

Slovakia went into an official state of emergency on October 1 when its infection rates started going up. The country reported a record high number of new infections on Thursday of 2,581. 

A Covid-19 vaccine could be available for the German population “at the beginning of next year,” the country’s health ministry confirmed Friday during a regular press conference. 

Germany’s health minster Jens Spahn was quoted in German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday saying that as soon as enough vaccine was available it would be possible to vaccinate a large proportion of the population that wanted the shots in six to seven months. 

Spahn went on to say that Germany would be prepared to pass on surplus doses to other countries.

The country recorded more than 11,000 new infections for the second day in a row, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country’s disease and control agency, on Friday.

The head of RKI, Lothar Wieler, described the situation as “very serious.”

Czech Health Minister Roman Prymula says he is “prepared to face the consequences” after being photographed leaving a restaurant in Prague late on Wednesday night, just days after he announced a strict lockdown and pleaded with people to stay home.

The country is currently experiencing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world in terms of new infection per capita. Restaurants in the Czech Republic have been closed for sit-down service since Wednesday, October 14. Take-away service is allowed, but only until 8 p.m. 

Jaroslav Faltynek, Prymula’s political ally and the parliamentary leader of the government ANO party, was also seen at the restaurant. He apologized in the Parliament on Friday. 

Faltynek said he asked Prymula to meet with him to discuss the current coronavirus situation and stressed the restaurant was closed when the two men met there. 

“We met Wednesday night in a closed restaurant, in the lounge, where we discussed these things over a coffee, and that’s it,” Faltynek said in the Parliament. When challenged by members of the opposition, he added: “Since I know the owner of the restaurant, I know it was only open until 8 p.m. He just allowed us to use the restaurant’s private lounge to talk about these things over a coffee.” “I apologize for breaching the trust [of the public],” he said.

A number of Czech politicians have called for Prymula to resign.

Speaking to the Czech weekly news magazine Respekt, Prymula said he didn’t think what he did was “too much”, but added that “if the public wants me to resign, I would.”

“I was here at the ministry until about 9:30 p.m., then I was invited to a meeting … it’s not true that I wasn’t wearing a mask, I went to the restaurant’s lounge wearing a mask. I left at around 11:30 p.m., I wasn’t wearing a mask but I put it on in the car.”

CNN has reached out to the Czech Health Ministry for comment.

An employee disinfects a metro train to prevent coronavirus spread, at a Moscow depot on October 22.

Russia reported 17,340 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, around 1,000 cases more compared to the previous record daily increase reported on October 20, according to the data from the country’s coronavirus response center. 

The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia as of October 23 is 1,480,646. It has the fourth highest number of cases in the world, after the United States, India and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The figure comes a day after it was reported that Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was self-isolating after one of his family members tested positive for the virus, his aide told state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

Several high-ranking Russian officials previously either had coronavirus or had to isolate due to possible exposure to it.

Ukraine reported 7,517 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, hitting a new daily high since the start of the pandemic, according to data published by the country’s National Security and Defense council. 

The country also registered 121 additional deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 6,164. 

With more than two dozen states reporting rising Covid-19 infections, new reports from leading health officials show a worsening of the pandemic across several US regions.

The data comes as more state leaders have sounded the alarm on increasing infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The national average of new daily cases has climbed to just under 60,000 – a level that hasn’t been seen since the first week of August.

On Wednesday, at least 14 states saw their highest seven-day average of new daily cases, according to Johns Hopkins University: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. And at least five states – Illinois, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah – reported their highest daily case counts Thursday.

Meanwhile, more than 41,000 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Hospitals in states like Missouri and Idaho say they’ll soon be facing a crisis if hospitalizations continue to surge.

Deaths are also creeping upward. On Wednesday, the US reported the highest daily death toll in more than a month, with more than 1,100 new deaths. And an updated model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects more than 140,000 Americans will likely die from the virus in the next three months.

Read the full story:

After changing PPE, an LPN dons her face shield at an Aveanna Healthcare and Fallon Ambulance walk-up COVID-19 testing site during the continuing coronavirus pandemic in Lynn, MA on Oct. 19, 2020. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Related article Task force warns several US regions show signs of 'deterioration' amid Covid-19 surges

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a news conference in Sydney, Australia, on October 16.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has agreed to raise the quota of Australian citizens stranded abroad that can return to the country.

Australia has some of the strictest border rules in the world. Only Australians are allowed into the country – and there’s a limit on how many are allowed in. In July, around 4,000 people each week were allowed to return.

All Australians must go through a 14-day quarantine in a state facility, and pay 3,000 Australian dollars ($2,100) to do so.

According to Morrison, there are 26,000 Australians stranded overseas who are trying to get back. But starting next month, an additional 140 people will be able to return each week to Perth in Western Australia, and another 150 will be able to return each week to Queensland. Another 100 arrivals will be allowed each fortnight into Adelaide, in South Australia.

Reopening target: Morrison said that the government was pushing forward with the “reopening framework for Australia by Christmas” – likely a reference to having borders between states and territories open again.

Australia has reported more than 27,000 coronavirus cases and 900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

Workers wearing personal protective equipment disinfect a street to prevent the spread of coronavirus on October 6, in Seoul, South Korea. 

South Korea on Friday reported 155 new cases of Covid-19, including 138 that were locally transmitted, according to a news release from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA).

This was the highest number of cases since September 11, when the number of daily infections hit 176, according to CNN’s analysis of KCDA data.

The national total of confirmed cases is now 25,698 including 455 deaths, according to the KCDA press release.

An employee carries out a smear test at a Covid-19 testing site in Baden-Württemberg, Heilbronn in Germany, on October 21.

Germany has recorded more than 11,000 new daily coronavirus infections for the second consecutive day, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country’s disease control and prevention agency.

The data on Friday shows that 11,242 new cases were recorded within 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 403,291 coronavirus infections since the outbreak began. The death toll stands at 9,954.

Lothar Wieler, head of RKI, described the situation as “very serious.”

On Thursday, Germany recorded its highest daily infection rate, with 11,287 new cases within 24 hours. It was the first time that more than 10,000 Covid-19 cases were recorded in a single day since the pandemic arrived in the country.

The German government has also issued travel warnings for popular ski resorts in countries including Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Poland.

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. 

People with Down syndrome have 10 times the risk of dying from Covid-19 compared to those without the disability, a team of researchers reported Thursday.  

They also found a four-fold increased risk of coronavirus-related hospitalizations for those with Down syndrome, “a group that is not currently strategically protected,” according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Their analysis involved more than 8 million adults who were part of a coronavirus risk assessment project sponsored by the British government. Of the 8.26 million people in the tracking study, 4,053 had Down syndrome. Of those, 68 people with the disability died and 40% were killed by Covid-19. Seventeen died of pneumonia or pneumonitis and 35% died of other causes.

Those numbers compare with more than 41,000 people without Down syndrome who died, but just 20% died from the coronavirus, 14% from pneumonia or pneumonitis and 65% died of other causes.

Down syndrome is not included in any guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the UK’s health ministry as a condition that would put people at increased risk for Covid-19. 

Down syndrome is the most common genetic condition diagnosed in the United States every year, according to the CDC, with more than 6,000 babies born with the disability every year. Down syndrome occurs in one in every 700 babies.

Bottles of pills sit on shelves at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20.

The coronavirus pandemic is causing “unacceptable” shortages of US drug supplies in the United States, according to a report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.

The report says shortages have limited 29 of 40 drugs critical for treating Covid-19 patients, including propofol, albuterol, midazolam, hydroxychloroquine, fentanyl, azithromycin and morphine, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The FDA, which has more stringent criteria for shortages, show 18 of 40 are on the Drug Shortage list.

Another 67 out of 156 critical acute drugs – including diazepam, phenobarbital, lidocaine and acetaminophen – are in short supply, the report said.

“The urgency with the drug shortage supply issue is related directly to the major increase in COVID-19 cases that we will experience in the coming months,” Michael Osterholm, the director of CIDRAP, said in a news release.

“This, in turn, will dramatically increase the need for specific COVID-19 treatment drugs, while at the same, COVID-19 is having a major impact on two of the three key drug manufacturing areas of the world, India and Italy,” Osterholm added.

Read more:

A pharmacy tech pours out pills of hydroxychloroquine at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020. - The US could experience shortages of the drug due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP) (Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Coronavirus pandemic is causing 'unacceptable' shortages in US drug supplies, report says

A federal judge has ruled that Colorado’s Denver Bible Church and Community Baptist Church do not have to limit their indoor occupancy and members will not be required to wear masks as required by the state’s Covid-19 health mandate.  

Judge Daniel Domenico partially granted the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on October 15 after a lawsuit was filed against state and federal officials by Pastor Robert Enyart of Denver Bible Church and Joey Rhoads of Community Baptist Church.  

“The court does not doubt that the state made these decisions in good faith, in an effort to balance the benefits of more public interaction against the added risk that inheres in it,” read the court document. 

“But the Constitution does not allow the state to tell a congregation how large it can be when comparable secular gatherings are not so limited, or to tell a congregation that its reason for wishing to remove facial coverings is less important than a restaurant’s or spa’s.”

“The government has put artificial limits on how many people could attend. And those limits, make it pretty much impossible for families to know if they could come to Church,” he added. “It is too arbitrary, and we are so thankful this federal judge rules gave us preliminary injunction to strike down the one arbitrary limit and the mask requirement.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s press secretary Conor Cahill told CNN in an email, “We’re not going to comment on pending litigation.” 

He added: “Attorney General on Monday filed an Emergency Motion for Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal in the Tenth Circuit.” 

The United States reported 71,671 new cases of Covid-19 and 856 virus-related deaths on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

To date, at least 8,407,702  cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in the US. At least 223,032 people have died.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Track cases here:

Health care workers perform Covid-19 testing at a drive-through site at Eastern Florida State College on October 9, in Palm Bay, Florida.

An influential model of the coronavirus pandemic predicts 385,611 coronavirus deaths in the United States by February 1.

The US has reported at least 223,000 Covid-19 deaths over the past eight months, according to Johns Hopkins University. The model estimates that the country could see more than 100,000 additional deaths over the next three months.

The new model is slightly fewer than last week’s forecast for the same time frame – but the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine says case counts and deaths are up across the US.

Last week, the IHME projected 389,087 coronavirus deaths in the US by February 1. The current projections assume states will reimpose social distancing mandates when daily death rates worsen.

The model projects 100,000 more deaths if all mandates were eased – an unlikely scenario – and 322,000 deaths if everyone started wearing masks.

A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the agency's headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, on July 20.

Vaccine advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration said Thursday they are worried about public trust in any coronavirus vaccine. 

The first Covid-19-focused meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee – a standing committee that advises the FDA on vaccine approval – skewed heavily toward worries that people will see emergency use authorization (EUA) of a Covid-19 vaccine as too rushed. 

The FDA has said it would consider an EUA for any of the several vaccines now in advanced clinical trials – a process faster than full licensure – but has also promised it will have stricter requirements for a vaccine EUA than it would for an EUA for a drug to treat coronavirus.

But the term implies corners are being cut – and perceptions matter, Toubman argued.

Some vaccine experts agreed. “I wish we could get rid of the word EUA,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a committee member.

“It’s very clear that the public has significant concerns about safety,” added Dr. Archana Chatterjee, Vice President for Medical Affairs at Rosalind Franklin University and a committee member.

Data on the Covid-19 drug remdesivir show that it has only modest benefits and isn’t a “home run,” former US Health and Human Services official-turned whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright said Thursday.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir Thursday to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients – the first drug to be approved for coronavirus. 

Bright said it’s not an impressive drug.

A World Health Organization-sponsored global study found that remdesivir did not help Covid-19 patients survive or recover faster. 

“The FDA clearly has reviewed all of the data that they have available to them from the company to review the efficacy and safety of that drug,” Bright said. 

“It’s not too surprising that another, perhaps even larger, well-controlled study from the WHO would refute that data,” he added.

Bright said that it’s likely that larger studies, like the WHO’s, would show that the marginal benefit of remdesivir may become even more marginal, depending on the population of those using the drug.

One vial of the drug Remdesivir lies during a press conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany on April 8.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved remdesivir for the treatment of coronavirus infection, the drug’s maker, Gilead Sciences, said Thursday.

It is the first drug to be approved for treating Covid-19. The drug, sold under the brand name Veklury, has been used under emergency use authorization since May.

The antiviral has shown, at best, a modest benefit for coronavirus patients. But there is little else available.

Earlier this month, a World Health Organization-sponsored global study found remdesivir did not help patients survive or even recover faster, but a US study found the infused drug shortened recovery time for some patients by about a third.

Read the full story:

Vials of the drug Remdesivir lie during a press conference about the start of a study with the Ebola drug Remdesivir in particularly severely ill patients at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, northern Germany on April 8, 2020, amidst the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Ulrich Perrey / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ULRICH PERREY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article FDA approves remdesivir to treat Covid-19

You know Covid-19 is out of control when health officials are so overwhelmed, they can’t notify close contacts who may be infected.

That’s what’s happening in North Dakota, one of 31 states suffering more new Covid-19 cases this past week compared to the previous week.

Contact tracing is crucial to finding possible carriers of coronavirus, so they can quarantine and break the chain of infection.

But a “sharp increase” in new cases has engulfed contact tracers, leading to delays and “a backlog of positive cases that have yet to be assigned to a case investigator,” the North Dakota Department of Health said this week.

The North Dakota National Guard has shifted 50 soldiers from contacting close contacts to notifying people who have tested positive, the state health department said.

Read the full story:

Oct. 13, 2020; Phoenix, Arizona; Delta Air Lines has no-touch boarding at Sky Harbor International Airport. Delta Air Lines is promoting their health and safety practices in the COVID-19 air travel era.

Related article The US topped 1,000 daily Covid-19 deaths and experts worry the worst of the fall surge is yet to come

The Czech Republic’s coronavirus crisis is now so bad that when Prime Minister Andrej Babis stood in front of reporters during a live news conference Wednesday, he did something few leaders often do. He apologized to the people. Five times.

Babis, who is overseeing one of the worst coronavirus epidemics in the world, admitted he and his government had made mistakes in handling the outbreak and pleaded with people to follow strict lockdown rules.

The Czech leader’s contrition came as other European nations, including Germany and Poland, reported record daily new case numbers, and Ireland prepared to impose the strictest lockdown in Europe.

Both Spain and France surpassed 1 million total recorded Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) figures. They join the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and Argentina in passing that threshold.

The number of cases reported by the French health ministry is lower than the JHU total, at 957,421 as of Wednesday.

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PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - OCTOBER 10: A health care worker conducts a COVID-19 test at a drive-in testing station on October 10, 2020 in Prague, Czech Republic. After relaxing almost all restrictive measures in the summer, the Czech government has responded to one of the worst spikes in European countries by declaring a state of emergency earlier this week. That has been accompanied by restrictions ranging from limiting public events to closing restaurants and pubs at 8pm. (Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images)

Related article Czech PM apologizes as country suffers in Europe's second coronavirus wave