West Yorkshire to move to toughest Covid restrictions – as it happened

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The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is under growing pressure to implement a pre- and post- Christmas lockdown to allow families to meet over the festive period, the Telegraph has reported.

The article cites sources close to the government saying current restrictions don’t go far enough, and tighter restrictions on the run up to Christmas would “get on top of the numbers” and allow people to meet in homes.

A “circuit breaker” lockdown in January could then be used to reverse numbers and would be easier to implement than on the run up to Christmas, the newspaper reported.

Here’s a quick recap of all the latest coronavirus developments across the globe.

• EU to fund transfer of Covid-19 patients across borders to prevent hospital collapse. The EU will finance the transfer of patients across borders within the bloc to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed as Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations rise across the continent. “The spread of the virus will overwhelm our healthcare systems if we do not act urgently,” said Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU Commission.
  
• Spain hit a new record in daily cases, recording another 23,580 infections. It brought the nation’s tally to 1,136,503, health ministry data showed. The government voted in favour of a six-month extension of the state of emergency, which allows Spain’s 17 regional governments to limit mobility, impose curfews and shut their borders with other regions.
• France will restrict outdoor movement and make working from home mandatory under new lockdown rules, coming into effect at midnight. People will only be able to leave their own homes for certain essential purposes, as the country tries to put the brakes on a Covid-19 outbreak that the president Emmanuel Macron said risked accelerating out of control. More details here.
• West Yorkshire in England will move into tier 3 restrictions from 12.01 on Monday. The ‘very high’ restrictions - the strictest level in England - will see indoor social mixing banned and the closure of pubs and bars unless they can operate as a restaurant. More details here.
• Greece will impose regional lockdowns on its second-largest city of Thessaloniki and two other regions from Friday after a rise in cases of Covid-19, the government said.
• Italy registered a record of 26,831 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Under new restrictions bars and restaurants must stop serving customers at 6pm while cinemas, theatres, swimming pools and gyms must close completely.
• Sweden registered 2,820 new coronavirus cases, the highest since the start of the pandemic and the third record number in a matter of days. Hospitals are feeling the strain, with the number of patients with Covid-19 in need of care in the region having risen about 60% over the past week after a near 80% surge in recorded infections.

The EU’s healthcare systems are at risk of being overwhelmed by the number of coronavirus cases unless authorities act quickly, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said.

“The spread of the virus will overwhelm our healthcare systems if we do not act urgently,” she said after a video conference of EU leaders to coordinate the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said the Commission made available €220m to finance the transfer of Covid-19 patients across EU countries to avoid healthcare systems in the most affected countries not being able to cope.

At the meeting leaders agreed to better coordinate efforts to battle the virus as infections in Europe exceeded 10 million, making the continent again the centre of the pandemic.

EU countries want to avoid divisions which dogged the 27-nation bloc at the beginning of the pandemic, when nations vied with each other to buy scarce medical equipment.

To better trace infections, von der Leyen said the EU would work for the quick validation at EU level of rapid antigen tests, which allow quicker results than the standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) molecular kits.

The European Commission is in talks with four companies to secure a potential Covid-19 vaccine, president Ursula von der Leyen said following an EU leaders’ video conference.

The EU has already secured potential vaccines being developed by AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson. It is also said to be in talks with Moderna, CureVac and a partnership of Pfizer and BionTech.

Mexicans this year paid their respects early to departed loved-ones in the capital city, where the coronavirus pandemic will cast a pall over cemeteries usually resplendent with colour and light during the 1-2 November Day of the Dead celebrations.

The festive tradition typically draws thousands of people to burial grounds and public plazas across Mexico, many dressed as skeletons, to picnic at gravesides and decorate altars with sugar skulls and photos of dead friends and relatives.

But in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, city authorities have reluctantly ordered cemeteries to stay closed for Day of the Dead this year, prompting Mexicans to file out early.

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At the Xilotepec Pantheon in southeastern Mexico City, Maura Medina polished a crucifix adorning the tomb of her husband, who died last December. Their two daughters planted bright golden marigolds, the holiday’s traditional flower.

“I’m glad I came to see him,” said the elder Medina. “Now I feel very much at peace.”

Only three people per family may enter the cemetery, where signs warn: “Caution, you are entering a high contagion zone.”

Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who tested positive for Covid-19 this week, urged the public to mark Day of the Dead at home, and stay away from the capital’s 120 cemeteries.

Mexico has the world’s fourth highest official death toll from Covid-19, with over 90,000 fatalities.

Adrian Velasco, who went to the final resting place of his grandparents, was grateful he could visit ahead of time.

“It’s good they’ve let us come to leave our flowers and plants,” he said. “And above all, to be with our dead for a day.”

EU leaders have agreed to fairly distribute among EU countries a vaccine against the coronavirus, once such a vaccine becomes available, the chairman of the leaders said.

“We very much agreed, it was repeated around the video conference table, to guarantee a fair distribution between member states in the case of contracts signed by the Commission and those we hope will be signed in the coming weeks,” Charles Michel told a news conference after an EU video summit.

Global coronavirus cases rose by more than 500,000 on Wednesday, Reuters reports, a record one-day increase as countries across the Northern Hemisphere reported rising cases.

Global daily Covid-19 cases have risen by nearly 25% in less than two weeks as the world witnessed 400,000 daily reported cases for the first time last Friday.

Most western countries and parts of Latin America have reported their highest single-day surges in the past few weeks. Many governments, with the notable exception of the US, have started taking stronger measures to bring the spread of the virus under control.

The global coronavirus tally stands at 44.7 million cases and about 1.17 million deaths.

Europe, North America and Latin America account for over 66% of global cases and over 76% of global deaths.

Europe’s new daily infections have doubled over the past two weeks as it reported more than 250,000 cases for the first time on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally.

The region has so far reported about 9.5 million cases and about 261,000 deaths.

France reported a new record daily total of more than 50,000 infections for the first time on Sunday.

The US broke its daily record for new coronavirus infections on Friday as it reported 84,169 new cases due to outbreaks in virtually every part of the country shortly before its presidential election on Tuesday.

The US is reporting about 75,000 cases a day on an average, according to a Reuters analysis, and its death toll from Covid-19 could surpass 500,000 by February unless nearly all Americans wear face masks, researchers said.

Asia surpassed 10 million infections on Saturday, according to a Reuters tally, as cases continue to mount in India.

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.

In the Middle East, Iran is reporting one death every three minutes, according to state television.

Algeria’s president underwent medical tests in a German hospital and is in a stable condition, days after suspected coronavirus cases were reported among his aides.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74, was transferred on Wednesday to Germany for treatment from an Algerian hospital.

His office said he “underwent thorough medical tests in one of Germany’s largest specialised hospitals” and is in “a stable” condition.

“The medical team says that the results of the tests are reassuring,” his office added in a statement.

The president “has begun to received the adequate treatment”, it said, without giving further details.

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Tebboune’s transfer to Germany came after officials on Saturday said he had “voluntarily” gone into self-isolation for five days amid reports several officials in the presidency and government had contracted the Covid-19 disease.

On Tuesday, Tebboune, a heavy smoker, was admitted into a “specialised care unit” in a military hospital in Algeria’s capital.

Algeria has seen a resurgence in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

More than 57,300 infections have been recorded in the country of 44 million, including 1,949 deaths.

Brazil expects to have a vaccine against Covid-19 approved and ready for use in a national inoculation programme by June, the head of the country’s health regulator, Anvisa, said.

With the world’s worst outbreak of coronavirus after the US and India, Brazil has become a key testing ground and has approved late stage clinical trials for four vaccines that are under development.

Anvisa boss Antonio Barra Torres told Reuters the agency has approved vaccines in the past with less than 50% effectiveness, but did not say what efficacy would be required for the vaccine to be approved.

Health authorities in Europe are debating whether to accept a so-called efficacy rate of less than 50% to be able to deliver a vaccine sooner, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

Sandra Gallina, director general for health and food safety at the European Commission, told EU lawmakers the article was speculation, but added that it’s not rare to have vaccines that only work with 50% efficacy.

Last week, Brazil’s right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro disavowed a decision by his health minister to buy 46m doses of a vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, saying: “We will not buy a Chinese vaccine.”

But Torres said Anvisa could register more than one of the four candidates now being tested in Brazil, irrespective of their country of origin.

“The origin of the vaccine has no bearing for us, there is no prejudice,” he said.

Hi everyone, this is Jessica Murray, taking over the blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any story tips or personal experiences you would like to share

Email: jessica.murray@theguardian.com
Twitter: @journojess_

Close to one-in-five people in England will be living under the most severe lockdown restrictions by Monday following the announcement that Leeds and West Yorkshire are to come under tier 3.

The combined population of Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield is 2.3 million. This brings to 10.9 million English residents living under the government’s “very high” Covid curbs.

A further 21.6 million people will be under tier 2 restrictions after an earlier announcement that additional areas in the Midlands, parts of Yorkshire, Luton and Oxford would move into Tier 2.

At that time more than 32 million people - 58% of England’s population - will be living under some form of local lockdown.

• Spain hit a new record in daily cases, recording another 23,580 infections. It brought the nation’s tally to 1,136,503, health ministry data showed. The government voted in favour of a six-month extension of the state of emergency, which allows Spain’s 17 regional governments to limit mobility, impose curfews and shut their borders with other regions.
• France will restrict outdoor movement and make working from home mandatory under new lockdown rules, coming into effect at midnight. People will only be able to leave their own homes for certain essential purposes, as the country tries to put the brakes on a Covid-19 outbreak that the president Emmanuel Macron said risked accelerating out of control. More details here.
  
• West Yorkshire will move into tier 3 restrictions from 12.01 on Monday. The ‘very high’ restrictions - the strictest level in England - will see indoor social mixing banned and the closure of pubs and bars unless they can operate as a restaurant. More details here.
• Oxford, Hull, Luton and parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands will enter tier 2 on Saturday. The full list: East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston-Upon-Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire; Dudley, Staffordshire, Telford and the Wrekin, Amber Valley, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, Derby City, South Derbyshire, the whole of High Peak, Charnwood, Luton, and Oxford City.
• Greece will impose regional lockdowns on its second-largest city of Thessaloniki and two other regions from Friday after a rise in cases of Covid-19, the government said.
• Cyprus and Lithuania have been removed from the government’s list of travel
  corridors, meaning travellers arriving in England from those places after 4am on
  Sunday must self-isolate for 14 days.
• Italy registered a record of 26,831 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Under new restrictions bars and restaurants must stop serving customers at 6pm while cinemas, theatres, swimming pools and gyms must close completely.
• Four in 10 close contacts of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England are still not being reached by Test and Trace, at the same time as it recorded the highest ever weekly number of positive cases. A total of 126,065 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to 21 October, an increase of 23% in positive cases on the previous week and is the highest weekly number since Test and Trace was launched at the end of May.
• The UK reported another 280 deaths from coronavirus within 28 days of positive test. At least 23,065 people tested positive with Covid-19, while 1404 people were admitted into hospital. The number of patients with Covid-19 in Nottinghamshire hospitals now exceeds the first wave peak by about 40%, according to the county council’s director of public health.
• Spain’s Catalan regional government announced a 15-day ban on entering or leaving its territory, saying it had to protect its hospital from being overwhelmed. Catalonia already has some of the toughest measures in place in the country, including a 15-day shutdown of bars and restaurants, which will also be extended.
• The West Midlands mayor Andy Street says coronavirus situation is “becoming very serious” and that local leaders are having “active conversations” about tier 3. Birmingham city council’s leader had earlier said that tier 3 was “inevitable” if not “imminent”.
  
• Austria will announce tighter restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus on Saturday, the chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, as the daily tally of new cases surged past 4,000 to a new record on Thursday.
• Sweden registered 2,820 new coronavirus cases, the highest since the start of the pandemic and the third record number in a matter of days. Hospitals are feeling the strain, with the number of patients with Covid-19 in need of care in the region having risen about 60% over the past week after a near 80% surge in recorded infections.
• Millions of residents across central Scotland face a continued ban on indoor socialising and drinking in pubs and restaurants alongside significantly tighter travel restrictions from next Monday, as the Scottish government’s five tier system of Covid-19 controls comes into force. Full report here.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has reached a “critical” stage in England, with prevalence doubling since last month with the fastest increases in the south where the R number has risen above 2, research has found. It triggered warnings from scientists that current measures – including bans for millions on households mixing and the closure of pubs – were not working and urgent action is needed to avoid a sharp rise in hospitalisations and deaths.
• A coronavirus strain that emerged in Spain in June has spread across Europe and now makes up a large proportion of infections in several countries, researchers said, highlighting the role of travel in the pandemic and the need to track mutations. The FT (paywall) has the story.
• The world is in an “era of pandemics” and unless the destruction of the natural world is halted they will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, kill more people and affect the global economy with more devastating impact than ever before, according to a report from some of the world’s leading scientists.

That’s it from me for today! Many thanks to everybody who shared tips and kept me going throughout the day. I’ll now be handing over to my colleague. Take care.

Spain’s coronavirus tally climbed by a record 23,580 cases, bringing the the total to 1,136,503 infections, health ministry data showed on Thursday. The death toll rose by 173 to 35,639, the data showed, accelerating slightly from the previous day but below Tuesday’s steep rise of 267.