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HEALTH-VIRUS-WORLD,FACTS
Coronavirus: Latest global developments
PARIS, Dec 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:
– Ex-French president dies –
Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing dies aged 94 “as a consequence of Covid-19”, his family says.
– Record US deaths –
The US daily death toll tops 2,700, the highest since April, with the number of people hospitalised for the virus over 100,000 for the first time.
– Vaccine target –
The US hopes to have immunised 100 million people by the end of February, with priority given to the elderly, health care workers, and first responders.
– Italy holiday travel ban –
Italy announces a ban on travel between its regions from December 21 until January 6, with people barred from travelling outside their own towns on December 25, 26 and January 1.
– Iran tops 1 million cases –
Iran has recorded 1,003,494 coronavirus infections since announcing its first cases in February as the world death toll almost reaches the 1.5 million mark, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Thursday.
The US is the worst-affected country with 273,847 deaths, followed by Brazil with 174,515, India with 138,648, Mexico with 107,565 and the UK with 59,699.
– Germany extends curbs –
Germany says it will keep its bars, restaurants and cultural and sporting facilities shut until January 10.
– EU defends vaccine tests –
The EU’s medicines regulator insists its method of approving vaccines is the “most appropriate” after British ministers claim Brexit has allowed them to adopt the jab ahead of their European neighbours.
– Sundance is on –
The Sundance film festival, which typically takes place each January and February in Utah, unveils plans to screen premieres at drive-ins and arthouse cinemas across the US and online.
– Football fans back –
Limited crowds return to English football in the lower leagues with areas of England now allowing up to 2,000 fans in stadiums for the first time since a four-week lockdown was lifted.
– Climate change fear –
A major study concludes climate change renders future pandemics ever more likely as a deadly mix of extreme heat, air pollution and intense farming combine to produce the “worst outlook for public health our generation has seen”.
– OPEC mulls cuts –
The group of oil producing countries meet to try to agree to cuts in production over the coming months as demand drops as a result of the pandemic.
– NBA stricken –
The US National Basketball Association announces 48 players have tested positive for the virus with pre-season games set to begin in nine days. No players tested positive during the last quarantine bubble in Florida.
– Cheers China –
A Wuhan brewery commemorates the early days of the virus — which first appeared in the Chinese city — with a beer called “Wuhan Jia Ha Zi You”, or “Wuhan Stay Strong”.
– Neo-Nazi tattoos –
Taylor Nichols, a Jewish doctor in California (@tnicholsmd), tweets about helping to treat a severely ill man with the virus covered in swastika and SS tattoos. “We all knew what he thought of us,” said Taylor of his team which also included a “black nurse and an Asian respiratory therapist.”
BSS/AFP/IJ/1842 hrs