November 2 coronavirus news

Please follow our continued live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.

A medical staff member conducts a demonstration to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus at the testing centre of Narita Airport in Narita on November 2.

Japan recorded 490 new coronavirus cases Monday, the country’s Health Ministry announced today, marking the first time Japan reported fewer than 500 cases since October 26.

Monday’s cases bring the total number of Covid-19 cases in Japan to 102,993. As of Monday, 93,383 of those people have recovered, but 163 coronavirus patients remain in a serious condition, the health ministry said. 

The ministry’s data shows the number of daily infections in Japan has been hovering below a thousand per day since around August 21, when it reported 1,036 cases.

Japan’s nationwide total includes 87 new Covid-19 cases detected in the capital Tokyo Monday, raising the city’s total to 31,293. This is the first time the capital recorded fewer than 100 daily cases since October 19.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice prepares for a debate with Democratic challenger, Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango in Morgantown, West Virginia, on Tuesday, October 13.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice says the state’s Covid-19 infection rate is spreading at a high rate, with 5,557 active cases and 254 people currently hospitalized.

Justice pointed to pandemic fatigue as a major reason why the virus continues to spread in the state, adding that most people are abiding by CDC health guidelines but not all.

West Virginia reported seven additional deaths over the weekend, bringing the state’s total deaths to 458. The governor says there are 95 confirmed cases in public schools, 15 outbreaks in churches and 47 cases at long-term care facilities.

The Australian state of Victoria has recorded its fourth day in a row with zero cases, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, bringing the week-long daily average of new infections to just 1.9.

It’s a stark contrast to the situation in Victoria – and its capital city Melbourne – just a few months ago, when more than 700 people a day were being diagnosed with the virus in a rapidly spreading local epidemic.

But after a strict lockdown which saw a nightly curfew put in place and limits on public gatherings, the number of new infections plunged. Restrictions in Melbourne have now been relaxed.

On Saturday, Australia registered its first day with no coronavirus cases anywhere in the country since June.

In tweeting his thanks to all Australians for working to bring down the infection rate, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned the threat was not over yet.

“We’ve seen here, and are seeing again overseas, how quickly this virus spreads, so please stay COVIDSafe,” he said on his official Twitter.

In this February file photo, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon addresses a joint session of the Wyoming Legislature in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon will self-quarantine for up to two weeks because of possible exposure to the coronavirus, his office has said.

While a rapid test given to the governor came back negative, they are still awaiting the results of a secondary test, the statement added.

Nevada governor’s office emptied again: Meanwhile, a staffer for Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing symptoms, according to a press release Monday from the governor’s office.

The statement says the governor is not quarantining at this time because he was not found to be a “close contact” of the infected worker. Sisolak also has tested negative for the coronavirus for two consecutive weeks, according to his office.

The statement says all staff members who worked out of the capitol office will work from home as a precaution. It’s the second time the governor’s office in Carson City has had to take that step during the pandemic. A staffer at the governor’s capitol office also tested positive on October 6.

Nationwide, the US pandemic has gone from bad to worse.

The US just set a record for the highest seven-day average of daily new cases: 81,336 as of Sunday. That’s the first time the number has ever topped 80,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

And once again, increases in new cases are far exceeding new testing. Over the past week, new cases have increased 18%, according to Johns Hopkins. But the number of new tests performed has gone up only 4.29%, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Wen said that as the scale of the US epidemic increased, governments might have “no other choice but to implement these measures that no one wants, like shutdowns.”

Read more here:

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 31: A medical staff member grabs a hand of a patient to reposition the bed in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) on October 31, 2020 in Houston, Texas. According to reports, Texas has reached over 916,000 cases, including over 18,000 deaths. (Photo by Go Nakamura/Getty Images)

Related article Nearly 50,000 Americans are hospitalized with coronavirus as experts warn of growing healthcare pressure

Britain's Prince William meets patients and staff during a visit to attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the Oak Cancer Centre at The Royal Marsden hospital in central London on October 21.

Sunday night’s news that Prince William tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year has raised questions as to why the British public was not told that the second-in-line to the throne had been ill during the pandemic.

According to a report in the Sun newspaper – which the palace has not denied – William told an observer at a function that he chose not to go public with his diagnosis because “there were important things going on, and I didn’t want to worry anyone.”

The Sun noted in its report that the Prince took a seven-day break from calls and video messages from April 9 to April 16.

During that period, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was off work recovering from his own bout of Covid-19, which was so serious he had to be treated in intensive care, leaving his Foreign Secretary to run the country. Several other members of Johnson’s government and his advisors also tested positive for the virus.

In March, the royal family deemed it necessary to let Britons know that Prince Charles, William’s father and the first-in-line to the throne, had tested positive for Covid-19, and was self-isolating.

The prospect of both the first- and second-in-line having a potentially deadly disease raises an important question about succession.

Read more here:

SUTTON, GREATER LONDON - OCTOBER 21: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge speaks to staff and patients to mark the construction of the groundbreaking Oak cancer centre at Royal Marsden Hospital on October 21, 2020 in Sutton, Greater London. (Photo by Jack Hill - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Related article Why wasn't the UK public told about Prince William's Covid diagnosis?

In the US, 61,447 children tested positive for Covid-19 in the week ending October 29, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The academy said it is the largest increase in cases in children since the pandemic began.

More than 853,600 children have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic with 200,000 new cases in October, the group reported.

Children make up 11% of all US Covid-19 infections and account for a small number of deaths and serious cases, according to states reporting cases in children. The overall rate of infection is 1,134 cases per 100,000 children in the population. The AAP defines a child as anyone 17 and younger. 

As of October 29, children represented 1% to 3.5% of total hospitalizations, and between 0.5% and 6.7% of all child coronavirus cases resulted in hospitalization, the AAP reported. Children represented no more than 0.20% of total Covid-19 deaths. Sixteen states reported no deaths among the demographic.

AAP said there is an “urgent need” to collect more data on longer-term impacts on children.

Pregnant women with coronavirus are more likely to become severely ill and die from Covid-19, according to a report released Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the risk of severe illness or death remain low overall, CDC researchers found that pregnant women with coronavirus are more likely to need the intensive care, ventilation and heart and lung support than non-pregnant women with the virus. 

The CDC-led team examined data on 461,825 women between the ages of 15 and 44 who tested positive for Covid-19 between January 22 and October 3. They focused only on those who experienced coronavirus symptoms.

The researchers adjusted for outside factors and found that pregnant women were more likely to need intensive care, with 10.5 per 1,000 pregnant women admitted to the ICU, compared to 3.9 per 1,000 non-pregnant women.

The researchers noted that among pregnant women, Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women had a more pronounced risk for ICU admission.

Pregnant women were three times more likely to need help breathing with invasive ventilation than non-pregnant women. Similarly, they were at greater risk of requiring lung and heart support with oxygenation. 

They were also more likely to die, with 1.5 deaths per 1,000 pregnant women, compared to 1.2 per 1,000 non-pregnant women. Hispanic women, in particular, were 2.4 times more likely to die if they were pregnant.

The team noted that regardless of pregnancy status, women over 35 were more likely to experience severe illness. 

The researchers say that the increased risk for severe illness among pregnant women might be due to physiological changes in pregnancy, including increased heart rate and decreased lung capacity.

A medical worker pushes a stretcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York on September 22, where hundreds of COVID-19 patients have been treated since March.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press call Monday that he will not cooperate with a request from the federal government to share patient information with it in order to be eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccinations.

Cuomo said that US states recently received a “data sharing form agreement” from the federal government, which he says requires states to agree to share with it patient health information – including identification information such as a driver’s license number, passport number, or social security number – in order to receive shipments of the Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

Cuomo said the agreement indicates that patient information will be used by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and “other federal partners,” but said he believes it is another tactic for the Trump administration to target undocumented immigrants. 

“This is just another example of them trying to extort the state of New York to get info that they can use at the Department of Homeland Security and ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to deport people,” Cuomo said. 

In the same briefing, Cuomo said the proposed federal vaccination program’s infrastructure would “have a discriminatory effect” on poor, Black and brown communities. He criticized using private health infrastructure such as CVS and Walgreens to administer the vaccine because those outlets have far fewer branches in the neighborhoods of disadvantaged communities.

Background: Cuomo has previously criticized the proposed federal vaccine program’s use of private health infrastructure for other reasons. He has argued that these venues cannot quickly and effectively administer the vaccine without overwhelming the nation’s pandemic response capabilities, since they are already being charged with Covid-19 diagnostic testing.

Cuomo has said he would prefer the option of establishing a public, state-run program for vaccination administration, but that the federal government has not agreed to provide funding for it. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director general, is in quarantine as a contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

As Europe and North America continue to see new spikes in Covid-19 infections, the World Health Organization’s chief has said it’s not too late to bring the virus under control. 

“Seize the opportunity, it’s not too late,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director general, said during a news briefing in Geneva on Monday. “We all have a role to play in suppressing transmission and we have seen across the world that it’s possible.”

Tedros, who is in quarantine after being identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for Covid-19, joined the briefing remotely.

“This is another critical moment for action. Another critical moment for leaders to step up. And another critical moment for people to come together for a common purpose,” he added.

WHO has released videos from countries that have successfully contained Covid-19 outbreaks, such as New Zealand, Rwanda, Thailand and Korea, Tedros said. 

Roads are empty during the COVID-19 lockdown in Amman, Jordan on October 9.

Jordan has reported its highest daily number of new Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, as tougher restrictions come into force to contain a worsening outbreak.

The country, once applauded for its handling of the pandemic, is now grappling with a surge in infections. On Monday, Jordan’s Ministry of Health reported 5,877 new cases in 24 hours, bringing the country’s total count to 81,743. There were also 47 new deaths, raising the national death toll to 913, the ministry added.

The record number of cases comes a day after Jordan announced a series of new measures on Sunday to curb the spread of the virus and protect health workers.

As of Monday, all swimming pools, gyms and children’s indoor entertainment facilities will be closed down across the country, and there will be stricter enforcement of the country’s mask mandate. A nighttime curfew will also be extended by an hour, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Jordan’s Parliamentary elections will be held on November 10, but all candidate elections have been closed down after mass gatherings were taking place at party headquarters. Election results are expected in the afternoon or evening of November 11. An hour after results are announced, the country will go into a full lockdown until 6 a.m. on November 15, after which the situation will be assessed, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh announced Sunday.

There are at least 9,220,933 coronavirus cases in the US and at least 231,077 people have died, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has reported 13,958 new cases and 82 deaths in the US. On Friday, the US reported 99,321 new Covid-19 cases – the highest single day number of cases recorded for any country. The United States’ top five records in daily cases all occurred within eight days, an upward trend that could strain hospital capacity.

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

For regular updates, please follow CNN’s map, which uses Johns Hopkins data to refresh every 15 minutes:

Residents of Baltimore City line up to vote early in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 27.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for isolation and quarantine do not preclude Americans from voting in the election, said a CDC spokesperson on Monday.

In-person voting can be carried out safely following CDC’s recommendations for polling location and voters, the spokesperson said.

When possible, alternative voting options – which minimize contact between voters and poll workers – should be made available for people with Covid-19, those who have symptoms of Covid-19, and those who have been exposed, the spokesperson added.

Poll workers who are assisting voters with symptoms should be provided with personal protective equipment and trained to use it appropriately.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he’s keeping “a very close eye” on rising coronavirus cases as the percent of people who have tested positive reaches “worrisome levels,” but that hospital capacity was still under control.

The city-wide positivity rate has hit 2.08%, de Blasio said, adding that the seven-day rolling average of 1.81% was a “better number” and “more consistent with where we’ve been.”

The daily number of people in New York City admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 is at 80, and the confirmed positivity rate for those patients is 16.8%. According to de Blasio, both figures “in the scheme of things” are “pretty good for today.”

Meanwhile, 21 public schools across the city are currently closed for a 2 week period under Covid-19 protocols, though the mayor advised the number changes every day as schools transition in and out of this process.

“The schools overall have been extraordinarily safe,” de Blasio said, adding that the city continues to take cautioned steps that he says so far have been effective.

New York – once the epicenter of the pandemic as the largest and densest city in the US – began gradually reopening in June. At the city’s peak in April, more than 500 people were dying every day and hospitals and funeral homes were overwhelmed.

In total, New York City has recorded 256,434 coronavirus cases, 19,350 confirmed deaths and 4,663 “probable deaths” related to Covid-19, according to the city’s public health agency.

Queen Elizabeth II on October 15, 2020.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, traveled back to Windsor Castle in the south of England on Monday, three days before a second national lockdown comes into force.

The spokesperson added that their return to Windsor “had been the plan for a while,” refusing to comment on speculation that the two were isolating with a bubble of staff ahead of a new month-long lockdown. 

The news comes amid reports that the pair’s grandson Prince William, second-in-line to the British throne, tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year.

When exactly William was infected is unclear. The Sun newspaper, which broke the story, said that he took a seven-day break from calls and video messages from April 9 to April 16.

The paper added that William, also styled the Duke of Cambridge, recently told an “observer” at a function that he did not go public with his diagnosis because “there were important things going on and I didn’t want to worry anyone.”

In March, William’s father, Prince Charles, himself tested positive and had to go into isolation. The 71-year-old later said he had been lucky to only experience mild symptoms, adding he’d “got away with it quite lightly.”

An empty road is seen amid the coronavirus outbreak on October 27, 2020 in Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

A mass testing campaign in China’s tightly-controlled western region of Xinjiang has revealed the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak in months.

Authorities in the heavily policed region – where Beijing has been accused of detaining more than a million Muslims – reported 13 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases Monday, according to the state-run People’s Daily news outlet.

The outlet cited a press conference held by the Xinjiang government on Monday night.

The cases were all asymptomatic and were reported in Shufu County, in Xinjiang’s Kashgar area, near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. All the infections are among people who were already under quarantine and medical surveillance, People’s Daily reported.

In late October, Kashgar launched a mass testing program for its 4.7 million residents after an asymptomatic case was identified in Shufu County.

The total number of infections in Xinjiang now stands at 59 symptomatic cases and 236 asymptomatic cases.

It’s the country’s biggest coronavirus cluster since more than 180 infections were reported in the capital Beijing in June.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks in Rome about Covid-19 on November 2.

Italy is set to tighten Covid-19 restrictions, but is stopping short from introducing a full lockdown, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday as infections and hospitalizations surge in the country.

The new measures will include a nighttime curfew and travel restrictions between the worst-hit regions, in an effort to contain a second wave of the virus.

The restrictions will be included in a government decree expected to be issued by the end of the week.

Conte also said the country would be divided into three areas depending on the level of contagion and the number of hospitalizations, with the most affected areas facing tighter restrictions. Distance learning will also become compulsory for high schools.

In a tweet on Monday, Pope Francis said: “Today we pray for all the #FaithfulDeparted and especially for the victims of the #Coronavirus: for those who have died alone, without the caress of their loved ones; and for those who have given their lives serving the sick.”

Worshippers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, pray around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque on November 1.

Coronavirus cases are ebbing and flowing in the Middle East, where governments are cranking up lockdown measures in some places, and loosening them in others. Here’s a roundup of the Covid-19 situation across the region.

Iran records highest daily virus death toll 

Long considered the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, Iran continues to see a relentless rise in Covid cases, after only a weeks-long respite at the beginning of the summer.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says the country is going through its third wave of the pandemic. 

On Monday, the country’s daily death toll hit a record high for the second consecutive day, with 440 people dead. Iran has had 620,491 confirmed cases and 35,298 deaths from the virus in total. 

Iran is the country worst hit by the pandemic in the region. Neighboring Iraq has the second-highest number of cases with nearly half a million confirmed infections and just under 11,000 total deaths. 

Saudi Arabia receives first foreign pilgrims in seven months

For Saudi Arabia, which has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the region, the virus has shown some signs of abating. Daily increases have dropped significantly since mid-summer, when it hit a record high of nearly 5,000 daily cases in June. So far in November, it has a daily tally of less than 400. 

As part of a series of measures to loosen the kingdom’s rigorous social distancing restrictions, the Muslim holy sites have received their first foreign Umrah pilgrims in seven months. 

Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year, unlike the Hajj, which has specific dates. It is also much smaller than the Hajj. 

The Umrah is being performed according to strict social distancing guidelines, with a greatly reduced number of pilgrims permitted at the sites and with mandated distances between them.

Pilgrims typically pray shoulder to shoulder as large crowds circumambulate the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, but the new measures have created striking images of pilgrims’ coordinated movements and distances from one another. 

Lebanon and Jordan: Cases surge

After initially seeing low occurrences of the virus, Lebanon and Jordan have been tackling a dramatic surge in cases.

On Sunday, Jordan recorded 3,259 new cases and 37 deaths, after the country hit a record number of cases last week. In Lebanon, which has a considerably smaller population than Jordan, the daily tally last week nearly hit 2,000, as more and more hospitals become overwhelmed. 

Both countries have announced new measures to curb Covid-19, tightening curfews and forcing more facilities to close. Lebanon has imposed new lockdowns on over 100 towns and villages across the country in an effort to contain the virus. 

Jordan and Lebanon had some of the strictest and most proactive lockdowns in the region during the first wave of the pandemic but their economies suffered greatly. Because of the toll on people’s livelihoods, social distancing measures have met with significant resistance during the second wave. 

Israel administers first dose of vaccine 

In Israel, a strict lockdown appears to have paid off. Israel hit a record daily tally of over 11,300 cases in late September, prompting strict social distancing measures. The daily count has dropped dramatically since; Israel recorded 521 daily cases on Sunday. 

On Sunday, Israel administered the first dose of its Covid vaccine as part of its first phase of clinical trials. The first dose was given to 26-year-old volunteer Segev Harel, who will be monitored for three weeks for side effects and antibodies.

A total of 80 volunteers will be given either a vaccine or a placebo during the Phase 1 trials. Phase 2 trials, involving 960 volunteers, are set to begin in December. 

People in cars wait in line for Covid-19 testing on October 13 in Reading, Pennsylvania.

With just one day until the US election, the country is averaging 81,336 new Covid-19 cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University. Several swing states are currently seeing their highest average of new cases. 

Here is a quick look at Covid-19 in each of the key battleground states:

Arizona 

Arizona currently averages 1,330 new Covid-19 cases per day. New cases are up 33% from last week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations had greatly decreased from the summer, but are now surging, according to The Covid Tracking Project. Currently, Arizona averages 872 hospitalizations a day, which is up 8% from last week. Arizona has no statewide mask mandate in place.     

Florida

Florida currently averages 4,111 new Covid-19 cases per day. New cases are up 22% from last week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Florida has averaged more than 1,000 new cases a day for a staggering 149 days, since June 6. The state has the third highest cumulative case count and the fourth highest death count in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins University. Florida has no statewide mask mandate.       

Michigan

Michigan is at its peak of new cases, reporting roughly 3,113 new cases a day over the last seven days – up 50% from last week. Hospitalizations across the state are not even close to their peak back in April, but have surpassed 1,000 a day since October 15, according to The Covid Tracking Project. Michigan requires face masks to be worn in public places statewide.        

North Carolina

North Carolina is at its peak of new cases, reporting roughly 2,370 new cases a day over the last seven days – up 18% from last week. Hospitalizations average 1,183 patients a day, according to The Covid Tracking Project – that’s roughly even with the state’s figures during the summer. The governor said the state would remain in Phase 3 of reopening as cases and hospitalizations started to rise in recent weeks. North Carolina requires face masks to be worn in public places statewide.        

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is averaging 2,243 new cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University. This is the highest the state’s new daily cases have ever been – up 31% from last week. Hospitalizations have increased sharply across the state since the end of September, data from The Covid Tracking Project shows. Pennsylvania requires face masks to be worn in public places statewide.    

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is averaging 4,385 new cases per day – down 4% from last week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Deaths across the state are at a record high since the pandemic began, with an average of 38 people dying each day over the past seven days. Hospitalizations in the state are at the highest level they have been since the start of the pandemic. Wisconsin requires face masks to be worn in public places statewide.