November 12 coronavirus news

The coronavirus pandemic had a big effect on emergency room visits for children suffering mental health crises, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

While fewer children and teens were seen in emergency departments for mental health issues during the pandemic, they made up a bigger proportion of ER visits than before – suggesting that problems were serious enough to overcome concerns about visiting hospitals, the researchers said.

The team set out to see if there was evidence of more mental health trauma among children because of the pandemic. They found a 43% decrease the number of mental health–related emergency department visits among children starting in March.

But the proportion of these visits compared to other emergency related visits rose by 44%, they found. 

“This report demonstrates that, whereas the overall number of children’s mental health–related ED visits decreased, the proportion of all ED visits for children’s mental health–related concerns increased, reaching levels substantially higher beginning in late-March to October 2020 than those during the same period during 2019,” they wrote.

“Children’s mental health warranted sufficient concern to visit EDs during a time when nonemergent ED visits were discouraged.” 

The findings “provide initial insight into children’s mental health in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and highlight the importance of continued monitoring of children’s mental health throughout the pandemic, ensuring access to care during public health crises, and improving health coping strategies and resiliency among children and families.” 

The team used data from the CDC’s National Syndromic Surveillance Program from January 1 to October 17, 2020 and the same period during 2019. This emergency department data includes a subset of hospitals in 47 states and represents around 73% of emergency department visits in the US. 

A Covid-19 outbreak among the Amish this spring showed the real need for public health officials to build trust among a community that typically limits engagement with the government.

Despite the pandemic, the Amish community in the Greater Holmes County Area of Ohio continued to hold community gatherings. During the outbreak in May, there were at least six social gatherings, including a logistical meeting to plan church services, three church services, a wedding, and a funeral, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Ohio state and county health officials wrote in the CDC’s weekly report Thursday. 

The team said those gatherings likely contributed to the rapid spread of Covid-19. Some community members also had misconceptions about what would protect them from infection. Some said they thought wearing a mask would cause them harm. Others thought if they took vitamins and herbs it would protect them. 

The local public health department learned about the outbreak after a couple tested positive in mid-May. The husband, who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, had to be hospitalized for a couple of days. Another adult family member with cancer who tested positive for Covid-19 died May 21. 

Community leaders told the Wayne County Health Department that a number of people in the community had symptoms so the department set up testing at the local school. In total, 30 people tested positive for Covid-19. The report suggests there may have been more cases, but the more traditional members of the community may not have gotten tested.

The local health department interviewed some of the Amish at the testing site and learned about some of the misconceptions about the ways to stop the spread of the disease. 

Researchers also learned that the community didn’t have access to updated and trusted guidance. Most rarely, if ever, used the internet or email. Nonetheless, many understood the importance of social distancing and knew that coughing and sneezing could spread the virus.

Wearing a mask was not socially or culturally acceptable, some members of the community said. Some were also reluctant about social distancing, because communal cultural practices were central to the Amish identity. 

The CDC said it is important for health departments to build trusting relationships with the Amish. The departments should use culturally sensitive language when they reach out to community leaders and emphasize the message that mitigation behaviors protect the family and the community. Health education materials should be shared through Amish newspapers and local radio stations. Access to testing needs to be convenient and timely.

The GlaxoSmithKline company headquarters in London, England.

Biopharmaceutical company Medicago has developed an experimental coronavirus vaccine candidate, which uses drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) adjuvant.

An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to enhance the immune response, which creates stronger immunity against infections. 

In this case, Medicago’s vaccine uses virus-like particles grown in a close relative of the tobacco plant. The vaccine combines the particles with GSK’s adjuvant to generate an immune response.

The two companies announced on Thursday that the vaccine candidate was entering Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials.

The trial will evaluate the vaccine’s efficacy, safety and ability to provoke an immune response.

The Phase 2 trial will part be conducted in multiple sites in Canada and, upon allowance from the US Food and Drug Administration, in the US.

The volunteers will include healthy adults ages 18 to 64 and elderly adults over 65, according to the announcement. Each age group will include more than 300 subjects.

Irish citizens living abroad should not book travel home for Christmas as it is “too soon” and risks further spreading Covid-19, Ireland’s deputy prime minister said Thursday.

Covid-19 infections have fallen in Ireland since the country became the first in Europe to implement a second national lockdown on October 21. The restrictions are due to ease on December 2.

Varadkar said the country was “ahead of projections in terms of getting the virus under control” with the average number of weekly cases being only a quarter “of what it was a few weeks ago.”

But international travel and the festive season poses the risk of “reseeding” Covid-19 back into the country, he said, adding that travel from Northern Ireland could be even riskier than from Qatar or Miami. 

Ireland has reported 66,247 overall cases and 1,965 deaths. Neighboring Northern Ireland has a total of 44,693 cases and 810 deaths despite having a population of just 1.88 million compared to Ireland’s 4.9 million.

Medical workers register motorists at a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in El Paso, Texas, on Monday, November 9.

A four-to-six-week lockdown could drive down the US’ surging Covid-19 cases, if the government covered lost wages and small business losses, a member of President-elect Biden’s transition coronavirus advisory board has said.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, suggested the idea in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.

Osterholm said that the personal savings rate in the US had increased, and there was “a big pool of money out there” which could be borrowed at historic low interest rates by the federal government. 

“We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individuals workers, for losses to small companies to medium-sized companies,” Osterholm said. “For cities, states, county governments, we can do all of that.”

If this happened, “then we could really watch ourselves cruising into the vaccine availability in the first and second quarter of next year and bringing back the economy long before that.”

US cases hit 10 million on Tuesday, with infection rates still rising in many states.

CNN is tracking the spread of Covid-19 across the US here:

Medical personnel at a hospital in Aachen, Germany, examine a Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit on November 10.

The number of Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care units in Germany has reached an all-time high.

3,186 Covid-19 patients are being treated in intensive care facilities - the highest number of patients in ICUs since the pandemic began, the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) said Thursday.

Earlier this week, DIVI reported that cases had exceeded the levels seen during the initial coronavirus wave, confirming that German hospitals are filling up at high speed.

The data also shows that 56% of patients in ICUs currently need ventilation.

When taking into account patients admitted to ICUs in Germany for other diseases, around 70% of intensive-care capacity facilities in the country are currently occupied.

Despite this, 6,600 ICU beds are still vacant and Germany has a reserve of 12,300 beds it can deploy, including field hospital beds at the Berlin convention center.

But health minister Jens Spahn on Thursday warned that ICUs could be overwhelmed if daily infection rates continue to rise at the current level.

The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) warned earlier on Thursday that the overall number of infections remains “very high” and that he expects hospitals to reach capacity.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a hearing in Washington on September 23.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that vaccines will ensure we won’t have a pandemic for much longer, but he doubts the coronavirus will be eradicated.

Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective according to early data. The news was met with relief globally.

“When people say we’ve developed vaccines ‘quickly’ we must be careful because the speed at which it was done was largely due to the extraordinary scientific advances that were made in the area of platform technology,” Fauci said Thursday.

He said the speed of development was based on technological advances, “so there really was no compromise in safety nor in scientific integrity.”

In a separate interview Thursday, the US’ top infectious diseases expert reassured Americans that vaccines could have a positive impact.

Fauci said vaccines were “going to start being implemented and deployed in December, and as we get into the early part of the year, it’s going to be January, February, March, more and more and more people are going to be able to be vaccinated.” 

The US is currently the worst affected country by Covid-19 globally, with more than 10 million reported cases and more than 241,900 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Austria has reported a new daily record of 9,262 new Covid-19 infections recorded within the past 24 hours, according to data on the Ministry of Interior website. 

The previous record was 8,241, set on Saturday, November 7.

The new cases bring Austria’s total Covid-19 tally to 181,642 infections and 1,608 deaths.

There are currently 3,811 people in hospital, of whom 546 are being treated in intensive care, according to the ministry.

Like much of Europe the country is currently under a partial lockdown, aimed at curbing the virus’ spread.

Restrictions include the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants, although takeaway services are allowed to operate.

All gyms, theatres, cinemas and museums are shut and a night-time curfew has been imposed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, speaks in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 15.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against pinning all hope on a Covid-19 vaccine, saying people need to remain vigilant and take precautions against coronavirus.

“European countries are struggling but the virus has not changed significantly, nor the measures to stop it.

“A vaccine is needed urgently, but we cannot wait for a vaccine and put all our eggs in one basket.”

Many countries in Europe are under lockdown conditions amid a second wave of infections. Several governments have warned that health systems will be overwhelmed if the number of new infections is not brought under control soon.

Pfizer said Monday that its vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective, according to early results – news which was met with relief globally.

But while Pfizer’s news appears promising, significant logistical challenges remain in terms of distributing a potential vaccine.

The first patient enrolled in Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial is pictured at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore on May 4.

The US Food and Drug Administration might not complete its review of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine until Christmas, according to the head of the federal network coordinating Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials. 

Pfizer announced Monday that early data shows its vaccine is more than 90% effective. 

The drug giant says it could apply to the FDA for emergency use authorization soon after safety data on the vaccine is gathered next week. 

Dr. Larry Corey, who runs the Covid-19 Prevention Network, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, said he thought it would then take several weeks for the FDA to finish reviewing the vaccine’s safety and efficacy data, as well as information about its manufacturing.

Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services, has said the process of getting FDA authorization will take several weeks, while Dr. Anthony Fauci says vaccinations will likely start a bit before Christmas.

Corey pointed out that it took more than four weeks for the FDA to consider an application by Eli Lilly and Co for its antibody therapy. Lilly applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization on October 7 and received it on November 9. 

Corey believes it will take about 10 days for the FDA to review Pfizer’s clinical trial data. The agency also needs to review Pfizer’s manufacturing data.

If approved, Pfizer’s vaccine would first be given to priority groups such as health care workers, the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to Covid-19 complications. 

Fauci told CNN on Tuesday that the US “likely will be able to start dispensing vaccines in December.”

He also told Australia’s ABC network that “vaccinations will start in December, very likely some time a bit before the Christmas holidays.” 

Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which created the Covid-19 Prevention Network last summer. 

Azar said Monday that the process of getting authorization for Pfizer’s vaccine would be “in the several week time period.” 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the East Midlands region in England on November 6.

The UK is deep in its second wave of Covid-19 at the same time as Brexit enters its final act. This might seem enough to keep its leadership occupied.

But the government of Boris Johnson is now engulfed in a political power struggle that is very publicly playing out on the newspaper front pages – and could, some Conservatives hope, signal a shift in influence on the Prime Minister.

The political storm surrounding Johnson and his team of advisers broke on the same day that the UK’s coronavirus death toll passed the eyewatering 50,000 figure.

Read the full article here:

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 13: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's top political advisor Dominic Cummings arrives at Downing Street, in London, United Kingdom on November 13, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: Johnson has mismanaged Covid, Brexit and the economy. Now his inner circle is falling out

Staff at the Test to Fly Center in Germany's Munich Airport wait to test passengers prior to a Lufthansa flight on November 12.

Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa has completed its first test flight where all passengers returned negative Covid-19 results using a rapid antigen test.

The flight was from Munich to Hamburg, the airline said in a statement published Thursday. A second test flight is planned to take passengers from Hamburg to Munich.

The rapid antigen tests do not detect the Covid-19 pathogen, but can detect proteins associated with it. 

Lufthansa said that customers receive their test results within 30 to 60 minutes of being tested.

The airline said that only if the results are negative will a passenger’s boarding pass be activated and access to the gate granted. 

Passengers not wanting to be tested will be transferred to an alternative flight, the statement added.

Health workers evaluate Covid-19 antigen tests on November 7 in Prešov, Slovakia.

Slovakia will extend its state of emergency until the end of December, Justice Minister Maria Kolikova announced Wednesday, allowing the government to continue with coronavirus restrictions.

The state of emergency was first declared on October 1 and was due to expire on November 14. After it was announced, a national curfew came into force on October 24, barring people from leaving their houses during the day without a negative coronavirus test except in certain circumstances.

People can leave their homes freely between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m.

Slovakia has also banned gatherings of more than six people since October 13, and indoor bars and restaurants, as well as gyms, cinemas and theatres, are closed.

The country has battled a surge in coronavirus cases since September.

It has registered 464 deaths since the start of the pandemic, of which 50 were recorded in the past 24 hours.

In the same window of time Slovakia registered 2,591 new cases and conducted 12,584 tests.

Slovakia has now registered 81,772 cases in total, according to official health data. 

Thanksgiving has always been a big deal for Sara Wellensiek and her family.

Every year, the Phoenix blogger, her husband and their three boys fly to Nebraska to spend the week seeing loved ones. They go to a University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football game. They eat pumpkin spice treats. They spend the actual holiday with relatives. Then they come back to Arizona and have another celebration at home.

This year, however, the family will see almost nobody. Because they’re not even planning to leave the house.

The reason for this change in plans: the Covid-19 pandemic. Like many people, Wellensiek said she doesn’t want to risk getting the virus or giving it to people she loves. She also doesn’t want to contribute to another spike of cases in her community.

Read the full story here:

Related article How to decline Thanksgiving in the name of Covid

New York City’s schools may reclose as its infection rate surges once again.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that if the city’s seven-day average positive test rate exceeds 3%, schools will return to remote learning.

The seven-day average Wednesday stood at 2.52%, according to de Blasio.

The mayor said that 817 new infections had been reported and 94 people had been hospitalized with Covid-19 on Wednesday.

“This is our LAST chance to stop a second wave,” de Blasio wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. “We can do it, but we have to act NOW.”

The New York City public school system is the largest school district in the US and consists of 1,600 public schools.

In-person learning only resumed in the city from September 21 and the reopening had largely been hailed as a success.

Vials of Sinovac Biotech Ltd.'s coronavirus vaccine are displayed at a media event in Beijing, China, on September 24.

A Phase 3 clinical trial of a Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccine has resumed in Brazil after it was briefly halted following a “serious adverse event.”

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that it was encouraged to hear the trial had resumed.

Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) suspended the trial on Monday after the event on October 29.

According to a police report, a volunteer in the study died by suicide, CNN confirmed Tuesday, resulting in an investigation into the cause of death and a pending toxicology report.

Dimas Covas, director of Brazil’s Butantan biomedical institute, said Tuesday that the event was not related to the trial of the Chinese developed vaccine.

On Wednesday, Sinovac said in a statement: “We have learned that Anvisa failed to receive the data sent by Butantan Institute in time, and it urgently suspended the clinical study on November 9.”

“[The] Butantan Institute communicated with Anvisa on November 10, and the report from the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) was submitted to Anvisa on the same day. After evaluating the new data, Anvisa made a very timely decision to resume the clinical research.”

Sinovac is also conducting Phase 3 trials in Indonesia and Turkey. 

At least five Covid-19 outbreaks in New Jersey are linked to Halloween parties, the US state’s Department of Health spokeswoman Donna Leusner told CNN. 

Leusner said the outbreaks include 70 cases from Halloween parties and other gatherings among students, quoting New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli.

“According to Commissioner Persichilli, all social gatherings outside of immediate family are a concern. If you let your guard down, you could be exposed and not even know it if someone is asymptomatic,” Leusner added.

“For example, we know of 10 outbreaks among hockey teams. Since the second week of November, we know of five outbreaks totaling 70 cases from Halloween parties and other social gatherings among students.”

CNN is tracking the spread of Covid-19 across the US here:

Domagoj Vida of Croatia is pictured during a match on September 5, in Porto, Portugal.

Croatian football captain Domagoj Vida has been placed in self-isolation after he learned he had Covid-19 during his country’s match against Turkey on Thursday night.

Vida and the rest of his Croatia teammates tested negative on Monday, but the Besiktas centre-back’s Wednesday morning test came back positive. He learned of the result during the match’s half-time break on Thursday.

In addition to Vida, one member of the Croatian Football Federation delegation tested positive for the coronavirus, but a federation spokesperson said the man “was not in contact with national team members or staff members.”

Croatia has a total of 75,922 Covid-19 cases and 925 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.

President Donald Trump had predicted in almost every campaign rally that the media would stop talking about the coronavirus pandemic the day after the election. But as it turns out, no one is ignoring the worsening tragedy more than the President himself.

Instead of taking charge as the country plunges deeper into the worst domestic crisis since World War II, Trump has disappeared inside the White House, saying nothing on camera since he baselessly claimed a week ago that the election was being stolen from him by President-elect Joe Biden.

He’s spending time with advisers, not strategizing on how to tame the out-of-control health emergency but seeking a path to win an election already declared lost. He’s also found time to purge the top leadership of the Pentagon, and with few appointments on his public schedule appears to spend his days watching news coverage and tweeting misinformation about voter fraud.

In essence, Trump, his family and his advisers are spending all their energy desperately trying to save a job – the presidency – that he appears to have no intention of doing in any meaningful sense.

Read the full article here:

Related article Trump's stunning abdication of leadership comes as pandemic worsens

Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute, addresses a news conference on the coronavirus situation in Germany, in Berlin, on November 12.

Germany’s Covid-19 infection rate is “flattening” and provides reason to be “cautiously optimistic,” according to the head of the country’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI).

“But we don’t yet know whether this is a stable development,” he added.

Wieler said it remains unclear if the slower coronavirus spread can be attributed to new Covid-19 restrictions introduced earlier this month or if the dip is because of limited lab capacity. 

He warned that the overall number of infections remains “very high” and is rising in all of Germany, and that he expects hospitals to reach capacity.

He also said that it is “very likely” that the RKI is underreporting Covid-19 patients being treated in hospitals.

On Thursday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose by 21,866 – the second highest daily record since the outbreak began – to 727,553, according to RKI.

The death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, the institute reported.

Germany recorded its highest daily infection number of more than 23,300 on November 7.

Wieler said the country is currently experiencing a very high number of Covid-19 infections in people aged between 10-19 years old.

Germany has reimposed lockdown measures to try to slow the rate of Covid-19 infection. The country has limited bars, restaurants and cafes to take-out and delivery services, and limited the amount of people who can gather in public or private settings. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reviews the Slovak guard of honor during a ceremony on his official visit to Slovakia in September.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is being treated in hospital for Covid-19, his spokesperson has said, as the country registers a record increase in new infections.

Zelensky confirmed on Monday that he had contracted Covid-19.

The president’s office says Zelensky has continued to work while in hospital, including a phone meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

On Thursday, Ukraine reported 11,057 new cases of coronavirus – the largest one day increase since the pandemic began.

According to government data, there have now been 500,865 cases in total, and 9,145 deaths across Ukraine.

The UK’s biggest food bank network, the Trussell Trust, saw a 47% increase in need between April and September, according to figures released on Thursday.

More than 1.2 million emergency food parcels were given to people struggling to afford essentials between April 1 and September 30, making it the busiest ever half-year period for food banks. Over 470,000 of the parcels went to children.   

In April, the network’s busiest ever month, the volume of food handed out went up by 59% compared with the same time in 2019. 

However, the charity warned that these figures are only “the tip of the iceberg,” as many people will have been helped by other community groups. 

On Sunday, the UK government reversed its decision not to extend free school meals for low-income families over the Christmas holidays during the coronavirus pandemic, following a campaign by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford. 

UAE-based Tariq Khayyat Design Partners designed "Walk of Life," a space that uses visual cues to encourage social distancing, and monitors people's movement.

As the world continues to battle coronavirus, designers are re-imagining how public spaces can let people come together, while keeping them safe.

“The Shape of Things to Come,” an exhibition in Dubai, is offering a glimpse of what architecture and design could look like in a post-Covid world – with ideas ranging from a nightclub that keeps dancers at a distance, to an inflatable pod that envelops tables at restaurants.

One design imagines a space that uses visual cues to encourage social distancing, and monitors people’s movement. 

Featuring over 25 Middle Eastern design practices, it showcases new concepts, product designs, and installations from architects and interior designers. The exhibition is part of the six-day Dubai Design Week.

See a gallery of works on show:

gallery

Related gallery Post-Covid architecture could look like this

Police checks people's movement permits at a roadblock in central Athens, Greece on November 7, the first day of a three-week lockdown.

Parts of the United States are reporting a record rises in cases, while countries in Europe tighten coronavirus restrictions. Here’s the latest on the pandemic:

United States

Europe

Washington Street is seen mostly empty in San Francisco, California on March 17, the first day of a Stay Home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Fewer than half of Americans say are very likely to comply with another lockdown, despite growing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, the latest Gallup polling shows.

About 49% of Americans polled between October 19 and November 1 said they would be very likely to stay home for a month if health officials recommend it following a coronavirus outbreak in their community, down from 67% in the spring.

While 18% said they were somewhat likely to comply, a third of respondents said they would be unlikely to comply with lockdown orders – double the rate seen in the spring. 

Though Americans are less willing to stay at home, the results show they are more worried about the pandemic, with 61% saying they believe the situation is getting worse, compared to 40% in April.

Political divide: The results show a political divide in those willing to stay home. About 40% of Republicans polled said they were willing to comply with a stay-at-home order, down from 74% in the spring. In comparison, 87% of Democrats said they would likely comply, a slight drop from 91% in March and April.

About 82% of people said they were confident in their ability to avoid infection, compared to 64% in March, which could play a role in Americans’ willingness to stay home.

Mask wearing: Health experts have said that mask use could significantly reduce the need for another lockdown.

Only about half of Americans reported wearing masks in April, shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested the practice for the general public. The number rose to 92% in July and now sits at about 88%.

A man photographs the Olympic Rings in Tokyo, Japan on October 13.

Tokyo 2020 is working with the Japanese government to ensure that athletes and Olympic staff can avoid a 14-day quarantine on arrival in Japan ahead of the games, Toshiro Muto, the CEO of Tokyo 2020, said at a press briefing Thursday.

The aim is for the athletes and workers to be able to train and work in the lead up to the Olympics, which is due to be held in Summer 2021.

The athletes will likely still need to follow preventative measures, such as being tested for coronavirus before they’re able to travel to Japan and will likely need to submit an activity schedule to organizers, according the organization committee.

Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese government are also hoping to implement Covid-19 prevention protocols to exempt foreign spectators from a 14-day quarantine on arrival to Japan as it is “impossible” to impose self-isolation rules on visitors.

The organizers announced that the maximum number of spectators allowed at the Olympic venues will be decided in spring. Those numbers will depend on the Covid-19 infection rates in Japan and across the world. 

The United States has now reported 10,400,227 cases of coronavirus, including least 241,798 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 144,133 new cases and 1,893 additional deaths.

Wednesday marks the highest number of cases reported in a day since the pandemic began.

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

For the latest Johns Hopkins University US numbers, check here. CNN’s map, using JHU data, continues to refresh every 15 mins.

People wait to cross a road as a taxi drives past on November 11 in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan’s Doctor’s Association Chairman, Toshio Nakagawa, warned the recent surge in Covid-19 infections “is considered to be the third wave” and urged the government to step up prevention measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Japan’s Health Ministry announced 1,546 new Covid-19 cases and 10 additional deaths for Wednesday – the highest number of daily infections since August 7, which was the peak of the last wave. 

Japan has now reported 112,423 infections, including 1,864 deaths.

Tokyo reported 317 new cases Wednesday – the highest daily toll since August 20, while Japan’s second biggest prefecture, Osaka, reported its highest number of new daily infections ever at 256. 

People line up outside a Covid-19 testing site in New York City, New York on November 11.

As the coronavirus pandemic accelerates across the United States, conditions could worsen on the West Coast, in the Northeast and in the Mid-Atlantic states over the next several weeks, according to a new forecast from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Policy Lab. 

The CHOP Policy Lab will begin releasing weekly findings from its COVID-Lab county-level forecasts on the pandemic, the lab said Wednesday on its website. It noted that hospitalizations, ICU admissions and ventilator use are now rising in all 50 states.

Growing cases: The model is predicting “substantial growth” in Covid-19 cases over the next four weeks in the northeast and south through the mid-Atlantic region, “where dire trends previously seen in the Midwest have now set in,” the lab said. The forecast noted that mitigation efforts in and around New York City and Boston have “slowed but not abated” an increase in hospitalizations and ICU admissions in the cities.

The CHOP Policy Lab forecast is also projecting “significant case growth” along the West Coast in major cities in California, as well as in Portland and Seattle into mid-December.

Fast-filling ICU beds: “In every Midwestern state, COVID-19 patients are occupying more than 25% of ICU beds,” the lab reported.

In four states – Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota – coronavirus patients have filled up 50% or more of all available ICU beds. “We suspect that in many localities across these states, ICUs are near, at or over capacity,” the forecast said.

The forecast also noted that in Wisconsin, one of the earliest states to see an explosive growth in Covid-19 cases this fall, may be nearing a peak in transmissions, but hospitalizations and ICU admissions have not yet stabilized.

At least half of the 819 counties in the lab’s forecast are seeing a testing positivity rate of 9%, a measure of how prevalent positive coronavirus cases are compared to the number of tests administered.

A health worker uses a rapid kit to test for Covid-19 at a testing camp organized for shopkeepers and workers at a market place in New Delhi, India on November 9.

India’s capital region Delhi recorded 8,593 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, a record daily increase, according to a health bulletin issued by the local government.

This is the first time 8,000 cases have been reported in a single day in the capital region and brings the total number of active cases to 42,629. An additional 85 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the city’s death toll to 7,228.

Delhi has now recorded 459,975 cases.

Last week, Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the capital was facing its third wave. 

The spike in cases is a result of people defying social distancing rules, and a rise in air pollution in the past week or so, said Dr Arvind Kumar, chairman of Center for Chest Surgery and founder and managing trustee at non-profit Lung Care Foundation.

Experts are concerned that pollution may mean people spend more time indoors, and that poor air quality could aggravate respiratory conditions.

What’s happening in India: Nationwide, India recorded at additional 47,905 cases on Thursday, bringing the country’s total to 8,683,916 cases, according to the country’s health ministry. To date, 128,121 deaths have been recorded – including 550 reported on Thursday.

Hospitals in the United States are coming under immense strain as some reach full capacity and others face threats of strikes by staff.

Mississippi’s Department of Health announced Wednesday that the state’s Covid-19 hospitalizations “are on track toward the crisis level we saw this summer,” warning that if changes weren’t made immediately, there would be critical shortages of first-line care for those seriously ill or injured.  

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves extended mask mandates for 15 countries through December 11, according to a release from the Governor’s office. 

The Mayo Clinic Health System said its hospitals in Northwest Wisconsin were full to capacity, with 100% of its beds filled in the region. It said that half of the intensive care unit capacity is occupied by Covid-19 patients, while 40% of regular medical surgical beds are being used by Covid-19 patients – who it said normally stay in hospital 2-3 times longer than non-Covid patients. 

Approximately 300 hospital staff in the area are on work restrictions due to exposure to Covid-19, the statement added. 

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 nurses in Philadelphia are on the verge of striking, according to a spokesperson with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP). 

The nurses feel they have been “pushed to the brink by unsafe staffing that seriously undermines patient safety,” according to the release.

CNN has reached out to Trinity Health, Tower Health and Einstein Health for comment. 

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed “problems” with the state of clinical trials, Dr Janet Woodcock, the director of the Centers for Drug Evaluation and Research at the United States Food and Drug Administration, said this week.

There are currently more than 700 trials for coronavirus therapeutics underway in the US, Woodcock said.

Most are not going to tell doctors very much that’s useful, said Woodcock, who is also leading Operation Warp Speed’s search for new therapeutics against Covid-19.

Woodcock made her comments to the New England Journal of Medicine in a discussion that was posted online.

One of the concerns about the large number of trials is that they are started by different investigators and are each too small to have answers. Plus, there’s a lack of coordination among them. 

“You take convalescent plasma – we don’t have a single trial,” Woodcock said. “Even though that’s been available for quite a long time, we don’t have a single trial that is large enough to yield answers right now, a randomized trial, and we’re supporting continued conduct of those randomized trials.”

The uncoordinated nature of these trials “is a really big problem,” Woodcock said, adding that the trials are “underpowered,” and many will never enroll enough patients to really yield data.

“And since many of these patients are in the community, they don’t have an opportunity to participate in trials, and so if tens of thousands of people who are ill and most of them cannot be entered into trials where we can learn knowledge quickly, this is really a challenge,” she added.

“We need as a community to come together after this and do some lessons learned and figure out how to respond better,” she said.

The Navajo Nation – a tribal area which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah – has issued a health advisory to 21 new communities warning residents of the “uncontrolled spread” of Covid-19, according to a statement.

The Native American territory now has 34 communities under a 14-day advisory for Covid-19 spread, the statement added. 

Residents in the impacted communities are “advised to stay on the Navajo Nation and refrain from off-Reservation travel,” a public health order from the Navajo Department of Health said.

Navajo leaders said in the statement that the increase in the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 is “largely due to travel off the Navajo Nation and family gatherings.”

As a result, the nation will implement a 56-hour curfew starting at 9pm on Friday November 13, the statement explained. 

The Navajo Nation was once a prominent hot spot for Covid-19 in the US. In May, the nation surpassed New York and New Jersey for the highest per-capita Coronavirus infection rate.

Nez cited multi-generation living situations, a lack of running water among residents and fewer places to purchase food as causes for increased spread of the disease in May.

The new United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on mask wearing could be “huge” in motivating people to wear masks, former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser said Wednesday.

The CDC updated its guidance Tuesday to say that masks can help protect the wearer, not just those around them, from coronavirus infection. Previously, CDC had said the main benefit of masks was to help prevent infected people from spreading the virus to others.

The guidance is in line with public health advisories issued in many places throughout Asia at the beginning of the pandemic and has been credited with helping to curb the spread of the virus in those countries.

Besser told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the updated guidance from the CDC on mask wearing is “critically important.”

“It’s hard to motivate people in terms of protecting other people, but in terms of protecting yourselves, getting your loved ones, your children, your parents to wear masks – this could be huge,” he said. 

“If people wear masks, then we’re going to be able to avoid the broad – the total shutdowns that we saw in the spring,” said Besser, who currently heads Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health philanthropy.