Sunday, Oct 11th, 2020

The United Kingdom is expected to test the BCG vaccine on frontline care workers to see if it’s effective against COVID-19. (Reuters)

Officials in Brooklyn and Queens announce that they have given 62 fines totalling $150,000 for violations of COVID-19 restrictions. (New York Daily News)

Florida’s Department of Health reports 5,570 additional COVID-19 cases, the highest number of reported cases in a single day since August. It comes a day after Florida did not report any new cases or deaths because officials were left combing through 400,000 test results a private lab resent Friday night. (Miami Herald)

Colorado Governor Jared Polis extends the statewide mask mandate for 30 days. (KKTV-TV)

India surpasses seven million COVID-19 cumulative cases, becoming the second country to reach that milestone after the United States. (AP via ABC News)

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announces that South Korea will begin easing social distancing rules from Level 2 to Level 1 nationwide tomorrow, allowing limited audiences at sporting events and the reopening of nightly entertainment facilities, as long as they comply with anti-virus health protocols, as new cases have been edging lower in recent weeks. However, some restrictions will be kept in place in Seoul Capital Area and other high-risk facilities. (The Jakarta Post)

Russia registers 13,634 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative nationwide total to 1,298,718, the fourth highest in the world. This marks a new record of confirmed cases in a single day since the first cases were confirmed in January. (Times of India)

Riot police in Belarus use water cannons and grenades to break up mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. (BBC)

 

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Saturday,  Oct. 10th, 2020

Authorities in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, announce that 28 people have been arrested during the third night of protests over the lack of charges against Joseph Mensah, the officer accused of killing 17-year-old Alvin Cole. (ABC News)

Demonstrations are held in Wauwatosa for a fourth consecutive day following the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s decision not to prosecute Joseph Mensah for the fatal shooting of Alvin Cole. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is released from the Morristown Medical Center, a week after testing positive for COVID-19. (NPR)

Mexico announces that it will pay $159.88 million to the World Health Organization to secure vaccine access through the agency’s COVAX plan. (Reuters)

The number of confirmed cases in France increases by 26,896 to 718,873, setting a record for the largest number of reported cases since the beginning of the pandemic. (The Hill)

The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 4,721 to 319,381, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. It is the highest number of reported cases in a single day since April as the country tightens its restrictions in Berlin and Frankfurt. (Al Jazeera)

Russia reports 12,846 cases, their highest since the start of the pandemic. The number of cases reaches to 1,285,084. (Reuters)

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Brazil exceeds 150,000. (Reuters)

North Korea holds a rare nighttime military parade featuring missiles to mark the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party. This was the country’s first military parade in two years. (BBC)

Protesters gather to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegations of corruption and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. (AP)

Alexander Lukashenko, disputed President of Belarus, visits opposition activists in a prison in Minsk. (ABC News)

Kyrgyzstan special forces detain former President Almazbek Atambayev in a raid on his compound. Atambayev was freed from prison by anti-government protesters on October 5. (BBC)

 

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Friday,  Oct.  9th, 2020

In an expletive-laden interview on The Rush Limbaugh Show, U.S. President Donald Trump warns Iran, “not to fuck around” with the United States, and “if you do something bad to us, we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before”. (The Hill)

The number of confirmed cases worldwide increased over 350,000, sets a new record since the beginning of the outbreak in China, according to World Health Organization. (Voice of America)

The national government imposes a 15-day state of emergency in Madrid and nine surrounding cities in an attempt to bring down COVID-19 infection rates in the capital, after a court yesterday overturned a partial lockdown imposed last week. (BBC)

The reported number of new infections in France jumped by 20,339, a new record since the beginning of the pandemic, making the cumulative total at 691,977, according to data from the health ministry website. (France 24)

Chancellor Angela Merkel and mayors of 11 large cities agrees on stricter controls for urban areas exceeding the government COVID-19 threshold. She said for cities with more than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a seven-day period, which Berlin and Frankfurt already exceed that number, tighter restrictions should be implemented immediately. (DW)

Italy registers 5,372 new cases in the past 24 hours, which it is the first time that the country reports more than 5,000 cases since late-March, prompting fears of second wave of COVID-19 that happens in other countries in Europe. (RTÉ)

Russia reports 12,126 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1.27 million, according to data from health authorities. This sets a new record for daily infections surpassing the previous record on May 11, when 11,656 new cases were reported. (Anadolu Agency)

The number of new cases in Switzerland and Liechtenstein increases by 1,487 in a single day, a record since the beginning of the outbreak, according to data from Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health. (Reuters)

In Helmand Province, the Taliban kills at least three security forces and injures another three.[citation needed]

It is announced that the Broadway theaters will remain closed through May 2021. (CNBC)

McConnell, contrasting Trump, says stimulus bill ‘unlikely in the next 3 weeks’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Friday that a deal on another coronavirus stimulus bill is still “unlikely in the next three weeks.” Earlier this week, Trump pulled the plug on COVID-19 stimulus talks, saying he would tell Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to halt negotiations with Democrats “until after the election.” Trump has since pivoted, tweeting that “Covid relief negotiations are moving along. Go big!” The White House reportedly offered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a $1.8 trillion deal. Democrats want $2.2 trillion in funding, and it’s unclear what Republicans are offering in their deal. Regardless, they’re unlikely to get far without McConnell’s cooperation. “We do need another rescue package,” McConnell acknowledged Friday, but “differences of opinion about what is needed at this particular juncture are pretty bad.” Source:  CNN

The Taliban kills four Afghan soldiers and four police officers in Aliabad District, Kunduz Province. Five soldiers and two police are also injured in the attack. In Helmand Province, the Taliban kills at least three security forces and injures another three. (TOLOnews)

Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to a ceasefire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh effective 03:00 am local time, following Russian-brokered peace talks in Moscow. However, fighting continues and both sides accuse each other of violating the agreement. (BBC)

The End