Whether in Quebec or elsewhere on the planet, the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting our lives.
Here you will find all the news throughout the day related to this crisis affecting the population, governments and the economy.
LAST REVIEW
WORLD
- Case: 46 997 320
- Death: 1 208 224
CANADA
- Case: 240 263, 108 018 in Quebec
- Death: 10 208, 6283 in Quebec
All the news for Tuesday, November 3, 2020
9:55 am | Germany: an expert calls for the postponement of certain surgical operations.
One of Germany’s leading intensive medicine experts on Tuesday called on hospitals to postpone elective surgeries to free up beds and relieve medical staff in the face of the resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic.
In many hospitals, staff are already working “to the limit of their abilities,” Uwe Janssens, president of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) told a press conference in Berlin the day after the entry into force of new restrictions in an attempt to stem the surge in the number of infections.
In areas of the country where the number of cases of the new coronavirus is high, hospitals should “cease routine operations as soon as possible”, he recommended.
“This means that where it is medically possible, interventions must be (…) postponed”, according to him.
The number of COVID-19 patients treated in intensive care units has climbed from some 360 in early October to nearly 2,400 now as Germany and the rest of Europe hit with a second ‘wave’ of contamination after that of spring.
Since Monday, restaurants, cafes, gyms, theaters or opera houses have been closed for the next four weeks.
9:15 am | Coronavirus: more than 11 million cases in Europe.
More than 11 million cases of the new coronavirus have been officially identified in Europe, according to a count made by AFP from official sources on Tuesday.
At least 11,008,465 contaminations and 284,148 deaths have been reported across the continent. Almost half of the cases were recorded in the four European countries most affected by the epidemic: Russia (1,673,686 cases), France (1,466,433), Spain (1,240,697) and the United Kingdom (1,053,864). A total of 46,998,445 cases and 1,206,930 deaths have been recorded worldwide.
8:06 am | Greece: general confinement in Thessaloniki, the country’s second city.
Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, will be under general containment for fourteen days from Tuesday, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Monday.
“The health situation is serious in Thessaloniki. We must act preventively to avoid overloading the health system, ”he explained.
The city of Serres, in the north of the country, is also subject to general containment from Tuesday morning.
From 6 a.m. (local time), citizens will only be able to move around with permits as in spring, but the schools will remain open. Thessaloniki airport will be closed to all international and domestic flights.
The regions of Kozani and Kastoria, in the north of the country, had already been confined since the beginning of the month after a significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases.
“The government has sounded the alarm bells several times, but some have not listened,” said Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias, visiting Thessaloniki on Monday. Some 1,300 new cases were recorded there over the weekend.
Faced with the increase in contaminations for several days, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had decreed on Saturday a partial confinement of one month, from Tuesday, throughout the country.
Restaurants, cafes, performance halls, museums, sports halls will be closed in Athens and in the areas most affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
The mask has been made compulsory inside and outside, and a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. has been imposed since October 22.
But shops, businesses and schools will continue to operate to avoid further damaging the country’s economy.
6:46 am | The Emir of Dubai is testing an experimental vaccine against COVID-19.
The Emir of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rached Al-Maktoum, was inoculated with an experimental vaccine against the new coronavirus, his Twitter account said on Tuesday.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, is the latest in a series of Gulf officials to test such a vaccine.
The ruler of Dubai uploaded a photo showing him being vaccinated. “We wish everyone safety and good health, and we are proud of our teams who have worked tirelessly to make the vaccine available in the United Arab Emirates,” he commented.
He did not specify what type of vaccine he had been given.
Chinese Sinopharm began the third phase of testing for a COVID-19 vaccine in the United Arab Emirates in July.
Russia has also developed a vaccine against COVID-19
The United Arab Emirates, made up of seven emirates, has recorded more than 136,000 cases, including 503 deaths so far.
6:45 am | Spain: 75% fewer tourists in the first nine months of 2020.
Spain, the world’s second-largest tourist destination, has seen the number of foreign visitors plummet by 75% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, figures show official published Tuesday.
The country received only 16.8 million tourists between January and September, against 67 million at the same time in 2019, according to a press release from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
This represents a decrease of 74.9% over one year, while Spain, one of the European countries most bereaved by the pandemic, underwent strict containment in the spring, coupled with a border closure, then a gradual deconfinement in May-June.
After a 100% drop in arrivals in March-April, i.e. zero tourists welcomed, the number of visitors began to rise gradually, a recovery slowed down by the quarantine decreed at the end of July by the United Kingdom for people returning from Spain, where COVID-19 cases had started to rise sharply again.
The British, the first contingents of visitors to Spain in normal times, had massively canceled their summer reservations.
The months of July and August, which traditionally constitute the high season, were catastrophic, with around 75% fewer tourists.
6:43 am | Virus: a massive screening program launched Friday in Liverpool.
The city of Liverpool will benefit from a massive and rapid screening program for the coronavirus, which could be extended to accompany deconfinement if successful, a first in England, the British government announced on Tuesday.
From Friday, the estimated 500,000 inhabitants of Liverpool (northern England), as well as those who work in the city, will be offered regular and rapid tests for COVID-19, whether or not they have symptoms. symptoms.
About 2,000 soldiers will be deployed to organize this giant screening which will begin the day after the four-week reconfinement in England, announced on Saturday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The inhabitants of Liverpool, a city among the most affected by the second wave of the coronavirus, will be able to benefit from different types of screenings, including one particularly fast, showing results in an hour, without the need for a laboratory.
“These tests will help identify the thousands of people in the city who do not have symptoms, but who can infect others without knowing it. Based on their success in Liverpool, we will look to distribute millions of these new rapid tests by Christmas and empower local communities to use them to reduce transmission in their areas, ”Boris Johnson said in a statement. .
6:41 am | Faced with a skyrocketing coronavirus cases, Lebanon is considering re-containment.
Faced with a skyrocketing increase in COVID-19 cases impacting hospitals with near-saturated intensive care units, Lebanon is considering re-containment, despite the consequences for a devastated economy.
Since the first cases in February, the country has officially recorded 83,697 cases of the new coronavirus, including 652 deaths, for a population of around six million inhabitants, including nearly a third of Syrian or Palestinian refugees often living in crowded camps.
A first containment in March had made it possible to curb the pandemic. But with the summer relaxation, the reopening of businesses and the devastating explosion of August 4 at the port of Beirut which upset Lebanon, cases of contamination have started to rise again.
Quoted Monday by local media, the Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, said he was in favor of a one-month confinement, specifying that “the number of (hospital) beds is barely enough for the sick” suffering from virus.
“Today, we are facing a very dangerous turning point, we are approaching a catastrophic situation,” the minister responsible for handling current affairs warned on Sunday, according to the national news agency ANI.
2h55 | Montreal researchers from Concordia University have designed an online tool to assess the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in closed places.
Archive photo, QMI Agency