All developments in the COVID-19 pandemic

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: 41 333 175
Death: 1,132,869

Canada

Case: 208 234, 97 321 in Quebec
Death: 9858, 6094 in Quebec

ALL THE NEWS FOR OCTOBER 22, 2020

11:34 am | The Drummondville Voltigeurs have suspended their activities due to a positive case for COVID-19 confirmed in their ranks, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced Thursday.

11:26 am | The night curfew in place in the main French cities will be extended on Saturday to a large part of the territory and will affect 46 million inhabitants, or two in three French people, in order to fight against the second wave of the coronavirus, announced Thursday on Prime Minister Jean Castex.

11:19 am | Quebec will implement a new “technological solution” to speed up the process of screening for COVID-19 cases within six to eight weeks.

11:15 am | Coronavirus: record of contaminations in Denmark, new restrictions in sight.

Denmark on Thursday recorded a record 760 new daily cases of COVID-19, as the government plans to tighten restrictions to contain the spread of the virus.

“We may need new restrictions and expect them to arrive in the near future,” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. “I am more and more worried. The epidemic is spreading quickly throughout Europe, which is now the epicenter of the epidemic, ”she observed.

The progression is rapid: Monday, the number of new cases in the last 24 hours was around 450, while it had reached 630 Wednesday.

If the curve does not reverse within “two or three days”, the government plans to strengthen and introduce new restrictions, announced Tuesday morning the Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke, who does not forbid himself “no restriction or stricter rule ”.

For the moment limited to 50 people, the gauge of gatherings could be reduced and the wearing of the mask extended.

In total, Denmark (excluding Greenland and Faroe) recorded 37,763 contaminations and 694 deaths, for 5.8 million inhabitants, ranking among the good students in Europe.

In neighboring Sweden, the health authorities on Thursday recorded 1,614 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest figure since June.

11:02 am | Quebec deplores an increase of 1,033 cases and 20 deaths, for a total toll of 97,321 contaminations and 6,094 patients who have died since the start of the crisis.

10:55 am | Italy: Cristiano Ronaldo again positive for COVID-19.

Portuguese Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo tested positive for COVID-19 again, Italian media said Thursday, but there is still a chance that he will participate in the Champions League clash against Lionel Messi’s FC Barcelona on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Portuguese got a new positive test after the one announced on October 13, while he was in selection, assure Sky Sport Italia and the Gazzetta dello Sport.

Contacted by AFP, his club refused to comment on “a personal case”.

The star striker, who is symptom-free, lives in solitary confinement in his Turin home from where he posts images on social media showing him keeping fit.

This positive test does not threaten the presence of CR7 for the highly anticipated C1 summit against Lionel Messi, in a duel with 11 Golden Balls.

Indeed, UEFA’s medical protocol stipulates that a player must present a negative result on his last screening test, carried out “one or two days” before the match, in the case of the home team, in order to be able to be aligned.

Thus, Cristiano Ronaldo will be available if he tests negative on Monday or Tuesday.

10:34 am | Wales is nationalizing its train lines in the face of pandemic damage.

Wales announced on Thursday the nationalization of the railway lines so far operated by a joint venture with the French Keolis, in order to ensure their sustainability in the face of the fall in the number of passengers due to the health crisis.

The daily management of these lines will be taken over by the public authorities from February to ensure the continuity of services and protect jobs, Welsh Transport Minister Ken Skates said in a statement.

The Wales and Borders rail service has been operated since 2018 by a joint venture between Keolis, an urban transport subsidiary of SNCF, and the British group Amey (Ferrovial). The contract was scheduled for a period of 15 years.

“The past few months have been extremely difficult for public transport in Wales and the UK,” Skates said.

Rail lines are deserted by most passengers and are losing money, making them difficult to sustain without public sector intervention.

8:36 am | The Irish capital Dublin looks like a ghost town on Thursday, on the first day of a reconfinement of the country, a first in Europe in the face of the second wave of the new coronavirus.

8:20 am | American Airlines, affected by the drop in airline ticket sales since the start of the pandemic, saw its revenue plunge 73% in the third quarter and suffered a loss of $ 2.4 billion.

8:06 am | Switzerland relies on “individual responsibility”.

The Swiss president on Thursday called on the population to “individual responsibility” in the face of COVID-19, also asking the cantons to act quickly in the face of deaths and hospitalizations which have doubled in a week.

“We had hoped that we could go into winter without having this sharp increase in infections,” Simonetta Sommaruga told RTS public radio. “If the curve does not flatten out until next Wednesday, we will really make decisions that go further,” she added.

The day before, the Minister of Health Alain Berset had indicated that these new measures could concern “public establishments, gatherings of people and private or public demonstrations”.

Ms. Sommaruga called for the “individual responsibility” of everyone: “We have to take responsibility. We experienced it in the spring so I don’t see why it can’t still work ”.

Switzerland had been relatively spared from the pandemic in the spring and the government had imposed limited restrictions compared to neighboring countries. The 26 Swiss cantons have since regained control of health policy, but during the summer the population clearly let their guard down.

The number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 has doubled in one week, according to the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP).

The FOPH announced Thursday 5,230 new cases and 11 new deaths for this country of 8.6 million inhabitants. In total, COVID has killed 1,886 people, a rate of 21.8 per 100,000 population.

7:30 am | More than half of Quebec workers plan to quit their jobs because of the new work environment induced by COVID-19.

7:28 am | Bulgaria imposes the wearing of masks in busy public places.

Bulgaria has decided to make it compulsory to wear masks in busy outdoor spaces from Thursday, in an attempt to stem the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which is putting pressure on the country’s fragile medical system.

It is now necessary to protect oneself in the markets, in train and metro stations, busy streets and queues, announced the Ministry of Health, unless it is possible to respect a distance of one meter fifty .

The government has not announced any further restrictions for the sake of limiting the impact on “the social life and mental health of Bulgarians”.

Bulgaria, a country of 7 million inhabitants and the poorest in the European Union, has passed the milestone of one thousand deaths this week since the emergence of the new coronavirus, while the number of cases explodes.

It has the sixth highest death rate in the European Union per million inhabitants, according to statistics from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Health Minister Kostadin Anguelov expressed concern on Thursday about the situation of medical personnel. “They are all tired, a large part of them are contaminated, sick, some are in intensive care. We need help, ”he told a press conference.

Family doctors, as well as final year students, will be called upon, he said.

More than 1,700 caregivers have contracted the virus since the start of the epidemic, including 45 on Wednesday alone. Provincial hospitals find themselves in an impasse following the death of their only epidemiologist.

7:15 am | Calling themselves “exhausted, anxious, practically destitute”, restaurant leaders in Quebec are calling for the reopening of their dining rooms in the red zones.

6:19 am | Covid: the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs in intensive care.

Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès, 45, was placed in intensive care due to COVID-19 contamination, her spokesperson told AFP on Thursday, specifying however that “her situation does not ‘is not worrying ”.

“She went to the hospital last night,” then “went to intensive care,” said the spokesperson. “She is aware and she communicates. Her situation is relatively OK, ”she added.

6:18 am | Virus: the situation in Germany “is very serious”.

The resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic in Germany makes the situation “very serious”, warned Thursday the reference health authority which still considers it possible to contain it provided that the barrier gestures are respected.

“The situation has become very serious overall,” Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch health watch institute, told a press conference, as the country recorded a new record of new infections, with 11,287 cases additional in 24 hours, according to figures released Thursday.

6:17 am | Covid in France: no Christmas market in Strasbourg.

The environmentalist mayor of Strasbourg in eastern France, Jeanne Barseghian, announced Thursday that the city was giving up its famous Christmas market in the face of the worsening health situation, by removing the usual 300 chalets, but maintaining animations.

“I made the decision to favor the scenario without chalets”, she declared during a press conference.

A large Christmas tree, Place Kléber in the heart of the city, will however be erected and “animations” or “artists’ wanderings” are maintained, she added.

The city has passed “the maximum alert threshold” regarding the coronavirus, she argued, adding that “Strasbourg is not in a bubble” and that “in the rest of Europe, the restrictions are stronger and stronger, especially in Germany ”, a few kilometers away.

At the beginning of October, the Alsatian capital still hoped to maintain its centuries-old Christmas market, at the cost of adaptations to face the health crisis.

2h45 | Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is in isolation after coming into contact with the Minister of Municipal Affairs infected with COVID-19.

1h00 | A single mother of six terminally ill children believes her generalized cancer would have been diagnosed sooner without COVID-19.