[EN DIRECT 4 NOVEMBRE] 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: 47,491,193
• Death: 1 215 173

CANADA

• Case: 244 935, 108 889 in Quebec
• Death: 10,279, 6317 in Quebec

All the news for Wednesday, November 4, 2020

8:34 am | Faced with the explosion of COVID-19 cases, Switzerland is making the army available.

The Swiss government on Wednesday made the army available to the cantons which so request, in the face of the explosion in the number of COVID-19 cases and the tense situation in the intensive care departments of hospitals.

“The Federal Council has decided to support the public health sector by mobilizing up to 2,500 soldiers in support service”, indicates a press release issued at the end of the Federal Council meeting, which specifies that individual requests will be then examined by the Confederation.

The army will be able to intervene to support civilian hospitals in basic care and general treatment, pre-diagnosis, screening of suspected cases of Covid-19 and the corresponding tests. It may also be required to increase the intensive care capacities, which are in great demand, either in equipment such as ventilators, or in personnel.

The cantons will also be able to call on the means of the army for the transport of the sick, adds the press release.

The government specifies that the principle of subsidiarity will apply, namely that these resources will be allocated if local resources are exhausted.

During the first wave, the army pharmacy notably delivered millions of masks to retail stores.

As of Friday, the authorities of the canton of Friborg (west) had declared the passage in an extraordinary situation in the face of the second wave of the pandemic and requested the subsidiary support of the army in order to support the Friborg hospital (HFR).

7:45 am | Are children big transmitters of COVID-19? Science still does not have a categorical answer to this question, which is much debated because it is crucial for the opening or closing of schools.

7:33 am | A Republican candidate who died from COVID-19 in October won the House of Representatives election in North Dakota, United States on Tuesday.

6:18 am | Virus: 10 p.m. curfew throughout Italy from Thursday.

The head of the Italian government Giuseppe Conte signed on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday a decree establishing a curfew throughout the national territory at 10 p.m. (local time) from Thursday, indicate the media of the peninsula.

Other restrictive measures, which should be detailed during the day by Mr. Conte and which will be in force until December 3, have also been decided, in particular the closure of shopping centers during the weekend.

The first country in Europe to be affected by the COVID-19 epidemic in February, Italy has recorded more than 39,000 deaths for more than 750,000 cases.

According to this new decree, the 20 regions of Italy will be divided, according to the media, into three zones, green, orange and red depending on the seriousness of the epidemiological situation, and in which more or less restrictive measures will be applied. .

Nationally, a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew will be implemented and it will only be possible to travel during this period for work or health reasons that must be justified.

High schools will all have to switch to distance education and museums will be closed.

5:42 am | Virus: Danish prime minister and two-thirds of government in solitary confinement.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and two-thirds of her government were forced into solitary confinement on Wednesday due to the positive test from the Minister of Justice and several parliamentarians, her cabinet announced.

In total Wednesday morning, 13 of the 20 members of the government of the Scandinavian country were self-confined to telework.

The prime minister, who attended a meeting with Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup on Friday, “currently shows no symptoms of COVID-19 and continues, as far as possible, her work with virtual meetings,” said his cabinet in a press release.

The second wave of the virus complicates the action of a large part of the Danish political class.

Tuesday, the question and answer session in which the head of government was to participate was postponed pending the result of the test from the Minister of Justice, who had also been in contact with six other members of the government.

Five other ministers have also been confined after meetings with MPs who have since tested positive.

With only seven members actually operational, the executive is considering the physical return to work of its members.

5:40 am | Virus: the Pope has returned to his library for virtual audiences.

Acknowledging a strong upsurge of the coronavirus in Italy, Pope Francis resumed Wednesday with manifest regret the general audiences on Wednesday without the presence of the faithful, again broadcast by video from his library.

“Unfortunately we had to reconnect with this audience in the library to protect ourselves from COVID,” the Sovereign Pontiff stressed gravely at the start of his audience, a weekly meeting which normally attracts thousands of people to the area. Place Saint-Pierre.

“It also teaches us that we must be very attentive to the prescriptions of the authorities, whether they are the political authorities or the health authorities, in order to protect ourselves against this pandemic”, recommended Pope Francis, very reluctant to endorse himself a mask or ask its visitors to do so.

“Let us offer the Lord this distance between us for the good of all”, added the Argentinian Pope, very fond of crowd baths, paying homage to all those who “risk their lives, but do it for love, for vocation” , such as doctors, nurses, or volunteers.

The discovery of a positive case of Covid-19 among attendees last week at Wednesday’s general audience, held in a closed auditorium with limited audiences, prompted the Vatican to return to video broadcasts.

The Pope had waived the public hearings from February 26 to September 2. That day, in an open-air courtyard adjoining the pontifical palace, Francis, visibly delighted, exclaimed: “after so many months, we are resuming our meeting face-to-face and not screen-to-screen, face-to-face. -face, it’s beautiful! “.

5h38 | Virus: partial and light re-containment enters into force in Portugal.

Most of Portugal entered a new lockdown on Wednesday, lighter than that of spring, but the government may soon take more stringent measures to stem the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

The reconfinement announced Saturday by Prime Minister Antonio Costa concerns 121 of the 308 municipalities in the country, or 70% of a population of around ten million inhabitants and will remain in force for at least two weeks.

Whenever possible, telecommuting has become mandatory, but the “civic duty of home confinement” is essentially a strong recommendation providing for a series of exceptions that allow running errands, playing sports or providing assistance to someone.

And, unlike the spring confinement, schools remain open, as well as shops and restaurants, which must however close their doors earlier, as well as cultural spaces.

The gradual return of the public to football stadiums, however, has been suspended.

The socialist government had also decided to ban fairs, but, faced with the dissatisfaction expressed by the traders concerned, it finally left the town halls free to decide to maintain them, which was the case in Lisbon in particular.

5h37 | Coronavirus: new records of contaminations and deaths in Russia.

Russia recorded 19,768 new cases of the new coronavirus and 389 deaths on Wednesday, breaking records set a few days ago while the authorities still ensure that they do not provide for major containment measures.

The previous record for contaminations (18,665) was set on November 1 and that of death (366) on October 29, the daily figures now largely exceeding those of May, the previous peak of cases in Russia.

In total, Russia has recorded 1,693,454 cases and 29,217 deaths since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite this drastic increase, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured last week that there would be no national containment, saying he prefers “targeted and justified” measures in regions or cities “to protect as much as possible the security of people ”while maintaining“ business operations ”.