customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Germany announced on Wednesday that it will push for Europe to ban ski holidays in a bid to curb coronavirus infections, while cases of Covid-19 reached a new peak of more than 60 million globally.
The prospect of Christmas behind closed doors rather than on the slopes stretched before Europeans as Americans faced their own gloom, recording the highest daily death toll from the virus in six months on the eve of a subdued Thanksgiving holiday.
It took just 17 days to go from 50 million cases to 60 million, compared with the 21 days it took to go from 40 million to 50 million. Around 580,000 cases have been reported each day over the past week and around half of all cases since the start of the pandemic were reported over the past 70 days.
In Europe, 1 million new cases were recorded over just five days, for a total of more than 16 million cases, including 365,000 deaths.
The global death toll has passed 1.4 million and the US has the highest tally with more than 262,000 deaths.


Covid-19 has been surging across the US for weeks, with daily numbers of new cases regularly topping 150,000. On Wednesday it spiked to nearly 200,000 cases, with a daily death toll of more than 2,400.
The global number of infections – roughly equivalent to the population of Italy – only reflects a fraction of the actual total, as many countries lack testing capacity.
Rising cases have seen countries around the world impose new restrictions in recent weeks, though some – such as France and the United Kingdom – have begun cautiously opening back up again.
Germany, however, announced Wednesday that it will extend its virus curbs until 2021 and plans to seek a deal with European partners to close ski slopes until January 10.
The statement from Chancellor Angela Merkel dovetailed with French plans announced one day earlier to shutter ski resorts through the year’s end. Infected tourists at ski resorts helped spread the virus across Europe earlier this year.
“I will say this openly that it won’t be easy, but we will try,” Merkel said.
The move put Berlin and Paris on a collision course with resort operators and holiday hotspot Austria ahead of the crucial Christmas season.
In non-EU member Switzerland, however, skis resorts are open – although police have been spotted patrolling to ensure that skiers respect anti-Covid measures such as wearing masks and social distancing.

With the end of 2020 in sight, the virus continued to batter the global economy.
Britain is expected to see its greatest annual slump in more than three centuries, with the government forecasting the economy will shrink 11.3 per cent on coronavirus fallout.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak unveiled plans to slash the foreign aid budget to help mend the battered finances, prompting one minister to quit and defying impassioned calls to protect the world’s poorest people.
And the pandemic began heaping new pressure on the animal kingdom.
The travelling Zavatelli Circus in Belgium was appealing to local donors to help feed its 50 animals, after being blocked in the country for almost a year by the epidemic.
WHO names line-up for international team looking into coronavirus origins
While in Denmark a rushed cull of minks over concerns about a coronavirus mutation has left the country facing a new horror, as cadavers of the animals re-emerge from the earth, lifted by pressure from gases released by the decomposition.
Photos and videos of the macabre phenomenon have set social media abuzz, with one Twitter user dubbing 2020 “the year of the zombie mutant killer minks”.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea recorded more than 500 new coronavirus cases for the first time in about eight months.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Thursday the 583 additional cases in the past 24 hours took the national tally to 32,318 including 515 deaths.
South Korea has been experiencing a spike in new infections since it relaxed stringent social distancing rules last month. To deal with the latest resurgence, the country on Tuesday reimposed tough distancing guidelines in Seoul and some other areas.
Government records show that 402 of the 583 newly reported cases were found in the Seoul metropolitan area, where half of the country’s 51 million people reside. Most other parts of the country also registered new cases.
Coronavirus: Britain relaxes restrictions over Christmas, despite infection risk
South Korea’s caseload peaked in February and March with the world’s largest number of cases after mainland China, most of them tied to a religious sect.
While India remains the second-worst affected country in the world with almost 9.2 million cases, it has continued to report a slowdown in new cases in recent weeks. It has reported an average of around 44,000 cases a day over the past week, well down from a peak of just under 97,900 cases in mid-September.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters


China markets blast rocket boosters, pull U-turn with Beijing’s big policy, stimulus plans

Seize the opportunity to get that Hong Kong flu jab now

National Day feelgood factor must go on long after end of Hong Kong festivities

Chinese wet market theory for pandemic holds after all

Coronavirus pandemic

Global coronavirus cases surge past 60 million

A man walks by street art by @puregenius in New York showing a skeleton holding a tray with a Thanksgiving turkey topped with coronavirus. Photo: AFP

TOPSHOT - A protestor holding a placard is spoken to by police officers as she attends an anti-vaccine demonstration outside the offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in central London on November 24, 2020. - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs that thanks to a potential vaccine "the escape route is in sight" from the coronavirus crisis -- while warning that in the immediate future "Christmas cannot be normal". (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

TOPSHOT - A civil defence volunteer wearing a Covid-19 coronavirus-themed helmet holds a placard as he takes part in an awareness campaign at a market in New Delhi on November 25, 2020. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)

‘Zero infection’ unlikely in Hong Kong without drastic action to curb fourth wave of coronavirus, experts say

People wearing masks walk on a street in Causeway Bay. Photo: Winson Wong

A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) directs people outside a Community Testing Center in the Yau Ma Tei district of Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Hong Kong and Singapore's virus outbreaks are far less intense than in places such as the U.S. and Europe, but a recent uptick in cases in Hong Kong proved enough to delay the start of the air corridor between the two financial hubs by two weeks, dashing the plans of those who booked flights that were due to begin Sunday. Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg

Coronavirus: Britain relaxes restrictions over Christmas, despite infection risk

A woman has her photo taken next to Christmas trees in London on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

A sign reading "Stop the spread of coronaviurus" near a Christmas Tree at Covent Garden in London, U.K., on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a massive increase in community coronavirus testing on Monday as part of a plan to reintroduce tiered restrictions in place of the England-wide lockdown that ends on Dec. 2. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 08, 2020 Members British Airways flight crew wear protective face masks as they arrive at Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport in west London as the UK government's planned 14-day quarantine for international arrivals to limit the spread of Covid-19 started. - Travellers to England from abroad could face a shorter spell in quarantine from mid-December, the UK government announced Tuesday in a move welcomed by the battered aviation sector. From December 15, travellers arriving by air, ferry or train can end their quarantine if testing negative for Covid-19 at least five days after their arrival. New arrivals currently have to self-isolate for 14 days, while Britain has recorded more than 55,000 deaths of people testing positive for coronavirus, the highest figure in Europe. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Singapore almost coronavirus-free after going two weeks without a local case

A woman walks through a corridor of a building in the Central Business District of Singapore earlier this week. Photo: EPA

Joggers run by with the Marina Bay Sands Resort in the background in Singapore earlier this week. Photo: EPA

News

World

United States & Canada

Coronavirus

US & Canada


The United States records 200,000 new cases and more than 2,400 deaths in its latest daily count
Rising cases have seen countries around the world impose new restrictions in recent weeks



It took just 17 days to go from 50 million cases to 60 million, compared with the 21 days it took to go from 40 million to 50 million.


Global coronavirus cases surge past 60 million

The United States records 200,000 new cases and more than 2,400 deaths in its latest daily count Rising cases have seen countries around the world impose new restrictions in recent weeks

The United States records 200,000 new cases and more than 2,400 deaths in its latest daily count

Rising cases have seen countries around the world impose new restrictions in recent weeks