As of midnight, France’s 65 million inhabitants were largely confined to their homes, needing written statements to leave, to the most recent drastic extent to prevent a disease that has inflamed more than 44. 5 million in the world and killed some 1. 2 million.
With the return of blockades, oil costs fell due to concerns of a slowdown in demand, yet facebook giants Amazon and Google’s parent company Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, reflecting the economic adjustments caused by the global epidemic.
And in the latest grim warning, the UN biodiversity panel said long-term pandemics would be more frequent, fatal, and economically harmful, without a basic replacement in the way humans treat nature.
The United States, where President Donald Trump will run on November 3, has announced 91,295 new ones in 24 hours, surpassing the 90,000 mark for the first time.
Trump’s handling of the pandemic in the United States, the world’s most affected county with 8. 94 million cases, a key issue of the election campaign, where it follows Democratic challenger Joe Biden in national polls.
‘I’m refueling’
Millions of others rushed to buy materials before France’s new blockade, with essential items such as pasta and paper in highest demand, as well as ink for printers and yoga mats.
“I’m getting well because we don’t know when it’s going to end,” Catherine Debeaupuis said, buying food at an electronics store in central Paris.
Closure is scheduled to last one month, and bars and restaurants will also be closed until at least December and across regions is restricted.
Factories and structure sites will remain open, as will day care centers and schools, young people over the age of six will have to wear a classroom mask.
President Emmanuel Macron warned that the wave of moments “will probably be more complicated and fatal than the first,” insisted that the blockade would be less serious than the measures imposed in the spring.
The blockade in France, where another 36,000 people died, is part of a series of renewed anti-virus restrictions across Europe, which is back at the “epicenter” of the pandemic according to the World Health Organization.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday ordered a series of lighter closures, final bars, cafes and restaurants, as well as theaters, opera houses and cinemas.
The Spanish parliament on Thursday approved a six-month extension of the country’s state of emergency, which it declared on Sunday for two initial weeks.
Sweden, known for its gentle approach, recorded its highest number of infections for the time being on a consecutive day, which led citizens of the country’s most densely populated capital and south to social interactions.
‘Existential threat’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has no plans to introduce a radical blockade even when the country has a record number of deaths with reports of ambulance queues in hospitals and shortages.
But the Vatican said Pope Francis would resume remote editing and broadcast live from his weekly general audience with the public, “to avoid any conceivable long-term threat to the fitness of the participants. “
EU leaders have held a video summit on the crisis, according to EU sources, the first in a series of calls for coordination.
The European Central Bank promised its pandemic recovery in December.
The economic recovery is “losing momentum than expected” after the partial uptick observed this summer, ECB President Christine Lagarde said after a virtual 25-member Governing Council assembly.
In the crowd of bad news, the UN biodiversity panel warned that long-term pandemics can be even worse, adding that they pose an “existential threat” to humanity.
The authors of a special report on biodiversity and pandemics said habitat destruction and insatiable ingestion made animal-borne diseases much more likely to make the leap for humans in the future.