SUNDAY OCTOBER 4 - CORONAVIRUS GLOBAL UPDATE

 in-cyprus 4 October 2020 - by Josephine Koumettou

President Donald Trump said the next few days will be the “real test” of his treatment for COVID-19, after a series of contradictory messages from the White House caused widespread confusion about his condition.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, click here.

AMERICAS

* Democrat Joe Biden opened his widest lead in a month in the U.S. presidential race after Trump tested positive for coronavirus, and a majority of Americans think Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken the virus more seriously, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

* U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings will proceed as planned even though two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have contracted the virus.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* India hopes to receive up to 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by July to inoculate about 250 million people, health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday, as infections continue to surge.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Mecca slowly stirred from a seven-month hibernation on Sunday as pilgrims trickled in after Saudi authorities partially lifted a coronavirus ban on performing umrah – a pilgrimage to Islam’s two holiest sites that is undertaken at any time of year.

EUROPE

* Thousands of demonstrators in southern Germany protested against coronavirus restrictions over the weekend, police said on Sunday, although organisers failed to mobilise enough people for a planned human chain around Lake Constance.

* Police set up controls and stopped cars on major roads into and out of Madrid on Saturday as the city went back into lockdown due to surging coronavirus cases.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Cineworld, the world’s second-biggest cinema operator, will close all its screens in the United States, Britain and Ireland this week after studios pulled major releases such as the latest James Bond film, a person familiar with the situation said.

(Reuters)

Pictured: A man displays a poster reading: “Masks are child abuse” during a protest against the government’s restrictions, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Konstanz, Germany October 4, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann