World Coronavirus Dispatch: Covid-19 is reaching the last places on Earth

Cases and deaths soar in France, of zoom weddings and virtual gifting, study says shoppers fret over health protocols at stores, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Covid-19 is reaching the last places on Earth: By most estimates, just nine countries have not yet reported any Covid-19 cases- far-flung Pacific island nations—Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Samoa. On Wednesday, Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation about 1,200 miles northeast of Australia reported its first Covid-19 case. Two other countries in the Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, reported their first infections in October. In Samoa, workers who serviced a ship with Covid-19-positive crew members are in quarantine. Most Pacific island countries closed their borders early in the Covid-19 outbreak. But