Covid surge hangs over US election in closing days: US states were grappling with a surge in Covid-19 cases and a senior aide to Mike Pence, the vice-president, reportedly tested positive for the virus, as Donald Trump and Joe Biden staged a series of campaign rallies on Saturday. The campaign events were held as several US states reported a sharp uptick in infections and Marc Short, chief of staff to Pence, tested positive for coronavirus, adding that the vice-president had tested negative. The US reported 82,668 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, down from a record one-day high of 83,010 on Friday. Read more here
Let’s look at the global statistics:
Total Confirmed Cases: 42,624,910
Change Over Yesterday: 427,534
Total Deaths: 1,149,928
Total Recovered: 28,768,667
Nations hit with most cases: US (8,576,725), India (7,864,811), Brazil (5,380,635), Russia (1,487,260) and France (1,084,659)
Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center
Singapore to try quicker testing method for migrant workers: For a period of four weeks, a group of 1,000 migrant workers will undergo antigen rapid testing every seven days, the Ministry of Manpower said. That’s in addition to the polymerase chain reaction test that they receive every 2 weeks. The new method potentially allows infected workers to be isolated more quickly, reducing the risk of the virus spreading to other residents in dormitories. Read more here
Poland President Duda tests positive for virus: Andrzej Duda has has contracted Covid-19 but is feeling "good", he says. Duda, 48, was tested on Friday and found to be positive, but it is not clear when he contracted the virus. He joins a handful of world leaders who have been ill with Covid-19, among them US President Donald Trump and UK PM Boris Johnson. Read more here
Greek Covid-19 cases hit record as new curbs kick in: Greece reported 935 new infections of Covid-19 on Saturday, a fresh daily record, as further restrictions to deal with a new wave kicked in for high-risk regions. In Athens, home to half the population, people were largely complying with new rules from Saturday for worst-hit areas, including mandatory mask-wearing in outdoors spaces and no movement from 12.30 am-5 am. Read more here
Britain records 23,012 new cases on Saturday, up from Friday: Britain recorded 23,012 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, up from 20,530 on Friday, government data showed. There were 174 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, down from 224 on Friday. Read more here
France reports record of over 45,000 new coronavirus cases in a day: 138 people had died from coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 34,645. The total number of confirmed cases rose to 1,086,497, after breaking above the 1 million mark for the first time on Friday. The nation said that 16 percent of all coronavirus tests were positive, a new high and more than double the level of a month ago. Read more here
Specials
Japan Inc finds new business case for robotics during Covid-19
Shares in Japan’s office, medical and industrial goods suppliers including Askul, MonotaRo and As One have soared as heavy investments in robots helped these companies to handle a jump in online orders during the pandemic. Coronavirus has boosted an existing trend in which Japanese ecommerce groups have turned to automation to counter a chronic labour shortage in a country that already makes half the world’s industrial robots. But robots installed in warehouses and distribution centres have also allowed these companies to reap the benefit of bumper online sales during lockdowns, while maintaining social distancing by minimising interactions between human workers. Read more here
College-age Americans face permanent hit with few job prospects
America’s youngest workers started the year with a rare opportunity to slingshot their careers in the hottest job market in decades. They’ll end 2020 facing some of the nation’s bleakest employment prospects and the most volatile job market ever for recent college graduates.
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First Published: Sun, October 25 2020. 15:14 IST
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