In London, quarantine rules were tightened, the house of the French health minister was searched, and it was found that US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was on the same plane as a person who tested positive for Covid-19. This and other news about the situation with coronavirus in the world – in our review.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of people infected with the coronavirus worldwide is 38.7 million, with nearly 1.1 million deaths.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris has decided to suspend her pre-election travels until Monday after two members of her campaign staff tested positive for the coronavirus. The infection was found in communications director Liz Allen, as well as a crew member on the plane Harris is using. According to representatives of Joe Biden’s campaign headquarters, the infected individuals did not have contact with Harris within two days before their illness was detected. Therefore, the California senator should not isolate herself. However, as a precaution, she has decided to suspend her travels around the country.
In addition, an airline employee who was on the same plane as Biden on flights Monday and Tuesday of this week has contracted Covid-19. However, the candidate’s campaign team said Biden did not have close contact with the infected person and doctors did not recommend self-isolation for him. On October 8, Harris and Biden campaigned together in Arizona. They flew there on the same plane with infected staffers, but wore masks and practiced social distancing during the flight. On Thursday, Harris was tested for coronavirus and came back negative.
Last Thursday, Biden and Harris campaigned in Arizona. On Thursday evening, Biden plans to meet with voters – this event will be broadcast live by ABC. At the same time, President of the United States Donald Trump is meeting with his supporters – and his pre-election event will also be shown on television, but by another television network – NBC.
The British authorities have placed London in the second category of the worst areas, which, according to the recently introduced three-tier system of restrictions, means “an area of increased risk of infection”. From midnight on Saturday, Londoners who do not live under the same roof will not be allowed to meet in houses, pubs or restaurants. Communicating in open spaces can continue, but with no more than six people in a group. Six other cities in different regions of the country and the entire county of Essex are also included in the second category. Previously, the regions of Manchester and Liverpool were considered the most unfavorable.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain attended an event outside the royal residence for the first time since the epidemic began. Accompanied by her grandson, Prince William, she met with scientists actively involved in developing methods to combat Covid-19. They also met with the team involved in investigating the poisoning of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018. Neither the Queen nor the Prince wore medical masks. However, all 48 people invited to the meeting underwent a Covid-19 test. Buckingham Palace has assured that all necessary measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the Queen.
French police raided the homes of senior government officials as part of an investigation into their actions in the fight against the pandemic. Among those visited by law enforcement officials were Health Minister Olivier Véran and the head of France’s national health agency, Jérôme Salomon. The investigation of officials began by court order shortly after the outbreak began. It was based on a severe shortage of personal protective equipment in French hospitals and untimely decisions. Numerous lawsuits have been filed by doctors and relatives of those who died from Covid-19.
At the start of the pandemic, French doctors faced a severe shortage of protective equipment and hygiene supplies. According to Johns Hopkins University, France ranks second in Europe and tenth in the world in terms of the number of people infected – 820.3 thousand, with 33 thousand deaths. According to President Emmanuel Macron, the infection has spread to all regions of the country. On Wednesday, a curfew was imposed in the country’s largest cities – Paris, Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Toulouse, Grenoble and Montpellier. In total, 22 million people were affected by the strict measures.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left the two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels an hour after it began. She learned that she had recently been in contact with a Covid-19 carrier. Despite her own negative test result, she decided it was wiser to leave the crowded event. In fact, before the circumstances were established, she managed to give a speech in which she said, among other things, that common quarantine rules should apply throughout the European Union because the situation in Europe is becoming more and more alarming.
Scientists at the National Institute for Health Research in the United Kingdom have published a report indicating that in some cases, people can experience coronavirus symptoms for much longer than previously thought.
Mild symptoms of coronavirus were thought to last no longer than two weeks, while more severe symptoms lasted three weeks. As a result, people who complained of feeling unwell for longer than that either stopped believing or assumed they had other illnesses. According to the report, there are thousands of such patients. Prolonged symptoms may be associated with Covid-19 itself as well as three other causes related to coronavirus disease. Thus, according to the scientists, Covid-19 is no longer a disease that can be cured within a certain period of time, but rather a category of long-term conditions that require a new approach to diagnosis and therapy.
Scientists from the University of Oxford announced on Thursday that they have developed a rapid test for the presence of the coronavirus in the body, the results of which can be obtained in less than five minutes outside laboratory conditions. The university hopes to begin development of a device to perform the test in early 2021 and have it ready for licensed production within six months. Scientists say rapid antigen testing is key to the recovery of the global economy because it can be used on a large scale and extremely quickly in airports, schools, universities and other places where people gather in large numbers.