Coronavirus Watch

Global Statistics

The US has reported more than 201,083 new Covid-19 cases so far on Friday — a record one-day total for the second day in a row. The previous daily high was recorded on November 19, with 187,833 cases. At least 12,274,726 Covid-19 cases, including 260,283 deaths, have now been reported nationwide.

Covid-19 is spreading faster than ever before in the United States, with hospitals in some states running at capacity. The country is now in the same situation that France, Belgium and the Czech Republic were last month, when rapidly rising infections put their health care systems within weeks of failure.

But these countries have managed to avert, for now, the worst-case scenario, in which people die because hospitals are full and they can’t access the care they need to survive. They slowed down the epidemics by imposing lockdowns and strict mask mandates

India has surpassed 9 million Covid-19 cases, with the capital Delhi seeing a surge in infections.

Brazil has surpassed 6 million cases of Covid-19, making it the third country to hit this milestone after the United States and India. Brazil registered 37,075 new infections Friday, raising the total number of cases to 6,020,164, according to data released by the health ministry. The country registered 562 more deaths on Friday, bringing the total to 168,613.

Russia reported a new record of daily coronavirus infections Friday, confirming 24,318 new cases, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center. The data shows that Moscow is the worst affected city, with 6,902 cases, which is also a new record. The center also reported the overall death toll to be 35,311.

Germany reported 23,648 new Covid-19 cases for the past 24 hours in its highest daily increase to date, according to data from the country’s infectious disease agency, the Robert Koch Institute. That’s 1,039 more cases than the previous day and it also overtakes the previous daily high of 23,542 cases announced last Friday. Germany’s official death toll also increased by 260, bringing the nationwide total to 13,630, the tally showed. The country’s total coronavirus case count now stands at 879,564.

South Africa has recorded 3 105 new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19), breaching the 3 000 new daily cases for the first time since 21 August 2020. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country now stands at 762 763. The national positivity rate reached 12% for the second time this week. 88 new deaths were recorded bringing total deaths to 20 759. A total of 707 040 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the country’s recovery rate to 92.7%.

Most coronavirus cases are spread by people without symptoms, CDC now says

Most coronavirus infections are spread by people who have no symptoms, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in newly updated guidance. It’s one of the main reasons mask use is so important, the CDC said. “Most SARS-CoV-2 infections are spread by people without symptoms,” the agency said in a section of its website devoted to explaining the science of how to use masks to control the spread of the virus. According to the CDC, 24% of people who transmit the virus to others never develop symptoms and another 35% were pre-symptomatic. It also said 41% infected others while experiencing symptoms. Peak infectiousness comes five days after infection, the agency said on the website. “With these assumptions, 59% of infections would be transmitted when no symptoms are present but could range (from) 51%-70% if the fraction of asymptomatic infections were 24%-30% and peak infectiousness ranged 4-6 days.”

WHO recommends against use of remdesivir for treatment of Covid-19

The World Health Organization has updated its ongoing guidance on Covid-19 medications to advise against using the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat hospitalized patients, no matter how severe their illness may be. According to the update, published in the medical journal the BMJ on Thursday, current evidence does not suggest remdesivir affects the risk of dying from Covid-19 or needing mechanical ventilation, among other important outcomes. WHO’s new update comes about a month after the company Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir for the treatment of coronavirus infection. The drug became the first coronavirus treatment to receive FDA approval.

Metal Prices Asia/Europe/NY market

21/11/2020

 (Source: Kitco)