The latest:
- Why Ontario hospitals are full to bursting, despite few COVID-19 patients.
- New record of 6 deaths reported in a day in Manitoba, as COVID-19 tally rises by 312.
- WHO chief self-quarantining after contact tests positive for COVID-19.
- As COVID-19 sweeps across Russia, hospitals buckle under the strain.
- Have a coronavirus question or news tip for CBC News? Email us at COVID@cbc.ca.
The U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert is cautioning that the country will have to deal with “a whole lot of hurt” in the weeks ahead due to surging coronavirus cases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments to the Washington Post take issue with President Donald Trump’s frequent assertion that the nation is “rounding the turn” on the virus.
Fauci said the U.S. “could not possibly be positioned more poorly” to stem rising cases as more people gather indoors during the colder fall and winter months. He said the U.S. will need to make an “abrupt change” in public health precautions.
Speaking of the risks, Fauci said he believes Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “is taking it seriously from a public health perspective,” while Trump is “looking at it from a different perspective.” Fauci, who’s on the White House coronavirus task force, said that perspective is “the economy and reopening the country.”
White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in response that Trump always puts people’s well-being first and Deere charged that Fauci has decided “to play politics” right before Tuesday’s election. Fauci has said in his decades of public service he’s never publicly endorsed any political candidate.
WATCH | Trump supporters chant ‘Fire Fauci’ at Florida rally:
U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters began chanting ‘Fire Fauci,’ in reference to the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, during a rally in Opa-locka, Fla. 0:26
The president touched on Fauci’s service in the early morning hours on Monday as he spoke at a campaign rally in Florida. Trump expressed frustration that the surging cases of the virus that has killed more than 231,000 people in the U.S. this year remains prominent in the news, sparking chants of “Fire Fauci” from his supporters.
“Don’t tell anybody but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump replied to thousands of supporters early Monday, adding he appreciated their “advice.”
What’s happening around the world
The head of the World Health Organization said he has been identified as a contact of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-quarantine. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter late Sunday that he is “well and without symptoms” but will self-quarantine in “coming days, in line with WHO protocols, and work from home.”
The WHO director general has been at the forefront of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 46.5 million people and led to more than 1.2 million deaths, according to a count of confirmed cases by Johns Hopkins University.
In Europe, several countries are tightening restrictions this week, starting with a partial shutdown Monday in Germany, as authorities across the continent scramble to slow a rapid rise in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm their health-care systems.
Britain and Austria will follow suit later in the week, closing restaurants, bars and nonessential shops. Italy, Greece and Kosovo also announced new measures. In some places, the new rules — which vary in strictness — are prompting violent protests by people frustrated at once again having to forgo freedoms.
But in many, experts are saying they should have come weeks ago — a reflection of the increasingly difficult balance many countries are struggling to strike between controlling the virus and boosting already damaged economies.
“We are aware of the frustration, the sense of loss, the tiredness of citizens, also of the anger which is being manifested in these days, by citizens who find themselves living with new limits to their personal freedom,” said Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, as he defended his government’s decision to order new measures.
In the Americas, coronavirus cases continued their grim climb in the United States on Sunday, with Midwestern states experiencing record hospitalizations.
The Brazilian health minister, who is ill with COVID-19, was to stay in a military hospital overnight on Sunday, after having been discharged from a civilian facility earlier in the day.
In the Asia-Pacific region, India recorded 45,231 new infections, taking total cases there to 8.23 million.
South Korea said it will expand its mandatory mask policy to spas, wedding halls and other places as part of new physical distancing rules.
In the Middle East, Iran’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday.
South Africa remains the hardest-hit country in Africa, with more than 726,000 cases reported since the outbreak began and more than 19,400 reported deaths.
What’s happening in Canada
WATCH | Manitoba doctors warn of dire situation in hospitals:
Manitoba doctors have warned the government for a second time about the critical situation inside the province’s hospitals as the COVID-19 epidemic in the province gets further out of control. Renewed restrictions go into effect Monday, but some fear is it’s too little, too late. 2:06
As of early Monday morning, provinces and territories in Canada had reported a cumulative total of 236,841 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 197,729 as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 10,179.
Manitoba residents are seeing new restrictions as the province tries to slow the spread of COVID-19 after a record number of new cases over the weekend. The Winnipeg area, now under the province’s highest alert level, has several new temporary restrictions around gathering size and business capacity.
The province reported 312 new COVID-19 case on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases reported in the province since the novel coronavirus emerged to 6,034. As of Sunday, there were 120 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 18 in intensive care. The province’s test positivity rate stood at 8.9 per cent, according to the provincial COVID-19 dashboard.
Saskatchewan reported 74 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, marking five days in a row where the number of new cases has topped 60. The province has reported 25 deaths since the pandemic began.
Health officials in British Columbia and Alberta don’t provide updated figures over the weekend. In Calgary, a hospital is facing COVID-19 outbreaks in three units. In Vancouver, people gathered in the downtown entertainment district on Saturday night to celebrate Halloween, despite warnings from public health officials to avoid large groups.
In Ontario, the city of Brampton’s weekly test positivity rate rose to 9.6 per cent for the week ending Oct. 24, according to a Peel Health Surveillance report published on Oct. 30. This represents a 1.5 per cent increase from the previous week, when Brampton, which is northwest of Toronto, sat at 8.1 per cent positivity. This is well above the five per cent benchmark used by infectious disease experts to signal the virus is under control.
Two Quebec regions — Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Chaudière-Appalaches — are moving into Quebec’s highest state of alert for COVID-19, joining Quebec City, Montreal, Laval and several other regions labelled “red zones” by the province.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia reported two new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The Central Zone cases were under investigation, health officials said.
New Brunswick reported one new COVID-19 case on Sunday, saying the person was between 30 and 39 and lived in the Fredericton region. There were no new cases reported in Newfoundland and Labrador or Prince Edward Island, which has no active cases.
There were no new cases reported in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut over the weekend.
