November 7 coronavirus news

24,957 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours in the UK, the government said Saturday, and 413 died of the virus, a toll which continues to rise.

10,274 patients have been admitted to hospital in the last 7 days, and 2,333 have died.

England entered a second national lockdown on Thursday, and passed the grim milestone of one million coronavirus cases on October 31.

The strict lockdown has shut pubs, restaurants and non-essential businesses, including hair salons and gyms. Schools, universities and playgrounds will stay open.

Earlier today, the UK banned travellers arriving from Denmark because after the country reported a widespread outbreak of a new variant of the virus which causes Covid-19 in mink farms.

Austria reported a new daily record of 8,241 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, according to data on the country's interior ministry website.

In total, 147,220 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Austria since the start of the pandemic, and 1,377 people have died.

Austria entered its second national lockdown this week, with new measures including a curfew between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and the closure of leisure and culture facilities.

Lockdowns are multiplying throughout Europe as Covid-19 cases rise exponentially, threatening to push health services across the continent to breaking point.

Fearing all of its intensive care beds could be full by mid-November, France implemented nationwide restrictions at the end of October -- as did Belgium and Ireland. Germany's softer, so-called "lockdown light" restrictions began on Monday, and Austria followed suit on Tuesday.

Iran continued breaking its daily coronavirus record after 9,450 infections were reported on Saturday.

The country also recorded 423 new coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 37,832, health ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said on Iranian state TV.

Last Monday, 440 deaths were recorded, the country's highest number since the outbreak began in February. 

Lari added that 27 provinces across Iran are categorized as "red zones," and out of the 9,450 new cases, 5,506 of those are patients in intensive care units in critical condition. An additional 3,070 are hospitalized. 

The capital Tehran has made it mandatory to wear masks in public for the past few weeks, as Iran is the worst-hit country in the Middle East with a total number of 673,250 cases.

Iran was also one of the worst-hit countries during the first wave of the coronavirus in March.

This week, as voters cast ballots and waited to see who would clinch the White House, the Covid-19 largely fell out of view.

But the coronavirus continued to spread, in some places at a higher rate than ever before.

The US broke one record after another.

On Wednesday, the US recorded more than 100,000 new cases in a single day for the first time, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country shattered that record a day later, recording 121,888 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

On Friday, the US broke the record yet again, reporting more than 126,000 new cases.

The records set this week are a stark reminder of the fall surge going on throughout the country, which experts warn will be the worst yet.

On each of four days in a row this week -- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday -- more than 1,000 people died nationwide. Among them was a Missouri election judge supervisor who worked at a polling site on Election Day after testing positive, and ignored instructions to quarantine for 14 days.

Here's what happened this week in America's fight against Covid-19.

Bosnian premier Zoran Tegeltija has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home, according to statement from the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday.

Tegeltija’s condition “is stable and he has mild symptoms of coronavirus,” per the statement.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ministry of Civil Affairs reported on Friday that 59,427 people have been infected by the coronavirus in the country since the start of the pandemic, with 1,457 deaths.

Real Madrid soccer superstars Eden Hazard and Carlos Casemiro have tested positive for Covid-19.

The two players tested positive on Friday morning, the team said in a statement on Saturday. According to Real Madrid, all other players and staff who work directly with the pair were subsequently tested.

Both the PCR test and the antibody test came back negative for all, except Hazard and Casemiro. The two players were expected to miss Real Madrid’s next match against Valencia on Saturday.

It follows positive tests for other high profile players like Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Thiago Alcantara.

"Christmas is definitely not canceled," says Sanna Kärkkäinen, CEO of Visit Rovaniemi, the official home of Santa Claus, high above the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland.

Santa will be sitting safely behind an acrylic glass divider and elves will maintain a safe social distance while wearing surgical masks.

It's a very 2020 take on festive cheer, but with a holiday season like no other fast approaching, Lapland's tourism operators believe it's the best way to save Christmas and save themselves after a brutal year which has seen visitor numbers plummet from record highs in 2019.

They've been helped by Finland's new quarantine rules, due to come into force November 23, which will, despite a Europe-wide second wave of coronavirus cases that is prompting new lockdowns, allow 72-hour visits in the country without the need to quarantine.

Tourists from EU and Europe's 26-country Schengen visa area will be permitted to arrive provided they take a Covid test 72 hours before departure and have proof that it's negative. Longer stays will require self-isolation and a second test. The rules are subject to change, however, with the Finnish government redrafting plans at the time of writing.

Read more here

The first day of Liverpool's mass testing pilot ran "very smoothly," for the most part, said Matt Ashton, director of public health for Liverpool city council.

"It was good, it wasn't perfect, but we'll improve it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday.

The city in the north of England is aiming to test up to 50,000 people a day once fully operational.

There were some hiccups with the operation however, as some people claimed they were made to line up for tests alongside people they didn't know had symptoms of the virus.

The UK government hopes to test the entire population of the city -- nearly 500,000 people -- in 10 days. 

Liverpool has some of the highest infection rates in Britain. Weekly cases currently stand at 410.4 per 100,000, as of October 25, according to government data.

Liverpool soccer star Trent Alexander-Arnold sent a message to the people of his native city on Friday.

"Let's start the fightback against Covid, let's get tested," he said in a video posted on the club's official Twitter account.

The UK government has implemented a travel ban with Denmark from 4am (local time) on Saturday after a mutated strain of the coronavirus -- connected to the country's mink farms -- was detected.

Visitors arriving into the UK from Denmark will not be permitted entry into the UK, except for freight and hauliers, said the Department for Transport.

"The decision to act quickly follows the release of further information from health authorities in Denmark reporting widespread outbreaks of coronavirus (COVID-19) in mink farms, with a variant strain of the virus spreading to some local communities," the department said in a statement on Saturday.

The Danish government announced new restrictions in seven municipalities on Thursday.

According to the Danish government, the mutated form of the virus has been passed back to humans.

Statens Serum Institut, the Danish authority based in Copenhagen which deals with infectious diseases, found five cases of the virus in mink farms and 12 examples in humans that showed reduced sensitivity to antibodies.

The travel ban and expanded self-isolation requirements will be reviewed after one week.