Monday Morning Briefing: Global coronavirus cases surpass 40 million

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October 19, 2020 Reuters News Now What you need to know about the coronavirus today 40 million cases worldwide Worldwide coronavirus cases crossed 40 million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally. Experts believe the true numbers of both cases and deaths are likely to be much higher, given deficiencies in testing and potential under-reporting by some countries. The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic picking up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 million to 30 million and the 44 days between 10 million and 20 million. The United States, India, and Brazil are the worst affected countries. COVID-19 cases in North, Central, and South America represent about 47% or nearly half of global cases. Record one-day increases in new infections were seen at the end of last week, with global coronavirus cases rising above 400,000 for the first time. Italy takes steps to thwart resurgence Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gave mayors the power to shut public squares from 9 p.m. to halt gatherings as he announced a further package of measures on Sunday to try to halt a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. As daily cases in Italy hit a new record 11,705 on Sunday, Conte said the situation had become critical but his government has been determined to avoid a repeat of the lockdown imposed at the start of the crisis in March. Italy has the second-highest death toll in Europe after Britain, with 36,543 fatalities since the outbreak flared in February. Russian cases reach record high Russia’s daily tally of coronavirus cases surged to a record high of 15,982 on Monday, including 5,376 in the capital Moscow, pushing the national case total to 1,415,316 since the pandemic began. Authorities reported 179 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 24,366. Melbourne breathes easier The Australian state of Victoria reported four new COVID-19 cases on Monday as people in Melbourne were granted more freedom to move about after a months-long lockdown, buoying hopes an outbreak in the city was nearing an end. Case numbers were up from just two on Sunday, but extended a run of single-digit daily increases to almost a week and is well down from a peak of more than 700 cases in a single day in early August. Economic fallout Coffee output in Peru, the world’s fifth largest arabica coffee exporter, has tumbled 10% this year due to low prices and migrant labor shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the national coffee federation said. From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: NZ vote, Health kit, Julius Baer. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern faces a pressing post-pandemic to-do list, and Philips wins as hospitals switch to remote patient care. Catch up with the latest financial insights. Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic. We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources. Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages? We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com. We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how. Election In 2016, President Trump won these Rust Belt counties on the economy. In 2020, he might lose them over coronavirus. Rust Belt battleground states including Ohio and Pennsylvania handed Trump the White House in 2016, and they will again help decide the Nov. 3 election. Four years ago, Trump’s message of economic revitalization won votes from many white, working-class voters who had cast ballots for Democrat Barack Obama in 2012. Many of those voters remain loyal to the president. Still, support for Trump is slipping in these states this year, and the pandemic is a big reason why. Trump is assuring a bumper year for farmers as the November election approaches, with record government subsidies projected to make up more than a third of farm income in 2020. The aid programs could be key to Trump’s chances of success in swing states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Minnesota. Such states are hotly contested because their population can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and play a decisive role in presidential elections. Early voting for the presidential election begins in the crucial battleground state of Florida as a record 28 million Americans have already cast ballots with barely two weeks remaining in the campaign. Trump will visit Arizona on Monday after holding a rally in Nevada on Sunday and urging his supporters to vote amid signs that Democrats are leading the surge in early voting. A decade-long Republican campaign to weaken the consumer watchdog’s independence is set to backfire if Joe Biden wins the presidential election, by handing him the power to swiftly replace the agency’s director with a consumer champion, said nearly a dozen lawyers, lobbyists and policy experts. Business Time’s up: After a reprieve, a wave of evictions expected across U.S. On Sept. 1, U.S. health officials announced they would suspend evictions across the United States to help stem further spread of the novel coronavirus. 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