COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 9 November
Confirmed cases continue to rise across the United States. Image: REUTERS/Bing Guan
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- This daily round-up brings you a selection of the latest news and updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.
- Top stories: global confirmed cases pass 50 million; Biden to launch coronavirus task force; Sydney's famous fireworks to be restricted.
1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 50 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 1.25 million.
Sydney's famous New Year's Eve fireworks will be limited this year to help control the coronavirus.
The northern Chinese port city of Tianjin will carry out tests on some cold storage facilities, after a confirmed case involving a worker who'd handled imported frozen pork.
Portugal will impose localized night-time curfews from today, as confirmed cases reach a record high.
Reported COVID-19 deaths in France have passed 40,000 - one of the world's highest.
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2. 50 million confirmed cases
Global confirmed COVID-19 cases have passed 50 million. The second wave has accounted for a quarter of this total in the last 30 days, according to a Reuters tally.
It took 32 days for the number of cases to rise from 30 million to 40 million, but just 21 days to add another 10 million.
Europe has become the world's worst-affected region, with around 12 million cases and a quarter of the 1.25 million global deaths.
3. Biden launches COVID-19 task force
US President-elect Joe Biden will convene a coronavirus task force today. He's set to meet with an advisory board led by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler.
It comes as the United States reported a record increase in coronavirus cases for a fourth consecutive day on Saturday, with at least 131,420 new cases.
Ten states have reported record daily deaths so far in November, as well.
4. COVID-19 vaccine more than 90% effective
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have said their experimental COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective, in preliminary results from a large-scale clinical trial.
The companies say they've found no serious safety concerns and are set to seek US authorization for emergency use this month.
“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, said.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.”
The results are yet to be peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal, with this expected once results are in from the entire trial.
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