COVID-19 activity across the world is accelerating, with daily highs at record levels over the past 4 days, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. And in the United States, President Trump—who is recovering from an infection—was scheduled to return to campaign travel today.
Over the weekend, the global number passed 37 million cases, with the current total at 37,686,296 cases, along with 1,078,699 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
Handful of countries driving increase
At a WHO briefing today, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said cases are rising, especially in Europe and the Americas, and that many cities and countries are also reporting increases in hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions.
He also emphasized that the pandemic is uneven, with differences in how countries have responded and been affected. Nearly 70% of cases last week were from 10 countries, and almost half of those were from just three. Those three are India, the United States, and Brazil.
"For every country that is experiencing an increase, there are many others that have successfully prevented or controlled widespread transmission with proven measures," Tedros said.
He also used today's briefing to challenge recent discussion about the concept of letting the virus spread to reach herd immunity. He said "herd immunity" is a vaccination concept that refers to population protection from reaching a certain vaccination threshold, for example for measles or polio vaccination.
"In other words, herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it," Tedros said, adding that herd immunity has never been used in public heath to respond to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. He called the proposal "scientifically and ethically problematic," given that many questions remain about how long or how strong immunity lasts, that the vast majority of the world's population is still susceptible to the virus, and that the long-term health impacts aren't completely known.
India tops 7 million infections; European cases soar
India's cases yesterday topped 7 million, and the country—which has the world's second largest population—will likely pass the United States in the weeks ahead to become the country with the most cases. Yesterday India reported 74,383 cases, the world's highest daily total, with rising infections in the southern states such as Kerala balancing out declining cases in the western region, Reuters reported.
In Europe, another global hot spot, countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Russia reported new single-day highs.
And in other global developments:
- China reported its first flare-up in 56 days, with a hospital outbreak in the city of Qingdao, where 12 cases were linked to a hospital that treated patients with COVID-19 who arrived from abroad, the BBC Officials launched a plan to test all 9 million of the city's residents over a 5-day period.
- Iran over the weekend announced a facemask mandate for Tehran as it grapples with rising cases and deaths in its third wave of infections, Reuters noted.
- French Polynesia's President Edouard Fritch announced that he tested positive for the virus after traveling to France, where he recently met with government officials, including President Emmanuel Macron.
- Nepal on Oct 10 reported its highest single-day rise, with 5,008 new cases, Press Trust of India reported.
US cases continue to climb
The United States has averaged 49,243 new COVID-19 cases a day for the last 7 days, 14% higher than the average was a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
Outbreaks continue to spread in the Upper Midwest and Rocky Mountains, with early signs of resurgence in the Northeast, according to New York Times tracking. For example, the positivity rate of New York City's hot spots rose from 4.95% over the weekend to 5.74%, accounting for 15% of the city's cases.
In North Dakota, which has had the highest per capita number of cases and deaths in the country over the past week, a surge in COVID-19 cases is straining the health system, with only 20 ICU beds and 240 regular beds in the whole state, the Grand Forks Herald reported. The situation is especially tight in the state's major cities, such as Bismarck, which has only one ICU bed and six inpatient beds, and Fargo, which has only 11 ICU beds and 28 inpatient beds.
Trump returns to campaign trail amid controversy
President Trump is expected to appear at a campaign rally in Florida today, though the White House hasn't released negative COVID-19 tests, the Washington Post reported. On Oct 10, Trump's doctor said he is no longer a transmission risk. Trump tweeted yesterday that he was immune to the virus, which Twitter quickly flagged as misleading.
Meanwhile, controversy and new questions continued to swirl over the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic. Yesterday, Tony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he didn't consent to being featured in a new Trump campaign ad touting the president's handing of the pandemic and emphasized that he has never publicly endorsed a political candidate in his more than 50-year public health career.
Regarding the administration's response, the New York Times reported over the weekend that the White House coronavirus task force blocked a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order that would have required masks on all public and commercial transportation on the grounds that the decisions should be left to states and localities.
And members of Congress and advocacy groups are calling for Operation Warp Speed to release its COVID-19 vaccine contracts, based on National Public Radio reporting that the government awarded the contracts through a third party, a process that doesn't require including taxpayer protections.
In other US developments:
- Regeneron's chief executive officer Leonard Schleifer said yesterday on CBS's Face the Nation that if the company's experimental antibody cocktail received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) it will need to ration it, given that it currently has enough to treat 50,000 patients.
- Nevada yesterday rescinded a statewide order that directed nursing homes to stop using government-issued rapid coronavirus antigen tests after finding a high false-positivity rate. State officials reversed course after receiving a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services threatening punitive action, the New York Times reports.
- The United States totals stand at 7,792,816 cases and 214,985 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins online tracker.
