COVID-19: No End in Sight!

COVID 19: The Coronavirus, over the weekend, continues to dominate global news.

In these United States, on Saturday, 7 November 2020, reports from Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan respectively reveal 12,348, 4,559, and 6,225 new confirmed cases in a 24-hour period. These figures, relative to each state, is a new single-day record.

Missouri’s Chariton County Health Center, in an update posted to Facebook on Saturday, 7 November 2020, there was a reference to six new positive cases of COVID-19:

Update on COVID-19 in Chariton County:

11/7/20

There are 6 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Chariton County and 4 of the active cases of COIVD-19 in Chariton County have been released from public health isolation. This makes a total of 211 COVID-19 cases in Chariton County, with 95 of them being active cases and 116 of them being released from public health isolation. No further information will be provided about these individuals by the Chariton County Health Center.

Chariton County Health Center has been posting regular COVID-19 related updates to its Facebook page since before August 2020.

North of the United States-Canada border, in the same timeframe, Ontario saw 1,123 new cases reported. Saturday’s new cases, the largest increase in a single day, brought the province’s infection total to approximately 82,825.

"Ontario is reporting 1,132 cases of #COVID19. Locally, there are 336 new cases in Toronto, 258 in Peel, 114 in York Region, 78 in Ottawa, 64 in Halton and 55 in Hamilton. There are 852 more resolved cases and nearly 39,200 tests completed," Health Minister Christine Elliott wrote in a tweet to her official Twitter account.

The following day, on Sunday, 8 November 2020, more Twitter activity from Elliott sees the health minister referencing a further 1,328 new cases.

Across the pond, in European countries, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Greece, Portugal, and the Ukraine significant new infection rates reported.

Whilst Italy’s Lombardy region seemingly remains the hardest hit, Germany’s COVID-19 case numbers surpassed 642,400 the same day the Italian region experienced no fewer than 11,498 new cases.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced travel restrictions preventing persons from journeying more than 16 miles (25-kilometres) were being lifted in Melbourne and the so called “ring of steel.”

"Victoria will be once again united as one single state," Andrews said.

Further to travel restrictions being lifted, something many Australians were keen to see happen, Andrews also revealed gyms, theatres, and cinemas would be allowed to reopen.

Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien, with a different view to Andrews, suggested that the Government had significantly overstepped. The Government had gone beyond public health advice by keeping masks mandatory for the foreseeable future.

"Of course, we're going to need masks where you can't socially distance. You're going to want to use them on public transport and at the shops and supermarkets," O'Brien said.

"But if you're walking the dog or playing golf or by yourself, do you really need to wear a mask?

"As the weather warms up, the Government needs to move on mask rules otherwise they risk Victorians just not paying them much attention."

Asian continental countries, inclusive of Georgia, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Morocco, all experienced spikes in new confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“Yesterday, we issued an order to add 1,185 beds for Covid patients in both Delhi government hospitals and many private hospitals," India's Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said. "Five hundred beds are to be augmented at city government-run Covid facilities, including 110 ICU beds.”

Jain, actively keeping Twitter users informed with frequent updates, has put his account to good use.

Georgia, to combat the Coronavirus spreading, announced the establishment of a new curfew. The curfew, scheduled to start Monday, 9 November 2020, will directly impact Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Rustavi, Zugdidi, Gori and Poti.

Each day, between 22:00 (10 pm) and 05:00 (5 am) the next morning, Georgians will be restricted to their residences. Restrictions will not affect emergency, pharmacy, media and delivery services.

"It is a mere fact. It is not our discovery or assessment. It is an opinion of epidemiologists,” Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said, "the community transmission rate, is increasing on a daily basis."

As days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, noting the continued pandemic spread, there is no end in sight.