ROME —- Italy’s daily coronavirus cases topped 30,000 again on Wednesday.
The northern region of Lombardy accounted for more than one quarter of the 30,550 reported cases. The Health Ministry says there were 352 deaths in the last 24 hours.
On Thursday, several restrictions will take effect, including a nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Italy has 790,377 confirmed cases and 39,764 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
———
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Poland reaches daily high of nearly 25,000 coronavirus cases
— Russia reports records in new daily virus cases, deaths
— South Korea approves single test for COVID-19 and flu
— Pints poured, retail therapy: England readies for lockdown to start Thursday to try to curb surge in coronavirus cases.
— Pope Francis urges people to follow recommendations from governments and health authorities amid a surge of infections across Europe.
— Sports venues throughout the U.S. were in play on Election Day. Professional sports teams offered their stadiums, arenas and practice facilities to provide more polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
———
Follow AP’s coronavirus pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/virus-outbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
———
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is in quarantine for the second time in a month after a meeting with a foreign official who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, deputy Michael Roth and other employees at the meeting on Monday are in quarantine.
An initial test on Maas was negative. He also entered quarantine in late September after a bodyguard tested positive.
The only German Cabinet member known to test positive is Health Minister Jens Spahn, who recovered and returned this week to his office.
———
PHOENIX — Arizona’s total coronavirus cases surpassed 250,000 and state health officials reported more than 1,000 hospitalized patients for the first time since late August.
The Department of Health Services reported 814 cases and 39 deaths, increasing the state’s totals to 250,633 confirmed cases and 6,059 deaths.
Hospitalizations statewide reached 1,065 on Tuesday, the highest since late August after the state was a national hot spot in June and July.
———
O’FALLON, Mo. — Missouri’s statewide hospitalizations reached a record seven-day average of 1,672 on Wednesday.
Hospitals in the St. Louis region are among those with record numbers of patients.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,599 daily coronavirus cases, bringing the confirmed state total to 193,023.
Missouri added 24 deaths, increasing the total to 3,088.
———
OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska had a record 673 hospitalizations and reported more than 1,400 new cases of the coronavirus.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases increased from 854 per day on Oct. 20 to 1,160 on Tuesday.
Nebraska officials say 29% of the intensive care beds across the state remained available Tuesday. Hospital officials have said the recent surge in cases is straining capacity.
———
EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso health official says hospitals are near the “breaking point,” with 3,100 new cases of the coronavirus reported Wednesday.
There were 1,041 hospitalizations Wednesday, health officials said.
Dr. Hector Ocaranza, the health authority for the city and county, say “Our hospitals are near breaking point, we need everyone to do their part to stop this virus.”
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is sending additional medical personnel and equipment to the city. Local officials ordered a two-week shutdown of nonessential activities
Texas, which recently surpassed California with the most coronavirus cases in the nation, has 950,345 total cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
———
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is in quarantine for the second time in a month after a meeting with a foreign official who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, deputy Michael Roth and other employees at the meeting on Monday are in quarantine.
An initial test on Maas was negative. He also entered quarantine in late September after a bodyguard tested positive.
The only German Cabinet member known to test positive is Health Minister Jens Spahn, who recovered and returned this week to his office.
———
WARSAW, Poland — Poland hit a daily high of nearly 24,700 coronavirus cases as the government introduced new restrictions on shops, schools and culture institutions through November.
The new restrictions limit the number of customers in shops and require remote teaching for primary schools. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says a full national lockdown may be necessary if these measures don’t contain the spread of the coronavirus.
He repeated his appeal to citizens to stay home and refrain from ongoing street protests. Morawiecki says they contribute to the increase in new cases and suggested the protests should be moved to the internet.
Hundreds of thousands in the nation of 38 million have been holding anti-government street protests since Oct. 22. That’s when a court tightened the abortion law, which now bans abortion for fetal defects.
Health officials say more than 370 people died in the past 24 hours from the coronavirus. Poland has nearly 440,000 cases and 6,500 deaths.
———
BERLIN — Germany has deployed 5,350 soldiers to help with testing and tracing contacts of coronavirus patients.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Christina Routsi says a pool of 15,000 military personnel have been set aside to help cope with the country’s pandemic response. It will eventually include mass vaccinations, the ministry says.
Germany reported 17,214 confirmed cases on Wednesday, taking the total to 577,593. Deaths rose by 160 in the past day to a confirmed total of 10,812 since the start of the pandemic.
———
GENEVA — The Swiss government is deploying the army for a second time this year to help Switzerland’s beleaguered health system respond to a surge in coronavirus cases.
Authorities announced a record 10,043 coronavirus cases in Switzerland in the last 24 hours.
Defense Minister Viola Amherd says the deployment of up to 2,500 soldiers will help Swiss regions cope with the growing number of coronavirus patients hospitalized or in intensive care.
The soldiers were expected to provide support for civilian hospitals such as basic care, detection of suspected cases and testing. They’ll supply equipment to intensive care units.
Switzerland has counted 192,376 confirmed cases and 2,275 deaths.
———
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka police say more than 200 policemen have been infected with the coronavirus.
Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says another 2,213 officers have been quarantined.
Health authorities have linked the infections to a new cluster centered on the country’s main fish market near the capital of Colombo.
Sri Lanka’s new outbreak began last month when two clusters emerged – one at a garment factory and other at the fish market. The clusters have grown into 8,265 cases.
The government has imposed a curfew in the densely populated Western province, which includes the capital. Authorities have closed schools, key public offices and banned public gatherings.
Sri Lanka has recorded 11,744 confirmed cases and 23 deaths since March.
———
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania will close schools, restaurants and other venues for at least three weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Cabinet decided the stricter measures will start on Saturday. They include mandatory masks outdoors, banning mass gatherings and closing sports clubs, theaters, cinemas. Similar measures were imposed in March during the first lockdown.
Lithuania registered less than 2,000 cases in September, then had a surge of 11,000 cases in October.
The nation of 2.8 million has 18,092 confirmed cases and 182 deaths.
———
LONDON — The chair of Britain’s coronavirus vaccine task force says data evaluating the efficacy and safety of the two most advanced candidates should be available in early December.
Kate Bingham told a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday that data on the two vaccine candidates — developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and Pfizer and BioNTech — should be available by then.
After that, the vaccine candidates will need regulatory approval, Bingham says.
“If we get that, we have the possibility of deploying by year end,” she says.
Bingham acknowledged despite the government’s earlier estimate there would be 30 million doses of the Oxford vaccine available by September, there only will be about 4 million doses available by the end of the year, due to some manufacturing “hiccups” that have since been resolved. She says there will be about 10 million doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.
Dr. Robin Shattock, one of the scientists behind another vaccine developed by Imperial College London, says it’s possible several vaccines will be needed to stop the pandemic.
“The first vaccines may reach the bar of preventing severe disease, but they may not necessarily block transmission,” he says.
Shattock says later vaccines likely will be more potent, but it’s still unclear how long immunity lasts and “most likely they will need to be boosted.”
———
TALLINN, Estonia — The Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia say they have both registered a record daily number of coronavirus infections since the start of the outbreak.
Health officials in Estonia say the country of 1.3 million confirmed 208 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, putting the cumulative total to 5,333 cases with 73 deaths.
Latvia, Estonia’s southern neighbor, says it had a record number of new coronavirus cases: 313 in the past 24 hours. Latvian health officials say the nation of nearly 2 million has recorded 6,752 confirmed cases and 85 deaths.
Baltic News Service, the region’s main news agency, reported Tuesday that Latvia’s government has in principle agreed on declaring a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic — a decision expected to be formally taken up by the Cabinet.
———
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is following Italy’s lead and will re-close the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel to the public in a bid to contain surging coronavirus infections in Europe.
The Holy See press office said the Museums, as well as the papal villa south of Rome in Castel Gandolfo and the excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica, which are usually open to the public for touring, will close Thursday through Dec. 3.
The decision follows the latest decree approved by the Italian government to shutter museums as part of broader restrictions on movement to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.
The Vatican Museums, which provide a major source of revenue for the Holy See, had reopened to the public June 1 after a nearly three-month coronavirus lockdown.
———