Coronavirus live news: Dr Fauci warns of 'surge upon surge' in US cases after Thanksgiving

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “This Week” that the level of infection in the US. would not “all of a sudden turn around.”

AP: “So clearly in the next few weeks, we’re going to have the same sort of thing. And perhaps even two or three weeks down the line … we may see a surge upon a surge,” he said.

Fauci also appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he made similar remarks, adding that it’s “not too late” for people traveling home after Thanksgiving to help curb the virus by wearing masks, staying distant from others and avoiding large groups of people.

The number of new Covid-19 cases reported in the United States topped 200,000 for the first time Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Since January, when the first infections were reported in the US, the nation’s total number of cases has surpassed 13 million. More than 265,000 people have died.

Aside from the Thanksgiving holiday itself, anywhere from 800,000 to more than 1 million travellers made their way through US airport checkpoints on any day during the past week, according to Transportation Security Administration statistics.

That’s a far cry from the 2.3 to 2.6 million seen daily last year. But it far surpasses the number of travellers early in the pandemic, when daily totals fell below 100,000 on some spring days.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours.

Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

The US top infectious disease expert said Sunday that the country may see “surge upon a surge” of the coronavirus in the weeks after Thanksgiving, and he does not expect current recommendations around social distancing to be relaxed before Christmas.

Last week, the US, which has the highest number of cases and deaths of any country worldwide, reported more than 200,000 cases in a single day.

• Children in Iraq have started returning to school for the first time since late February, with social distancing measures in place and schools operating six days a week.
• Lebanon will begin to slowly relax coronavirus restrictions imposed two weeks ago from Monday, as it looks to boost its struggling economy ahead of Christmas.
• Turkey’s daily coronavirus death toll hit a record high for a seventh consecutive day on Sunday, with 185 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
• The WHO delivered 15 ventilators to hospitals in Gaza on Sunday as the Palestinian territory suffered a rise in Covid-19 infections.
• New York City’s state schools will start to reopen on 7 December, beginning with primary schools, the mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced on Sunday.
• The top infectious disease expert in the US has warned that the country may record a “surge upon a surge” of the virus in coming weeks.
• Greece announced 1,193 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, a significant decrease compared to recent figures and its lowest number since 2 November.
• Doctors and nurses are protesting in Madrid, Spain against cuts that they say have left them struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
• France’s highest administrative court has ordered the government to loosen coronavirus rules allowing no more than 30 people at religious services, in the face of angry objections from church leaders.
• There have been a further 12,155 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 15,871 cases registered on Saturday.