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The news as it happened.

The OutbreakOctober 2020Issue the Tenth

Europe returns to lockdown as cases hit a weekly record

Europe goes back into lockdown as the world records its worst week of new cases, while India braces for its festivals and Singapore dines on grounded jets.

LONDON, Saturday 31 October.—England will go back into lockdown on Thursday for a month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today, on the day Britain’s confirmed coronavirus cases passed one million.

Bars and restaurants will be limited to takeaway and non-essential shops will close until 2 December. People may leave home only for a short list of reasons, including exercise. Unlike the first lockdown, schools, universities, construction sites and manufacturing will stay open.

“Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day,” Mr Johnson said.

Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a dayBoris Johnson

England follows France and Germany. On Wednesday President Emmanuel Macron ordered France back into confinement from Friday until at least 1 December. “The virus is circulating in France at a speed that even the most pessimistic did not foresee,” he said. Schools stay open and universities close.

Germany the same day agreed a four-week “lockdown light” from Monday, closing bars and leisure venues and limiting restaurants to take-away, while schools and shops stay open. It reported a record 14,964 new cases. “It is completely clear that we must act, and now, to avoid an acute national health emergency,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

The World Health Organization says the latest week brought the highest weekly number of new cases yet: more than 2.8 million worldwide, with nearly 40,000 deaths.

NBC News (Associated Press), Oct. 31 · The Local France (AFP), Oct. 28 · Associated Press (via KUTV), Oct. 28 · World Health Organization, Oct. 27

Modi warns the virus has not gone as India’s festivals begin

Durga Puja kept in the 'new normal' at what the photographer calls the oldest puja in Kolkata, 25 October.
Durga Puja kept in the ‘new normal’ at what the photographer calls the oldest puja in Kolkata, 25 October.Photograph by Sumita Roy Dutta, Oct. 25, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

NEW DELHI, Saturday 31 October.—Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told Indians not to drop their guard as the festival season begins, warning in a televised address on 20 October that lifting the lockdown does not mean the virus has gone.

“If you are negligent and going out without a mask, you are exposing yourself, your family, your children, the elderly to the same amount of risk,” he said. The government, he added, was preparing a road map to get a vaccine to every citizen as soon as one is available.

Shoppers thronged Kolkata’s New Market in the festival season, many without masks, AFP reported. “Of course corona is to be feared. But what can I do? I can’t miss the moments of Durga Puja,” said Tiyas Bhattacharya Das, 25.

If you are negligent and going out without a mask, you are exposing yourself, your family, your children, the elderly to the same amount of riskNarendra Modi

India’s cases passed eight million on Thursday, though daily infections have been falling since a mid-September peak of more than 90,000.

Punekar News, Oct. 20 · Agence France-Presse (via Philstar), Oct. 20 · The Quint, Oct. 29

Singaporeans pay to eat lunch on jumbo jets that stay on the ground

The PhotographSingapore Airlines cabin crew serve diners at Restaurant A380, aboard a parked superjumbo at Changi Airport.AFP, Oct. 24, 2020See the photograph →

SINGAPORE, Saturday 24 October.—More than 400 diners checked in at Changi Airport today and went through the usual security checks to eat lunch aboard two parked Singapore Airlines A380s, with about half the seats left empty for social distancing.

An eight-course meal in a first-class suite cost Sg$642; three courses in economy, Sg$53. More than 900 lunch tickets sold out within 30 minutes of bookings opening.

“The food is pretty amazing, it’s better than the one they serve during the flight,” said Zhou Tai Di, a 17-year-old student. Online, not everyone was sold. “for $321 i can eat 80 chicken rice,” wrote one commenter on Reddit’s r/singapore forum.

The food is pretty amazing, it's better than the one they serve during the flightZhou Tai Di

The airline, which lost a record S$1.12 billion in the quarter to June and is laying off about 20 per cent of its workforce, dropped plans for “flights to nowhere” after an outcry over their environmental impact.

Agence France-Presse (via Arab News), Oct. 24 · Reddit (r/singapore), Oct. 26 · Gulf News, Oct. 12

Trump catches the virus, then tells Americans not to fear it

WASHINGTON, Monday 5 October.—President Donald Trump returned to the White House today after three nights in hospital with Covid-19, took off his mask on the South Portico and told Americans not to be afraid of the disease.

Mr Trump, 74, announced early on Friday that he and the First Lady had tested positive. That evening he was flown to Walter Reed military hospital, where his physician said he had been given remdesivir and Regeneron’s antibody cocktail.

“Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it,” Mr Trump said on his return. Professor William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said: “This is a virus that should be both respected and feared.” More than 209,000 Americans have died.

Law360 (Associated Press), Oct. 2 · USA Today (via Yahoo News), Oct. 2 · Gulf News (Reuters), Oct. 6

In Brief

Singapore may let bigger groups meet

SINGAPORE, Saturday 31 October.—The limit of five people for meals and gatherings could be lifted if cases stay low, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament on 5 October, though the DORSCON alert stays at Orange. Today the Ministry of Health reported 12 new cases, all imported, and no local infection.

Mothership.sg, Oct. 5 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, Oct. 31

Singapore and Hong Kong agree a travel bubble

SINGAPORE, Thursday 15 October.—Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed in principle on an air travel bubble with no quarantine, using dedicated flights and mutually recognised PCR tests. A launch date is still to be announced.

Mothership.sg, Oct. 15, 2020.

Doctors alarmed by crowds at Bihar poll rallies

BIHAR, Monday 19 October.—Health experts warn that packed rallies in Bihar, the first state to vote during the pandemic, could spread the virus. “We are alarmed after watching people attend these rallies in large numbers,” said Dr PK Sinha, who runs a Covid-19 ward in Gaya.

Down To Earth, Oct. 19, 2020.

Start The Outbreak from issue one tomorrow

Wayback Wire · No. 10 · October 2020