France, Italy and Russia reported new daily records for coronavirus cases Friday, a day after the United States set its third record-setting day of new cases this week.
France registered 60,486 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, after posting a record of over 58,000 on Thursday, health ministry data showed. The ministry also reported 828 new deaths.
Italy announced Friday 37,809 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the country's highest ever, while Russia also recorded its highest daily tally at 20,582.
The new high totals in those European countries follow a record high 121,888 new coronavirus cases reported in the United States on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Infections are surging in all regions in the United States as the COVID-19 death toll continues to climb. More than 1,200 deaths were reported Thursday, the most since mid-September after a sharp spike during the summer, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Hospitalizations in the United States have significantly increased, forcing hospitals in Midwestern and Southern states to take urgent action to accommodate floods of new patients.
Midwestern states have been especially hard hit, with a record-high number of infections reported Thursday in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Since the surge in the U.S. began in mid-September, some states have periodically imposed piecemeal lockdown measures, including Maine, which extended its mask- wearing requirement to cover all public spaces.
Officials in Denver, Colorado, on Friday urged residents to stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in an effort to reduce a growing wave of coronavirus cases.
Far more stringent restrictions are being implemented in Europe.
Britain began a four-week lockdown Thursday, while Greece begins a three-week shutdown Saturday.
Anyone traveling from Denmark to Britain must now self-isolate for 14 days. Denmark was removed Friday from Britain’s corridor of travel, following a coronavirus outbreak on mink farms in the Scandinavian country.
Denmark has announced it is culling more than 15 million minks to halt the spread of a mutated form of the coronavirus that has appeared in the minks.
Authorities ordered more than a quarter-million people in a northern region where the mink farms are located to go into lockdown. There is no evidence the mutation poses a threat to people, but officials said they were taking no chances.
In Italy, new coronavirus restrictions were imposed on Friday. Under the so-called soft lockdown, the country has been divided into three zones according to the severity of the outbreak.
In Pakistan, authorities said they would impose a mini lockdown in selected areas of major cities to try to stem the tide of coronavirus cases. The country reported 1,376 new cases and 30 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday.
India announced more than 47,000 new COVID-19 cases, while Tunisia and Jordan are seeing significant accelerations in their infection rates.
In South America, the situation is brighter in Ecuador, where the infection rate has plunged 44% to 800 new cases a day.
The United States has 9.7 million of the world’s 49.2 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. also continues to lead the world in COVID-19 deaths, with 236,000 of the world’s 1.2 million fatalities.
