The coronavirus pandemic is nearing a grim milestone in the U.S., with close to three million cases confirmed. Meanwhile, Canada’s finance minister will give the country its first look at the government’s finances since the start of the pandemic. Here’s what’s going on around the world on Wednesday.
The latest:
- U.S. nears milestone of three million known COVID-19 infections.
- Canadian finance minister to deliver fiscal ‘snapshot’ of federal spending since pandemic started.
- Brazilian president says he is confident he will swiftly recover from COVID-19.
- Spain’s Catalonia region makes masks mandatory everywhere.
- Protests in Serbian capital as country reintroduces lockdown over spike in cases.
- Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases now above a half million.
The coronavirus pandemic is nearing a grim milestone in the United States of more than three million confirmed cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as more states reported record numbers of new infections and Florida faced an impending shortage of intensive care hospital beds.
Texas and California, the country’s two most-populous states, were among those recording a record number of new virus cases across the U.S. on Tuesday.
Authorities have reported alarming upswings of daily caseloads in roughly two-dozen states over the past two weeks, a sign that efforts to control transmission of the novel coronavirus have failed in large swaths of the country.
- Why the WHO won’t say the coronavirus is airborne and driving the pandemic
- ANALYSIS: Canadians’ COVID-19 fears are rising again — and the U.S. might be to blame
Hawaii, Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma on Tuesday also shattered their previous daily record highs for new cases. About 24 states have also reported disturbingly high infection rates as a percentage of diagnostic tests conducted over the past week.
In Texas alone, the number of hospitalized patients more than doubled in just two weeks.
The trend has driven many more Americans to seek out COVID-19 screenings. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday it was adding short-term “surge” testing sites in three metropolitan areas in Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
In Houston, a line of more than 200 cars snaked around the United Memorial Medical Center as people waited for hours in sweltering heat to get tested. Some had arrived the night before to secure a place in line at the drive-thru site.
In Florida, more than four-dozen hospitals across 25 of 67 counties reported their intensive care units had reached full capacity, according to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. Only 17 per cent of the total 6,010 adult ICU beds statewide were available on Tuesday, down from 20 per cent three days earlier.
Additional hospitalizations could strain health-care systems in many areas, leading to an uptick in deaths from the respiratory illness that has killed more than 131,000 Americans to date.
What’s happening with coronavirus in Canada
As of 9:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Canada had 106,167 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 69,883 of the cases as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 8,755.
Canadians will get a glimpse on Wednesday at how much the federal government has been spending since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivers what he call his fiscal “snapshot,” starting at 1:40 p.m. ET in the House of Commons. It’s projected that the deficit could be in excess of $250 billion.
Ontario introduced new legislation Tuesday to enable the extension of some pandemic emergency orders over the next year, as the province reported 112 new cases.
