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Coronavirus Watch: Restrictions, curfews, lockdowns in Europe amid second wave

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

The U.S. is in the grip of a massive coronavirus surge, and Europe isn't looking so hot either.

Italy ordered bars and restaurants to close by 6 p.m. and shuttered gyms, movie theaters and pools entirely. Spain's prime minister imposed a night-time curfew on Sunday. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing her country's 16 state governors to impose a partial lockdown across the country.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to deliver a televised address Wednesday night spelling out new restrictions, just days after the government imposed a curfew covering an estimated 46 million people. 

It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 2:45 p.m. ET:

  • For first time since the pandemic began, the U.S. added more than half a million coronavirus cases in a week, according to a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. Meanwhile, the White House has listed “ending the COVID-19 pandemic” among the Trump administration's accomplishments.
  • Wisconsin saw its worst day in the pandemic to-date. Its two-month-long outbreak is one of the worst in the country, and as the state repeatedly breaks daily case records, health experts expect hospitalizations and deaths to continue rising.
  • Eli Lilly and Company of Indianapolis announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. government to supply 300,000 doses of its monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab for $375 million and up to 650,000 more doses next year.
  • Three Western states are planning to partner with California to independently review any FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine before distributing it to the public.
  • U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Wednesday, deepening this week’s losses as countries tighten precautions to try to stem rising numbers of coronavirus infections.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 8.8 million cases and 227,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 44.2 million cases and 1.1 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.

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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

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