Over 42.26 million cases worldwide
The pandemic has killed at least 1.14 million people worldwide since the end of December, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources on Saturday, October 24 in the middle of the day.
More than 42.26 million cases have been officially diagnosed.
The United States, which on Saturday recorded a record number of cases for the second day in a row - 88,973 - is the most bereaved country with 224,751 dead.
Next come Brazil with 156,903 dead, India (117,956) and Mexico (88,312).
In France, the epidemic has killed at least 34,645 people.
Nearly 2,500 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in intensive care on Saturday, 233 new seriously ill people having been admitted to these services in the past 24 hours.
Read also: Coronavirus: nearly 2,500 people in intensive care, 45,000 cases in 24 hours
Special meeting of the Spanish government
The Spanish government will hold an extraordinary meeting this Sunday morning to study the possibility of declaring a state of national emergency, according to an official statement released on Saturday.
Read also: Covid-19: Spain crosses the threshold of one million cases, a first in the EU
The text adds that the Prime Minister
"offered this possibility"
Friday to the 17 autonomous regions of the country and that
"the proposal was welcomed positively by the majority"
of these regions,
"who requested it"
.
In fact, on Saturday evening, at least nine regions had asked the central government to declare a state of alert.
This meeting comes the day after the entry into force of new restrictions in Madrid: all gatherings, public and private, of people not living in the same homes are prohibited between midnight and six in the morning.
Curfews: new screwdrivers and disputes in Europe
In Brussels, the authorities have decided to advance the curfew imposed in Belgium to 10 p.m.
They ordered the closing of shops at 8 p.m. and that of cultural places, museums and sports halls from Monday.
Read also: Coronavirus: in Belgium why the second wave does not look like the first
In Rome, around 200 masked demonstrators belonging to the neo-fascist group Forza Nuova protesting the curfew clashed with riot forces on the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Seven protesters were arrested, and two police officers were injured, according to the daily
La Repubblica
.
Read also: Rome: clashes between far-right anti-curfew protesters and police
Friday evening, clashes had already broken out in Naples.
At around 11 p.m., several hundred people had lit smoke bombs, set fire to garbage cans and threw projectiles at riot police deployed in the city center.
Contamination and quarantines
US Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, a spokesperson said.
Marc Short is the latest to add his name to the list of Trump administration employees who have contracted the coronavirus.
He has been placed in quarantine.
"Vice-President Pence and Ms. Pence tested negative for Covid-19 today and remain in good health,"
a spokesperson said.
Read also: United States: Mike Pence's chief of staff tested positive for Covid-19
In Europe, the foreign ministers of the three Baltic countries have placed themselves in quarantine after their Slovenian counterpart tested positive.
The latter had completed a tour on Thursday in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania where he had met his counterparts.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania and had also met the Slovenian minister there, has also placed herself in solitary confinement.
Finally, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune
“voluntarily” went
into solitary confinement for five days after several senior presidential and government officials exhibited symptoms of Covid-19.