Coronavirus: Fauci calls White House event 'superspreader'

The US government's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has said the event held at the White House Rose Garden on September 26 was a "superspreader" event that led to multiple people, including President Donald Trump, being infected.

"I think the data speak for themselves. We had a superspreader event in the White House," Fauci told CBS News Radio. "And it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks," he added.

Asked about the president's praise for an experimental COVID-19 treatment he received as "a cure," Fauci said calling it such would be misleading as it still hasn't been proven.

"We don't have any indication – I think you really have to depend on what you mean by a cure because that's the word that leads to a lot of confusion," he said.

Read more: Coronavirus trend: The pandemic is far from over

Americas

US President Donald Trump has held his first in-person event since testing positive for the coronavirus. Hundreds of supporters gathered on the White House South Lawn on Sunday to hear him speak from a balcony.

As he sought to reboot his embattled re-election bid, the president said he is "feeling great."

"I want you to know our nation is going to defeat this terrible China virus," Trump told the cheering crowd, most of whom were wearing masks but with very little social distancing.

The public engagement was given the green light by Trump's physician. However, the White House has not said if the president has now tested negative for the virus, raising concerns that Trump is still
contagious.

Trump will head back to the campaign trail next week, starting with a rally in Florida on Monday.

His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, has criticized the president's behavior as "reckless."

Read more: Trump's coronavirus treatment was based on fetal tissue research

Canada is at a "tipping point' in the pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday, adding that the second wave of the coronavirus was "really frustrating."

He urged people to avoid large gatherings over the weekend for Thanksgiving, a major Canadian holiday.

"We are at a tipping point in this pandemic. Not only is the second wave underway, [but] yesterday we hit the highest daily record for cases, well above what we saw this spring," Trudeau told a news conference.

"I know this is discouraging... the increase in new cases is putting enormous pressure on hospitals and health care workers, who are more and more swamped," he said.

Latin America and the Caribbean might see a region-wide 7.9% drop in GDP due to the pandemic.

"Our region is suffering the worst economic and health impacts of COVID-19 of anywhere in the world," said Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, the regional vice president of the World Bank.

Europe

Cologne, in western Germany, passed a key threshold in the number of coronavirus infections on Saturday, recording more than 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. The city joins Frankfurt and Berlin, and has introduced more measures to combat the disease.

Read more: Cologne exceeds key coronavirus threshold, joining Berlin and Frankfurt

Germany has seen another spike in cases, with 4,721 new cases reported on Saturday morning by health authorities.

France has recorded a daily record of over 20,000 new coronavirus infections, with the country's health minister warning of the deteriorating situation.

Authorities have declared the highest coronavirus warning level for four new cities; Lyon, Lille, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne. The warning is already in place for Paris, Marseilles and the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe.

In Italy, the daily infections hit 5,372, the highest since late March when the country was the epicenter of the pandemic. The latest figure is also close to the all-time daily record of 6,557 infections, reported on March 21. Overall cases in Italy have now reached 343,770, while the total death toll increased by 28 to reach 36,111, authorities said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will inform the UK parliament of the government's potential new lockdown restrictions next week. A survey showed that the average daily number of coronavirus cases in England has doubled in a week. The UK also has the highest death toll in Europe, with 42,679 people in the country losing their lives to COVID-19.

The World Health Organization has called on European governments to take decisive action to curb the second wave of infection. Europe surpassed 100,000 daily infections for the first time on Thursday. 

"There are no new answers. We know what we need to do," WHO's emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said at a news briefing in Geneva. "It is though sad to see many countries in Europe experiencing a rapid rise in cases and governments do have to take decisive action in order to try and shut down transmission."

Read more: COVID-19: New lockdown for Berlin's nightlife

Poland reported a record 5,300 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, according to the country's Health Ministry. The numbers were released as new rules on wearing masks outside at all times came into effect. Poland has recorded 121,638 cases of coronavirus, and 2,972 deaths.

The Czech Republic has said another lockdown could be on the way as COVID-19 cases spiked for a record fourth day in a row. The country registered 8,618 new cases on Friday, up from 5,394 cases the previous day, bringing the total tally to 109,374 cases with 905 deaths.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis warned: "Either we will all comply with the safety measures, or we will have to adopt further restrictions fast, and we can't rule out a lockdown."

The number of coronavirus cases in Russia rose by 12,846 on Saturday, a new daily record since the start of the outbreak earlier this year. The overall total number of infections stands at 1,285,084, while the country's coronavirus crisis center has confirmed an additional 197 deaths, bringing the official death toll to 22,454.

Asia

North Korea has held its military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the country's ruling party, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The streets of Pyongyang saw the North's latest and most advanced weapons, with South Korea's unification ministry anticipating a "large-scale parade."

North Korea closed its borders eight months ago to protect itself from the virus. It has still not confirmed a single case of infection.

Indonesia has reported 4,294 new coronavirus infections, to bring the total tally of 328,952, according to government data. Officials said 88 more people have died from the virus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 11,765.

Confirmed coronavirus cases in India have neared 7 million, with another 73,272 infections reported in the past 24 hours. The country's Health Ministry said another 926 people had died from the virus over the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 107,416.

ed, adi/cmk (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)