12 2GM Saturday October 17 2020 | the times
News
It’s all under
control, says
Russia amid
record cases
russia
Russia recorded its highest number of
daily infections, with 15,150 new cases,
including 5,049 in Moscow. It came a
day after Russia reported its highest
daily number of Covid-19 deaths, at- President Putin’s spokesman said
that the situation was under control
“despite this sad trend”.
australia
The country welcomed its first
tourists from New Zealand in six
months. Those on board a flight from
Auckland to Sydney were the first
international travellers since March
to be free to leave without
quarantining. Taren Kowalski, 21, who
had not seen her Australian
boyfriend, Jayden Guest, also 21, for
eight months, was among them.italy
Italy reported 10,010 new cases of
coronavirus yesterday, its highest
daily toll, as the country braces for
the latest wave. It was the third day in
a row that the country broke records
for new cases. There were 55 deaths.belgium
All cafés and restaurants will close for
four weeks from Monday. The
government also imposed a curfew
from midnight to 5am for a month.
The Brussels city region ordered bars
and cafés to close last week but
yesterday’s announcement extends
the restriction nationwide.china
The eastern city of Jiaxing, 60 miles
southwest of Shanghai, is offering
coronavirus vaccines in an emergency
use scheme. It announced that health
workers, public servants and
government employees assigned to
high-risk countries would be eligible.germany
Germany has detected a record 7,
Covid-19 cases over the past 24
hours, nearly 500 more than during
the previous day.World update
1
23
4
5(^110) Reported new cases
59,
30,
27,
15,
37
Source: WHO
Countries with populations greater than 20 million
India 63,
US
France
Brazil
UK
China
1 2 3 4 5 6
US
Brazil
India
Mexico
UK
Italy
215,
151,
112,
84,
43,
36,
1 2 3 4 5 6
Peru
Spain
Brazil
Mexico
US
UK
718
714
658
650
640
1,
Countries reporting most deaths
Deaths per million population
Global cases
38,789,
Global deaths
1,095,
Most new cases
An increase in coronavirus infections
in America’s rural and mountainous
Midwest threatens to overwhelm hos-
pitals as the national tally of confirmed
cases rises above eight million.
North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin
and Minnesota have all reported
record numbers of new cases in the past
week and public health officials are
warning that the country is on course
for a third surge in infections, after
peaks in the spring and summer. Over-
all cases passed eight million on Thurs-
day, according to counts maintained by
Reuters and by The New York Times,
while Johns Hopkins University of
Medicine and the Centers for Disease
Europe’s ski resorts are preparing to
open for the season, despite fears about
a second wave of the pandemic.
They are outlining how they intend
to operate safely without exacerbating
the spread of the virus, for which some
resorts were blamed last winter.
Plans include compulsory mask
wearing in gondolas, smaller ski school
classes and a ban on après-ski cele-
brations. Fewer people will be allowed
in cable cars, although not in Italy.
Resorts predict a steep fall in foreign
visitor numbers but plenty of domestic
tourists. A spokesman for Les Trois Val-
lées in France, the world’s largest ski
area connected solely by lifts and
slopes, said numbers were down by 20
per cent last winter. This season it ex-
pects a fall of 40 per cent. British skiers
account for most foreign visitors to the
area.
British tour operators are preparing
for a bleak winter, and insiders say that
bookings are virtually non-existent.
The 14-day quarantine on return to the
Ski resorts get ready to open but
the party spirit is going downhill
UK is cited as the biggest problem.
Crystal Ski has cut all catered chalet
holidays, but the season will go ahead.
Here is what to expect on the slopes.
Italy
Valeria Ghezzi, head of the national
association of ski resorts, said: “We are
in a wait-and-see phase and checking
numbers since there is a risk the slopes
may be kept shut by the government.”
Italy has seen new daily cases rise
over 8,000 this week, more than during
its lockdown in March. “If we can avoid
another lockdown I would like the gov-
ernment to tell people they can go
ahead and ski as long as rules are in
place,” Ms Ghezzi said.
Resorts have sent proposals to the
government for allowing full capacity
in cabin ski lifts as long as the windows
are open and people wear masks.
“What is more important is to keep
queues to board the lifts moving and
with one metre distancing between
each person. We don’t want groups
forming,” Ms Ghezzi said.
The resorts are now waiting for the
government’s committee of Covid ex-
perts to approve their rules. Some re-
sorts that have already opened, such as
Val Senales in Alto Adige and Monte
Bianco in Valle d’Aosta have temporari-
ly adopted the industry’s own pro-
posals.
Germany
Under guidelines drawn up by the
country’s association of cable cars and
ski lifts, everyone over the age of six
must cover their nose and mouth and
keep at least 1.5m apart.
Ski and snowboard lessons will be
available, albeit with social-distancing
measures and classes limited to eight.
Big chalets and cabins will be restricted
to 80 per cent of capacity and the après-
ski scene is likely to be subdued.
From next month arrivals from “risk
areas” — which includes most of the
UK except southern England — will
have to go into quarantine for at least
five days. Ski regions have few cases but
transport hubs have high infection
rates and risk being locked down.
France
France Montagnes, which represents
resorts, has published a guide to pre-
cautions that skiers must take. Masks
will be mandatory almost everywhere,
including in ski schools. Equipment will
be disinfected, as will skis and other
material that is hired.
Austria
Nine months ago the ski resort of Ischgl
was known as the Ayia Napa of the
Alps, with a raucous party scene fuelled
by Jägermeister. Today it is better
known as the cradle of the pandemic in
northern Europe. While the authorities
dithered, the virus romped through the
resort’s crowded bars for weeks, giving
rise to secondary outbreaks in the UK,
Iceland and Germany.
Ischgl is preparing to reopen its
slopes on November 26, even though
the surrounding state of Tyrol has the
highest infection rate in the country,
with 139.8 infections per 100,000.
The area’s waste water will be regu-
larly analysed to obtain early warning
of any outbreaks.
Two of the main skiing states, Tyrol
and Vorarlberg, have been classified by
Germany as “risk areas” and both have
more new cases per capita than
London. The federal government may
well end up imposing stricter measures.
Ben Clatworthy Assistant Travel Editor
Oliver Moody Berlin
Adam Sage, Tom Kington
Tignes, in France’s Espace Killy ski area, is likely to make masks compulsory in many areas, including ski schools, and surfaces and equpiment will be disinfected
News Coronavirus Wo r l d
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
Midwest worst hit as American infections pass 8m
Control (CDC) report a total approach-
ing that figure.
In the first wave of cases in the US,
outbreaks flared in cities in the north-
east; over the summer there were spikes
in the sun belt states of the south. Now
North Dakota is leading the nation in
infections per capita, with 80.2 cases
per 100,000 in the past seven days, ac-
cording to the CDC, just ahead of South
Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin.
North Dakota, one of the least popu-
lous states, reported record numbers of
new infections for the eighth day in a
row on Thursday, according to the
Grand Forks Herald. More than 4,
people are infected and there are only
23 available intensive care beds in the
entire state, according to the paper.
Steve Bullock, the governor of Mon-
tana, said that he had appealed to other
states for nurses and paramedics. In
Wisconsin, which reported 3,700 new
cases on Thursday, new restrictions
have been placed on social gatherings
and a field hospital has been erected on
a state fairground as existing hospitals
are already more than 90 per cent full.
US daily confirmed cases
Source: WHO
20
0
40
60
M A M J J A S O
000s
Will Pavia New York