Coronavirus live updates: Denmark abandons plan for mass mink cull

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 WKXA

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide.

Over 50.4 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has also varied from country to country.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica. The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 10 million diagnosed cases and at least 238,251 deaths.

Nearly 200 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Nov 10, 10:23 am
Paris prosecutor opens judicial inquiries into COVID-19 response complaints

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened four judicial inquiries in response to complaints related to how French authorities have handled the coronavirus pandemic.

Remy Heitz, the chief public prosecutor in the French capital, said in a statement Tuesday that the judicial inquiries bring together 253 complaints against decision-makers and national public structures from the general population, health workers, civil servants as well as sick or dead people that were addressed to the Paris prosecutor’s office since March 24.

The investigations will enable the prosecutor’s office to carry out complex investigations intended to bring to light any criminal offenses on counts of voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster, endangering the lives of others and unintentional homicides and injuries.

France, along with much of Europe, is in the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Paris and its suburbs have been particularly hard-hit.

ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 9:14 am
Denmark abandons plan for mass mink cull

Denmark’s government will not move ahead with its plan to immediately slaughter all 17 million mink in the country, due to legal obstacles and a lack of political backing.

Last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the mass cull of the country’s entire mink population — including those that are healthy — amid concerns that a COVID-19 mutation moving from farmed mink to humans could evade future vaccines. But on Monday, Danish Environment and Food Minister Mogens Jensen admitted that the government did not have the legal basis for the order.

Frederiksen’s minority Social Democratic government still plans to put forward emergency legislation to back the cull on Tuesday, but the draft needs a three-quarters majority in parliament and opposition parties have already suggested they won’t support it.

There are doubts over whether the mass cull is actually scientifically based as well as concerns that it would threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of mink breeders. Denmark is the largest exporter of mink fur in the world.

Meanwhile, mink breeders will continue to cull any infected animals on farms. As of Tuesday morning, around 2.5 million mink have been culled so far, a spokesman for Denmark’s Ministry of Environment and Food told ABC News. The animals are gassed and then either incinerated or buried in mass graves on military land.

Nov 10, 6:43 am
Russia registers over 20,000 new cases for fifth day in a row

Russia confirmed 20,977 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, marking the fifth consecutive day where daily infections exceeded 20,000.

An additional 368 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide over the past day. The cumulative total now stands at 1,817,109 cases with 31,161 deaths, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country’s outbreak and recent surge. More than 28% of the newly confirmed cases — 5,902 — and over 18% of the new deaths — 68 — were reported in the capital, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.

Despite rising infections, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nov 10, 5:45 am
Employee at Shanghai’s main international airport tests positive

Authorities in China’s largest city have quarantined dozens of people after an airport employee tested positive for COVID-19.

A 51-year-old man who works as a freight handler at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a major aviation hub of East Asia, was confirmed to be infected on Monday and has since been transferred to an area hospital for treatment, authorities said.

It’s the first domestic case of COVID-19 reported in Shanghai in months, and it remains unclear how the patient contracted the disease. He has not left Shanghai and reported no history of being in high-risk areas in the 14 days prior to the onset of illness. He also has no history of contact with anyone infected with COVID-19 and has not been to any other hospitals within the past three months, according to authorities.

Twenty-six close contacts, including the man’s family members and colleagues, have been quarantined and have all tested negative for COVID-19. More than 100 others were also placed in isolation for medical observation, authorities said.

So far, no additional cases have been found.

The local health authority has raised the COVID-19 risk area to medium in the village where the patient lives in Shanghai’s district of Pudong. The rest of Shanghai remains low-risk.

Nov 10, 4:38 am
US sees highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since July

There were 59,275 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States on Monday, according to data collected by The COVID Tracking Project.

That figure — up from 56,768 on Sunday — marks the largest single-day increase since July 10 and the highest total amount since July 25, The COVID Tracking Project said.

Nov 10, 4:24 am
US reports over 100,000 new cases for sixth straight day

There were 119,944 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It’s the sixth straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 new infections. The latest daily tally is slightly less than the nation’s all-time high of 128,412 new cases set on Saturday.

An additional 670 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide Monday, down from a peak of 2,666 new deaths in mid-April.

A total of 10,110,552 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 238,251 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.