California reported its biggest one-day jump in deaths in five weeks on Thursday. Authorities attributed a further 162 deaths to coronavirus, up from 35 on Wednesday.
France announced a record 41,622 confirmed cases of coronavirus for the previous 24 hours on Thursday, shortly after Prime Minister Jean Castex extended a night-time curfew that will now cover two-thirds of the population.
Mattel has produced its biggest increase in quarterly sales in a decade as parents buy housebound children Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars and other toys to keep them entertained during the pandemic.
Greece has announced a nighttime curfew in 17 regions, including Athens and Thessaloniki, the two largest cities, following another record daily increase in cases.
Southwest Airlines said it would stop blocking middle seats on December 1, leaving Delta Air Lines as the only major US carrier to continue the practice.
Record levels of new cases in Illinois and Ohio on Thursday again highlighted the continued spread of the virus through the US Midwest. In Illinois, a further 4,942 people tested positive over the past 24 hours, up from 4,342 on Wednesday. Ohio reported 2,425 new cases, surpassing the previous record on Wednesday of 2,366.
Accor, Europe’s largest hotel company, has said the worst of the crisis was behind it despite sharp rises in coronavirus cases across Europe, its main market.
The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson were forced on Thursday to defend newly announced support measures against accusations that they were belated and excessively focused on London and the south-east.
France has announced the extension of a curfew to curb the spread of coronavirus to 46m people, or two-thirds of its population. Jean Castex, prime minister, said 38 more of France’s 101 departments, as well as the Pacific territory of Polynesia, would be subject to a 9pm-6am curfew from Friday midnight.
Moderna has become the first western company to complete enrollment of its phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial, recruiting 30,000 participants including thousands of healthcare workers, ethnic minorities, and older people.
Covid-19 hospital deaths have quadrupled in northern England over a fortnight as the afflicted regions go under heavier restrictions in the UK government’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
Kimberly-Clark has disappointed Wall Street with weaker than forecast quarterly earnings, showing that a pandemic-induced boom for makers of cleaning and hygiene products has its limits.
Sales of previously owned homes in the US rose for the fourth consecutive month in September hitting the highest level in more than 14 years as low interest rates and remote working continued to fuel demand for homes.
Consumer confidence has dropped in the eurozone as rising infections and stricter government restrictions erode optimism that the region’s economy can make a swift recovery from the pandemic.
More than £62bn has been borrowed by 1.4m UK businesses under the state-backed coronavirus business loan scheme as companies continue to seek support to survive the second wave of the pandemic.
American Airlines said on Thursday it would authorise issuing up to $1bn in shares to shore up its liquidity as the pandemic continued to weigh on revenue and profitability.