What you need to know about the coronavirus today

U.S. deaths top 250,000
The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 surpassed a grim new milestone of 250,000 lives lost on Wednesday, as New York City's public school system, the nation's largest, called a halt to in-classroom instruction, citing a jump in infection rates.
The decision to shutter schools and revert exclusively to at-home learning, starting on Thursday, came as state and local officials nationwide imposed restrictions on social and economic life to tamp down a surge in cases and hospitalizations heading into winter.
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota ordered all restaurants, bars, fitness centers and entertainment venues closed, and all youth sports canceled, for four weeks.

WHO warns of a tough six months
Fresh lockdowns in Europe are avoidable, including through near-universal mask-wearing, the head of the World Health Organization Europe office said on Thursday.
Hans Kluge said that some health systems are being overwhelmed on the continent where more than 29,000 deaths were recorded in the past week alone.
"Europe is once again the epicenter of the pandemic, together with the United States. There is light at the end of the tunnel but it will be six tough months," Kluge told a news conference.
Tokyo raises alert level to highest
Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level on Thursday as its daily tally of new infections rose to a record 534 and its governor called for maximum caution as the year-end party season approaches.
Japan's nationwide tally also hit a new high of 2,259, according to broadcaster TBS.
Cases in Russia surpass 2 million
Russia's COVID-19 case tally passed the 2 million mark on Thursday as the number of daily deaths and infections hit new highs.
Russia, which has a huge testing program and a population of around 145 million, has the world's fifth largest number of cases after the United States, India, Brazil and France.
AstraZeneca vaccine shows promise in elderly
AstraZeneca and Oxford University's potential vaccine produced a strong immune response in older adults, data published on Thursday showed, with researchers expecting to release late-stage trial results by Christmas.
The data, reported in part last month but published in full in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday, suggest that those aged over 70, who are at higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19, could build robust immunity.
Click here to see a coronavirus vaccine scorecard graphic

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: ESG pause, Haidilao, Royal Mail
The pandemic has forced money managers to put their good intentions on hold, Chinese hotpot specialist Haidilao is turning up the heat and the benefits from a surge of lockdown-induced parcel deliveries have been lost in Britain’s post. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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U.S.

The U.S. presidential election battleground state of Georgia is expected on Thursday to affirm Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump after a painstaking recount, which would deal another setback to Trump’s efforts to cling on to power.
Georgia’s top election official, a Republican, has said the manual recount of almost 5 million votes is unlikely to erode Biden’s initial 14,000 winning margin by enough to hand Trump victory in the state.
President Donald Trump’s election campaign on Wednesday asked a judge to declare him the winner in Pennsylvania, saying the state’s Republican-controlled legislature should select the electors that will cast votes in the U.S. Electoral College system.

A little-known agency that keeps the U.S. federal bureaucracy running is the biggest impediment to new efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
“There’s a whole lot of things that we just don’t have available to us,” Biden said, including real-time data on personal protective equipment and the distribution plan for COVID-19 vaccines.

Three U.S. senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation seeking to halt the Trump administration’s effort to sell more than $23 billion of drones and other weapons systems to the United Arab Emirates, setting up a showdown with the president just weeks before he is due to leave office.

World

Asia-Pacific leaders called on Thursday for open and multilateral trade to support a global economy battered by the novel coronavirus, and some hoped for more engagement with the United States under a Joe Biden administration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, among the leaders at a virtual meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, rejected protectionism and said globalization was “irreversible”, a day before U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to join in the gathering.
Britain pledged to end the “era of retreat” by announcing a major increase in military spending, despite the coronavirus crisis pummeling the economy, as it seeks to define its post-Brexit role on the world stage.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the extra spending reflected the need to upgrade military capabilities, with plans for a new space command and artificial intelligence agency.
Meanwhile the European Union aims to draw up a master military strategy document to define future threats, goals and ambitions in defense while focusing on six new areas of joint weapons development including tanks, officials and diplomats said.
Australian special forces allegedly killed 39 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan, with senior commandos reportedly forcing junior soldiers to kill defenseless captives in order to “blood” them for combat, a four year investigation found.