What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Cases and hospitalizations surge, governors crack down
Nearly half a million people have contracted COVID-19 in the United States over the last seven days, according to a Reuters tally, as new cases and hospitalizations set records in the Midwest.
Coronavirus hot spots include Illinois, which reported 31,000 new infections over the past week, and two states expected to be key in the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“We must take significant and collective actions,” Andrea Palm of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services told a news conference, adding that contact tracers were overwhelmed and hospitals may face staffing shortages. “This is going to get worse before it gets better.”
Wisconsin broke one-day state records in both cases and deaths; state officials told residents to stay home, wear masks and cancel social gatherings.

Germany and France prepare new lockdowns
Germany and France prepared to announce restrictions approaching the level of last spring’s blanket lockdowns on Wednesday as COVID deaths across Europe rose almost 40% in a week, sending financial markets sharply lower on fears of the likely costs.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet state premiers to discuss closing restaurants and bars but keeping schools and nurseries open, while allowing people to go out in public only with members of their own household.
In France, which has seen more than 50,000 new cases a day, President Emmanuel Macron will give a televised address on Wednesday evening when he is expected to announce further curbs on people’s movements following the curfew measures introduced across much of the country last week.
The measures, following similar moves in Italy and Spain, are expected to leave schools and most businesses working and would be less severe than the near-total lockdowns imposed at the start of the crisis in March and April.

Grave-counting satellite images seek to track Yemen's death toll
A first-of-its-kind study using satellite images to count fresh graves and analyze burial activity in Yemen has estimated the death toll there from COVID-19 or COVID-related causes is far higher than official government figures suggest.
Using high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analyzed burial activity at all identifiable cemeteries in Yemen’s Aden region and calculated an estimated 2,100 “excess deaths” during the COVID-19 outbreak between April and September.
“This total is best interpreted as the net sum of deaths due to COVID-19 infection and deaths indirectly attributable to the pandemic,” they said. The indirect deaths would be those caused by disruptions to health services or by measures which may have caused problems accessing food, they added.
Canada's Trudeau predicts 'tough winter,' deaths top 10,000
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday predicted a “tough winter” in the face of a second wave of COVID-19 infections engulfing much of the country, and called it a horrific national tragedy as deaths topped the 10,000 mark. Canada’s case numbers have been rising, triggering new restrictions on public gatherings and indoor activities in several provinces. On Tuesday, Canada recorded 2,674 new cases, while there are now 10,001 deaths and a total of 222,887 cases.
“This sucks. It really, really does,” Trudeau told a news conference when asked about the fatigue Canadians feel after living amid the pandemic for more than seven months.
Four-month lockdown lifted in Melbourne
Melbourne’s shops, restaurants and hotels opened for business on Wednesday after a four-month coronavirus lockdown, with customers in the city of five million enjoying alfresco eating in the spring sunshine and shopkeepers hoping for big sales to make up for lost revenue.
Salons and restaurants still have to comply with strict spacing requirements that cap dining numbers at 10 per indoor space and 50 outdoor, which will make it uneconomic for some businesses to reopen. Others have already closed for good.
“It’s quite a sunny day here in Melbourne,” said student Ben Israelson, 22, who was drinking coffee with a university friend. “It’s not over yet, but I’m pretty excited about things opening up again.”
Track the global spread with our live interactive graphic as cases near 44,000,000.

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U.S. Elections

President Donald Trump will hold two campaign rallies in the battleground state of Arizona, where polls show him narrowly trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden, as the White House race heads into its final six-day stretch. Biden, who has repeatedly criticized Trump for failing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a briefing from public health experts and deliver a speech near his home in Delaware on his plans to combat COVID-19 and protect Americans.

In the historically black neighborhoods of Waco, Texas, the usual get-out-the-vote activities in this presidential election year were upended by the pandemic. Gone was the all-day party with a DJ and grills full of barbecue at an early voting site at a center that once housed a historically Black college. Organizers toned down the “Souls to the Polls” event that once saw church vans packed with voters and decorated for the occasion. Door-knocking was replaced by 5,000 hangers placed on doorknobs reminding people to vote.

Less than a week before Election Day, Joe Biden is tantalizingly close to a prize that has eluded generations of Democratic presidential candidates: Texas. As of Tuesday, nearly 8 million Texans had cast ballots, approaching 90% of the entire 2016 vote - a higher percentage than any state in the country, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.

The election between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden is the first since 1976 in which the number of Americans unable to vote because of a felony conviction has declined, according to the Sentencing Project, which advocates for criminal justice reform. Felony convictions still disenfranchise about 5.2 million Americans, but that is down 15% since 2016, according to the group.