Friday Morning Briefing: Delhi records its highest COVID-19 deaths

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Delhi records its highest deaths
Delhi’s COVID-19 deaths rose by a record number on Thursday and it reported the most number of infections in India, an increase attributed to the city’s toxic air and a lack of physical distancing in public places around a major festival. Delhi reported 104 new deaths and 7,053 new infections.

While daily case additions have come down significantly in the country as a whole since a mid-September peak, the capital city of 20 million people is going through its worst phase in the pandemic.

COVID-19 infections are still rising in 65 countries. See where infections are trending ⬆️ or ⬇️ relative to the size of the outbreak in each country.

Intensive care body advises against remdesivir for sickest
Antiviral remdesivir should not be used as a routine treatment for patients in critical care wards, the head of one of the world’s top bodies representing intensive care doctors said, in a blow to the drug developed by U.S. firm Gilead. Remdesivir and steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorized to treat COVID-19 patients across the world. But the largest study on remdesivir’s efficacy, run by the World Health Organization, showed it had little or no impact, contradicting previous trials.

China finds virus on packaging of Brazilian beef
The Chinese city of Wuhan said it had detected the novel coronavirus on the packaging of a batch of Brazilian beef, as it ramped up testing of frozen foods this week as part of a nationwide campaign. After taking drastic measures to control the spread of the virus in the population this year, China began in late June to test imported food for the virus too.

Congressman who ridiculed virus now says he has it
The Alaska congressman who once ridiculed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus, calling it the “beer virus”, said he is now infected with it. The announcement by Representative Don Young comes as the state’s governor warned that healthcare and public safety systems were at risk of being overwhelmed by the rapid spread of the virus across Alaska.

Musk questions coronavirus tests
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk questioned the accuracy of COVID-19 tests after claiming that results showed he tested positive twice and then negative twice all on the same day. “Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for COVID four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD,” Musk said in a tweet, possibly referring to Becton, Dickinson and Company’s rapid antigen test.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Pinduoduo, Thyssenkrupp, WeWork.
China’s Pinduoduo, the Groupon-meets-Facebook deals app, is on a roll amid the pandemic, Thyssenkrupp warms to hydrogen and WeWork's cash burn may require more SoftBank help. Catch up with the latest pandemic-related financial insights.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources.

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Election Result

President-elect Joe Biden cemented his electoral victory by capturing the battleground state of Arizona, but the transition to his administration remains in political stasis as President Donald Trump refuses to accept defeat.

China congratulated Joe Biden nearly a week after the former vice president clinched enough states to win. Although trade frictions between the United States and China may not ease in the near term even after Biden becomes president, former Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei said.

Election security officials have no evidence that ballots were deleted or lost by voting systems in this month’s election, two security groups said in a statement released by the lead U.S. cybersecurity agency.

Here are some key tallies in the White House race, as of 11:20 p.m. EST on Thursday as well as vote certification deadlines.

World news

Special Report: When the pandemic potentially came within a thin sheet of glass to astronauts about to lift off into space, Star City, the secretive home of Russia's space program, became a place of suspicion, fear and blame. One doctor, the leader of the town's ambulance service, found herself in a desperate situation. Read what happened next.

Five years after a squad of Islamist killers waged the deadliest attack during peacetime in modern-day France, Prime Minister Jean Castex paid tribute to those killed, with the country once again on its highest security alert. The jihadist suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more in a series of coordinated attacks on entertainment venues on Nov. 13, 2015, in a night that etched a deep scar in the nation’s psyche.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party said it would seek to form a government of national unity after official election results showed it had comfortably won enough parliamentary seats to form the next administration.

The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet expressed “increasing alarm” at violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and said an alleged massacre there might amount to war crimes. Ethiopian police visited an office of the United Nations’ World Food Programme in Amhara region to request a list of ethnic Tigrayan staff, according to an internal report seen by Reuters. Ethiopia sought to tighten its grip on the rebellious Tigray region by appointing a new local leader during a military offensive that has killed hundreds and shaken the wider Horn of Africa region.

Business and Economy

Trump bans U.S. investments in firms linked to Chinese military

The Trump administration unveiled an executive order prohibiting U.S. investments in Chinese firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, ramping up pressure on Beijing after the election.

6 min read

U.S. government appeals order blocking TikTok ban from taking effect

The U.S. Justice Department said it had appealed a Pennsylvania judge’s Oct. 30 order that blocked the government from imposing restrictions on Chinese-owned short video sharing app TikTok that were set to take effect.

3 min read

Russian online retailer Ozon's IPO to raise about $750 million

Russian online retailer Ozon plans to raise about $750 million in an initial public offering in the United States, three financial market sources told Reuters. Sources had said this month that the company, which has already filed for an IPO, had planned to raise at least $500 million for the company’s expansion.

2 min read

Daimler to revamp China plant to make Actros trucks as sales surge

Germany’s Daimler AG and its China commercial vehicle partner Beiqi Foton Motor plan to invest $415.32 million to build Mercedes-Benz-branded Actros heavy trucks for the first time in China, a document showed.

3 min read

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