BitGou: Friday Morning Briefing: French new COVID-19 infections at record high, lockdowns feared

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

French daily infections at record high
France recorded almost 10,000 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, its highest single-day total, a day before a cabinet meeting that might consider imposing fresh, local lockdowns to curb the spread of the disease.

Health authorities reported 9,843 new confirmed coronavirus cases, beating by almost 900 the previous record of 8,975, set six days earlier.

Since the beginning of the month, new cases have gone up by 7,292 each day on average, a figure that blows away the previous record daily average of 3,003 seen in August. France has the seventh-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world.

Track the spread of COVID-19 globally

Coronavirus aid bill killed in U.S. Senate
The U.S. Senate defeated a Republican bill that would have provided around $300 billion in new coronavirus aid, as Democrats seeking far more funding prevented it from advancing. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters before the failed Senate vote on Thursday that she thought negotiations could still produce a compromise before the Nov. 3 presidential and congressional elections. But after the vote, several Republican senators were skeptical.

U.S. cites Smithfield Foods for failing to protect workers
The Labor Department cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from the coronavirus, making it the first major meatpacker to face a fine after outbreaks at slaughterhouses infected thousands of workers. The citation did little to quiet complaints from labor unions and safety advocates, who say the Trump administration needs to do more to protect workers critical to the nation’s food supply.

Latin America passes 8 million cases
The coronavirus tally passed the 8 million mark on Thursday in Latin America, the region with the most infections in the world, although there were indications the virus was now spreading more slowly in some countries. Over the past week, the daily average of cases in the region fell to 67,173 through Wednesday from 80,512 in the previous seven days, according to the Reuters tally, which is based on figures released by governments.

Vaccine confidence volatile
Political polarization and online misinformation are threatening vaccination programs worldwide, with public trust volatile and varying widely between countries, according to a global vaccine confidence study. The study, which maps trends in vaccine confidence across 149 countries between 2015 and 2019, found that skepticism about the safety of vaccines tended to grow alongside political instability and religious extremism.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Brake sale, UK jobs, Hotels.
German billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele sells a bit more of Knorr-Bremse, and Britain limbers up for a furlough U-turn. Catch up with the latest 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.

Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages?

We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com.

We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how.