BitGou: Monday Morning Briefing: Europe's COVID-19 curbs prompt pushback

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

New curbs prompt wave of resistance across Europe
France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries have announced new curbs on movement and gatherings as infections surge and hospitals and intensive care units fill up.

Small shopkeepers in France have complained about being forced to close while supermarkets are allowed to sell “non-essential goods” such as shoes, clothes, beauty products and flowers because they also sell food.

U.S. cases keep rising
Coronavirus cases continued their grim climb in the United States on Sunday with Midwestern states experiencing record hospitalizations. Nearly 87,000 cases were reported on Saturday, with 909 deaths and record hospitalizations for the sixth straight day in the Midwest, according to a Reuters tally. In October, 31 states set records for increases in new cases, 21 for hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 14 for record increases in deaths.

Iran reports record high death toll
Iran on Monday reported a record 440 COVID deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll in the Middle East’s worst-hit country to 35,738 as a ban on travel in and out of major cities came into force. The government has shut schools, mosques, shops and restaurants in most of the country since early October.

CureVac’s vaccine triggers immune response
CureVac’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine triggered an immune response in humans, it said on Monday, putting the German biotech company on track to start mass testing this year as the race to end the pandemic heats up. “We are very encouraged by the interim Phase I data,” Chief Executive Officer Franz-Werner Haas said.

Prince William caught COVID-19 in April
Britain’s Prince William contracted COVID-19 in April at a similar time to his father, the heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, a source close to his Kensington Palace office said.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Nestlé’s TV meal, Taiwan, Unibail.
Nestlé tucks into U.S. ready-made meals as European restaurants close again, and Taiwan’s economy shows the benefits of taming COVID-19. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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U.S. Election

'You are no longer my mother': When lifelong Democrat Mayra Gomez told her 21-year-old son five months ago that she was voting for Donald Trump in Tuesday’s presidential election, he cut her out of his life. Their last conversation was so bitter that she is not sure they can reconcile, even if Trump loses his re-election bid.

A federal judge in Texas will consider whether Houston officials should throw out about 127,000 votes already cast at drive-through voting sites in the Democratic-leaning area. The coronavirus pandemic has led to hundreds of challenges over how people can cast their ballots in the showdown between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Here are some of the biggest legal cases that could shape the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

Donald Trump will hunt for support in four battleground states while Joe Biden focuses on Pennsylvania and Ohio during the final day of campaigning in their race for the White House. The Republican Trump trails Biden in national opinion polls ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day. But the race is seen as close in enough swing states that Trump could still piece together the 270 votes needed to prevail in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.

Tuesday’s presidential election has all the ingredients for a drawn-out court battle over its outcome: a highly polarized electorate, a record number of mail-in ballots and some Supreme Court justices who appear ready to step in if there is a closely contested race.