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ger-rus Covid: Record deaths in Germany and Russia Germany is facing calls for a second lockdown before Christmas after recording 585 deaths and 29,875 new infections in one day - the highest numbers since the pandemic began. "We have to act urgently. We have to do more than was previously planned," warned Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. Russia and Ukraine also reported record numbers of fatalities on Friday. However, the latest excess death statistics have cast doubt on the numbers announced in Russian updates. Germany has been under partial lockdown since early November, shutting bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, and a relaxation had been planned over Christmas. But the rise in infections has increasingly alarmed top officials, with Lothar Wieler, head of Germany's public healthy body, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), describing the situation as "extremely fragile". Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned speech in the Bundestag (parliament) this week calling for tighter measures, saying that "500 deaths a day is unacceptable".

canada About 100,000 new cases have been reported across the country in just the last three weeks, with growth being driven primarily by the six provinces west of the Atlantic region. Releasing new modelling from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) today, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that if Canadians maintain their current contact levels, more than 12,000 new cases will be recorded daily by January. If people increase their level of contacts, however, that number could surge to more than 30,000 cases daily by January, according to the modelling sheets.