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A dozen US states reported record one-day increases in Covid-19 cases, a day after the country set a record with nearly 105,000 new infections, according to a Reuters tally. Medical staff members treat a patient suffering from Covid-19 in an intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center on October 31, 2020 in Houston, Texas. Photo: Go Nakamura / Getty Images / AFP The outbreak is spreading in every region of the country but is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita. Illinois reported nearly 10,000 new cases and along with Texas is leading the nation in the most cases reported in the last seven days. Other Midwestern states with record increases in cases today were Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio. Arkansas, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia also set records for rises in new infections. Some cities and states have announced new measures such as curfews or reduced gathering sizes to combat the spread of the virus, but the United States has taken no action at the federal level. Seventeen out of 50 states do not require masks. Many countries in Europe are shutting high-risk businesses and even ordering national or regional lockdowns as a second wave sweeps over the Continent. In addition to rising cases, US hospitalisations of Covid-19 patients rose to more than 52,500, up for an 11th day in a row and getting closer to the record of 58,370 set in July. North Dakota reported only eight free intensive care unit beds in the entire state. Hospitalisations are a key metric because they are not affected by the amount of testing done. Coronavirus deaths are trending higher but not at the same rate as cases. The United States is averaging 850 deaths a day, up from 700 a month ago. In recent days, six states have reported their highest one-day increases in deaths ever: Arkansas, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including a record number of voters mailing in their ballots in the presidential election, whose outcome has yet to be decided. - Reuters

Democrat Joe Biden says he had no doubt he would defeat incumbent President Donald Trump and win the US presidency, and asked everyone to stay calm as votes are counted. Biden says he has received a briefing on the state of the Covid pandemic in the USA and its economic effects. In a short speech, hinting at his growing readiness to take on the presidency, he said that he and his running mate Kamala Harris had been receiving high-level briefings. "We are nearing 240,000 deaths from the pandemic. Our hearts go out to each and every family affected." He then urged Americans to remain calm and patient as the votes are still being counted in five key states. "In America, the vote is sacred. It is the will of the voters - no-one else - who chooses the president, so every vote must be counted. "Democracy is sometimes messy. It requires patience." He said that his camp remains confident about the state of the race. "We continue to feel very good about where the vote stands." Under America's devolved electoral system, candidates must reach 270 electoral college votes. Biden is currently at 253, President Donald Trump 214, as voting continues in key states including Pennsylvania, one of the so-called "blue wall" states of America's industrial north. It has 20 electoral college votes at stake.

Danish authorities have said a lockdown will be introduced in some areas of the country over coronavirus mutation found in mink that can spread to humans. Workers from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the Danish Emergency Management Agency wearing protective equipment to kill minks in Gjol, Denmark, on 8 October, 2020. Photo: Henning Bagger / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP Bars, restaurants, public transport and all public indoor sports will be closed in seven North Jutland municipalities. The restrictions will come into effect from Friday and initially last until 3 December. It comes soon after an announcement that Denmark would cull all its mink - as many as 17 million. The Scandinavian country is the world's biggest producer of mink fur and its main export markets are China and Hong Kong. Culling began late last month, after many mink cases were detected. On Thursday, the World Health Organization said mink appear to be "good reservoirs" of coronavirus. It also commended Denmark's "determination and courage" for going ahead with the culls, despite the economic impact it would bring. Coronavirus cases have been detected in other farmed mink in the Netherlands and Spain since the pandemic began in Europe. But cases are spreading fast in Denmark - 207 mink farms in Jutland are affected - and at least five cases of the new virus strain were found. Authorities said 12 people had been infected with the new strain. Under the new rules, gatherings of 10 or more people will be banned, and locals have been urged to stay within the affected municipalities and get tested. At a press conference, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: "Right now the eyes of the world are resting on us. I hope and believe that together we can solve the problems we face." Denmark is the world's biggest producer of mink fur and its main export markets are China and Hong Kong Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP On Wednesday, Frederiksen said the mutated virus had been found to weaken the body's ability to form antibodies, potentially making the current vaccines under development for Covid-19 ineffective. Since the start of the pandemic Denmark has reported 52,265 human cases of Covid-19 and 733 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. Spain culled 100,000 mink in July after cases were detected at a farm in Aragón province, and tens of thousands of the animals were slaughtered in the Netherlands following outbreaks on farms there. Studies are under way to find out how and why mink have been able to catch and spread the infection. Mink become infected through catching the virus from humans, the BBC's environment correspondent Helen Briggs reports. But genetic detective work has shown that in a small number of cases, in the Netherlands and now Denmark, the virus seems to have passed the other way, from mink to humans, BBC's correspondent adds. - BBC

Democrat Joe Biden is edging closer to victory over President Donald Trump in the US presidential race as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome. The Republican president, who during the long and rancourous campaign attacked the integrity of the American voting system, has alleged fraud without providing evidence, filed lawsuits and called for at least one recount. Some legal experts called the challenges a long shot unlikely to affect the eventual outcome of the election. As counting continued two days after Election Day, slowed by large numbers of mail-in ballots this year, Biden was leading in Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona and closing in on Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Multiple Trump lawsuits and a recount request would have to succeed and find in some cases tens of thousands of invalid ballots to reverse the result if Biden does prevail. Some of the outstanding votes in Georgia and Pennsylvania were clustered in places expected to lean Democratic - like the Atlanta and Philadelphia areas. In Georgia's Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, officials said they expected to finish vote tallying on Thursday morning, with 10,000 absentee ballots left to count. By early Thursday, Trump led by 19,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in the state. Trump had to win the states where he was still ahead, including North Carolina, plus either Arizona or Nevada to triumph and avoid becoming the first incumbent US president to lose a re-election bid since fellow Republican George HW Bush in 1992. The president appears to have grown more upset as his leads in some states have diminished or evaporated during the counting. On Thursday morning, he weighed in on Twitter, writing, "STOP THE COUNT!" To capture the White House, a candidate must amass at least 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College. Such electoral votes are based largely on a state's population. Edison Research gave Biden a 243 to 213 lead in Electoral College votes. Other networks said Biden had won Wisconsin, which would give him another 10 votes. The counting and court challenges set the stage for days if not weeks of uncertainty before 8 December, the deadline to resolve election disputes. The president is sworn into office on 20 January, 2021. "The litigation looks more like an effort to allow Trump to continue rhetorically attempting to delegitimatize an electoral loss," said Joshua Geltzer, executive director of Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. - Reuters

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are each claiming victory in the White House race, even as the final outcome hangs on a razor's edge and both sides ramp up for legal action. The Trump campaign is challenging vote counts in the critical states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The BBC projects Biden won Michigan. US media forecast he has won Wisconsin. No result has emerged in Pennsylvania. Winning all three of these Rust Belt states would make Biden victorious. Look back at our live coverage for 5 November: This afternoon Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware: "When the count is finished we believe we will be the winners." He added: "I will govern as an American president. The presidency itself is not a partisan institution." The Democratic challenger said his campaign was feeling "very good" about Pennsylvania. Not so fast, said the campaign of Republican President Trump. "We are declaring victory in Pennsylvania," said campaign manager Bill Stepien on a press call. "This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math." "If we count all legal ballots, we win," he added. Senior Trump campaign aide Jason Miller said: "By the end of this week it will be clear to the entire nation that President Trump and Vice-President Pence will be elected for another four years." - RNZ / Reuters

Vote counting continues in the US, with all eyes on the tight races in a handful of states, which hold the keys to the White House. People in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, demand that every vote be counted in the US election. Photo: Yomiuri Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada are all too close to call in the race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Biden has a total of 253 electoral votes, and Trump has 213, according to CNN. Each man needs 270 to win. Trump has falsely claimed he won the election, and Biden stated he's confident he'll "emerge victorious". But with a narrow margin in almost all of the outstanding states, the presidency is too close to call. But that hasn't stopped Trump's campaign launching legal proceedings in multiple states, alleging voting irregularities, without providing evidence. "This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop," Trump said. Trump did not provide any evidence to back up his claim of fraud or detail what litigation he would pursue at the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris called for every vote to be counted. Every vote must be counted. No one is going to take our democracy away from us, not now, not ever. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 4, 2020 People also took to the streets in Portland, New York City, Atlanta, Detroit and Oakland, demanding vote counts proceed unimpeded. Police in Portland said they arrested 10 people, while the New York Police Department said it made about 50 arrests. There was also a protest from Trump supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, who gathered outside an election centre in Arizona after unsubstantiated rumours that votes for the Republican president were deliberately not being counted. This @mcsoaz team just arrived in full tactical gear, got a look at the crowd. Could be planning to make a move on demonstrators outside. pic.twitter.com/TCbKcXRNju — Nicole Valdes (@NicoleValdesTV) November 5, 2020 The race has tightened in Arizona, with Biden leading the state with 50.5 percent, and Trump following with 48.1 percent. And the race has tightened the other way in Georgia, where Trump had an early lead. With 95 percent of the votes in, Trump leads with 49.6 percent and Biden is on 49.1 percent. State officials say they will count throughout the night. The count also continues in the other states, which could swing the outcome. While a pathway for Biden is becoming clearer it could still go to either candidate. But Republicans have retained their grip on the Senate - which leaves Congress mostly unchanged, despite Democrats' hope of wresting four seats from their opponents. - BBC/ Reuters/ RNZ

By Kanishka Singh of Reuters Police in the city of Portland made arrests and seized fireworks, hammers and a rifle after late night demonstrations, as Oregon Governor Kate Brown activated the state's National Guard in response to "widespread violence" on the night after voting in the US presidential election. Police arrest election protestors after they marched the streets in Manhattan at Union Square in New York City. Photo: AFP / 2020 Anadolu Agency Portland Police said it arrested ten people in the demonstrations after declaring riots in the city's downtown area while the New York Police Department (NYPD) said it made about 50 arrests in protests that spread in the city late on Wednesday. "All of the gatherings that were declared riots were downtown. We have made 10 arrests," a Portland Police spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement. Demonstrations were also seen in a few other US cities on Wednesday night as activists demanding that vote counts proceed unimpeded rallied in several cities, including Atlanta, Detroit, New York, and Oakland. Earlier on Wednesday, about 100 people gathered for an interfaith event before a planned march through downtown Detroit, in the battleground state of Michigan, to demand a full vote count and what they called a peaceful transition of power. Local partners of Protect the Results - a coalition of more than 165 grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions - have organised over 100 events planned across the country between Wednesday and Saturday. Heading into the 3 November elections, the United States had seen months of protests following the death in May of George Floyd, an African-American who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The protests once again picked up momentum following the police shooting later in the year of an African-American named Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin and more recently of 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. who was gunned down by two officers in Philadelphia. Portland has seen several demonstrations since Floyd's death, particularly in the city's downtown area, with protests occasionally turning into clashes between demonstrators and police as well as between right- and left-wing groups. The anti-racism protests have demanded an end to police brutality and racial inequality while the more recent demonstrations surrounding the 3 November vote have demanded for a full count of the votes cast on Tuesday. - Reuters

The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections and as hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally. A man wearing a face mask registers for the voting at a pooling station during the Presidential election, in New York. Photo: AFP Nine states reported record one-day increases in cases on Wednesday: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including a record number of voters mailing in their ballots in Tuesday's presidential election, the outcome of which has yet to be decided. In addition to rising cases, hospitalisations on Tuesday topped 50,000 for the first time in three months. North Dakota reported only six free intensive care unit beds in the entire state on Wednesday, when it was one of 14 states that reported record levels of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Hospitalisations are a key metric because they are not impacted by the amount of testing done. The proportion of tests coming back positive is greater than 50 percent in South Dakota and over 40 percent in Iowa and Wyoming. The World Health Organization says rates of more than 5 percent are concerning because they indicate undetected community transmission. Coronavirus deaths are trending higher but not at the same rate as cases. The United States is averaging 850 deaths a day, up from 700 one month ago. The outbreak is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita in recent weeks. Illinois reported 48,579 cases in the last seven days, more than any other state. Texas, which has twice as many residents, reported 47,932 cases and both California and Florida reported about 30,000 new cases each. The previous US record for new cases in a day was 100,233 on 30 October - the highest ever reported by any country in the world. - Reuters

Democrats' hopes of regaining control of the US Senate are dwindling as another of their target seats was retained by its Republican incumbent. Senator Susan Collins makes her way back to her campaign bus after announcing her competitor Sara Gideon called to concede on 4 November 2020 in Bangor, Maine. Photo: Scott Eisen / Getty Images / AFP Susan Collins staved off a fierce challenge from Democrat Susan Gideon to keep her Maine seat. Democrats had high hopes of gaining four seats from the Republicans to take control of Congress's upper chamber. They are projected to retain their majority in the lower chamber, the House, but with some key losses. With many votes still to be counted, the final outcome for both houses may not be known for some time. However, the night did see a number of firsts - including the first black openly LGBTQ people ever elected to Congress and the first openly transgender state senator. This year's congressional election is running alongside the battle for the White House between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The Democrats had hoped to flip the Republicans' 53-47 majority in the Senate - giving them the power to obstruct the plans of a second-term President Trump or push through the agenda of a first-term President Biden. Of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs, 23 were Republican-held and 12 were Democrat. Senators serve six-year terms, and every two years a third of the seats are up for re-election. Democrats have not had control of the Senate for six years. Who are the winners and losers? Maine Democrats had high hopes of unseating Collins, the 67-year-old moderate Republican who had been trailing her Democrat rival in the polls for months, but Susan Gideon, 48, conceded defeat in a call to Collins. So far, Democrats have managed a net gain of one seat in the Senate election. Democratic former governor John Hickenlooper won a key Colorado seat from the Republican incumbent Cory Gardner. Hickenlooper, who stood for the Democratic nomination for president, was governor of Colorado for two terms from 2011 until last year. His rival was considered particularly vulnerable because of his allegiance to Trump. In Arizona, former astronaut Mark Kelly defeated Republican incumbent and former fighter pilot Martha McSally. Kelly earlier said he was "confident that when the votes are counted, we're going to be successful in this mission". However, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump ally Lindsey Graham have both been re-elected in their seats of Kentucky and South Carolina respectively. In Alabama, Republican candidate Tommy Tuberville took a seat from the Democratic incumbent Doug Jones. Among the candidates for Senate this year were a pastor, a trucker and a football coach. The Democrats had also gone into the election hoping to build on their 232-197 majority in the House of Representatives, but early returns suggested this may not happen after losing at least six incumbents and failing to claim any new Republican seats. However, there were some notable and historic wins during both the congressional and state elections. Democrats Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, both in New York, became the first gay black members of Congress after they were elected to the House of Representatives. Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar secured re-election to the House. Together they have been dubbed "The Squad". In Oklahoma, the state's sole Democratic member of the House, Kendra Horn, conceded to her Republican challenger Stephanie Bice. One Republican candidate who won a seat in Congress has previously promoted the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, was hailed as a "future Republican star" by Trump earlier this year. Delaware Democrat Sarah McBride made history as the country's first ever trans state senator. - BBC

US stock markets have recorded their biggest post-election leap in decades despite continuing uncertainty over which candidate will win the race. The exterior of the New York Stock Exchange is seen on November 4, 2020 in New York. Photo: Kena Betancur / AFP Shares rallied as investors bet the closer-than-expected results reduced the chance of big changes for business. Tech and health firms, now seen as less likely to face new regulation, led the gains. Facebook shares rose more than 8 percent, while several major health insurance firms saw double-digit jumps. The Dow closed up more than 1.3 percent, while the wider S&P 500 climbed 2.2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained nearly 3.9 percent. "The thinking in the markets ... is it looks like it's divided government regardless of who takes the White House," said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial. "That means a lot less probability of big sweeping legislative change, big sweeping spending or tax programmes and therefore a lot less uncertainty." With millions of votes still to be counted, incumbent President Donald Trump and his challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, are neck and neck in key swing states. But predictions of a possible early landslide win for Biden and his party in Congress failed to materialise. Last night, Trump prematurely claimed victory, and later moved to challenge vote counts in some states. Against some expectations, however, the uncertainty over the outcome did not appear to worry US financial markets, which have proven resilient this year despite a crash in March triggered by the coronavirus. There was a brief sell-off in the overnight US futures market, as investor hopes faded that a so-called Blue Wave win by Democrats would usher in a major spending package for coronavirus relief and drive share prices higher. But shares bounced back as investors bet the close race reduced the likelihood of other possible changes, such as an increase in the corporate tax rate proposed by Biden. "Divided government makes sweeping legislation inherently hard," said economist Michael Pugliese of Wells Fargo. "We are sceptical that outside of Covid relief much other major economic policy legislation would become law." Business lobby group Chamber of Commerce claimed the election as a win for business interests, pointing to Republican resilience in the House and Senate. The group also cited the results of some state-level fights - such as a victory in California by tech firms Uber and Lyft, which will exempt them from a law mandating stronger worker benefits. "There's clearly some indication from voters across this country that they are focused on supporting a pro-growth, pro-business agenda," chief policy officer Neil Bradley told reporters. The gains in the S&P 500 and the Dow were the biggest for a single day following a presidential election in at least four decades. Indexes in Europe closed higher too, climbing back after a sharp fall following incumbent President Donald Trump's premature victory speech. Asian markets also mostly rose on Wednesday. Bradley said he was optimistic wins by pro-business centrist politicians would prompt quick action on items like further stimulus, noting remarks on Wednesday by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell promising to move on a deal. But with coronavirus cases rising, markets could still be in for a bumpy ride, warned Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics. "The bottom line ... is that we are now much less bullish on growth in the first half of next year, though we remain of the view that pent-up demand will generate a massive wave of post-vaccine spending on discretionary services later in the year," he said. "The next few months likely will be tough going for the stock market; much will depend on how quickly vaccines can be approved and rolled out; that's unknowable at this point." - BBC