President Donald Trump’s predictions that a coronavirus vaccine would be ready before Election Day, Nov. 3, will not be met. On Friday, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it would not seek emergency authorization to release its coronavirus vaccine until late November.  Two other vaccine frontrunners are on hold. A fourth is unlikely to have results until the end of the year. Trump has said repeatedly that a vaccine would be available to many before the election as part of the administration’s highly touted Operation Warp Speed, created to accelerate the development of a vaccine. …

Officials in Wales announced Monday they will impose a two-week “firebreak” lockdown effective Friday, requiring all but essential workers to stay at home to combat an accelerating second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford announced the move at a news conference, saying the lockdown will be in effect from Friday to November 9. During that time, everyone in Wales will be required to stay at home, except for the most critical workers. He said that that means people will be working from home wherever possible. Referring to the …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been urging Germany’s young people to observe tightening pandemic restrictions. “Do without a few parties,” she has told them.  Once seen as a model to follow in the fight against the coronavirus, Germany is now struggling to contain the pandemic and is seeing an alarming surge in cases. Merkel Sunday night in her weekly podcast pleaded with Germans to slow the transmission of the coronavirus by “temporarily renouncing” social life outside the immediate family and home.On Sunday, the country recorded 7,830 new cases of infection. …

Officials in Australia’s Victoria state, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, began loosening lockdown restrictions Monday as new and active cases continued to decline.As of Monday, residents of the state — which includes Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city — will no longer face limits on the time they can spend away from their homes for education or recreation and will be allowed to travel up to 25 kilometers from their homes. Parks, golf courses and beauty salons are also open, but are subject to mask and social distancing requirements. …

The world has now surpassed 40 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections. According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, 40,050,902 people have been infected with the disease as of early Monday morning, and more than 1.1 million have died.  The most recent cases include Saeb Erekat, the veteran Palestinian negotiator and secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who was rushed to a Jerusalem hospital Sunday, where he has been placed on a ventilator.FILE – Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (not pictured) in Amman, Jordan, …

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that there are nearly 39.7 million COVID-19 infections worldwide and 1.1 million deaths from the virus.  The U.S. continues to lead the world in COVID cases, with 8.1 million infections. India said Sunday it had recorded more than 61,000 COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hour period. India has almost 7.5 million COVID-19 cases, with more than 114,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.In Italy, where a new record for daily cases – 11,705 – was set Sunday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has given mayors …