The French government announced today, Thursday, to expand the curfew to 45 million people.

While Italy recorded more than 16,000 new cases of Coronavirus, Arab countries witnessed a significant increase in deaths and infections.

The latest figures indicate that the new Corona virus has infected 41 million and 600 thousand people around the world, of whom more than one million and 136 thousand have died.

The United States leads the world in terms of injuries and deaths, as it has recorded 8 million and 584 thousand injuries and more than 226 thousand deaths due to the virus.

In India, the number of injuries reached 7 million and 700 thousand, while the number of deaths reached 116 thousand.

Brazil ranks third in terms of the number of injuries and second in terms of the number of deaths, with 5 million and 200,000 injuries and more than 155,000 deaths.

Amid the expansion of the second wave of the virus in Europe, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Thursday that the scope of the night curfew in major cities will expand, starting from Saturday, for about 46 million people, for a period of 6 weeks.

This number means that two-thirds of the French people are subjected to isolation measures, in order to confront the second epidemic wave of "Covid-19".

Castex warned that "the coming weeks will be difficult and our hospital services will be subject to severe pressure."

He also expects that November will be "stressful" and that the number of deaths will continue to "increase".

After a first wave that resulted in more than 30,000 deaths in the spring, France faces a few weeks ago a second epidemic wave.

The country has recorded more than 34,000 deaths and more than 950,000 cases of the emerging coronavirus.

"In the event that we do not collectively succeed in controlling the epidemic, we will face a tragic situation and consider the possibility of imposing harsher measures," Jean Castex explained.

Setback in Italy

For its part, the Italian Ministry of Health said today, Thursday, that it had recorded 16,79 new cases of Coronavirus during the past 24 hours.

The ministry also recorded 136 deaths related to Covid-19 today, Thursday, compared to 127 the previous day, but the death toll is still much lower than its counterpart during the height of the outbreak in Italy in March and April, when the daily deaths exceeded 900 cases.

So far, the death toll in Italy due to the emerging corona virus has reached 36,968, while 465,726 cases of the virus have been recorded.

Infection rates had declined during the summer, but their pace accelerated again over the past few weeks.

Minister in Intensive Care

In Belgium, Foreign Minister Sophie Williams was transferred today, Thursday, to intensive care after contracting Covid-19, while the country faces a second wave of infections.

A spokesman for the minister said that she was fully conscious and in a stable condition.

Last Saturday, Williams said that tests confirmed that she was infected with the virus, and that she had most likely caught it from a relative and not from the workplace.

Arabic numbers

In the Arab world, the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform in Algeria announced today, Thursday, that it had recorded 266 new cases of the new Corona virus during the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 55,357.

Algeria also recorded 8 new deaths, bringing the total deaths from the virus to 1888.

Morocco announced the registration of 4 thousand and 151 new cases during the past 24 hours.

This is the highest daily number announced by the Moroccan authorities since the outbreak of the virus.

Jordan also recorded 2,821 cases of coronavirus and 38 deaths, in the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic.

In Iraq, the Ministry of Health announced the registration of 3,899 new cases of the emerging coronavirus, bringing the total number of people infected to 442,164 cases across the country.

Iraq also witnessed the registration of 47 new deaths, bringing the total deaths to 10 thousand and 465 cases.