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What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Global cases to reach grim milestone
Global coronavirus cases are expected to pass 30 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic showing no signs of slowing.
India was firmly in focus as the latest epicenter, although North and South America combined accounted for almost half of the global cases.
Global new daily case numbers reached record levels in recent days and deaths neared 1 million as the international race to develop and market a vaccine heated up.
The official number of global coronavirus cases is now more than five times the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to World Health Organization data.

Trump contradicts CDC director
President Donald Trump took exception on Wednesday to comments from the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be broadly rolled out in mid-2021 and that masks might be even more effective.
Robert Redfield, in testimony to a congressional committee, said that general availability of a vaccine could come by "late second quarter, third quarter 2021."
Trump, at a news conference, said he believed a vaccine will be rolled out much sooner.
He said he called Redfield after his testimony to question him about it, and that Redfield appeared to have been confused by the question.

'Fantastic outcome' in Australia's virus epicenter
Australia on Thursday reported its lowest one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in nearly three months, as states said restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the virus will be further relaxed.
Australia said 35 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the past 24 hours, the lowest one-day rise since June 24.

Philippines considers relaxing travel ban for nurses
The Philippines is considering allowing more nurses and other medical professionals to leave for jobs abroad after banning them from travel so they can fight coronavirus at home, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Thursday.
Health care workers from the Philippines are on the front lines of the pandemic at hospitals in the United States, Europe and the Middle East as well as back home.

Tracking device for UAE visitors
International passengers arriving at Abu Dhabi airport will now have to wear a tracking device while they complete a mandatory 14-day home quarantine due to COVID-19, according to state-owned Etihad Airways.
Daily infections in the United Arab Emirates rose this month to their highest since the outbreak started, which officials have largely blamed on people not practicing social distancing.

Click here to see Reuters interactive COVID-19 Global tracker

From Breakingviews: Corona Capital - Indian airlines, Russia, UK trains
Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

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Top Stories

Hurricane Sally weakens to tropical storm, leaves massive floods on U.S. Gulf Coast.
Hurricane Sally moved northeast Thursday, where it was expected to bring more than a foot of rain to some areas, one day after it flooded streets and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Some parts of the coast were inundated with more than two feet (60 cms) of rain, as the slow-moving storm flooded communities.

The way Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sees it, the U.S. labor market has a long way to go to meet the central bank’s maximum employment goal and a lot of boxes to tick along the way.
In his most extensive effort to explain how the Fed will measure progress toward a goal prioritized last month under the Fed’s new framework, Powell was clear on Wednesday that he and other policymakers were not focused on any single number, such as the unemployment rate.

Trump, Biden offer clashing visions on reopening economy.
The coronavirus pandemic threw millions of Americans out of work, ended the longest U.S. economic expansion on record and undermined a key argument for President Donald Trump’s re-election.
Now, the Republican president and his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Joe Biden, want to convince Americans they can get the economy back on track. Here is how they want to revive it.

The nerve agent used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detected on an empty water bottle from his hotel room in the Siberian city of Tomsk, suggesting he was poisoned there and not at the airport as first thought, his team said on Thursday.
Navalny fell violently ill on a domestic flight in Russia last month and was subsequently airlifted to Berlin for treatment.

A Nobel for Thunberg? In the age of climate change and virus, it is possible.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize could go to green campaigner Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement to highlight the link between environmental damage and the threat to peace and security, experts say.