(Reuters) – This is what you have to know concerning the coronavirus proper now:

France, Germany re-enter lockdown, second wave sweeps Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their international locations again into lockdown, as an enormous second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe earlier than the winter.

World inventory markets went right into a dive in response to the information that Europe’s largest economies had been imposing nationwide restrictions nearly as extreme as those that drove the worldwide economic system this 12 months into its deepest recession in generations.

“The virus is circulating at a velocity that not even probably the most pessimistic forecasts had anticipated,” Macron mentioned in a televised tackle. “Like all our neighbours, we’re submerged by the sudden acceleration of the virus.”

England’s COVID-19 infections doubling each 9 days

The unfold of the coronavirus continues to extend throughout all components of England with instances doubling each 9 days, in line with a brand new examine by Imperial Faculty, placing strain on the federal government to introduce extra drastic lockdown restrictions. The an infection fee is rising in all age teams with the very best unfold of the illness within the northwest of England and Yorkshire and the Humber area, Imperial discovered.

The examine, which concerned testing greater than 85,000 volunteers, discovered 128 per 10,000 individuals had been contaminated in England within the two weeks ending Oct. 25, in comparison with 60 per 10,000 in the identical interval ending Oct. 5.

UK expects verdict quickly on Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Senior sources within the British authorities anticipate {that a} verdict on whether or not Pfizer Inc-backed COVID-19 vaccine works can be out there earlier than the outcomes are in on AstraZeneca Plc’s competing vaccine, the Occasions reported. Britain believes that the vaccine, which Pfizer is co-developing with Germany’s BioNTech, might be able to distribute earlier than Christmas, the report mentioned.

Some COVID-19 sufferers’ brains might age 10 years – examine

Individuals recovering from COVID-19 might endure vital mind perform impacts, with the worst instances of the an infection linked to psychological decline equal to the mind ageing by 10 years, researchers warned on Tuesday.

A non-peer-reviewed examine of greater than 84,000 individuals who accomplished a examine known as the Nice British Intelligence Take a look at, led by Adam Hampshire, a health care provider at Imperial Faculty London, discovered that in some extreme instances, coronavirus an infection is linked to substantial cognitive deficits for months.

Scientists indirectly concerned with the examine, nonetheless, mentioned its outcomes must be considered with some warning. “The cognitive perform of the members was not recognized pre-COVID, and the outcomes additionally don’t replicate long-term restoration – so any results on cognition could also be short-term,” mentioned Joanna Wardlaw, a professor of utilized neuroimaging at Edinburgh College.

“General (that is) an intriguing however inconclusive piece of analysis into the impact of COVID on the mind,” Derek Hill, a professor of medical imaging science at College Faculty London, mentioned.

(Compiled by Karishma Singh)