Today's corona news in 60 seconds
+++ Record corona deaths +++ tracking corona-related crime +++ huge drop in tourism +++ all the stats +++
Berlin-Every weekday at 11am come to the Berliner Zeitung English Edition for the latest corona/Covid-19 news at a glance.
🚥 First, the official corona stats for Berlin (tallied Thursday, 5 November)
New cases in one day: +1,387 (Wednesday +1,148)
Total number of corona deaths: 287 (+15)
🟢 R number: 0.81 (0.77 Wednesday)
🔴 New infections per week: 180.9 / 100,000 inhabitants (182.5 Wednesday)
🟡 Share of Berlin ICUs occupied by Covid-19 patients: 19.1 per cent (18.2 per cent Wednesday)
Source: Berlin's coronavirus status page
The lowdown...
Record corona deaths
The Berlin Senat reported 15 new corona-related deaths in the city on Thursday, a record since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Robert Koch Institute announced that nationwide new infections rose to 21,506 over 24 hours, the first time the threshold of 20,000 new cases was reached in a single day. In Germany, a total of 166 new corona deaths were reported. The RKI says 11,096 people have died as a result of the novel virus so far.
Berlin Greens want the police to collate info on corona-related crimes
Berlin Greens want more focused monitoring of the crimes related to "corona sceptics" in order to better counter radicalisation with factual information. Benedikt Lux, a Green member of the Berlin parliament, said: "The incidents happen in diverse areas of life: mask refusers who go berserk on buses and trains, threats against [virologist] Mr. Drosten or politicians, simple graffiti or attacks on police officers during demonstrations." Local police union head Norbert Cioma echoed the politician's suggestion, saying it was a good idea to get a big picture of the situation, "in order to see who is responsible."
Berlin tourism ravaged by corona crisis
A new study shows that the number of over-night stay in hotels and other commercial accomodation dropped by 58 per cent from January to September 2020. The study, conducted by tourism research institute DWIF, found that Berlin was the worst hit area in Germany - because large cities have suffered disproportionately from the corona-related drop in "cultural tourism." The number of foreign visitors to the city dropped by 70 per cent over the first eight months of the year.
In case you missed it...
The new airport has opened, but another is closing forever on Sunday. Our editor remembers the first time he flew out of Tegel back in 1986 - after a stay in East Berlin.
That's all for now folks. Stay safe!
Yours,
The Berliner Zeitung English team
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