Coronavirus live news: France sees record new cases; virus may be becoming more contagious

US scientists believe virus is mutating, becoming more contagious but not more deadly; EU warns pandemic worse now than at the March peak in several member countries. Follow the latest updatesHelsinki airport enlists sniffer dogs to detect CovidCoronavirus continuing to mutate, study findsMarseille fury at Paris decree to shut its bars amid record case riseSee all our coronavirus coverage 2.47am BST Israel toughened its coronavirus measures on Thursday as a second nationwide lockdown failed to bring down the world’s highest infection rate a week after it was imposed, AFP reports. The new rules will close the vast majority of workplaces, shutter markets and further limit prayers and demonstrations. 2.29am BST Meanwhile The Telegraph has a report that suggests face masks are giving people a form of immunity from the virus. The idea comes from research that suggests that the lower the amount of the virus your are exposed to when you are first infected, the higher your chances of survival: “Indeed, a large study published in the Lancet last month found that ‘viral load at diagnosis’ was an ‘independent predictor of mortality’ in hospital patients,” the Telegraph reports. Wearing masks could therefore reduce the infectious dose that the wearer is exposed to and, subsequently, the impact of the disease, as masks filter out some virus-containing droplets.If this theory bears out, researchers argue, then population-wide mask wearing might ensure that a higher proportion of Covid-19 infections are asymptomatic. Continue reading…
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