It came as Germany recorded more than 37,000 daily Covid cases on Friday, a record high for the second day running. Austria’s daily new coronavirus infections surged towards a record set a year ago, making a lockdown for the unvaccinated ever more likely. The most dramatic rises in fatalities have been in the past week in Russia, where more than 8,100 deaths were recorded, and Ukraine, with 3,800 deaths. Both countries have very low rates of vaccination and Ukraine announced a record 28,000 new cases in the past 24 hours. (5 Nov 2021)