The new measures -- classified as "red" -- include non-essential businesses and services to be shut, according to Raisi. The mandatory wearing of masks in public will continue in the capital Tehran, he added.
Austria will enter a second national lockdown on Tuesday for at least two and a half weeks, after its target infection rate of Covid-19 exploded to 10 times higher than expected.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the measures in a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, admitting the government is failing to trace new infections.
“The truth is that the authorities are now no longer able to trace 77% of new infections, which means that the authorities no longer know where these infections take place,” he said.
Under the new measures, all non-essential services will close, schools will close and classes will go online, and people are asked not to leave their homes unless for a specific reason. The lockdown will be in place until December 6.
“In Austria we currently have an average infection rate of more than 7000 per day. In most federal states the numbers are even increasing exponentially, for example in Upper Austria,” Kurz said.
President Donald Trump has once again tweeted that Congress should pass a Covid relief bill, saying it should be “big and focused,” which seems to combine the Democrat and Republican wants from an additional stimulus package.
“Congress must now do a Covid Relief Bill. Needs Democrats support. Make it big and focused. Get it done!” Trump tweeted Saturday morning on the way to his golf club in Virginia.
Meanwhile, Trump -- who once called on Republicans to accept "a big, beautiful" stimulus in hopes it would boost his election prospects -- is now consumed by the fallout of his defeat.
The White House's lead stimulus negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, has taken a step back from the talks, and all eyes are on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had been on the sidelines of the negotiations throughout the summer and fall.
Greece will close all primary schools and nurseries on Monday for two weeks, in light of an increase in Covid-19 cases, the Greek Minister of Education said Saturday.
Niki Kerameus said this is a precautionary measure aimed to reduce adult mobility more widely and take the pressure off hospitals. Distance learning was already in place in secondary schools and universities.
Greece imposed a nationwide lockdown last weekend and tightened the night-time curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. local as of Friday.
Greece had 3,038 new cases in its latest data on Friday, marking the second-highest tally of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.
Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib reported a record increase of 525 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the Idlib Health Directorate said in a statement on Saturday.
Earlier this month, the health directorate said beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the region were filled to 83% capacity, and asked the World Health Organization to prevent a "catastrophe" by taking responsibility of "saving the lives of 3 million people in northwest Syria."
Iran will impose stricter Covid-19 restrictions in more than 100 towns and cities in the country from next Saturday for two weeks after seeing a recent surge of coronavirus infections, deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on Saturday on state TV after a meeting led by President Hassan Rouhani.
The new measures -- classified as "red" -- include non-essential businesses and services to be shut, according to Raisi.
The mandatory wearing of masks in public will continue in the capital Tehran, he added.
Of the 11,203 new cases reported, 2,509 have been hospitalized.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger tested negative for Covid-19, according to a spokesman in his office.
“The Secretary of State’s test came back negative. His leadership lead will quarantine for ten day and be actively engaged with county management throughout the recount process, Raffensperger's spokesman, Walter Jones, said in a statement.
At least 24 veterans have died of Covid-19 and more than 80 have been infected since an outbreak last month at Kentucky's Thomson-Hood Veterans Center, the state's governor said Friday.
About 63 staff members also tested positive and 52 have since recovered. Eleven of those cases are still active, Beshear said.
But amid a Covid-19 resurgence across American communities in October and an explosion of new cases in Kentucky, the virus seeped into the center and spread like wildfire.
"It started with three veterans and seven staff members, which quickly turned into a larger outbreak," the governor said earlier this week. The rate of positive tests now appears to be declining, he said.
"Keep praying for our incredible, warrior staff and our precious veterans," it said. "We are heartbroken over our losses. Please wear your masks and make smart, safe choices as you go about your daily lives. What we do out in the community matters."