World breaking news today (November 1): Boris Johnson puts U.K. on coronavirus lockdown

World breaking news today (November 1): Boris Johnson puts U.K. on coronavirus lockdown. Meanwhile, Super typhoon Goni hits the Philippines, Blast rocks coronavirus hospital in Chelyabinsk and gold prices also make headlines today.

Jasmine Le

lehang1997hanu@gmail.com November 01, 2020 | 09:34

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Britain is going on a roughly month-long lockdown as coronavirus cases to surge (Photo: BBC)

Boris Johnson puts U.K. on coronavirus lockdown

Britain is going on a roughly month-long lockdown as coronavirus cases to surge, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday, just 3 months after telling The Telegraph that he didn't want to mandate a national lockdown and likened the measure to a "nuclear deterrent."

From November 5 to December 2, people will only be permitted to leave their homes for a short list of reasons, such as childcare, work, exercise, medical issues, or shopping for basic needs. Bars and restaurants will only be allowed to provide take-out options and non-essential stores will have to close. Johnson said the country is extending its furlough system through December to help businesses, according to CBS News.

More than 1 million people have been infected with COVID-19 in the U.K., and more than 46,600 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins. There were 24,000 new cases on Friday, and Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser, said "theres a potential for this to be twice as bad or more compared to the first wave."

"I believed then and I still believe passionately that was the right thing to do," he said during a press conference. "Because we know the cost of these restrictions, the damage they do, the impact on jobs, and on livelihoods, and on people's mental health."

On Saturday, Johnson assured people that the new lockdown is not as "full-scale" as the one earlier this year, but that the "basic message is the same": "Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives."

Super typhoon Goni, world’s strongest storm in 2020, makes landfall in Philippines

Days after being hit by Typhoon Molave, the Philippines braced itself as another storm, Super Typhoon Goni, made landfall on Saturday. Goni is a Category Five storm and is the strongest to make landfall this year so far.

The storm, known locally as “Rolly,” prompted the evacuation of almost a million residents in the southern part of Luzon, the Philippines’ main island as well as its most populous, Reuters reported. Goni made landfall with unbelievable sustained winds of 195 mph in the eastern part of the country on the island of Catanduanes. Filipino weather officials expected the storm to weaken slightly while over Luzon in the next few hours.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the country’s weather agency also known as PAGASA, said in a weather bulletin that within the next 12 hours, it expected Catanduanes and Luzon to experience catastrophic violent winds and intense torrential rainfall. This will create a particularly dangerous situation for those areas, PAGASA affirmed, as reported by Earther.

Days after being hit by Typhoon Molave, the Philippines braced itself as another storm, Super Typhoon Goni, made landfall on Saturday (Photo: Yahoo News Canada)

Blast rocks coronavirus hospital in Chelyabinsk

The death of two patients in a coronavirus hospital in Russia’s Chelyabinsk was caused by the lack of oxygen after the fire and explosion in the oxygen booth, a source in the emergency services told TASS.

"According to preliminary information, the death of these patients occurred after the shutdown of the oxygen supply because of the fire and an explosion in the oxygen booth. The exact causes of their death will be established during the examination," the source said.

However, Chelyabinsk Region Governor Alexey Texler told reporters that, according to preliminary reports, the death of two hospital patients was unrelated to the blast and fire. "We heard a report by a resuscitator, he sees no connection between the fire and patients’ deaths," he said. According to the governor, their death occurred before the fire.

According to the office of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Urals Federal District, 198 people were evacuated from the building. The regional government earlier said that about 150 patients had been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to TASS.

(Photo: TASS)

Gold price forecast – the calm before the US Election storm

With just a few days to go before the 59th US presidential election on November 3, incumbent Donald Trump is said to be trailing the Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the polls, and in the all-important state of Florida. Bookmaker Paddy Power has Biden at 2/5 to win the election while Trump is available at a much more generous 15/8. The final couple of days before the vote, and the days after it, will likely be highly charged and this volatility will reach across all financial markets. Gold will remain under the spell of the US dollar, and safe-haven flows, and will likely see choppy trading conditions as markets gyrate between risk-on and risk-off.

The price of gold has dipped recently alongside a small pick-up in US real yields. At the start of the month, gold printed a high of $1,913/oz. while US real yields were negative 95 basis points. Today US real yields have moved 10bps higher to negative 85 basis points while gold has fallen to a current level around $1,884/oz. Gold receives a boost the further US real yields turn negative and the precious metal turns lower if US real yields turn less negative.

(Photo: Monex)

Gold’s inverse relationship with the US dollar remains but it is being tested. The weaker US dollar of late has failed to boost the price of the precious metal, while safe-haven flows, another traditional prop for gold, seem to be having a limited effect. The US dollar has picked up a small bid this week and this is likely to remain the case as we head into the election, Daily FX said.

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Jasmine Le