GovernorGavin Newsom orders a curfew (limited stay-at-home order) for all 41 counties in the purple tier of the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system; these counties include more than 90% of the state population. The order will be in effect from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. PST beginning November 21. (KABC-TV)
Maryland reports a record 2,910 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 174,733. (WJZ-TV)
UtahGovernorGary Herbert issues a new public health order that will no longer require Utahns to limit social gatherings to only people in their households on Thanksgiving, even as the state reports a record 3,968 new cases in the last 24 hours. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
The Northern Ireland Executive agrees to implement a two-week tougher lockdown beginning November 27. All non-essential retail, close contact services, places of worship and cafés will close after being allowed to reopen tomorrow. (ITV)
Russia surpasses two million total COVID-19 cases after a record 23,610 new cases are reported. It also reports a record 463 new fatalities in the last 24 hours. (The Moscow Times)
Russia resumes the vaccination of new volunteers in an trial for its flagship Sputnik V vaccine after a short pause at the end of October. (Reuters)
The Greek government announces a closure of its border crossing with Albania in Krystallopigi beginning tomorrow morning and will also test all people entering the country through its land borders as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. (Ekathimerini)
Ukraine reports a record 257 new fatalities and 13,357 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 10,369 and the total number of cases to 583,510. (U.S. News & World Report)
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reports a new single-day record of 534 new cases and raise its virus alert in the prefecture to the highest of four levels for the first time since September, indicating that "infections are spreading". (Bloomberg)
Japan reports a record 2,388 new cases, according to official figures. It comes as the country is on "maximum alert" and many prefectures such as Osaka, Aichi, and Hokkaido report record numbers of new cases. (The Straits Times)(Nippon.com)
Just days after announcing that the country was free of COVID-19 again after two infected people recovered, the Marshall Islands reports three new cases from a repatriation flight of Marshallese citizens in Hawaii. (RNZ)
Citing safety concerns, the National Science Foundation announces that the 57-year-old Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico will be decommissioned. Earlier this month, a second cable supporting the 900-ton instrument platform snapped. The platform is suspended 450 feet (137 meters) above the fixed radio dish, which is 1,000 feet (305 meters) in diameter. (NSF)